{"id":18561,"date":"2020-11-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/genesis-015-the-cost-of-forgiveness\/"},"modified":"2022-11-30T13:15:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T19:15:19","slug":"genesis-015-the-cost-of-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/genesis-015-the-cost-of-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Genesis 015 – The Cost of Forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[12],"series_event":[511],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18561","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-genesis","series_event-genesis","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Genesis 015 - The Cost of Forgiveness","sermon_date":"20201122","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2020","sermon_notes":8591,"sermon_slides":8592,"sermon_mp3":8594,"sermon_id":"112220129183467","series_or_event":511,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":12,"chapter_and_verse":"3:20-24","sermon_transcript":"
Genesis 015 \u2013 <\/strong><\/h5>\r\n
The Cost of Forgiveness<\/strong><\/h5>\r\n

Dr. Andrew Woods <\/strong><\/h4>\r\nGenesis 3:20<\/strong>\u2013Lord willing, trying to make it through verse, well, to the end of the chapter today. \u00a0Can we do that? \u00a0You're probably saying it's not up to me. \u00a0It's up to you, Pastor. \u00a0Genesis 3<\/strong>; trying to look at 3:20-24<\/strong>. \u00a0The title of our message this morning is The Cost of Forgiveness.<\/em>\r\n\r\nForgiveness is free to us, but it's very costly to God by God's design, as we'll see. And this is a great thing to think about as we enter the Thanksgiving time, where we're giving thanks for our many blessings, as the song said, counting them one by one. And probably the greatest blessing that we have is the forgiveness that Christians have in the person of Jesus Christ. \u00a0I can't think of a greater blessing than that. \u00a0I can't think of a better or a greater blessing than to be condemned to death, and then to discover that I have been acquitted because of a price someone else paid. And when we understand the price that someone else paid, that's what gives us a spirit of thanksgiving. \u00a0Because unless that price was paid, our salvation would be an impossibility. But we are continuing 3:20-24<\/strong>, our study through the book of Genesis<\/strong>, [and] Genesis 1-11<\/strong>, as we have tried to explain, is about the beginning of the human race.\r\n\r\nAnd the first major topic that's dealt with is the subject of creation.\r\n\r\nGenesis 1<\/strong> was the whole creation week. Genesis 2<\/strong> was about what happened on one of those days of creation, day 6. \u00a0And so by the time you get outside of Genesis 1 and 2<\/strong>, things are humming along so beautifully and perfectly. \u00a0Everything is working the way God designed it. \u00a0And we ask ourselves, \u2018Well, what went wrong<\/em>?\u2019 \u00a0Well, what went wrong is Genesis 3,<\/strong> the fall of man.\r\n\r\nGenesis 4 and 5<\/strong> are basically describing the aftermath of the fall. \u00a0But the fall itself is in Genesis 3<\/strong>, a chapter that we're going through relatively slowly, because without Genesis 3<\/strong>, the rest of the Bible makes no sense. Without Genesis 3<\/strong>, the condition of our world makes no sense. \u00a0Without Genesis 3<\/strong>, salvation through Jesus Christ that's offered to us as a gift makes no sense.\r\n\r\nI think it was Dwight Moody who said, \u2018you can't get a man or a woman saved until you get them lost first.\u2019<\/em> It's only a drowning man or woman that will reach out for the life preserver. \u00a0If you don't realize you're drowning, there's there's no incentive to reach out for the solution.\u00a0 And it's in Genesis 3<\/strong> that we find out that we're drowning. We're in a hopeless condition without the Savior. \u00a0That's why I like to use this quote here by W.H. Griffith Thomas, who said, \u201cThis chapter, <\/em>[Genesis 3]<\/strong>, is the pivot on which the whole Bible turns.\u201d <\/em>We've seen verses 1-5<\/strong>, the temptation by the Serpent and his tactics and Adam and Eve's mistakes.\u00a0 We've seen verse 6<\/strong>, the actual sin of Adam and Eve. \u00a0That's where they ate from the forbidden tree. \u00a0And we've also seen the results of that sin. \u00a0Consequences follow sin like night follows the day. And there are four consequences that are described there. \u00a0But you want to pay attention this morning to the first one.\r\n\r\nMan and woman became very religious. \u00a0Religion is very different than the salvation that will be offered to them at the end of this chapter, 3:21<\/strong>. \u00a0God Himself moved into the situation 3:14-19<\/strong>, and He pronounced a series of judgments on the sinners:\u00a0 two judgments upon the serpent, as we saw in prior weeks, two judgments upon the woman, and two judgments upon the man.\r\n\r\nAnd it's very tempting at this point just to sort of throw your hands up and say, \u2018This is the most depressing book I've ever read; this is the most depressing church I've ever been to. \u00a0I mean, this is so negative<\/em>.\u2019 And yet this chapter, perhaps the darkest chapter that we have in the entire Bible, ends with a note of flaming optimism. And we see that optimism in 3:20-24<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nAnd so this week, what God does should add to our celebration of thanks. Because unless God does something in 3:20-24<\/strong>, we are caught in a hopeless condition.\r\n\r\nThere are three marvelous, gracious acts with which the Creator Himself does.\u00a0 This is what He did for Adam and Eve, and by extension, it's what He does for us. \u00a0And I believe this:\u00a0 that if you cannot understand these verses, you really can't understand the gospel. \u00a0Most people really don't, to be frank with you, even in churchgoing circles, really understand the gospel. \u00a0And yet the gospel itself is portrayed so cleanly and clearly here at the end of Genesis 3<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nWhat's the first thing that God did by grace?\u00a0 He promised to continue the human race, and I'm getting that right out of Genesis 3:20<\/strong>. \u00a0Notice what that says. \u201cNow the man called his wife's name, Eve, because she was the mother of all living.<\/em>\u201d And you can't really appreciate that unless you remember what came right before 3:19<\/strong>, which we saw last time. \u00a0Remember what God said to the man in 3:19<\/strong>, \u201c...For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.