“What Happened?” | Sabbath School Panel by 3ABN - Lesson 1 Q2 2021

hello friends i'm jill moriconi we're so glad that you've tuned in for this quarter of three abn sabha school panel hard to believe we're beginning quarter number two it's all about the covenants the promise god's everlasting covenant of grace want to encourage you to get your own copy of the quarterly you can go to the following website [Music] absg.aventis.org that stands for adultbiblestudyguide.aventis.org make sure you grab your bibles and your pens and your papers your notebooks to take notes as we explore lesson number one what happened [Music] hard to believe that we're in a brand new quarter we just finished if you journeyed with us last quarter through the book of isaiah which happens to be one of my favorite books and we finished with the rebirth of planet earth isaiah chapter 66. now we jump into this brand new quarter the promise god's everlasting covenant the lesson this quarter is most of it is taken from the work of the late dr gerhard hasel he's an incredible student of the word of god he served as professor of old testament and biblical theology at the sca theological seminary at andrews university that's a mouthful he was dean of the seminary and for 27 years he served as director of their thd and phd programs he's a brilliant man and this lesson is amazing so i'm excited that you have tuned in want to introduce our panelists our family to you at this time we're going to be journeying together through the covenants to my left pastor john low mccain always a joy to have you here good to be here jail looking forward to a wonderful study on the covenants amen me too to your left pastor ryan day so glad to have you here brother man always a blessing to be on sabbath school panel i'm manty your left pastor john denzie always glad to have you here brother johnny it's a blessing to be here and i encourage our viewers and listeners to tune in because great blessings are in store in this study amen and to your left sister shelley queen who i call the queen of the covenants and i know you're excited about the study my favorite quarterly ever it's wonderful amen before we go any further we want to go to the lord in prayer pastor john would you pray for us sure loving father in heaven we thank you for the privilege and opportunity for opening your word and disseminating the words of life but we cannot do it without your holy spirit connect us with our viewers and listeners and may everything we do here today father communicate the beauty the necessity and the benefit of the covenant you made to save us yes in jesus name we pray amen amen thank you so much god created us to live in relationship with god and with each other we're relational beings created for that connection and that harmony with god but sin brought a disconnection from god and god desired to bring his people back into relationship with himself the covenant is all about this relationship between us and our maker god and this arrangement for saving us and for bringing us back into oneness you could say it's not a contract it's about a committed relationship there's two types of covenants and we will study this further as we get into our study one is the relationship between parties in modern day covenants you see this a lot where both parties are equal and both parties would set terms then there's another type of covenant this biblical covenant that we are studying that is unilateral where god sets the terms and he makes the promises in this biblical covenant he sets the terms and makes the promises to me as his child why is that because he loves me and he created you and i to be in relationship with him and he wants to save us the covenant is built on love god initiates the covenant relationship by the promises his promises and his actions that follow those promises he seeks to woo us into covenant relationship with him and we surrender to him our fears our sin our twisted notion of right and wrong we give him our hearts in faith and in obedience although the bible speaks of covenants in the plural i believe there's only one basic covenant of salvation found throughout history the blessings and salvation of god are given by god it's not earned by us we respond in that faith and obedience and the heart of all is god's steadfast love the plural covenants as you could call them plural simply means that god advances his saving purpose by restating his covenant in various ways to meet the needs of the people in different times and in different settings so we're going to study this entire quarter the different covenants we're going to start with the adamic covenant and we see that established in eden with adam and of course christ the seed who would conquer the evil one we see the noahic covenant established with noah and we see of course the promise of the rainbow we see the abrahamic covenant established with abraham and through his seed we could say in particular one seed that's the lord jesus christ the entire world would be blessed we see the sign of that covenant being circumcision the sign of circumcision showing showcasing the fact that god had already brought his people into right relationship with him we see the cyanidic covenant established at mount sinai the law and specifically the sabbath given in the context of redemption bond from that bondage in egypt and we see the sacrificial system and the promises for atonement and forgiveness of sins and we see of course the new covenant which is first introduced in jeremiah 31. as the children of israel's breaking of the cyanatic covenant brought them into exile so the renewal of the covenant would preserve them and be their hope for the future lesson number one we look at what happened the perfect world that god created and how sin entered that world and god's design to bring that world back to himself through