Morning Message Text: Genesis 3: 8-15
8 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.
9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have 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.
15 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.”
Morning Message:
Simple truth! I always love when the truth is pointed out to someone and they say, “It is more complicated than that.” No, it really isn’t! I had this conversation with someone last week. I won’t say who, but they reminded me of an old TV show called
Laugh In. How many of you are old enough to remember this show? One character on there would end everything that she said by saying, “And that’s the truth.” Back then, in the sixties, that meant something. If it was true, it was settled. That was the end of it. Now-days we hear responses like, “That may be your truth, but it’s not mine.” Truth seems to be dependent on how it makes you feel or what it means to you, but that’s not truth – that’s everyone’s opinion. Everyone has their own opinion about everything, but your opinion does not determine what is true or false.
I read a lot of different devotionals and try to listen to what God is saying to me through the voices of other people. I was reminded this past week about the importance of being strong and firm about the truth of God’s Word. Pastors and preachers are no different than anyone else. We live in this world that is constantly warning us to be careful about what we say. It can become easy for me and others to stand up here and avoid the delicate subjects and arguments that are prevalent in today’s society. But I am reminded that God did not call me to be timid or to avoid controversy. I was called by God to preach the truth according to God’s Word and allow God to take care of the consequences. I had a friend that I used to work with that always had very funny comments and come-backs, especially to management. Any time they would question him about how he was spending his time at work he would say. “I’m here to work not to make friends.” This was so funny because we knew how hard he worked to get out of work. Sometimes when I am thinking about the hard things that I must honestly preach, I think about that phrase.
There are simple truths in God’s Word that we must examine along with our scripture for today. When man and woman fell to sin, they fell together. Right before chapter three we witnessed the first marriage. The first simple truth that has been rejected by our society: God’s design for marriage. Listen! Marriage is one man and one woman united spiritually, emotionally, physically, publicly, and legally in a lifetime bond of loyal love. God designed marriage to be a partnership between one man and one woman. Now I have a whole list of reasons why God designed marriage, but I don’t want this truth to be lost on us today. What I just read to you; that’s the truth. No matter how you look at it God’s Word doesn’t change. Mankind can try and change it to suit what they want it to say, but the truth is the truth.
I want you to hear God’s Word on this subject today. I read this at every wedding that I perform: The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.” Now listen guys, this can solve a lot of arguments. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united, clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. I sometimes get very upset about this. When I read this, I see something very holy, something very spiritual, something that God intended to be a gift to mankind. When people trivialize this and make a mockery of it and go completely against the holiness that God intended for this union, I feel a holy indignation rise up in me.
Pay attention to verse 25 because it connects. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. This is before the fall. Nakedness was natural. Now let me just take a moment here to interject something important. As I tell you the truth, I can do it in love because I know that mercy and forgiveness are also part of God’s plan. None of us always gets things completely right, not even in marriage, or maybe I should say especially in marriage. But, God is always there in his mercy to offer forgiveness when we go the wrong way and then turn and confess our faults. Here is the problem today. Without absolute truth, instead of confessing, we excuse our sins. Have you noticed lately that no one can say that he or she was wrong. With the exception of me, we are all wrong once in a while. No, I know how short I fall sometimes.
Every time I read this scripture; I laugh to myself. God comes to visit as he always did, and they hide from him. Don’t laugh, like you have never acted like you could keep something from God. And why are they hiding? I can hear the conversation between Adam and Eve. “God is coming what can we tell him? You know we messed up big time? I know, we’ll say we didn’t want Him to see us naked.” Remember, before their sin, they were naked and unashamed. Before they sinned they were in communion with God. They walked and talked with Him. No clothes necessary. Now their minds were clouded by lies and half-truths. Don’t miss that. Half-truths – no longer simple truth. Everything had been convoluted by sin. When they believed Satan’s lie, their knowledge was corrupted, and their understanding of God damaged. What God had said became twisted in their minds. Satan is the father of lies, and he uses the same lies over and over again and, unfortunately, mankind, even Christians, fall for them. I want you to understand this today. It is the devil who doesn’t want us to speak the truth. That timidness, that small voice saying, “Just go along,” with something that God says is clearly wrong – just get along. That is not God’s voice; it is the voice of our enemy.
Apart from God, our present condition mirrors what Adam and Eve knew after the fall: We are alienated from God. When we deny God’s truth, we find ourselves at odds with God. We are ignorant of the truth of God. Even as Christians, when we deny God’s truth long enough to appease the world, eventually, we become ignorant of the truth. Here is a hard truth. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are condemned to physical and spiritual death. The good news is this. No matter what you have done. No matter what lies you may have believed or perpetuated, with God there is always mercy and forgiveness. This might be the most important thing I will ever say from this pulpit. There is nothing that God will not forgive. I know that Satan is whispering in your ears right now, “Remember what you did; remember how terrible you are; you have failed at everything that you just heard preached today. There is no way God will forgive you.” He is the father of lies, and the things he says are just not true. Our loving God will forgive you in the twinkling of an eye; all you need do is repent and ask.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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