\u201d (NKJV)<\/em>\r\n\r\nPhysical death is now a reality for the human race. \u00a0The last time I checked, the mortality rate is still 100%. \u00a0COVID or no COVID, people are going to die. \u00a0I'm going to die. \u00a0You're going to die, assuming we're not the Rapture generation. \u00a0And maybe we are, maybe we're not. \u00a0But barring the Rapture itself, we are all headed back into the dirt from which we came. \u00a0And you would think with a pronouncement like that, that the human race would be wiped out; that it would disappear; that death would take out everybody to the point where the human race would be completely and totally eradicated.\r\n\r\nAnd yet God says here, or as Adam is naming his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all living, it's a promise in a sense\u2014that the human race will not be wiped out. \u00a0The human race is always going to be preserved. \u00a0Eve is the mother of all living. \u00a0Yes, death has come\u20143:19<\/strong>, end of the verse. \u00a0But at the same time, Eve will be the mother of all living. \u00a0Death is very severe, but death will not eradicate, death will not destroy humanity. \u00a0And so that in and of itself, when you compare it to 3:19<\/strong>, is actually a statement of God's grace. \u00a0It's a statement of how God is going to continue to work in spite of or despite the reality and the prospect of death where the mortality rate is going to be 100%.\r\n\r\nOf course, the evolutionists have a very difficult time with this verse because it says here that Eve was the mother of all the living. \u00a0In other words, through Eve, Adam and Eve, would come the entire human race. There were no people prior to Adam and Eve. \u00a0There was no pre-Adamic race. That flies directly in the face of what your biology teacher or university professor believes, because essentially what they believe is that human beings are the product of random chance that's gone on for billions and billions of years.\u00a0 And through this long process of the survival of the fittest, man, finally, oh, I don't know, a few billion years ago, climbed out of the primordial soup. \u00a0And yet prior to that, there was a long chain that led to our forebears that led to Adam and Eve. \u00a0Such a statement goes directly against the Word of God, where Eve is the source, the mother of all living. \u00a0You don't have human beings or pre-human beings prior to Adam and Eve. \u00a0Through Adam and Eve, the human race began.\r\n\r\nAnd this is why the book of Genesis<\/strong> is discarded. \u00a0It's why it's rewritten in many circles, because many people think that man or woman themselves is the product of a great chain of being that came before. \u00a0And yet that's not what the Bible says. In fact, Paul, the Apostle in his Mars Hill address, stated the same truth. \u00a0In Acts 17:26<\/strong>, Paul says \u201cHe<\/em>, [that's God] made from one man every nation<\/em><\/strong> of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 You'll notice that Paul here is very clear that from one man, that would be Adam, every nation, every human being came. \u00a0You don't have missing links, [a] pre-Adamic race. \u00a0You have no such thing prior to Adam and Eve. \u00a0The human family can all trace its lineage directly back to Adam and Eve.\r\n\r\nAnd so this human race is going to continue on despite the prospect of death. It starts with Adam and Eve. And death now has come into the picture. \u00a0And yet at the same time, the human race is not going to be wiped out. You know, the human race, biblically, came very close to being eliminated just prior to the flood and in the flood. \u00a0Some chapters that we will be getting to eventually in our study in the book of Genesis\u2014<\/strong>and 1 Peter 3:20 <\/strong>tells us that it got so bad that God sent the global deluge, and humanity was almost destroyed except<\/em><\/strong> for eight<\/em><\/strong> souls 1 Peter 3:20\u2013<\/strong>eight souls on the Ark. \u00a0And if those souls had not survived, this promise of the perpetuation of the human race could not be fulfilled.\r\n\r\nWhen we get into the events of the Great Tribulation period, the human race once again will be on the verge of extinction or elimination. \u00a0Matthew 24:21-22,<\/strong> says \u201cFor then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. \u00a0Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.<\/em>\u201d \u00a0Think about what the tribulation period is. \u00a0The more I study it, the more I'm grateful for the Lord's promise that, we as the church, won't be here during that time period.\r\n\r\nBut think of, and we've studied in depth at this church, the book of Revelation<\/strong>. Think of the judgments that are going to be unleashed on planet earth during that time period. \u00a0Think of the seal judgments. \u00a0The trumpet judgments, the golden bowl of wrath judgments. \u00a0In fact, when you look at Revelation 6<\/strong>, a quarter of the world's population will be eliminated. \u00a0And then when you look at Revelation 9<\/strong>, you learn that a third will be eliminated, taking the human race down to 50%. \u00a0And, you know, today we're caught up in the hysteria of COVID and the COVID craziness. \u00a0And COVID, I believe, is a very real thing. \u00a0But the fact of the matter is, it pales when you look at the actual death rates. It pales in comparison to what is coming upon the earth. And yet the severity of COVID, the severity of the flood, the severity of the great tribulation period\u2014 in it all, the human race will not be eradicated. \u00a0The prospect of death itself, the reality of death, will not eliminate the human race, although it will become close to extinction at least twice: \u00a0flood and tribulation.\u00a0 God is not going to allow the human race to go out of existence, and so 3:20<\/strong>, I'm understanding as a statement that God makes that\u2019s gracious.\r\n\r\nThe second thing that God does is He offers Adam and Eve forgiveness. Forgiveness for what? \u00a0Forgiveness for violating His standard.\u00a0 And what was His standard? It was very clear going back to Genesis 2:16-17<\/strong>, that they were to not<\/em> eat from the forbidden tree of knowledge. \u00a0They just went right ahead and did that and the consequences quickly came into the picture. \u00a0And the human race now is in a place of deterioration. \u00a0Things are not going to get better and better. \u00a0They're going to get worse and worse because you have the opportunity to pick your sin, but you do not have the opportunity to pick the consequences of that sin. \u00a0And God has detailed the consequences that are coming in very severe terms in Genesis 3<\/strong>. \u00a0And yet, in spite of it all, God offers forgiveness immediately. \u00a0Not ten years or 100 years or 1000 years down the road, but right then and there. \u00a0That's the nature of God. \u00a0God is a forgiving God.