The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Thirteen - A Nov 18, 2018 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T003_20181118.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Acts 16:30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” We will today begin to look at the Philippian Jailor's question and the answer given. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday November 18th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 13A ‘What Must I Do To Be Saved?’ 1). Acts 16:30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. The account of the Philippian jailor’s encounter with Paul and Silas is the only place in all of scripture where the question concerning eternal salvation and the answer relating to it appear side by side. a). And if we add to these verses that which Paul wrote in Ephesians Chapter 2, we can see that there are really 2 interrelated answers to the Philippian jailor’s question, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ b). One answer would be, ‘Absolutely nothing’ – There is nothing that any human being could ever do to bring about their own eternal salvation – ‘it is the gift of God, not of works’, and all is based upon the Lord’s finished work on the cross of Calvary – Joh 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. The single Greek word translated ‘It is finished’ could not state any more emphatically that the Christ’s work was at that point totally, completely and irrevocably finished and would remain in that finished condition for all time, it can never be changed. And because His work was now irrevocably completed the Lord’s suffering needed to continue no longer so ‘He gave up His spirit’, He breathed out, He laid down His life. c). And this would lead us to the second answer to the jailor’s question, the answer that Paul and Silas gave him as recorded in Acts 16:31, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved’. d). Simply believe. Believe that there is an appointment with death – Rom 6:30 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. An appointment with death that the Lord has kept on our behalf so that we don’t have to. And believing this we receive the gift of God, eternal life. e). And just as there was nothing we could do to affect our eternal salvation as it is based on Christ’s finished work, so there is nothing that we could ever do to change that which Christ has irrevocably finished. f). And, if there is nothing we can do to be eternally saved and nothing we can do to invalidate that salvation it is equally true that there is nothing we can do to prove that we have been saved in the first place – all is based on ‘believe’ and believe alone. g). In this respect eternal salvation is very simple and to be saved is the easiest thing in the world and it is God’s intention to make eternal salvation simple because this is the aspect of salvation that unlocks the door to rulership in the 7th Day. h). Which is by no means to suggest that its simplicity makes it insignificant as it has taken the death of God in the person of Son to pay the price that God’s righteousness demands. i). For us it is a free gift, but it came by paying an extraordinary price – a price that our Lord was willing to pay for the joy that is set before Him – Mt 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 2). 1 Cor 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he tells them that he delivered to them that which he had also received, and that which Paul received was that Christ had died for our sins ‘according to the Scriptures’. a). And as we look at this let’s not think that Paul just looked up what was written in the Gospels, because the Gospel accounts were not written when Paul received the truth that Christ had died for our sins. The scriptures Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 15:3 are the OT scriptures – Genesis to Malachi. b). Within Christianity today, and this is probably true of our own experience, the place in the scriptures where the newly eternally saved are taken is likely to be the Gospel of John, not Genesis. c). But Genesis is the only place we can begin as that is where God began His revelation to us and it’s the place where Jesus began on the day of His resurrection as He revealed Himself to His disciples – Lk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And ironically enough, Genesis is the place where John began his Gospel – John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. d). And one other thing we may not have considered – if eternal salvation is the beginning and the end of God’s purpose for us, if we all die and then spend eternity in heaven with the Lord, we would have no need for the scriptures beyond possibly an account of the Lord’s life, death and resurrection. e). We do not need the scriptures to be eternally saved, we need to hear the Gospel of Grace, just as we saw with the Philippian jailor, because the scriptures only become accessible to us once we have passed from spiritual death to spiritual life – 1 Cor 2:14 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. And so, if for no other reason than this, we can conclude that there is something beyond the simplicity of our eternal salvation that God requires us to know – hence the reason for our Bible. f). It is only once we have passed from death to life that we have the ability to understand spiritual truth; only then are we in a position to understand God’s redemptive purpose, both in its scope and in its process, and the place we MUST begin in our understanding of this is Genesis. 3). Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was [became] without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. By comparing scripture with scripture, we know that the ruin of God’s creation came about because of Satan’s sin, his desire to be like the Most High. We may not have made the connection, but following Satan’s sin there was no redemption, neither for Satan and his angels nor the material creation. There was then an unspecified period of time during which the government of the earth and the creation to be governed remained in a state of utter ruin and God did not act in a redemptive capacity to change that. a). The restorative / redemptive process that we then see in days 1-6 in Genesis Chapter 1 is enacted because of, and for Man, not Satan. b). Man is not just something else God created along the way, Man is the purpose for God bringing about the redemption of the ruined creation and God’s purpose for redeeming the creation for Man is abundantly clear – Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” The purpose was, and is, Man to rule in the place of Satan and his angels over this one province in God’s universal Kingdom – the earth and the heavens associated with the earth during the 7th Day. c). And then through His redemptive actions by which God restored the ruined creation He established an unchangeable process and pattern by which any ruined creation must be restored – Gen 1: 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. What we can see is that the ruined creation was not capable of bringing about its own redemption – this could only be accomplished by a Sovereign act of the Triune Godhead working in unity together. d). The Spirit hovered, God spoke and through the Word light shone out of the darkness – Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And as the light shone it was divided from the darkness and that which was darkness had no comprehension, no understanding, of that which is light. e). And that which we see here is exactly the experience of the Philippian jailor and exactly the experience for each one of us. f). As we have already seen today, we are incapable of bringing about our own salvation, this can only be accomplished by a Sovereign act of the Triune God through the finished work of Christ – like the material creation, we were in a place of death, engulfed with spiritual darkness. g). The Spirit of God hovered and in response to our believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, God spoke and through the Word the light of spiritual life shone in the midst of our darkness. And at that moment a division was made between the light and the darkness. And that which is darkness, our sin nature, our old man, our soulical self, cannot comprehend, cannot have any understanding of that which is light. h). This is the gift of God which we have seen to be eternal life and relates exclusively to the spirit. This is what is also referred to as our new birth – Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It is our spirit then, that which is characterized by light, that has eternal life and our redeemed spirit exists side by side with an unredeemed soul, characterized by darkness, in an unredeemed body – Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. As we consider this let’s keep in mind the process, the pattern that has been set in Genesis Chapter 1 – on the first day the light shone out of the darkness and although the light was now in existence the creation at this point was not fully restored. There were another 5 days in which God worked to bring about the earth’s complete restoration. i). And so, the redemption of our spirit equates with day 1 in Genesis which is to be followed by a continuing work by the Lord to bring about our complete restoration, spirit, soul and body. 4). Gen 3: 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’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, [Lit. ‘you will be as God’] knowing good and evil.”6 So when 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. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. If we return to the foundation in Genesis, we find the disqualified ruler, Satan, ‘that serpent of old’, in the garden of Eden on the newly restored earth targeting the Woman after a fashion similar to his own rebellion, encouraging her to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so as to be as God. a). Now, the Woman eating the fruit did not of itself bring about what we have come to call the ‘fall of Man’ – this occurred when the Man, who had been created ‘head’ ate the fruit also. And presumably Satan had some knowledge of this. b). And as Adam ate the fruit so not only was God’s creation Man, the Man and the Woman, in a ruined state, but the newly restored earth over which the Man and the Woman were to rule together was also ruined – Gen 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake……….. And so, there becomes an inextricable connection between the redemption of Man and the redemption of the ruined creation that had previously been restored – Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. c). The scripture clearly tells us that the Woman was deceived by the serpent into eating the fruit, but Adam was not deceived. He entered into the sin of his wife in the full knowledge of what he was doing. d). The Woman was ‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ – a part of the Man who really could not be separated from him, a part of the Man’s very being then was now ruined. He could not rule without her and she would have no hope without him. e). Faced with this situation the Man really had no choice but to cleave to his wife with the hope of redemption so that they might both one day be able to eat from the tree of life, fulfilling the purpose for their creation. And as we know Adam according to – Rom 5:14b is a type of Him who was to come. We will immediately see that this is exactly the situation our Lord found at His first advent – those who are to make up His Wife were in a state of sin and on the cross He entered into that sin by taking it upon Himself – 2 Cor 5: 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And in response to Adam’s action with a view to redemption – Gen 3: 21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. God slew innocent animals, whose death and shed blood He accepted as payment of the wages of sin in the place of Adam and the Woman, and clothed Adam and his wife with tunics of skin to cover their nakedness. f). And as the innocent Christ died and shed His blood as payment for the wages of sin, so anyone who would accept His sacrifice on their behalf would then be clothed, not with animal skins, but, as we have already seen today, ‘the righteousness of God in Him’. g). And so, we can see set out in the foundation that there would be a Man who would take on the sin of others for the purpose of redemption with rulership ultimately in view and that redemption necessitates death and shed blood. 