Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: Genesis

  • Cain, Abel, and Abel’s True Faith

    Cain, Abel, and Abel’s True Faith

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 6, 1992.

    About this sermon

    God withdraws, and his withdrawal tests the faith of Adam and Eve and sets the direction between God and man. Eve names both sons impatiently, and that impatience contrasts with the true faith that marks Abel alone.

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    Sermon transcript

    Now we are looking at Genesis chapter four, Genesis the fourth chapter, beginning with verse one. Hear God’s word. Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, I have gotten the man with the help of the Lord. And 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, and Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. 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. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What have you done?

    The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 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 shall no longer yield its strength to you. You shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”

    And Cain said to the Lord, “‘My punishment is too great to bear. Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from my face I shall be hidden. and I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me. So the Lord said to him, Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, that anyone finding him should slay him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”

    Father, may your word be to us as a spring of fresh water. May we, Lord, drink from it. And Lord, may it please you that in our refreshment we may go in your power to obey your word this week. Father, we ask that we would see your Spirit’s work even in the receptiveness that we have to your word. And in this fashion, Father, may we be built up in our confidence, assured that your Spirit is at work in us. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    Now, despite appearances, we have taken, for our interpretation of Genesis thus far, the simple and direct line, I say despite appearances because As we wander through this material, it may seem that at times things are quite confused, or maybe even that I’m quite confused.

    For my sake, then, as well as your own, it is well for us to be reminded of that simple, direct line with respect to the interpretation of these texts. Is the line which we apply generally to the interpretation of scripture applicable elsewhere as it is here?

    This simple direct line moves along what we would call literary historical lines. Literary historical lines. And because this is, in fact, our commitment, we have insisted upon paying attention, close attention, to certain literary and historical markers. The text given us by the Spirit of God sets these literary and historical markers there for us in order to be of help.

    The historical marker for the section we are presently dealing with is the fall. That’s clear. That’s obvious, is it not? That is the central event for this portion of scripture. But this central event, this historical marker, is not solely in view, as if it stood alone. And this is as is proved by the literary markers that are given to us. For we do not have here merely the fall, that barely and singly set before us. We have more material than simply the fall. set before us. Now let me remind you about the literary marker that sets this section off. We find it in the second chapter of Genesis in the fourth verse.

    It’s been variously translated as you begin that verse. The New American Standard has this translation. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. You might also translate it, these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

    That’s our literary marker at the beginning of this section. At the end of this section, you have again the literary marker appearing as you would enter into a new portion for consideration. That occurs at the beginning of the fifth chapter. where you read these words, this is the book of the generations of Adam. It will be that this particular literary marker will reappear throughout the book of Genesis and so segment the book of Genesis for your consideration, setting before you then units that are to be taken as a whole which then are to be interpreted in terms of themselves and then in light of the entirety of the message of the book.

    So we have then our historical marker being the fall, but we have a broader vista set out before us by these literary markers that we find set for us in Genesis 2.4 and also Genesis 5.1. This means now that we have, as a unit, Genesis 2, 4 through chapter 4, verse 26.

    The fall, as it is set in the center of this section, is therefore in a wider context, so that we might understand it in its broader consideration. Now that wider context, as we had said earlier in our study, is concerned with topographical questions, or questions about location. Especially in view in this section, as you move from 2.4 through 4.6, is going to be then descriptions given to us with regard to specificity of place, location.

    We will have definite directions. We will have the identification of certain places. There is the identification of the garden, for instance. Called, named, even. There is the direction of the east. We are told that this garden is planted or cultivated toward the east. There is the special mention of the trees that are set in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. The direction of the east is mentioned once more even after the fall, as the cheeriodim are stationed at the entrance of that garden.

    There is specific mention of the land of Nod. We have read that this evening, which lies east of Eden. There is the city of Enoch. Further on in this text, as we move on to the end of the fourth chapter, a city which is specifically mentioned, built by the tribe of Cain.

    But even more to the point, This whole matter of location is focused for us as the Lord asks his question of Adam, upon Adam’s fall, where are you? Consider where you are. This question is echoed in God’s interrogation of Cain in the ninth verse of the fourth chapter. Cain is asked by God, Where is your brother again? Special consideration with respect to location.

    We have, in addition to these matters, the Lord bringing them to focus in the question that he The removal of Adam and Eve from the garden, the removal of Cain from the presence of the Lord, spoken of first by Cain in the fourteenth verse of the fourth chapter, and then in the narrative itself in the sixteenth verse of that fourth chapter.

    We are overwhelmed, then, as we move through this particular unit of Holy Writ, we are overwhelmed with the concentration that is set upon this whole matter of location, and this whole issue of location is focusing itself upon the issue of the presence of God, being in the presence of God, God himself being present, or being out of the presence of God, if you will, the issue then being fellowship with him.

    The fall, the historical event of the fall, then, is put in the wider context of the presence and fellowship of God. The fall registers in its most devastating implications precisely at this point. That is the point, in fact, that the Holy Spirit is intent to communicate to the people of God. The fall registers in its most devastating implications precisely here, in this matter of the presence and fellowship of God. Where man enjoyed the presence of God and lived in light of God’s regular visits made to him in that garden, now God’s presence in its intimate and direct and even visual form and sense, has been withdrawn, is in the process of being withdrawn.

    His presence and fellowship is eclipsed. Man is left, as we come to the end of this section, chapter 4, verse 26, calling out, crying out desperately upon the name of the Lord. Why is he crying out, calling out desperately upon the name of the Lord? Because, after all, the Lord is not obviously there.

    The Shorter Catechism, Question 19, gives clear and concise expression to this central point when it says, all mankind by their fall lost communion with God. It mentions the loss of communion of God first because that is, in fact, the most important consideration when thinking about reflecting upon the fall. Now the reason for going over all of this again is that we might not lose sight of the overall theme as we move through this section and even into Genesis 4. It’s very easy for us to lose sight of that theme as we move into Genesis 4, and it often is lost sight of by many a commentator. that theme of the presence and fellowship of God will in fact work itself out even as by way of the descent of a ladder, as we move from the garden and its symbol of communion with God in the tree of life, as we move from those regular visits of God to the man and his wife in that garden, to the subsequent intermittent visitations that now become the experience of man.

    God’s periodic visits to his creatures. He comes to Abel and to Cain with respect to their sacrifices. He then comes in response to the murder of Abel to interrogate Cain. He comes to deal directly with Cain, and as we move then down through that fourth chapter, all will be pointing in the direction of that twenty-sixth verse when the cultic cry of the covenant line comes up before God with respect to the hope that God will in fact come for the purpose of answering them and delivering them from their predicament.

    Presence of and fellowship with God in this context becomes highly problematic. He is not just problematic for those who are outside of fellowship, who have rejected God, for whom fellowship with God means nothing. We read about them here at the close of the fourth chapter, the line of Cain, Lamech himself, as he sings his song of arrogance, proud arrogance, defying God himself. The issue becomes problematic not just for those who are rejecting the fellowship, it becomes problematic for those who covet the fellowship of God and covet His presence.

    Now brought into specific focus will be the necessity, the increased necessity, the intensity of this need within us to live by faith, and not by sight. God withdraws, and in that our faith is tested, in that our faith is formed even to the greater pleasure and glory of God. God has ordained that we, his people, we who are of the line, will in fact be compelled to live by faith and not by sight. But it isn’t that our first parents even while in the garden and in their innocence, were not compelled to live by faith. It’s not as if faith was inoperative and unnecessary for them even in that circumstance. I have here in mind specifically the sort of faith that is spoken of in the eleventh chapter of the first verse in Hebrews. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Our first parents, even in the garden, were compelled, constrained to exercise faith in that sense.

    To be sure, they were blessed with a frequency of visitation from God that reinforced his presence for them and their fellowship with him. Those visitations were such that God made himself visible to them so that they could behold him in his coming to them. And even beyond these visitations from God, Adam and Eve were compelled to believe as a matter of their own faithfulness to God when he was not there in visible form, that is, when he was not visibly present to them. Furthermore, their faith was tested.

    Their faith was tested with respect to his word, a word which received a sacramental focus in the two trees that stood in the middle of the garden. Trees that spoke to them about their perspective glory, which would be conferred upon them when they had successfully endured probation, and by that route be brought into the continuing, unending presence of God for perpetual fellowship with Him.

    So faith, you see, is not invented after the fall. It is not made necessary by sin. Faith is operative for our first parents, even in their state of innocence, even prior to the fall. We can see, however, that even though this is the case, faith now acquires the fall being a fact, its redemptive dimension. Faith will be focused with respect to the redemptive dimension of God’s relationship to his people and to his world.

    That is, it specifically, in addition to latching on to the unseen things, even the unseen God, had to give itself over to the promise of salvation, a promise that entailed grace and implied sacrifice, even substitution and atonement, and no less forensic justification. all of this for the realization of that fellowship, for the reassertion of that fellowship and communion with God for which mankind was intended, but had presently lost. with respect to this whole scenario, is greatly affected by the manner in which God withdraws himself from the view of man.

    It isn’t as if God stops coming immediately, that his appearances to his creature end when the fall occurs. Testimony to his visits continues even into the fourth chapter after the fall. These visitations by God are increasingly less frequent. After all, the fall does now set before us the seriousness of this whole matter in such a way as to bring this faith into focus for us and the necessity that it has to take shape under the tutelage of God. God then does not immediately end his visits. His visits continue.

    He vindicates Abel’s offering. Presumably, by some visible means, he comes and he pastors Cain, that, in some visible fashion, Cain’s punishment also is described as being driven out of the presence of the Lord. There will be no more visits to him, frequent or otherwise, or to his wife. At the same time, the line of promise will also see the visit’s end, communion and fellowship ceasing in a sense underscored by this withdrawal by God, thus compelling them to call upon the Lord who is not apparently present.

    Verse 26, once more in that fourth chapter. Now all of this conspires to sharpen faith and to define it. It may well seem to be quite confusing and even disorienting, but all of this serves the purpose of sharpening faith and further defining it. There will be that true faith. as comes to expression in Abel. We will speak about that true faith in Abel in time.

    Tonight we are looking at the opening of the fourth chapter of Genesis, and faith as it is being shaped in Eve, Abel’s mother, as it is coming to expression in her. We have seen how her husband has expressed faith subsequent to the fall by naming his wife Eve because she was the mother of all those who would live. But now there is a naming exercise engaged in by Eve. But as Eve engages in that naming exercise, there is a cloud of ambivalence that comes over the entirety of that exercise.

    Faith called for. Faith to be cultivated. But that faith coming to incomplete and even imperfect expression, as Eve in the expression of her faith, seems to be dogged by ambivalence. and even confusion. She will affirm grace in her faith. She says when she delivers a child, a man-child, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord so as to underscore that grace. Yet there is a confusion in the naming exercise because the name that she gives to the child indicates that her hope and faith was that this child would in fact be that man, that offspring, that would bring deliverance for her and for the world.

    This expression of faith is over-eager. This expression of faith is a bit too optimistic. This hope expressed by Eve with respect to this child sees in this child, then, the one who would crush the serpent’s head. even beyond her husband’s naming of her, that Eve is not only the mother of all that shall live, but of all those who claim too quickly the realization of God’s promises and the accomplishment of his purposes.

    There will be no waiting, says Eve. My faith is such that there will be no waiting, there will be no denying me. What I had hoped for will come, and it will come immediately. There will be no delay. In fact, what suffering I have experienced will be the most temporary kind of suffering. It’s over, even before it began.

    Eve, then, is the mother of those who would claim too quickly the realization of God’s promise and the accomplishment of His purposes. Waiting is over, no more suffering, the end of such things has come, or is immediately around the corner. I wonder what kind of a millennialist Eve was.

    Here is bold overconfidence, expressive of a faith to be sure, but faith with a twist, a faith which in the end proves utterly foolish and vain. Is there a false form of faith? Yes, there is. Is faith in and of itself good, automatically, just because it’s faith? Even when it’s attached to God and His promises, can it be distorted? Can it be going in the wrong direction? Can it be in error? Eve was mistaken.

    And her mistake, uttered in faith, was not just a matter of information and knowledge, it was a matter of sin, the effect of the fall. She could no longer read things properly. So you have the over-confident faith on the one hand naming her first-born son Cain, but on the other hand you have her naming her second-born Abel. Do you know what Abel’s name means? It means breath, vapor, emptiness, vanity. Do you see what happened? Can you see what happened? The over buoyant thing, ending in despair.

    The preacher of Ecclesiastes is not the first one that speaks about vanity and emptiness. Eve is the mother of all who speak thus. Because the effects of the fall register powerfully upon her, as she observes her firstborn, as she observes the world around her, She has by now discounted her firstborn’s birth. She no longer thinks of him as the promised deliverer. God will withdraw. His visitations will cease. for all intents and purposes.

    And in that context, he will shape faith and define it. There will be the vacillation between buoyant overconfidence and crippling despair. But even though these expressions are observed in the mother, In the child that was discounted finally, able, called vanity, emptiness, vapor, and breath, this one who is looked upon as being the supreme expression of weakness, in him will come the most noble expression of faith. The ambivalence, yes, but the training, the marvelous training of faith in the midst of the absence of God’s visible presence, observable now as it would take shape in Abel.

