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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Joy to the World"] Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns Let men their songs employ Wild fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat the sounding joy No more let sins and sorrows grow All gold invest for crown He comes to pay, his blessings flow Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found Far as, far as, the curse is found He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of his righteousness And wonders of his love And wonders of his love And wonders and wonders of his love All right, great singing. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do come before you this morning, Lord, in your house, to be a sweet smelling Saviour unto you, Lord. We offer our sacrifices of praise and worship. And, Lord, I thank you that you give us an opportunity to be amongst believers, to not only praise you, Lord, but to also hear from your Word. So, Lord, I just pray that your Holy Spirit will touch our hearts and minds, and, Lord, that you will teach us great truths from your Word. Lord, I do also pray for blessing our Baptist Church meeting right now. I pray that you bless them in a special way. Open Door Bible Church as well, Lord, down in Caboolture. And, Lord, I just pray that this Sunday will be a wonderful time of blessing to your people. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Okay, let's turn to hymn number 66. Hymn number 66 at Calvary. Hymn number 66 at Calvary. Hymn number 66 at Calvary. Hymn number 66 at Calvary. Hymn number 66 at Calvary. All right, great singing. One more hymn before the Bible reading. Let's turn to hymn number 439. 439. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God hath done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God hath done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God hath done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God hath done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God hath done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God hath done. When you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised it is well controlled. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God hath done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God hath done. So amid the conflicts where the prey holds small, do not fear this courage, God is over all. Count your many blessings angels will attend. Hope and comfort give into your journeys end. Count your many blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God hath done. Count your many blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God hath done. All right. I think we got through those songs too quickly. So does someone have a favorite? Let's do one more song. Yes, sister. Hymn number 65. Just over in the glory land. Hymn number 65. And then we'll have a ballroom. Hymn number 65. Just over in the glory land. Hymn number 65. And then we'll have a ballroom. Hymn number 65. And then we'll have a ballroom. Hymn number 65. And then we'll have a ballroom. Hymn number 65. And then we'll have a ballroom. Hymn number 65. And then we'll have a ballroom. Hymn number 65. I am on my way to those mansions there. Just over in the glory land. There to sing God's praise and His glory share. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. I'll join the happy angel band. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. There with the mighty host of sand. Just over in the glory land. What a joyful thought that my Lord I'll see. Just over in the glory land. And with kindred saved there'll forever be. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. I'll join the happy angel band. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. There with the mighty host of sand. Just over in the glory land. If the blood was wrong, will I shout and sing? Just over in the glory land. Let Hosanna soothe the Lord and King. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. I'll join the happy angel band. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. There with the mighty host of sand. Just over in the glory land. Alright, great singing. Please take your Bibles now and turn to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 3 please. Genesis chapter 3. And brother Robert's coming up for the reading. Genesis chapter 3. Thank you. Reading from the book of Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast in the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall surely not die. For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Abraham, and said unto him, Adam, sorry, and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gaveest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shalt be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also, and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shall they eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it was thou taken, for dost thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also, and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us to no good and evil, and now lest he bit forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Let us pray. Dear Lord God, we thank you for your pure word. Please be with our pastor this morning, as he expounds your holy and precious word. Amen. In Jesus' name. Alright, thank you for that brother. Before I get to the sermon, I just want to welcome our first time visitors here. Welcome. I hope it's a blessing. It's always a blessing for us to have visitors here. I hope the church is a blessing to you. Just so you're aware, just at the back there, there is a mother's baby room, if you need to use it. Please go ahead. I think it should be empty. So yeah, just make use of it, if you want to. But if your baby is making a little bit of noise, I'm not bothered, trust me. I'm not bothered at all. I don't think anybody in our church is bothered, so I don't want you to feel that way. Something else, the Baileys cannot be here, because there's a number of them that are unwell. Sister Kim as well is not feeling too well this morning, so before I just start preaching, let's just go to a word of prayer. Let's just bring the sick before the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, I just want to appreciate you, Lord, that you're the great physician, that we can come and bring our prayers and our petitions before you. Lord, there are numerous people in our church this morning that are just not feeling well. Maybe even COVID-related, Lord, so I just pray that your healing hand will be upon them. Lord, that you would comfort them in this time, and that they would see your comfort, they would see your love, Lord, in their hearts, in their lives at this time. And Lord, we do pray that you'd bring them to full health, and that we can't wait to have them in church with us again next week. So Lord, yeah, we do just bring them before you, and I thank you that you can be a God that we can bring our present petitions before you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, so these Sunday mornings we have been going through our updated statement of faith. And we are up to, you can see there from Genesis chapter 3, you can probably see what I'm going to be teaching upon today. And this is what is known in the theological realm as the fall of man. The total for the sermon this morning is the fall of man, the fall of man. Some people don't like this term, the fall of man, because it's not really a biblical term. Like you don't really find that Adam he fell, or Eve he fell, though the concept there is true. I guess the question kind of gets asked what they fall from. Okay, that's kind of the, more of the debate I suppose that operates within Christianity. But let me just quickly read to you the statement of faith, the paragraph that we're going to have in our statement of faith under the fall of man. It says we believe all men are by nature and choice sinful and lost. I think it's important that we have by nature and by choice that we're sinful and lost. That by Adam's disobedience man became a sinful creature under the righteous judgment and wrath of God. Thereby incurring not only physical death but also spiritual death and has within himself no possible means of salvation. Okay, and has within himself no possible means of salvation. That already starts to creep into the gospel message. Okay, if man has no means to save himself then we know it must be the act of God that brings salvation. Okay, but we are sinners brethren by nature and by choice. Now let's look at Genesis chapter three verse number one. Genesis chapter three verse number one it says, now the serpent, spoiler alert that's the devil. Okay, that's the devil right there. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea have God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruits of the trees of the garden. But of the fruits of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God have said ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die. Now is Eve's response to Satan here correct? Well it's partly correct. Okay, God never said anything about not touching the fruits. In fact if you just go back to Genesis chapter two, go back to Genesis chapter two for me in verse number sixteen. Let's have a look at what God did say exactly in Genesis chapter two verse number sixteen. This is after God created Adam. He says, 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. Alright, so God is telling Adam, look, out of all the trees of the garden, you can eat of all the trees, except one. Okay, the tree of knowledge of good and evil is not to eat of it. And then what does God say at the end of it? For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. He says that the very day that you eat of that fruit of that tree of good and evil, you will die. Okay, that very same day. This is what God said. He doesn't say anything about touching it or whatever. He says if you eat of it, okay, you shall surely die. Then Satan comes along in chapter number three. Did God really say that? You know, did God really say that? Now, one thing that I really love about Genesis chapter two, because, you know, I've been, again, I always say this because I want you to know my background. I've been in church my whole life, okay? And I've seen how a lot of Christians respond to, you know, the Lord, to the Lord's word, to just life in general. And there are some Christians that think the Christian life is this very restrictive life. Like, oh, man, there's all these rules, there's all these regulations, there's all these commands, and, you know, God makes it just so hard to live a Christian life. But I want you to understand that is not the right view on the Lord God. God gives us liberty. God gives us freedom, okay? What does God say to Adam? All the trees, Adam, you can eat of all the trees, except one. Does that sound like a restrictive God? Or a very liberal God? A God who allows you to make choices and decisions. A God that opens up many possibilities for you to walk through. As long as you acknowledge Him, you know, and you're not in sin, all right, then it's fine. You know, sometimes I get people call me as a pastor, pastor, can I just get your advice? I've got choice A or choice B before me, what do I do? Neither are sinful. Just choose whatever you want. They're both fine, okay? It's okay, as long as it's not sinful, okay? But there's almost this view that God has told Adam, hey, Adam, you can only eat of one tree, but all the other trees don't touch. No, God has a very different perspective. All the trees, Adam, whatever you want, except that one, okay? You see, there is freedom, there is liberty. Hey, the truth shall set us free, the Bible says. There is liberty in God's Word. But there are boundaries, there are boundaries. For Adam, that boundary was this one tree, okay? Was he going to obey the Lord, or was he going to disobey the Lord? We see in this chapter, chapter number three, that he disobeys the Lord. But even there are boundaries in our life, there are boundaries in Christianity. That is the sin, right? I mean, you know, once we're facing temptation, you know, that's a decision, hey, we are close to this boundary, do I give in to this sin or do I not give in to this sin? And of course, our calling, our desire, our walk ought to be not to give in to that sin, all right? Not to cross that boundary. But as long as you are within those boundaries, and you're not committing sin, brethren, you've got the choice, you've got the choice. And I really want you to understand that, because I never liked this view of this restrictive Christianity, this restrictive living. I'm not saying go ahead and sin all you want, I'm saying to you, don't cross those boundaries. I'm just saying, if you're not in sin, hey, choose what you want to choose, acknowledge the Lord, you know, appreciate that God gives you options, God gives you choices, right? If Adam wanted to eat a mango, he could eat a mango. If Adam wanted to eat an apple, he could eat an apple. If he wanted to eat a banana, he could eat a banana. He didn't have to go to the pastor and say, Pastor, do I choose the banana or do I choose the apple this morning? Adam, just choose, it's all good. It's all, you know, God's giving you the liberty to make that decision, right? If you eat the banana, you haven't destroyed your life, okay? You can eat the mango next time if you want, okay? If the banana, if you don't enjoy the banana, eat the mango tomorrow, all right? That's, but you know, brethren, this is really the life that God has given us. It's a life of freedom. Of course, the unsaved world, an ungodly world, they look at Christianity as full of rules and restrictions because they want to go ahead and sin without any consequences. They want to go ahead and sin without the guilt, okay? And they feel that Christianity is preventing them from living the lifestyle or the guilt-free lifestyle that they choose, okay? Well, that's something totally different. Within Christianity, within the walk that God has given us, there are so many choices. God gives us so many opportunities, so many options. What a great life to live a life here where you're in this garden, all right? You know, we know that God has given Adam work to do, which is to till the ground, to name the animals. I mean, this is paradise as far as, you know, as far as our world today goes, this is like paradise. This is the best thing you could possibly have. And then we know that God gives Adam his wife Eve. But straightaway, we see when the devil comes along, he asks the question, all right? What did he say again? Let's look at verse number one. It says, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said? Did God really say that? Brethren, we've got the scriptures, we've got the Word of God. You know, if you read your Bible and you see something in black and white, you see something that God instructs of you, something God commands, you don't have to turn around and say, did God really say that? Is this Bible really true? Can I trust these words? Brethren, that thought, that philosophy comes from the devil, comes from the devil. You know, and sometimes you're going to hear preaching behind the pulpit that you're not going to necessarily enjoy, but you need to look at God's Word and say, God, is this true? And if it's true, if it's what you said, God, then so be it. I don't want to be like the devil. I don't want to be influenced by the devil. Yea, hath God said? As it continues there, it says, Ye shall not eat. Look at this. Did God really say you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Do you see how he twists it? Did