Untitled Sermon (51)

Text for the Day: Genesis 3:8-10

PRAY....

300 Illustrations for Preachers Abandoning Disbelief and Embracing Faith

What happens to people who are raised by unbelievers? An interesting study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life revealed that 14 percent of people raised Catholic and 13 percent of people raised Protestant abandon the faith of their childhood. At the other extreme, over 50 percent of people raised in “staunchly atheistic or agnostic households” have abandoned the non-faith of their childhood. These people have abandoned disbelief and have embraced faith. What moved them to faith? Over half of those who abandoned unbelief say they had unmet spiritual needs in their lives.

We were created to be spiritual people. If we are open and honest with ourselves, we recognize there are some uniquely human needs that cannot be met apart from God. The Spirit then will move us toward Christ.

Secure Interest:

What happens to people who are raised by unbelievers?

There was a study done by the Pew research forum which shows the following:

14% of those raised Catholic abandon their faith.

13% of those raised Protestant abandon their faith.

Yet, 50% of those raised in Atheistic homes abandon their non-faith.

These people have abandoned their disbelief and have embraced faith.

What moved them to faith?

Almost all of them said the reason was that they had unmet spiritual needs in their lives.

We as a people, no matter where or how we are raised are created to be a spiritual people.

If we are open and honest with ourselves, we recognize that we have unique needs that cannot be met apart from God.

No matter how far we run from these internal needs, we desire for them to be met.

This is because we, all of creation are desiring that which we through our forefather Adam had.

Flesh and Blood Scenario:

You find this all throughout Scripture.

When the people of the Lord ran to the false god of baal,

this was their internal desire to pursue that which belongs.

This is why the story of Elijah and the prophets of baal even exists.

Because there is engrained in the heart of man a desire for that which we once had.

Vital Personal Questions:

So the question I have for you this morning Pastor is this:

Are you pointing people back to this internal desire of the heart?

Are you fighting tooth and nail against that which they suppress?

Crucial Assertions:

My assertion would be that most of us would have to say no.

Not that we don’t point our own to their Lord.

But that instead, we don’t focus on searching out the 1.

We instead merely focus on the 99.

Not that the 99 do not matter because they do.

But you should be the most trained man in the Scripture within your Church.

Who better to seek out the one than you?

Determinative Difference:

If you will apply what we find in this passage of Scripture to your own ministry;

You will begin to desire to show the unbelieving world the beauty of the fellowship with the Triune God.

Purpose:

My purpose in examining this text this evening is to show the Paradise man once inhabited as a foretaste of what we will one day have again.

Contextualization:

Connection to previous sermon:

Where am I in the outline of the book:

Restatement of PNP and Theological Principles:

I want to give you three imperatives concerning how man’s bond with the Trinity has been broken and you must do to restore that bond.

Man was and is removed from the presence of the Divine Trinity.

It is man’s nature to hide from the Trinity after the fall.

It is your command Pastor to call them back to the Divine Trinity.

Restate PNP:

Once again, I want to give you three imperatives concerning how man’s bond with the Trinity has been broken and what you must do to restore that bond. Body of Sermon:

Body of Sermon:

PNP:

I. Theological Principle:

Man was and is removed from the presence of the Divine Trinity.

a. Look with me at where mankind was prior to the fall. (Verse 8)

Prior to the fall of man, there was a time when the presence of the Lord was not hidden from man.

A time where man was able to walk with the Lord.

A sanctuary if you will.

Where man was able to have sweet communion with the Triune God.

With nothing separating them from the Three-in-One.

Just a few verses prior to this we find Adam interacting with the Lord in a remarkable way.

Back in 2:22 you find God bringing to Adam the most wonderful present his eyes had known at that moment.

Apart from the more miraculous which was that it was the Triune God who brought him the woman.

All through the Creation account of Scripture you find an interaction between man and God.

And this interaction took place in what I would call the Sanctuary of Israel.

They were in the Garden.

