Living Biblically - The Story of Cain

This past week, Jan and I watched a documentary about Doc Holliday. Not our Doc Holliday but the one from the old west. I learned much about him I didn’t know. Which is really the intention of documentaries. When you watch a documentary, you get information from a variety of sources that pull together to create one story, an interweaving of history, hearsay and speculation, and all of it together makes a fuzzy picture clearer.

I read the Bible like a documentary. I try to keep everything within the big picture. The NT was written by men who only knew the OT and made references to it often in their writings. They did so to show how one helps explain the other. We cannot use just one Testament; we need both to bring the picture into focus.

Part of that is due to God’s progressive revelation of truth in which He reveals the meaning later to what happened earlier, because men at the earlier point didn’t need to understand what those coming later do need to understand.

So, when we study things like the story of Adam and Eve using only the OT, we have a limited view of what really went on. For example:

·       We don’t know that Adam represented all mankind and his actions affected the lives of all people from then on.

• We don’t know what the consequences of Adam’s sin really were.
• We don’t know how death came into the picture: was it physical or spiritual.
• We don’t know the extent of God’s judgment against sin.
• We don’t know what God planned to do because of Adam’s sin.
• We don’t know what the solution to Sin is until much later.

We learn all of this in the NT. Then, when we take what we discover in the NT with us when we read the OT, we get much greater understanding. The OT is the backstory for the NT. The NT clarifies the OT. The NT expects us to know the OT so we have a grasp of the significance of what went on in the past having relevance today.

Otherwise, what does it even matter what went on in the Garden? A great deal, of course. For one thing, needing to know where our struggle with sin comes from and what are our options.

Genesis doesn’t tell us but Paul does: Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.

We typically focus on the results of sin: stealing, lying, murder. But behind these actions, there is a cause.

Rom 7:20-21 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 

Sin is the reason I sin. In me is a driving force that pushes me to disregard God’s commands and choose to be my own god and fulfill my wants and desires on my own terms. It is the heartbeat of idolatry. It is the urging of our own lust. Sin is not the evil actions. Sin is the ingrained willingness to disregard and disobey God which produces evil actions we call sins.

If the story of redemption is like a thread going throughout history, revealing God’s plan of Salvation and ultimately passing through our hearts, sin is the parallel thread of the willingness to disregard God and satisfy our own desires without Him.

Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Affects both the physical world and the spiritual world.

The writer of Hebrews said: Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 

He doesn’t say lay aside the sins but Sin – the principle driving us to entangle ourselves with ungodly desires that trip us up and interferes with us running the race set before us. Sin is the steel-toed work boots we’re trying to wear while running the race. Take them off.

Lay aside – choosing to reject the influence. Which takes us back to Free Will – that ability and responsibility to choose. Because of that choice, God would declare people righteous. He also uses choice to target His wrath.

Rom 1:18-20 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 

In those early days, God examined people’s hearts and watched their actions to determine if He saw righteousness or unrighteousness. He no longer does that. Later would come the Law that would give them specific requirements to obey which would determine righteousness. He no longer does that. Now He has presented Jesus as the final solution. Judgment is now based on whether a person has been declared righteous by having Jesus’ death applied as payment for the penalty of their own sin.

John 3:16-19 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 

Do you hear choice behind believing and the consequence for rejecting?

In the beginning God separated the light from the darkness. When Adam sinned, spiritual darkness came into the picture. And, according to John, with the opportunity to come out of the darkness, men chose to remain in it.

1John 1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 

Choosing the light. Rejecting the darkness. Therein lies the intention behind God giving us Free Will – that we would choose Him and reject sin. Life is a daily series of choices: resist or give in to the temptation to sin, walk in light or darkness, obey or disobey, submit to the spirit or the flesh. That’s demonstrated in Cain and Abel.

Gen 4:1-8 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD." Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 

Why did Cain kill Abel? Because he chose to refuse to obey what the Lord told him when He said: resist the temptation. His was a spiritual act of disobedience. But in practical terms, driven by his nature to sin, Cain chose not to resist but to give in to the temptation to kill his brother. But if you had asked Cain, he would have said it was all Abel’s fault.

Why was Abel’s offering of a lamb accepted and Cain’s offering from the produce he grew not accepted? Several reasons:

1.      The lamb was a symbol of the Plan of God that would be one day fulfilled in Jesus, the Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the world.

2.     God was teaching future generations to be careful what they present as a sacrifice to God. Not everything is acceptable.