\r\n\r\nNow, you see this in Genesis 3:21<\/strong>, \u201cThe Lord God made<\/em>....\u201d Now let's stop right there. Who's doing the work? \u00a0God is.\u00a0 It's very different than what Adam and Eve were doing in 3:7 <\/strong>when they were making for themselves loin coverings. \u00a0Now in 3:21<\/strong>, God does the work. \u201cThe Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife. And<\/em> [and He, that's God doing the work\u2026He] \u201cclothed them<\/em>.\u201c \u00a0Now, the big question here is where exactly did these garments of skin come from?\u00a0 I mean, did God stop by the garment manufacturer and pick up a jacket or two?\u00a0 No, the implication is very clear that the garments of skin came from the corpse of a dead animal, the body of a dead animal, a corpse. \u00a0And how did that animal die? \u00a0God killed that animal right there on the spot. \u00a0And He took the skins from that animal, and He<\/em><\/strong> clothed Adam and Eve, and you say, \u2018Well, what did the animal do that was wrong so God could kill the animal and take the garments of skin from the animal and clothe Adam and Eve?\u2019<\/em> There is nothing that the animal did wrong. The animal was not involved in the sin. The animal was completely innocent, and God did this transaction by treating the animal as an innocent substitute. An innocent substitute dies under the decree of God, and God takes the skin from that innocent substitute, and He transfers that to Adam and Eve, who were pathetically trying to cover themselves. \u00a0And if that is not an open, naked presentation of the gospel, I don't know what is. \u00a0God at the very beginning of human history said, \u2018Here's how it's going to work. You are not going to clothe yourself and come into My presence in sin. \u00a0Here's how it's going to work. \u00a0I am going to kill an innocent substitute in your place, and through that transaction I will clothe you.<\/em>\u2019 God, at the very beginning, is revealing how He is going to forgive sin and yet still maintain His character of holiness.\r\n\r\nThis is what we call the atonement<\/strong> which means substitution<\/strong>. \u00a0That's a big issue when you think about this. \u00a0I mean, God, He can't just ignore sin\u2014that would violate His character. \u00a0It's got to be punished. \u00a0But at the same time, He loves Adam and Eve too much to see them fall into condemnation. \u00a0So He pours out His wrath on an innocent substitute. \u00a0And through the skins of that innocent substitute, they are transferred to Adam and Eve.\r\n\r\nI believe this: \u00a0that when this animal died, and I believe it died\u2014it doesn't say it squarely in the text, but it's there by implication.\u00a0 When God killed this animal, I think it shocked Adam and Eve to the absolute core of their beings. \u00a0Why would it shock them? \u00a0Because they, prior to this, were living in a world where they didn't even know what death was. \u00a0They didn't even know what animal death was like. You remember in Genesis 1:29-30<\/strong>, it says, \u201cThen God said, \u2018Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree<\/strong> which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth, which has life, I have given every green plant<\/strong> for food\u2019 and it was so.\u201d <\/em>\r\n\r\nAnd when we were in that passage, as we're moving systematically verse-by-verse through the book of Genesis<\/strong>, we made the point that early man, Adam and Eve, were not carnivorous. \u00a0They were herbivorous. \u00a0They were not meat eaters. \u00a0Now, why weren't they meat eaters? \u00a0Because to eat meat involves death. You have to kill an animal to cook it and then eat it. \u00a0That involves the death of the animal. \u00a0And yet God created a world where there was no death. \u00a0That's why they're herbivorous and not carnivorous or meat eaters.\r\n\r\nNow, man is going to be transferred by God from herbivorous to carnivorous post-flood. \u00a0You'll see that transfer made in Genesis 9:3<\/strong>, where God says, \u201cEvery moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Now things are different. \u00a0A man can be carnivorous, but that's not the original design of God. \u00a0The original design of God was herbivorous. \u00a0No death.\r\n\r\nSo Adam and Eve, really, when you think about it, had never experienced death themselves. \u00a0Maybe they understood something intellectual about it because God told them that \u2018now that you have sinned, you're going to go right back to the dirt from which you came,<\/em>\u2019 but they had no experiential knowledge of death. They didn't even know what death was like in the animal kingdom. \u00a0And yet it was no doubt a shock to their system when God took an animal and killed it.\r\n\r\nAnd they're starting to realize something\u2014that this issue of forgiveness is available, but it's costly. \u00a0I mean, somebody has to pay here. \u00a0And that's a lesson, I think, that was a shock to their system, and it was hard for them to grasp.\r\n\r\nYou know, your Bible is very clear that there was no death at all prior to Adam\u2019s and Eve\u2018s sin. \u00a0God was very clear in Genesis 2:16-17<\/strong> that death would become a reality if they ever ate from the tree of knowledge. \u00a0Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:21,<\/strong> talks about how death came by a man: \u201cFor since by a man<\/strong> came death<\/strong><\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/strong> \u201cFor as in Adam<\/strong>, all die\u2026\u201d<\/em> \u00a0Prior to this infraction, there was no death. \u00a0There wasn't even death in the animal kingdom. \u00a0Romans 5:12<\/strong> teaches the same point. \u00a0It says, \u201cTherefore, just as through one man<\/strong> sin entered into the world, and death<\/strong> through sin, and so death spread to all men<\/strong>, because all sinned\u2014<\/em>\u201d\r\n\r\nThere was no death prior to this infraction. \u00a0God did not create a world with death in it, and that in and of itself contradicts evolutionary thought because evolutionary thought says the survival of the fittest; the strong dominating the weak for billions of years is progress. \u00a0And humanity has finally arrived at this point by looking at a wreckage in its path. That's what your children are being taught; that's what your grandchildren are being taught; that's what you read when you look at all of the nature type magazines and cable shows. \u00a0This is the assumption all of them are making. And this is why they don't like the Bible.