That miraculous place the Lord established for His communion and revealing of Himself to the people.

The very first place where the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit would commune with man.

A place of safety and refuge for God’s creation.

Yet it was not the physical place which made this place safe.

Look back at verse 8.

The Garden was the safe haven of man because of who was in their midst.

Who in this room today would not long for this?

Long for this interaction that this text reveals to us?

Long for the day when we would need to be like Moses.

Begging for the Lord to let us see merely a glimpse of who He is?

Yet, Adam and Eve had that.

They had sweet communion with God in such a way that we today cannot begin to comprehend.

We get a glimpse of this through our salvation.

We get a peek of fellowship with the Father.

We get a glance of forgiveness through the Son.

We get a partial view of this through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Yet this all falls short in showing us what was truly taking place in the Garden.

Our Glimpse is impaired with the attributes of the fall.

Our understanding of this is truly hindered by the marring of sin in our own lives.

We cannot truly begin to understand.

We speak about the Triune God.

That’s why we’re all here.

Yet none of us have ever seen this.

Not with our eyes.

We get a glimpse of this in our imagination.

Yet, even our imagination falls short of what Adam seen.

We have visions of God that often parallel Modalism.

I am not sure about you, but I cannot envision the Triune God.

The God who spoke among Himself and said, “Let us make man in our image.”

I cannot in my mind picture the divine without adding some form of heresy which leaves out at least two people of the Trinity.

Adam and Eve seen what we will one day stand before.

But for the life of me;

At this very moment, I cannot truly comprehend this.

Yet my comprehension or ability to see it in my mind is not what makes it true.

My thinking even to this very day is clouded by sin.

It’s clouded from generation after generation removing themselves from the presence of the Lord.

Yet my comprehension or ability to see it in my mind is not what makes it true.

Scripture is what makes it true.

And Adam and Eve had that which we will one day see.

Yet at this very moment,

When they knew of how they had offended the Triune God.

As the sin of Adam and Eve was before them;

When they knew of how they had offended the Triune God.

They officially knew they were to be removed from the presence of the divine.

Pastor, this is your calling in life.

It is your place to tell all of creation that they are in sin and removed from the presence of God.

It is our job this very day to look around at all of creation and show to those who live that they cannot be before the Lord.

So how do we do this?

We use the Law.

I know that in our generation;

It is not popular to look at the Law of God.

Yet, what does Scripture say about the Law of God?

“The Law of the Lord is Perfect!”

The Law of God reveals to man how they are removed from this great presence which they once had in Adam.

I know it’s not popular today, but it’s true.

The Law reveals to all of mankind that there is a Holy and Righteous God.

It shows them that God is holy and we are not!

The Law of God is not some abstract set of ideas.

It reveals to us the will of the Triune God.

But you need to be ready;

For what happens when we reveal the Law to mankind is precisely what Adam and Eve did;

And what did they do?

This is our second point.

II. Theological Principle

It is man’s nature to hide from the Trinity after the fall.

This is point two now,

a. Sin causes God’s creation to hide from Him. (Verse 8)

The moment the Trinity entered into Garden, God’s chosen people hid from Him.

When man knew of the true holiness of God and their position before Him;

They hid themselves.

When the man knew of the coming of the Lord, they hid from Him.

Verse 10 elaborates on this.

Look there for a moment.

“I heard the sound of you in the Garden and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Compare that back to how closes.

“The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

This is it.

This is paradise lost.

As soon as sin had corrupted the uncorrupted, they knew their place before God.

They had no idea what they had until they lost it.

And now that they could see the splendor and holiness of God;

They had but one choice, hide!

Do you know why they hid?

Because they we’re naked is the obvious answer.

Yet it goes far beyond that.

You see, Adam and Eve were promised liberation.

They were promised that if they ate of the fruit of that tree, they would be like God.

Yet instead of liberation, they recieved lies.

Their sin would never make them free.

Their sin would never make due on its promises.