3.     Or it may go back to the curse in the Garden. Gen 3:17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 

4.     The ground was now under a curse so that what was produced from it would have been unacceptable to give to God.

5.     But, wait, there’s more.

Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous.

As with any offering, God judged the hearts and actions of both men through how and what they presented Him. He declared Abel righteous. That would lead us to believe God judged Cain as unrighteous.

Ps 24:3-5 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 

Offerings are a symbol of ascending the hill of the Lord in worship, not just an obligation. Abel came with a pure heart and clean hands. Cain did not. That’s why not only what we give but how we give our offering matters.

1John 3:11-13  For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. 

John connected Cain’s actions to the actions of the Devil – the driving force behind our temptation to sin. Satan encouraged Cain to make an offering but to do so with a darkened heart. “God, You don’t matter so what I give you doesn’t matter.” Then you can hear Satan whispering, “Listen, Cain, you don’t deserve that rejection. You’re as good as your brother.”

Regardless of the actual reason, being rejected by God drove Cain to kill Abel, which drove him further into the world. Gen 4:11-12 Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.

Here is the consequence of Adam’s sin being manifested in Cain’s life. Now, we know what kind of death Adam’s sin brought in. Spiritual death results in separation from God. Cain’s actions said his heart was more like unrighteous mankind’s than the family of God’s. So, God excluded him.

Now, to answer a question that has plagued people forever: where did Cain get his wife. If you believe Adam and Eve were the first people on earth, you have to believe that since they were the only other people on earth, Cain’s wife would have been his sister. That’s a hard thought to digest. But if Adam and Eve were formed as a special act of God separate from creation of mankind, you have a more reasonable answer.

Gen 4:16-17 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. 

He settled in the land of Nod, had relations with his wife and produced Enoch. Then built a city. Why not just make a tent or find a cave? There’s only three of you.

Here’s my perspective: Cain would go off into the world where there were other people from God’s creation of mankind, take a wife from one of the families living there and begin his family. From the people collected around him, he built a city to honor his son. Then, at the same time this was going on, Adam and Eve had additional children.

Gen 4:25-26 Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, "God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him." 

Gen 5:1, 3 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God…When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. 

Did you notice the subtle difference in God making Adam and Adam making Seth? Adam was made in the likeness of God. Seth was made in the likeness of Adam. Why the difference? Adam’s image was now the fallen image caused by sin. But watch what Grace does.

Even though Cain, the firstborn, should have been the son through whom the thread of God’s purpose passed, God bypassed Cain and ran that thread through Seth. You’ll find that in many stories of the Bible: Esau and Isaac, David being anointed King.

Look at Seth’s response: Gen 4:26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD. From Seth onward, men called upon the name of the Lord.

This is the first sign of redemption in the story. What is redemption? A returning to what was intended. Reconciling those who had lost the path back to the path. Redeeming the relationship God had originally desired. What Adam lost, Seth regained. Seth knew of his parent’s personal knowledge of walking with God, experiencing the favor of God, hearing God’s voice. That was the relationship he wanted with God. Then, his desire to walk with God as his parents did spilled out onto the lives of all who followed. From Seth, calling out to that same God for the same relationship created the righteousness-desiring legacy for the Family of God.

Joel 2:32 And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be delivered;

Rom 10:13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." 

The word delivered in Joel and saved in Romans are the same word. There is always a delivered from and a saved into when we call upon the Lord.

The calling on the Name of the Lord is our response to the personal invitation for God’s activity in our lives. Calling for the greatness of God to fill our lives and infuse them with His goodness is our opportunity to become interwoven into the story of what God is doing. Calling on the Name of the Lord is the surrender by which God declares people right with Him and includes them into His family. It says, “God You are my answer and my only hope. There is no other God for me but You. I give you myself and all that concerns me.”

Do you see what’s going on? God is helping define who are His and who are not His. He is making that distinction between Mankind and the Family of God. Cain showed us not all in the family lineage of the people of God are within the Family of God. Only those who call out to Him and declare Him their God, surrendering their hearts and actions to Him.

That distinction will now carry us through the rest of the Bible, as Paul affirms:

2Tim 2:19 The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness." 

God’s children are the products of God’s grace. They are those who have responded to His invitation to life, who He has cleansed, forgiven and declared righteous and now live with the new desire to honor and obey Him and reject the desires of the flesh to sin against Him.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Grace reaches through a sin-stained life and touches the heart with a desire for more than what the world can offer.
2. Grace does not remove the Old Nature to sin, but gives us a New Nature infused with the power of a godly life.
3. Calling on the Name of the Lord engages the mightiness of Heaven in our behalf when we choose godliness over darkness.
4. Wanting what God wants is the driving force behind Living Biblically.