\r\n\r\nEven Christians will rewrite vast sections of God's Word to accommodate their evolutionary pre-understanding. \u00a0And yet the Bible says what it says, means what it says, and it says what it means. Death is not<\/em> the responsibility of God. That's the consequence<\/em> of sin. God designed the world without death in it. \u00a0And so when this animal was killed, now they're beginning to see that, yes, forgiveness is possible, but it's going to be costly. \u00a0Your sin was very, very severe is what God is saying. \u00a0You might laugh it off as just a bad choice, but it was an offense against a holy God thereby necessitating an innocent substitute to die in your place. \u00a0I am confident that that was an absolute shock to the system.\r\n\r\nWhy does God have to do it this way? \u00a0Why can't God just wink at sin and say, \u2018Well, you know, there go the kids again acting up, and boys will be boys, etc.<\/em>..\u2019 \u00a0It relates to God\u2019s nature, which is holy<\/strong>. And one of the problems that we have today in communicating the gospel to people is [that] we, for whatever reason, don't do a very good job communicating the holiness of God. \u00a0\u2018Well, wait a minute now, Pastor. God is is loving<\/em>.\u2019 Yes, yes, He is, 1 John 4:8.<\/strong> God is love, but that is one, an important part, but one part of His character. The other part of His character is that He is holy. \u00a0In fact, the angelic beings, Isaiah 6:3<\/strong>, what do they say day and night? \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts,...\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\nI mean, the entities that know God the best, that stand in His presence day and night, they don't sit there and say, \u2018God's rad. He's my dad.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0They're not even so much talking about God's grace. \u00a0They're talking about who God is.<\/strong> \u00a0Holiness<\/strong>, God Himself clothed in unapproachable light. \u00a0\u2018Oh, come on, Pastor. That's just Old Testament stuff.\u2018 <\/em>Well, here's a New Testament passage, Revelation 4:8<\/strong>. \u00a0The four living creatures<\/strong> are saying the exact same thing. \u201dHOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY,<\/strong>....\u201c\r\n\r\nOnce that is understood in terms of the character of God, then you start to see why the atonement becomes so important. \u00a0Someone or something has to be judged. \u00a0The judgment is required because God's nature requires it. That's why God can't turn His back on sin. \u00a0He cannot ignore sin. \u00a0There has to be a transaction of payment. \u00a0An innocent substitute or sacrifice must pay. \u00a0And that's why the Bible is such a bloody book. \u00a0Do you realize how bloody this book is? \u00a0Do you realize that when the animal sacrificial system was set up during the time of Moses, which would be about 1500 years, there was nothing but blood and guts spilled by unblemished animals for over a millennia around the clock. Animals killed. Blood flowing. \u00a0I once heard from a somewhat popular preacher, and he said he will never mention blood in his church. \u00a0And I thought to myself, \u2018Well, you just threw out the Bible. I mean, what Bible are you reading by making such a<\/em> ridiculous, inane, non-biblical statement<\/em>?\u2019 \u00a0If you don't have the blood of the innocent being spilled, you don't have the atonement. \u00a0You don't even have Christianity. \u00a0Hebrews 9:22 <\/strong>says, \u201cWithout<\/em> [apart from the] shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.<\/em>\u201d I mean, blood and death through innocent scapegoats for 1500 years, and then Jesus shows up; Jesus, the Incarnate, eternally existent, second member of the Trinity. \u00a0John the Baptist says this concerning Christ, \u201cBehold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!\u201d <\/em>\r\n\r\nNow, you read that, and that is designed to just take your breath away. Because that's where you learn that it's actually God Himself who is going to be the wrath-bearer. \u00a0God Himself is going to step out of eternity into time in the person of Jesus Christ to bear a sin debt that I can't bear. \u00a0And Genesis 3:21<\/strong> is the foreshadowing of it. \u00a0It's the prefigurement of it. \u00a0The death of an innocent animal sacrificed in the place of the guilty, simultaneously satisfying the two natures of God.\u00a0 His holiness is satisfied because sin is punished. \u00a0And His love is satisfied because now His wrath does not have to be poured out on the human race at large. \u00a0It is now limited to an innocent scapegoat.\u00a0 And humans can take refuge in that by way of faith and avoid the wrath of God.\r\n\r\nThe two natures of God coming together simultaneously in the atoning work of Jesus Christ: this is Christianity. What is Christianity? \u00a0It's one member of the Trinity, God the Father, pouring out His wrath on another member of the Trinity, God the Son, who is innocent. \u00a0That's why you go through the Gospels, and it keeps talking about the sinless Christ. \u00a0Christ did nothing wrong. \u00a0And yet He was, by the design of God the Father, the wrath-bearer, and by receiving what He has done as a free gift, we are made right before a holy God. Two-thousand years ago outside of Jerusalem, one member of the Trinity, God the Father, poured out His wrath on another member of the Trinity, God the Son so that wrath would not have to fall upon you. \u00a0And it would not have to fall upon me.\r\n\r\nI've used this example before. \u00a0It's sort of like an individual in a city who happened to be a judge, and he was known for being a tough law and order judge in that municipality. When criminals committed crimes, he punished them to the full extent of the law.