Instead, it opened their eyes to the beauty which stood before them.

Their eyes were opened and they could see that which sinful man is not ever able to see.

They could see the divine.

I know that we often don’t think of passages like this in this way but its true.

There, coming into the Garden, that place which was the sanctuary of man;

Was the one true and living God.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Now there are many who would disagree with me on this and say this was only the Father.

Or it was only the Son.

Or it was only the Spirit.

Yet, let me point you back to the original creation.

God said, “Let us make man in our image.”

Why would the Triune God be there for the act of creation and not for the act of condemnation?

That wouldn’t make any sense.

There is no evidence to say that the Triune God was not there.

If you look at God’s original design, and you keep that theme in mind as you read through this book;

It becomes apparent that all three person’s of the Trinity were within the Garden.

So go back to where we are in the narrative here.

Adam and Eve hiding from the holiness of God coming into their midst.

I’d like to submit to you this evening that this is every single one of us.

Though we never encounter the divine within the garden;

We do encounter Him within all of creation.

That’s what tells us.

God has revealed Himself so that all men are without excuse before Him.

In the same way that Adam heard the wind in the Garden and knew the Lord was coming;

All of creation can look upon His creation and see Him.

And the very same way that Adam hid from the Lord;

That is the very same way in which men take the truth of God and suppress it for a lie.

This is precisely what we did prior to the Lord calling out to us.

I don’t care who they are, elect or non-elect.

This is what the world does.

We act in the very same way as our forefather Adam.

We see sin’s seductive promises and we look to what we think is best for us.

Yet sin always turn out to be a mirage.

The temptation of sin in the moment promises great and vast returns.

Yet once participated in, that vision of greatness disappears.

And all the while;

All that we are doing is running into a bush to hide ourselves.

So you pastor, you need to be ready to deal with this.

You need to be prepared for the fact that men hide from the Triune God.

And they do so in a myriad of ways.

They run to cults to act as a covering for their sin.

They run to religious zeal which makes them feel better about their hiding from the Lord.

They run to Atheism to try and deny the Lord.

They run to everything besides the Lord.

And they do so because they are doing nothing more than hiding from the Lord.

Yet this entire story does not end there.

Here is my final point;

III. Theological Principle

It is your command Pastor to call them back to the Divine Trinity. a. God calls unto all men like Adam. (Verse 9)

Look at that verse for just a second.

Do you think for one moment that the Lord did not know where Adam was?

That somehow Adam surprised God and found a way to hide from Him?

Psalm 139:7–12 ESV

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

Psalm 139:7–8 ESV

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Psalm 139:7

Psalm 139:7-8

There is nothing that the Lord does not know.

There is nowhere that the Lord is not.

Adam was not hiding himself from the Lord in such a way that God did not know where he was.

Instead, God was calling to Adam to see his situation.

God was calling Adam to see that his sin before the Lord had caused him to act in ridiculous ways.

Another way to say this is that God was calling Adam to assess his predicament.

God had no need for Adam to call out and respond.

God did not need an answer from Adam.

Not only is God Omnipresent;

He’s also Omniscient.

He knew all of this situation and not one portion was a surprise to Him.

Instead, he called Adam and Eve to the Carpet.

To give an account for what they had done.

To see in their own heart that they had rebelled against God.

That they had looked to sin as what gives them life instead of their fellowship with the Divine.

The Lord was calling them to see the broken fellowship with Him;

This is the mercy of the Lord!

God would have been perfectly just to shut down all of humanity at that very moment.

Yet the Mercy of the Lord called them to the carpet.

And I submit to you this morning pastor;

You are the mercy of the Lord upon a people fallen in Adam.

We as pastors have now become the mouthpiece of the Lord.

You’re calling in this life is not merely to chaplain the 99.

You are called to go after the 1.

To call them to see their position before the Lord.

That they in their sin have removed themselves from the presence of the Lord.

That there is a judgment waiting upon them;

and if they would call upon the name of the Lord, they can know Grace.

