What If This Storm Ends- Class

Before we begin, I have one request of you, that you would pray with me and for me as I preach.

Pray

Intro:

Attention and interest

Can you imagine it? With His very breath, God established the universes and all they contain. He brought forth the world, its sun and moon, He created the skies, the ocean, the mountains, the plants and trees and all the life that would live in between.Then, after seeing it all as good, God created the pentacle of His creation, the crown jewels that would eternally rest upon His brow: mankind. Taking the dirt from the ground, He formed it into man and breathed into his nostrils life.After tasking man with some responsibilities, God declared a bizarre need in the man: the need for companionship outside of God, Himself. God puts the man into a deep sleep and takes from His body a rib and fashions it into a woman.

At the cusp of , the first ever recorded words of mankind are written. And it’s a song:

Of love

Of oneness

Of shamelessness

This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

2. Surface needs

Surface needs

And humanity for some time enjoyed a world unimaginable to us today. They consumed the fruit of the garden with joy, the sweetness of nectar a simple beacon that pointed to the wonderfulness of God. God made sweetness. They consumed each other in marital love, their bodies embracing and merging in a oneness that echoes beyond the halls of sexual pleasure; they partook in a oneness that God Himself enjoys within the Trinity. And with their hands, they consumed the good works God prepared for them beforehand, joyfully fulfilling their purpose as children God.

Body:

Creative narritve

Select reading

It’s interesting that right after this happy picture that the author paints in , he doesn’t waste anytime mentioning The Serpent.

Read v. 1a, Now it’s easy to miss, but this was no ordinary serpent. This was a beautiful and clever creature of the LORD God. What’s more is that this creature seemed to have some information from the down-low.

“Did God really say, ‘Y’all shall not eat from any tree in the garden?”

Now this question seems innocent enough, as far as we can observe, there was no uneasiness in the woman's response.

“Of course we can eat from the trees in the garden, there is just the tree in middle of the garden that God said we can’t eat or even touch, or we die.”

That’s a fair response; it’s to the point. It’s true God said nothing about the touching, but I would argue that she is taking the weightiness of God’s command with seriousness.

That’s a fair response; it’s to the point. It shows that the woman understands the weightiness of God’s command with seriousness.

If you knew that to commit a certain action would to be sinning against God, why even play with the fire?

If you know that to commit a certain action would to be sinning against God, why even play with the fire?

Well, after her response, suddenly the conversation turns scandalous

Well, after her response, this serpent suddenly turns the conversation into scandal

*gasp* You two surely will not die! For God knows that in the day that y’all do eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you both will be like God, knowing good and evil.

LIAR! BLASPHEMER! Right after v. 5, do you see it? Adam yells at this deceiver and… wait a minute. What’s this? *pause* No one confronted this creature who would dare call God a liar.

LIAR! BLASPHEMER! Right after v. 5, do you see it? Adam yells at this deceiver and… wait a minute. What’s this? No one confronted this creature who would dare call God a liar.

v. 6, The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

What in the world are they thinking?

Is God holding out on us?

Is He just holding us back so He can have all the glory to Himself?

Do you notice, the road to self-destruction always begins with the temptation to mistrust and disregard what God tells us?

But not so the sinner. He concludes in that those who disregard God’s Word, the wicked, will perish.

So if we have to choose between being happy or perishing, how and why, Christians, do we still screw this up? Why do we continue to yield to temptation and forsake God’s call over our lives?

Let’s look back at v.6.

Now she saw that the tree was good for food. It was a delight to the eyes; that’s the interesting thing about temptation. The longer you stare at it, the more delightful and indulging it appears.

This is often why we fail in our participation of the victory Christ won us into. When we cultivate desire, whether we dwell on the wants of our flesh, allow our imaginations to linger too far in pastures forbidden to us, or not straight up flee from the area that temptation is rampant in, we have already paved our way towards destruction.

Now hear this Christian: this is often why we fail in our participation of the victory Christ won us into. When we cultivate desire, whether we dwell on the wants of our flesh, allow our imaginations to linger too far in pastures forbidden to us, or not straight up flee from the area that temptation is rampant in, we have already paved our way towards destruction.

So she eats one of the forbidden tree’s fruit and her husband watching her, watching his wife betray the God who he witnessed create, and partook in this macabre picnic. At that moment, their eyes were opened. *pause* They saw each other.