the plan of redemption our memory text is genesis 1 verses 26 and 27. then god said let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness so god created them in his image in the image of god he created them male and female he created them sunday's lesson is called turtles all the way down which is kind of a funny title and it comes pastor john from uh interesting story that the lesson began with there was a scientist who was lecturing on the orbit of the planets around the sun and the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy and an old lady stood up in tennis shoes and she said the earth is nothing but a flat disc sitting on the back of a turtle and the scientist said well what does that turtle sit on and the lady said another turtle and the scientist said well what does that turtle sit on and the lady said another turtle and the scientists got ready to say wait a minute now what is that turtle sitting on and the old lady stood up and she wagged her finger in the scientist's face and she said save your breath sonny it's turtles all the way down so as we look at the origin of the universe i have three questions question number one how did we get here question number two why are we here and number three where are we going these are the three pivotal questions in life how did we get here what's my purpose or why am i here and where am i going for how did we get here the first question we go to genesis 1 1. in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth the existence of god is simply assumed no explanation for his existence is given no reason is given for his origin god is you could say a given in the beginning god created that word created in hebrew bara the verb is used only when god is the subject and it's always linked to divine creative activity here it's used of god's ability to create something out of nothing in the beginning god in contrast to atheism created alone in contrast to polytheism rules over creation in contrast to pantheism matter had a beginning in contrast to materialism and the ultimate reality is god and not humanity that's how did we get here god created this world and us and everything that's in it that's right but why are we here can life have a purpose besides just survival or besides just procreation or besides just the search the endless search for wealth or for happiness maybe self-development influence wisdom what is the purpose of life in my remaining time i want to give you seven purposes of life that i find from the word of god purpose number one we are here because god wants to live in relationship with us he wants to live in relationship with us psalm 100 verse 3 know that the lord he is god god is known as opposed to being hidden it is he who has made us and not we ourselves god is our creator as opposed to synthetic life or scientists attempting to create life we are his people and the sheep of his pasture god calls you and i to live in covenant relationship with him we are his people so the first purpose in life is we are here because god wants to live in relationship with us the second person purpose we are here to bring glory to god first corinthians 10 31 whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of god we are not here to get rich we are not here to please ourselves we are not here to do our own thing we are here to bring glory to god purpose number three we are here to love one another john 13 verses 34 and 35 a new commandment i give to you that you love one another as i have loved you that you also love one another by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another we are here to love one another purpose number four we are here to be his witness first peter 2 9-10 i love this scripture but you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation god's own special people and why are we called why are we chosen why are we set apart that we would proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light have you been in darkness have you walked away from jesus have you experienced what that is like your purpose is to show forth his praises to be his witness purpose number five we are here to live and walk in unity the same unity as exemplified by the father son and holy spirit john 17 verse 21 that they jesus is praying that they all may be one as you father are in me and i in you that they may be one in us that the world may believe and know that you sent me purpose number six we are here to bear fruit for his glory colossians 1 10 that you would walk worthy of the lord fully pleasing him being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god and finally purpose number seven we are here to make disciples for him matthew 28 all authority has been given me in heaven and earth go therefore and make disciples so how did we get here we got here because in the beginning god created us why are we here we are here because he wants to live in relationship with us and we are here to bring glory to him and to love one another and to be his witnesses to walk and live in unity to bear fruit for his glory and to make disciples for him and finally where are we going for that we go to the book of revelation 21 i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away there was no more sea and god dwells with us we are going to an eternal home and i definitely want to be there amen thank you jill i'll tell you when when you get it started you keep it going praise god for that thank you jill for that introduction to a new quarter and what just happened i think is a good way i could ask the question praise the lord for what just happened god can use each one of us to reflect his glory and that is the covenant that he wants to keep we want to reflect his glory mine is monday in the image of the maker now we live in a world that loves to make images hollywood actors are become images to those who are striving