close

15 Nov 2020

From Fallen To Forgiven [Genesis 3:7-15]

Overview

Guilt. Shame. Fear. These are 3 consequences of sin in Eden. These are distress signals that the human soul has gone wrong with sin. Since that time, humanity has sought to cope with guilt, shame, and fear. But never successfully. Yet, God has not given up on sinful humanity. He has a remedy. He pursues man. Then He promises man. And then He provides for man. He will be the only one who can bring us from being fallen to being forgiven. Discover how, and what it means for you today. May this sermon lead you to true life, forgiveness, and healing from guilt, shame & fear!


Slides

Sermon Transcript

Pre-Review
We are looking for sermon transcribers/transcript reviewers.

Email [email protected] to serve or to report transcription errors.


 

A very good morning to all of you and welcome to Gospel Light Christian Church and our online service this Sunday morning. So glad you can join us as we continue our journey in the book of Genesis. If you've your Bibles, please turn with me to Genesis, chapter 3. And we'll be looking at verses 7 to 15 this morning.

Now, I want to let you know that the fashion industry is a huge industry in the world. It is estimated to be worth some $2 trillion. You know how much that is! A trillion is a million, million dollars.

So the fashion industry is really huge. It's responsible for famous brands like Chanel and Adidas, Nike, Zara, H&M, and whatever you may have. And I think this is something that many of us like to go for. We like to go shopping. We like to shop for clothes and fashion.

But the ironical thing is, it would not even need to exist, if not for what happened in the Garden of Eden when man fell into sin. You see, before man fell into sin, the Bible tells us that, “Adam and Eve, they were naked and not ashamed.” [Gen 2:25]

They didn't need any covering. But after they sinned against God, something happened within their soul, something happened to their sense of self-worth, in that they felt ashamed. They … their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked. “And they began to sew fig leaves to make themselves loincloths.” [Gen 3:7] This is the beginning of the fashion industry of this world.

I picture it like this. It's like a car dashboard. You know when you drive, the dashboard should be quiet, should not be too brightly lit with many signals, because things are doing well.

But if something is wrong with your car, then the dashboard would have flashing lights. I think it would be very stressful that when you drive halfway, this is what your dashboard looks like - every light is lit up. It's telling you that something is really wrong with your car.

And so it is with the human soul. It should not have a lot of flashing lights, but they all turn on when man fell into sin. So this morning, we're going to look at what happens when man falls into sin. What are some of the effects of sin upon our lives? What are some of the consequences of sin upon our souls, upon our emotions, upon our feelings.

But we're not going to just stop there because I want to end off with a positive note. I want to end off with a Biblical hope. And so I've entitled today's passage … sermon, “From Fallen to Forgiven”. And I hope you would listen with great excitement and anticipation.

[1] The Results of Sin
So the first thing I'd like us to consider in these eight, nine verses is number one - the results of sin. What happens when man falls into sin? What happened to Adam and Eve when they committed disobedience and rebellion against God?

Now I've already mentioned it, I think number one - shame came into their soul. There's a sense of unworthiness. There's a sense of filth, of dirt. There's a sense of dishonorability. There's a … there's a sense of dishonor in their lives. “And so they began to hide themselves by sewing this fig leaves together.” [Gen 3:7] They never had that! But now they felt that, they felt a sense of shame, of filth, of unworthiness, of dishonor.

And then we see secondly - they also felt a sense of guilt. Because, “They hid themselves from the presence of God.” [Gen 3:8] Now they knew that God commanded them not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they went against God's Word. They disobeyed. They transgressed God's law.

And they knew that they were guilty, so they ran from God, they hid from God. And that's what happens! You're filled with a sense of guilt. So it's interesting that instead of running to God, they would now run from God, because they are guilty.

And then, of course, we are told that, “They were filled with fear. They were afraid.” [Gen 3:10] They were concerned about the judgment and punishment that their Lawgiver God would give to them, will mete out towards them. So they were filled also with fear.

So there's this triad of emotions that come from the fall. Before the fall, there was no guilt, there was no shame, there was no fear. It was perfect harmony and bliss of soul. But once they slipped into sin, they were now fill with guilt and shame and fear.