God say you can't eat of every tree? There's just one. But he makes it seem like, man, God is so restrictive. Why doesn't he just let you eat of every single tree? And the response is, man, he lets me eat every tree, except one. That's a pretty good life. That's a lot of freedom. But even when we have a lot of freedom, a lot of choice, the devil comes along and says, ah, but it's not every tree. See, the devil just wants to complain and whine. Okay. Ah, God said don't do that sin. Oh, God said to have certain standards. Oh, come on. We're whiners. We're complainers. It comes from the devil, this attitude. Right? We have so much liberty. What a blessing to be in church this morning. Right? But people complain. Church Sunday morning. We've got other things to do. This whining mentality. You know one thing I really liked about COVID? And I didn't like COVID in general. The restrictions. But what I really liked about it is that it revealed the whiners. It revealed people that just complained and yet we have so much liberty. Like even within a restrictive COVID scenario, which I didn't enjoy, by the way. Okay. But it really highlighted just how ungrateful we are when we have so many liberties. And I say this and I mean it when I say it. There are places in this world, even without COVID restrictions, that are more restricted than us under the heaviest COVID restrictions. But we just complain. We like to complain. We're whiners, complainers. But it comes from the devil. God's given us so many blessings. So many free. Like, okay, oh man, I couldn't get out of my house. You know. Yeah, but you could just order a pizza and it gets delivered to your house. There are places in the world that don't have that luxury. All right. I mean there are some. All right. You couldn't find the toilet paper, the brand of toilet paper that you wanted to use. All right. There are probably tissues on the shelf though. All right. There are places in this world that don't have toilet paper or tissues. We complain. We whine. Oh, there's not enough meat on the shelves. All right. Eat chicken then. There's no beef. Eat chicken. Oh, there's no minced meat. All right. Just have turkey mince or something. You know, but this is, you know, we forget to appreciate what we've been given. What I like about COVID, it just brings us back to realise how much we should appreciate, how much God has blessed us. Eve should be appreciative of how much God has blessed them, given them of every tree, every fruit. All right. I mean a lot of you guys enjoy your fruits and veggies. How much better would the taste have been before the fall of man? How much greater? How many more choices potentially, right? They have on those days, but hey, the devil comes along and tries to sour this wonderful promise, this wonderful life that they've been given. Verse number, let's go to verse number four. We saw that God said that in that day that they eat us thereof, they shall surely die. Verse number four. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. In other words, God's lying to you. Okay. God's not telling you the truth. God says you will surely die, but I'm telling you, you won't surely die. Okay. So what do we see? The devil comes along and corrupts the word of God. All right. It's so important that we have, you know, the perfect preserved word of God, the King James Bible in our hands. Please don't substitute your King James Bible with some other corrupted word. Okay. It's been influenced by the devil. Please be careful about the Bible you choose to read. Okay. In English, we've got a perfect Bible, King James Bible. All right. But again, even within the King James Bible, right, if you see something, God makes it clear, and he says so, and you say, I don't think so. Look, you're being influenced by the devil. Okay. Let's get going there. Verse number five. For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And this is actually a true statement. They do know good and evil after they eat of this. But you see, the devil comes, he mixes lies with the truth. It's deception is what it is. Okay. The easiest way to deceive someone is not just to tell outright lies because they're obvious. The easiest way to deceive is to mix lies with the truth. That's the devil's tactics. Okay. That's what he does to mislead us, to confuse us. Verse number six. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to her eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. So what do they do? They disobey the Lord. Okay. They disobey the Lord. Verse number seven. And look, you can have different opinions to this. I don't think the fruit on that tree was necessarily sinful. I believe the sin is the act of disobedience. That's what I truly, I don't think that tree is something like it's got black roots or something and the fruit itself has some sinful qualities about it. It's just, for me, I believe it's the disobedience, you know, of going against God's word because that is what sin is, isn't it? Sin is the transgression of the law. If God lays down a law, do not eat of this tree, and you disobey that law. Whatever that law is, then you've committed sin. All right. So they eat of this. Verse number seven. And the eyes of them both were opened. Oh, that's what the devil said was going to happen. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. They know something's up. Their eyes are open. They look at their bodies and go, man, we're naked. There's this innocence that has disappeared from their perspective. They look at each other and go, man, we're not covered. We've been uncovered, as it were. And so what's the very first thing they do? They try to sow fig leaves. They try to make aprons. They try to cover themselves. And brethren, this is the very first religion, false religion that you see in the Bible, an attempt to cover oneself by the works of their hands. You know, every religion besides biblical Christianity, every religion teaches in order to be right with God, you must cover yourself. You must do the works yourself. You must present yourself before God as a good and righteous person by your own efforts. That's what every religion teaches, really. You know, if your good outweighs your bad, then God's going to count your good and allow you into heaven, something along those lines. Or you've got to do this. You've got to do this. You've got to do this sacrament. You've got to go to church. You've got to try to live a righteous life. You've got to turn from your sins. You've got to clean up your life. Most religions are like that. They're teaching you, hey, try to be a good person. Try to do your best. Follow the light that God has given you. And this is why, you know, even people within these false religions, they can look at other false religions and they turn around and say, well, if they just follow their light, then they're probably going to be alright with God. The reason is because it's the same religion. It's a religion of works. You know, it's a religion of sew your own fig leaves together, cover yourself, you know, make yourself presentable before God. This is not good enough for God. Okay, but they cover themselves. What else happens? Verse number eight. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. So God comes around after they've committed a sin and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, from the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. They know they disobeyed the Lord. They know they sinned against him. They feel like they can't face the Lord. They don't feel like they're covered. Well enough is, they can't face God. I mean, they realize that their aprons or fig leaves is just not good enough. Even then, even they realize, man, this is not good enough. We can't present ourselves before God like this. Verse number nine. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? Like, where are you Adam? Why are you hiding, right? Verse number 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself. Okay. Now we're not going to keep, we'll skip down to some of these, but you can read it in your own time. Okay. But God, of course, you know, challenges Adam. Why did you eat of that tree? And brethren, when you sin, this is what's going to automatically happen. What Adam happens? What happened with Adam? He blames his wife. Straight away. Okay. And we need to stop, we need to stop blaming people. Okay. We need to stop blaming everything and everyone when we're in sin. Okay. Look, Adam's in charge of his wife. Adam's in charge of his family. Okay. God created Adam first. Eve came from his rib. All right. But the first thing Adam does is, oh, it's my wife. I can't walk, you know, I can't do things right, Lord, because of the wife you gave me. And then when God talks to Eve, because Eve, oh, it's the devil. The devil made me do it. You can see straight away, and look, this is a natural response of man. People have a hard time taking personal responsibility for their sins, for the wrong they've done. It's always someone else. It's, oh, it's that person I called. It's the devil. The devil made me do it. Now, we know, if you know your Bible's well enough, God does not accept that. God curses man and woman, man to work by the sweat of his brow, working is not the curse. God already gave Adam work to do, to till the ground. The curse is that it was going to be hard work. He's going to blow up the sweat of his brow that he's going to have to look after his family. Okay. It's more labor, all right, to make sure he can provide for his needs. And for the woman, her curse was that she was going to have great pain in childbearing. Okay. Childbearing is not the curse. Okay. God already told them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. You know, to have children was already a blessing, something that God had instructed them to do, but the curse would be that it would be great labor, there would be great pains to bring forth those children. And we know that God then cursed the serpent, that as we understand, look at serpents today, crawling upon their bellies, that was their curse. They potentially had legs, you know, prior to the fall. I don't know, maybe they had wings. I have no idea. Okay. They had something. All right. But now they're crawling upon their bellies. And let's drop down to verse number 21. Verse number 21. Now this is, God, we say this in, of course symbolically, but also very true, what's taking place here, that the aprons they've worked to construct for themselves was just not good enough. Your works are not good enough to make you right with the Lord. Okay. So God has to step in. In verse number 21 it says, unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. God says, look, you making your own aprons is not good enough. I have to clothe you. I have to cover you with coats of skins. Where do you think the skins come from? God had to slaughter an animal. Okay. God had to slaughter an animal. God had to shed innocent blood in order to take those coats of skin to make them into coats. And God says, look, I have to clothe you. Okay. Blood has to be shed in order for you to be clothed properly, in order for you to stand before me and speak to me, you must be clothed by the sacrifice. Okay. By sacrifice, by shed blood. We merely see what true faith is, what true salvation is symbolically like this. You know, the efforts of your own works, sowing your own fig leaves, trying to make yourself righteous personally is not good enough. It's not good enough for God. All right. But God says, look, I can clothe you. Okay. I can shed blood. And of course this leads us then to the gospel message. Of course that God would have to sacrifice his own son in order to cover our sins, in order to clothe us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Verse number 22, and the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to no good and evil, and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Now that man has fallen from his original state, okay, now that man has sinned, God says, look, we cannot give him access to the tree of life in this current state. Okay. Listen, before man fell, man was permitted, or God, as it were, his laws, I mean, obviously, you know, this never came to be, but man would live on the earth forever. Okay. In a state of sinlessness. But once man has sinned, once man has corrupted himself, God does not want man to live in this state like that forever. What a wicked world this would become. Like if man just lived forever in a sinful, wicked state. I mean, we just get worse and worse and worse and worse. The world is already getting worse. Even with a limited time span. Imagine how bad this world would get if people just lived forever, you know, in a sinful state. And so this is the fall of man. Chapter number three covers the fall of man. How Adam and Eve were created without sin. Okay. But they had the ability to disobey. God gave them freedom. They were deceived. Eve was deceived by the devil. Okay. Adam just voluntarily chose to. He wasn't deceived. The Bible says he wasn't deceived, if you know your New Testament. He just voluntarily chose to sin against the Lord. You know, just rebellious. He said, all right, I'll eat of that too. Okay. Now the question comes, well, hold on. God said that the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And they're still alive, aren't they? They're still alive. Maybe God lied. Maybe the devil was right this whole time. Remember the devil said you shall not surely die. So how do we make sense of this? Well, if you can, please turn with me to the book of Romans. Turn with me to the book of Romans, please. Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five. Now in our statement of faith we had, we believe all men are by nature. By nature and choice, sinful and lost. Okay. Now the reason I wanted to put and choice is because, you know, we don't believe in this doctrine of original sin, where basically we can just blame Adam. All right. Like Adam's sin is our sin as it were. No, we did not eat of that tree of knowledge of good and evil. Okay. But we have also chosen to sin. You and I, we've all sinned. Like we can't turn around like Adam did and blame his wife and the wife to blame the devil. You know what mankind likes to do sometimes? Oh, it was Adam. It was Adam and Eve. Okay. No, you by choice have also sinned against the Lord. You know you have. Okay. And so, yeah, it is our choice. But it's also our nature. Okay. And what we see here in Romans chapter five, verse number 12. Romans chapter five, verse number 12. Wherefore, as by one man, that's Adam, sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. All right. So sin entered into the world. Okay. And not only did sin enter into the world, but death entered as well. See, death did not exist before sin. Sin is what brought death into this world. Right. For the wages of sin is death. You guys know that passage. Okay. And so there was death that came into place. You can see that as a result, death is a result of sin. That needs to be understood. And this came in through Adam. Okay. And so death passed upon all men. Then it says it's for that all have sinned. You see, you've sinned by choice as well. Even though Adam brought sin into this world, even though we're descendants of Adam, and this sin nature is passed down upon us, each of us have sinned individually. Look at verse number 13. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Now, that was a bit hard for some people to understand, but it's pretty straightforward. For until the law, so law refers to the law of Moses, sin was in the world. So sin was already in the world before the law of Moses. But it says, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. So some people think, well, if God never made any laws, then there'll be no sin. I guess that's kind of true. Okay. But if God was just like, do whatever you want, then obviously there'd be no boundaries, there'd be no sin, but that's not the case. God has given us the law so we can become aware of how sinful we truly are. Because if you continue there, versus number 14, it says, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. So you can't take this attitude and say, well, before Moses, they got away with their sins. No, no, it says death reigned from Adam to Moses. So death as a consequence of sin was already in place before Moses. See, they would sin as before even Moses passed down the law. Because it says here, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. So because of Adam's transgression, we see that there's this sinful nature that gets passed on to man, okay? But when God has given us the law of Moses, it brings us an awareness, wow, to see how sinful we truly are. In fact, some of you have been saved later in life. You know certain sins in life. You know you're not perfect. You know you've done wrong. But then when you got saved later in life and you started to read the Bible, probably the awareness is like, man, that's a sin as well. And that's a sin as well. And that's a sin as well. And I know that because I remember when I led Christina to the Lord, she knew what sin was. She knew she was a sinner. But when she started to pick up the Bible, she'd call me and go, wow, that's a sin as well. The awareness, oh man. You know, we're not just sinners, but we're exceedingly sinful. Like there's so much that we have done and the Lord of God reveals that unto us. Please go to Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven, verse number seven. Romans chapter seven and verse number seven. Now, Paul continues writing this and he's aware that of what is written, some people might take the attitude and say, well, if we just remain ignorant of God's laws, if we just never read God's laws, maybe we're not sinners in the sight of God. Like maybe that sin is just not accounted unto us at all because if we just keep ourselves away from God's laws, then we don't know any better, right? Well, look what it says in Romans seven, seven. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. You see, Paul says, look, I was a covetous person, but I did not realize that this was lust until I read God's word and it says, thou shalt not covet. Because, oh, man. Right, you know, I wonder what this person has, I wonder their house, I wonder their lands, I wonder their cars, whatever it was, right? I wonder their whatever. And so now I realize that's a sin. Desired things that do not belong to me, wow. You know, Paul comes to that realization at some point as he's reading scriptures. He realizes these sins. But look, the law is not sin. He says, God forbid. Alright, like, you can't, let's say I was driving a car. Alright, I'm sure this has happened to many of us that, you know, we're driving down the road and we probably don't realize there's been a change in the speed limit. Let's say it goes from 100 to 80, alright? And sometimes you're still going 100 and you realize you may have forgotten the 80. You did not see it, you're distracted, whatever. And then the cop pulls you over and says, look, you're going 20 kilometers over the speed limit. And you say, oh, you're just ignorant. You say, I had no idea. But officer, I did not know, I did not know that it went from 100 to 80. Is the officer gonna go, oh, well you're ignorant then. I'll let you go. I'll let you go. You're still gonna get fined, okay? Hopefully they give you a warning, but look, you're still in trouble as it were. You can't use ignorance to say, well, I didn't know any better, officer. In fact, I experienced this not long ago, right? When I was stuck in Sydney with a water closure. We ended up buying that house there in Malaney, okay? And I bought it as an owner. Like, what do you call them? You know you can buy them as an owner and an occupier, owner occupier, right? So then because I was an owner occupier, I had to pay less stamp duty than if it was an investment. Okay, so that was the intention that I would you know, owner occupier. So we bought the house. Then what happened? Borders were still closed. We couldn't come up to Queensland. I needed someone to live in that house, all right? I offered it to you guys for free. Does anyone live there for free? No one took up the offer? Because I wanted someone to just cut the grass and just tend to the house a little bit, right? So at the end of the day, it was like, okay, I'll just get some tenants in there. I'm not thinking about what I'm deciding to do right now. Ignorance. I'll just get some tenants in there, right? They can pay half the price. I don't care what they're paying to stay there. As long as they cut the grass and take care of the house so when they get back, it's all taken care of. It's all good, all right? And then the government finds out that we had tenants in there and guess what? We get charged. Not just the stamp duty as an investment, but fees, penalty fees, okay? For saying that we were owner occupiers and that actually it was an investment. So I write to the government and say, look, I didn't know any better. It's not like you buy houses every day, right? It was meant to be owner occupied, but the border closure prevents us from coming. I needed someone to take care of the house so I just decided to get something. Hey, can you be lenient on me? You know, we're ignorant. How do you think the government responds to that? Oh yeah, we understand. You know, COVID doesn't happen all the time. Borders don't close all the time. No, they're like, here's what you owe us and here are the penalty rates that you owe us and you better pay by tomorrow or your fees will increase. Ignorance does not work when you've broken a law, all right? Well, that's what basically, you know, and again, you know, because some people think that. Well, maybe if no one ever found out about the gospel, no one ever found out that they're a sinner, maybe they're going to be right with God. No, ignorance does not get you through, okay? In fact, that's what the blessing of the law is, the blessing of the scriptures, the blessing of the law of Moses is that it highlights to us, oh man, I'm a sinner, all right? And immediately, when you realise that, your response is then one day I'm going to be judged by God. You know, I need a covering. You know, I'm a sinner. I've messed up. I need something. And you make a decision. Maybe I've just got to sow my own fig leaves. Maybe I've just got to have the works. Maybe I've got to do that which is good. Maybe I've got to try religion and God will be happy with me. No, the answer is God, can you clothe me? God, I want to accept your sacrifice. I want to accept the blood that you've sacrificed to cover me. Okay, that is the right choice. That's what the Lord does. It's meant to be a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. But it says in Romans 7, verse 8, let's keep going there. Verse number 8, it says, But sin, taken occasion by the commandments, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, for without the law sin was dead. Verse number 9, For I was alive without the law once. That's such an interesting statement, isn't it? This is Paul. Now, Paul is alive when he's writing these words, right? When he writes to the Romans, he's alive as he's saying these words, as they've been taken down. For I was alive without the law once. What's he saying? He says, right now, I am dead. Okay, I am dead. Because I was alive once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And I died. Now, of course, you know your Bibles very well. Okay, we're not just matter. We're not just a body. We're not just