We are talking about the end of the story today, being
Easter. We started with Ephesians 3
starting in verse 12. God’s love for us
is the key to this. Ephesians 1:17 and
on is our prayer for our church on a daily basis. We can enter into the authority of Jesus and
the power of Jesus through what Jesus has done.
Genesis 2:8 shows us the power Jesus restored. Note that there is Eden and within it a garden. The two trees were in the center, the tree of
life (direct connection with God) and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil (knowledge as in knowing in the Biblical sense, an intimate knowledge of
good and evil).
The problem here was faith.
They had direct and constant access to and communion with God. The enemy was able to convince Adam and Eve
that they should not believe what God said.
In Genesis 3, the enemy deceives Eve.
Eve mentions not touching the fruit, and the enemy sees that she does
not understand what God says. This is
the opportunity he takes to deceive them.
Instead of running to God when they make the mistake, they run and
hide. This illustrates the lost of the
power of grace. The decision they made
resulted in a curse because they essentially chose law over grace. Adam had to be banished because in our sinful
and fallen state, living forever would be punishment.
This is why in the temple, the Holy of Holies, containing
the ark of the covenant (representing the presence of God) was unable to be
accessed by man directly. In the
tabernacle, only the high priest, after an extensive cleansing process, could enter
God’s presence. The veil that separated
this area from the rest of the temple was 6 inches thick. This veil was torn from top to bottom when
Jesus died. Jesus said “It is
finished.” Man can now live in grace
again. Romans 8:1 illustrates what has
occurred with us because of Jesus. Note that some translations in Genesis use
the word condemned to describe why Adam hid in the garden. Remember that grace gives us forgiveness of
sin and teaches us to say no to ungodliness.
We are now free to live in the Spirit and not be condemned. Hebrews 4:14 sums up this change.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
