Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.gracespringfield.com/sermons/42522/sunday-school-roger-phipps-from-creation-to-deluge/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] What does he say there about the works of the law? And when I say the law, I don't mean the law small l. I mean the law big L, the law of Moses. [0:13] What does God say about it? Right. By works of the law shall some of you be justified. [0:27] What does he say? No one will be justified by keeping the law. Now wait a minute. Why not? [0:45] Well then, why did God give a law that I couldn't keep? This is important because I'm going to be tempted this way, right? Why did God send that to me? [0:59] Why did that happen to me? So I would know what sin was. Why does God save? [1:10] The primary reason. For his glory. Why do I do? [1:27] Why do I do? Or how do I enter into my salvation? And by salvation I mean my eternal life. My hope of the resurrection and eternal life. By God's grace, through faith, in what Christ did on that cross. [1:50] What else do I add? I can't add anything. As soon as I start trying to add, then I'm interfering with God. I'm trying to claim something. [2:03] My eyes will be opened, but I'm not going to be godly. Let's look also at Galatians chapter 3. [2:15] The immediate context is verses 20 through 24 and 25. You can read out for the greater context. [2:30] But in Galatians, this has already been alluded to, so this one will be easy to find. For what is the law? [2:46] For what is the law of Moses? A schoolmaster or a teacher. So, to do what? [3:00] To show me my need of salvation. I can't do it. How good must I be to satisfy God and go to heaven? [3:11] Not just every bit of the law. For all have sinned and... Of what? [3:22] The perfections of God. How perfect do you have to be to go to heaven? Like God. Will eating the fruit, I mean keeping the law, make me godly? [3:38] Now, there are some moral principles. Don't misunderstand. There are some moral principles. But if I seek godliness through the law, what happens? [3:50] I'm shown that I'm not godly. At least if I'm honest with myself. I'm shown that I need a Savior. [4:01] And who is the Savior? Jesus Christ. Colossians 2, verses 20 through 23, please. [4:14] And there, it's easier to get it if you get the bigger... You might have to back up a few verses if you like to get the bigger picture. What does he say about the ordinances? [4:33] I'm sorry, about the law. Because that's what he's talking about there, right? Should I use the law as my practice? [4:57] Why not? Why not? Well, what's he say here? [5:10] Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So you are no longer subject to the law because you are crucified with Christ and risen with him, as it were. [5:29] I may not realize it right now. Well, I may not feel like it right now, but my position in Christ is secured. Because of me or because of Christ? [5:44] Which one? Christ. If I seek to be justified on my own, I'm in big trouble. So, in here in Colossians chapter 2, we see Paul says, don't even, don't be subject, don't subject yourself then to those ordinances about what should you eat? [6:11] What should you not eat? What should you, what festival should you keep? And what should you not keep? Or that kind of thing. [6:24] All of those, he says, and here's an important thing. They have a what? Say it out. They have an appearance of righteousness that comes from what, though? [6:46] Ourselves. That word there is a self-made religion. That's the word. Those of you who have your electronic concordance will look that up. [6:58] It's self-imposed worship. God doesn't call for it. I did. Now, that's important to me to understand. [7:15] This eating of the fruit is kind of a picture, isn't it, of what's going to happen to me? Am I going to try to be like God because I do something? [7:28] I do something. So, let's move on then. So, their eyes are what? [7:40] Their eyes are open and what's the result? They saw that they were, and they were, and what did they do about that? [7:51] They saw that. They saw that. They sawed leaves. I'm assuming it wasn't poison ivy. But, they made leaf aprons. [8:07] The grass skirts. I should have thought that that would be pointed out, right? I don't know. [8:19] But, we doubt it. Yeah. Except they didn't know that, did they? [8:33] They weren't told that. They had no need of sacrifice before. If they, well, we'll go on. [8:48] So, we're at verses 8 now. Now, what did they, what did they do then? Something happens after they, they, they made themselves aprons, then what? [9:04] Why? I'm sorry? Well, they heard the sound of God, the Lord God, the theophany. [9:20] Right. And, they felt guilty. Back to me. When I disobey, what's the temptation? [9:34] What, what