to be like them musicians become images to those who can or cannot sing you find on social media many people that are wanting to sing that song like their famous singer or perform like their famous performer or to be in some way we buy the jersey of our favorite basketball player or we wear the shoes of our favorite designer everyone wants to perform in some way to communicate that i am in some way just like the person that i admire i want to be that person's image but the beautiful story is in genesis chapter 1 of verse 27 and jill brought this out but i want to go back it says in the bible that god intended from the very beginning for every one of us to be a reflection of his image and the world has since that time tried to lower the bar and cause finite and mortal men to replace the infinite and the immortal god the lord said so god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them and then the writer uh dr gerhard hasel poses the question what does it mean that god created us in his own image and i like the way that he put this i want to just go ahead and communicate what he said he said adam was created in the image of god he had a perfectly developed he was a perfectly developed organism and that word organism doesn't mean an amiibo or paramecium but when adam was made to communicate what that meant was when adam was questioned about the animals no one told adam what the animals were he instantly knew what every animal was what is that that's an elephant what's that that's a giraffe what's that that's a lion what's that that's a cat god created adam with perfect a perfect database of everything that surrounded him all his faculties were harmonious harmonious with whom with god in all his emotions words and actions there was a perfect conformity to the will of his maker however there was an asterisk there were some conditions to this continued covenant to reflect the image of god because many of us don't understand it but romans 6 and verse 23 the apostle paul mentions this thousands of years after the garden of eden incident but this was true in the garden of eden notice what the bible says for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord adam was not created immortal immortality was to be imparted to him on condition of obedience you see the covenant of god is never a covenant without a requirement of obedience god's covenant although kept by him requires something on our part as is the case you know when you buy a car buy a home you sign the contract and i'm sure many of us never read the fine print but whenever we violate the contract we are reminded in the fine print of our obligation in the very same way god gave adam uh conditions that this reflection of his image would continue but it was based on the foundation of obedience genesis chapter 2 verse 16 and verse 17 and the lord god commanded the men saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die so god put man in the garden and then god gave adam a help meet now i want to say to the men not to help meet bills or help meet expenses but for both of them in a harmonious unity to reflect the character of god and as one writer said god gave his maleness to adam and his femaleness to eve so when adam and eve came together they completed the image of god on the human race that's why the lord said it's not good that man should be alone adam was created in the image of god but god wanted to enhance that image not that there's anything wrong with his image but he knew that in creation if there was not a counterpart to adam then his image would not be complete now follow that carefully that is why today and i'm going to say this in complete respect when man unites with man and woman unites with woman it does not complete the image of god on the human race the image of god was to be completed only on the foundation that adam was to be united with his counterpart one opposite to him yet equal in the eyes of god that's why the lord took eve from his rib to be by his side not a bone from his head nor bone from his foot to be trampled on or to dominate adam's leadership but notice what the bible says in genesis chapter 3 verse 22 to 24 then god said after adam sinned behold the man has become like one of us to know good and evil now lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever therefore the lord's the lord god sent him out of the garden of eden to till the ground from which he was taken so he drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way of the tree of life why would he do that because if adam or his wife eve partook of the tree the only way that they were preserved on a continuous basis was from the tree of life once again showing that they were not naturally immortal if they were naturally immortal then sin could not even bring them to an end so god gave them mortality only to give them the gift of god's eternal life in christ jesus our lord only to give this to them if they were continually obedient first timothy 6 and verse 15 and 16 emphasizes where immortality exists speaking about christ which he will manifest in his own time he who is the blessed and only potentate the king of kings and lord of lords who alone has immortality dwelling in an unapproachable light whom no man hath seen or can see to whom be honor and everlasting power amen and as the writer points out on the lesson although we speak of god on human terms we must never forget the god of spiritual god is a spirit and those who worship god as john 4 24 says must worship him in spirit and in truth another component of the covenant is worship worship cannot be excluded from the covenant god does not call us to occupy space that's why worship was the aim and still is the aim today that satan wants to usurp because worship is a part of the covenant the covenant can only go on as worship continues and when i say only go on in our