Where it All Went Wrong

ell, good morning. I am not someone who typically watches the Academy Awards when they come on every single year, unless there's gonna be somebody who's hosting and is gonna do a funny monologue, making fun of everybody who's there as to why they're so self-congratulatory about everything that they do. But other than that, I don't really watch, maybe some of you do, but you might've heard about in 2017, the Academy Awards were being hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the late night talk show host. And they were going along swimmingly, everything was going fine, all of the presenters, everything was going well, the musical numbers were going well, everything was going really, really good. And they were getting almost toward the end of the event. And the award ceremony usually culminates in Best Motion Picture, right? That's one of the biggest things. And then maybe they do best actress or actor or whatever, but Best Motion Picture. So they're moving their way toward Best Motion Picture, and out comes Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. If you're a certain age, you know who they are. Those of you who are younger going, never heard of them, because they weren't any of the Avengers movies. But nonetheless, they're older and they haven't, you know, they've been around for a long time, and they're coming out to make this presentation, and they open the envelope and both of them look at one another and kind of are a little bit confused. And then they just announce that the winning Best Motion Picture was "La La Land". And so everybody applauds and cheers, and all the writers and producers and actors and actresses are all coming up. The directors, they're coming up to receive their big award for Best Motion Picture. And then there's some frantic movement behind them backstage, somebody runs out to one of the producers of "La La Land", hands them another envelope. He opens the envelope and then he makes his way to the microphone. Now granted, they had already started saying thank you to everyone for winning this award. And the producer comes out and says, "Hey everyone, I'm so sorry. "There has been a terrible mistake. "The winning Best Motion Picture is actually "Moonlight"." And I think that was the name of it. I haven't seen it, but it was "Moonlight". And then he said, "And this is not a joke." And no one knew what to do. Everyone was just dumbfounded because they didn't know exactly what was going on at that time. And it was the biggest flub in Academy Awards history. I mean, they got the biggest prize, the most prestigious one, they got it completely wrong. And afterwards, all the journalists that were covering the Academy Awards from all over the world were basically asking the same question, like, how did this happen? And where did this all go wrong? That's what they were wondering, right? And it was interesting because we found out that backstage, Warren Beatty was given an envelope, and it was interesting, 'cause when he walked out with that envelope, and he opened it up, he read on it, what it said was, "Emma Stone, La La Land". That's what it said. So apparently it was like for Best Actress or whatever, but it said "Emma Stone, La La Land". And then he showed it to Faye Dunaway and they didn't know what to do. And instead of asking anyone for help or turning around going, is this right? I'm not real sure. They just went ahead and announced that "La La Land" actually won the Best Motion Picture. Now you can imagine that backstage when all of this happened, that there were a lot of people probably freaking out at this point, because there was a tremendous amount of embarrassment, there was some shame. I'm guessing some people that worked for the Academy Awards were hiding at this point probably, because we don't know exactly how it happened. Did it happen because he just grabbed the wrong envelope? Was there somebody working back there that dropped the ball and gave him the wrong one? Was there something nefarious going on because some of the people wanted to stick it to "La La Land"? Nobody really knows. And by the way, no one was taking responsibility for this. Literally no one was taking responsibility. But this particular act caused, it started affecting a lot of people, because it affected a lot of actors, it affected a lot of producers, a lot of writers, a lot of directors, and a lot of fans. It was a massive flub that had a lot of consequences. Now, as we've been looking at this great story of God that we have started in Genesis chapter one and chapter two, what we've seen is that the story is moving along swimmingly. It is absolutely a beautiful account of a good creator, God, who creates everything good. It is beautiful. He keeps saying, it is good, it is good. And then the pinnacle of his creation, human beings, he says, it is very good. It is beautiful and good. And this is what we see in the beginning in Genesis chapter one and chapter two, we see human beings that are made in the likeness and the image of God, which means at least that they are made on purpose and with a purpose, by a God of purpose. And that that purpose would have to do with representing God in the world that they live in, and having relationship with God and with other people that are rightly ordered. This is a beautiful, beautiful picture that we have been exposed to, and then we come to chapter three. All of us here know, when we look around at the world that we live in, we know that the world is not as it should be, right? When we look around at people and maybe even look in our own lives, we know that we maybe aren't what we should be. But now in Genesis chapter three, we actually get to go backstage a little bit and see where it all went wrong. Here's how the story begins. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat "from any tree in the garden?