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Well, let me just say thank you to everybody for being here. I appreciate you coming out and I want to say thank you for the for the gifts, for the snacks and for the lay and all of that very kind of you. And of course, I want to say thank you to Pastor Thompson and Miss Sherry for putting this event on. Are you able to hear me? Okay, you guys can hear me back there. Okay. Um, and of course, Pastor Thompson, Miss Sherry, good, good friends of ours. And I thank them for inviting for putting this on and for inviting us and for inviting me out to preach. He, of course, did not have to do that. He could have very well just preach this morning, and that would have been great. But I appreciate him inviting me out. There's a few places if you invite me to preach, I'm not gonna say no to, and this is one of them. So I appreciate that invitation. And then I've just really enjoyed the soul winning this week, and it's been great for the for the few days that my wife and I have been here. I've been impressed with how receptive Hawaii is, and I think that a lot of people might have a bad idea of this place as a tourist place. But you know what? People die and go to hell here, too. And I've just been impressed with how receptive it is. And honestly, my wife and I were talking about the fact that it feels like the Philippines as far as the how receptive it is. So we've been grateful for that, and we appreciate that. And I appreciate you coming out now this morning. We started there in Genesis chapter three, and we were, of course, read the famous story of Adam and Eve and the fall of man. And what I'm gonna do this morning, I'm gonna preach a sermon entitled Paradise Lost. And that title is not something that I came up with. It's actually a title of an epic poem. Paradise Lost, let me just read this for you real quick, is an epic poem by the 17th century English poet John Milton. The first version was published in 1667. It consisted of 10 books with over 10,000 lines of verse. The poem concerns the biblical story of the fall of man, the temptation of Adam and Eve and the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. So this is a, if you ever take like an English literature class in college or high school or something like that, there's something that you would study this epic poem called Paradise Lost. And I'm not I'm not preaching this poem to you this morning. I'm just stealing the title, because it has to do with the fall of man. And what I'd like to do this morning is I'd like to preach a very doctrinal sermon to you in regards to the fall of man and how paradise was truly lost. Now, I realize when you're a guest speaker, you usually want to preach a more dynamic sermon and things like that. And I'll do my best to be to not be boring and to be dynamic. But I want to preach a very doctrinal sermon to you this morning for a couple reasons. Number one, some of you have been having too much fun in Hawaii. All right, so you need to just just open up your Bibles, we're going to look at a lot of passages and just get ready to learn to study. The other reason is because I'm preaching in a Hawaiian shirt, and I'm preaching in a lei, you know, so I feel like I should be a little nicer or something. We'll see how that goes. But I appreciate you coming out. And what I want to do is I want to I want to teach you this this doctrine of the fall of man. And I want to explain to you the story of Adam and Eve, but maybe in a way that you've never heard it before, maybe in a way that you you've never thought of before. And it's gonna be all scriptural, of course, and from the Word of God. Now, you're there in Genesis chapter three, I'd like you to look back at Genesis chapter one and look at verse 31. And I'm going to just give you some statements and kind of just build this thought and this idea. And if you look at Genesis chapter one and verse 31, the Bible says this, and God saw everything that he had made, of course, in Genesis one, you've got the story of creation. And the Bible tells us here at the end of the chapter that God looked down at everything that he had created. And notice what it's what he what he says, what the Bible says, God saw everything that he had made. And behold, notice what it says, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Now, if you understand the layout of the first few chapters of Genesis, you know that in Genesis chapter one, you've got the creation story. And in Genesis chapter three, what we read, you've got the story of the fall of man, Genesis chapter two is just an overview, or a recap of the sixth day on the creation story. And what I want you to notice is that when God created the heaven and the earth and all that in them is, he looked down on his creation. And he said that it was very good. And of course, the biblical word there for good is what you and I would call perfect. There was nothing wrong with it. Everything was how it should be. And here's what I want you to understand from the moment that God ended creation, and he looked out over his creation, and he said that everything was good. And when we are introduced to Satan as the serpent in Genesis chapter three, here's what you need to understand between Genesis 131 and between Genesis three one, you had the fall of Satan. Now we don't know how much time that was. We don't know how much time that took. We don't know, I'm looking for my phone. I don't, I didn't, I didn't bring my phone up here, which is how I keep time. Can