lives and affect us only on the basis that we continue worshiping god in spirit and in truth god is spiritual but because of sin we have to develop also spirituality it is not a natural thing look at first corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14. look what the bible says but the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of god for they are foolishness to him nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned now according to genesis account did the lord make anything else in his own image other than humankind and the answer is no everything else was called into creation which says to me that god had a plan for man far above that of the amoeba the paramecium the alligator and away with this ideology that we are some kind of metamorphosized descendants of an ape or some kind of alligator that crawled out of a cesspool somewhere and developed legs no god called us to reflect his image continually that's why i like first john chapter 3 verse 1 to 2. notice what the bible says and this is not anything that an animal can proclaim the image of god can only be reflected in those who are made after the similitude of god and when that image was broken the covenant of god promised that if we are obedient the image of god would be replicated in us again here it is behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of god therefore the world does not know us why because he did not know him this is beautiful beloved now we are children of god back to the original standing and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but here's where the covenant that god made will be fulfilled in eternity but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is amen the image that adam marred because of sin will one day be completely restored and we shall be like the god of the covenant for one day we will be able to see him as he is in all of his glory because finally as human beings we will also reflect that immortal glory yeah amen thank you so much pastor john incredible that restoration of that we're going to take a short break we'll be right back ever wish you could watch a 3abn sabbath school panel again or share it on facebook instagram or twitter well you can by visiting 3abnsabbaschoolpanel.com a clean design makes it easy to find the program you're looking for there are also links to the adult bible study guide so you can follow along sharing is easy just click share and choose your favorite social media share a link save a life for eternity welcome back to our study what happened that is the title of our lesson here lesson number one on god's covenant we're going to pick it up with tuesday's lesson and pastor ryan day amen praise the lord i do have tuesday's lesson and it's entitled god and humankind together and uh there's so much here to cover i hope i have time to do it um but i want to go directly to the scripture here pastor um done a wonderful job on expounding on the how we were made in the image of god from genesis chapter 1 verse 27. today's lesson tuesday's lesson of course has has us going into genesis chapter 1 verses 28 and 29 so let's go ahead and go there and read that and this is those texts that you usually have that you kind of just read through you just kind of skim through it because it seems like it's not much information or much substance there but i'm going to argue for the sake of the conversation of the covenant that there is lots of information here that is very helpful in understanding further uh the depth of the covenant this this covenant relationship that we have with the lord and so i'm going to read here genesis chapter 1 verse 28 and 29 notice what the bible says it says then god bless them and god said to them be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth verse 29 says and god said see i have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you it shall be for food now there's a there's several lessons within just these couple of verses here uh much of which we're not going to be able to get into for the sake of time but we're talking about the covenant how does these two verses and the information that we find here relate to the covenant well i kind of break it down into sections to help us to kind of dissect it and compare it and connect it to this covenant relationship that god wants to establish with man so he's just created man in his image he says it was very good right and now they're created he has breathed into adam the the breath of life he's now created eve and notice what it first says here it says and god blessed them the very first thing that god did to his creation in this case mankind is that he blessed them and that's awesome the fact that you know he just breathes you know he breathes into adam adam wakes up of course there's some time later of course we know that he makes adam fall back asleep he pulls the rib he creates adam and eve but then the very first thing he does to them together once they're together he blesses them and i love that because it draws my attention back to the fact that god wants to bless us he doesn't want to withhold a blessing from us he wants us to be blessed and my mind went to numbers chapter 6. that of course we're skipping forward just a little bit here for the sake of illustration in the sense that you know we see a record all the way through scripture where god is always blessing his people he wants to bestow a blessing upon his chosen people and we see this even with israel as a nation when he called his people into covenant relationship with them one of the first things he did is he drawed uh moses aaron together he said moses tell aaron that these are the words that he are to or to bestow upon the people as a blessing upon them and so we see this in number six verse 22-27 of course we've read this many times we've heard this many times in in sermons or at the