do I, what's my normal reaction? From God. My disobedience drives me from God. [9:49] By, by my nature, doesn't it? But, it ought not. That's when my disobedience, and I recognize my sin, needs to drive me to the only one who can do anything about it. [10:05] And, that is the Lord Jesus. It is, is it not a wonderful thing? What does God know? [10:18] Really? Yes. What does God know that's going to happen to me? Everything. Everything. Everything. What does God know about my reactions? [10:32] What about my speech? Before the word is on my lips, thou hast known it. Before I was formed. [10:46] You knew every part of me. Said the psalmist. God. You've got to know that God searches out us. [10:57] We don't search out him. He searches out us. I am so thankful that that's true also of the Lord Jesus Christ. [11:10] He, it is not that you chose me, but that I chose you. Now, I know that's out of the context a little bit, but it is important to know, as we're approaching and we're reminded again, it's not snowing so much, but it's nice and cool, we're reminded of the season when we celebrate Emmanuel. [11:47] God came to us because man does not by nature go to God. [12:00] God, my guilt and the knowledge of my guilt tends to make me go the wrong way in more ways than one. That's a double entendre, isn't it? [12:12] It tends to make me go the wrong way in several ways. So, they hid from him. Now, they did not apparently seem to know, nor do I seem to know, sometimes, that God knew exactly where they were. [12:40] Did he know what they had done? But he's going to ask them anyway. Isn't he? [12:51] Okay, let's keep going. Let's keep going. This will be chapter 3, verses 9 through 13. Would someone else please read it? [13:04] You're tired of hearing me read. But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you? He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. [13:16] So I hid. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree, and I commanded you not to eat from? The man said, The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it. [13:33] Okay, thank you. And, read 13 too, please, Joe. [13:48] Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, The serpent received me, and I ate. [14:02] Okay. So, God calls, even though he knows where they are, and he asks them a question, even though he knows the answer. [14:15] I wonder why he did that. Well, yeah. [14:28] It's a rhetorical question, of course, because God already knows, but, it has to do with a confession too, doesn't it? [14:39] I have to say, there has to come a point in my life, where I say, yep, I did the wrong thing. No, it wasn't a mistake, it was a sin. [14:55] Exactly, yeah, well, I want to get to that point. So, he asks Adam, what's his first question? Where are you? [15:10] And then, and then what? What does Adam say? I hid because I was naked, so I hid. [15:22] And then what does God ask? Who told you? Who told you? Did you do what I told you not to do? [15:39] And what is that? Now, no other men do this. What does Adam say? The woman, and the more important, the woman, you gave me. [16:03] Ultimately, God, you know, it's your fault. God said, when he created them, it is not good for man to be alone. [16:19] He needs the woman. Now, who's to be believed? God or Adam? Now, you've, this reminds me of a friend I had, I haven't seen him in 50 years. [16:39] you've never heard anything like this. Well, I know I'm supposed to marry Carolyn because God wouldn't let me have these feelings if I wasn't supposed to marry. [16:58] problem was, God didn't tell Carolyn that. And even 50 years ago, in my even foggier thinking than what I have now, I knew that was wrong. [17:15] the tendency is to finally get the problem back into God's lap, isn't it? It was, not only is it Sherry, it's the Sherry you gave me. [17:36] Right? It, God, you know, if he wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have said that. And after all, you knew what was going to happen. [17:53] You could have stopped it. Maybe you didn't send the accident, but you could have stopped it. [18:04] But you didn't. whose fault is it, God? You know somebody who's angry at God. You know somebody. [18:18] And it's because of a faulty reasoning process. Now, Sherry was, was, Sherry wasn't hit. [18:32] Her car was hit. But she was driving. On the highway. We had to go car shopping. And we're, we're, and I, I shopped for ten minutes and I'm done. [18:47] I, I don't care. We'll, let's just do something. But, I'm researching on the, and I laughed about it and I told her, I'm researching this car. [19:02] And you know what the Carfax said? The car went off the road and struck a pole. And I said, how did it do that? [19:23] That's not just unique to Christians, is it? Mankind