What did they see that wasn’t there before?

v. 7, They realized, in the midst of their own scandal, they were naked. They saw each other for what they had become in their most vulnerable. In a pitiful makeshift attempt, they put together fig leaves to cover their shame.

This is interesting. What do you use to cover the sin in your life? Self-righteousness (I’m a good person)? Apathy (It’s not a big deal)? Deception (I didn’t sin against God)? What are the fig leaves in your lives?

What follows next is this, read v. 8- 11

What follows next is this, in the midst of their panic, they hear the worst sound in their lives, the voice of God calling out to them. Their first response is to hide. Yet nothing can hide from God. He calls out to the man, “Where are you?” Finally the man cannot take it anymore. “I heard your voice in the garden and I hid myself because I was naked.

What would you have said? What would you have done?

You’re Moody Bible Institute students, I’m sure you would’ve done better than what Man did.

What happens next? He confesses, well maybe blame shift is more accurate.

This man straight threw his wife under the bus. What’s more, is that he attempted to throw the LORD under there as well.

v.12, No, no God, that woman that YOU gave to be with me, that woman she did this. She gave me the fruit, and then I ate...”

He doesn’t even blame the serpent!

What betrayal. The man failed his wife. He failed to protect her, to guard her, to defend her, to love her. That man who sung to her, bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.

The man spoke like someone in a panic for their life.

As we continue in v. 13, God then turns His attention to the woman. “What have you done?”

As we continue, God then turns His attention to the woman. “What have you done?”

Her response is shorter; she is clearly at a loss for words. But like her husband, she blame shifts. “It was the serpent that deceived me, and I ate.”

After this, it becomes interesting; it’s easy to miss. God doesn’t give a chance for the deceiver to speak or explain himself. He pronounces judgment over him.

Her response is shorter; she is clearly at a loss for words. But like her husband, she blame shifts. “It was the serpent that deceived me, and I ate.”

Read v. 14

This creature is declared the lowest in all creation. He is declared most humiliated. *pause*

After this, it becomes interesting; it’s easy to miss. God doesn’t give a chance for the deceiver to speak or explain himself. He pronounces judgment over him.

And he is declared defeated, v. 15 *read*

This creature is declared the lowest in all creation. He is declared most humiliated. And he is declared defeated, v. 15 *read*

God turns to the woman and man and declares His judgment upon them.

Read v. 16-19

I almost wonder how bitterly the man must have wept, if he even did at all, when he looked into the eyes of the woman he betrayed. Did it dawn on him, in the midst of his panic, on what he had just done?

How did everything spiral out of control like this?

One moment humanity was enjoying a perfect creation, a perfect relationship to God, a perfect relationship with one another, then suddenly… gone. Brokenness. Tears. Pain, sickness, death.

For some of you this narrative is

Don’t anyone tell you otherwise, sin does destroy. Some of you have come from homes or currently living in homes where you have seen the destruction with your own eyes.

It is typical, when faced with the consequences of a terrible action that we often focus on the action itself once it has been caught. In our narrative this morning, it is of no surprise when you ask another Christian, “Why is there death in the world,” they will more than likely immediately point to Adam and Eve disobeying God, which is obviously true when looking at our text. However, I believe the problem of sin is much deeper than that. I’ll tell it to you straight, sin does not begin at the commission/omission, that is the action or withholding of action, but at the desire for it in our hearts.

So what happened?

It is typical, when faced with the consequences of a terrible action that we often focus on the action itself once it has been caught. In our narrative this morning, it is of no surprise when you ask another Christian, “Why is there death in the world,” they will more than likely immediately point to Adam and Eve disobeying God, which is obviously true when looking at our text. However, I believe the problem of sin is much deeper than that. I’ll tell it to you straight, sin does not begin at the commission/omission, that is the action or withholding of action, but at the desire for it in our hearts.

Subject

You can find many discussions, books, and sermons that will talk about avoiding temptation, whether you keep away from it, flee from it or slay it. But what about when the desire and your flesh consummate their passion? Where do you go when a confession of what you have done can destroy everyone and everything you hold dear? What do you do when you reaching for every fig leaf out there to cover your sin before God? Where can hope be found in the midst of such despair?

It is usually the calm after the storm of temptation fulfilled that is most daunting. Perhaps some of you consummated your relationship with temptation and are in a storm of terrible consequences because of it.

Perhaps some of you are shrouding yourselves in those fig leaves to maintain your secret sin. Maybe those secrets are fluttering around inside of you like butterfly wings. Sooner or later those butterfly flutters will cast out deathly hurricanes within your soul.