Living Biblically - Sin and Free Will

Many TV series have a beginning segment called a recap where they remind viewers of what’s happened up to this point in the story. They don’t retell the story, just give a few highlights to get everyone up to speed so where they’ve been flows into where they are going with the story. I need to do that this morning.

We are building a foundation for Living Biblically. That isn’t as easy as just saying, “Hey, live like God wants you to live.” Living Biblically is more than trying to be good instead of bad, doing right instead of wrong. It is formulating our values for what we believe and letting those beliefs turn into our actions – trying to figure out how to live in the world and not be of the world, thinking and acting in a way that pleases God, living a godly life while fighting ungodly tendencies. To do so, we must discipline ourselves to make good and godly decisions with the ultimate goal of honoring God.

1Cor 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 

This statement came out of a social crisis in Corinth. Meat that had been sacrificed to pagan gods was commonly sold in the market place. Some felt this meat was tainted because of the circumstances under which the animal died. Others said that didn’t matter. Which made people ask: Should a Christian eat this meat or refuse it on religious grounds?

We may not face that specific question, but: What do we think about abortion? What do we think about marriage? What do we think about manliness or womanhood? What do we think about socially acceptable practices that violate Biblical principles? How does what we think affect us politically?  

Are there any lines drawn in our minds that we will firmly stand behind and will not cross because we believe crossing them would not glorify God?

What do we think about sin? What do we think about Heaven? What do we think about Hell? What do we think about God’s sovereignty? What do we think about God’s faithfulness? What do we think about salvation? What do we think about the truthfulness of Scripture? Where to stand when our world begins to crumble around us? Will its crumbling take us down with it or will we stand firm?

Some will say: “Don’t worry about all of that, just tell people to trust God.” Just saying, “You need to trust God,” doesn’t cut it for people who have no foundation based on who God is nor any experience with actually trusting Him with their life situations. The words “just trust God” need some place we can attach them in our minds. We first need to hammer in some pegs onto which we can hang our beliefs.

So, we began at the beginning: Gen 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be…” and there was.

With that simple, yet profound introduction to our Bible, we meet our Almighty God. This God is powerful enough to make everything that is, by a word spoken from His mouth. That makes Him more than capable of any action necessary to accomplish any purpose He chooses. What does that say about trusting Him?

• You can’t believe in healing unless you have a God in whom nothing is impossible.
• You can’t believe in divine intervention unless you believe in a God who will accomplish what concerns us.
• You can’t believe in overcoming unless you believe in a God who has overcome the world.
• You can’t believe in comfort, hope, a future, peace unless you believe in a God who provides for the needs of His children.

We cannot live Biblically unless we first nail down the pegs that tell us God is absolutely almighty and able to do exceeding abundantly beyond anything we could think or ask. That He is without limitations or restrictions. That He loves us with an eternal love and dances over us with joy. That He is a Father who delights in His children. And that He always does what’s best.

We don’t start the process of trusting Him by looking at the problem. We start by settling the issue of how trustworthy is He in the first place. Is He almighty enough for whatever we face? Then we can trust.

Remember: Before He spoke there was nothing. After He spoke there was everything.

We found out creation was by design, meaning, after their kind told us God created the diversity of mankind, animals and plants when He spoke them into existence. Any changes that happened along the way were programmed to happen by the God who created them.

We saw that God placed equal value on all human life and elevated people above the rest of creation. They were given dominance over the world to live and prosper within it. We also learned, because of God’s love for mankind, people were created as targets for His love and are included into His plan. He would make a way for them to come into the Family of God after Jesus died for them. We’ll see that later in the great missionary movement headed up by Paul to take the Gospel to the whole world.

We discovered that God was operating from a plan that was set before He ever laid the foundation of creation. That plan is traceable throughout the rest of the Bible and, in fact, takes the rest of the Bible to understand. He set that plan upon a specific couple formed in a special moment sometime after creation was completed and used them to establish the lineage through which His plan would be fulfilled. We saw the glory of that plan when we celebrated the birth of Jesus.