flesh. Okay, this flesh is still alive for a period of time. Okay, but you know you're also soul and spirit. Okay, you're also soul and spirit. And so when God told Adam, that this very same day, for eat of that tree you shall surely die, Adam did die. Eve did die. You know, at a certain point in Paul's life, you know, when he realizes, boy, I'm a sin, I've done wrong, I'm not righteous. He says, I died. I was alive once, but I've died. You see, this is what took place with Adam and Eve. Yes, they did not die physically on that day, but they died spiritually. They died spiritually. And this is why we believe that, you know, if little children pass away, you know, they're at home with God in heaven. Okay, because you're alive once. There's a time when you are brought into this world, you know, when you're in the mother's womb, that you are spiritually alive in that sense. Okay, but when that child is no longer innocent, and they understand the differences between good and evil, okay, they understand sin. Man, I've done wrong against the Lord. There's a death that takes place spiritually. There's an awareness, your eyes are opened. Okay, your eyes are opened. So Paul says, look, I've died, even though he's alive. You know, physically he's alive, but he says, look, I died, spiritually died. Okay, verse number 10. And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Who else was deceived? Eve. Eve was deceived, wasn't she? She was deceived by the devil. And then Adam voluntarily just chose to eat of that. Hey, they died. They died spiritually. And when we talk about this sin nature that's been passed on, we talk about this fact that all of us will experience a sinful death, okay. You say, what is that point? That point is obviously when your eyes are opened. You know, when you finally realize man, it doesn't take long. It really doesn't take so long in life to realize, man, I've really messed up. You know, I'm not right with the Lord, you know. I'm not gonna give you an age to that or anything like that, okay, but this takes place in life. It says in verse number 12, wherefore the law is holy. So, you know, Paul's not complaining about the law. He's not saying it's the law that killed me. It's sin that killed me, okay. He says the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good, all right. There's nothing wrong with God's laws, all right. He says in verse number 13, was then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid. You know, the law's good. That wasn't made. That's not death unto me. The law's not death unto me. God forbid. But sin, because sin is the death of me, all right, sin. That it might appear sin, work in death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become, look at this, exceeding, exceeding sinful. You see, without the Bible, we all know we're sinners. Like even without the Bible. It takes someone who is, you know, their pride is beyond another level to say, man, I'm perfect, I never do wrong. Normal people know they're sinners. Normal people know they're not righteous, okay. Unsaved normal people know they're not perfect, okay. They make mistakes, they realize this. What the Lord of God does is make sin exceeding sinful. It brings the awareness, wow, this really offends God. Wow, I'm really not right with God then, okay. And of course then that would be the schoolmaster that would bring us to Christ. So the law is good. The law is holy, okay. The law is helpful. So we can truly understand, truly be aware of just how much we have offended God by our sin. You know, we should never take this view, oh, that's just a little sin. God will overlook that. No, you need to realize just how exceeding sinful you are. Okay. And that's what the Lord of God really helps us to understand all of that. Turn with me to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 20 verse 14. Revelation chapter 20 and verse number 14. Now we saw that sin brings forth death. Romans 6 23, for the wages of sin is death. And of course this passage here in Revelation 20, 14 highlights just what this death truly is, right. I mean, what is this death? I told you, we're not just physical bodies. We're not just matter, okay. We're not like these robots. There's something within us, this life. You know, there's this spirit, this soul within us. It says in Revelation 20, 14, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The second death. All right, the Bible speaks of a death which is the lake of fire, which is hell. A place of torment, a place of fire. Look at verse number 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. I'm not gonna be preaching so much about hell this morning. Okay, we'll save that for another day. But I want you to understand the reality of sin. Sin brings forth death, okay. And don't think that death is just the grave. Don't think that death is just this place with the body rests, as it were, rests in peace, okay. Often we say that when people pass away, rests in peace. But the vast majority of people are not resting in peace. Their soul's gone to hell, okay. Their names have been taken out of the book of life because they've never believed on Jesus Christ. They tried their best, didn't they? Most people tried their best. Most people sewed those fig leaves together. Most people think my good works, all right. Will get me through to, you know, will satisfy God. It's not good enough. And the reality is that there is a hell. There is a lake of fire, okay. And this is what the fall of man ultimately brings. Spiritual death. We're walking this earth right now. People are walking this earth right now. Yeah, they're physically alive, but they're spiritually dead. And brethren, these bodies, they break down, don't they? People die suddenly, all the time, unexpected. And because they're spiritually dead, when they physically die, they go to hell. They go to hell. Such a sad thing because God's offering them coats of skin. God is offering them his son. God is offering the shed blood of his righteous son, of his holy son, gives us salvation so we can be made spiritually alive. Can you please turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, verse number 21. Galatians chapter 3, verse number 21. Galatians 3, 21. You cannot be good enough for heaven. Please understand. I don't care how fancy you can make a apron for yourself. I don't care if I say fig leaves, all right. I'll use flowers. All right. I'll just make the best clothing that I can possibly put on in order to impress God. Listen, salvation is not by works. You cannot be good enough for heaven. I want you to understand. And this is offensive for a lot of people. A lot of people get offended when you say, look, your good works cannot get you to heaven. Well, the Bible says in Galatians 3, 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid, look at this. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily, righteousness should have been by the law. Look, Paul is saying, look, if there was any law that could possibly get you saved, then surely that's what God would have chosen. Righteousness by that law. Let's summarize the laws of God by the Ten Commandments. We often do that, don't we? All right. Paul is saying, look, even if you kept the Ten Commandments, okay, it cannot give you righteousness. Righteousness cannot come by the law. Meaning that nobody could ever be saved by the law. It's strange to me that people teach that the Old Testament saints were saved by keeping the law of God, by keeping the law of Moses. It's strange. What in the world? If you could be saved by keeping the laws, then that would have been the way of heaven. Your good works, striving to keep the laws, striving to live a holy and sinless life. Verse number 22. But the Scripture have concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that belief. Brethren, salvation is just belief. Just believe Jesus. Just trust Jesus. Just trust his death, burial, and resurrection. What a simple message that God would have to sacrifice his Son. And all we have to do is believe that God did that for us, that Jesus has paid for all our sins by his death, burial, and resurrection. That's a simple message. Often I'm flying between Sydney and the Sunshine Coast. I talk to people, you know, people who have conversations, and I don't think I've ever related anyone to the Lord on the plane, but anyway. You ask people anywhere. You ask people, right? They say, I'm a Christian. So what do you believe someone has to do to go to heaven? Oh, you just have to give yourself to Jesus. You have to give your life to Jesus. You have to promise to follow in his steps. What in the world? That's you sowing fig leaves. You think you can keep the commandments of Jesus to be saved? You think you can be a good enough follower of Jesus, and that's going to give you salvation? Because Jesus' standard was perfection. Jesus was sinless. You want to follow Jesus for salvation? Then you've got to be perfect. You cannot be perfect on your own. It's so amazing how many people, even those that claim Christianity, say, well, I gave my life to Jesus. You did no such thing to be saved. Jesus gave his life for you. The complete opposite. Jesus gave his life for you. He died for you. He shed his blood for you. Okay? Salvation is the work of Jesus Christ and Christ alone. And all you have to do is put your faith on that. All you have to do is believe that. Verse number 23, Galatians 3.23. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Our belief, our faith is what justifies us. Verse number 25, but after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. See, all you have to do is put your faith on Jesus, and Jesus alone, say, Jesus, you gave your life to me. I'm going to believe that. I'm going to believe that you died for me. I'm going to believe that you're the covering that I need. You're the covering that God gives me in order to be made righteous before you, and you accept that truth. You ask me in faith to save you, and He will. That's what salvation is. That's the answer to the fall of man. The answer is not you trying to follow the laws of God. The answer is not you giving your life to Jesus. The answer is not you following the commandments and the steps of Jesus. The answer is not you going to church and reading your Bible. That's not the answer for salvation. The answer is, Jesus, you are the answer. You are the way. You are the truth. You are the life. Yes, Jesus, I'm trusting you and you alone. Thank you, Jesus. That's salvation, brethren. Please come back with me to Romans 7. Romans 7. So Jesus Christ is the answer to the fall of man. Romans 7, verse number 18. Sorry, yeah, Romans 7, verse number 18. Romans 7, verse number 18. Now, when you put your faith on Jesus, I need you to understand something. You're saved. You're revived in the Spirit. You're born again. Your Spirit is born. You're born after the Spirit. That which is flesh is flesh. That which is the Spirit is Spirit. And you're saved. And nothing's ever going to change that, which is wonderful, because you're covered by the blood of Christ. And I trust, I'm just trusting right now that you're all saved. If you're not saved, please talk to me after the service, okay? But I trust right now that you're all saved. Now, here's the reality. Even though you're saved, you still have this body. You still have this flesh, okay? Some people think, well, the moment I get saved, I'm just going to have no desire to sin. Well, yeah, if you died straight after you got saved, you'd have no desire to sin. This flesh is here. This flesh is wicked. This flesh is sinful. This flesh has not yet been saved. The Spirit has, but this flesh is still wicked. In fact, look at Romans chapter 7, verse number 18. Romans chapter 7, verse number 18. Paul says, For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Because if I try to do good in my own flesh, I can't even do that. Because there's no good thing in my flesh. This is why people who try to get saved by being a good person, if I just try to be good enough, if I just try to follow God enough, if I just try to follow Jesus, if I just give my body to Jesus, myself to Jesus, there's no good thing in your flesh, okay? Even Paul. Paul's an apostle. He's writing to churches. He's the best Christian that you read about in the New Testament. Even he says, There's nothing good in this flesh. And brethren, you've got to realize the same truth about yourself. Just wake up to the reality. There's no good in your flesh. Okay, verse number 19. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do. He goes, Man, I want to do good, but I don't do the good. Okay? He goes, There's evil things, wicked things that I don't want to do, but I do it. He's talking about his flesh. Now, if I do that, I would not. It is no more that I do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Okay, so I want you to understand that again. Okay? Yes, you're saved from your sins. You've been forgiven. Christ has paid for all your sins. But sin still dwells in your body, in his flesh. Okay? This is why, if you're saved today, you still struggle with sin. Okay? A part of you says, No, I want to serve God, which is the new man, the spirit within you. A part of you says, No, I want to be selfish and do my own will. I want to sin against the Lord. That is your flesh. You know, if you're having this battle within you constantly, that's pretty much assurance you're saved. Some people think, Man, I'm battling. Maybe I'm not saved. You got it all wrong. The battle within you means that you are saved because you got the new man battling the old man. You have the spirit battling the flesh. It's part of the frustration of still living in this world as we are in his fleshly bodies. It's part of the consequences of the fall of man, part of the consequences of how you have sinful nature. Okay? Verse number 21. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. You know, even when we do righteous things, you know, even let's say we go soul winning, right? We go and we preach the gospel to the lost because even then there's evil present because that flesh, it's still there. Verse number 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Inward man. Spiritual man. But I see another law in my members. Members are your body parts. Warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Because like there's two laws here. There's the inward man that wants to please God and there's like another law in my body that is just sinful, wants to do sinful things. Verse number 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Then he says in verse number 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord so that with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin. See Paul says I've not had this like victory over sin. My body is still serving the law of sin. And I want you to understand that reality. Like I don't want you beating yourself up. Oh man, I sinned again. What a horrible, yeah, O wretched man that I am. You're right? Okay, you are wretched. Okay? This body will perish. This body gets sick. This body, you know we talk about sicknesses and yeah the body gets sick but the greatest sickness your body has is sin. That's sin nature. Okay, turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse number 20. 