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, "but God did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree "that is in the middle of the garden, "and you must not touch it, or you will die." This is how we're introduced to this story. It's a stark and sharp opening to this section of the story, where everything has been good, everything has been beautiful, the whole story is moving along wonderfully, and then it's just like, bam, there's a crafty serpent. And we just meet this crafty serpent. Now it's obvious to us, the reader, and it's obvious to Eve and to Adam that this serpent was unique. I don't know if you need to figure out more uniqueness than he talks, right? That's unique all by itself. But what comes out of the mouth of this serpent is indeed crafty. It's sinister even. Now, this serpent was obviously a created being. This creature was one that was made. But there was something that was animating this creature that was beyond this creature. And as we know, looking back with the eyes that we have now, it was the great adversary of humanity, none other than Satan, who is an animating this serpent and speaking in whatever mystical way this happened, to Eve. Now the first statement that the serpent makes is, "Oh, so you're not allowed to eat "from any of the fruit of the tree of the garden, you know, "in the trees in the garden, "you're not allowed to do that?" And she's like, "No, no, we can do that. "We just can't eat from the one "that's in the middle of the garden, "the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." And then she adds something. "We're not even allowed to touch it "or we will certainly die." That's not what God said. God said in Genesis chapter two, here's what the Lord said. The Lord God took the man, put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You're free to eat from any tree in the garden, "but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, "for when you eat from it, you will certainly die." It doesn't say anything about touching it, does it? Where did she get this information? I don't know, maybe Adam. That's a possibility. God spoke to Adam, told him this is what you're supposed to do. Eve was then created from Adam. I'm sure Adam told her about what God had said. We don't have a revelation of God having spoken directly to Eve about this, but we do have a revelation that God spoke directly to Adam about this. Maybe Adam just being careful was like, "Hey, we're not allowed to eat the fruit. "Don't even touch it." Maybe that's what he did. I have no idea how this actually played out, but this is what happened. And so she adds to it. We're not off to a good start in this conversation, because really what the serpent was doing was just putting a little bait out, hoping that he would engage a conversation, and then he does. And now the conversation continues. Verse number four, "You will not certainly die", the serpent said to the woman, "for God knows that when you eat from it, "your eyes will be opened, "and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. And then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord called to the man, "Where are you?" And he answered, "I heard you in the garden, "and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? "Have you eaten from the tree "that I commanded you not to eat from?" And the man said, "The woman you put here with me." Some of you picked that up pretty quick. I'll come back to that. "The woman you put here with me "gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it." And then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you've done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So Eve took some of the fruit, she ate it, she gave it to her husband. Then the eyes of both of them were opened to a new reality that they were unclothed. And they then covered up with some fig leaves and they hid from God because they heard him coming. And what we see beginning to emerge is this pattern that happens in this new reality where their hearts have operated independent from what God had commanded. Now we see a new reality emerging, one where there's fear and shame and hiding. Did you catch it? He asked Adam, "Where are you?" Not because God didn't know where he was. God is omniscient. He knows where Adam is. He's trying to help Adam see where he is. He's in a mess. And Adam says, "I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid." Did you catch it? Fear, shame, hiding. And then that went to blame after that, right? What happened here? This is where he starts. Now some of you're going, well, Adam blamed Eve. Listen, Adam blamed Eve directly, but he blamed God indirectly. It's that woman you gave me. He's actually blaming God at this point, right, indirectly. It's the woman that you gave me. And then the Lord says, "What do you have to say, Eve?" And she said, "It was the serpent, that he deceived me." And then God, right after that, begins a series of pronouncements. And here's what he says. So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you've done this, "Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! "You will crawl on your belly, "and you will eat dust all the days of your life. "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, "and between your offspring and hers. "He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel". To the woman he said, "I will make your pains and childbearing very severe. "With painful labor you will give birth to children. "Your desire will be for your husband, "and he will rule over you." To Adam, he said, "Because you listened to your wife "and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, "you must not eat from it. "Cursed is the ground because of you. "Through painful toil, "you will eat food from it all the days of your life. "It will produce thorns and thistles for you, "and you will eat the plants of the field. "By the sweat of your brow, "you will eat your food until you return to the ground "since from it you were taken, "for dust you are and to dust you will return." Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, "knowing good and evil. "He must not be allowed to reach out his hand "and take also from the tree of life and eat, "and live forever." So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he had been taken. And after he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. That's Genesis chapter three. This is the story of where it all went wrong for humanity. Genesis 3 is so rich and so deep, and so much to cover that I could not possibly do that in the few minutes that we have together. We could spend weeks just in this passage, teasing out the truths that are in here. So I want to do a few different things. I want to take a little bit of a big picture look, and then I want to focus in on something very specific. As we start to look at this story in larger view, there's a few high level takeaways that I want to just pop into your mind real quick. Here's the first one, the first high level takeaway. Sin isn't original. Sin is not original. In other words, though sin entered creation, it didn't originally exist with God, okay? This is something that we learned here. It interrupted creation, it came into creation, but it wasn't part of the original creation, which was good, right? So sin is not original. Second high level takeaway, God didn't create sin. This is important for us to understand about the nature of God. The story and the context here that's moving from Genesis 1 into Genesis 3 is about a good God who makes good things. Everything God created was good. God didn't create sin. That means, listen carefully. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is good, not evil because God made it. Now you're thinking to yourself, wait a second, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he told them not to eat from it. Is that a bad thing? No. When you see in the Old Testament, the use of the knowledge of good and evil used as a phrase in the remainder of the Old Testament, it's basically the equivalent of wisdom. That's how the Old Testament uses that phraseology. In fact, a lot of the ancients referred to this as the Tree of Wisdom. And they referred to the other, the Tree of Life, as the Life Tree, and this as the Wisdom Tree. That was common for that time and that place. So you might be thinking to yourself, okay, if this isn't an evil tree, then what's the deal here? Well, some people just thought it was a test, right? That this is a test for Adam and Eve. I don't think so. Some people thought that it could have been a tree with fruit on it, or God could have just made up another test, right? Do not cross the river. That's what I've commanded you to do, so don't do that. Or do not throw rocks at any of the wild animals. You know, maybe those are tests that God could have created. The reason that I don't think that this was just some random test is because Adam and Eve actually took something that wasn't theirs to take. They didn't just fail a test, they took something God didn't want them to have, at least yet. I don't know about in the future about what this tree was for and what that would look like, but God did not want them to have it, at least yet. This knowledge of good and evil or this type of wisdom. Why is that? Well, because this wisdom apparently was not something they could handle on their own. This was not something that was just designed for them independent of God. God had commissioned them to cooperate with him in bringing order to everything, in bringing order to the earth, in bringing order to the animal kingdom. This is what God had commissioned them to do to cooperate with him. Now in the choice of disobedience and rebellion and deception, they actually would endeavor to do that on their own now, apart from God, having taken something that God did not want them to take. This wasn't just the failure of a test, they took something that wasn't theirs to take. This is why the image of God was marred. It wasn't marred, listen to this. It wasn't marred because they bit into fruit. The fruit wasn't sinful. The heart was the issue that led them there, right? It was a decision that was made inside that caused them to take this particular posture. So now instead of being representatives of God, they decided to be independent contractors, armed with taking something from God that they would want to use for their own purposes. And then they're banished from the garden as if God were saying, good luck with ordering everything in the earth without me and my blessing associated with it. So, these are part of the effects high level. But let me tell you a third. Not only sin is an original and God didn't create sin, but sin's effects are universal. You see, what we have the advantage of is looking back on this story through the full weight of the canon of scripture and looking back on this story. And in the letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul reflects on this event this way. He says in chapter five, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man". Isn't it interesting by the way, because the story in Genesis 3 actually tells us that it was Eve who was deceived and ate and gave to her husband. But the New Testament holds the accountability with Adam and all that are in Adam. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, "and death through sin, "and in this way death came to all people "because all sinned." In other words, the consequences and the effects of sin are universal. Not only are there behavioral issues related to sin, right, as we saw in here, fear, shame, hiding blame, all of that. And by the way, that list ramped up as we continue to progress in the Book of Genesis. Not only are there behavioral issues, but there were positional effects that happened because of sin. Like specifically in Genesis 3, they were exiled from the garden and from the manifest presence of God. And so with this departure from God's presence, there was a marring of the ability to represent him as they were supposed to represent him, and to be in relationship rightly with him, and to resemble him in his likeness. That all now has been smudged and marred. Sin has greater consequences than just an individual issue. Yes, our personal lives are affected, but they also have greater consequence. I mean, we know that this is hereditary, right? We know that. How many of you in here are parents? Yeah. How many of you in here as parents, when your kids were little, sat down and gave them a seminar on how to lie. You didn't need to, did you? They knew how to do it. It was like, wow, they knew how to do that without my instruction. They knew how to be selfish without me teaching them anything. Why? Because we're all bent by the nature and the consequences and the effects of sin. And by the way, sin has massive implications. It never is just about singular, it's about multiple because of what it does. The implications of sin kind of have a reverberating effect on other people. I could probably give you a zillion illustrations of that, but like if you looked at the Bible, David was involved in sin with Bathsheba. And do you know what that actually ended up doing? It caused him to change a battle plan. It cost the life of her husband, it cost them their son that was born out of that pregnancy. It made another son end up being one of rebellion that tried to overthrow the kingdom. This one sin has far ranging ramifications. So this is the story in in Genesis 3. It's the part of the story of how it all went wrong. But listen, I don't want us to lose the plot. I wanna make sure we focus on the right place. And that's this. God is the story, not sin. I don't want you to miss this. I don't want us to get log jammed in Genesis 3, and overwhelmed by the despair that we can feel. Yes, sin is a part of the story. Yes, the world is not as it should be. Yes, it has resulted in so much brokenness and so much fracturing that we can't even get our minds around it. But let's not despair as if the whole story is about sin. It's not. It's about God. And God is the story, not sin. And what we learn about God in this story of humanity's failure is really important in the story. You're, wait, wait. We're learning about God in Genesis 3? Oh yeah. In fact, let me show you. Here's what we learn about God. God is merciful. We're learning about a God who is merciful. Imagine reading the story of Genesis 3, and you're one of the original readers in the time of Moses. You're one of the Israelites in the time of Moses, and you're in there reading the story. First of all, after Adam and Eve acted independently of God, then you read, and then they heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden. Now the Hebrew here is a little bit complex, but their ears probably would have known that this meant that Adam and Eve heard the sound of the thunder of judgment that would be coming for them. This is what they would assume, so they're probably reading this going, Adam and Eve, buckle up. About to get bumpy. Because God had already said, you eat from this, you will certainly die. And so they understand why Adam and Eve are hiding. Adam and Eve are hiding because God's coming. And when God comes, they're gonna die. Instead, God speaks to them. Yes, they now were on a trajectory of death, and by the way, when God said you will certainly die when they bit into that fruit and they didn't die, was God lying? No. God did not mean that you would die the moment you ate it, but that you would be on a trajectory of death. That was the intent of what was being said there. So yes, they're on the trajectory of death because separation from God will do that to us. But God does not immediately cause their deaths. Even their banishment from the garden was a demonstration of the merciful nature of God. Because what God wanted to make sure of, friends, is that they would not have access to the Tree of Life while living in this particular sinful stage, and therefore live in this forever. God banishes them from the garden so they didn't live forever in this state. Why? Because God is merciful. Secondly, God is gracious. God is gracious. How do we know that? Because before he banishes them from the garden, he clothes Adam and Eve properly before they go into the wilderness outside of the garden. It resulted in the slaying of an animal, and then using that animal skin to be able to cover them because they tried to do it themselves, right? They tried to cover themselves up with fig leaves. I don't, have you ever tried to make a garment out of fig leaves? I just don't know how good that's gonna go. And it's as if God said, that is simply not going to do. Where you are going in this wild and untamed land that is going to be full of thorns and thistles, that is not going to be like this place is, but is outside of my presence and outside of the beauty of this garden, you are going to need something different than just those fig leaves. And God gives them the proper clothing to do it. He not only, watch this, he not only withholds death from them immediately because he's merciful, but he actively provides them an opportunity to help them survive when they're outside of Eden. 'Cause God is gracious. But lest we forget, God is also holy. God is also holy. God does not shy away from the consequences of their rebellion. Not only are they banished from the presence, from his presence in the garden, but then God pronounces both curses and consequences. Now, there's a reason that I use that phrase, curses and consequences, because we often hear of the curse when we talk about Adam and Eve, that they're under the curse. And in some ways that's certainly true, and I know exactly what we're saying when we say that. But in the text of scripture in Genesis 3, they actually, Adam and Eve actually received consequences. There were curses, and I'll explain those in a moment, but they received consequences. For Eve, it would be that there would be anxiety and pain in conception, and ultimately in pregnancy and birth. And for Adam, the consequences he would bear is hard toil and labor on a ground full of thorns, that he has to deal with himself instead of through the blessing and help of God. 