    Consider him. Let’s pray. Our Lord, work with us even as we would think about the broken and lost fellowship with you, so that our faith indeed would be formed well, fashioned like unto Abel’s faith. And Lord, we pray that in all its aspects, faith may have its final word in us as we take hold of those things which are unseen and even grasp the redemptive purpose. Lord, you have enabled us to see the glories of your grace resident in one whose blood speaks even better things than the blood of Abel, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for him. We thank you for the gift of faith granted us. We thank you.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Faith in the Promised Seed

    Faith in the Promised Seed

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 22, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Reviewing the fall narrative as a whole, real faith turns up in Adam’s naming of Eve ‘life,’ itself a confession of hope in the promised seed. The clothing God provides pictures grace over works, with its own quiet eschatology built in.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are in Genesis chapter 3 this evening. Genesis chapter 3. And we begin reading at verse 8. Listen to the word of God. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the spirit of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you?

    And he said, I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. And God said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field.

    On your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.

    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 shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

    Now the man called his wife’s name Eve. because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. And now lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live Therefore the Lord God sent him out of 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 charioteer and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. Father, you are sovereign in all the affairs of our lives. You are sovereign with respect to your word and to the end to which you have dispensed that word.

    Lord, we are those who would have life, we would not reside in a deadness of spirit, we would not clothe ourselves in a dead orthodoxy. Father, we would have a vibrant living faith, one that is exercised continually with respect to your promises, with respect to yourself. Father, strengthen your church. Grant your church good and strong leaders. May it please you, Father, to raise up those who will preach with integrity, who will preach out of the love of your word and for a love of you. We ask, Lord, that they might not be turned aside by the promise of gain, gain in this world. May they give themselves so as to follow in the steps of their Savior, who was a faithful shepherd and gave himself for the sheep. We ask it through Christ, truly, the Good Shepherd. Amen.

    We have been studying the fall of man, the account of the fall here in the early chapters of Genesis. And recently we have watched on as the Lord God has come upon that garden sanctuary of his making, the garden which he had planted, the Garden of Eden. We have watched on as the Lord God has come upon that garden in the spirit of the day of judgment. We have contended that that is how we are to understand the opening portion of that eighth verse in Genesis 3. It is not so much then that the Lord appears after the fall of man. for a casual stroll in the garden in the pool of the day. No, the Lord has come in all of his fury in the spirit of the day of the Lord, the day of wrath and judgment. We have then witnessed the Lord’s interrogation.

    He has set up his own inquisition. He is the inquisitor, the grand inquisitor, far removed from any that might appear in literature. The Lord interrogates our first parents, but in that interrogation, despite his onslaught in the form of judge and in the fury of his judgment, He portrays himself also as pastor to these members early on in the history of his church. He approaches them then pastorally in search of penitence, in search of repentance, but their response to his interrogation to his approach, to even his gracious approach, their response to him is to indict themselves with full testimony of their newly acquired depravity.

    For every word that crosses their lips will further deepen their guilt. blames his wife. She, in turn, blames the serpent. But behind this respective shifting of blame on their part, they both, behind their words, cloak a charge against God. They would implicate God in their sin. and thus lay the blame for their sin directly at the feet of the Lord.

    The Lord has come with pastoral intent. He has come, even in the midst of his fury, with pastoral entreaties so as to draw from them, elicit from them, repentance, and let they had responded in this fashion. The Lord then in the face of such deliberate evasion and quote blasphemy in charging him with their sin, in the face of such response from these unrepentant sinners, he then The Lord God proceeds to judgment and the passing of sentence.

    The serpent is first, although bypassed in the interrogation. He is first because behind him looms Satan’s darkened figure. But the Lord now deals with the servant in such a way so as to keep in place Satan’s concealment. That concealment serving as something of a binding of Satan, a limiting of him. Satan then will not be permitted to step out from behind his disguise.

    He would love to do so. He would love to strut now in the full light of day and throw his victory directly into the face of God. And even more, he would love to step out from behind his disguise so as to capitalize upon his gain, his gain over man, in a demonstration of the revelation of his beauty. The beauty of Satan, portrayed now before the sinful pair, will be something that they will not be able to resist.

    The serpent through which Satan has acted is now the one through which Satan is addressed. And he is told of his final demise, though he hardly believes it, does he ever believe God? Told of his final demise through those, even those he had hoped to claim for himself. Through those, Adam and his wife, whom he had hoped to claim for himself. Satan’s thorough and consistent wickedness, the perfection of evil in him, is compounded through his appetite which is insatiable. In his lust for dominion, the ones over which he had wished special dominion namely the man and the woman, will prove to be his own undoing, for he who worships power is himself in the end overpowered and crushed.

    As for the woman, Think of her now and the curse and judgment that has read out upon her. That which was to be for her joy and blessing, namely children and childbirth, becomes expressive of the curse that rests upon her. She is told by the Lord that her pain will be multiplied, multiplied in childbirth. This pain then intensified and compounded in her. Remember how Satan’s own wickedness is compounded in him. But now, for the woman her pain intensified and compounded by her desire, her appetite, that which she wants and longs for.

    In her quest to dominate, to have power and authority beyond the rule which God had placed upon her and for her, In her quest to dominate, she now will be dominated. She will be dominated by her husband, whom she desires and from whom she cannot escape. Her desire itself being testimony to that.

    Modern methods Lamaze and otherwise. Modern methods and modern medications do not eradicate the pain multiplied to the daughters of Eve. Those modern methods and medications presuppose that pain and are necessitated by it. And further, Liberation movements and modern feminism does not eradicate either the desire the woman has, nor the domination, the domination which the man has over his wife. Rather, liberation movements and modern feminism presuppose that very desire and that denomination which is irrefutable fact.

    So much for the woman. What of the man? Satan betrayed by his desire The woman’s plight compounded by her desire, so it is for the man also. He has his desire. In itself there is nothing evil about it any more than there is something evil in the desire that a woman would have for her husband. The man’s desire being That which is directed toward the earth and dominion over it in keeping with the commandment of God. But now as with respect to the desire of the woman, so also with respect to the desire of the man, it has all gone bad. The man sought to take the world through disobedience. And now he sees his desire frustrated because of the interposition of God.

    The earth, we are told, will triumph over him, and this one who has been taken from the dust will return In this sentence there is another note to be heard, one more frightening still, one as devastating as any consideration that rises from Adam’s moral culpability and his depravity. It is the note of utter futility. the threat and the dread of dissolution and nothingness that a life could be lived and then see all of its efforts dissolved into dust not only the efforts but the one who put forth the efforts so then to man’s moral culpability and depravity is now added the excruciating weight of the futility of existence, the threat that it could all be for nothing. So thorough is this futility, in fact, that no moral effort by man in his ruined and sinful state can remove its threat. So thorough is this futility that no moral effort by man in his ruined state can remove its threat.

    Oh, how man tries. Oh how man, through moral renovation and effort, tries to remove the threat of futility and emptiness. But even this is a testimony to the triumph of futility, for man’s moral efforts, in his ruined condition, are themselves futile. It is against this background, now.

    It is against this background that we hear the expressed promise by God. God coming on into the garden in the spirit of the day of judgment, yet in the midst of that fury, pastorally ministering to this couple. And even here, as he pronounces judgment, there is heard, through the sentence, pronounced the word of grace, the promise by God, a promise that is directed toward and against the serpent.

    And in its veiled implications to our first parents becomes the proclamation, the proto-proclamation of the gospel, the good news, the message of good hope through grace. in which God assures his creation that despite the pain and suffering, despite the threat of futility, despite the moral culpability of man, the great good for which God made all things shall in fact be reached by no other means than by his achievement. Something that he will bring about in those of his choosing, when they shall be clothed with eternal bodies suitable for fellowship with him eternally. The great goal then for which God made all things shall be achieved through his effort, which he shall bring about in those of his choosing, to the end that they shall be clothed with eternal bodies suitable for fellowship with him eternally.” And here, then, as the story progresses, we have evidences of God’s regenerating work precisely unto that end. The spirit with which the Lord comes for judgment is also the spirit of renewal, the spirit for the regeneration of those dead in their sin.

    Adam and his wife then are people of God’s choosing. to be saved by grace, not by their works. Adam will give testimony to this in the twentieth verse of that third chapter. His response there is one that issues forth from a heart that has now been worked on, ministered to graciously by God. If there wasn’t the hearing of the Lord in the first instance, as Adam sought to shift blame, there is now testimony that he has heard, and that evidence of the working of grace in him. The word of God has come. And the word of God has done its work in regenerating this one who is as good as lost, as good as damned.

    Adam’s response, then, is one of faith. That is why it appears here in verse twenty, after the pronouncement of the judgment against him. His response is one of faith, faith in the expressed promise of God. The promise through which he, that is, Adam and those who believe like him, will be delivered from the curse that has been pronounced.

    Adam now looks upon his wife with new eyes. He looks upon her with the eyes that have been regenerated, and he sees in her the channel for the bestowal of life according to the purpose and intention of God. His confession reaches beyond the hope of mere biological life.

    The bestowal of life that comes through the woman will in fact touch the tree of life and its promise. He calls her then, Life. That’s what her name means. He calls her Life. Eve. the meaning of that name being life, for he sees in her now the mother of all those who shall live with God.”

    Adam believes the promise. It is an expression of faith, this naming of his wife, its intrusion at this point in the story. It is an act of faith born of the regenerating grace of God in the life of this man. And as we would expect, so is it true here. This faith expressed is not devoid of the deepest humility.

    For Adam has witnessed God’s forbearance by that work of grace. Now Adam perceives grace, and he understands his own unworthiness. The fact that he is left standing there to draw another breath is a testimony to him of God’s grace to him. He has been, as it were, cast himself upon the mercy of the one who has shown such benevolence to him.

    And in the naming of his wife, as he does seeing her with new eyes, there is the signal of the intrusion of a new age. Not an age of death under the sentence of the law, but an age of life through the grace of the gospel. Adam’s faith and his humility, Adam’s faith and repentance are indications to us that he is vitally connected to the new world, the new age which shall come in which life triumphs over death. How gracious God is in continuing on as we read in that twenty-first verse. For Adam and his wife are not left without direct intrusion by the Lord, such intrusion and action which underscores his graciousness. and the end to which now they themselves are constrained to press.

    God provides for them garments. Were they not already clothed? Had they not already made for themselves clothing? But that was the problem, wasn’t it? It was clothing of their own making to cover the fact that they stood short of the glorious bodies for which they were destined.

    God’s intrusion now will reinforce his positive intention. He doesn’t mean merely to withhold his wrath and thereby allow them time to effect their own redemption through natural means. Rather, he intends to directly intervene, deliberately to act on their behalf in a demonstration of the triumph of grace in the overthrow of the religion of works.

    We will cover ourselves. We will construct an approach to life which is of our own making. We will construct our own resolution to the predicament that we find ourselves in. This which we shall do shall be a testimony to the religion which we have now embraced, a religion which broadcasts that we can, after all, save ourselves.

    God, then, does not merely withhold his wrath, thereby allowing them time to effect their own redemption through natural means. He intrudes, he intervenes, he deliberately acts in such a way as to underscore the fact that the triumph of grace shall be his doing, and that unto the end of overthrowing every pretense of a religion of words. God shall provide the covering. the covering for their shame. And though it may not look like much from the text that we have in front of us, what a covering it is, for that covering presumes, presupposes, the shedding of blood, the taking away of an innocent life, the life of an animal slain for the procurement of those skins. And this covering for their bodies shall be to the end, that they should not be found naked, but clothed in God’s sight and that for eternity.” Symbolic of that which is coming.

    Eventually God will make explicit the connection between the innocent animal slain and the seed begotten by the woman spoken of in verse fifteen of this third chapter. Eventually he will make explicit the connection between the clothing made of animal skins and the clothing of a resurrection body, such clothing as shall never wear out. And eventually God will make plain the connection between the life found through Eve in the child of promise and the very tree of life whose way is now guarded by the angelic host. What might yet be obscure for Adam and for Eve is not obscure to you.

    And for all of those connections have been finally and wonderfully drawn before your very eyes. You know the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You know that you shall not be found naked. in the day of God’s visitation that you shall be clothed with an immortal body and you know that that life found within the child promised through the seed of the woman is the life that is symbolized in the tree of life meant for you, for your partaking. All of these connections now you have been privileged to see in the full light of day.

    My prayer for you, that you may stand amazed at the grace of God that you may stand amazed at his faithfulness and the mercy resident in Jesus and that standing amazed you would observe then the wonderful differences that all of this makes to you in your lives.

    Father, we marvel at what you have set in place so as to magnify your grace. Sin has in fact abounded, but grace has abounded all the more. And Lord, we with amazement behold the perfect pattern of your care and love, your purpose and intention. We are overwhelmed, Lord, by what we see, our own unworthiness, your magnificent love availed for us. Encourage us in our love for you and for your son, and may we not depart from this path upon which you have placed us, so as to claim credit for our salvation, as if our religion were a religion of works. Instead, Father, may we see the fruit of your regenerating work in us, our continuing faith, our humility and repentant spirit before you. And bless us, Father, so that all this would be evident to those about us. We then demonstrating the fact that we belong to you by what we say and do.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Curses of Genesis 3

    The Curses of Genesis 3

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 15, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Adam and Eve answer God with sin, and God lays his curses in turn on the serpent, the woman, and the man. The serpent stays hidden until Christ meets him face to face in the wilderness temptation.