1 Corinthians 15 please. And verse number 20. So we have been saved spiritually. Okay? And look salvation is not a process. Salvation is done and dusted. The moment you've believed on Christ he's given you a resurrected spirit. Okay? A saved spirit. The inward man. Nothing's going to change that. Even when this wretched body sins nothing's going to change the inward man which is without sin because it's covered by the blood of Christ. Okay? But there is a promise to come. There's going to come a time when we're no longer saying about ourselves oh wretched man that I am. And in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20 it says but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. So the resurrection is what we're talking about here. Look at verse number 21. For since by man came death. Adam right? Came death. By man came also the resurrection of the dead. That man of course is Jesus Christ. Verse number 22. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Brethren you cannot stop this body from dying. It's going to die. And we want this body to die eventually because it's got a sin nature. We don't want to take this body to heaven a perfect place without sin and then we corrupt it with our own flesh. No brethren we need a resurrection. Okay? Not only was Christ resurrected for us but he has given us the power of his resurrection and one day this body will be made alive again after it perishes. Okay? And again I don't want to go down that tangent because that's a big topic. The resurrection. But what I'm trying to say to you brethren is that one day God is going to promise us has promised us already a physical resurrected body without sin. A physical body that will match our saved spirit. Okay? And that truly will be the completion of our salvation. Can you please, I should have told you to stay in Romans but go back to Romans chapter 8. Please turn with me to Romans chapter 8. We're near the end now. Thank you for your patience. Romans chapter 8 verse number 22. Romans chapter 8 and verse number 22. You see when man fell, when man committed sin not only did God bring a curse upon man, woman and the serpent but he also cursed the earth. Okay? And that's why Adam's labor would be much more difficult by the sweat of his brow. Okay? Because not only would he labor, not only will it bring forth fruits and veggies, whatever it was, it'll also bring forth thorns and thistles. Okay? Because God also cursed the earth. The earth has also been cursed by the fall of man. And in Romans chapter 8 verse number 22. Romans chapter 8 verse number 22. This is the current state of things. It says in verse number 22, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Do you know the whole earth, the whole creation is groaning in pain? You say, why is that? Because of man's sin? We've not just corrupted ourselves but this earth was corrupted. Okay? This is why not only does God promise us new bodies, one day God promises us a new earth, a new heaven, a new earth. Okay? A place with no curse. Look at verse number 23. But not only they, not only creation, but ourselves also. He said we also groan. We also travail in pain. Okay? Which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves grow within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. The redemption of our body. That's the resurrection. The new body that Christ will give us at the rapture, at the time of resurrection. So you can see that not only has man fallen. Okay? But God offered a solution. Okay? And that would be the death of his son. Okay? Shed blood, salvation offered by God, a free gift simply received by faith on our Christ Jesus. So easy. And you know what's even better? You know some people think, well that would bring us back to the state of Adam and Eve. No. Even better than Adam and Eve. Okay? Because Adam and Eve had bodies that could sin. They made that decision. They had bodies that could be deceived, and they were deceived. Okay? They had bodies that could eventually die. Okay? When they gave in to that sin. We saw that already. But you know what? When we get given a new resurrected body, made like unto Christ, it's going to be a better body than that. A body that cannot die. A body that cannot sin. A body that cannot be deceived by the devil. You see the state of the resurrection is not just bringing us back to the state of Adam and Eve before they fell. The state of the perfection of Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve could sin. Christ never did. Christ could never sin. Because he's God. And within God there is no darkness at all. Yes, Christ died for our sin. But he did not die for his own sins. Christ had no sin. And in the power of Christ's resurrection, that wonderful body without corruption, immortal, okay? One day that promise is going to be given to us. Bodies that can never sin. Without corruption. Without the curse. Not only that, then God's going to give us a new heaven, a new earth. A place with no sin at all. Okay? Like what a beautiful future. What an answer. You know? Even better than how he initially created things to be. The new heaven, the new earth, the new bodies are going to be even greater than what God created when he first created the world and Adam and Eve. So the conclusion brethren, the fall of man is the title of the sermon this morning. Thank you for your patience. But as I said to you, in our statement of faith we're going to have these words. We believe all men are by nature and choice sinful and lost. That by Adam's disobedience, man became a sinful creature under the righteous judgment and wrath of God. Thereby incurring not only physical death, but also spiritual death. And has within himself no possible means of salvation. Alright, the fall of man. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, Lord, for this great news, Lord, that you've given us salvation by faith on Jesus Christ alone. Lord, I thank you that even though the fall of man took place, even though you knew Adam and Eve would fall, Lord, that you loved us so much that you would offer your son to die in our place. Lord, what wonderful news you've given us. And Lord, I just pray you'd help us in our life. Not only, Lord, not only the salvation that you've given us, which is wonderful, Lord, but you would help us to walk a path of righteousness. You'd help us to walk a path of holiness. Lord, help us not to give in to this wicked, wretched flesh that we have. Lord, help us to battle this. Lord, never to get tired, but Lord, to seek after the new man, the inner man that you've given us, to walk after that spirit, Lord, instead of just caving into temptations too easily, Lord. Please give us the strength to live a life that pleases you. Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, brethren, please take your hymnals. Let's turn to hymn number 245. Hymn number 245. 245, let's sing The Old Account Was Settled. Two, four, five. The Old Account Was Settled. Alright, let's sing it up. There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven an old account was sent in for sins yet unforgiven. My name was at the top and many things below. I went unto the keeper and settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago. As the records clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. The old account was large and growing every day for I was always singing and never tried to pay. But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and woe I said that I would settle. I settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago. And the records clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. When in the happy home, my Savior's home above, I'll sing redemption story and praise Him for His love. I'll not forget that book with pages wide as snow because I came and settled. I settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago. Alleluia and the records clean today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. The sinner trusts the Lord, he claims not for your sin for thus he hath provided for you to enter in and then if you should live a hundred years below after you've gone regret it, you settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago. Alleluia and the records clean today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. .