\u00a0 He threw the book at them. Then there's a problem because one night his own son committed a crime. He was out drunk driving or whatever the case may be, and he comes before his own father for sentencing. \u00a0There now is a conflict in this judge. On one end of the stick, he's got to uphold the law as he has done throughout his entire career. \u00a0But on the other end of the stick, compassion wells up. \u00a0This is my son. \u00a0So what does the judge do to resolve this issue? He gives the strictest penalty that can be given. \u00a0Then he steps down from behind the bench, takes off his judicial robes, and he says to the bailiff. \u201cTake me away in my son's place<\/em>.\u201d You see what just happened there? \u00a0The character of the judge is upheld. \u00a0And yet the love of the judge for his son is upheld. \u00a0And that's Christianity.\r\n\r\nAs we approach the Thanksgiving holidays, particularly this week, is that on our mind? \u00a0Or is it just, \u2018Lord, thank you for the economic benefits. \u00a0Thank you for the the sale at the local whatever. Thank you for the gift card.<\/em>\u2019 And we lose sight of the whole thing. \u00a0We lose sight of the price. \u00a0We lose sight of the cost. And anybody who understands the atonement should be the most grateful of people on planet earth. You know, your your life could have fallen apart in 2020. \u00a0And a lot of people's lives did.\u00a0 A lot of people, particularly in the small business world were put under lockdowns and shutdowns and they could never recover their businesses, and we have a tendency to be thankful to the Lord that that didn't happen to me. \u00a0\u2018Thank you, Lord.\u2019 \u00a0<\/em>And that is such a superficial understanding of our Bible. \u00a0Your life could have fallen apart completely in 2020. \u00a0And yet you can leave here today grateful as any person on planet earth because of the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\nFirst Peter 2:24<\/strong> quoting Isaiah 53<\/strong> says, \u201c...and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the [<\/em>tree] cross<\/em>,... for by His wounds [<\/em>stripes<\/strong>] you were healed.<\/em>\u201d What is a stripe? \u00a0A stripe is an infliction. \u00a0It's a wound. \u00a0It is a suffering that takes a person literally to an inch of their lives. \u00a0There's a reason Jesus was beaten 39 lashes. \u00a0They figured 40 killed somebody. \u00a0And we need this guy alive, at least to die on the cross. \u00a0That's Jesus. \u00a0That's the atonement. \u00a0That's what it means when it says by \u201dHis stripes, we are healed<\/em>.\u201d And the foolishness; the folly of the religious, prideful spirit of man who thinks, in his arrogance, that he can supplement that; that he can add to it. \u00a0\u2018Jesus did 95%. \u00a0I'm going to kick in my 5%.\u2019 \u00a0<\/em>Do you realize how completely arrogant that is to even think that \u2018God bought lunch, I'll leave the tip.\u2019<\/em>\u00a0 No, the price that was paid is of such a severity that you can't amend it, you can't complement it, you can't supplement it, you can't add to it no matter how well-intentioned you are.\u00a0 You can only receive it as a gift because that's the only way it comes to a person\u2014as a gift. \u00a0Jesus, of course, said in John 19:30<\/strong>, the very last words He spoke on the cross, \u201cIt is finished!<\/em><\/strong>\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Greek, as you probably know, is to tetelestai<\/em><\/strong>: paid in full. <\/strong>It's an accounting term. They've found these sort of inscriptions all over the Greco-Roman world. \u00a0And when a bill was paid, what was stamped on it was tetelestai<\/em><\/strong>: paid in full<\/strong>. \u00a0Payment, finished, payment complete. Nothing can be added to it. \u00a0It's a done deal. \u00a0Tetelestai<\/em><\/strong> is also in the perfect tense in Greek, meaning a one-time action with ongoing results<\/strong>, and thus, it can only come to a person when they trust in what Jesus did<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0John 3:36<\/strong> makes it about as clear as it can be made. \u00a0It says, \u201cHe who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides<\/em> [meno\u2014remains] on him<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0I'm a sinner by nature. \u00a0And the fact of the matter is, somebody's going to pay. \u00a0For somebody not to pay would violate God's character.\u00a0 And that judgment hangs over my head. \u00a0And it could fall at any minute unless I'm in by way of faith, the atoning work of Jesus Christ, where that wrath has already been satiated; that wrath has already been satisfied.\r\n\r\nYou'll notice Genesis 3:7<\/strong>; let's go back to that for just a minute. \u00a0By the way, this is why we celebrate communion. \u00a0Is it just a ritual that we go through? No, it's not a ritual. \u00a0It's designed to assist memory. \u00a0It reminds us of the cost of forgiveness. \u00a0Because as you grow in the Lord, and you become so comfortable in the grace of God and in the blessings of God, you sort of lose sight of the price that was paid to give you those blessings. \u00a0And thus, the Lord mandated and commanded in His church that communion would be practiced consistently and regularly because the cup represents something, as does the bread. \u00a0The bread represents a body which absorbed the wrath of God in my place, and the cup would represent His blood that was spilled on my behalf, and how I need that memory!\u00a0 I need that assistance as a Christian. \u00a0Because it's so easy to become so comfortable in the things of God that we forget about the cost of forgiveness.\r\n\r\nI think that, by the way, is one of the reasons in the millennial kingdom that there are going to be animal sacrifices. \u00a0Now, people get very upset about that.\u00a0 And they get out their White Out<\/em>, and they just take that out of the Bible. But there's a reason for it. The millennial kingdom is a time period when people will largely have forgotten about death. \u00a0Isaiah 65:20 <\/strong>talks about how if someone dies at the age of 100, he's going to be thought to be a curse. \u00a0Such a young man died. \u00a0The curse is largely rolled back. Death is kind of almost a foregone reality. \u00a0And wouldn't it be easy living in that environment for 1000 years with Jesus reigning from David's throne and every human need being met, basking in the grace of God, wouldn't it be easy to sort of forget the price that was paid to get us there, particularly when we've lost sight of what death even is in the 1000 year kingdom?\u00a0 And then you go into the millennial temple and you see these animals being killed, not to add<\/em> to the atonement, but to look backwards to what Christ did. \u00a0And you see that and you see the violence in it. \u00a0And you see the blood spilled through it. And you just say to yourself, \u2018Lord, forgive me. I've been so comfortable in grace that I've forgotten the cost or the price that was paid to have this grace come to me.