WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.840 Chapter Four, A Reach Beyond Sin 2 00:00:10.840 --> 00:00:12.440 God loves you. 3 00:00:12.440 --> 00:00:16.760 These three words are the most transformative words you will ever hear in your lifetime. 4 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:21.360 Yet the love of God is so immense and so beyond measure that even those who believe in Him 5 00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:27.840 and have accepted the gift of salvation often struggle to grasp its depth. 6 00:00:27.840 --> 00:00:33.680 We wonder, how can God truly love me, especially when He knows the things I have done? 7 00:00:33.680 --> 00:00:38.320 How could He love someone like me with all my flaws and failures? 8 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:42.920 These questions are akin to the words of King David thousands of years ago. 9 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:45.640 What is man that you are mindful of him? 10 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:48.480 The son of man that you care for him. 11 00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:51.080 Psalm 8 verse 4. 12 00:00:51.080 --> 00:00:53.880 What are we to God that He would even consider us? 13 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:58.680 How is it possible that the Almighty, Creator of the universe, would concern Himself with 14 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:01.800 our lives and circumstances? 15 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:05.519 As believers we accept that God loves us beyond our comprehension. 16 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:09.240 Otherwise, why would He send His Son to redeem us? 17 00:01:09.240 --> 00:01:13.360 Is there something about mankind that makes us special to Him? 18 00:01:13.360 --> 00:01:15.040 Indeed there is. 19 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.440 The key to understanding this is found in our origin. 20 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:20.840 Genesis chapter 1 tells us, 21 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:25.400 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. 22 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:28.040 So God created man in His own image. 23 00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:30.440 In the image of God He created him. 24 00:01:30.440 --> 00:01:34.080 Male and female, He created them. 25 00:01:34.080 --> 00:01:37.440 Unlike anything else in creation that had come before, 26 00:01:37.440 --> 00:01:42.000 mankind was uniquely made in the very image of God. 27 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:47.120 We are His masterpiece, created with intention, love, and purpose. 28 00:01:47.160 --> 00:01:50.200 In us, God did something unprecedented. 29 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:54.000 He made beings not only fearfully and wonderfully made, 30 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.640 Psalms 139 verse 14, 31 00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:59.160 but fashioned to create His likeness, 32 00:01:59.160 --> 00:02:02.720 beings who were made capable of direct fellowship with Him. 33 00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:05.760 We are His children, His progeny. 34 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:09.720 We were formed with three dimensions, body, soul, and spirit, 35 00:02:09.720 --> 00:02:12.400 reflecting the triune nature of God Himself. 36 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:16.320 He endowed us with reasoning, imagination, and creative ability. 37 00:02:16.320 --> 00:02:19.400 He gave us the extraordinary gift of free will, 38 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:23.120 the ability to choose, and the capacity to love. 39 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:24.920 You are more than your physical body, 40 00:02:24.920 --> 00:02:26.720 more than your talents or flaws, 41 00:02:26.720 --> 00:02:29.480 more than your past or your present. 42 00:02:29.480 --> 00:02:34.040 God sees the complete, redeemed, and perfected version of you, 43 00:02:34.040 --> 00:02:38.560 and He saw it long before you took your first breath. 44 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:41.760 He knows everything about you, your strengths and weaknesses, 45 00:02:41.760 --> 00:02:43.520 your victories and failures, 46 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.480 and He loves you fully and unconditionally. 47 00:02:47.480 --> 00:02:51.120 My friend, God did not create you out of indifference or disinterest. 48 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.680 He formed you with a passionate love 49 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:56.680 and a desire for a relationship with you. 50 00:02:56.680 --> 00:03:00.280 You were brought into existence to be part of His divine family, 51 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:03.960 to participate in and share the love that flows eternally 52 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:07.720 between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 53 00:03:07.720 --> 00:03:10.520 You are a child of the Most High God, 54 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:13.280 lovingly known by Him before you were born, 55 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:17.560 and far more important to Him than you may have ever realized. 56 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:18.840 You are very much His child, 57 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:23.000 and He holds you in higher esteem than you hold yourself. 58 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.440 Although we were created from the dust of the earth, 59 00:03:25.440 --> 00:03:28.840 God's plan for us goes far beyond our earthly nature. 