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    Sermon transcript

    We begin this evening in Romans chapter 8. This is Romans chapter 8, beginning with verse 18. Romans 8, 18. Listen to the word of God. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

    For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

    For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

    And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. 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 shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you, and you shall eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

    Father, help us with your word, for yet we do struggle while in this world, and we would struggle according to knowledge and in keeping with the faith that has been given to us, your children. We would ask you, Father, to clear up misunderstanding and correct error in us. May we be disciplined by your word so that not only are we corrected with respect to interpretation, but also with respect to life. Bless your church. May she have godly instruction. May she have fine rule. May she also be given wonderful example in ministries of service. We pray, Father, that we might have the full benefit of your word for our lives. For Jesus’ sake, amen. Now, the defendants in this case, Adam and Eve, have been questioned. The questioning is over. They have even been given opportunity to present their cases.

    But it seems that at the opening of their mouths, each and every word further indicts them, condemns them. They then stand before the scrutiny of this judge as those who are in fact self-condemned. As well, as we look at them here in this situation, and as we have said previously, there is absolutely nothing attractive in them.

    If there is hope for this pair, it must be completely and thoroughly by and through grace. For we have seen the quick, pervasive effect of the depravity of sin so overtake them that now they are left in a state in which they are quick themselves to bring charge against God and so utter blasphemy against him. That is the undercurrent of their statements, as they seek then to justify themselves and to implement God. But not only are they then blasphemous against God, they are vicious toward one another. They blame each other, they blame others for their own circumstance. We come to the end of the matter now as the interrogation ends.

    And the last to be implemented by them is the one who acted first, namely that preacher, the serpent. But you’ll note now that the interrogation does not continue, for the serpent, unlike the pair, is not questioned or interrogated by the Lord. It is almost as if such an interrogation is out of place, as if it is even superfluous. Going even further, it is as if such an interrogation of the serpent would be something of a misdirection. Since the serpent is Satan’s charade, the serpent plays the role of Satan’s mask. So to focus upon the mask or the shade behind which Satan himself lurks does not achieve the same goal that the interrogation of Adam and Eve achieved. So the interrogation ends. It drops off.

    But to penetrate to an even more deeper level, we see here that God’s action toward the serpent serves God’s purposes in that the stance that God now takes with respect to the serpent and to Satan serves as a rebuke to Satan himself. with which to approach man in order to deceive man. But you see, the end that Satan has in view is that he might receive his own due in the full light of day. That having so achieved victory over Adam and Eve, he might now come out of hiding and present himself fully before the face of humanity, and even before the face of God in all defiance.

    God does not then interrogate. God, in his dealings now with the serpent and with Satan through the serpent, enforces his own purposes which do not allow, then, Satan to step into the full light of day. God keeps Satan in the shadow. so that Satan is unable to come out from behind the cover. He will not come out, in fact, until God’s full disclosure is made of himself in his Son, which then compels Satan’s full disclosure for the purpose of claiming worship and glory he imagines to be his own.

    And I have here in mind the confrontation between the Son of God and Satan in the Judean wilderness. Revelation of the Son of God brings out of hiding the father of darkness in the interests of his own vanity. But his release from behind his disguise is by God’s will. But presently, the disguise being kept in place as a judgment upon Satan’s vanity and a protection for us, in that now in our sinful state, we, seeing Satan in the full light of day, would not so much be repulsed by his ugliness but captivated by his beauty.

    There isn’t anyone here this evening that is a match for Satan. If Satan is allowed to step out behind his cover, there isn’t a person here will not be thoroughly and completely seduced utterly. Merely through the constraint of the beauty of this angel who has fallen.

    But even more now, the Lord’s failure to interrogate the serpent must push Adam and Eve themselves. It must push them for an explanation as to why the Lord would not interrogate the serpent. They are now being forced to consider ultimate causes. knowing full well that serpents don’t talk, and that they are not evil in themselves. So Adam and Eve now are being forced to make considerations, theological considerations, with respect to that which is beyond the serpents. They are forced to look for that one who does speak from behind the form of the serpent, and that one who is evil in himself. Satan’s camouflage therefore stays in place as God turns to the serpent now, not to interrogate, so as to bring Satan out in the open, but to judge for the pronouncement of sentence.

    And this pronouncement of sentence keeps in place also the Lord’s intention. On the one hand, he speaks to the serpent. He says that this serpent, this creature, is cursed above every other creature. References made to the serpent’s humbled state, the shrewdest of creatures is now the lowest and destined to lick the dust. The camouflage is kept in place as God speaks to the serpent, as if the serpent, you see, were the object of his condemnation. But the camouflage also is penetrated as the Lord pushes the cover behind which Satan slinks to its very limit. For he addresses the serpent as if he were addressing the person. Therefore, the serpent’s slithering in the earth becomes symbolic of a condemnation visited upon one beyond the serpent itself. And the serpent’s diet of dust becomes symbolic of the end of that personality that is discovered behind the serpent.

    And obviously, God, in declaring the establishment of perpetual hostility between the serpent and the woman, between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed, has in mind more than a female’s possible natural fear of snakes, and a universal war between human children and baby vipers. Likewise, the promise given has more in view than a confrontation between humanity and reptiles, in which humanity wins. The seed in view is obviously collectively considered all the woman’s seed gathered into one, the seed of the serpent belonging to one personality in the greatest of spiritual confrontations.

    And in this conflict, the woman’s seed delivers the fatal blow to the head. The one behind the serpent inflicts his own wound, however. to the woman’s seed as the heel is bruised. But it is not a fatal blow. Jesus Christ is the promised seed. He, in his triumph through his death and resurrection, wounds Satan, and that conclusively. But he himself is wounded, though not permanently. And those who belong to this Christ, this seed of the woman, shall in the power of their Savior crush Satan underfoot, as he has promised to them. A promise that is reflected upon by Paul in Romans 16 verse 20. Having dealt now with the serpent, and more particularly with Satan. The Lord turns to the woman and speaks directly to her in the all-too-realistic language of life as it is lived out now in this world.

    So realistic is this language that the ordinary response to it is for all to draw back from it. It’s powerful, stark truths. Enter into the world sorrow and pain multiplied, multiplied. Sorrow and pain multiplied. These sorrows and pains not alleviated by modern technique or medicine. Rather, these very realities have forced upon us these modern techniques and medications.

    The link between the serpent’s sentence and the woman’s sentence is the mention of the seed. the generation of seed, the appearance of children, which becomes a special pain and grief in itself, a pain and grief from an obvious and plain reading of the text, complicated by desire.

    Complicated by desire. which in fact drives the woman back to the man despite the pain and despite his domination. You can run from it, you can act as if you live in a fairy tale land, but none of that is going to amount to a whole lot in light of the stark, harsh, even cruel realities with which you are faced in this world. Do I need to go over that again? The link between the serpent’s sentence and the woman’s sentence is the mention of the seed, and the production of the seed, mainly in children. which itself becomes a special occasion for pain and sorrow, in which pain and sorrow are multiplied. All of this complicated by desire, the woman’s desire, which drives the woman back to the man despite the pain and despite his domination of her.

    Of course we know, and glory in the fact, that the woman’s pain and sorrow reaches its resolution in Christ, the true seed of the woman. And even now, this one that she has produced ministers to her by purifying her desire and rectifying the man’s dominion over her. The propriety of love and loving submission assert themselves afresh, as in the Church of Christ and through the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The war between the sexes is brought to an end.

    The link between the woman’s sentence and the man’s sentence is precisely at the point of authority and rule. But note, too, that for the man there is sorrow. And though it’s not spoken of here in terms of the multiplication of sorrow and pain, that certainly is intended as you move from the curse that is spoken with respect to the woman and that now which is spoken with respect to the man. There is desire also in view, even though that desire is not specifically mentioned, and there is dominion in view, even though that dominion is not specifically mentioned. This is to say that there is parallel between the curse that comes upon the woman and the curse that has come upon the man because of the sin.

    The sorrow and the grief rises within the man because of the desire that he has for the earth, and the fact that the earth itself will not submit to him now. The earth rather has dominion over him, and that becomes a matter of severe, even the most severe frustration. His desire is for the earth, The earth will not submit. He cannot have dominion. Rather, the earth has dominion over him and actually claims the victory, since, in fact, he returns to the ground and thus declares its own victory over him.

    This then throws man’s life into the severest of crises. For not only is his labor jeopardized by this arrangement, his very existence is jeopardized by this. He will look out upon the face of the earth and he will conclude, my labor is striving after nothingness. My life is utter vanity. My existence, in fact, is for nothing. My life is futile. Emptiness and death are the conclusion of the matter.

    But even here, the grace of God shines through. If there was grace to be perceived in the pronouncing of sentence upon the serpent, as Satan himself is perceived to be judged and the seed of the woman gains the triumph, if there is grace to be perceived in the judgment upon the woman, as even through her pain and sorrow the seed shall come that shall affect this victory Even here, now, with respect to the man, there is grace pushing itself through and pushing itself onto the consciousness of Adam and Eve. The severity of the judgment itself will minister kindness and grace to this couple and to humanity after them. For now it will become increasingly plain to them, if they will but see it, that the earth and life in this world cannot be end in themselves.

    The earth by itself is a dead end. Life in this world is a dead end. We do not live for the sake of life in this world, neither do we live for this world. The Fall will minister even greater grace in convincing man, clearly, unmistakably, that he is not made for this creation. The creation knows it. The creation knows it.

    What do you think the groaning of the creation spoken about in Romans 8 is all about? What do you think the creation is groaning for? Do you think the creation is groaning for a better day for itself? That’s not what the text says. It says that the creation is groaning for a better day for the sons of God. And what is that better day? We are told in the twenty-first verse of that eighth chapter, it is the deliverance into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God. That is what the creation is groaning for.

    God having deliberately subjected the creation to futility, that man would not hope in the but see plainly that his hope was beyond this creation, namely in the glorification of the sons of God by root of, as is said in verse 23 in that 8th chapter, the resurrection of the body. is the resolution to the vanity that threatens man, that even gains canonical expression in the book of Ecclesiastes, facing man squarely with utter futility if in fact this world is all that there is. The sentences of the Lord read out are sentences in which we can hear the echoes of the day of the Lord and the most severe judgment.

    Though questions severity and justice, but simultaneously Even here, the sweet refrain, the notes of eternal grace are sounding. All of this, unto the end, that you might know, that all things, even the Fall itself, works together for good, to them that love God, to those that are called according to his purpose. Convince us, Father, that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that we might marvel in the inexplicability of that grace, its depth, how it is beyond our comprehension. And yet, Lord, we who have now become the beneficiaries of that grace, Lord, would we not glory in you and declare our love for you? O Father, as we see the severities of your judgments, may we be warned. But also, Lord, as now these judgments are read out for us, at the beginning of history, may we perceive even there the song of grace, which means, of course, our redemption, which means, of course, that we are brought to the end for which you designed us and planned us even from all eternity. No, not a permanent residence in this world. but one in the world to come, in your very presence, in and through Jesus Christ.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • God Acts as Pastor

    God Acts as Pastor

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 8, 1992.

    About this sermon

    God appears in theophanic glory in Genesis 3:8, and he comes to the fallen pair as their pastor. Adam and Eve blame each other, the serpent, and God himself, yet grace is already at work, because God does not destroy them.

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    Sermon transcript

    Tonight we are reading from Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. We are beginning at verse 8. We read through verse 13. This is Genesis 3 verse 8. Listen to the word of God. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the spirit of the day.

    And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. Turning over to Romans chapter 5, reading that passage one more time, beginning with verse 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, for until the law, sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed where there was no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses. even over those who have not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s offense, who is a type of him who is to come.

    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 grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For on the one hand, the judgment arose from the one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. So then, as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous. And the law came in that the transgression might increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    Lord, strengthen your people in their grasp of your word and its doctrines of truth, and Father, may it also please you to strengthen your church through that word so that your church would understand even the structure and the order that is to prevail within it.

    O Lord, bless then your church with strong pastors and teachers of your word. May it please you, Father, to raise up many who will preach without compromise the word of your grace. May our prayer reach heaven through Christ in the interests of your church worldwide. But be pleased also, Father, to grant to your church many who will rule wisely and for our good. May we have elders in your church who understand your word and labor in light of that word’s truth. Bless us with deacons, Father, who are exceptional in their devotion to you, demonstrating it in compassion and mercy. So build your church so that it would understand better itself the call which is laid upon for the same exercise of mercy and compassion.

    Lord, we ask for our own congregation as well as for others. May you hear us, Lord. We praise you that you have granted us strength, Lord, and may it please you, Father, to grant your church strength through Christ, who is the head of the church, You must understand now that the Lord God enters the garden after the fall. for more than the purpose of a leisurely stroll with our first parents in the pool of the day. We must understand that the Lord God enters the garden after the fall for more than the purpose of a leisurely stroll with our first parents in the pool of the day. is an eruption.

    His coming rips things apart. There is the sound of a tearing. His sound, that of his coming, is a cacophony. He is indicative of the terrifying intrusion made by him upon sinners caught red-handed and red-faced. That is why we do well to retranslate what we find in that third chapter, the eighth They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden, not in the cool of the day, but in the spirit of the day. The coming of God, then, is nothing less than terrifying, as he makes his appearance in theophonic glory. and rushes on his shrine-like garden with the clamor of the great day of retribution, the day of judgment. It is as if the day of the Lord itself has arrived as God comes on to his first creatures, to our first parents.