We learned that since Adam represented all mankind, when sin entered the story it not only affected Adam and Eve but became the curse of the whole world. We didn’t see that completely in Genesis but by reading the NT we saw the ramifications of their actions. In fact, eating the fruit became the act of deliberately disregarding God’s command, which introduced sin as the evidence of unrighteousness. The consequence of that sin was then placed on every person.

But we noticed that it wasn’t sin that got them kicked out of the Garden, it was Grace. Grace wanted to keep them from eating from the other tree – the Tree of Life – and living forever separated from God because of their sin. This was the first glimpse into the heart of God showing He desired none to perish but all to come to repentance.

We saw when they left the Garden, Grace went with them. Since the Plan of God was instrumentally connected to Adam and Eve, when they left the Garden, they took the solution to sin with them. They were the ones through whom Jesus would eventually come as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. His death would pay the penalty for all sin making the way possible for those who received Him to be granted the right to enter into the Family of God.

Which, more or less brings you up to date. Now, let’s dig back into the story. A question needs to be asked: where did the sin come from that now placed every person underneath its curse?

Remember, in the Garden, Satan’s temptation? Gen 3:4-6 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 

We cannot separate Sin from Satan. Sins are the actions that followed the temptation to disregard what God said to do. Adam and Eve agreed with the temptation when they found disregarding what God said more desirable than obedience. From that moment on, temptation has been the tool Satan has used to push us toward ungodly thoughts and behavior in order to keep us separated from God. The urge to give in to temptation is given a name: SIN NATURE. It is the desire to satisfy our wants apart from God and even disregard His commands to do so. The Bible will tell us later that nature is in every person. It is a resident desire causing us to sin.

Rom 7:19-21 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 

That means Paul found that same nature within his life that was exposed by Adam in the Garden. He sees it residing in each of us and if not resisted will compel us to commit sinful acts against God.

James describes the urging of this nature as lust. James 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 

Adam demonstrated that same lust in his desire to reject God’s best. He didn’t create the lust, he exposed it. But, once it was exposed, consequence was placed on his actions. It is that consequence that is passed to all men. We see that in the next story.

Gen 4:1-7 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD." Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." 

Did you hear what the Lord said to Cain: sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it. “The willingness to sin that was exposed by your dad is also in you, Cain, and Satan is targeting you at the point of that same willingness to sin. Satan is crouching at the door and will try to overpower you. But you can resist.” 

It’s the same thing Peter said: 1Pet 5:8 Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith.

This would be the subplot within the greater Story of Redemption. The desire and power within us to sin can and will overwhelm us, but God has provided the way out.

Listen to what Paul said: 1Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 

Endure – successfully deal with. Endure the trip – you successfully completed the journey. Endured the illness – you successfully gained your healing. Endured the night – you successfully made it from the darkness into morning.

How can we resist or endure? Something showed up in the Garden that was unexpected. Adam and Eve were created with Free Will.

In the creation of mankind and the formation of Adam and Eve, God gave each person Free Will. Free will was the right and obligation to choose: right or wrong, godliness or ungodliness. Free Will is the underlying gift that makes what God offers a true offer. It can be accepted or rejected.

Josh 24:15 "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." 

Deut 30:19-20 "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him;

But the right to choose wasn’t without consequence. God judged them according to the choice they made.

Jer 17:9-10 The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. 

Realize Free Will isn’t the curse. Free Will is the gift that makes us able to choose. Our nature to Sin will drive us to make ungodly choices. We are able to make godly choices because of Free Will. The story of Cain shows us we can resist.

When God told Cain he could resist the temptation to kill his brother, Cain had a way out but refused it. Why? The will to resist was weaker than the desire to sin. He killed his brother because he wanted to.

With Cain, his Free Will gave in to the desire to be his own god and disregard God’s best. Free Will was his struggle point with his nature to sin. That is also our struggle point in our war against sin in our lives.  

Because of Free Will, we will either choose to honor God or we will dishonor Him, obey or disobey, respect or disrespect. We have been given the right and obligation to choose how we will live. So, what will we choose: godliness or ungodliness?

Rom 7:24-25 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Rom 5:15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 

Salvation came through Jesus but also the power to deny the Sin Nature’s control. Jesus was the answer to both.

How? Because God 2Cor 5:21 made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

When? Isa 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. 

At what point is that applied to us? John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 

You’ve heard the consequence of Sin. You also heard of the Grace of God in Jesus to take upon Himself the penalty of that consequence. You must also hear of the gift of Free Will by which God gives us the opportunity to choose to receive the reward of what Jesus did.