somebody run that to me? I'm sorry, Pastor. Thank you so much. If I don't keep time of the, if I don't keep track, I'm going to preach for three hours. There will be no men's preaching night. It'll just be a man's preaching night. And let me make sure that I keep track of, of, of what I'm doing here. When we are introduced to the serpent in the garden of Eden, there has been the fall of Satan. I'd like you to keep your place there in Genesis. That's going to be our text for this morning, but go over to the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 28, and look at verse number 12. If you start towards the end of the old Testament, you've got the major prophets there, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Ezekiel 28, and look at verse number 12. Now here's, here's what you need to know. We don't know how much time took place between Genesis 1 31 and Genesis 3 1. It could have been a few days. It could have been a few years. We, we don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us, but we know this, that between the moment when God created the heaven and the earth and everything, and, and, and look, Satan was a created being. Lucifer was a created being. God looked down and he said, everything was good. But then when we get to Genesis 3 1, now everything is not good. Now you've got the serpent in his fallen state, Satan in his fallen state. You're there in Ezekiel 28. Look at verse 12. Notice what the Bible says. This is of course the prophet Ezekiel. He says this, or the Bible says this, son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and say unto him. Now the prophecy is about the king of Tyrus, but it's really about Satan. It's not just about the prince, but it's about the principality behind him. The, the, the devil, the dragon that's given him power. And the Bible says this, say unto him, and of course it's about Satan. Thus saith the Lord God. Now sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Notice what it says in verse 13, thou has been in Eden. So again, this is not the king of Tyrus. This is the serpent. We just read about him in Genesis chapter three. He says, thou has been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering, the Sardis, Topaz, the diamond, the arrow, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbon coal, the gold, the workmanship of thy tabards and thy pipes was prepared in thee. Notice he's talking to Satan. He says, you are a prepared being. The tabards and thy pipes were prepared in thee. Notice what it says, in the day that thou was created. So Satan was a created Lucifer before he fell, was a created being. And, and he was included in that statement when God said everything was good. He said everything in Genesis one, three, one, when the Bible says that he had made that were all, he said that he made it all very good. That would include Satan at this point. He says, when you were created, you were good. Look at verse 14, thou art the anointed cherub. And again, this is Satan. He's an angelic being that covereth and I have set thee. So thou was upon the holy mountain of God that was walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Notice verse 15, thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. But the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled in the midst of thee with violence. And thou has, notice what it says, thou has sinned. Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. And I will destroy thee, O covering cherub. And in the midst of the stones of fire, thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou has corrupted thy wisdom, thy reason, thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground and I will lay thee before kings that they may be hold thee. And we're not going to turn to Isaiah 14, but if you read the famous passage in Isaiah 14, of course, you read the statements from Lucifer saying, I will ascend unto heaven. He said, I will be like the most high. And he cries to be like God. And here's what I want you to notice. Satan was created and he was perfect. The Bible says till iniquity was found in thee. He says, thou has sinned. And I want you to understand this, that between the creation story and the story of the fall of man, between that, you've got the fall of Satan. At some point there, Satan lifted up his heart against God and he sinned against God. Now here's what I want you to understand. Go to Matthew chapter 25. And again, I realize that this is going to be kind of more of a theological sermon. I'm going to give you a lot of doctrinal statements. And then at the end, I'm going to make an application that'll bring it all together to our mission strip. So I want you to understand that, go to Matthew 25 and look at verse 41. This is a very interesting verse in the book of Matthew. Matthew 25 and verse 41. Of course, Matthew is the first book in the New Testament, it should be fairly easy to find. Matthew 25 and verse 41 says this. This is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. If you've got a red letter edition Bible, these words would be in red. These are words from the mouth of the Lord. The Bible says this, then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire. Now he is condemning people to hell. He's telling them, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire. Everlasting fire is a reference to hell. But notice what he says about hell. He says, prepared for the devil and his angels. It's interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. Now we don't