    It is not only Adam’s and Eve’s shame, then, that sends them scurrying for cover in the garden’s underbrush. No, it is the sure and certain intensity going on before God, the very breath of His wrath and indignation. There is that shame experienced by them, but not so much generated by their physical nakedness, which they, through their feeble efforts, have tried to cover. Rather, it is generated by something deep within them, a sense, a lingering sense of their true spiritual capability. and the fact that now they lack the appropriate spiritual body, that body spiritualized through the work of the Holy Spirit himself, in which they were to greet the Lord on the day of his consummate visitation.

    The Lord God then comes. as a warrior into this abode for man. He comes thundering and lightning after the man, for the man, directing his address first of all to him, since it is the man who holds chief office in the present order of the church. convened in the garden, and it is the man who is chiefly responsible for what has occurred in that garden. The Lord’s thunder, however, mingles with entreaty. The Lord calls, but not without a note of pathos.

    Where are you? Where are you? With that question, the Lord God plays the fool in his inquiry. To be sure, he has broken in upon this couple as if with fire and thunder, but strangely, oddly, as a parent fully cognizant of the enormity of a child’s disastrous behavior, With nothing less than a plea resonating in his voice, God moves toward these whom he loves as if he were the one who had lost them, and now desperately seeks them. as if he doesn’t know where they are. We have then the collateral presentation of the figure of God coming in all of his power and might yet approaching as if in weakness, almost as if his voice were cracking, indicating that his heart is breaking. Where are you? Of course, God knows where man is, does he not?

    His question then is meant to be pastoral. Even in the midst of his judgment and wrath, his question is meant to be pastoral. It is meant to draw the man into an honest assessment of himself and his predicament. But this man, who now has descended into sin, thinking all the while he was ascending to deity itself, This man who has descended into sin without realizing it provides, contrary to his own intention, an honest assessment of precisely where he is and what his predicament is. In his sin now, he cannot, he will not open his mouth without betraying himself. And the words that he speaks are in a sense a confession of his own lostness and his own loss.

    This man is now tragically naked in the world. And in his present condition, without recourse to that spiritual clothing that he needs for his appearance, in the day of God’s consummate visitation. This then is where Adam is. He is naked in the world.

    He says as much to God, and by saying so much to God, He indicts himself, for in so saying he gives indication of confession of the fact, inadvertently, to be sure that he has eaten the forbidden fruit. Since such knowledge, knowledge of his nakedness, can only come by way of partaking of the fruit of that tree of knowledge, in disobedience. Unless of course it comes by way of eating of that tree and its fruit in obedience and as reward for success in the probation that has been assigned him. And we all know But had he been successful, God would have been there to celebrate the event with him.

    If man in his sin now see the enormity and the seriousness of the sin, man in his sin doesn’t even understand what he’s saying, although every word as he speaks to his creator exposes him. The Lord comes, yes, in pastoral mode. He comes also making interrogation. He drives deep And in his method and mode, he implores Adam for an honest assessment of himself and his predicament.

    For as if God was saying, come Adam, won’t you confess? Won’t you throw yourself on my mercy? Will you not plead before me as I here am pleading with you for your confession? Will you not humble yourself before me as I am humbling myself before you even in making this entreaty to you? Will you not show me, Adam, That my fellowship with you means as much to you as it does to me. That so thorough are the ravages of sin. Do you see the enormity? Do you see the enormity of it?

    So thorough are the ravages of sin. that Adam will not even confess. He will not confess even as he is being confronted by a God who seemingly prostrates himself before his creature. Even that will not move him. He will not. He does not. humble himself, he only becomes more defensive, entrenched in his pride, even defiant and accusatory.

    Do you see? Do you see why it comes so naturally for you? When you are face to face with your own sin and the enormity of it, why you respond the way you do? You are a child of your parents. You’re playing out the role. That’s the way sin behaves. It will not own up. It will not humble itself. It will only become more defensive, entrenched in pride, even to the point of defiance. and making accusations against those who bring righteous judgment against us. The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, you feel the force of that?

    What a guy! What a guy! Now, lest you’re thinking a lot about yourselves, and highly of yourselves, gentlemen, you would have done the very same thing. Oh yes, there is that sense in which Adam is telling the truth. It was the woman. She had been given to Adam by God. She had given the fruit to Adam. But Adam’s interest isn’t in the truth, it is in escaping blame. Having taken the fruit from the woman in order to share sin with her, he now abandons her to stand alone, and that in order to save his own neck.

    He saw what she became. He was yet righteous when she had become sin. There were options before Adam. Seeing what she had become, what do you think he should have done? He should have pled with God for her. He should have pled for God for her, he should have even offered his life for her, if he loved her. But no, he liked what she had become. What she had become was as tempting to him as the fruit that she offered him. And having taken her up on her offer, He now abandons her.

    That’s what sin does. That’s what sin does. As I said, what a guy. But Adam’s remark is even more malicious than this. Because you see, he doesn’t merely abandon the woman, he implements, he implicates God. His wicked act was everybody else’s fault but his own, including God’s. So God here, in making entreaty, in pleading with Adam, is answered by nothing less than blasphemy.

    You gave her to me, Lord. Why don’t you own up? Why don’t you confess? God turns to the woman and again with entreaty seeks for confession from her. He asks her, what have you done? Now the question that God directs towards the woman is a little less abstract than the question that he had directed toward Adam. You might well say that the one directed toward Adam sought a comprehensive theological assessment of exactly where Adam had placed himself. The question to Eve was direct. Just tell me what you did.

    She, in her sin, finds herself incapable of responding as she should. And as she had first beckoned Adam to follow her into her sin, now she follows Adam into his. Now, she too tells the truth, sort of. But by telling the story as she does, in fact, telling it like Adam told his, she too makes accusation. She makes accusation against the creature, the serpent, but as well against God.

    In other words, it’s not my fault. Listen, God, it’s the serpent’s fault, and won’t you own up to it? Won’t you confess it? It’s your fault, is it not, for making the serpent? Again, God, in His kindness, in His entreaty, is answered by blasphemy. And insofar as the serpent touches the deceiver, Satan himself, the woman’s cutting remark is the cruelest cut of all. One taken up by the chorus of unbelief ever since. God, you made the serpent and the evil that stands behind the serpent. Therefore, God, you are the author of sin.

    God does not interrogate the serpent. His interrogation of the one who stands behind the serpent has already transpired other places. But presently the Lord perceives behind the beady eyes of that snake the shadow of a triumphant smirk. So here God stands in the garden before his creatures, rejected by them. rejected by man, and not only that, subjected to blasphemous ridicule as accusation is thrown in his face despite his pastoral approach. The bottom line of it, in keeping with the theme of this section in scripture, is this.

    The fellowship enjoyed by our first parents with God is now something about which they could care less. Now I ask you, why doesn’t God simply obliterate them there? Why doesn’t he just wipe them off the face of the earth? Will you not admit, as you look at this text, as we’ve endeavored to open it up tonight, there is absolutely nothing in the responses of Adam and Eve even vaguely suggestive of any good in them whatsoever?

    Sin, in its enormity, in its pervasiveness, has driven all virtue from them so that in their arrogance and pride, they literally spit in the face of God. Sin, it seems, has abounded. in a perfect sense in a complete sense we are staring into the face of perfect human evil as we look at this account but staring directly into the face of perfect human evil, the question that has to be on our mind is, why does God not obliterate them? For where sin abounded, given in its perfect human expression, Grace did much more about it. Can it be made any clearer to us?

    There is nothing good in them. Sin has ravaged them. There is no reason seemingly within them. to constrain God’s action now, to save them, to show mercy, to show kindness, to display His grace. But God in them is purposing to multiply the praise of the glory of His grace.

    We, then, who see the enormity of the sin, and own the enormity of the sin, not walking away from it, not saying, it was someone else’s sin, it was Adam’s sin, it was Eve’s sin. No, it is our sin. We’re bound to them. We, acknowledging that and seeing the perfection of human evil, even within ourselves, now are constrained all the more to enter into the multiplication of that praise of the glory of God’s grace.

    There is no other reason but that grace for God’s action. None. Enduring such abuse, being rejected out of hand by His creatures, in fact, being held in contempt and even being hated by them. There is no explanation for his action short of his grace and the intention that in the end the praise for the glory of his grace would abound. God saves those who are unworthy, who in no sense can merit his consideration, because of the great love with which he has loved them, even from eternity in the beloved.

    Let us pray. O Lord, we then would be melted, seeing, Lord, your Spirit’s work in us. But what our first parents could not acknowledge, we by your grace have acknowledged. And in the acknowledgement, we have joined in the praise of your grace. For Lord is inexplicable, beyond our comprehension. Truly, you have extended towards us love that we do not merit, nor can merit. Father, we also glory in the one who is set forth finally to bear our sins, knowing that he too, in keeping with what transpired in the garden, was rejected of men. He too was subjected to blasphemous ridicule. that again your pastoral intent might be perfected and your grace appear all the more glorious. We thank you for him and rejoice in this grace.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Eschatology of Judgment

    The Eschatology of Judgment

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 27, 1992.

    About this sermon

    God’s conspicuous absence during Adam and Eve’s actual sin gives way to his reappearing in Genesis 3:8. That reappearance carries a real eschatology of judgment, one Christ finally answers by defeating Satan outright.

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    Sermon transcript

    For those who are reading from Genesis 3, beginning with verse 8. Listen to the word of God. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the spirit of the day. and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you?

    And he said, I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field.

    On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. To the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband. and he shall rule over you. 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 shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

    Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now, lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him out of 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 flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way of the tree of life.

    Help us, our Father, in our understanding of things. May we consider how far man has fallen, and yet, Lord, how far you would raise man, that out of your love and grace. And Lord, may we also consider the extent of your mercies, so as not to leave us alone. Yes, your presence with us, and also the presence of others of like precious faith in communion and fellowship with us too. We thank you, our God, that in this fellowship we might learn the lessons in which, then, Lord, we would become more and more like you. For you have not forgotten us, neither will we forget one another. We pray that your word would have its perfect fruit in us, that we might then, Lord, show ourselves sons and daughters of the King. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen. We have said that the section that presents us with the fall is an extensive section indeed.

    It runs from the fourth verse of that second chapter in Genesis clear to the end of the fourth chapter of Genesis. So Genesis 2 verse 4 through Genesis 4 verse 26. We have also stressed again and again that the theme of this section is not specifically the fall, but the consequence of the fall. Placed in that light, then, the emphasis falls upon fellowship and the communion that was experienced by our first parents with God, the forfeiture that then came with respect to as our first parents fell.

    Now we are looking at the fall itself in chapter three. We have considered the transgression, the sin in the first seven verses, and now we look at the consequent judgment of God, a judgment which also brings in its trail the grace of our Lord. verses 8 through 24 is that section to which we now turn our attention. This evening we are focusing upon verse 8. Verse 8, in a sense, reintroduces us to the person of God.

    It reminds us of the state of things that were, in effect, prior to the fall and now sets before us well the consequences that are borne out as a result of the transgression of our first parents. God now comes back onto the scene. He had been present, of course, all along. the matter of God’s omnipresence. We have commented on that before. He is present even as our parents, our first parents, transgress, even as they consider sin and fall into it. But even though he is present, as he is always present, yet he is not seen. So now God approaches, he approaches the earth, he approaches the garden, he approaches our first parents in that medium in which he had approached them previously.

    For there had been previous comings and goings of God in a special sense. We have then this fact, God always present, but yet approaching and being present in a specific sense. It is this arrangement that especially tests man with regard to his faithfulness. One might think that it would be quite difficult for man and his wife to transgress against God’s command when God himself is standing there, apparent, clearly. No question about it. There he is. But God recedes. He recedes into invisibility. He goes, he departs, he leaves. And so he is not apparently there. He is not visibly present for our first parents.

    So this arrangement tests the faithfulness of our first parents. How will they behave? How will they respond when God isn’t apparently present, isn’t visibly there? The nature of the test continues, does it not, even though we are not in the garden? God is, to be sure, present. He is present though invisible. He is omnipresent. He is everywhere present, yet we do not see him. The question is, how do we act? How do we conduct ourselves even though we do not see him now?

    But this arrangement also focuses the hope of our first parents. Yes, our first parents had a hope. They looked forward to something. Surely, as God departed, our first parents would look forward to his return, when he would be once more visibly with them. when their fellowship would take on that special feature and character of his presence with them. It focuses then, this arrangement, their hope so that they would anticipate a time in which that fellowship and communion with God would be constant, perpetual, without interruption. We are impressed, then, in this arrangement of things. With respect to these periodic visits by God, we are impressed with the fact that God, in coming to our first parents and in receding from them, was visible to them in some way or other.

    The whole arrangement demands an appearance by God. Somehow, he makes himself known to them. He comes to them in some visible manner and impresses himself upon them. These then visible manifestations of God and anticipation of God’s visitation in His Son, when He would be then upon the earth in the form of human flesh.

    You might well ask if these appearances to our first parents were not a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Son of God Himself. The arrangement, then, that is brought in view by that eighth verse of the third chapter in Genesis, an arrangement that tests man’s faithfulness, an arrangement that focuses his hope, an arrangement that sets before man the truth concerning God’s own revelation of Himself, that God will condescend to man’s need, he will appear to man, make himself visible in some form or other, because the ultimate hope with regard to man is that man would not merely simply be with God perpetually, but that he would actually see God.