end of a sermon it says this very clearly number 6 verses 23 22-27 it says and the lord spoke to moses saying speak to aaron and his son saying that this is the way which you shall bless the children of israel saying to them the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace so they shall put my name on the children of israel and i will bless them and this is the perpetual message all throughout the bible a god desiring to draw close to his people to bless them because he indeed wants us to be happy he wants us to have good things he wants us indeed to be blessed in fact it reminds me of that beautiful scripture in 1st john chapter 4 verse 19 that you know we love him because he first loved us in this case we bless god because he first blessed us so i just wanted to highlight that because it starts off with god bless them but then notice what the next part of verse 28 says it says that he told them be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it now there's i'm going to spend the bulk of my time on this one because it it just has something beautiful here many people are going to read that text and go oh you know god told them just go make a bunch of little babies you know just go out there and just be fruitful and multiply make a bunch of little babies but i believe that there are two main reasons why god gave this command in fact this is the very first command god gave them and it's interesting i'm going to give you the first one that i think is an awesome point to make and then the second one we're going to expound a little bit deeper in so i found this quote from the seventh-day adventist bible commentary volume 1 page 1082 and this kind of explains one of the reasons why god immediately told them hey go be fruitful and multiply in other words go make others and go make others like yourself notice what it says here god again cordiscus comes from seventh adventist bible commentary volume one page ten eighty two god created man for his own glory that after test and trial the human family might become one with the heavenly family okay it was god's purpose to repopulate heaven with the human family so i love that the fact that god created mankind because again the fall in heaven lucifer the angels the war in heaven god had to basically banish lucifer and those fallen angels well he wanted to repopulate heaven and so of course mankind fit into that plan so that's one reason why god said look go out there and make some others right be fruitful and multiply his plan is to repopulate heaven with good people but then i'm going to submit something for the purpose of covenant conversation that god also told them to be fruitful and multiply for another reason consider the fact that adam and eve was created in the image of god okay and pastor you did a beautiful job expounding on that i want to take it just a little step further here the bible says that god is love not that he's just mere loving describing an action or something that he expresses which we know god is that but he's much more than that the very principle of his character is that god is love and we have a beautiful description of what love is in principle and in character if you go over to first corinthians 13 and we read that beautiful passage there where it describes love you know love suffers long and is kind love does not end love does not parade itself it is not puffed up it does not behave rudely but right in the midst of that beautiful message there in first corinthians 13 something catches my eye here love does not seek its own true love does not seek its own god does not seek his own in other words god is giving he's not self-centered the very nature of the very character of god is that he prefers others he puts others before himself for god so loved the world that he he gave right and i love this we see that in true biblical godly love we see an other's centeredness amen okay so we're getting the point here be fruitful and multiply okay there's a reason i believe another reason why god gave that command you see paul often uses the phrase in his writings that jesus gave himself right husbands love your wives just as christ also loved the church and he gave himself for her again this others others centeredness so definitionally if you are going to have love then you need more than one amen and i'm going to submit to you and i love this quote i'm about to read here not just more than one more than two okay yeah notice this ty gibson this comes i like who brought this quote from ty gibson i think it's beautifully described here and i think it's based on fundamental biblical principle this is from a god named desire he said three is the essential numeric value of love whether there is only one person love cannot occur uh where there are where there are two each is of the sole recipient of the other's attention giving place for self-absorption but the moment there are three each recipient uh uh each recipient of one's love must must also humbly defer attention to the third party and each one is the third party to the other two pure selflessness can now occur by virtue of the fact that each one must love and be loved with both an exclusive and a divided interest so what we see that our god is triune right father son and holy spirit that's a family so when god created adam and eve what did he do what was his first command go make another go make another just like yourself i love that because it shows that when god did indeed create him in his image he created a family it was it was his purpose that they have a family we go on to see that god said have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth okay and god even went on to say see that i have given you every herb that yields seed and which is on all the face upon the earth and every tree whose fruits yield seed to you it shall be for food what we're seeing here is