And these are universal experiences, isn't it? Doesn't matter whether you're white, or yellow, or black. We all understand guilt when we do something wrong. We understand shame, a … a sense of unworthiness, dishonor in ourselves. And we all understand fear, the fear of judgment and punishment, because we have been wrong.

And this grips all human societies. It actually is a … is a controlling driving force for many cultures across the world. I'm told that anthropological studies revealed that different dynamics, drive different behaviors in different cultures. This is a simple map that shows the different cultures across the world and the controlling influences in the world.

So let me give you an example. In a western world, you see that in the map here, a lot of the Western world is a law-driven society. In other words, you are free to pursue happiness. You're free to pursue what you want to do, as long as you abide by the rules, as long as you abide by the law. It's a law society.

You do that which is according to the law, and you avoid that which is against the law, because that's the culture. It's a culture of guilt and innocence spectrum. So the Western world, a lot of it is driven by this guilt, innocence paradigm.

But in many parts of Asia, you see that in the red. It is driven by a shame-honor paradigm. Now, we are Chinese people and I think by large, a lot of us are Chinese people, a lot of us are Asian people, and we understand this shame and honor culture, isn't it? Because we, as a society value the family, we value reputation, we value relationships, we value the society, we value the social status. And so we are very concerned about shame and honor.

That's why I think you want your kids to do well in their studies, because they bring you honor when they do well in life. And that's why we hear of people say, “Please don't … please don't lose our family’s face by doing this and doing that.” So we live in a world we live in a culture in Asia that is very … very familiar with this shame and honor paradigm.

When I was young, I remember that when we tease our friends, we will say, “Shame on you. Shame on you.” Or, “Siew, siew, siew, siew.” And it's deep in our fabric of culture - shame and honor. We want people to bring honor to our family and we do not want to shame our name. And a lot of things that you do now, the things that you don't do now are actually driven by shame-honor paradigm.

Now of course, there's a third paradigm and that is the fear, power of fear-hope paradigm. And that affects many parts of Latin America, Africa and tribal areas, where there's a lot of animism. So there's a dominate, dominant force of superstition and fear of judgment and that controls a lot of their behavior too.

Now I want to say that, “These are simple delineations or distinctions, but in today's day and age, maybe there's a lot of overlap, there's a lot of mixture.” For example here in Singapore, I think by our Asian roots, we have a lot of shame-honor paradigm. But because we are also quite westernized, there is a great regard towards guilt and innocence. And we are kind of a hybrid in all these things.

But where did all this come from? Well, it came as a result of sin. These are the lights that are flashing on our dashboard of our souls. These are reminders that we have sinned against God and things are not what it should be. It could hardly be said that it is now very good, according to what God said before the fall.

So when we have guilt, and shame and fear, when Adam and Eve experienced all these fallen feelings, what did they do? Well, they wanted to get rid of this feeling because it's … it's disturbing, it's uncomfortable. You don't like to feel guilty all the time! You don't like to feel shame all the time! You don't like to feel fearful all the time! You definitely would want to do something about it. And they did do something about it. They tried.

They could not quite get rid of all these emotions, but they tried to mask them. They tried to adapt to them, cope with them.

[2] The Reaction to Sin
What did they do? Well, first thing, they began to sew. And that is part of the reaction to sin. What did they do? They reacted. And the first thing they did is that they sewed. They put together fig leaves to be a clothing, a cover for their nakedness. And actually, that's what man tries to do ever since.

We sinned against God. We have a sense of guilt and shame and fear. What do we do? We try to hide ourselves. We try to cover up these emotions. We … we try to adapt and cope with it.

I read about this lady, Anne Heche. Anne Heche, her name would be pronounced. She's an American actress. Something happened to her in her life and she struggles with the problem of shame. So what does she do?

She tries to deal with it. She tries to cover it up. And what does she try to cover it up with? She said, “I did a lot of things in my life to get away from what had happened to me. I drank, I smoked, I did drugs, I had sex … I did anything I could to get …”, what? “… the shame out of my life.”

And today, many people talk about how to deal with shame in their lives. They talk about visualization, meditation and stuff like this. It's about psychology. And the world today struggles with the problem of shame and guilt and fear, and man tries to cover that up. And I think that's all symbolized in a sewing of fig leaves together. Man's efforts to cover up their toxic feelings, their shame and guilt and fear as it were.