    It’s the hope that is expressed by Job, you may recall. In the nineteenth chapter of Job, Job speaks of that hope, realizing his own frailty, the fact that he is confronted with the threat of death, yet even beyond the dissolution of his body, he has the hope of the resurrection and the confidence that he in his flesh will see God. The psalmist expresses the same confidence. Psalm 17, where his hope, having been dragged through the threat of death, is expressed in terms of viewing the face of God in righteousness. This promise is repeated by Jesus Christ in the Beatitudes. He speaks about the pure in heart, who are told that they shall see God. The hope you see then is not merely to be with God, but to see Him. and the frequent occasional visits by God in the garden were to the end of preparing man for that eventual glorious end.

    Verse 8, while reflective of the condition that existed prior to the fall, also brings us face to face with the conditions that now exist as a result of the fall. What is the manner of God’s coming now? There was no threat of judgment prior to the fall as God came. It is only that open-hearted, that open-faced communion and fellowship between God and his creatures is love. That now God approaches the fall being a fact.

    There have been two approaches or interpretations with respect to God’s coming in verse 8. The traditional one is that God’s coming in verse 8 was quite casual and ordinary, as if he was still in the dark with respect to what had transpired, coming in fact to be surprised as to what had taken place. God’s approach then, possibly, was with regard to a schedule prearranged. God’s visits previously being regular, and God now just making one of his regular visits, checking in on his creatures, checking in on Adam and Eve.

    Ordinarily he would come, announce his presence by speaking his word, in fact, going before him. The mention of his voice, then, is not out of place in verse 8. The sound of his coming, calling out to his creature, announcing his approach so that his creature would meet him. as he himself came to meet his creature. His presence indicated by the wrestling of the leaves in the trees, his presence indicated by a breeze, by a wind in the cool of the day. everything usual and ordinary, except on this visit by God, according to the prearranged regular schedule, God himself is surprised to find that man isn’t there. He is not responding to his call. Therefore, he calls even more insistently, demanding that man reveal himself. to him.

    That’s the ordinary approach to the passage, the traditional approach to the passage. However, there is another interpretation that God’s approach here is anything but ordinary, that it is prompted by the transgression, the fall itself. On this interpretation, the voice of the Lord, as the King James has it, the voice of the Lord, God, is anything but an innocent call of inquiry. Rather, it is much more the trumpet blast that precedes God as he approaches in judgment a trumpet blast comparable to that which was heard at Sinai when God descended upon that mountain in his theophonic glory. It’s more like the sound of God on the march, as if he has an entire army of angels in train. as if in battle array, the sound of him heard as he moves through the tops of the trees, making his approach upon his sinful fallen creature.

    If this is the proper approach to this text, then we must do a little bit of work. on that phrase that is interpreted traditionally, the cool of the day. We must re-examine that statement. Here also there will be testimony to the fact that God’s approach is anything but ordinary. You might have noted that as I have read that text, I have not read it in keeping with the traditional reading. I have not read it in the cool of the day. I have read it, rather, in the spirit of the day.

    That’s what the Hebrew says, the Hebrew word for spirit there, the spirit of the day. If this is the correct rendering, which I believe it is, it means that The spirit spoken of here becomes a reference to the manner in which God appears, carrying through the idea that was already articulated or the reality that was already spoken of in the first chapter of Genesis, the second verse, where we are told about the spirit of God moving upon the face of the water.

    Spirit then comes in a manner appropriate to the appearance of God. God’s appearance then conditioned itself by what has transpired, namely the fall and the reality of transgression now in the world. spirit of the day then brings into view that day, that specific day, the day of judgment passes before our eyes. So the picture is not of God, sort of innocently wandering into the garden in search of man, Man then hiding from God, and God searching him out. The picture is one of God’s deliberate approach in the spirit of the day of judgment.

    The sound then heard by Adam and Eve was awesome. We can even go further, that the sound has been sometimes described as that of the beating of wings. But the wings are not those of geese. The wings are those of the seraphim and God’s angelic hosts as they approach. The sound, therefore, heard by Adam and Eve is one that is awesome, one that terrifies them.

    They are in retreat before the sound of God’s approach. They flee, they conceal themselves, because they are terrified at the sound which they This means further that God’s question in verse 9, where he says to Adam, where are you, is not a request for information about some point of geography.

    It is a rhetorical question intended to force Adam to consider his position spiritually, in light of the fact that the day of the Lord has come. Adam then, by his sin, has fallen into the hands of the Lord in the spirit of the Day of Judgment. But as we look through the remainder of this chapter, it will become apparent to us how remarkable that day is, and how here, at the very foundation of human history, there is raised up a testimony that there are always two dimensions that one must consider as one looks at God’s coming day.

    Yes, on the one hand, the unmistakable testimony with regard to judgment, the fact that sin is so utterly serious and payment will be extracted, that justice, justice will be rendered. God himself will be vindicated. His wrath will be satisfied. But on the other hand, there is the marvelous, inexplicable testimony to his continuing, abiding grace.

    And what further testimony do we need as to the character of grace? Is it not completely unmerited? Can anyone say, looking at the fall, that there is anything in our first parents that merits God’s response in love, grace, and mercy? There is absolutely nothing in them that would merit any such thing.

    It is this testimony of grace and to it that flies directly in the face of Satan. It is not immediately apparent that Satan’s design, of course, is to destroy the world that God made and to destroy God’s creature, man. Yet God courts Satan. Satan’s design to bring the world down, to bring man down with him, that the world and man then might be permanently, thoroughly, completely lost and irretrievable. They consigned with him in the abyss. Satan’s plans, proving yet again that Satan fails to understand God truly and really.

    God then, coming here in this prototypical day of the Lord, is telegraphing the outcome of the final day of the war, when in fact justice will be rendered, judgment will be extracted, but there will be the monument to God’s grace in Jesus Christ, through whom that lost fellowship is restored, by whom all God’s chosen ones saved by grace will see God.

    Our Father, who art warned, are we not even from the garden, with respect to the day, the day of the Lord. We would not trifle with these things, and we would not presume upon you to think that we can escape your judgment. But Father, in faith, such faith as you have given to us, we will persevere in the certainty that your grace triumphs, triumphs in the case of your people. And we will glory in you because we know that your love to us is unmerited, it is undeserved. And we ourselves, Lord, will become trophies of your mercy and a testimony to the failure of Satan and his designs. as we are brought into your kingdom finally and fully, to enjoy that completed fellowship with you, and to delight as those who dwell before our God, privileged to see his face. Lord, we thank you.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Clothed with Christ

    Clothed with Christ

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 20, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Adam and Eve saw clearly in the garden, but their creatureliness reminded them of their limits, and the trees pointed beyond the garden to fuller life with God. Had they obeyed, God would have clothed them with that life. Instead their eyes opened to their nakedness and shame, and they would not confess. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul longs to put on his dwelling from heaven, so that life may swallow up what is mortal. God has given the Spirit as a pledge: in Christ believers will never stand naked again.

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    Sermon transcript

    Let’s return, first of all, this evening to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and we are beginning with verse 16 of the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians. This is what the Apostle says, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we do not lose heart that though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

    For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed, in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

    Now, he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.” Therefore, being always of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight, we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

    Father, we ask for that profit from your word which you have designed, and Lord, may that profit in us also have its propriety in your church, that as we are formed, so also your church. We are asking, Lord, there may be strength in us, but strength in your assembly which you have called. your own. To that end, Lord, may proper authority appear in us as well as proper service, but Lord, may it also appear in your church here in this congregation and throughout the world. Yes, that authority joined to office and also service, that too joined to office.

    And Father, we ask that we might be conscious of your word and its relationship to office as well, that all things might be done as you have designed, that we might be a church in which we are governed according to the pattern that is found in your word, all things done decently and in order. We ask it in Jesus’ name.

    Amen. Then the eyes of both of them were opened.” Genesis 3 verse 7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened. You may have a question at that point. Were not the eyes of both of them open before? Had not their eyes been open all along, after all they were created in righteousness, holiness, knowledge of the truth? After all, were not our first parents open-eyed as they surveyed everything around them? Did they not have clear vision?

    As they looked upon the creation and all of its wonders, Had they not marveled at and delighted in the beauties they beheld in the garden? They also considered each other, did they not? Even in their state of nakedness, seeing nothing in the other that necessitated the cloaking of feelings on their part. Nothing that caused fear, nothing that caused suspicion or doubt, much less shame or guilt. Were not our first parents open-eyed in their created state of innocence? Were they not open-eyed when they saw God?

    They saw Him, you know, for He did appear to them. He came to them, albeit clothed in a special glory which He had donned for that revelation of Himself to them. for those occasions of fellowship with them face to face. They saw all. They saw everything in light of that sweet fellowship that belonged to them with their so that even when the Lord was not visibly present to them, they lived as if seeing him.

    So then our first parents did have their eyes open, did they not? Our first parents had their eyes open to behold the things of this world and even to behold the One who had made this world and entered it occasionally to visit them. And furthermore, their eyes were opened even in a spiritual sense, as they saw everything through eyes, as it were, that continually beheld Him, that One who dwells in the heavens.

    Our first parents, therefore, neither literally nor spiritually had any visual impairment. There was no stigmatism, there wasn’t any blindness. But having established that fact, Having established the fact that our first parents in their innocence were clear-sighted, our first parents had their eyes clear and unimpaired, that is not to say that they were seeing all that there was to see. Even though it was true that our first parents were clear-sighted, that visually they were not impaired, even while that is true, it is also true to say that they were not seeing all that there was to see.

    As a matter of fact, there was built within the very nature of their lives a testimony to this very thing. There was the testimony of their creatureliness, the testimony attached invariably to their creatureliness, which in and of itself communicated to them a sense of limitation.

    For example, Adam and Eve were not omnipresent. That is to say, they could only be in one place at a time. And therefore, given the breadth and the scope of the creation, there was always something more to see. But no further in this regard, neither were Adam or Eve omniscient.

    That is, they only knew so much. In fact, a portion of the limitation of their knowledge was because they simply could not be everywhere at once, so the problem of omnipresence in their This case is related to the problem of omniscience. You can’t be everywhere at once, so you can’t know everything.

    The limitations that are worked into their created state—the fact that they are, in fact, creatures. Their knowledge then is limited in specific ways. By their location, by their observations. Their understanding is limited by location. It is limited by experience. by the fact that they have not seen or been everywhere.

    In light of this, it is not difficult then to grasp the reason why we generally, and the scriptures specifically, relate seeing, that is, sight, with understanding, that is, knowledge and wisdom. It is not strange for us to say we see something, thereby meaning we understand it. For us to not understand is to fail to understand something that has been figuratively placed before us. That image, then, is continued throughout scriptures.

    For instance, the Pharisees are blind to their misunderstanding and rejection of Jesus. Now, of course, this pejorative sense of the thing is not found in the case of Adam and Eve in their state of innocence. Nevertheless, these two were limited even in their understanding, and while not visually impaired, they had not seen all that there was to see, nor understood all that there was to understand. Now, there were other testimonies within the natural state of Adam and Eve that would speak to them about the fact that, yes, there is a sense in which, though not visually impaired, their eyes have a limit put upon them and are, in a sense, After all, our first parents, like we ourselves, naturally opened and closed their eyes. Even in the garden, in the state of innocence, Adam and Eve blinked. And with the blink, they missed something. They had to catch it another time. And even more to the point, Adam and Eve slept. They closed their eyes for a period of time.

    They would open their eyes from their sleep, and by doing so be revived from a state of semi-consciousness, they would then look out upon their world with fresh eyes, even see their world anew. So you see, though they are not visually impaired, there is a sense in which Adam and Eve, when we consider them in their natural estate, move from a condition in which it seems their eyes are closed to one in which their eyes are opened. Genesis 2 provides a specific instance with respect to this matter of sleep. We are told specifically that God caused a sleep to overtake Adam. His eyes closed, even in his innocence, and when he awoke from that sleep, he did so, seeing his wife for the first time, and seeing her, now he looked upon his world with fresh eyes indeed. To open his eyes was to awaken to a new state of affairs, to see new things, to know and understand things more extensively and even more deeply than he had before.

    Now, these natural experiences of our first parents with respect to their sight lead us to a further consideration. These experiences which we have spoken of thus far are natural experiences, but they are pointing us in the direction of something supernatural, as if the natural were parabolic, pointing us and driving us to something further and beyond.

    Our first parents’ eyes then, though unimpaired, were in a sense closed with respect to what lay beyond the trees that stood in the garden’s midst. The trees of the knowledge of good and evil and of life. These trees are representative of a state of existence between God and man that stood beyond existence in the garden itself. Our parents first parents, even though their eyes are not impaired, they do not as yet see fully clearly that which lies beyond those trees and beyond the garden itself.

    Beyond the tree of life there is the realm of pure life, the realm of living fellowship for man and God in eternity. The tree of life speaks about that fellowship that lies beyond. There is the tree of knowledge, and that tree speaks about the God-likeness. It speaks about conformity to God, a knowledge of good and evil in which we are comparable to God. A conformity to God then spoken of in that tree which must be the root, then, that leads to the fellowship and serves as a seal to that fellowship. The way to the tree of life, then, is through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

    So it is only through conformity to God, through God-likeness, that we will be brought then finally into that ultimate and full living fellowship with Him. has set before him the promise of partaking of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil when his godlikeness has been confirmed and established through trial and probation.

    But as yet, while in the state of probation, neither the man nor the woman see those things fully that pertain to what lies beyond in glory. And it will be purely for the sake of God Himself that they must make their choice. It will not be because they see the things that lie beyond. It will be purely and simply because they see God, and because of him and for him they choose to do the right and obey.