know and the Bible doesn't tell us it would just be a guess or maybe an educated guess for us. We don't know if God created hell in the center of the earth after the creation time, after he'd already said it was very good. And then when Satan sinned, then he, like Jesus said, prepared the everlasting fire, prepared hell for the devil and his angels. Or if he already created hell in the center of the earth with creation, knowing that it would be needed for the fall of Satan and for the fall of man. But here's what I want you to understand. God did not create hell for mankind. His intention, his thoughts, his idea, his plan was never for man to be condemned to hell. But the Bible does tell us that he prepared everlasting fire, he prepared hell, and the Bible tells us it was prepared for the devil and his angels. So at creation, everything was good. At the story of the fall of man, now there is a problem. Satan shows up in the garden in a fallen state as a fallen being, as a sinful being. And the Bible tells us that at some point there, everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. When Satan sinned, God prepared hell and condemned him to it. Now, again, we don't know if God created hell at that point, or if he just took hell and he said, now you're condemned to hell. But it was prepared. The Bible is clear, Jesus is cleared for the devil and his angels. Now go to Deuteronomy chapter 32. We were in Genesis, if you go Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and I realize I'm gonna have you turn to a lot of passages, but I want you to look at these passages and study them with me. Deuteronomy 32, here's what we've learned so far. God created everything perfect. Genesis 1, Genesis 2, everything was good. At Genesis chapter 3, we now have a story where everything is still good at the beginning of Genesis 3, except for the fact that the serpent shows up in a fallen state. At that point, Satan is already condemned to hell. In fact, Jesus said that the whole reason that hell was created, it was prepared for the devil and his angels. Now, you need to understand a few things about God to understand the doctrine of the fall of man. And there are a few things that you need to understand about God, and there are a few things that Satan understood about God. Here's what Satan knew about God. He knew that God was just and truthful, and that God must stand by His Word. Now, we understand that because that's one of the reasons we have eternal security, right? In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. God must stand by His Word. God is just, God is truthful. Let's look at some verses on that. Deuteronomy 32, look at verse three. Notice what the Bible says. Because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. Verse four, He is the rock, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, by the way. His work is perfect. Notice, for all His ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He. The Bible tells us that God, that all His ways are judgment, meaning all His ways are just, meaning He is fair and equal in every way. He is a God of truth, and without iniquity, He is just and right. The Bible says just and right is He. And Satan knew this about God. Satan understood that God is a just God, He is a truthful God, and that God must stand by His Word. There's something else that God knew about, that Satan knew about God, and it's this. Go back to Genesis chapter one. Notice what the Bible says. Genesis one, look at verse 26. Of course, in Genesis one, you've got the creation story, but let's focus in on the creation of mankind. You know what Satan knew? Satan knew that God was a just and truthful God that must stand by His Word. Satan also knew that God's greatest and most valued creation was mankind. We are not animals. We are not equal to animals. The Bible says that the greatest creation that God made, and the creation He valued the most was the creation of mankind. Genesis one, verse 26, notice what the Bible says. This is when God created man. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fall of the air. That word dominion means that they should reign over, that they should roll over. They were not equal to the fish of the sea. They were not equal to the fall of the air. The Bible says that we were created in the image of God. He said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fall of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Verse 27, so God created man in His own image in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them. See, the Bible says that mankind was created in the image of God, and it was created as the greatest and most valued and most loved creation of all of creation. Satan understood this. Now you might ask, well, why is it, why is it that God created man in His image? Why is it that we were valued over, you know, the birds of the air and the fowls, the fowls of the air and the beast of the field? Well, notice you're there in Genesis, go to Genesis chapter three, look at verse eight. Here's what Satan also understood, that the reason that God created man, you've got to ask yourself, why did God, why did God create mankind? Why did God speak the earth and the heavens into existence? Why did God give us this perfect ecological system? Why did God give us the sun and the moon and the water and the air? Why did God prepare this habitat for us and then put mankind who He created in His image? Why did God place us here? I'm not talking about why we're here now, I'm saying why did God