\u2018<\/em>\r\n\r\nIt's interesting that God took the animals of skin, and He clothed Adam and Eve. Is that not a portrait of the transferred righteousness of Christ? \u00a0God took his blessings and he transferred that to them.\u00a0 And that's what a human being has when they trust in the Savior.\r\n\r\nPaul the Apostle writes in Philippians 3:9<\/strong>, \u201c...and may be found in Him<\/em>,...\u201d Is that you today? Are you found in Him? Watch this: \u201d...not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.\u201d \u00a0\u2018Well, why can't I work for it?\u2019 \u00a0<\/em>Because Jesus says it's finished<\/strong>. \u00a0So the only way you can receive this as something finished is it has to be transferred to you. \u00a0This is the great doctrine of imputation, which means transfer.\r\n\r\nAnd did you know that as a Christian, as God the Father looks at you, that He looks at you as if you are just as righteous as His Son?\u00a0 You say, \u2018Well, I don't feel that way. \u00a0I don't deserve it. \u00a0I failed this part of my week. \u00a0I failed that part of my week.\u2019 <\/em>\u00a0It doesn't matter. \u00a0It's transferred to you. It's not something you gin up on your own. \u00a0Imputation; transfer. And quite frankly, that's how I plan on standing before God one day. \u00a0I have absolutely no interest in standing before God, whose holiness is perfect, with my religious axe and my loin coverings, telling the Lord, \u2018Look at what I did for you<\/em>,\u2019 thinking somehow that's going to get me anywhere with God. \u00a0No, I'm not standing before God in my own righteousness. \u00a0I am not standing before God one day in self-righteousness. I'm standing before God in transferred righteousness that I received as a gift by way of faith.\r\n\r\nAdam and Eve, of course, were not doing that initially. What were they doing? Genesis 3:7<\/strong>, we've covered it in prior sermons: it says, \u201cThen the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked..<\/em>.; [they know there's a problem.\u00a0 \u2018We've goofed up<\/em>.\u2018 Goof is a terrible word to use. \u00a0\u2018We've committed an offense against a holy God. \u00a0We ate from the forbidden tree, so we're going to fix it ourselves\u2019<\/em>]. \u00a0That's religion. \u201dThen the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made for themselves.<\/em>..[made for themselves]... loin coverings.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThat's how they thought they could be forgiven, how different it is when God kills the animal sacrifice in their place and takes the skin and clothes them. \u00a0Genesis 3:7<\/strong>, man is doing all the work; 3:21<\/strong>, just look at the verbs. God is doing all the work.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn fact, Isaiah 64:6 <\/strong>says, \u201cAnd all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;\u2026\u201d<\/em> Notice that: all of our righteous<\/em><\/strong> deeds [it] doesn't say unrighteous<\/em><\/strong> deeds. \u00a0All of my religiosity, all of the things that I do where man stands up and applauds me\u2014if that is the basis that I come into the presence of a holy God, God looks at that just like He looked at Adam and Eve's loin coverings. \u00a0It's just a filthy garment. \u00a0It has no power to save. \u00a0It has no ability for a lost sinner to stand in the presence of God who is so pure that the seraphim do nothing night and day, but say, \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>The human race is pretty simple.\r\n\r\nPeople make this very complicated. It's not complicated. Here's the breakdown. You're either in 3:7<\/strong>. or you're in 3:21<\/strong>. There's only two options. You're either trying to fix your sin problem through some path of your own choice, or you're trusting in Jesus Christ and His atonement. \u00a0\u00a0I know a little something about it. \u00a0Having spent 16 years of my life in 3:7<\/strong>, banking on good works to make myself right with God. \u00a0And how things changed about the age of 16 when I understood the clarity of the gospel. [I was a] very religious person; didn't know the first thing about the gospel; very religious church never taught the gospel. Finally, by the providence of God, I came into the presence of somebody who understood the Gospel. \u00a0I understood it for the first time. \u00a0I don't think I really understood it before, and my whole life is changed. \u00a0I'm no longer a Genesis 3:7<\/strong> person.\u00a0 I'm a Genesis 3:21<\/strong> person.\r\n\r\nMay God help us to understand this grace that we have been given. We conclude here with 3:22-24<\/strong>. \u201cThen the LORD God said, \u201cBehold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever\u201d<\/em>\u2014 ...the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. \u00a024 So He drove the man out; and at the East of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.\u201c<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhy can't we just go back in?\u00a0 Why can't things just be like they used to? Because that's the nature of sin. That's what sin does. All of us have experienced things in our lives that we brought onto ourselves through sinful choices, and we so much want to fix it. \u00a0For me personally, I can think of certain relationships that I've destroyed by saying something or writing something in a moment of anger. And you feel bad about it and you try to correct it and you try to fix it, and yet things never really get back to where they once were. \u00a0Why can't it just go back to how it was? Because we really don't understand the nature of sin. \u00a0Sin has a horrific price tag.\r\n\r\nThey can't go back in. \u00a0The Garden of Eden is over. \u00a0It's interesting that He tells them \u2018You can't go back in, and one of the reasons you can't go back in is because you might eat from the tree of life and live forever.