ASCEND to the Mountain Garden of Eden
ASCEND • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Video
Video
God spoke, and light covered the dark,
Land rose, seas spread, life breathed.
He crowned creation with a garden—
A holy place, high on the mountain.
There, God walked with His children,
And peace knew no end.
Every tree was a gift, every breath was grace,
Every hand open—never clenched.
But on that mountain, a whisper twisted truth.
A hand once made to receive
Reached out to take.
Fingers closed around the forbidden fruit.
The bite was small—
But the fall was deep.
Their hearts trembled,
And the garden, they had to leave.
Psalm 24:3–4 “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”
Share at end of Sermon
{Yet even then, God did not turn away.
For one day, He would climb another hill
To restore what was broken
By stretching out His Hands that are open}
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
ASCEND
Who can and where to?
What direction and which path?
Highest points at church: stage, baptism, balcony, gym roof
Passage speaks of a mountain
What is even on THE MOUNTAIN? Is it worth the hike? The ground down here seems to work pretty well.
This was a thought Middle School Noah had. I was not super adventurous and brave. My family was taking our annual Christmas vacation to the Tennessee mountains. This year the cousins were older and everyone was able to go skiing.
There I stood 2, 3, maybe even 4 layers of clothes. Hoodie meeting goggles meeting face covering meeting jacket meeting pants meeting socks meeting shoes. Everything covered! Choking the grip of the ski sticks. My feet centered on snow skis as I step into the cold - excuse me EXTREME COLD!
I look up and up and up — seemed like my neck was on the beginning of a roller coaster.
This great mountain standing there, which is really only a hill attached to a mountain. This great mountain to little me and there I was partly frozen from the cold and mostly fear.
Why are people going up - to come down - and to go back up? Each one sliding by celebrating and saying you got try this!
Frozen in fear — I don’t know if the mountain is for me. That is a different realm!
What if I told you that the Mountain is where humans were originally designed to be? Not the one I feared topped with snow but the garden that was created IN THE BEGINNING. The Garden of Eden has rivers that flow down from the Garden. Ezekiel 28:13–14 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.”
Will you look up to this Garden Mountain with me at a moment when a single decision corrupted their once clean hands and revoked their access to the Garden Mountain of God?
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Oh how grand God’s design was! Beautiful garden with best views. Night time offered the peaceful breeze with perfect night lights in the sky. To eat all the food you want - WOW. Enjoying the Garden with the Creator - DOUBLE WOW
Only avoid eating one tree - tree of knowing good and evil
You can be a football fan of any team — just not Tennessee
You can like any pizza topping you want — except pineapple (actually olives)
You can like any candy — except candy corn
You can drink any soda — except Dr. Pepper
You can argue with any of these — except the olives one (save for small group question)
Oh how a short conversation led Eve’s and Adam’s clean hands to corruption.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
On THE MOUNTAIN in a beautiful garden with the great Creator is now — BROKEN by three progressing moments.
Deception
Deception
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
OH DECEPTION - the intentional misleading of another.
We have the serpent, satan, the enemy of God, fallen angel of heaven. He has rebelled against God and declare war against all creation, especially what God calls GOOD-GOOD - humanity.
opposable thumbs
deep critical thinking
eternal soul that distinguishes us from everything else
Satan comes before Eve knowing human’s uniqueness and distinction, and uses twisting words to lead the listener to misunderstand the original intention.
DID GOD ACTUALLY SAY? — YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF ANY TREE
Deception is questioning/second guessing.
Deception disguises the specifics
Oh student! What deception: questioning/second guessing has the enemy planted in your mind?
Oh student! What specifics of God have been disguised by deception?
TRANSITION STATEMENT
The deception of the enemy attacks us personally, affects relationally and alters eternity.
The things we think know we really well because we have consistently learned in church and Bible studies. THERE IS SO MUCH! Take Genesis for example. If you hav been in church any, you have heard it many times before! The Gospels - the life of Jesus. We are familiar with His teachings and AMEN-OH YEAH at the hearing of them.
There are so many things we have heard and believe to be true and able to defend, even though there may be a few small questions to fully understand and defend - we call this the ILLUSION OF KNOWING (someone believes they understand or know something far better than they actually do). I believe it is sleek deception tactic of the enemy. Lead a christian to believe they know something fully without being ready to give an account. When tested, the Christian responds in two ways: humbleness (I don’t know and need to discover) OR doubt (maybe God just doesn’t understand my situation/thinking).
Doubt
Doubt
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Doubt directs to DANGER! Notice the Illusion of Knowing is still trapping Eve. As deception leads to doubt, she is trying to defend what she barely believes, let alone TRUSTS. — What complementing words: believe and trust. Let’s build towards them.
Doubt must have an answer. Our minds want to quickly satisfy doubt so that we can receive mental comfort. Oh how the enemy knows this: “:death is not the outcome, eyes are opened, like God, know whats good and bad.”
DOUBT DEMANDS SATISFACTION WITHOUT REASON. This is still the illusion of knowing trap.
DOUBT ATTACKS:
Some of the questions I have would be easier to answer if a God didn’t exist
My relationships would be more fun if I believe God doesn’t say much about sex
I would really enjoy some time with friends if I believe drugs, alcohol, smoking aren’t damaging against God’s creation
Maybe my life doesn’t matter to God
Did God really save me and forgive and wants work through me?
Doubt demands an answer. Doubt demands satisfaction without reason.
|
||
|||
||
|
An answer was demanded of Eve. Eve demanded satisfaction without reason and made a DECISION
Decision
Decision
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Do yall remember our scene?
There, God walked with His children,
And peace knew no end.
Every tree was gift, every breath was grace,
Every hand open—never clenched.
But on that mountain, a whisper twisted truth.
A hand once made to receive
Reached out to take.
Fingers closed around forbidden fruit.
The bite was small—
But the fall was deep.
Their hearts trembled,
And the garden, they had to leave.
It was just DECEPTION to question/second guess and disguises the specifics.
There was DOUBT demands an answer and satisfaction without reason.
That has led Adam and Eve to the decision.
A decision that resulted in leaving the Garden Mountain (God’s dwelling place with humans).
We all suffer the same consequence from this decision - restricted access to the Mountain.
BUT WAIT, there is another DECISION spoken in the garden before their exit: Genesis 3:21
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
What kind of decision is that? “Are you sure you read the right verse?”
THIS IS THE DECISION OF HOPE! This is the decision of God showing Adam & Even and You and Me that fig leaves/our own work cannot cover the — Deception that cultivates Doubt and follows with a Decision. Only through a God planned sacrifice can our sins be covered and have a chance to once again ascend the Mountain.
God’s decision of HOPE is superior to our deceived doubt driven decision. It was a simple created animal in this garden that symbolized the Son of God/Lamb of God who offers the ultimate pardon…. it started….⬇
Closing
Closing
In the Beginning…
God spoke, and light covered the dark,
Land rose, seas spread, life breathed.
He crowned creation with a garden—
A holy place, high on the mountain.
There, God walked with His children,
And peace knew no end.
Every tree was a gift, every breath was grace,
Every hand open—never clenched.
But on that mountain, a whisper twisted truth.
A hand once made to receive
Reached out to take.
Fingers closed around the forbidden fruit.
The bite was small—
But the fall was deep.
Their hearts trembled,
And the garden, they had to leave.
Yet even then, God did not turn away.
For one day, He would climb another hill
To restore what was broken
By stretching out His Hands that are open
Student who may be being DECEIVED…
Student who may be DOUBTING…
Student who’ve made or about to make a DECISION…