god is basically showing his love by gifting uh the earth and its creatures and everything on it the food he gives them he gives the perfect garden diet to them all for the purpose of establishing covenant relationship with them this is basically stewardship one on one god god creates it and he says look i created it it's mine but i'm giving it to you it's all yours i loved you i've blessed you i've created you in my image all of this is for you god puts himself out there he makes he puts himself out there for man to show them that he indeed loves him and now we're going to find out that that covenant we need to reciprocate that and that's what we're going to learn throughout these lessons amen amen amen and amen so we have here the continuation into uh wednesday which is uh the title for this part is at the tree at the tree you know as uh pastor ryan was talking i was reminded of a quote from i believe it's the book education by ellen g white where it says uh that it was god's ideal that as the longer a man lived the more fully will he reflect the creator's glory the character of god and so this relationship was essential to maintain this relationship with god and so as we move into uh wednesday's lesson we go into two specific scriptures that are genesis chapter 2 verse 16 and 17. but this will be our focus but i want to start in genesis chapter 2 verses 7 through 9 because i want to set a foundation here and it says in the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul so we have here from the beginning that not only is man created in the image of god but he has the very breath of god in in him and the lord god planted a garden eastward in eden and there he put the man whom he had formed and out of the ground made the lord the lord god to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil so we have here this this foundation for adam and eve to follow that god bless them with hundreds i don't know thousands of trees and remember there's a scripture that reveals that everything that god made was very good genesis chapter 1 verse 31 and god saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and the evening and the morning were the sixth day so everything was very good including the tree of knowledge of good and evil it was not a bad tree it was a good tree it was just that god said don't eat of that particular tree so when we look at genesis chapter 2 15 notice what it says here then we already had a little repeating of this in genesis chapter 2 verse 7 through 9 then the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to tend and to keep it so this garden god made a special home for adam and eve and this this shows a relationship they had show them all the trees of the garden and now let's move to verse 16 and the lord god commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die so we have here the scriptures that revealed to adam and eve that there was just one thing they could not do one tree that they could not eat and i can imagine adam and eve talking can you believe it we can eat of all these trees so many trees they could live for a long time without having to repeat their their meal you know i remember we had a dog and uh this dog made me laugh because i would give the dog food we buy a bag of food and i would bring the food to the dog and i would just after after a while of eating this four five six days he just i felt bad for the dog because he would look at the food and look at me like i had this yesterday don't you have anything else you know it's like but adam and eve had a variety just like we have a variety today but their variety was greater because sin has affected the earth now remember that god commanded them saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat god gave adam and eve the blessing of freedom of choice they were not robots to do yes lord i'll do this yet no they were given the privilege to choose this is why they say you may freely eat they had a choice and i would like to bring us some scripture that is uh very similar to this in the book of deuteronomy chapter 30. i'm going to read verses 11 uh through 15 because it reveals something concerning the people of israel it's very similar to you can say that what god said to adam and eve notice beginning deuteronomy deuteronomy 30 beginning in verse 11 for this commandment which i command you today is not too mysterious for you no is it far off it is not in heaven that you should say who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear and do it nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it but the word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it see i have set before thee this day life and good death and evil it was not something out of this world that adam and eve were asked to do they were asked don't eat of this particular tree in this you see god's great love for them because he is saying to them if you love me keep my commandment and it was not difficult it was not hard it was not something that was crushing them their their life out you know they said oh no we can't eat of that tree there's that tree again oh no no they had so many choices so many things to choose from and i would say that their love their love for their creator made them obey if they they were moved to to obey the creator when you know god and you see all that he has done for you your love for him grows this is why it's very important for us to read the scriptures become acquainted with god because as we spend time with god we will love him more and adam and eve had the privilege of spending time with god now let's go back to the consequences of disobedience which is death genesis chapter 2 verse 17. i'll read that again but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die and this uh this scripture this message from the lord led them to understand that their freedom will be gone