 But the curses, those are reserved for two created things, the ground and the serpent. That's what was cursed in the text itself. It's interesting to me that though Adam was guilty of rebellion, God cursed the ground instead of Adam. Adam still faced the consequences, but God cursed the ground instead of Adam. In effect, here's what God did. God diverted the curse of guilty Adam to the innocent ground. And God also cursed the serpent. Why? Because God's holy. God will deal with sin. God will not wink at it. God has to deal with sin. But when he curse the serpent, it shows us another aspect of God that I wanna spend the balance of our time looking at. And it's this, that God is our hope. You see, this is what we see here in Genesis chapter three. We already know from chapter one, chapter two that God's creations of humans are different than the creation of other creatures, right? This is the pinnacle of what God was doing. Every other creature was made for its specific domain, fish for the sea, tree for the ground. But humanity was made where God was their natural habitat. Relationship with God was what they were designed for. And when the humans, first humans, independently walked away from God and disobeyed God, and tried to live like fish out of water, or tried to live like trees out of the soil, God knew that the disease of death through sin had taken hold, and only he could provide the help and the hope that was needed for humanity. That's why he said what he said to the serpent in Genesis 3:15. Notice it. He said, "I will put enmity between you, serpent, "and the woman, "and between your offspring and hers. "He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Now again, the Hebrew grammar here is slightly complex, but my best reading of this indicates a specific offspring is going to emerge from Eve that will crush the head of the serpent, who is the embodiment of evil, Satan himself. And in so doing, that one that is the offspring of Eve is going to crush the head of the serpent, but he will be injured as well, even mortally so. You get bit by a poisonous serpent no matter where that might be on you, and that could be problematic. This promise that was made to Eve right in front of Eve, he was saying it to the serpent, but he made a promise that from Eve, and she's hearing this, right, they're all hearing God's word and God's promise. This promise had to be ringing in her ear when she conceived and had her first son. That must have been what she was thinking. God gave Adam and Eve a son, and she probably thought, is this him? The one that's going to crush the head of the serpent. That son's name was Cain. We know it wasn't him because Cain not only would not crush the head of the serpent, he crushed the head of his own brother who came after him, Abel. He was a murderer. And then God gave to Adam and Eve, a replacement for murdered Abel, and his name was Seth. And I wonder if Eve was thinking to herself, is it Seth? And as Genesis continues to progress, we're faced with the anticipation of who may be the fulfillment of this promise that God made. Would it be Abraham, would it be Isaac, would it be Jacob, would it be Judah? And then as Genesis concludes and it continues, the story continues to press forward into Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, and Numbers, and all the places that it's gonna go after that. It's still anticipatory. Is it Moses, is it Samson? Is it David? You see, Genesis 3:15 is an anticipatory type of statement that God made. It is pointing us somewhere. And it's not until we get to the New Testament that we see that hope emerge. Now stay with me here, because you might see something you haven't seen before. When Luke's gospel introduces us to its story, we meet a girl who is not yet married, although she's betrothed to be married, and who was told by an angel that she would be the mother of the promised one of God. Her name was Mary. But you can imagine Mary, who was not yet married, and who was a virgin, had some questions. Notice what she says in this conversation with the angel. "How will this be", Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" She realizes that this, how is, this is beyond biological reality. I'm not yet married, I'm not engaged with my husband in a physical intimacy way. How in the world could I be pregnant or get pregnant with a child? The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, "and the power of the most high will overshadow you." So the holy one, the holy one, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. You see this child, as Luke introduces this story, this child, one born of a virgin, would not have the hereditary sin nature that all other human beings had coming from a mother and a father. This child named Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and was holy in his birth because he was not tainted by the universal effects of sin that affected every single human being. And then just a few chapters later in chapter three, Luke provides a genealogy of Jesus. Now for those of you who were here on Christmas Eve, I actually was in Matthew chapter one, and I talked a little bit about the genealogy of Jesus there to show that this was the king promised in the line of David to be the one that was spoken of. But Luke does this a different way. He doesn't make this a genealogy that's just running through the line of Abraham and David. Luke does his genealogy all the way back to Adam. Huh. Maybe Luke's trying to show something to us. This virgin born child, who is without the taint of hereditary sin because he's conceived by the Holy Spirit, fully human in the womb of his mother, yet is the Son of God who is holy. And his genealogy going all the way back to Adam. Why? Why was Luke doing this? Because this sinless Son of God would be the true representative of humanity and would be the only one who would be qualified to crush the head of the enemy. And eventually what we see in Luke's gospel, is that, he, this son of God who was sinless, who acted sinlessly, who was the very king that was promised, who was the very Messiah, the anointed one that was promised, he would wear on his head a crown of? Of what?