But that's not all men does. The second thing that men tries to do is not just to sew, but let me give you a high-class word, alright. A second point, a high-class word, very few people would know, very few people along, around the world would know. And it's a word that is unique to us here.

The second high-class word that man tries to do is to ‘siam’. Okay, ‘siam’. And because the Bible says, “They tried to hide themselves. Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves.” [Gen 3:8] You say, “What is siam?” ‘Siam’ is a … well, it's not high class, I admit it. It's a colloquial. It's a dialect here. ‘Siam’ means to avoid, to run away. And that's what Adam and Eve did! They tried to run away from God.

And do you realize that's why people don't like to talk about God? People don't like to talk about spiritual things, religious things. Because the last thing you want to do is to face up to your guilt and shame and fear before a Holy God.

And that's why the Bible tells us, “Man even though they know the existence of God, from the creation of the world, they suppress, they hold down this knowledge, and they deny the existence of God.” Why? Because they want to ‘siam’.

And Romans, chapter 3 tells us, “There is none that seeks after God. No. None!” Why? Because we want to ‘siam’ by instinct. That's how we deal with our guilt and shame and fear. We don't turn to God. We want to run away from Him, because we don't want to face up to these feelings.

So what does sin bring? It brings guilt and shame and fear, automatically in the … in the life of men, in the lives of Adam and Eve. What did Adam and Eve tried to do? They tried to sew. They tried to ‘siam’.

And then number three, another high-class word, they tried to ‘sabo’. Alright, ‘sabo’ is not so unfamiliar to people, listeners across the world. The word, ‘sabo’ is just a shortened colloquialized form of ‘sabotage’. They try to shift the blame to someone else and that's what Adam tried to do.

When he fell into sin and when God confronted him, the man replied, “The woman whom you gave to me would, to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate.” [Gen 3:12] “What happened, Adam?” “Well, not quite my fault, it's Eve's fault. She's the one who started it first, she gave me to eat.” You see, he's trying to shift the blame to Eve. [sic: She's blaming], he is blaming someone else for his own sin.

Now, we all sin because we are driven by our own desires, own lust, James 1:14. But Adam in his now sinful state, sabotages his wife, blames her. And actually if you look at it carefully, he does not only sabotage or blame his wife, he blames God.

He says, “Is the woman whom you gave to me?” Gen 3:12] Wow! If we put the emphasis there, this is bold, this is brazened. In his sinful state, he does not own up to his own guilt and shame and fear, but he shifts it conveniently to Eve and actually to God.

How about Eve? Same thing! Eve said, “It's the serpent deceived me, who deceived me.” [Gen 3:12,13] “It's … it's all the devil's fault. It's all the serpent's fault. I wouldn't have eaten it if not for this serpent.”

So how do we people deal with guilt, shame and fear? They try to cover it up. They sew it, they sew something they have man-made efforts. Or they may run away from facing these emotions. Or they find a convenient scapegoat to blame them on.

So we see the results of sin in this text. What's the result? Guilt and shame and fear. We see secondly - the reaction to sin. What did they do? They sew. They ‘siam’. They ‘sabo’.

[3] The Remedy of Sin
But lastly, I want to share with you the positive aspect of this story and that is the remedy of sin. What is the real cure?

You know, man's efforts of sewing and ‘siaming’ and ‘saboing’ could never deal with sin. It could never really deliver man from the problem of sin. It can't! Because God has to be the One to usher in and to bring in the true cure, the true remedy of sin.

So what did God do to cure men from the problem, this deep entrenched problem of sin? Well, first of all, let's see this statement, “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”’ [Gen 3:9]

So the first thing I'd like you to notice here is, that God pursues men, He pursues men. Men did not pursue God. Men ‘siam’ from God. Men hid from God. But God is the One who took the initiative to pursue men. He pursued men in asking Adam, “Where are you?”

Now this question is not for information. This question is not as if God didn't know Adam where he was. It's not that God, is “Hey, I've lost Adam!” No! No! No! No! This question is meant, is designed for Adam to re-find where himself, where he is, to reconsider where he is.

“Where are you, Adam?” Not because God didn't know where he is, but Adam didn't know where he is himself. Adam is lost! Adam is disconnected from God! And Adam is caused by God now to rethink, to re-find himself. “Adam, are you lost? Where are you?”