create us to begin with? And here's what Satan knew, here's what Satan understood, that mankind was God's most valued and loved creation, because God created us to live in fellowship with Him. Genesis three, look at verse eight. And they heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day. See, before Adam fell, before Eve fell, they had a sweet fellowship with God. We sing that song, I come to the garden alone, it's taken from this verse. Adam and Eve were able to walk through the garden and they were able to have fellowship with God. They were able to come into a relationship with God. They were able to walk with God. The Bible says here that they heard the voice of the Lord. Now, at this point, they had already fallen, but God is just coming down for His daily visit with mankind and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cooler day and Adam and his wife hit themselves. Of course, at this point, they're already sinners from the presence of the Lord God. And by the way, that's what all sinners do. They hide themselves from God. They'd rather not acknowledge God. They'd rather pretend there is no God. And they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden, verse nine, and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him. Notice what he says. It almost breaks your heart because you know he knows the answer. Where art thou? Where art thou? Why would God say this? Why would God do this? Here's why. Because man was created to have fellowship with God. In fact, the Bible tells us that man was created to bring pleasure to God. You're there in Genesis, keep your finger there. Go to Revelation chapter four. These are famous verses, you've heard them before, but let's look at them together. Revelation chapter four, look at verse number 11. I know it sounds like I'm maybe just giving you a lot of random thoughts, but we're going somewhere and I want you to stick with it. Revelation chapter four, look at verse 11. Revelation chapter four, we're gonna go back and forth between Genesis and Revelation, so if you can find it, keep your place there or find it quickly, that'd be great. Revelation four, verse 11 says this, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou has created all things, notice, thou has created all things that would include mankind, thou has created all things that would include the angelic beings, thou has created all things that would include the animals that live on this earth. And it's interesting because in Revelation five, we're told that every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever. You know, it's interesting that there is no creation on this earth that has any problem with giving glory to God except for those of us that are in a fallen state. He says, thou has created all things and notice, for thy pleasure they are and were created. Why were you created? Why was I created? Why did God put this whole thing into motion? Here's why, for his pleasure. And specifically, he created mankind and he had this certain creation, not like the animals, not like the beasts, not like the birds, not like the fowls, he created mankind in his image to have relationship, to have fellowship, to have pleasure with God. Go back to Genesis chapter number two. Genesis chapter two, here's what we've learned so far. When God created the heaven and the earth and all that in them is, it was all good. There was no sin, there was no problem. Everything was great. Literally, the garden of Eden was paradise. But when we get to Genesis chapter three, the story is different. Now we see the serpent in a fallen state and the Bible doesn't tell us in Genesis, but it tells us in Isaiah and it tells us in Ezekiel that some time went by and within that time, Satan sinned against God, his heart was lifted against God, he fell and when he fell, Jesus tells us that hell was prepared, everlasting fire, everlasting condemnation was prepared not for man, but for the devil and his angels. This is what Satan knew. Satan knew that he had been condemned to hell because of his sin. Satan knew that he would die because of his sin. The Bible calls hell the second death, calls the lake of fire the second death. Satan knew that he was condemned to hell and here's what Satan also knew. He knew that God was a just God, a true God, a God that must stand by his word. The God who said to Satan, and the Bible doesn't tell us this, but we know it as we look at the whole of scriptures together, the God that looked at Satan and said, you will spend eternity in hell because you are a sinner, Satan knew that God is just, he's fair, he's equal. He cannot lie. Satan also knew that God created man as his most loved and valued possession and that he created man for pleasure and for fellowship. So what does Satan do? May have you ever thought about this? Why do we have the story of Adam and Eve? Why did the devil show up in the garden as a serpent to tempt the woman? Satan tempted mankind to sin and as a result to die. Go to Genesis 2, look at verse 15. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 15, when Adam and Eve were placed in the garden, Genesis 2, 15, the Bible says the Lord God took man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Look at Genesis chapter three and verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, ye have God said, ye shall not eat of the tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest ye die. Notice that Satan's power is not in his control over man but in his ability to tempt man and in his ability to question God. Verse four, and the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. He twists God's word and that's what he's doing today. He changes God's word and that's what he's doing today. Verse five, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as God's knowing good and evil. And by the way, that is the religion of Satan. The religion of Satan has been to tell mankind what does Satan tell the evolutionist, what does Satan tell the Hindu, what does Satan tell the Buddhist, what does Satan tell the Mormon, what does Satan tell all of these false religions that you can be like God. You can evolve and be like God, thou shalt be as God. Verse six, and the woman saw that the tree was good for good and that it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree to be desired to make one wise. She took the fruit thereof, noticed, and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron. And so Satan launched his greatest attack against God. You see, I don't understand. Here's what you need to understand. Satan had fallen, had sinned, and had been condemned to hell. And Satan understood that the same God that condemned him to hell for his sin would have to stand by his work. So, he launched his greatest attack against God. He set his marks, he could not set his marks on God, so he set his marks on the thing, the people that bring the most pleasure and fellowship to God. He got Adam and Eve to sin, he tempted them to sin. The Bible says that he beguiled the woman that she was deceived. The Bible says that Eve was deceived into sinning and it tells us that Adam, it says the woman we deceived was in the transgression, but Adam was not deceived, Adam was disobedient. He chose to follow his wife into that sin. And when he did that, and when Satan accomplished that, he forced the hand of God. He forced God into the greatest catch-22 because here's what he put, he put God in a position where he basically looked at God and said, if you're gonna condemn me, you've gotta condemn them too. If you're gonna send me to hell. Then you must send your most beloved and greatest creation, those people you fellowship with, those people that bring you pleasure, and Satan put God in the greatest satanic catch-22 in history. You know what a catch-22 is, right? Here's the definition of a catch-22. It is a situation in which there is no good solution or resolution possible because the way in which the factors of the solution relate to each other. Satan was attempting to force the hand of God to condemn his beloved mankind to the same hell prepared not for man, but for the devil and his angels. By the way, this is why we have the verses for the wages of sin is death. This is why we have the verses wherefore as by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed about. All men for that all have sinned. This is why we have the verses in death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death. And whosoever is not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. Here's what I want you to say. When you read the story of Adam and Eve, it's not just a nice interesting story and a metaphor about how we got to the place we got to. When you read the story of Adam and Eve, what you are reading is the greatest launch, the greatest attack up to that point, there was another great attack by Satan that's a sermon for another day that happened at the cross. But we see Satan attempting to put God into a checkmate. If you condemn me, you condemn them too. Or God, if you love them so much, you can look the other way. But then you'll have to look the other way for me too. And by the way, that would make you not God anymore. Because God is true and God is just and God must keep his word. So how does God respond? How does God respond to the greatest catch 22 in history found in Genesis chapter three? Why don't you notice what the Bible says in Genesis three and verse 10. Genesis chapter three and verse 10, the Bible says this, and he said, I heard thy voice in the garden. Remember God shows up, those words that kind of break your heart, where art thou? Here's Adam's response, he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told thee that thou was naked? Has thou eaten of the tree? Where have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Look at verse 21, how does God respond to all this? And of course we know that he tells them you're gonna have to work the field and Eve, you're gonna have to give birth to children. We know all that, look at verse 21, unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord make coats of skin. Remember at this point, no one has actually died. In fact, the Bible says that in the day ye eat thereof ye shall surely die. Adam and Eve did not actually physically die on that day. Their spirits died, their souls died, they died spiritually and they began the process of dying physically. But now God does something in Genesis three 21 that must have horrified Adam and Eve. Something they'd never seen before. The Bible says that the Lord God made, it says that verse 21, unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. Remember they were naked and they understood that they were naked because of their sin nature and God gives them coats of skins. Now we read that and we gotta just read through that quickly, but please understand this. In order for there to be coats of skins, there had to be death. In order for there to be coats of skins, there had to be an animal that was killed, that was skinned, that was sacrificed so that there might be covered and God began to put into process a story of sacrifice. That because of your sin, Adam, because of your sin, Eve, someone else will have to die for your sin and you know the story. You wouldn't be here if you didn't understand the story. The New Testament, you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John chapter one. John chapter one and verse 28. John chapter one and verse 28 says this, these things were done in Betharba beyond Jordan where John was baptizing and the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. I've got some woman trying to interrupt my preaching so I'm gonna interrupt her singing. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. What was that? That was the sacrifice. What was that? That was God's plan from the Garden of Eden that he would take a sacrifice and he would take that sacrifice to cover the sin of mankind and that was accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ when he showed up on earth and John would look at him coming on the mountain and say, look, behold the Lamb of God. And it wasn't just that he was a lamb, notice, that he would take away the sins of the world. The Bible calls Adam, the last Adam. The Bible calls Jesus, excuse me, the last Adam. And here's what I want you to understand. Here's what I want you to get. The story of the fall of man is a story of Satan attempting to attack. It's a story of Satan attempting to attack a holy God by attacking his prized possession, by putting them into a state of condemnation because the only victory that Satan gets in hell is the victory of knowing that he bragged as many people who God loved and created with him. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. You say, how did God respond to that catch 22? Did God make an exception? No, God could make no exception. He is a holy God. Did God look the other way? No, he could not look the other way. He is a just God. Did God decide to just kind of forget about mankind and well, you know what, they're lost. Paradise has been lost and there's nothing else that can be done about it. No, God is a loving God. You know, he's just and he's holy, which requires a condemnation of sin, but he's love. He's compassionate and he could not leave us to be condemned. So what does God do? He gives the perfect surprise attack. He becomes man. He lives a sinless life. He takes on the sin of mankind and he dies in the place of the sinner. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, look at verse one. What do we get? What do we get as a result of that? 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse one. The devils are flaring up. 2 Corinthians 12 verse one. The Bible says, it is not expedient for me. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse one. It is not expedient for me. Notice what Paul said. It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago. Whether in the body, I cannot tell or whether out of the body, I cannot tell. God know it. Here, Paul literally has an outer body experience and I would say that most of these that you hear about today are obviously fakes and phonies but here's a real one in the Bible. He says, such and one, notice what he says, caught up to the third heaven. The Bible tells us, Paul tells us that he was caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God know it, verse four. How that he was, notice what it says, caught up into, notice this word, paradise. You know what the Bible calls heaven? Paradise. You know, we come to Hawaii in this beautiful place but this is not paradise. Now this is probably the closest thing to paradise that you'll find on earth but this is not paradise. This is not paradise. We live in a fallen state, even here in Hawaii. There is sin and there is death and there is the consequence of sin and there is sickness and there is disease and there are devils and demons and hell that is waging against the souls of men, even here in Hawaii. But Paul says, I was caught up to the third heaven and I was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Let me just say this, here's how you know that today's outer body experiences are fake, here's how you know because today when people have these outer body experiences when they go to heaven, they wanna come back and write a book about it. They wanna come back and have a movie about it. Paul says, hey, I was caught up to paradise and he said, I heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter. He came back and he said, I can't even talk about it. It was so good. Go to Revelation chapter two, look at verse seven. Revelation chapter two and verse seven. Notice what the Bible says. Revelation chapter two and verse number seven. The Bible says, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life. Notice what it says. The tree of life used to be in the Garden of Eden. That used to be paradise on earth. But now, the tree of life, there is no Garden of Eden and there is no paradise on earth. You're probably sitting in the island that is closest to paradise as possible but the paradise is not in heaven. The Bible says, I will give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst, notice what it says, of the paradise of God. You say, where is paradise now? It's in heaven. Where is paradise now? Well, it's coming one day, the new heaven, the new earth. Go to Revelation 21. Revelation 21, see, when Satan got Adam and Eve to sin, he literally broke the pleasure and relationship. The Bible says that our sins have separated us from God. Now, hell