- [Speaker 1] Thorns. = Thorns? Like the cursed ground in Adam? Like those? This was not just a vehicle for torture for the son of God, and a mocking of a crown for the son of God, even though it was absolutely those things. It was also a picture that was indicative of the curse that God had given, and that the son of God, the sinless one, the representative of humanity would end up dying for sinful humanity even though he himself was without sin. And he would go to a cross so that the enemy indeed would strike Jesus' heel as he was crucified and it would be a mortal blow. But the enemy did not count on what came next, that Jesus didn't stay dead, that he got up from the grave to step on the head of the serpent, and step on the head of the death he brought into his good creation. Interestingly, Luke then after this resurrection shows us a scene later in the gospel that is a beautiful post-resurrection scene that actually is a bit of a retelling of Genesis 3 yet turned upside down. It's remarkable. You might remember the story, it's in Luke 24. There were two people that were walking, leaving Jerusalem, after all these events had transpired, and they were leaving. It was things had happened, and it felt like it was too good to be true. They weren't really sure what all was happening, right? They knew that Jesus had died and they had followed after him. And these two disciples were named Cleopas, and likely were talking about Cleopas's wife, it was a couple. In fact, we're introduced to Cleopas's wife in John chapter 19. Her name is Mary. There were a lot of Mary's back in the day, all right? Her name is Mary. So Cleopas and Mary, more than likely are walking on the road to Emmaus, about seven miles distance from Jerusalem. And as they're walking, Jesus, after his resurrection, comes up and is walking with Cleopas and his wife. But they are kept from recognizing him. So they don't know exactly that it's him. And of course, would they be suspecting it's him? No, they saw him die. And they heard rumors of a resurrection, but this is all so too awesome for them, too good to be true. So Jesus is walking with them on the road and he says, "What are you guys talking about?" And they're like, are you a visitor to Jerusalem "and you haven't heard about all these things?" And Jesus says, in what I think is one of the most comedic statements in the New Testament, "What things?" He literally says that. "What things?" And they say, "About Jesus. "We believed him, he was the one. "He was the Messiah, but they killed him." And then there's talk about him being risen, but they're just like, "We don't know what we're doing." And they're leaving Jerusalem, the place of God's dwelling. They're leaving it and they're going back to Emmaus. And then it says that what Jesus did over the remainder of that time as they walked, that he started in Moses and all the prophets, and told them everything that the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, had to say about the Messiah. Could you imagine being in that class? He's telling 'em everything about him from the Old Testament. And I mean, then they finally get to Emmaus, and Jesus acts like he's just gonna continue walking. And they're like, "Please don't. "Please stay with us. "Come in and have something to eat." And Jesus agrees to do it. And then watch. Watch what Luke records. When Jesus was at the table with them, he took bread and gave thanks, and broke it and began to give it to them. Oh. Then their, read these words with me, eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. And they asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us "while he talked with us on the road "and opened the scriptures to us?" And they got up and they returned to Jerusalem. You see, after Luke introduces us in chapter one to a virgin born Jesus, then he notes a genealogy in chapter three, tracing Jesus all the way back to Adam. He then shows us this beautiful post-resurrection picture reminiscent of the Adam and Eve story, except the fall turned right side up. Think about the comparisons here. Cleopas and his wife were offered food just like Adam and Eve were offered food. Cleopas and his wife don't realize, watch this. They don't, they're not aware of the true nature of the person who's offering them this food, just like Adam and Eve didn't really understand the true nature of this serpent. Cleopas and his wife, they eat the food just like Adam and Eve eat the food. And when they eat, the same phrase in both places is used. "Then their eyes were opened." And like Adam and Eve, Cleopas and his wife now retrospectively understand what was told to them. We're not our hearts burning within us. Now we see it, now we understand. But unlike Adam and Eve who were banished from the place of God's presence, Cleopas and his wife turn around and go back to the Jerusalem of God, the place where all of this happened. You see, what Luke is doing is he's showing us Jesus as the new and better Adam, the perfect sinless representative of humanity, who through his death and resurrection, can reverse the curse and bring humans back into the garden of intimacy in relationship with God. What hope God