5). Gen 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. As we continue in the foundational chapters in Genesis, we come to Abel whose sacrifice of lambs from his flock was acceptable to God, picturing the Lord Jesus Christ who would Himself be the accepted sacrifice as the Lamb of God. a). And alongside Abel we have his brother Cain whose sacrifice was not accepted who was jealous of his brother picturing for us the nation of Israel whose attempts to keep the Law were never acceptable to the Lord, who was envious of his brother. b). When Cain and Abel were in the field together, so Cain rose up and killed his brother Abel and when the nation of Israel and the Lord were in the land of Israel together, so Israel rose up and killed his brother, the Lord Jesus. c). As we put all this together with what has gone before we see a Man who will knowingly take on the sin of others with a view to redemption, for the purpose of rulership, who will pay the price for that sin through His own death and shed blood. d). And then to these opening Chapters of Genesis we can add the account of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis Chapter 22 – Gen 22: 1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” There are only 2 places in scripture where God looks to human sacrifice, one is here in Genesis and the other takes place some 2000 years later through the antitype of the picture given in Genesis Chapter 22. e). In Chapter 22 we see a father who is to take his son whom he loves to a particular place at a set time to offer him as a sacrifice, a burnt offering, an offering for sin. And then 2000 years later we a Father who takes His Son whom He loves to the same place at a set time to offer Him as a sacrifice for sin. f). And as Abraham showed no hesitation in offering his son, so God the Father showed no hesitation in offering His Son and as Abraham and Isaac alone witnessed the events on Mount Moriah, so God the Father and His Son alone witnessed the events on the cross of Calvary – Mt 27: 5 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. 49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Isaac willingly allowed himself to be the sacrifice and the Lord Jesus willingly went to the cross in obedience to His Father, drinking the cup that had been given to Him – Mt 26:2 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” g). As Abraham took the knife to slay his son so his hand was staid and God provided a ram, caught in a thicket, that Abraham then sacrificed in Isaac’s place – Gen 22: 11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” The substitutionary death that we first saw in Genesis Chapter 3 is now seen again in relation to the father/son relationship – and it was on the same mountain, as we have said, that the Lord provided His own sacrifice, a substitutionary death, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, who went to the cross with His head caught in a crown of thorns, thorns produced by the outworking of the curse placed on the earth that brought it into ruin as a result of the sin of the first Adam – again showing us the inextricable connection between the redemption of fallen Man and the redemption of the ruined creation. And the truth that God provides concerning this does not end here – but the rest will have to wait until next time. If the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Thirteen - A Nov 18, 2018 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T003_20181118.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Acts 16:30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” We will today begin to look at the Philippian Jailor's question and the answer given. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday November 18th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 13A ‘What Must I Do To Be Saved?’ 1). Acts 16:30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. The account of the Philippian jailor’s encounter with Paul and Silas is the only place in all of scripture where the question concerning eternal salvation and the answer relating to it appear side by side. a). And if we add to these verses that which Paul wrote in Ephesians Chapter 2, we can see that there are really 2 interrelated answers to the Philippian jailor’s question, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ b). One answer would be, ‘Absolutely nothing’ – There is nothing that any human being could ever do to bring about their own eternal salvation – ‘it is the gift of God, not of works’, and all is based upon the Lord’s finished work on the cross of Calvary – Joh 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. The single Greek word translated ‘It is finished’ could not state any more emphatically that the Christ’s work was at that point totally, completely and irrevocably finished and would remain in that finished condition for all time, it can never be changed. And because His work was now irrevocably completed the Lord’s suffering needed to continue no longer so ‘He gave up His spirit’, He breathed out, He laid down His life. c). And this would lead us to the second answer to the jailor’s question, the answer that Paul and Silas gave him as recorded in Acts 16:31, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved’. d). Simply believe. Believe that there is an appointment with death – Rom 6:30 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. An appointment with death that the Lord has kept on our behalf so that we don’t have to. And believing this we receive the gift of God, eternal life. e). And just as there was nothing we could do to affect our eternal salvation as it is based on Christ’s finished work, so there is nothing that we could ever do to change that which Christ has irrevocably finished. f). And, if there is nothing we can do to be eternally saved and nothing we can do to invalidate that salvation it is equally true that there is nothing we can do to prove that we have been saved in the first place – all is based on ‘believe’ and believe alone. g). In this respect eternal salvation is very simple and to be saved is the easiest thing in the world and it is God’s intention to make eternal salvation simple because this is the aspect of salvation that unlocks the door to rulership in the 7th Day. h). Which is by no means to suggest that its simplicity makes it insignificant as it has taken the death of God in the person of Son to pay the price that God’s righteousness demands. i). For us it is a free gift, but it came by paying an extraordinary price – a price that our Lord was willing to pay for the joy that is set before Him – Mt 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 2). 