By the actions of one man, Adam, the nature to sin has been exposed and cost of sinning against God has been applied to every person. But by the action of the other Man, Jesus, that cost has been paid and the control of the sin nature broken. We now have within us the overcoming power of a transformed life to deny the sin nature’s authority over us and can choose instead to live the life God called us to live.

Hang some of this on the pegs driven into your mind so that you can stand firm, trusting completely in our Almighty God and resisting Satan’s attempts to get us to deny God the right to rule our lives.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. God is sovereign and rules with absolute power and authority.
2. We are created with the desire to rule our own lives apart from God driven by our Sin Nature. 
3. That reveals choice which also reveals Free Will.
4. But the greater purpose of Free Will is the privilege to choose to submit that desire to rule our lives to God.
5. By that submission, God receives us as His Children and obligates Himself to provide all that is necessary for us to live godly lives that honor Him.

Living Biblically - Christmas

 Family and HOA in dispute over a cross they added to their Christmas decorations. HOA – show us in the Bible where the cross has anything to do with Christmas. To do so takes the whole Bible.

We don’t always make the connection because we typically read the Bible as a collection of stories and not as one book with one story. At times we see that more clearly than others, but there remains one overarching message.

That message is God’s Plan of Redemption. It runs from cover to cover. The basic characters involved in this Plan are collectively called the Family of God. First, the Jews, starting from Adam, begotten through Abraham, then drawn down to a specific family – Judah – from the sons of Jacob, and winding up with a young couple in a stable in Bethlehem. Then comes the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. At that point the Christians are brought into the Plan. They now join the Family of God, being adopted into the original family through faith in who Jesus was and what He did.

To show that transition from Old into New, John wrote: John 1:11-13 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

Prior to the Cross, to become a member of the Family of God you had to be born a Jew or choose to convert to Judaism. That birth or decision placed you into the stream of God’s Purpose set before the foundation of the world.   

That Purpose saw God designing life with a means for people to have a relationship with Him and He would use those people to carry out His plan along the way. This people would be the Family of God. He formed that family with Adam and Eve. Family lineage was the key. However, upon that family lineage, God placed expectations. The interesting thing is, He was placing these expectations on the entire Family not just to the Jewish portion of the Family. So, when Christians came into the picture, the same expectations applied.

Moses said: Deut 6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 

Jesus repeated it: Mark 12:30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 

Habakkuk said: Hab 2:4 The righteous will live by his faith. 

Paul repeated it: Rom 1:17 "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." 

Even the writer of Hebrews: Heb 10:38 but my righteous one shall live by faith;

For the combined Family of God, the requirements are the same: Love the Lord your God and live by faith. Now I have to admit those are both loaded commands. The love God expects isn’t a felt love; it is a love that consumes our lives: heart, mind, soul and strength. Also, living by faith isn’t a declaration we make with words from our mouths but a demonstration that in all things we trust God implicitly: without question, doubt, or hesitation.

Both the old system and now the new had the same requirements of faith – relying on the work of God to sustain your life. It was a faith by which a person surrendered to God’s will. By that surrender, God would declare someone righteous.

In the Jewish phase, God used the evidence of Loving the Lord your God and living by faith to declare people righteous.

Heb 11:4-6 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 

Gen 15:5-6 And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 

Now, when God expanded the Family to include Christians, He added a requirement specific to Jesus. A family member was not just someone who loved and trusted God. They were now required to believe in who Jesus was and what He had done – that Jesus was the Son of God, sent to die for the forgiveness of their sins and by believing in Him, they would be declared righteous and then brought into the Family of God. This new requirement was met with violent rejection.

John 1:11-13 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

The ultimate demand was still there – to be righteous before God. But now, there was an actual transaction of faith, that came through Jesus. Before, they could be born of blood – born as a Jew, or born of will – chose to become a Jew. Now, there was more. Receiving the One sent who was the only One who could present them to the Father.

When the Cross came into the picture, believing in the fulfillment of God’s plan through Jesus was essential. God leveled the playing field by requiring everyone to pass through Jesus as the narrowed way to have relationship with the Father. A challenge to the Jews but a revelation to the Gentiles.

The idea was, if the Jews truly Loved God and Trusted Him, when He presented the greater revelation of Himself through Jesus, they would embrace Jesus. Instead, they rejected Him. So, from then on, being Jewish, without accepting Jesus as Messiah, left them incomplete – trying to sustain their religion with only part of the story. From Jesus on to today they live separated from God because they choose to stay in the past of what God used to do instead of embracing what He did presenting the Savior to the world.

