Return to Eden part 1

*A Return to Eden He Makes All Things New Part one Sermon by Pastor Rich Miller June 26, 2020 Introduction: Currently, we live in a time of big data and instant communication. We can see events from around the world unfolding in real time right before our very eyes. Some of it incredibly good and some of it quite disturbing. There seems to be an expert opinion on every topic which in many cases will present one expert stating so called facts and then another expert stating different so-called facts that are completely contrary to the first expert. We are being bombarded with constant information and we need to determine who is telling the truth and who is merely using false information or propaganda for their own benefit. This is not only stressful but will lead many to false truths and disillusions. The good news is that for us as Christians we are very blessed to have the word of God and the Holy Spirit to guide our lives and be the anchor of truth in uncertain times. But even with the knowledge of Jesus and the personal connection to Christ in our lives most people will experience seasons of stress or discomfort in the natural realm. Unfortunately, we will all at some point travel through a time where we do not recognize the blessings of the Lord in our situation nor we hear His voice to provide direction in our time of need. Is that because God is not speaking to us or moving in our lives? Of course not, because the Holy Spirit of God dwells in His people and the Holy Bible which is the word of God is as accurate and applicable to our lives today as it ever has been. The situation is that in our natural bodies we cannot help but be affected on some level when we see troubled times around us or experience challenges in our own lives. You have heard me say before that pain is just pain and cannot conquer us and while that is true, it does not erase the fact that as humans we hurt and mourn and feel stresses and anxieties in certain seasons of our lives. But the wonderful news is that when we start to feel our hurts or anxieties, we can still have hope through Jesus Christ who reminds us that we serve a God who loves us and will not abandon us. Amen! As Christians we have obtained the true perspective which is that the mighty plans of the Lord are much bigger than our individual circumstances, yet we still all play an important part in God's plan. Furthermore, we have the powerful hope of heaven as our eternal home where we will be with Jesus forever. So, no matter how crazy or stressful the world around us becomes I can assure you that Jesus Christ is the rock of our salvation and that the promises of God remain upon those who persevere and believe until the end. *Scripture Reference: Revelation 21:3-5 New Living Translation (NLT) 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever." 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making everything new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." 6 And he also said, "It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega-the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. *Eden (Part 1) To understand the future promises of a new heaven and a new earth we have we need to first reflect on the original creation of the heavens and the earth and more specifically the garden of Eden. *In Genesis 1:1-2 the Bible tells us: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters." ‭‬Then through the rest of Genesis chapter 1 we are told how on each day God created more new things. ‬‬ *For example, on day one God created the earth suspended in the darkness and void of space meaning no sun, stars, moon, or other planets existed but just earth as a watery ocean type planet. The Bible states that the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the face of the waters. Also, on day one God created light and the separation of light as day from darkness which is night. *On day two God created the earth's atmosphere which separated the waters into two parts which contain the oceanic and also atmospheric water. Said differently the ocean type water and the water vapor in our atmosphere. *Day three states that the Lord formed the dry lands and the oceans took their shape. So that the water that was formless now was taking shape and has the qualities of atmospheric water, ocean water, subterranean water and the systems of fresh water needed for life on land such as underground water, dew, and spring water. Also, on day three God made vegetation, seed- bearing plants, and trees that bear fruit. *On day four God created outer space most specifically the sun the moon, stars, and other planets. And as we know what the Lord creates will multiply which is why we know today that space is every expanding and we are able to discover new stars, planets, and more. Many a scientist has tried to explain space and some have even referred to it as the big bang but as Christians we know that God made the heavens by the power of His word and His might. *Day five brought the creation of water animals and birds and everything with breath was a vegetarian. Still today in our age of science and technology new ocean species of animals are being discovered. Our God made them all in a day with His creative and intelligent design! *On day six God created land animals which were also all vegetarian. This included animals that move close to the ground or small animals, large animals, and animals for use to man as livestock. And more importantly than the animals God created, on the sixth day God also created the first man Adam and the first woman who was formed from Adam whose name was Eve. *Lastly, on the seventh day God rested because His work of creation was finished. Genesis 2:1-3 So, the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation. As you can clearly see, the Lord put tremendous work and effort into creating a planet perfect for human life. That is not because God needed to do this because He is a Spirit and not in need of the natural realm. Jesus teaches us this very fact in *John 4:24 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." So, since God did not have to create earth for humans then why did He? The simple answer is because He loves us. That is right, the all-powerful, all mighty, all