kind of wants to say, I didn't do it. somebody else or something else. [19:37] It's not my fault, it's a circumstantial problem. And if it's circumstantial, ultimately, whose fault? God's. That's bad thinking, isn't it? [19:51] And that's natural thinking. I'm thankful for a Savior. I am thankful for the God who, to have a Savior who in all points was tempted, such as I was, or am, yet without sin. [20:15] and who took my sin as though it were his own and carried it to the cross so that I might have the righteousness of God in him. [20:36] That's pretty amazing. That is amazing grace. And I am so grateful for it because my tendency is to be like Adam. [20:47] It's not my fault, it's her fault. And after all, God, you gave her to me. So Adam, Adam shifts the blame. [21:00] Now, God then looks at Eve and he says, what have you done? [21:11] What does Eve say? The serpent beguiled me and I ate. So, it, most of us here are old and, yes? [21:36] God has faith in heaven. So did God faith in heaven? I have no idea. [21:46] He doesn't say, he doesn't even say, I'm reading into it when I say Satan. very honestly because it does not say specifically Satan, but it seems, it seems that it would have to be to me. [22:07] But I want to be careful with it because I don't want to read in where it doesn't. Satan has access to the earth. the serpent of old. [22:24] Yes. So, she says, the serpent beguiled me. That word beguile means tricked or lured. [22:39] Right? Deceived. He deceived me. Now, if you go to James, you read cross-dispensationally, let no man say when he is tempted that he is, and that's tempted to evil, by the way. [23:00] That's not, that doesn't mean any test, but it's tempted to evil. Let no man say when he is tempted that he is tempted of, but man when he is tempted is what? [23:14] Led away of his own lust or desires. So, when I am tempted to evil, I'm led away, or I'm able to be deceived because I kind of want to be. [23:32] That's my nature, isn't it? To go that way. Now, it wasn't before, but it's now, I know I'm jumping ahead, but now, God created Adam in God's image, and Adam and Eve will have a child in Adam's image. [24:00] Now, I don't want to read more into that than ought to be, but we do know that in Adam, how many die? Okay. So, I do know that this is pretty important. [24:13] And it's pretty important for me to understand why I am like I am, isn't it? It helps me understand the nature of the world, what's really true. [24:26] So, yes, Satan is cast, well, when we say cast out of heaven, he is cast from his position, but when God calls the angels together, Satan has to appear to him. [24:44] That is, Satan has to come to God, whether he, that's in Job, and there Satan tries to argue with God about Job. [24:56] so, yeah, the temptation is there, but so is the plan of salvation as we're going to get to. [25:10] So, starting with verse 14. 14. [25:27] Yes? Yes? Right. Well, okay. [25:44] Okay. So that if... How was Eve deceived then? [25:59] What was the deception? You'll be like God. Now, we don't know. It's not specifically stated that Adam knew that Eve would die and he wouldn't. [26:16] We don't know that for sure. We do know he was with her. And we do know he ate of it willingly. He knew what he was doing. [26:29] He blamed her, but he knew what he was doing. He said, if we were to go on, he said he wasn't received. Adam actually wasn't received. He knew what he was doing. [26:40] Oh. Because that made it important. You had to make a point from 19. Okay. But also, if you made her, can she do that? [26:53] And their eyes weren't open until they closed her. Yeah. And I don't know. So, I don't know exactly how that worked out. [27:07] Because that gets down into a semantic level that I'm not capable of entertaining about how the language works out and what the timing is. [27:19] Yes. Right. They had never experienced it, but they knew the concept. [27:32] Apparently. Because that's part of the deception, isn't it? You will not. You will not. What? Okay. You will not surely. [27:43] Yeah. If you eat this, you won't really die. I remember hearing some of those that one actually said, the actual communication is dying to die. [27:57] Not just in what I even do. But the expression is dying about that. Well, that is Hebrew that is way out of my line. [28:16] But, in any case, we know that the wages of sin is, and that's why the free gift of God is eternal life. [28:31] I think that's good analogy, though. You tell your children not to run out of the street because they'll get hurt. And they may not understand that. [28:42] But you tell them that. It was a certain thing. Because you're a parent. They better use another ghost. Okay. But they, because it was, I assume that Adam and Eve knew. [29:01] They understood