    Had then our first parents persevered in righteousness, had they been successful in the probation and the trial, their eyes would have been opened to the glories of the eternal state of which those three spoke. And they would see that in that state they would be clothed with spiritual bodies, bodies made of the Spirit, made by the Spirit, from their dwelling in heaven, as is declared in 2 Corinthians 5. Now our first parents fell. And now, yes, their eyes are open.

    Their eyes are open, and with the opening of their eyes, there comes not the testimony to the glories which lay beyond the trees. Rather, there comes the testimony to the dread deed of which they are guilty and its consequences. Their eyes are now opened to their guilt and the devastating seriousness of what they had done. Their nakedness, of which they formerly were ignorant, is now something they cannot avoid. It speaks to them as an exposure of their shame. To be sure, they have now a knowledge like God’s, discerning good and evil. But as those who have come to this knowledge through evil, they now stand before each other thoroughly ill at ease. and pathetically crippled internally by the unconfessed sin in them and between them.

    And their response, seeing things now as they do, their eyes having been opened, their response is to cover up. I don’t think fig leaves are going to last long. What do you think? If their condition is pathetic, their covering is even more pathetic. And of course, having had their eyes opened now in evil, they know the truth about their nakedness. They really do. Their act of covering, however, is a deliberate act to suppress that truth in unrighteousness.

    You see, in their innocence, their lack of shame with regard to their nakedness was related to the fact that they did not know they were naked. But now they do know they are naked. In what sense do they know that they are naked? They now know that they are naked, seeing as they do, even in their evil and wickedness, they now know they are naked in that they lack the goal for which they were created. Their nakedness is exposed in the fact that they now know that they lack the body for which they were destined, the body made by the Spirit that stood beyond the trees with which they would have been clothed had they been obedient to God. where eyes are open and oh, the tragedy, the sense of the tragedy. Having been ignorant of their nakedness previously, they now know they are naked, and they realize that they are naked in the ultimate sense.

    That is, they no longer have access to the bodies for which they were destined by root of obedience. They no longer have access to the clothing for which they were originally created. And in keeping, now complicating things, compounding the evil, magnifying the significance and seriousness of the fall, amplifying the wickedness of their natures They persist in an unrepentant attitude. They will not go to God. They will not confess. They will not acknowledge. They refuse.

    Will you consider the enormity of this thing, and will it not strike a responsive chord in you? Every time you find yourself in resolute sin, and you determine within yourself you will not confess it, you’d rather die. and all the time looking into the evident testimony of Scripture and the truth of God. Seeing that which you now are denied by your wickedness, you will not come to God to confess in order to be by grace clothed with that with which God is able to clothe you. You talk about the determination of evil, the triumph of wickedness in the human heart, We are talking about something here that approaches the heart of hell itself and the soul of Satan. So in keeping with their wicked natures, even though their eyes are open and they see it, they will not repent. that they actually conjure up some sort of earthly remedy.

    Some sort of earthly fabrication. to rule on earth with fig leaves and to serve in heaven under God in the bodies that he has prepared for those who come to him. And Adam and Eve become the members of a church, and over the door of this church is inscribed the words, Salvation by works. I will save myself. For whatever salvation is worth talking about, in my estimation, in my eyes. Well then, my eyes were opened. But really, through willfulness and refusal to repent, they make themselves blind.

    And we who have been blind, sons and daughters of them both, have now by grace had our eyes opened. that we might love that which lies beyond the trees, love that covering that shall resolve our nakedness, that for which we were destined originally and procured for us in the resurrection body of Jesus Christ our Savior. all to be clothed with him, that we be not found naked. Let’s pray. Teach us, Lord, even through the complicated matters of the story of the fall. But Lord, even though we might not grasp it all, may we grasp this much that we were blind but now we see. We see even that, Lord, which you have intended for us, and we see it, Lord, longing for it, not rejecting it, not hating it, not even denying it, but longing for it and loving it, that we might then be clothed with that body made by the Spirit, fitted for eternal fellowship with our God, being made conformable unto Him through Christ our Savior.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Adam’s Headship and Guilt

    Adam’s Headship and Guilt

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 13, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Adam bears real responsibility for the fall, with his headship over humanity defining our very covenant with God. Adam is guilty of Eve’s sin as much as his own, a selfishness thrown into relief by the utter selflessness of Christ’s sacrifice.

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    Sermon transcript

    Let us hear the word of God. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s offense. who is a type of him who was to come.

    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. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.

    For on the one hand, the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one death reign through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. So then, as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous.

    The law came in that the transgression might increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Then, turning back to Genesis chapter 3, this is Genesis chapter 3. We are reading from verse 6 through verse 12.

    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. and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

    And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the spirit of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called to the man and said to him, And he said, I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree at which I commanded you not to eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.

    Let’s pray together. Our Father, we pray for that spirit that is found in your Son and also evidences itself in your servants who are set before us positively in your word, those who are able to make your cause, your your righteousness, your justice, their own.

    Our God, we ask for your mercies that we might in fact stand as those who have seen beyond ourselves to the greatness of our God and the excellency of Jesus Christ. So build your church and her ministry. And so build, Lord, congregations where the other is on the mind of the people. O Father, encourage us so that we would exhaust ourselves in our service, so that we would give ourselves to the doing of good. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, and Lord ask you for your blessing as we look into your word for our benefit.

    Amen. We have some unfinished business yet with the story of the fall. We have dealt fairly extensively with the question of the order of things, as that order appears in the opening chapters of Genesis and specifically in this third chapter. We have looked at that matter of order in the creation. and what it means for the woman, and especially what now has come to the woman with respect to her responsibility in the fall. Later on in the history of redemption, we do hear the Apostle Paul speaking about her responsibility along these lines.

    1 Timothy 2.14. And it was not Adam who was deceived, writes Paul, but the woman being quite deceived fell into transgression. So yes, we speak then about the woman’s responsibility in the fall, seeing that responsibility in relationship to this question of order in the creation. and the ordering of authority with respect to the family of man.

    However, we also have these other statements that come to us later in the history of redemption, again from the Apostle Paul, as he states emphatically in Romans 5 verse 12, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

    And moving on from that verse to the fifteenth verse of the fifth chapter, “…by the transgression of the one, by whom is meant, of course, Adam, the man the many died.” And further, in verse seventeen of that same chapter, “…by the transgression of the one again, The one in view is Adam, the man. Death reigned through the one, that is, through Adam. And again, in verse 19, through the one man’s disobedience, no question as to who that is, through the one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners. to another place in Paul’s writings, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 21, where Paul says, by a man, no question as to who that is, by a man came death. Verse 22, following on from that point, in Adam, here he is specifically named, in Adam all die.

    So it is clear, is it not, regardless of the woman, regardless of her role in the fall, regardless of the guilt that she herself must bear, the weight of the fall, if not the fall in its full implications, rests squarely upon Adam’s shoulder. In the final analysis, the transgression is specifically, pointedly his. Sin, its consequences, the implications of it. Sin, its condemnation, and the consequence, death, are visited upon subsequent humanity because of Adam, not because of Eve. But isn’t this an unfair? Isn’t this where we neo-chauvinists jump in with our cries of injustice? Isn’t this plainly, blatantly unjust?

    It was the woman who sinned first. Shouldn’t she be the one to carry the burden? Shouldn’t the load, the blame, be hers and hers alone? Well, some say in light of their views of social justice that she has been made to carry the load entirely. The Bible says, however, that while there are clear consequences for her in her sin, still she remains short of that final culpability for the condition that has overtaken humanity.

    I’m surprised at this point by the attitude of some feminists. I would think, by the tone of their rhetoric, that they should be clamoring for full credit for the fall. Why should Adam get all the credit? We’ve thought about it first. But seriously, it is not a matter of what one sex or the other wants to claim or deny, it is a matter of what the Word of God says. And the word of God says that the fall at its root and its consequence lies clearly at the feet of Adam. We ask again, why is this? Why should the guilt be his? And why should it be that from him specifically that guilt flow to all humanity? The obvious answer comes to us once more by way of creation’s order.

    That order involves what we call headship. Now, you must understand something about the biblical notion of headship. It is not a particularly democratic idea. Rather, it is a covenant reality. For humanity, according to the Bible, is covenantally defined, and this means in part that humanity is viewed corporately. Humanity is viewed in terms of respective heads, respective authorities, representatives in whom the body under them finds identity. Humanity is covenantally defined. And this means in part that humanity is viewed corporately in terms of respective heads, headships, in terms of representatives in whom the bodies under them find identity.

    Now there are a number of examples of this truth in scripture. Abraham, in time, takes on covenantal dimension. He becomes a figure who is corporately defined himself, one who is identified with the body, the people who are beneath him or under him or flow forth from him. Moses also is looked upon in terms of covenantal headship. In fact, we are told by Paul and 1 Corinthians that the children of Israel were actually baptized into Moses and into the sea. There is that corporate identity for Moses, the relationship between him and the body to which he is bound.

    Covenantally, David is also defined. He has headship with regard to the kingdom. The multiple kings of Israel and Judah, for good or ill, are viewed similarly. The nations round about Israel are treated covenantally, seen in light of their corporate heads, who have responsibility and authority over them.

    Communities, and most particularly congregations, are seen as those bound up in their leaders, in their representative heads. or a microcosm of the covenantal structure and its headship principle is operative in them. This is an indisputable fact that lies clearly upon the pages of Scripture, upon the face of Revelation.

    You cannot deny it without running counter to the spirit and the intention of God’s Word. and the nature, the structure of reality itself. That’s the way things are. You might not like it, but that’s the way things are. You might rebel against it, but that’s the way things are, by God’s design. And truly, whether you’re willing to admit it or not, for our good.

    This is not to say that those who are under a particular headship are not personally responsible for their own behavior. Though Eve was under the headship of Adam, she was in fact responsible for her behavior. So also the children of Israel, though under the headship of Moses, they were responsible for their behavior. Those in the kingdom under David, yes, they are responsible also. You in the church of Jesus Christ are responsible under your heads, yes, and within your families you are responsible for your behavior. even though there is a head in your family.

    But while there is this individual responsibility under the headship principle, nevertheless, the burden for the direction and decisions of the people finally comes to rest upon the one in the divine ordering of things, who has the primacy, the office, and that position of covenantal headship.

    In the garden, Adam himself has that primacy, he has the office, he has the covenantal headship. Thus, when blame is meted out for the fall, despite the fact that he was first deceived, Adam is the one who is ultimately accountable. Now, having said that, it is necessary for us to say more. For there is more to Adam’s guilt than that which is set before us through a consideration of the formal ordering of things. You see, guilt falls upon Adam specifically and pointedly because he, as covenantal head, had the opportunity to do something about Eve’s transgression. I’ll repeat that.

    Job falls specifically and pointedly upon Adam because he, as covenantal head, had the opportunity to do something about Eve’s transgression. Did you ever wonder why the fall is not treated in the Bible as a fait accompli at the point at which Eve sinned? Why was that not the fall? There, in that act, Where was Eve’s sin not enough to cast humanity into darkness and set it under the sentence of death? Because Adam, you see, the covenant head, even though Eve had sinned, was still in a position to do something about it.

    Now what was Adam to do? Well, I’ve been collecting a few opinions. Some have suggested that indeed the fall was a fait accompli, not because Eve had sinned, but because Adam had failed to instruct his wife properly prior to the approach of the serpent. How do you buy that? There are an infinite number of problems with that suggestion. I will not begin to list them for you tonight. I will list only one.

    This obviously suggests to us that the fall occurred at a point prior to the temptation and prior to the eating of the forbidden fruit. And that is plainly contrary to the clear record of Scripture. Now, this is not to say that instruction and repentance weren’t appropriate in the situation. Surely Adam, as covenant head, should have approached Eve to instruct her with respect to her sin into which she had followed, into which she had fallen.

    And he should have led her to repentance for that sin. This he did not do. There is no evidence that he attempted to instruct her. There is no evidence that he attempted to lead her in repentance. Instead, he willingly joined her in her sin. In fact, he knew what that sin was and sought for what it was. who have offered another suggestion as to what Adam should have done. They suggest to us that Adam should have executed Eve. Now, it’s not that Eve wasn’t worthy of execution. She was. as any sinner is. But to suggest such a thing is to presume that Adam had a right, which is not evident that he had.

    We know from later texts that God himself had the right, the right only to take life. So, it seems as if this suggestion flies in the face of what we know from subsequent revelation, that Adam did not have the right to take the life of his wife. But further, this suggestion flies in the face of what we know about covenantal headship as it is exhibited by God himself.

    For in his covenantal headship over his creatures, he tenders his own life for the life of sinners. As is proved in the second Adam, what is even proved by the activity of God here in the garden subsequent to the fall. What is proved is that the first Adam, in seeing what his wife had become, in seeing what she had become by what she had done, Besides instructing her and leading her in repentance, her husband should have approached the Lord on her behalf. And in keeping with the covenantal headship that is in God himself, this first Adam should have offered his own life for her out of his great love for her and his great love for the God that he loved. In this covenantal bond between Adam and Eve, We have a picture of the bond that exists between the covenantal head and that body that belongs to the covenantal head. In fact, we have a picture of the relationship that is existent between God and his people, later on explicated in the relationship between Christ and the church.

    Adam should have given his life for her or for those bound to him, those under his covenantal headship. So then we see that Adam’s guilt is not simply because he is the covenantal head, And in the ordering of things, he has failed to act in keeping with the structure that God has designed, but rather because he has failed to act for the salvation of his wife.