brings. That's the reminder here. God is our hope. And that seed of hope is planted right there in the midst of the scene of greatest human tragedy in Genesis chapter number three. So yes, this story in Genesis 3, this part of the story does show a sin. And sin is a mess. It is a human problem we cannot solve on our own. It's still active in our world today and it's active in individual lives. Sin still wants you to ask this question, did God really say? Because sin wants you to doubt the good God who knows what's best for you. Sin still wants to drag others into the mess, or wants to drag you into the mess of others. Sin still wants to do that. Sin still wants you to think that you are fine on your own and that you can take the goodness of God and what he's giving you, and you can use it for your own purposes. Sin still does that, but you can't do that because sin separates you from God. And we all experience the effects of it and we cannot solve it on our own. But this great story isn't about so great a sin, it's about so great a God. That's what the story's about. The world is not as it should be. People are not as they should be, but God is who he's always been. He's merciful, he's gracious, he's holy. And in Jesus, he's brought us hope. He is the hope in the midst of a broken world. He's your hope in the midst of a broken life. You see, here's what you need to understand. If you have taken the good gift of God giving you breath and life, and you are trying to use that on your own to make your own way and do your own thing, know this, it won't work. No matter how much success you have, earthly speaking, it won't work because you were made for God. Literally your natural habitation, your natural environment is the God who made you in his image and likeness. But that image has been marred by sin. It's been passed down from the very point that we read it here. And every one of us has felt its effects. And there's only one solution, there's only one hope. That is if a human being who was sinless and perfect could be our representative, just like Adam was our representative in sin, Jesus is our representative in righteousness and help and holiness and salvation. And it is only by God's grace that Jesus came and lived sinlessly, and took upon himself that cross and that crown of thorns to take our curse upon himself. Cursed is everyone who dies on a tree, the scripture says. And Jesus became that for us. He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. What an exchange this is. What a gloriously, merciful and gracious God we have. What a God who offers hope. If you've never before turned from your sin and trust in yourself, let me just say this to you. You will remain separated from God. You will not be able to earn your way there. It is only by grace through faith that you can be reconciled to the Father. And if you've never before turned from your sin and put your faith in Jesus, then I can't think of a better place than here and a better time than now to do that. In a moment after I finish praying, there'll be some men and women down front. They'd love to take a moment, talk to you about what it means to entrust your life to Jesus Christ. And I pray that you'll do that. Have the courage to do that. You might just walk out thinking, you know, I've checked the box, I went in, I kind of impressed Jesus, and you know I'm gonna go on, I'm gonna head out here and get ready for the Bills game, and just, you're just gonna kind of throw this in the waistband. Understand this. Listen, God is being merciful, giving you the truth of the gospel on this day. There are no promises of tomorrow. There are no promises that you're gonna be able to do this in the future. Today, he's giving you this opportunity. Do not waste it. Do not walk out on him. Listen to what he is saying, because you'll only know life in him. You might have existence, but you'll only know life in him now and eternally. So please, come by and speak to one of these folks. And let me say this. Christian, if you're here and you've been in a place where maybe you've allowed in your life, that you've allowed yourself to take the good things that God has given you, and you're using them for your own purposes, or using them in your own strength, know that that's not why you're made. You're made to cooperate with God, to live life in his strength. This is what you do because he wants you to represent him in the world. He wants you to demonstrate what relationship with him looks like in the world and for others. So allow the spirit of God to do in your heart what he wants to do through the beauty of this story. Let's pray together. Father, I ask in the name of Jesus by the power of your spirit that you would do your good work in people's lives. I can't do that just with words. It must be the work of your own spirit. So would you glorify your own name by bringing people to yourself, whether that's to come in faith, to turn from sin and put their faith in you, or whether that's to repent of areas in our lives where we've chosen to take our own way and our own road. Lord, would you call us back to you? By the power of your spirit, I ask now in Jesus' name. Amen.