1 Cor 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he tells them that he delivered to them that which he had also received, and that which Paul received was that Christ had died for our sins ‘according to the Scriptures’. a). And as we look at this let’s not think that Paul just looked up what was written in the Gospels, because the Gospel accounts were not written when Paul received the truth that Christ had died for our sins. The scriptures Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 15:3 are the OT scriptures – Genesis to Malachi. b). Within Christianity today, and this is probably true of our own experience, the place in the scriptures where the newly eternally saved are taken is likely to be the Gospel of John, not Genesis. c). But Genesis is the only place we can begin as that is where God began His revelation to us and it’s the place where Jesus began on the day of His resurrection as He revealed Himself to His disciples – Lk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And ironically enough, Genesis is the place where John began his Gospel – John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. d). And one other thing we may not have considered – if eternal salvation is the beginning and the end of God’s purpose for us, if we all die and then spend eternity in heaven with the Lord, we would have no need for the scriptures beyond possibly an account of the Lord’s life, death and resurrection. e). We do not need the scriptures to be eternally saved, we need to hear the Gospel of Grace, just as we saw with the Philippian jailor, because the scriptures only become accessible to us once we have passed from spiritual death to spiritual life – 1 Cor 2:14 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. And so, if for no other reason than this, we can conclude that there is something beyond the simplicity of our eternal salvation that God requires us to know – hence the reason for our Bible. f). It is only once we have passed from death to life that we have the ability to understand spiritual truth; only then are we in a position to understand God’s redemptive purpose, both in its scope and in its process, and the place we MUST begin in our understanding of this is Genesis. 3). Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was [became] without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. By comparing scripture with scripture, we know that the ruin of God’s creation came about because of Satan’s sin, his desire to be like the Most High. We may not have made the connection, but following Satan’s sin there was no redemption, neither for Satan and his angels nor the material creation. There was then an unspecified period of time during which the government of the earth and the creation to be governed remained in a state of utter ruin and God did not act in a redemptive capacity to change that. a). The restorative / redemptive process that we then see in days 1-6 in Genesis Chapter 1 is enacted because of, and for Man, not Satan. b). Man is not just something else God created along the way, Man is the purpose for God bringing about the redemption of the ruined creation and God’s purpose for redeeming the creation for Man is abundantly clear – Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” The purpose was, and is, Man to rule in the place of Satan and his angels over this one province in God’s universal Kingdom – the earth and the heavens associated with the earth during the 7th Day. c). And then through His redemptive actions by which God restored the ruined creation He established an unchangeable process and pattern by which any ruined creation must be restored – Gen 1: 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. What we can see is that the ruined creation was not capable of bringing about its own redemption – this could only be accomplished by a Sovereign act of the Triune Godhead working in unity together. d). The Spirit hovered, God spoke and through the Word light shone out of the darkness – Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And as the light shone it was divided from the darkness and that which was darkness had no comprehension, no understanding, of that which is light. e). And that which we see here is exactly the experience of the Philippian jailor and exactly the experience for each one of us. f). As we have already seen today, we are incapable of bringing about our own salvation, this can only be accomplished by a Sovereign act of the Triune God through the finished work of Christ – like the material creation, we were in a place of death, engulfed with spiritual darkness. g). The Spirit of God hovered and in response to our believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, God spoke and through the Word the light of spiritual life shone in the midst of our darkness. And at that moment a division was made between the light and the darkness. And that which is darkness, our sin nature, our old man, our soulical self, cannot comprehend, cannot have any understanding of that which is light. h). This is the gift of God which we have seen to be eternal life and relates exclusively to the spirit. This is what is also referred to as our new birth – Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It is our spirit then, that which is characterized by light, that has eternal life and our redeemed spirit exists side by side with an unredeemed soul, characterized by darkness, in an unredeemed body – Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. As we consider this let’s keep in mind the process, the pattern that has been set in Genesis Chapter 1 – on the first day the light shone out of the darkness and although the light was now in existence the creation at this point was not fully restored. There were another 5 days in which God worked to bring about the earth’s complete restoration. i). And so, the redemption of our spirit equates with day 1 in Genesis which is to be followed by a continuing work by the Lord to bring about our complete restoration, spirit, soul and body. 4). Gen 3: 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’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, [Lit. ‘you will be as God’] knowing good and evil.”6 So when 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. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. If we return to the foundation in Genesis, we find the disqualified ruler, Satan, ‘that serpent of old’, in the garden of Eden on the newly restored earth targeting the Woman after a fashion similar to his own rebellion, encouraging her to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so as to be as God. a). Now, the Woman eating the fruit did not of itself bring about what we have come to call the ‘fall of Man’ – this occurred when the Man, who had been created ‘head’ ate the fruit also. And presumably Satan had some knowledge of this. b). And as Adam ate the fruit so not only was God’s creation Man, the Man and the Woman, in a ruined state, but the newly restored earth over which the Man and the Woman were to rule together was also ruined – Gen 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake……….. And so, there becomes an inextricable connection between the redemption of Man and the redemption of the ruined creation that had previously been restored – Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. c). The scripture clearly tells us that the Woman was deceived by the serpent into eating the fruit, but Adam was not deceived. He entered into the sin of his wife in the full knowledge of what he was doing. d). The Woman was ‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ – a part of the Man who really could not be separated from him, a part of the Man’s very being then was now ruined. He could not rule without her and she would have no hope without him. e). Faced with this situation the Man really had no choice but to cleave to his wife with the hope of redemption so that they might both one day be able to eat from the tree of life, fulfilling the purpose for their creation. And as we know Adam according to – Rom 5:14b is a type of Him who was to come. We will immediately see that this is exactly the situation our Lord found at His first advent – those who are to make up His Wife were in a state of sin and on the cross He entered into that sin by taking it upon Himself – 2 Cor 5: 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And in response to Adam’s action with a view to redemption – Gen 3: 21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. God slew innocent animals, whose death and shed blood He accepted as payment of the wages of sin in the place of Adam and the Woman, and clothed Adam and his wife with tunics of skin to cover their nakedness. f). And as the innocent Christ died and shed His blood as payment for the wages of sin, so anyone who would accept His sacrifice on their behalf would then be clothed, not with animal skins, but, as we have already seen today, ‘the righteousness of God in Him’. g). And so, we can see set out in the foundation that there would be a Man who would take on the sin of others for the purpose of redemption with rulership ultimately in view and that redemption necessitates death and shed blood. 5). Gen 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. As we continue in the foundational chapters in Genesis, we come to Abel whose sacrifice of lambs from his flock was acceptable to God, picturing the Lord Jesus Christ who would Himself be the accepted sacrifice as the Lamb of God. a). And alongside Abel we have his brother Cain whose sacrifice was not accepted who was jealous of his brother picturing for us the nation of Israel whose attempts to keep the Law were never acceptable to the Lord, who was envious of his brother. b). When Cain and Abel were in the field together, so Cain rose up and killed his brother Abel and when the nation of Israel and the Lord were in the land of Israel together, so Israel rose up and killed his brother, the Lord Jesus. c). As we put all this together with what has gone before we see a Man who will knowingly take on the sin of others with a view to redemption, for the purpose of rulership, who will pay the price for that sin through His own death and shed blood. d). And then to these opening Chapters of Genesis we can add the account of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis Chapter 22 – Gen 22: 1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” There are only 2 places in scripture where God looks to human sacrifice, one is here in Genesis and the other takes place some 2000 years later through the antitype of the picture given in Genesis Chapter 22. e). In Chapter 22 we see a father who is to take his son whom he loves to a particular place at a set time to offer him as a sacrifice, a burnt offering, an offering for sin. And then 2000 years later we a Father who takes His Son whom He loves to the same place at a set time to offer Him as a sacrifice for sin. f). And as Abraham showed no hesitation in offering his son, so God the Father showed no hesitation in offering His Son and as Abraham and Isaac alone witnessed the events on Mount Moriah, so God the Father and His Son alone witnessed the events on the cross of Calvary – Mt 27: 5 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. 49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Isaac willingly allowed himself to be the sacrifice and the Lord Jesus willingly went to the cross in obedience to His Father, drinking the cup that had been given to Him – Mt 26:2 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” g). As Abraham took the knife to slay his son so his hand was staid and God provided a ram, caught in a thicket, that Abraham then sacrificed in Isaac’s place – Gen 22: 11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” The substitutionary death that we first saw in Genesis Chapter 3 is now seen again in relation to the father/son relationship – and it was on the same mountain, as we have said, that the Lord provided His own sacrifice, a substitutionary death, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, who went to the cross with His head caught in a crown of thorns, thorns produced by the outworking of the curse placed on the earth that brought it into ruin as a result of the sin of the first Adam – again showing us the inextricable connection between the redemption of fallen Man and the redemption of the ruined creation. And the truth that God provides concerning this does not end here – but the rest will have to wait until next time. If the Lord is willing.