Perhaps some of you are shrouding yourselves in those fig leaves to maintain your secret sin. Maybe those secrets are fluttering around inside of you like butterfly wings. With each flutter, those butterflies are casting hurricanes within your soul.

But sometimes that isn’t what scares us the most. There is a reason people feel a heavy sense of relief when they are exposed. What prevents us from confessing and exposing light on our sins sooner is that we are frightened to see what the damage is after the storm ends.

As the band Snow Patrol asked, “What if this storm ends? And I don't see you, As you are now, Ever again.

As Snow Patrol once asked, “What if this storm ends? And I don't see you, As you are now, Ever again.

What happens when the brokenness is so severe, life can never be the same? And even if your sins are out in the open, confessed and repented of, where is the hope when for the rest of your life, your spouse, your children, your friends, your community or even you will forever walk with a scar or a limp? Where is hope if your storm ends?

What happens when the brokenness is so severe, life can never be the same? And even if your sins are out in the open, confessed and repented of, where is the hope when for the rest of your life, your community, your peers, your friends, your children, your spouse or even yourself will forever walk with a scar or a limp? Where is hope when your storm ends?

Looking at the man and his wife, v. 20

Imagine it. Man looked into eyes of that woman who once protected his heart, with tears streaming from her eyes. The pain of betrayal and confusion was stifling. Man walked to his wife and quietly sat beside her. He took her by the hand, and wept with her. They grieve together. They sit there for some time, reflecting on what had just transpired.

Imagine it. Man looked into eyes of that woman who once protected his heart, with tears streaming from her eyes. The pain of betrayal and confusion was stifling. Man walked to his wife and quietly sat beside her. He took her by the hand, and wept with her. They grieve together. They sit there for some time, reflecting on what had just transpired. A creation cursed and everlasting turmoil in the ground they were created to take care of.

A creation cursed and everlasting turmoil in the ground they were created to take care of.

The gift of life now marred by the screams of every daughter to come and the preservation of unity in marriage will constantly be threatened.

The gift of life now marred by the screams of every daughter to come and the preservation of unity in marriage will constantly be threatened. At least that deceiver has been properly condemned. Declared the lowest out of everything God has created. But what did God mean that the woman’s seed would bruise that deceiver’s head? What was it that God was declaring? What kind of promise is to come from this woman? “Life.” The woman looked to her husband in curiousity. She saw that he was looking at her with a quiet smile on his face and he gently touched hers. “Your name is Life, for you are the mother of all the living.”

At least that deceiver has been properly condemned. Declared the lowest out of everything God has created. But what did God mean that the woman’s seed would bruise that deceiver’s head?

What was it that God was declaring? What kind of promise is to come from this woman?

“Havah.” The woman looked to her husband in curiosity. She saw that he was looking at her with a quiet smile on his face and he gently touched hers. “Your name is Life, for you are the mother of all the living.”

Did you know that’s what Eve means? The man named his wife Life.

After the fall.

Have you ever noticed that? Man names the first woman in creation Havah, Life, after the fall.

Who in the world would have the audacity to name their wife, who was deceived by Satan, unprotected and betrayed by her husband, and who is a rebel herself against God, Life?

If I had to speculate, it was because , also known as the protoevangelium. The First Good News. That promised Seed of woman would one day be God Himself, incarnate, God in flesh, Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the One who would smash the head of our enemy through the Cross on which He was nailed upon.

, also known as the protoevangelium. The First Good News. That promised Seed of woman would one day be God Himself, incarnate, God in flesh, Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the One who would smash the head of our enemy through the Cross on which He was nailed upon.

That’s what makes v. 21, while subtle, infinitely important. *read*

Do you notice, that God spilled blood to cover the shame and nakedness of Man and Woman. God declared that this covering of sacrifice would be sufficient to cover the broken-pentacle of His creation.

That is how man can name with no shame declare the name of his bride, Life. Life after death. Life after sorrow. Life after the storm ends.

Their hope resided in God’s promise that one day the fruit of the woman’s womb would conquer death. The man surely must of discerned that even though humanity has now been subjected to a spiritual death, there was still Life in mankind.

This is often why we fail in our participation of the victory Christ won us into. When we cultivate desire, whether we dwell on the wants of our flesh, allow our imaginations to linger too far in pastures forbidden to us, or not straight up flee from the area that temptation is rampant in, we have already paved our way towards destruction.