\u2019 <\/em>\u00a0I don't know if I fully understand all of this, but apparently there was something in the tree of life which gave people the capacity to live forever. And in their sinful state, they can't just go back in to eat from the tree and live forever. And the fact that God prohibited that, listen to me very carefully, is a token of His grace. \u00a0People in their sinful state are bad enough, but living on and on and on in that sinful state\u2014think of the wickedness that could be accomplished over the human race without death. \u00a0Think of an Adolf Hitler or a Saddam Hussein or a Fidel Castro living on and on and on and on and on. \u00a0I understand that God takes no joy over the death of the wicked, but the truth of the matter is this:\u00a0 there are certain people that when they die, it's a good thing because the evil stops, and the human race is about to get really evil. \u00a0Genesis 6:5<\/strong>, \u2018every inclination of their thoughts is going to be perpetually wicked.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0Genesis 6:11,<\/strong> \u201cNow the earth was corrupt\u2026 and\u2026 filled with violence.\u201d<\/em> You want people living forever like that? \u00a0Don't miss this here.\r\n\r\nGenesis 3:22<\/strong>, one of these little nuggets. \u201cThen the LORD God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us..<\/em>.\u201d Why does God call Himself \u2018Us<\/em><\/strong>?\u2019 Because that's who God is.\u00a0 He's Us<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0He is plurality. \u00a0One God who has perfectly expressed Himself through three different personages. \u00a0God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. \u00a0We saw that in Genesis 1:26<\/strong>, \u201cLet Us make man in Our image;<\/em>.<\/strong>..\u201d \u00a0If there's no Us<\/em><\/strong>, there's no atonement. Who would be qualified for the Father to pour out His wrath upon other than God the Son.\r\n\r\nGenesis 11:7<\/strong>, the tower of Babel, \u201cCome, let Us<\/strong> go down and there confuse their language.\u201d<\/em> The famous Isaiah calling passage Isaiah 6:8<\/strong>, \u201cThen I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, \u201cWhom shall I send, and who will go for Us<\/strong>?\u201d<\/em> \u00a0This is a latent form of the triunity of God. \u00a0Now, granted, we've got to get to the New Testament to see it fully fleshed out. \u00a0God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three separate personages expressed through the monotheistic singular God. \u00a0But it's here. \u00a0It's the beginning of it. \u00a0And the Bible is going to amplify it. \u00a0It's going to to clarify it. \u00a0And what does this mean here? \u00a0Genesis 3:22<\/strong>. \u201c...Behold, the man has become like one of Us<\/strong>, knowing good and evil;...<\/em>\u201d <\/strong>That's the beginning of a very important institution that God has started here called conscience.\r\n\r\nThere are, in the grace of God, certain preservatives built into the fabric of fallen creation so that humanity, even in its fallen state, can be perpetuated. This is one of the reasons I believe that death cannot wipe out the human race because God in His grace has built into humanity, preservatives.\r\n\r\nThe first is conscience. \u00a0Conscience is that little, actually, not so much little, that barometer inside of all people that tells them right from wrong. Even unsaved people have this. \u00a0You'll find a description of it in Romans 2:14-15.<\/strong> Then there's the institution of marriage in the family. One man for one woman for one life to raise up godly seed. And if parents have any responsibility, it's teaching their children to curb their sin nature. \u00a0Then if we were just left to our own devices, and I could whittle the day away, think of the evil I could commit. \u00a0So God says, \u2018Go get a job.\u2019 \u00a0<\/em>It's called labor because leisure can be lethal given our propensity for sin.\r\n\r\nThen we will discover the institution of human government, Genesis 9:6<\/strong>, where capital punishment will be implemented against those that murder those that bear God's image.\r\n\r\nAnd then God creates nationalism. \u00a0Tower of Babel. \u00a0He's against one world government because the people running the government might go corrupt. \u00a0I'm glad that never happens. \u00a0So let's divide power up. \u00a0And so what you see here is the first of these five divine institutions.\r\n\r\nBy the way, when these come under assault, and they get dissipated, the judgment of God is right around the corner. \u00a0The flood happened because there was a gross breakdown in all of these. And as hopefully you're recognizing, as I'm teaching this today, every single one of these is under assault in the United States of America. \u00a0It is an attack on these divine institutions. You can call it whatever you want, liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat. \u00a0Those names are irrelevant. \u00a0There are people that are assaulting these over and over and over again, and if they win, there's nothing left to hold back the tide of evil. \u00a0This is how countries die. \u00a0This is how the world goes under the judgment of Almighty God.\r\n\r\nThe interesting thing about conscience is that your conscience can be seared as with a hot iron, 1 Timothy 4:2<\/strong>. You can watch so many video games and blood splattered everywhere on all these video games. \u00a0And you can watch so many horrific, murderous movies that eventually someone gets shot in daylight, and you just lose your sensitivity for it. That's the eradication of conscience. \u00a0But prior to it being seared, conscience is there. \u00a0Take your two kids and say, \u2018You mow the lawn. I'll take you to Denny's,<\/em> and to the second kid, \u2018You mow the lawn, and I'll take you to Disney World<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 What's the first kid going to say? \u2018That's not fair!<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0Oh. \u2018Who gave you any idea that things were supposed to be fair?\u2019<\/em>\u00a0 Why is it that you instinctively know what's equitable and what's not without having anybody ever teach you that? Because it's conscience. It's something that God has put into people. \u00a0It's one of the great curves against mayhem and wickedness and evil along with these others, but the cord gets clipped on these, and there's nothing left to curtail the level of evil that will sweep across this country and across the world.\r\n\r\nNow you can call it whatever you want\u2014Republican, Democrat. \u00a0I call it an attack on divine institutions. \u00a0That's why you ought to show up and vote in every single election. \u00a0And you ought to vote for people that you think, and sometimes it's hard to find them, that are going to support these because if these go, the country goes.\r\n\r\nAnd now man has entered into the second dispensation. You say, \u2018What are the dispensations?