present God of the universe put tremendous work and skill to use because He loves us and desires a relationship with us. We know He loves us for many reasons, but the earliest account is that the Lord made us in His image. *Genesis 1:27 New Living Translation (NLT) 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them. As humans we are always looking for something to give us self-worth or deeper meaning or the next big thing but the truth is that we are the height of God's creation and His plan for humanity is for us to rule His created world with Him as our one and only God. We are reminded of the love which God has for us and his plan for us to tend and watch over His created earth in *Genesis 2:8-17 New Living Translation (NLT) 8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground-trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden, and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, "You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden- 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die." There was a hands-on approach taken by God to create a beautiful earth and an even more detailed hands on care taken to create a beautiful paradise at the garden of Eden. In addition, the Lord entrusted the garden to Adam to care for. Hear me this morning that anytime a great trust is given to us by the Lord, we are expected to act responsibly and obediently to His directions. God provides this clear direction and warning to Adam in verse 16 when declaring it is good to eat of all the trees of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because if that fruit is eaten then sin and death will enter the world. Please hear me this morning, God will always give you the dignity of allowing you to make your own choices. Just as Adam and Eve had a simple choice to make our choices are also quite simple. Will you trust God and His definition of good and evil or will you take advantage of the free will you are given to make yourself a false god by taking control of your own life and deciding for yourself what you think is good and what you think is evil. Throughout time, people have come up will all sorts of elaborate philosophical thoughts and debates surrounding their worldview but really at the end of the day the its simple do you trust God and submit to His ways or do you seize control of the life you have been given and decide for yourself what is right and wrong. As we will see in a moment, the original sin of humanity is doing what is right in their own eyes instead of obeying the word of God. Genesis 3:1-7 tell how the serpent enticed Eve and then Eve enticed Adam to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which the Lord forbid them to eat from. As soon as they ate suddenly, they felt shame at their nakedness and tried to hide from God. Hear me this morning, you cannot hide your sin from God. He knows everything and is everywhere. Then when God calls for Adam in the cool of the day Adam tells God that he was afraid of God because he was naked. Sin and rebellion against God will make you feel like distancing yourself from Him because of shame or not wanting to face the consequences. The devil will make you feel like you are not good enough for God anymore so that you do not return to Him, be forgiven and be healed. Satan is a liar and comes only to kill, steal, and destroy but you cannot let him. He has no authority over you as a blood bought believer of Jesus Christ. Next, God asks Adam who told him he was naked and Adam states it was Eve's fault and Eve states it was the serpent's fault. The Lord will deal harshly with those who try to harm his children but there is also a punishment that comes to us as well for not trusting God. God curses the serpent and states that he will have conflict with the offspring of Eve and that there will come a man who will crush the serpents head but that the serpent will strike his heel. God is referring to Jesus who will defeat the serpent who is the devil but that the devil will strike the heel of Jesus as he did on the cross but that Jesus would rise again on the third day victorious over death, hell, and the grave and leave the devil a defeated foe. Then God tells Eve that she will have pain during childbirth and that she will wish to control her husband but that the husband will rule over her. Next, the Lord tells Adam that because he listened to his wife instead of listening to God that the ground would be cursed and that only by hard labor would he be able to make a living and that humans would now live and die instead of being with God in Eden the garden paradise. Yet still despite their rebellion, God had mercy on Adam and Eve and made them clothes so they would not be shamed. Furthermore, he banished them from the garden of Eden because if they would have eaten from the tree of life after sinning then they would be forever in judgement and not able to be reconciled to God. Closing In closing, we can see that in the beginning God's plan for humanity was to have a place where the spiritual realm of heaven and the natural realm of earth could coexist in peace and harmony. To do so God would need someone made in His image to rule His creation and walk in His ways. This is why Adam and Eve could eat from the tree of life prior to sin and only the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were off limits because God wanted mankind to dwell with Him on earth for eternity. However, since God is holy and righteous, He will not dwell in the presence of sin and rebellion so after Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent and sinned against the Lord they then had the knowledge of both good and evil and will have to struggle to overcome their free will and submit to God's ways instead of their own ways. As stated earlier, by the Lords mercy and kindness He did not let them eat from the tree of life after sin so that mankind could be redeemed and the Lord's plan for heaven and earth to coexist as Eden will once again be a reality. So how does humanity reconcile us with God and return to Eden? Next week using the Scriptures, we will find the answer. And if I may drop a spoiler alert its all about Jesus! Amen! Thanks so much for joining me today. God loves you and so do I! Be blessed.