What crucial choice defines our allegiance? Listen in as we unpack Genesis 3, discovering our pivotal role in the Story of God. Join us to understand our narrative better. It’s about choosing allegiance in a world with unseen forces. Tune in for insights on your story’s plot!  IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316  to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).  Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.

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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

Do you have things about you that drive you nuts?  I have a LAUNDRY list of those things for myself.  But one of my pet peeves with myself is that I will start watching a movie.  But my brain is wired, thanks to Facebook, to pull out my phone and start scrolling.  Here’s why this drives me nuts!  I start scrolling and then the instant I do, the major plot point of the movie happens.  Someone kills the main character’s dog, or their wife dies, or a terrorist makes a threat.  Doesn’t matter the movie, doesn’t matter how hard I try.  I almost ALWAYS miss the plot point…

Here’s the problem

If you don’t know the plot, you will miss out on the purpose…

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This is never more true than in the Story of God…

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There are major plot points along the way in the story that if you miss them, or misunderstand them it will affect everything else.

Today, we are going to be talking about one of the Two major plot points of the Story of God.

It’s vital we understand why this plot point is so important and to understand what is really going on with it…

If you have your Bible, we are going to open up to Genesis 3:

Remember, the story of Genesis is not so much about trying to tell you how God created things, but to express meaning.  Moses who is writing this account for us didn’t even have the word science available to him.  He did know about order and about the wisdom and beauty found in creation.

God created the world around us and all that exists in it.

God created mankind as the steward (managers) of that creation.

God created and it was all good.

In Genesis 3 we have this strange encounter between Adam & Eve – the name Adam actually means “humanity” and Eve means “source of life.”  There is a serpent that comes to Adam and Eve and begins to have this deceptive encounter with them.  I know it’s strange, and I want to give you permission if you are someone who struggles to believe this story.  That’s ok, don’t stop listening because of that, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  As you listen to this story, you are going to hear the echos of humanity’s story and you are going to see the plot start to unfold in a way that helps you understand your own story better.  

I personally have landed in a place where I believe this story.  There are crazy, unexplainable things in this world.  I don’t know that it was a talking snake, I think it was an angel of darkness that we call Satan.  

This talking serpent asks Eve if God really told them to not eat from any of the trees in the Garden…

ILLUSTRATION:

Years ago I read a great book on negotiating called “Never Split the Difference”, written by an FBI negotiator.  One of the things he talked about was how he always tried to get someone to a “no” as soon as possible.  He said, most salespeople try to get a “yes” out of someone, but a “no” makes someone psychologically feel superior and in control of the situation.  

The serpent is 100% using this technique on Eve.  

He lies to her and uses deception to ask his question.  

Eve gives him a “no”, “God only said we couldn’t each off the tee in the middle of the garden.  

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

Again, this sounds like another fairy tale moment in the story, but can I just for a minute give this tree some context?

Does anyone remember what God would step back and look at His creation and say after each day was completed?

“And the Lord saw that it was Good”

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God is the one who has the knowledge of what is Good and what is Evil.  God is the one who defines these actions.

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Before the fall, Adam and Eve had no need for this knowledge because they knew God.

this is vitally important to the plot

Eating or not eating from this tree is about allegiance.

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The choice is allegiance to a relationship with the creator or allegiance to self and becoming the master of your own destiny.

This is the point in the story where you don’t want to be scrolling through Facebook and miss the point.  

The problem is humanity is created to worship – it’s in our DNA and worship of self is ultimately allegiance to the evil one.

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When humanity stepped out of allegiance to God, we gave authority to Satan to rule mankind through sin and the fear of death.

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This was and has always been the New Testament view of what happened to humanity and why the work of Jesus on the Cross is so vital

Listen to Paul describe his on calling by God.  He’s talking about his conversion to Christianity and what Jesus said to Him on the Damascus road and how Jesus called him to go to non-Jewish people.

Acts 26:17b-18

I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

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Spiritually speaking, no one lives in a vacuum.  In the absence of a personal relationship with God, people worship self or worship things, and both are manifestations of Satanic veneration.

So, what happens in the story, you know this don’t you?

Eve eats the fruit.  She bites on it.  Just like you do…

It’s still the temptation every one of us faces…

If you can just control this person, you can have peace

If you can just make another dollar – no matter what it takes, you’ll finally be happy

If you want to be free never let anyone else ever have their hooks in you

We are all promised the worm that we can control our destiny only to be caught on the hook of sin and death.

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When Adam and Eve eat the fruit, they break relationship with God and give their allegiance to the evil one.  They trust him over Yahweh.

God comes to them, walking in the Garden, He comes gently.  He knows immediately what has happened, and yet He interacts with them.  Asking them questions.  

Death is what is promised for this action and death is delivered.

Wicked, evil has entered the world

it will touch Adam and Eve’s own family, one of their boys will kill their other son.  

Actually, 

I believe God brings death into the world not as a punishment but as a mercy.

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“Kent, death is horrible, how could you say that?”

In a world where wicked hearts reign.  Allowing pure evil to exist eternally would be a greater cruelty.  Imagine if Hitler would have been able to live forever.  He was in power for 11 years.  What could he have done with a 100?

God brings death as a fail-safe to the system until He can redeem us out from under this curse.

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And that brings me to the second plot point. 

Did you notice that Adam and Eve didn’t die immediately?  But do you know something did?  The very first sacrifice is performed by God.  In the story, Adam and Eve have covered themselves with leaves and God makes them an animal skin covering.  He sacrifices an animals life for their life.  

This is a foreshadowing of God’s greatest sacrifice of all time.  When He Himself would come and sacrifice His own body as a covering for your sin and my sin.  

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For Him to redeem us out from under the bondage we have been placed in through our allegiance with evil and self over trusting God.

CLOSING:

Occasionally when I am watching one of those movies with my wife I will pause it and say, “Ok, so what just happened?”  She with incredible grace will stop and explain it to me.  Every time…  I don’t know how or why she puts up with me, but she does…  :).  I hope you now get the significance of this moment and how it feels like so much more than a fairy tale, but real life that you and I are living in the midst of right now.  You are caught in this battle for the allegiance of your heart.  Here’s the good news.  God is so Good, He is willing to stop everything right now and to sit with you and bring you into the story, to bring you up to speed.  All it takes is for you to denounce your disloyal heart of sin and to accept His sacrifice for you.  To enter into trusting Him through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, raising from the dead to prove He has authority even over death itself.  The thing the enemy has used to keep you trapped no longer has sway over you.  Turn to Jesus today!

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