\u2019 <\/em>The word dispensation means house rules, or oikonomia<\/em>.\u00a0 Oikos: House; nomos: Law, or rules. God is putting humanity through seven tests.\r\n\r\nInnocence was test one, which man failed. Now they've moved into conscience where they're supposed to obey the decrees of conscience, and they're going to fail that one, too. \u00a0That's why God sent the flood. \u00a0Watch this now. The plan of salvation never changes. That's always the same. Faith alone in Christ alone. Those in the Old Testament were looking forward to a Messiah who was coming.\u00a0 They didn't know His name. \u00a0Those in New Testament times like us, look backward to a Messiah that came. You know His name. \u00a0That plan is unalterable, but it doesn't change the dispensations or the house rules where God puts humanity through seven dispensations. \u00a0You were just introduced to the second one.\r\n\r\nThe first one was innocence, where they were told to obey the command, not to eat from the tree. \u00a0They failed. \u00a0God brought in a judgment, the curse, and then God brought in the next dispensation.\r\n\r\nNow they're moving into conscience where they're supposed to obey the dictates of conscience. \u00a0They won't do that because by the time you get to the flood, every inclination of man's thoughts had become continually wicked. \u00a0And so God will bring in a judgment called the flood, and they'll start a new dispensation.\r\n\r\nThen we'll come in the dispensation of human government. And they're going to blow that one, too, because instead of spreading out the way they're supposed to, they're going to try to take over government and build a stairway to heaven\u2014 The New World Order. And God brought judgment there. He scattered the language so the builders couldn't cooperate.\r\n\r\nAnd then God brought in the next dispensation, which was Israel under divine promise, the calling of Abraham. \u00a0And Abraham didn't do too well. He didn't believe God. \u00a0He left the land.\r\n\r\nAnd so God brought in a judgment and a superior dispensation. Then Israel was under the law.\u00a0 That's the longest dispensation in the Bible. \u00a0Jesus Himself was born under the dispensation of law where God put the nation of Israel under the Mosaic Law, and their job was to keep God's law. And they didn't do very well with that one either, because they rejected the One whom the Law pointed towards\u2014Jesus Christ, and God brought judgment and discipline again through the events of A.D. 70.\r\n\r\nAnd then there's our<\/em> dispensation. \u00a0The age of the church started in Acts 2.<\/strong> We're living it right now. What's our responsibility? Orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Correct belief. Correct practice. And there's a remnant out there, but to be frank with you folks, we're not doing too well in that either. In fact, the Bible predicts the time will come when they will assemble for themselves teachers who tell them what their itching ears want to hear. And there'll be a removal of the true church through the rapture.\r\n\r\nAnd then the last dispensation is the millennial kingdom where they are supposed to obey the king who's reigning on David's throne with every human need met. \u00a0And you know what? \u00a0We don't do very good with that one either. You will because you'll be in a resurrected body at that point. But the earth dwellers won't. \u00a0And they follow a satanic rebellion that's so big [as] John describes it\u2014it's like the sands on the seashore. How many people rebel? Revelation 20:7-10<\/strong>\u2013God brings in a judgment. Fire comes down from heaven, subdues the enemies, and God starts over with the new heavens and new earth, which is not a dispensation because there won't be a failure.\r\n\r\nAnd the story of the Bible is from a garden to a city with a cross in between. \u00a0You know, the whole concept of dispensation\u2014it's almost like a cuss word today. \u00a0People hate this so much. \u00a0I've never fully understood the hostility against this because when I learned it, it was almost like you gave me the keys to the car. \u00a0You gave me the keys for understanding the whole Bible, which I couldn't do before without dispensations. People don't like it because man doesn't do well in any dispensation. That, too, is the design of God because who gets the glory? \u00a0God does, which is what He deserves. \u00a0Amen.\r\n\r\nAnd so in our study here on Genesis<\/strong>, we've just moved out of the dispensation of innocence into the dispensation of conscience. And by the time we finish Genesis<\/strong>, if we ever do before the second coming, we will have covered just in Genesis<\/strong>, the first four dispensations.\r\n\r\nSo it's a wonderful chapter to think about as we get ready for Thanksgiving, God's tremendous work of grace, the continuation of the the human race, 3:20<\/strong>; unconditional forgiveness of sins, and Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden, which in and of itself is a work of grace.\r\n\r\nYou know all this talk about grace and the gospel, maybe you've never received it.\u00a0 It's like the unopened Christmas gift. \u00a0It's there. \u00a0It's available. But until the gift is taken and opened, the gift just sits under the tree. \u00a0I spent 16 years of my life, which was too long with the gift available for me, but because I didn't understand it, I had never received it. \u00a0And you only receive this gift one way. \u00a0You receive it by faith, which means trust. \u00a0It has absolutely nothing to do with sincerity, weeping, walking an aisle, doing jumping jacks, doing cartwheels down the center aisle, giving money to a church. \u00a0It has everything to do with simply trusting in the provision of Jesus as we've tried to explain it today.\r\n\r\nAnd if you've never trusted in Christ, it's just that unopened gift. \u00a0It has no value to you until you receive it. \u00a0So our exhortation here at Sugar Land Bible Church is just to communicate that today is the day of salvation. Receive that gift today. You can do it right now as I'm talking in the quietness of your own heart, as you trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation.\r\n\r\nShall we pray?\u00a0 Father, we're grateful for Genesis<\/strong> and its truth and what it communicates to us. \u00a0Help these things not just to be words on a page, but help these things to be deep truths of Your grace that we can glean from. We'll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God's people said.\u00a0 AMEN.\r\n\r\n ","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t