I think this is not a statement whereby you could say that God is trying to get hold of Adam, to punish him immediately. But I … I read this with a tone of compassion. “Where are you, Adam?”

You see, God could have done a few things instead. God could have totally ignored Adam and Eve. And just let them be, and let them rot in sin. I can tell you that it will be miserable for them to continue living on. And it will be a hopeless life for Adam and Eve.

God could have ignored them and done nothing about it or God could have immediately struck Adam and Eve down with death. In that they will die, cease to exist, and so on and so forth. God could have done all that it will not have been a problem for God. It will be right for God to judge them, for He had already said, “In a day you eat of the fruit, you will surely die.”

But you know, God reached out to Adam in grace, in compassion. He pursued Adam. And I want to say, “That's perhaps why you're listening in today because I believe God is pursuing you through His Word.”

Sometimes you may think that, “God has given up on me.” Or, “I'm too sinful for God to save.” I want to say to you that, “Our God is a God of amazing grace, that when we deserve judgment and wrath, He still wants to reach out to you in grace.”

After all He did say, “For God so loved the world…” This is the manner He loved the world, in that He gave His Son Jesus Christ, “… that whosoever would believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16] If He did not want to save sinful undeserving men, He would not have given His Son to die on a cross.

We worship a God of grace, a God who pursues men’s souls. So the first thing I want to tell you in this text, is, “Even though man has … has sinned against God, and is trying his desperate measures to ease the pain and misery of guilt, shame and fear in his soul, God is not done with men, He's gracious to pursue men.”

Number two, not only they God pursue men, God promises men. God promises men healing and deliverance and salvation. We see that in verse 15, “I'll put enmity, between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Now, these are statements spoken to the devil. These are words spoken to the serpent. God is saying this to the serpent, but these are things that are known also to men. So God is saying that, “I will crush the serpent. I will … I will send someone who will bruise your head, serpent.”

So there are a few things I'd like you to notice in God's promise here. This is … some people call this the proto evangelion. “What? Wow!” You say, “What is that?” Proto means the first. Evangelion means the Good News.

So this is the first declaration of the Good News of the Bible. Last week, I said, “It will be so tragic if the Bible ended in Genesis chapter 3, verse 6. Man fell into sin. Oh, how tragic! How sad it is! But the Good News is that the Bible doesn’t end in verse 6. The Bible goes on in Genesis and Exodus and, and so on all the way to Revelation.”

Why? Because the rest of the Bible would delineate for us, would unfold for us the riches of God's saving plan for humanity. God's love for his creation, and God's provision of a Savior. But all that began here - in Genesis 3:15.

This is the first pronouncement of this Good News of God's loving plan to save men from his sin. So we call this the proto evangelion. Now in this Good News, this first declaration of the Good News of God's salvation, we see that it is really all about Jesus Christ. This is talking about Eve's offspring.

Now, when the Bible talks about offspring, it does not only refer to the immediate offspring. Not like a mother who gives birth to a child or to a son, the son is of course the offspring, but to the Bible language, the offspring can be the son's son, or the son's son's son, or the son's son's son's son, and so on and so forth. It could refer to someone way down the heritage, way down the genealogy.

So when we read about Eve's offspring, “who would crush the serpents head”, we are very clear from the rest of the Bible that this is none other than Jesus Christ, who is born into this world.

Galatians 4:4-5 tells us, “God sent forth His Son, born of woman.” So this is referring to Eve's offspring, born of woman who really is actually also the very Son of God. I want you to notice the precision of Scripture here. This is not said to be his offspring because Jesus is not set to be of Adam's lineage. Jesus didn't have a human father, biologically.

He had God the Father, as His Father. And He was born of a woman, He is born of a virgin birth. This is significant because this conveys the innocence of Jesus Christ, that He is not born with sin of Adam, He was not born with original sin. So he is the sinless perfect Son of God, who alone can then save man from his sin.

But this all began, it's all hinted here, admittedly, in Genesis 3:15, that Jesus is prophesied of here, foreshadowed here in this proto evangelion. So number one, this is a promise about Christ.

But number two, I like you to see the conflict in this verse, that, “There will be enmity.” [Gen 3:15] There will be this war. This is an announcement of war between Satan's offspring and between the woman's offspring, Jesus Christ and the people who follow Jesus Christ.