    And in failing to do so, he is guilty of a self-conscious rejection of the one who is head over him. His action is nothing but the supreme act of self-interest, selfishness, and self-glorification. In the light of the obedience of our covenantal head, Jesus Christ, We are enabled to see the monumental character of the offense. We are able to see the dimensions of the transgression of Adam, who rightly bears the weight of the fault. We do rejoice, do we not, that our covenantal head, the Lord Jesus Christ, has fully compensated for the failure of that original covenantal head.

    Let us pray. Our Father, if there is then to be expression of covenantal headship within the Church today, may it be like unto what we find in Christ Jesus. May we glory in his obedience and in his life-giving sacrifice. May we have in him the source of strength and a source truly of obedience with respect to all of your demands. May it please you, Lord, to continue to work in us so that the very life of our Savior is seen in us more and more clearly. This we ask in faith.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Past the Law to the Love of God

    Past the Law to the Love of God

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Love of the Father” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 30, 1992.

    About this sermon

    The series closes on the strangeness of God commanding what amounts to a pagan ritual, child sacrifice. The story pushes us past the law to the truth beneath it. Our bond with God rests finally on his love, more deeply than on his commands.

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    Sermon transcript

    Listen to the word of God. And it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of.

    Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son. He laid the wood for the burnt offering on the ass, and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Stay here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together.

    And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

    So they went, both of them, together. And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, and he laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

    And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And He said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

    Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven the second time and said, “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.” So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

    Let us pray together. How gracious you are, O God, in giving us life and all things. Even now we breathe because we are given breath by you. Lord, we know that as you give, you also take away. But in every circumstance, may we be trained to say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” O God, give us hearts that are obedient, willing, and submissive. And Lord, even these things, so that we may have glorious fellowship with You. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    We found it necessary to spend some time reflecting on, meditating upon, and thinking about this story—the extraordinary story about Abraham and Isaac in Genesis chapter 22. We now come to our fourth and final message on this very remarkable story. This story is remarkable because it fascinates us and also startles us. It is the startling character of this story that we have been focusing upon, and this morning our attention will particularly fall upon that aspect of the text that deals with what we might call, for convenience, the moral line, the ethical line. I will be perfectly honest with you. Søren Kierkegaard wrote a book called Fear and Trembling when he was dealing with this particular passage. I must admit to you that I stand before you this morning as one who is in fear and trembling. This entire matter truly causes us to shake and tremble.

    We are confronted with something that seems almost inexplicable, something that appears to introduce confusion and even contradiction. This contradiction seems to work back into the nature of God, creating a tension between what God says and does at one point and what He says and does at another. To put it plainly, Genesis 22 startles us and startles us severely, because God here commands what He elsewhere forbids. I will say it again: Genesis 22 startles us severely, because God here commands what He elsewhere forbids.

    Now, you all know about God’s prohibition. You know that later in the history of redemption, God will make specific His command regarding the sacrifice of children. This act will then be portrayed as something completely contrary to the worship of God. Consider the Israelites who read this story about Abraham and Isaac. They have also heard Moses and the Law, they have heard Leviticus, they have heard Deuteronomy, and specifically those passages that prescribe that the Israelites are not to follow the practices of the nations, including the sacrifice of children in the name of their gods.

    And it is more than just the fact that we are dealing here with a prohibition from the Lord. You will recall how that prohibition is framed. The Israelites were forbidden this particular action, not because it was comparable to minor sins that might be considered by the children of Israel as they entered the land of promise. Not at all.

    We are dealing here with the sin of greatest magnitude. The sacrifice of a child is described by God later as an abomination, a most serious sin. This word, abomination, is reserved for the most heinous offenses—those that clearly defy God and His created order. Sins such as gross idolatry and homosexuality.

    How can God command something that he later forbids, and forbid it with such strong language? We have already addressed the redemptive historical patterns found in this text, and how clearly it is laid out here in Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac what we will eventually see in the sacrifice of God the Father in the offering up of his own beloved Son. Those matters and considerations we have already discussed. Now we are focusing particularly on this ethical question. How can God command here what he later forbids and abominates? May I suggest to you that the answer to this question will draw us into the most profound level of this story, as we ourselves are involved in it, and will draw us into the deepest matters of the relationship that exists between God and Abraham. Insofar as we are the children of Abraham by faith and in faith, we are called to be like him. The answer to this question will likewise draw us into the interior of the relationship that is to exist between God and his people. So then, with so much at stake, what is the answer to our question? How can God command what he will later forbid and abominate? Some have suggested that the reason God does this is to illustrate his own freedom, his absolute freedom, and to demonstrate his absolute authority.

    Such a demonstration would then have the effect of drawing from Abraham a sense of his own dependence upon God and the necessity of his submission to all of God’s commands wherever they might be. It is specifically the arbitrary nature of the command in Genesis 22 that enhances the test to which God subjects Abraham and likewise brings to the surface the greatness of Abraham in that he so unreservedly complies. The command stands so contrary to what we would expect, certainly so contrary to what any later-day Israelite would expect, that Abraham’s quick obedience is a marvel. And such obedience is intelligible only if Abraham has grasped God’s right to demand of his creature whatever he will, and if Abraham has placed himself thoroughly beneath God’s authority.

    That is the approach of some to the text. And it goes without saying that this approach has much to commend it. The text even confirms this interpretation in some ways. When the angel says to Abraham, staying his hand in verse 12, “Now I know that you fear God.” That fear, that reverence of God by Abraham, is the evidence that he understands God’s prerogatives and his own place, and he has accepted it all in unqualified faith.

    We Calvinists quickly resonate to this explanation of the test for obvious reasons. We love the themes of divine sovereignty and God’s rights. We resonate to messages with respect to God’s law and the right that he has to impose his just and righteous sentences where and when he pleases. We do not recoil, as other believers do, from the biblical assertions of God’s definitive power as expressed in his control of the world and his rights over all of his creatures. And so it is, we have concluded, that God commanded Abraham to do what he later forbids in order to set before his people an outstanding example of his own authority and the sort of submission that pleases him.

    But having said that, now having come to this point, have we said all that there is to say? Is there more that must be spelled out, examined, and investigated? Do we yet have a fully satisfying explanation? As we have maintained throughout our study thus far, God intends this story to be utterly extraordinary, exceptional, startling, and even controversial, in order to push us beyond commonplace matters.

    I am not suggesting that God’s sovereignty and His divine rights are commonplace matters. But there is a sense in which God’s sovereignty and His divine right are everywhere asserted throughout Scripture. They come to bear upon us from every angle when we read Scripture, and that is why it is such a marvel that so many miss it. We might well ask, how can it be that a great number of Christian saints today miss that which is so clearly evident, so plainly apparent from the record of Holy Scripture? God is sovereign. Who can stay His hand? Can you resist Him once He sets His mind to do something? Is history, in fact, working itself out according to His appointed ends? Is He sovereign in the disposition of all things? What about His servants?

    Are they not then called to submissive obedience, to compliance, to humility, and to prostration before Him, acknowledging His right? Once more, God intends this story to be utterly extraordinary, startling. He means it to stop us in our tracks and to push us beyond the commonplaces of Scripture, or beyond ordinary matters, beyond the mere sovereignty of God, and beyond the mere obedience and compliance to His command.

    So much does God intend this story to push us beyond these ordinary things that He actually sets a command over against His command. He commands the unthinkable—no, He even commands what is unlawful. Now you know why I have approached this message with fear and trembling. If I have not shocked you so far, if I have not startled you thus far, you should be stunned by now. God utters a command that stands deliberately over against what He will later command. He commands the unthinkable. He commands what seems to be, appears to be, unlawful.

    Now, why in the world would God do that? Would He do this in order to impress the imprint of the law upon the consciousness of Abraham? In order to make the law appear all the more important and imperative? No. You see what God is doing. He is pushing Abraham beyond the law. By means of a commandment that pulls Abraham along in its trail.

    Because the ultimate bond that exists between God and His people will not be, cannot be, the law. It cannot be for the sake of a command that Abraham persists, as if that command were an end in itself, nor can it be for the sake of the imagined right and moral thing to do. The Abraham is kept in fellowship with God.

    No, it will not be for the sake of any such thing. It will be for the sake of God alone—Himself being the object, the goal of the test. If I give you a command that stands blatantly against, flies in the face of everything you have thought of Me, and you comply, will you then do that for My sake, and for My sake alone, because you love Me? And Abraham says, yes.

    It will not be the command or the morality of the thing that saves you in the end. It will not be those things that save your relationships, that save your marriages, that save the bond between you in families, in fellowships with one another. It will not be that which preserves you. It will be the love, the bond, the fellowship, the communion. That is what will preserve.

    When you, for the sake of another, say, “Yes, I will forsake all for your sake and love you completely,” not only will God command the unthinkable, but He will do the unthinkable. For He will sacrifice His own Son in demonstration of His commitment to the bond that He has established between Himself and His people. We are living in a world in which morality has become religion. The right is to commend itself in and of itself. The law is its own best justification. No! No! No! The law itself is unto an end. It is for the sake of something else.

    It is for the sake of the bond, the fellowship, the communion that exists between one person and another in the supreme sense between God and His people. Hear then the story of Abraham and Isaac. Listen to it in all of its startling detail, in all of its horrifying reality, so that you may stand before God with fear and trembling, willing to trade even that which appears to be moral and right for the sake of the bond that exists between you and Him.

    Let us then live as this father of the faith lived, with that as our supreme goal—this precious, sacred fellowship with our God, secured for us through the blood of Christ, the true Lamb of God, who has taken away our sin. Our God, we seek something higher. We look to that which is higher. And in doing so, our God, we understand the place of those things which You have set before Your people. We even understand the place of Your commandment, the place of Your laws, that they might prove to be those things which You have given to us to encourage us truly toward that end, that goal which is supreme. O Lord, by Your law our sin is exposed, by Your law the character of our God is made all the more plain to us. And we are pushed even beyond to the goal which the law has for itself—the fellowship that is found with our God. May we cherish and treasure that fellowship above all else, and long, Lord, for the day in which that fellowship will be complete and full in glory above.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Satan Reverses the Created Order

    Satan Reverses the Created Order

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 30, 1992.

    About this sermon

    Satan uses the serpent’s own natural strengths against Eve, deceiving her through a speaking snake while Adam is conspicuously absent. In doing so, Satan reverses God’s created order entirely, and Eve’s response amounts to a denial of God’s rule.

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    Sermon transcript

    We move into Genesis 3 this evening, certainly familiar territory. We’ll be reading a portion of this this evening, the first thirteen verses. Dear Lord God, 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? And 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, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman, You surely shall not die.

    But 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. when the eyes of both of them were opened.

    And they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the spirit of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

    And the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? And the man said, The woman whom you gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I did.” that comes to us in this day, and with that rest remind us of the eternal rest that belongs to all of your people, that is reserved for them.

    Therefore, Lord, may we receive the blessings of this day as a token from you and as an anticipation of that glorious rest above. In this, Lord, may we not then murmur against you for having set within our schedule this imposition. Instead, our God, may we be glad for the day and also for the opportunities to gather and to praise you. Forgive us, Father, for our stubbornness and our willfulness. And may it please you, our Lord, to fill us with the delights that come to us through the Sabbath, which you have granted to us as a gift of your grace in the resurrected Christ. Amen.

    Now, the opening of this third chapter of Genesis is enough to give us pause. The ominous character of the opening of this chapter as we are here face-to-face with the serpent. We have passed from the idyllic notes on which the second chapter ends, a beautiful scene everything peace and harmony, the man now blessed in marriage to his wife, they living harmoniously, happily. Now we move on into the third chapter and we are introduced here to the serpent, and as we are, the flags go up.

    Serpents have gotten a bad rap, for we come to this passage with a bit of baggage, do we not? We don’t like snakes. Snakes have bad reputations. We even look at snakes in light of this passage. So we import a lot of things into this text before it’s really appropriate to do so.

    After all, the serpent is a creature of God. The serpent is a creature that has been named by Adam. And he has been named in keeping with the very thing with which he is identified, by which he is identified, in that opening verse of the third chapter. He is described as subtle. We need to remember that the snake, the serpent, is not evil in itself. Neither is there evil to be ascribed to the description of the serpent here, as if its subtlety were an evil. The sense of the word there in the first verse is that the serpent was shrewd. This in keeping, then, with its nature and it so described by Adam when he named the serpent. His name then corresponding to the qualities that are observed in the creature. These qualities judged to be admirable, if you will. The subtlety in view is an admirable quality. The shrewdness in view is an admirable quality. It has in view a quiet confidence and an ingenuity.

    You might recall that Jesus himself has a few good things to say about snakes. wise as a serpent,” he says, as harmless as a dove, reflecting most likely on the opening of Genesis 3. And he speaks that way of serpents in Matthew 10 verse 16, if you wanted to know the specific verse.

    But it is precisely the strength, the admirable quality that is observed in the creature, even the exceptional distinctive, that then becomes the opportunity for evil. Isn’t that always the way it is? It is precisely at the point of strength, where that strength is perceived, that there comes an attack. Because you see, there is always the liability to turn that strength into a weakness. In our case, in the case of human beings, our strength is becoming the opportunity because of our vanity.

    So we have the strength and the exceptional qualities, the distinctives of the serpent. These then making the serpent the fitting choice of that one who would take those strengths and distinctives and use them as the vehicles for his own twisted ends.