60 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:31.920 He designed mankind to be more than physical beings. 61 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:35.000 He made us living vessels, temples of His Spirit, 62 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.720 meant to carry His own presence within us. 63 00:03:37.720 --> 00:03:41.120 See 2 Corinthians 4, verse 7. 64 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.280 God's desire is to abide in us and through us, 65 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:49.240 transforming us from earthen vessels into reflections of His glory. 66 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:51.880 That's why the relationship He desires to have with you 67 00:03:51.880 --> 00:03:54.400 is deeply personal and intimate. 68 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.840 His vision for your life is not wavered in the face of sin, 69 00:03:57.840 --> 00:03:59.960 despite any poor choices you've made, 70 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:03.000 mistakes, or accusations of the enemy. 71 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:05.920 God loves you with a passion that transcends time, 72 00:04:05.920 --> 00:04:09.560 and what He wants for you has never altered from the beginning. 73 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:11.080 I tell you again, 74 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:13.120 God's love is not conditional. 75 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:15.920 It is not based on your good deeds, your failures, 76 00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:18.320 or anything you have or have not done. 77 00:04:18.320 --> 00:04:22.360 It is constant, unchanging, and unrelenting. 78 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:26.920 So why does the reality of God's love feel distant or hidden at times? 79 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:29.560 The answer lies in the fall of man. 80 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:33.000 Adam and Eve began their lives in a perfect relationship with God. 81 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.040 They walked with Him, talked with Him, 82 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:38.320 and experienced His divine presence firsthand. 83 00:04:38.320 --> 00:04:39.880 They were stewards of the earth, 84 00:04:39.880 --> 00:04:43.360 enjoying the blessings of creation and the fullness of God's love. 85 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.040 They lived in complete harmony with their Creator, 86 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:49.920 unable to conceive anything of separation from Him. 87 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:54.880 But that possibility existed because God inherently allowed for choice. 88 00:04:54.880 --> 00:04:58.400 Remember, true love cannot exist without free will. 89 00:04:58.400 --> 00:05:00.400 So He endowed humanity with the power to choose. 90 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:03.000 power to choose him, or reject him. 91 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:07.760 Tragically, they mistakenly chose the latter. 92 00:05:07.760 --> 00:05:12.600 The enemy, in the form of a serpent, tempted them with the same lies he had used to entice 93 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:15.040 a third of heaven's angels. 94 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:19.720 He whispered half-truths and subtle deceptions, implying that God was withholding something 95 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:24.360 from them, that they could be more apart from him than with him. 96 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:28.640 He implied that God had not been completely truthful, and that there was more to be gained 97 00:05:28.640 --> 00:05:32.880 apart from him than in obedience to him. 98 00:05:32.880 --> 00:05:36.240 These same strategies remain in his arsenal of deception today. 99 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:41.680 He contends that God is not faithful, or fair, or even real. 100 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:46.640 Whatever the argument, the bottom line is to deceive as many as possible into believing 101 00:05:46.640 --> 00:05:49.480 that they do not need God. 102 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:54.680 This is what the world believes, that it has little or no use for the one true God. 103 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:59.460 At best, the enemy provides a distorted mockery of the Almighty. 104 00:05:59.460 --> 00:06:04.480 He offers a multitude of substitutions or false gods, fashioned in warped images of 105 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.640 our Heavenly Father. 106 00:06:06.640 --> 00:06:12.140 At worst, the world denies and ridicules his existence, disparaging and even seeking death 107 00:06:12.140 --> 00:06:15.360 for those who put their trust in his true self. 108 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.800 In Eden, as now, there had to be a choice. 109 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:23.640 Ultimately, every person has to make a conscious decision as to whether he or she is going 110 00:06:23.640 --> 00:06:27.560 to believe, trust, and follow the Creator, or not. 111 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:30.320 The first humans chose not to obey. 112 00:06:30.320 --> 00:06:34.600 Eve was beguiled by an enemy in the form of a smooth-talking serpent, and Adam, though 113 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:38.040 not deceived, chose Eve over God. 114 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:41.000 That's how sin found its way into our world. 