So there will be this conflict throughout history between those of the devil and those who belong to God. And I think this is very archetypal, or very well represented in the story of Abel and Cain.

Cain is a picture of … is a representative of Satan's offspring. He belongs to Satan. He does not believe God. Abel is someone who believes God, believes in God's saving grace. And Cain would kill Abel, there will be enmity, there will be a conflict.

And then you see that in Esau versus Jacob. Same family, same biological family but different spiritual family, and there will be a conflict. And then you read about Pharaoh versus Israel, there is a conflict. And you read about Herod, King Herod who killed all the baby boys during the times of Jesus.

And then of course, the Bible directly tells us this will be a conflict between false teachers and the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that from Romans, chapter 16, verses 17 to 20. You can read the verses there. But there'll be false teachers, in the midst of the church.

They'll come from the church. They'll come to the church. There'll be in the church to try to lure and seduce people from the sincerity of their faith in Jesus Christ. But ultimately, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

So you see that idea borrowed from Genesis, chapter 3, that is used by Apostle Paul in Romans, chapter 16. And it's all seen here, that in this promise, there will be a conflict.

And then thirdly, there will be a conquest. There will be a clear winner. There'll be a clear victor. And He is none other than Jesus Christ! The offspring of the woman, Jesus Christ, what will he do to Satan? He will absolutely bruise, the better translation here, I suppose, would be to crush his head. He will absolutely defeat the devil.

Well, the devil tried to defeat Jesus in the wilderness, but Jesus was impervious to the attacks of Satan. Instead, He resisted his temptations. And then later on, on the cross, Jesus died and paid for the sins of those who believe on Him.

On the cross, He destroyed principalities and powers, demonic forces. On the cross, He declared victory over Satan. He rose from the dead and so Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Interestingly, through dying Himself and rising again and that tells us, Jesus has the victory. He's no victim. He is the victor!

And one day when Jesus returns, He will demonstrate all that, prove all that in destroying the evil one and sending him into the fires of eternal hell. So there is a conquest, Jesus will win it all. And again, that's why we read in first John 3:8.

And then fourthly, not only do we see the Christ, the conflict, the conquest, but we also see the cost. The cost is that, “You shall bruise his heel.” [Gen 3:15] The cost is that Satan will have some measure of inflicting pain and suffering on the Son of God.

And clearly, we see that when Jesus hung on a cross, He suffered, He died, He endured the cross. He … He faced the shame and He did all that. And that's the cost of God saving us out of His grace.

So this is the proto evangelion. And Christmas is coming up, alright, and we will sing Christmas carols, Christmas hymns. And one of the Christmas carols we sing is - Hark the Herald Angels Sing. And we are familiar with the first stanza.

But there is a stanza here, that refers to the proto evangelion. “Come, Desire of Nations come, the … the hope of all peoples. Come, fix in us Your humble home. Come, live in our hearts today. Rise the woman's conquering Seed, bruise in us the serpent's head.”

So the songwriter here, Wesley is saying that, “He's longing for Christ in the Church to defeat the minions and the people who are manipulated and deceived by the devil. And looks forward to the victory, to the conquest, we will have as the people of God.” So this is the cost, you should bruise his heel.

Now, I've said that the remedy for sin is found, number one - in how God pursues. Number two - in how God promises. And then number three - in how God provides. And I need to jump ahead, cheat a little go beyond verse 15. And just jump ahead, because it's so clear as a motif about that covering.

And in verse 21, we see, “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” So what God is saying? In effect by His actions is, “You know, the fig leaves you made for yourselves, those man-made religious works, those man-made attempts to cover your guilt and shame and fear, they don't work …”

“But let me do something that works. I’m going to cover you, I’m going to cover you myself. I'm going to do that by giving you skins. And in order [sic: for giving you in order] to give your skins, I will have to kill, I will have to sacrifice an animal or maybe two animals. But there will be a sacrifice, in order for you to have a proper covering.”

You see, if you tie this back to the proto evangelion, tie back to the promise of a Savior, I think it would be quite reasonable to suggest that God is saying, “Through a sacrifice, through the Savior, I will provide for you a real solution for your sin, for your guilt and shame and fear.”