their joy will be gone their happiness would be gone and of course um the bible declares in the book of romans that one by one man's disobedience death came upon all yeah not only is it talking here about the first death but there's also the death that the bible says that was uh in romans chapter 6 verse 23 for the wages of sin is death eventually the gift that god gave to adam and eve would be taken from them and that is life and instead of life they would have death now this tree of knowledge of good and evil uh is not that it was a a tree that was evil is that the tree by taking of the tree you would have a knowledge of sin and a knowledge of sin would bring them unnecessary suffering the knowledge that god did not want our first parents to have is the knowledge of guilt and we all know that guilt is something that is not good to have nobody likes to nobody likes it but sin created the problem that brought this world and the condition that is and you're going to hear more about this in a moment so adam and eve were given the choice the choice to have life by continuing in obedience to god if you love me keep my commandment in essence god was saying this to them i want to share with you um what what we have here in in the choices that they they have they were given uh moses when he was talking to the people of israel he said this to them in genesis uh chapter in deuteronomy chapter 30 notice what he says in verse 19 and 20 i call heaven and earth to wreck record this day against you that i have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live that thou mayest love the lord thy god and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy days that thou mayest do well in the land which the lord swear unto thy fathers to abraham to isaac and to jacob to give them so before adam and eve was life and before adam and leave eve was also dead they were to choose life if they chose life it says that thou mayest love thy god and that you may obey his voice and that you may cleave to god and in cleaving to god in maintaining that relationship with god that would be their life so for you and for i we also have a choice we have a choice to choose life through jesus christ and it is wonderful that god gave his only begotten son amen that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life before you is life and death choose life choose jesus christ man thank you johnny that was whoops i've got a two-part mask here i have thursday's lesson breaking the relationship this is rather sad let's begin with genesis chapter 3. genesis 3 and verse 1. now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the lord god had made and he said to the woman has god indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden so here in my mind i see eve is walking through the garden just taking her little walk and she stops and she's gazing in curiosity on the only tree that is prohibited and she sees this fascinating creature at the serpent and you know he wasn't slithering on his belly before the curse actually in ezekiel 28 it talks of satan having a dazzling beauty when he was in heaven so now this serpent is satan and let me prove that to you because both paul and john describe him as satan and we know that satan can disguise himself as an angel of light in revelation 12 and verse 9 and revelation 20 and verse 2. john writes the dragon that serpent of old he's going back to genesis here who is the devil and satan actually a dragon is based on the greek word dracon which can also mean serpent and the devil comes from the verb to slander or falsely accuse so the satan is our adversary and our enemy naturally eve has been walking with adam she's been walking with god in the garden you would think instinctively she would mistrust this stranger but you know what's interesting the cunningness the deceitfulness of satan is that he bypassed her natural defenses and what does he do he engages her in a conversation he baits her with a conversation about god but he twists god's word he knows it's got truth in it but he twists it to sow confusion verse two the woman answers the serpent and she says oh no we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the tree the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden that's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil god has said you shall not eat it nor shall you touch it lest you die well first thing i notice this is beyond god's recorded message to them of course eve when when the recorded message was given to adam it was right before eve was created so perhaps adam had told her when he told her don't touch it honey don't even touch it you'll die but what this shows me is that adding anything to the word of god can sow confusion we've got to be so careful it needs to be sola scriptura we cannot if we start adding to god's word it's going to cause trouble if it's something that's i mean there's writers we know this who are explaining it but we've got to be careful we don't add any new concepts to it so the serpent recognizes her confusion and you know what adam's not there to protect her so the serpent strikes verse 4. the serpent said to the woman no you will not surely die for god knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like god knowing good and evil as pastor john already has shown humanity was created mortal the only thing that gave adam and eve continued life was access to the tree of life and we saw in first timothy 6 16. paul says god alone has immortality at this time you know that's that lie of the devil you shall surely not die is being passed around because there's a lot of people that act like we are immortal but what satan's mission is to get us to doubt god to distrust his message so he contradicts her report of god's man uh god's command and he distorts god's character said hey god knows if you eat this you're going