Cornerstone Christian Fellowship Jacksonville

Has God Indeed Said - Part 4

September 29, 2021 Cornerstone Christian Fellowship
Cornerstone Christian Fellowship Jacksonville
Has God Indeed Said - Part 4
Show Notes Transcript

2 Pe 3:5 For this they willfully forget:

We will continue to look at what was willfully forgotten. Steven Babine will read the message this week.

For the full text of this week's message and supplementary questions can be found on our website. 

Sunday September 26th 2021
Has God Indeed Said
Part 4

1). Ge 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.  

We have seen in our previous study that rulership with respect to the heavens and the earth was the purpose for God’s act of creation described in Genesis Chapter 1 v1. And God’s purpose for rulership of the earth from the heavens has never and can never change - Da 4:26…… the heavens do rule.  

And we had also seen, through the type set out in Genesis Chapter 3, that it would be those who would look to be the Bride of Christ, Christians from this dispensation, who would be targeted for deception, just as Satan targeted the Woman in the Garden.
a). And because of that which God has said from the beginning about the Man and the Woman and rulership our enemy knows that Christ cannot remove the crown from Satan’s head until He has a Bride to redeem the inheritance for, as it is not good that the Man should be alone.
b). And so, with the deception of Christians as his aim, the devil, as seen in Matthew Chapter 13, sowed tares among the wheat. And it was these tares who were responsible for introducing a corrupted message into the Church for the purpose of corrupting the Word of the Kingdom, the one message that proclaims God’s purpose for the ages and teaches what is necessary for those who desire to be a part of it, to attain it.
c). And this corrupted message that was introduced into the Church at the beginning of the dispensation, struck at the very heart of God’s creative purpose – 2 Pe 3:1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

To cast doubt upon the return of Christ, which is inextricably connected to the revealing of His Bride, not only calls into question the sovereign control of God in all things, but also destroys the foundation in which God’s purpose is to be found.
d). What the ‘scoffers’ ‘willfully forget’ though, is that after the creation seen in Genesis 1:1 God did intervene in His creation to bring a far-reaching judgment.  All things then did not remain the same as the ‘scoffers’ claimed.
e). And God’s judgment upon His creation affected both the heavens and the earth - Jer 4:23 I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light.

The Sun, Moon and stars of the original creation had been blotted out leaving an all-enveloping blackness. And the earth itself was completely covered by a flood of raging waters – Ge 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.

This of course is what the scoffers deny.

2). So, let’s spend a moment reminding ourselves of what happened here.
The creation of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1, as we know, was not an arbitrary event.  As one of what we must assume to be many provinces in God’s universal Kingdom, the earth was created to be ruled over and a specific angel was created for that purpose, under God’s authority. To oversee an administration that would take place from the heavens connected with the earth.
a). The being created for the purpose of rulership over the earth is the one we know as Satan, also known as Lucifer, the devil, the dragon, that serpent of old, along with an unspecified number of angels in subordinate positions under him - Eze 28:12…. "You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.

It is in Ezekiel that we find the description of this created angelic being, whose location was – ‘in Eden the garden of God’
b). And as we had noted last time this Eden is somewhat different to the one in which we find Adam, this one being filled with minerals and precious stones.
c). Now let’s continue to read about him - Eze 28:16 "By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. 17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. 18 "You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever."'"

What we see here then is that the covering cherub sinned and as a result Divine judgment came upon him and those who sided with him, prophetically shown to us in v18-19. And the creation given to be under his dominion also came into judgment, leaving his sanctuaries, the places that had been consecrated for him to protect in a defiled, or polluted state; they became ruined, they became formless and void, because of his actions.
d). The Scripture also reveals to us what it was that Satan did which brought God’s Judgment and the ruin of the creation - Isa 14:12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'

In essence Satan wanted to replace God as the ruler of the universe. He rejected what God had said about his position as the covering cherub and chose to do what seemed right in his own eyes instead. And right here, although it isn’t verbalized, is the question he would ask later in a different Garden, ‘Has God indeed said?’

3). In beginning then God created the heavens and the earth in a perfect state and Satan was created as the ruler of this one province in God’s universal kingdom and he was given an unspecified number of angels to assist him in his task. However, Satan’s sin brought Divine intervention in the form of judgment resulting in the heavens and the earth becoming formless and void. But this Scriptural revelation is something the ‘scoffers’ deliberately chose to ignore.
a). But knowing as we do the immutability of God, we will realize that His plan for the rulership of the earth was not going to change –
Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Heb 2:6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.
 
Satan then, the one originally created for this purpose, was now disqualified, but as a prerequisite of Biblical rulership the one to replace the one disqualified must not only be present, but also be proved worthy to rule before the incumbent can be replaced. Saul and David provide our type for this.
b). And with Satan’s sin that caused the ruin of the creation in mind, let’s just recall his words to the Woman in the Garden following the restoration of the material creation – Ge 3:4 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, knowing good and evil.”

He said to her, ‘You will be like God’, the very thing that Satan had desired that led to his disqualification. And he knew full well that if the Woman received this deception and acted in accordance with it, then ultimately it would bring about the disqualification of Adam, the federal head as Adam and the Woman were ‘one flesh’.
c). And we can find this same desire to be like God in the molded calf incident from Exodus Chapter 32. Having rejected what God had said to them through Moses, the children of Israel then exalted themselves to do what was right in their own eyes. Not only did they take God’s place in doing this, but they also created a god for themselves over which they exercised control, a god that was rooted in the place from which they had been delivered.
d). And the same can be said for the generation at the Lord’s first advent as they rejected the one true God to embrace one of their own choosing – Jn 19:15……..“We have no king but Caesar!”