And this idea of covering is more developed in Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exalt in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

Are you suffering today from guilt? Oh, there is a robe of righteousness! There's a robe of innocence that when it's wrapped around you, people don't see your guilt anymore. Are you shameful? Are you ashamed? Are you feeling unworthy and filthy and defiled? Oh, there is a covering for your sins! There is a covering for your shame is provided for (sic: by) God.

Are you fearful of your future? There is a glorious hope that is spoken of here, in this passage. Instead of guilt and shame and fear, God provides you a covering that will make you beautiful, “As a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” [Isaiah 61:10]

You see, I think in Genesis 3, we read about the fallen nature of man. But we also see the beautiful provision for man to be forgiven. And I say to you, “This is seen, this is found in none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.” Isn't it? Jesus, He is the One who will save us from our sins, and from our guilt and shame and fear.”

These other reactions to sin - guilt, shame, fear. And the reactions we have is that we may -sew for ourselves, have man-made religion, or we may run away from God or we may blame others.

But God says, “I have a solution for you. Today I have a solution for you. I'm pursuing you right here right now. I'm promising you, I’m telling you that I've given a savior. And my Savior is none other than My Son, Jesus Christ, who would die on a cross, shed His blood, lay down His life, in order to save you from your sin.”

“Do you know that My Son, who knew no sin was made sin for you? He was treated as guilty on the cross, so that you may be pronounced innocent. Do you know that He took on your guilt that you might be righteous? Do you know that He endured the mocking and the shaming by people all around Him so that you will be honored? He took your shame. He gave you honor. And do you know that He feared in the garden of Gethsemane so that today you will not fear, so that you would have the blessed hope of God's salvation.”

You see the real solution to guilt shame and fear is when Jesus took on our guilt, shame and fear. Jesus took on our sin, our rebellion against God and He died for us. He paid for us, so that now you can be delivered from guilt, shame and fear. So that now you can look forward to a day with God forevermore in the heavens above, where there will be no more guilt, no more shame, no more fear.

You see the real solution to your life's struggle with guilt and shame and fear, is found in this message, this Good News, this proto evangelion. This Gospel is the Gospel that rescues us from guilt, shame and fear because Jesus paid it all.

He went to the cross, took on your guilt, took on your shame, took on your fear. And for those who believe in Him, He gives them righteousness, He gives them honor, He gives them hope. Only Jesus did it! There is no other Name under heaven whereby man can be saved except Jesus Christ.

Today, I like to invite you to come to know this Savior, this Son of God. The Bible commands you to repent, to turn from your sin, to turn from your own fig leaves, your own self-righteousness and to depend and look to Jesus Christ alone, that you might be saved.

And friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if you are a Christian already, if you repent and believe in Jesus, you are a Christian already, I want to tell you, “You don't have to strive for significance in this world. You don't strive to be famous in this world. You don't have to strive to prove yourself in this world when Jesus by the Gospel has set you free from guilt, shame and fear. Live your life, knowing you're honored, knowing you're justified.”

Out of this knowledge of your position and your glory in the Son, may you serve God well, may you live your life for Him. May the Gospel truly set you free to live a life God has called you to. May God bless each one of you. May you come to know Him, in your hearts.

Let's bow for word of prayer together. Father, we are so thankful this morning that we could hear Your Word. What we spoke of today is so real in our lives because we struggle some time or another, with guilt and shame and fear. Remind us of our broken soul, remind us of the sin that we have against you.

O Lord, I pray You give Your people today wisdom, so that we will not keep on trying to sew fig leaves. That we will not try to hide, that we will not try to shift the blame to someone else. But we will humbly come in joy, knowing and believing that Jesus Christ, on the cross took on our guilt and shame and fear and died to pay for our sins. I pray then that you grant people here listening in, the eyes of faith to see the glory of Jesus Christ, that they might turn and look to Him for salvation in life.

O God, I pray for Your Church, what a marvelous message this is! And I pray this will not just be something we share with those who are unsaved, but this will be a message we receive deep in our hearts, so that as we drink in this good news of freedom, of love, of honor, of blessing, of righteousness, our hearts be filled with joy and gratitude, that we might then live out the Gospel in obedience, in godliness. And that we might give out this Gospel to many more who need to hear this.

Build us up as a church and we thank You for Your Word. I thank You for Your Spirit, who can change our lives today. So bless each one we ask all this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

We are looking for sermon transcribers/transcript reviewers.
Email [email protected] to serve or to report transcription errors.