to be like him he challenges god's authority but this is what's interesting eve the bible says was deceived so perhaps she thought well maybe this guy knows what this serpent knows what he's talking about maybe i misunderstood or maybe the interpretation of the command was wrong so now she's entertaining his word she's fully deceived and guess what if she's deceived it means she decided that satan was telling the truth how many people are doing that today how many people are misunderstanding god's intent because satan has twisted it and and they're being deceived so verse six so the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave to her husband with her i don't believe he was there at the moment this is a little later and he ate and i'll tell you what the fruit appealed to her taste her eye and her desire to know more so seduction and deception convinced her what she was doing was okay so it's not like she went to her husband to seduce or deceive him because adam was not deceived let me show you that we'll go on genesis 3 they do both eat and genesis 3 7 says then the eyes of both of them were opened they're thinking they're going to have greater knowledge they knew that they were naked they sewed fig leaves together they made themselves covering so instead of receiving god-like power it produced a sense of human inadequacy and fear and shame and first timothy 2 14 says adam was not deceived paul writes but the woman being deceived fell into transgression adam was not beguiled by satan he had full knowledge of what he was doing he voluntarily misused his act of free will i guess i don't know but maybe he decided well if she's going to get the punishment i'm going to do it too because i want her i don't know why he did but he deliberately turned away from god he rejected the truth and guess what the cosmic conflict over love the cosmic conflict over god's government of love was introduced to the world right then and there now listen to this oh and by the way let me ask answer this god gave dominion but as soon as adam quit obeying god he handed over dominion temporarily to satan of this earth and god's allowing that to play out for a set period of time let me read from the lesson and it's from the seventh-day adventist bible commentary volume one page 231 deplorable as was eve's transgression and fraud as it was with the potential woe for the human family her choice did not necessarily involve the race and the penalty for her transgression it was the deliberate choice of adam in the full understanding of an express command of god rather than hers that made sin and death inevitable for the lot of mankind eve was deceived adam was not let me to explain as oh there's just never enough time um luke 3 38 talks about adam being the son of god he was the first covenant son of god adam was the representative of all humanity all humanity so when adam rejected god's truth and went against the commandment he sinned and all humanity now has a fallen nature we know the everlasting gospel the everlasting covenant let me tell you you know revelation 14 6 talks about it the everlasting gospel this is it revelation 13 8 the lamb who is slain from the foundation of the earth and as bad as this was in genesis 3 15 god comes and says to the serpent i'll put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and your her seed he shall bruise your head you will bruise his heel god introduces his everlasting covenant on the earth as soon as man's sent amen thank you so much shelley and pastor johnny pastor ryan pastor john what an amazing kickoff to our entire quarter on the covenants want to give each one of you a moment to share something about the lesson sure we can never find outside of god's covenant that which god only placed within his covenant and david the psalmist says in psalms 89 34 my covenant i will not break nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips amen we love him because he first loved us that's really what the covenant is all about god puts himself out there and he wants us to be in covenant relationship with him so i encourage you seek the lord and allow him to work through you to reciprocate that love amen amen when we look at genesis chapter 2 and we see the one prohibition that god gave to adam and eve we see a god that is willing to show us that there is life and death we have the choice of life and death and in doing what god requires of us what god is asking us to do we live in peace and we live in harmony with god and if we don't then we are going to have to suffer the consequences choose life amen the seed that was spoken of in genesis 3 15 is the last adam jesus christ let me read real quick first corinthians 15 22 21-22 for since by man came death speaking of adam by man with a capital limb speaking of god in the person of jesus christ came the resurrection of the dead for as in adam although even so in christ all shall be made alive one point in genesis after they sin what happens god comes down he's walking around says where are you he knew where they were this is god's first call to humanity and he's encouraged them to return to him face their sin that's what the rest of scripture is all about amen thank you so much we're so glad that you have joined us for this edition of 3am sabbath school panel god created us to be in relationship with him sin severed that relationship and then we see the entrance uh this is one of my favorite scriptures the entrance of jesus the promise of the coming seed we see this in romans 5 8 god demonstrated his love for us and that while we were yet sinners he died for us to reconcile us back to the father and to restore that covenant relationship join us next week for covenant primer do [Music] you

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Length: 58min 31sec (3511 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 28 2021