Not only are you called to do so;

a.

You’re also called to equip others to do the same.

I am so grateful for men like our brother Alvin.

I had heard that this is what he was doing.

That not only was he taking care of the 99.

He was also out calling for the 1.

He was doing so in a multitude of places.

Zealously searching out the 1.

And in 2014 he took me under his wing to show me how to do the same.

See I was a pastor for several years before this.

But I allowed my theology to prevent me from actively going out.

Yet Alvin took me under his wings and in many ways taught me how to seek out the 1.

I quietly watched from the sidelines to see how he was doing this and I instantly became convicted.

Convicted because I knew that this was what the Lord was calling me to do.

Yet I had only focused on the 99.

The problem though is this;

When we focus on the 99, they already know of their Paradise Lost.

They hear about it several times a week through reading and preaching.

But there are so many more out there who have no understanding of what they lost.

There are so many more still hiding in the bushes;

Waiting upon you to be the mouthpiece of God.

Waiting on you to say, “Where are you?”

So not only should this be a common part of your life,

But you should also be actively looking for those that you can teach to do the same.

Train up the men and women in your Church to search out the 1.

Train them up to proclaim to the world both the paradise lost;

as well as the paradise that is to come.

Turn with to me please.

Revelation 22:1–6 ESV

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

Upon leaving the 99 and searching out the 1;

You can proclaim what marvelous mysteries await those who have come to the Father through Jesus the Son.

You can proclaim to them the hope of paradise restored.

You can proclaim to them that in this new paradise restored;

The throne of God and of the Lamb is there.

That they will once again be able to see His face.

That they can have that communion with the Trinity in the way they had in the Garden.

But pastor, how will they know any of this in nobody goes?

Conclusion: Synopsis:

Conclusion: Synopsis:

As we draw to a close today, I want to draw you attention back to starting point of this sermon.

I told you that there are three imperatives concerning how man’s bond with the Trinity has been broken and what you must do to restore that bond.

Man was and is removed from the presence of the Divine Trinity.

2. It is man’s nature to hide from the Trinity after the fall.

It is man’s nature to hide from the Trinity after the fall.

It is your command Pastor to call them back to the Divine Trinity.

It is your command Pastor to call them back to the Divine Trinity.

Clinching Element of Persuasion:

Pastor, I hope and pray that this very morning;

If this has not been the pursuit of your heart;

That you would not ignore the words of the Apostle Paul when he says this;

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not Believed?”

“How are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard?”

“How are they to hear without someone preaching?”

Pastor, you have been called by God for a purpose.

And that purpose is to show the Paradise man once inhabited as a foretaste of what we will one day have again in Christ.

You must show them the second person of the Trinity humbled Himself and became a man.

You must show them that Jesus was conceived through supernatural means.

You must show them Jesus is the Lamb of God.

The only one able to restore that which is lost.

You must teach them that Jesus lived a sinless life before the Father.

That on the Cross of Calvary, He shed His blood as an atonement of sin.

That upon that cross Christ Jesus died for what was owed to them;

Taking their place upon that tree.

That through repentance of sin and their trusting upon Christ and Him alone;

They can once again be made right with the Father.

And that being right with the Father means that for all of eternity;

They will once again stand in the presence of the Divine Trinity.

Let us pray.

The Gospel:

The Gospel:

For those of you present today who do not know Christ or this pursuit of holiness which we’re talking about, I want to give you an exhortation to look unto Jesus so that you too can walk with assurance the way the Christian can.

1.Divinity of Jesus

2.Humanity of Jesus / Became a man

3.Virgin birth

4.Jesus is the lamb of God

5.God’s lamb/ The Lamb of God. The only solution. (yes both)

6.Lived a sinless life

7.Substitutionary atonement

8.Shed blood on the cross

9.Death on the cross

10.Resurrection from the dead

11.Repentance of Sin

12.Belief in Jesus/trust in the finished work of Christ

Prayer.