State and restate (big idea)

There in lies the whole point. Where God’s promises dwell, Life is sure to be found.

That is where hope flourishes.

But the narrative doesn’t stop there. v. 22-24 *read*

Apply the main point

The reality is, Christian, that your life may very well never be the same after your sin is exposed. You may find that everything will come crashing down with such tragic ferocity. But don’t let that allow you to forget that while the nakedness of Adam and Eve was covered because of sin, their nakedness was also covered by God because of grace.

Christians, that is where our hope spring from. Did not God promise you that when you became a Christian, you were a new person? The old has passed, the new has come. You are dead to sin, you are alive to Christ. It is from the promises of God fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension that we too find our hope well.

Understand, there is no storm that can overtake the solace of God’s shelter of Truth. When we cling to Him, in the midst of our sorrows and shame, we can never be tossed away by the storm.

And when the storm ends, there is no damage that He cannot redeem, heal, and reconcile.

Summarize

Perhaps you are in a place in your life where you have done things. Horrible and terrible things. In Christ, you are not beyond redemption, healing, and reconciliation.

Perhaps you are in a place in your life where terrible and horrible things happened to you. In Christ, you are not beyond redemption, healing, and reconciliation.

Who told you, you were naked? Did you eat from the tree from which I told you not to eat?

Give a final appeal

As we proceed to leave here today, I ask that you would not leave without confessing your sins and your pains to God. Some would say you should go so far to confide in another believer your sins and sorrows and I leave that between you and God to discern.

This man straight threw his wife under the bus. What’s more, is that he attempted to throw the LORD under there as well.

Regardless, I say to you Christians, throw down your fig leaves of deception, distraction, apathy, and fear and stand before God naked and vulnerable and let him cover you in the blood and righteousness of Christ, which He promises is sufficient for our needs.

v.12, No, no God, that woman that YOU gave to be with me, that woman she did this. She gave me the fruit, and then I ate...”

He doesn’t even blame the serpent!

The man spoke like someone in a panic for their life.

As we continue, God then turns His attention to the woman. “What have you done?”

Her response is shorter; she is clearly at a loss for words. But like her husband, she blame shifts. “It was the serpent that deceived me, and I ate.”

This creature is declared the lowest in all creation. He is declared most humiliated. And he is declared defeated, v. 15 *read*

God turns to the woman and man and declares His judgment upon them.

I almost wonder how bitterly the man must have wept, if he even did at all, when he looked into the eyes of the woman he betrayed. Did it dawn on him, in the midst of his panic, on what he had just done, as Peter had realized after the third crow of the rooster?

Perhaps some of you are shrouding yourselves in those fig leaves to maintain your secret sin. Maybe those secrets are fluttering around inside of you like butterfly wings. Sooner or later those butterfly flutters will cast out deathly hurricanes within your soul.

But sometimes that isn’t what scares us the most. There is a reason people feel a heavy sense of relief when they are exposed. What prevents us from confessing and exposing light on our sins sooner is that we are frightened to see what the damage is after the storm ends.

As the band Snow Patrol asked, “What if this storm ends? And I don't see you, As you are now, Ever again.

What happens when the brokenness is so severe, life can never be the same? And even if your sins are out in the open, confessed and repented of, where is the hope when for the rest of your life, your spouse, your children, your friends, your community or even you will forever walk with a scar or a limp? Where is hope if your storm ends?

Looking at the man and his wife, v. 20

Imagine it. Man looked into eyes of that woman who once protected his heart, with tears streaming from her eyes. The pain of betrayal and confusion was stifling. Man walked to his wife and quietly sat beside her. He took her by the hand, and wept with her. They grieve together. They sit there for some time, reflecting on what had just transpired. A creation cursed and everlasting turmoil in the ground they were created to take care of.

The gift of life now marred by the screams of every daughter to come and the preservation of unity in marriage will constantly be threatened. At least that deceiver has been properly condemned. Declared the lowest out of everything God has created. But what did God mean that the woman’s seed would bruise that deceiver’s head? What was it that God was declaring? What kind of promise is to come from this woman? “Life.” The woman looked to her husband in curiousity. She saw that he was looking at her with a quiet smile on his face and he gently touched hers. “Your name is Life, for you are the mother of all the living.”

What If This Storm Ends- Class

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

What If This Storm Ends- Class

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Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3