    The subtlety of the serpent, the wisdom-like character of the serpent, the shrewdness of the serpent, become the occasion for Satan’s sinister scheme. So it is. Truly Satan standing behind the serpents, using the snake as cover as he speaks through it. We have then here set before us the creature, a reptile. But now one carried beyond even the exceptional distinctives and strengths that had been observed by Adam. The cause for his naming of the serpent This serpent becomes so extraordinary as to be, as it were, supernaturalized, carried beyond its borders, its natural borders and parameters. We have a speaking snake now. And certainly as this speaking snake presents itself, we should have cause enough for the woman to be on her guard, do you not think?

    Something is obviously wrong here. Something is making no sense at all. For the garden was not populated by talking reptiles or talking animals of any kind. Not then, not now. Not in that world, not in our own. But here we have Eve, the woman, listening to a speaking snake. The fact that Eve has entered, as it were, into discussion with this creature does not bode well. She does not stand her ground. She does not focus on the utter irregularity and absurdity of that which has confronted her. She does not rebuke the servant.

    This is in fact what she should have done. She had a place by right which she should have been exercising. She had a rightful authority. There was the right use of that authority, that power that was given to her. It was her right to stand her ground against such a creature, to assert her place over this beast, this reptile, since she, with the man her husband, was to have dominion over creatures like this.

    So as Satan then makes his entrance, as he presents himself, he does so subtly, shrewdly, wickedly, and in such a way to open up the question of authority. She then, responding to the serpent in a dialogue that should have never taken place. Here is the irony. There will be many ironies to follow with respect to her husband, but here is the irony with respect to her. She had authority. She had power. She had rightful place. And she misused it.

    But we also have the added dimension of the text. From the way in which the story is written, it seems as if she is standing alone here. For we hear nothing about the man, her husband, until verse 6. There we hear that he was with her, but it seems as if he had no part as yet in the entire matter. The impression, therefore, is given that there is a deliberate aspect to the entirety of the structure of the temptation. The focus, then, being specifically upon the woman in the absence, as it were, of the man.

    It’s almost as if Satan, in his subtlety, in his shrewdness, has cleverly sought out the woman so as to have a private interview with her. And as she is isolated in this fashion, he then appeals to her and to her own self-worth. This is how clever he is. The implication of Satan’s approach is this.

    I know you can handle this question, that’s why I’ve come to you. I know you’ll have no problem with this question. That’s why I’m asking you. Now, I don’t want you to talk to your husband about it. We’re speaking as friends here, you and me together. Let’s focus on it together and come to an answer. The implication of Satan’s shrewdness, his subtlety, is that he will isolate the woman and he will appeal to her own self-worth. You know the score, don’t you? Why bother at all? Again, the irony crops up.

    Of course, she, having that rightful authority given to her by God, should have been able to handle the situation by rebuking the serpent. For is that truth? to which, then, the serpent is appealing. There is worth in this woman. There is grand and glorious worth assigned her by God. There is a self-worth which she has, which she is expected, then, to demonstrate in her actions and in her words.

    She should be able to handle the situation by rebuking the serpent, but instead now the serpent is able to inject into the proceedings an appeal to Eve’s independence and autonomy. Self-worth as it is defined for us scripturally, biblically, is always that sober assessment of one’s self in light of God, in light of his person and his will. But that self-worth turns to vanity when one declares independence from God in order that he might be established or she might be established in their own right. Satan then attacks at the point of Eve’s self-worth and moves her. ever so subtly in the direction of vanity and to a declaration of independence, not from her husband, but from God.

    She should have rebuked the servant. She should have put the serpent in its place, literally. She should have affirmed her role within the creation. She should have utilized her power, her God-given power, her authority. She should have affirmed her role with respect to the created order. even her relationship to her husband, and most particularly with respect to her relationship to God. Even if she perceived her own weakness coming to the fore, she could have appealed still to God. She could have appealed even to Adam, and hopefully he would have appealed to God on her behalf or with her. in a common appeal.

    Thus there would have been an affirmation, a confirmation of the creation order which cannot be countermanded. I cannot emphasize this enough. Cannot be countermanded without the greatest price to pay. Do we wish to dispense with Genesis 1 through 3? Do we wish to rewrite it?

    Even those who are telling us that we are to see and hear matters of symbolical power, influence and significance. What is the nature of those symbols that are here? What is the significance, for instance, with respect to the order of creation? Even if it is symbolical, what is the significance of the order of the symbols? You have God first, you have the man second, you have the woman third, and you have the animal kingdom, then at the lowest point in order of the authority and its arrangements.

    You will notice then the nature of Satan’s attempt. and the success that he has in turning that order completely on its head. Here he is, shadowed within a creature, a reptile, appealing to the woman who will go to her husband and then they will be confronted with God. The whole thing has been turned on its head. It was supposed to be the reverse. And in actual fact, of course, by turning it on its head, we are not just now taking suggestions from speaking snakes, we have placed ourselves under the dominion of a fallen angel.

    If you notice the grand subtlety from Oh no, there’s no self-interest in this, please understand. I’m just a snake, I don’t want to rule the world. I’m looking out for your best interests. What’s a snake going to do ruling the world? Obviously, ruling the world is meant for you.

    In fact, Eve, you belong on top. There is certainly not going to be God that’s on top. Eve, you belong on top. So now Satan has gained his audience with Eve, and this spells disaster. For Eve is no match for Satan. Neither is Adam, and neither are you.

    Satan recognizes absolutely, perfectly the advantage that he has gained, and he presses home. He now attacks God directly. He attacks God’s truthfulness. He interjects the question, as God said, And with his question, he interjects the note of unreasonableness, arbitrariness to the command. And if God has placed parameters now on Eve’s enjoyment of the garden, he is also injecting the note of injustice.

    Now it’s well for us to understand all of this, for in fact there is a degree of arbitrariness to God’s command. There is even a degree of unreasonableness to it. For all these trees out here, we’re allowed to eat from them, but we’ve got this one tree here that seems utterly unreasonable that we shouldn’t be able to partake of it. It isn’t the sensibleness of the command, you see, that is really before us.

    It is the bond that exists between God and his creature, man and woman, that is being tested, even through this which seems to be arbitrary and even unreasonable. But while there is a degree of unreasonableness and arbitrariness to the command, it can never be said that the command is unjust.

    Eve’s response is interesting. She seems utterly confident in this dialogue with the snake. She responds by way of an exaggerated interpretation, an expansion upon the command of God. It’s been pointed out to you many, many times. You shall not eat from it or touch it. That’s not found in the original text. You might note back in chapter two, that’s the interpolation.

    When she responds in this way, Satan knows beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is one. Although Eve seems steady on the question of God’s prohibition, she is now becoming an autonomous and independent exegete. And such a position places her at odds with the truth itself, because she is not in any sense an autonomous and independent exegete. Satan now knows that for her to maintain her position, she will have to oppose God in order to maintain her autonomy. Here she is, interpreting God’s command, but she will have to oppose God in order to maintain her position.

    The irony is about. In defending God, or God’s word, she will ultimately have to oppose God. So Satan makes his thrust. God is a liar. And on your side, Eve, God’s a liar. I agree with you. You’re the exegete. You know the truth. God is a liar. He is not only a liar, he is jealous to protect his own interests. He knows that as soon as you eat of that tree, you’re going to become the competition. And we all know that God can’t stand up to competition like you eat. Well, we see how it is all working itself out.

    The incredible complexity of the scheme, the plot, the approach of Satan. How Eve is thoroughly victimized by this being out of hell. Through this primal sin, then, in which Adam, her husband, becomes enrolled, and in which he is ultimately responsible, mankind is plunged into the dark nightmare of sin and misery. Now, to be sure, this final sin is not repeating itself in your life.

    You are bearing the brunt of it presently. It is working itself out well within you. It has. The process, however, is alive and well in all temptation. By looking at this temptation, We have something of an analog to those temptations that come to us day by day.

    Acquaint yourselves with the subtleties of Satan, the subtleties of his approach. Acquaint yourselves with his lie and his ultimate objective. It is not for your benefit, it is for your overthrow. It is not that you might have life, it’s that you might share death with him. So you move through the questioning of God, calling his word into account. You give way to the flattery that you hear, that is whispered in your ear with respect to your own self-worth, making that not something of value for you, but something over which you stumble.

    And through that appeal to your vanity, you are seduced into believing that God is your enemy and that a speaking snake is your friend. Thank God that there is one. who marvelously penetrates to the very center of Satan’s subtleties. It is not fooled a moment.

    In Jesus Christ, the full weight of this primal sin is met And in Jesus Christ, the weight of your particular sins is met, so that in him and through him you might stand against the subtleties of this field. Who is it then who comes? and in face-to-face confrontation with Satan does battle and wins.

    Who is it that is presently reigning above? Who is it that is at work in you? What power is present in you so that you might be able to stand against every temptation and wile of the devil? we gain in him victory over the primacy to which our first parents fell prey, and in him we have strength to meet those temptations that come to us day by day. that in Jesus Christ the order of things is being righted.

    The original creation order is being reaffirmed. Man is discovering himself afresh. understanding his position under God, woman is understanding herself anew and valuing again her self-worth before God and in the light of God’s created order. All of this, to be sure, manifested in, we hope you will not, the Church of Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

    Our Father, may we see the measure of the triumph of our Christ, yes, with regard to the sin to which our first parents will pray, even with respect to the temptations and trials that come to us, that we might be victors in the midst of sin. But also, Lord, with respect to the overturning of that creation order, so that in Christ there is that measure of restoration and how we marvel, Lord, and should marvel in its manifestation in the church of our Savior. And Lord, may we be concerned to see that that order shine brightly from your church, yes, as a testimony to you and our bond with you, a testimony to your great but also a testimony to a fallen sinful world that is under your judgment and wrath.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • When God Commands What He Forbids

    When God Commands What He Forbids

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Love of the Father” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 23, 1992.

    About this sermon

    How can God command Abraham to do the very thing (child sacrifice) that he elsewhere forbids? The dilemma finds its resolution in Abraham’s remarkable serenity, a faith that makes him, in that moment, more like God himself.

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    Sermon transcript

    We will be looking first at Genesis chapter twenty-two this morning and then turning to Hebrews chapter eleven. Genesis chapter twenty-two. We are reading the first fourteen verses. Let’s hear the word of God. And it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am.

    And He said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he took the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him. Then, on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went, both of them, together.

    And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

    And the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the boy, and do nothing to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide. And it is said to this day, On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.

    Then turning to Hebrews chapter 11, beginning at verse 1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report through faith. We understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he, being dead, yet speaks. By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death. He was not found, because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But 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 diligently seek him.

    Father, we glory in all of your good gifts. We glory in how you have prospered us for reasons known to you, for reasons that are part of your plan. May we, our Father, be submissive to you. As we come before you in worship, we thank you that you sustain us in difficult times as well as in good times. And may our praise be constant, even through those difficult days. But we thank you, our God, that you have given us your word, so that we might have a light for our path. Let us then, Lord, your people, receive from you your blessed word for the benefit of our souls and for your glory in Christ. Amen.

    We come to our third message on this remarkable story about Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. Actually, our fourth, if we also count the wonderful and unexpected bonus to which we were treated last week when Don Duff preached on Hebrews 11, specifically that section that dealt with Abraham’s offering of Isaac. But as far as my messages have gone, we are to number three, and thus far my point has been this: The story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac is intended to startle us.

    It is intended to stop us in our tracks. With this story, we are to pause and reflect, reflect deeply. Now, we have already established the broad and sweeping biblical and theological aspects of this story. And we have seen that these aspects in themselves are arresting in their own right. In fact, were all we were going to consider, we have reason enough to stop completely.

    With respect to these matters, we have seen the captivating, riveting beauty of Isaac’s Christlikeness, and we have also seen the marvels of Abraham’s godliness. Isaac appears in this passage as the passive, obedient sacrifice who is given over to death in the confident hope of a resurrection from the dead. And in this, we are told later in Hebrews 11, he is most definitely a type of the one who is to come.

    Abraham appears as a light to the Eternal Father, just as the Eternal Father will, in the fullness of time, willingly offer His Son for the sake of another whom He judges to be of infinite value. Thus, Father Abraham’s offering of his only begotten son, Isaac, for the sake of God, anticipates God the Father’s offering of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of all the true children of Abraham. This is so striking, so startling. We observe the parallel between the actions of Abraham and Isaac and the actions of God the Father and God the Son. We observe the mutuality and reciprocity between them. In the end, we see Abraham’s love for and faith in God measured by God’s love for and faithfulness to Abraham. Abraham, in the bond of God’s sovereignly initiated covenant, was dear to God and also became more like God Himself.

    Most specifically, in the context of this story in Genesis 22, Abraham, in his faith that God will provide, draws near to God and also becomes more like the God who, in His faithfulness, knows absolutely what He will do to provide. I present this to you once more: Abraham, in his faith that God will provide, draws near to God and also becomes more like the God who, in His faithfulness, knows absolutely what He will do to provide. You are beginning to see now the origins of the certainty of faith. You are beginning to see the origins of the certainty of faith.

    Now it is true that standing where we presently are, we are standing short of the most striking feature of this story. A feature that I intend to address, yes, I do, a feature that lies in what we call, for convenience, the ethical sphere. That feature is the fact that God here explicitly commands what He elsewhere forbids. Although this is the most striking feature of the story, it still can be said that we are at an especially critical point in our analysis, a point that demands further examination, a point that is striking in its own right. Are you not struck when it comes to this wonder of space?

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.