is not separation from God. The Bible says that the lamb is in hell. He's the one in charge of hell. But sin has separated us from God. Our sins have separated us from God. Why? Because Adam sinned, because Eve sinned and they fell for the greatest beguiling, the greatest trickery, the greatest catch 22 that Satan could think of at that time. You say, how does God respond? God responds by sending his son. To become man, to live a sinless life, to die on the cross for our sins, to take our sin. The Bible says he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You say, what's paradise? Well, look, the beach is nice. I'll give you that. The greenery here is beautiful, I'll give you that. The weather is nice, I'll give you that. You said, well, what could be any better? You know what could be better is God. Revelation 21 in verse one, the Bible says this. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, you say, what's gonna make heaven so great? Is it the pearly gates? Those will be nice. Is it the streets of gold? Those will be nice. Is it the tree of life? That'll be nice. Is it the crystal sea? That'll be nice. But what will make heaven paradise is this, that God will look at mankind and say, behold, the tabernacle of God is with man. And he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with them and be their God. See, there is a story of paradise lost, you know that there is a story of paradise regained. There is a story that paradise could be regained, not just for Adam and not just for Eve, but for all mankind. Go to Luke chapter 23, this is the last place we'll look at. Luke 23 and verse one. Luke chapter 23 and verse, I'm sorry, 41. Luke chapter 23 and verse 41. You know the story, the Lord Jesus Christ is dying on the cross. He's dying for mankind. He's dying to bring redemption. He's dying to bring forgiveness. Luke 23 verse 41. Notice what the Bible says. You've got the thief on the cross. They're mocking him. They're taking jabs at Jesus. One of them finally decides, you know, this is not right. This is not what we should be doing. Verse 41. He's talking, the thieves are talking to each other. He says, and we indeed justly, talking about the fact that they're dying. They're saying, look, we deserve to die. We are indeed dying justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man, referring to Jesus, has done nothing amiss. He is perfect. He is sinless. He did not deserve to die and he did not deserve to go to hell. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou enters into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, barely I say unto thee. Notice what he says. Today, thou shalt be with me in, notice what he says, paradise. Because the story of mankind is this, that paradise was lost. But paradise can be regained and that's why we are here. Why would we come? Why would people come from, you know, thousands of hundreds of miles away to an island where we don't know anybody here to preach the gospel? Why would some of you who live here say, we want to start a church here. We want to get a soul-waning group here. We want to start a soul-waning movement here in Hawaii. You say, why? Here's why, because it would be a shame for someone to lay in the closest thing to paradise on earth, to be born in Hawaii, to live in Hawaii, to enjoy this beautiful climate and then to die and go to hell. This isn't paradise. Paradise has been lost. But the message of salvation is that paradise can be regained for mankind. You know, you come to a mission strip to Hawaii and there's a lot of jokes. And they're funny. Oh, you're gonna really suffer for Jesus. Well, if you've seen the cockroaches, you'd know we're suffering for Jesus. You know what, people die and go to hell in Hawaii too. Souls are valuable in Hawaii too. This area is receptive and people want the gospel and people need the gospel and there's nobody preaching the gospel in Hawaii and it's needed in Hawaii too. Because paradise for all mankind has been lost. But paradise, but paradise can be regained. And we can look at dying people and preach to them the plan of salvation. And when they die, we can say to them with all confidence, like the Lord Jesus Christ said to the thief on the cross, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. So thank you. Thank you for giving your time and your energy and your effort and your vacation to preach the gospel because yes, it's true that paradise has been lost. But paradise can be regained for mankind. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you. And Lord, I realize that preaching on salvation and preaching on the fall of man and preaching about Adam and Eve is a basic, basic doctrine, a foundational doctrine for all of us that are saved. But it's good to be reminded from time to time of these basic doctrines. That we are all sinners. And our sin has condemned us to hell. And there are people lost even here in this beautiful place that need to hear the gospel and that would get saved if they heard the gospel. And Lord, help us to be faithful as we go out. And as we warn people of the truth that paradise has been lost. But as we preach to them the wonderful word of God that paradise can be regained. We love you. Thank you for sending Christ to die on the cross for our sins. That we might experience one day, true paradise. Which is not about beaches and climates. It's not about trees. It's about being able to walk and fellowship and have relationship with God. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.