Now, we have final terms (the completing requirement) through which God declares people righteous. 2Cor 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. For someone to enter into the Family of God, they can no longer expect to enter because they have an assumed righteousness from their actions. They must be declared righteous. God does this when we surrender our lives to what Jesus did to make this all possible. Loving the Lord our God and living by faith are now driven desires from hearts set free from the entanglement of sin.

This being Christmas, why did Jesus come? A Canaanite woman (a woman from the world of mankind) asked Jesus to heal her daughter. Matt 15:24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 

But then John told us: John 1:11-12 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 

John wasn’t saying God changed His mind midstream in some vengeful act driven by His disappointment in the Jews. This was in the Plan all along. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 

God didn’t send Jesus because He so loved the Jews but because He loved mankind.

The Plan of Redemption set before the creation of the heavens and the earth scheduled the very moment the Jews would reject and the door would open to the Gentiles.

It goes back to the Beginning. God, who designed all that is with a purpose specific to His Plan, created mankind and then formed Adam and Eve. As we continue reading, we see how that Plan works out.

When the Plan of Redemption meets its climax in Jesus, what began with the Jews, has now expanded to the world. The Disciple John saw where God was taking the Plan in Jesus.

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 

What did Simeon see when he looked at baby Jesus: Luke 2:29-32 Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, and the glory of Your people Israel." 

What did Isaiah see prophetically: Isa 60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 

What did the angel tell the shepherds: Luke 2:10-11 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

Why was that a great message to the shepherds? Because, though they were Jews, they were excluded from the benefit of being Jewish. The Pharisees placed them in the category of the unclean because they lived out in the pastures and couldn’t fulfill the requirements of the Law. They were seen as ungodly and separated from God and no better than Gentiles. Then, God included them in His Plan.

God was making a way to all mankind: both Jews and Gentiles. That’s why we’re here today. We came into salvation from the world. Had God not, through Jesus, opened the way to a relationship with Him, only the Jews would be in God’s family and we’d still be living separated from Him without hope, and the Plan would have failed.

When John the Baptizer announced that Jesus was John 1:29 the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he saw what Jesus came to do.

Sin has always been the hindrance keeping us from God. It is the wall of separation that prevents relationship with God. It is the defining cause of ungodliness and says we are unrighteous and unacceptable to stand in God’s presence. Sin declares us unholy and unworthy to even approach God.

To see that, let’s go back into the Adam and Eve story.

Gen 3:1-7 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened… 

Why was eating from the tree God forbid them to eat from such a big deal? It was rejecting God as their ultimate Head and choosing to disregard His command. It was throwing the actions of an Agnostic world into God’s face – we don’t need there to be a God. We’ll be our own gods.

When did they decide that? When Satan convinced them they could eat the fruit and become like God. The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 

It wasn’t until Paul explained that their actions defined sin and showed how the implications of that sin expanded to cover the entire world, that we learn of the real consequence to what they did. But from what we’re given in Genesis, we see two immediate results:

Gen 3:17-19 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return." 

But notice this: Getting expelled from the Garden wasn’t their punishment. Their punishment was the harshness of life because of the curse. Getting expelled was actually an act of Grace by God. And moved His Plan into the next phase.

Gen 3:22-24 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"— therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. 

It wasn’t anger or punishment that got them expelled but Grace. God could not risk them remaining as they now were – cursed and separated from Him – forever. Remember, they were God’s representative people. They held the beginnings of the promise to the fulfillment of God’s plan. They were the A-team with nobody to back them up. They were essential to the Plan. So, God had to keep them in the picture but not in the Garden.

But watch what was going on: by moving them into the world that had been cursed, they also took with them the solution to the curse. The solution wouldn’t be found in the Garden. It would be found in a Baby born in a stable in Bethlehem. With them cast out of the Garden, God was setting the stage for the moment the ultimate gift of life, the fulfillment of His Plan set before Adam and Eve sinned ever sinned, when He would present Jesus to the world. That’s why that baby was born: to set us free from the curse of sin and make us holy and blameless before the Father.

What does the cross have to do with Christmas? It has everything to do with Christmas. It is the very reason for Christmas.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Christmas is the reason for Creation.
2. The Plan designed before the earth began is wrapped up in the Baby born in Bethlehem.
3. God’s purpose is to provide the opportunity for all mankind to enter into a relationship with God through what Jesus did.
4. When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we are given the right to become Children of God.