Remembering that for the Romans, Caesar was received as a deity.

4). The ‘scoffers’ then, denied that God at any time intervened in the affairs of the earth, whereas, in fact, the creation of the heavens and the earth mark the first. The heavens and the earth were created for a specific purpose, they were not a random act. And in line with that purpose, because of sin, God judged the ruling angels and brought ruin to the place of their dominion. This is the second Divine intervention that the ‘scoffers’ denied.
a). And then beyond this, God intervened again, because if He hadn’t done so there would have been no Man and Woman and the ‘scoffers’ would not have existed - Ge 1:2b…. 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 see here in the second half of the second verse of all of Scripture is the beginning of the restoration of the previously ruined creation. And to accomplish this restoration God worked for six days and then rested on the seventh day from the work of the previous six – 
Ge 2:1 ¶ Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

And in this restorative process God has set a Divinely perfect pattern for the restoration of a ruined creation. This was the perfect way to accomplish His ends that cannot be improved upon and nor can it be circumvented for the same reason.
b). And again, these accounts at the beginning of Scripture are exactly what the ‘scoffers’ have willfully forgotten. It is not as simple as the words, ‘where is the promise of His coming?’ might suggest.  What the scoffers have chosen to forget is that which is the very foundation of Scripture, that which provides the skeletal framework for God’s revelation to man.
c). Remove the foundation and nothing can be properly built -
Ps 11:3 If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?

I am sure we can understand the seriousness that surrounds the ‘scoffers’’ message as it relates to that which is taught and that which is not taught in the church today.
d). However, from our vantage point of the Word of the Kingdom, let us remind ourselves that God’s intervention through the restoration of the ruined creation was for a very specific purpose.
e). Witness the events of the sixth day - Ge 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." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29 ¶ And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. 31 ¶ Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Man, a newly created being unlike any other, had been created for the specifically stated purpose of having dominion, ruling over the restored creation.  And the Man and the Woman were specifically created to replace Satan.
f). But as we have already seen, this change in rulership could only take place if the one created to rule was found to be faithfully obedient to the Word of God, proving to be worthy to take the crown from the incumbent ruler.
g). Scripture is silent about the process by which Satan was created, but when it comes to Adam, the process is clearly revealed – 
Ge 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

And why would this be? Because Adam was created from the very substance of the restored creation he was to rule over, a creation that had itself been restored following ruin caused by sin. This then allows for restoration, redemption for ruined Man, something that is not provided for Satan and his angels.

5). We have over these past weeks been studying what happened next. The woman is deceived by the serpent, who we find positioned on the earth, in the Garden, in his fallen state, at the place of testing.  He understood fully that if the Man could be disqualified to rule, he would retain his position.
a). The Woman was deceived and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and she gave to her husband also and he ate. Adam though was not deceived but knew exactly what he was doing, as he forms a type of Christ who became sin for us. Adam knew, because of that which God had said, that without his wife he was unable to rule, and without her husband she was unable to be redeemed, as they were one flesh and it was not good for the man to be alone - Ge 2:23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

The sin of the Man and the Woman had consequences that God had already specified, consequences that would affect all three parts of their being - Ge 2:17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Ro 6:23a For the wages of sin is death,

Their spirits experienced ‘death’ in the sense of being separated from God’s purpose. Their souls were now corrupted with a sin nature and their bodies began to decay – they would experience a physical death.
b). And as a consequence of their sin the restored creation also came under a curse - Ge 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; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

Both Mankind and the material creation were now in a ruined state. However, this ruin did not affect the heavens and the earth in the same way as had happened because of Satan’s rebellion. Although cursed, the earth remained inhabitable. And both the ruined restored creation and ruined Man were promised redemption - Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."

God’s purpose for restoring the creation and creating Man to rule will be brought to pass and nothing can prevent it.
c). Following the established pattern that God had set for the restoration of the ruined creation, God began the process of redemption for the Man and the Woman, with a sovereign act that parallels the light shining in the darkness on Day one - Ge 3:21 ¶ Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

Through the death and shed blood of the animals Adam and his wife passed from death to life, ending their separation from God’s purpose. They now had spiritual life.
d). And so, begins a process of restoration that must ultimately find God’s created being, Man, fulfilling the purpose for his creation and ruling over the restored earth in place of Satan. 
e). And this process can only follow the pattern set in Genesis Chapter 1 – six days of work, followed by a seventh day of rest.
f). Not only do we see this process of restoration taking place during a specific timeframe, following the pattern set in Genesis – 
2Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget (lanthano) this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

But this process pictured through the six days of work followed by a seventh day of rest, also corresponds to each Christian’s salvation experience as they progress from the initial sovereign act of their spirit salvation to the work that will bring the salvation of their soul, allowing them to enter the Seventh Day as an adopted firstborn son, to rule as a co-heir with Christ in the place of Satan and his angels.
g). Again, this is what the ‘scoffers’ have willfully forgotten, that God has established in the foundation of Scripture. The established pattern of creation, ruin, restoration, rest – six days of work followed by a seventh day of rest - Heb 4:4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

The atomic clock ticks with unerring precision but there is a clock even more precise that has not skipped a second since it started running as the light shone into the darkness. The alarm is set and will soon sound to call us upward. This the ‘scoffers’ intentionally and willfully forget. But we will not – 1 Th 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

If we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed, we will continue next time.