the concept of death. Because that was part of the deception. It wasn't that you'll become wise. [29:12] It's also, you won't die. So, they understood that part of the, that part of it. In any case, it is well to point out, no matter what he said about who's sin, what's fault it was. [29:34] It was still Adam's fault. He still did it. And he knew what he was doing. They were together. So, maybe it was, you go first. [29:50] You go first. Have you ever, well, whether you do or don't, if you ever go hunting for deer, and they're coming across an open cornfield and they're coming into the, they're coming into the brush, they stop right at the edge of the brush. [30:12] Who comes in first? The does come in first. The does come in first. Why? Because that buck's going to see what's happening. I don't know if it's like that or not. [30:27] I don't know. But, here. Hey, Eve. This sounds pretty good. You try this. See what happens. No, she didn't die. [30:45] Yep. Yep. Which is a big problem in our society. No. No. [30:56] No. Thanks for your help. Okay. [31:09] Let's, let's, let's not move on. Let, let's hold, let's finish these comments and then we'll hold verse 14 for next week. [31:20] One thing was the point here. He wasn't deceived, so why didn't he go ahead and run himself? He knew it was not one. [31:32] It was going to separate God and all this. He knew that. Why? Well, I think it's because he loves Eve. He had developed a love and he would do that. [31:42] All he separates from her. If I don't do it, I'd have been right to him then. He would rather have, be with her than, he's okay to die. Now, if you think, you know I'm going to die, I'd rather go with Eve. [31:56] I just think there's some kind of a lesson there of what Adam did to us and our relationship. I wasn't getting to go talking about. [32:09] He wrote about all these types of Christ in the Old Testament. Yeah. And he says that Adam was a type of Christ because Adam became sin. [32:24] He was a type of Christ. I was going to die. Well, if Dr. Hahn said it, I'm... John. [32:37] I think it's a word picture. [32:53] Because they... Were they naked before they ate? And it was of no consequence. [33:04] But once they became conscious of sin, then it mattered. Then their eyes are opened to their guilt. [33:17] I think it's a word picture. Go ahead. Paul Leber often said that he said that the eyes of their heart... Would be open to the gospel. Right. Right. [33:27] I think it's a word picture about... Well, we use it commonly in our profane lives. [33:40] We will say, well, man, my eyes, that opened my eyes. Well, yeah, your eyes were opened before, but you were seeing yet not seeing, right? [33:55] Right. It has to do with an understanding or becoming aware. Yeah. Marbeth. [34:10] Isn't it that Adam ate because he loved Eve and John's comment? I don't know why any of it. Okay. Okay. Eve ate. [34:21] She didn't die. And he would come in anyway, and he thought, well, God, what is the challenge? The blessing of here. He wanted to take that. [34:31] That's there. He said, yes. I, yes. I think the law thing came back. I think the law thing, very Cara, he had. [34:44] And he didn't, he later, Yes. What have you gotten done in prison? He said, yes, he gets out of his book. I, I, I'm pretty certain that, yeah, dumb and dumber. [34:58] We are probably deteriorated considerably. I mean, what was one of Adam's very first tasks? [35:13] He named all the animals. He named all the animals. And with that understanding, now I don't want to get too deep into it, but the idea of naming means he understood those animals. [35:31] And he had authority to do so. In fact, almost, if you will, he had not only the authority, but the command to take that authority from God. [35:44] And so, God named the stars. And Adam named the animals. [35:59] Okay, anyone else? Let's do this. Let's do this. [36:13] Oh, we've never heard those kinds of words before, did we? [36:32] Right. I think that is an important point because we know someone, every one of us knows someone who has said something very like that. [36:54] Like, well, God knows your heart. Right? God knew my heart. I was trying to do the right thing. No, you weren't, Roger. You were trying to do your own thing. [37:12] Yep. And that's where Romans chapter 7 comes in, isn't it? With my mind, I delight in the law of the Lord. And there he's not talking about the Mosaic law. [37:25] He's talking about God's righteousness and the way he wants me to live. But with my body, I find this other thing at work. [37:38] Who's going to deliver me from this body of death? Praise be to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. [37:49] And with that, I'm going to stop with have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for. .