115 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:45.120 Their disobedience stained every human being who came after. 116 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:51.160 When they disobeyed, their decision had far-reaching consequences, not just for themselves, but 117 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:53.360 for all of humanity. 118 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.280 Sin bought shame, guilt, and separation from God. 119 00:06:56.280 --> 00:07:00.760 It introduced fear and self-condemnation, distorting their understanding of the Creator's 120 00:07:00.760 --> 00:07:04.520 love and their identity as his children. 121 00:07:04.520 --> 00:07:08.180 Their failure was about more than disobedience, however. 122 00:07:08.180 --> 00:07:12.400 In their rebellion, they did gain knowledge of good and evil, learning from bitter personal 123 00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:15.440 experience what was right and what was wrong. 124 00:07:15.440 --> 00:07:20.060 They learned the painful difference between truth and falsehood firsthand. 125 00:07:20.060 --> 00:07:24.980 But it was a knowledge that came at so great a cost they couldn't even begin to imagine 126 00:07:24.980 --> 00:07:26.820 the consequences. 127 00:07:26.820 --> 00:07:31.820 With that knowledge also came many awful things they didn't anticipate, not the least of which 128 00:07:31.820 --> 00:07:35.660 was self-condemnation and guilt. 129 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:42.260 Sin also gave access to something devastatingly detrimental—the accusing voice of the enemy. 130 00:07:42.260 --> 00:07:48.640 The Bible tells us in Revelation 12, verse 10, that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. 131 00:07:48.640 --> 00:07:52.280 He wasted no time reminding Adam and Eve of their failure. 132 00:07:52.280 --> 00:07:56.560 Before God even confronted them, they judged themselves. 133 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:01.800 They felt unworthy, ashamed, and exposed, and hid themselves from God. 134 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:07.040 This was a marked contrast to the relationship they had previously enjoyed with him. 135 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.800 Genesis chapter 3 lays it out for us. 136 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:14.000 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked. 137 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.880 So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 138 00:08:17.880 --> 00:08:22.200 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden 139 00:08:22.200 --> 00:08:27.120 in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 140 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:31.360 But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you? 141 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:37.799 He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. 142 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:40.520 Sin distorted their perception of God. 143 00:08:40.520 --> 00:08:46.000 Where once they knew Him as loving and approachable, they now saw Him as a source of fear and judgment. 144 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:51.360 This distortion, a result of the sin that severed their connection to Him, also impaired 145 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:54.880 their ability to sense and receive His love. 146 00:08:54.880 --> 00:08:58.280 It continues to do the same for many today. 147 00:08:58.280 --> 00:09:03.080 Through their disobedience, Adam and Eve gained knowledge of good and evil, but at an excruciating 148 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:04.240 cost. 149 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:09.240 They lost their innocence, their peace, and their direct connection with God. 150 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:14.840 And as a consequence, we all became vulnerable to the accusing voice of an enemy who continually 151 00:09:14.880 --> 00:09:18.880 reminds humanity of its failures and unworthiness. 152 00:09:18.880 --> 00:09:23.280 Although they recognized their own unworthiness for they had disobeyed God, what they couldn't 153 00:09:23.280 --> 00:09:28.760 understand in their sin, and what we, as sinful beings, have trouble comprehending today, 154 00:09:28.760 --> 00:09:32.440 is God's ability to reach out beyond it. 155 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:36.440 Sin had enslaved them and separated them from their Heavenly Father. 156 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:41.600 They unwittingly exchanged the truth of God and their relationship with Him for separation 157 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:46.800 and distance, giving place to the enemy's lies and constant accusations. 158 00:09:46.800 --> 00:09:51.000 Through the failure of disobedience, every subsequent generation of humanity gained a 159 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:53.360 certain knowledge of good and evil. 160 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:57.640 But knowledge without insight, to use it properly, is a curse. 161 00:09:57.640 --> 00:09:59.720 What had been lost was divine wisdom. 162 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:07.200 And, knowledge without wisdom was as destructive a thing then as it is in our world today. 163 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:09.880 We live in a world where knowledge is easy to come by. 164 00:10:09.880 --> 00:10:16.360 The internet has made access to information, and disinformation for that matter, ubiquitous. 165 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:19.840 But having knowledge and knowing what to do with that knowledge are two different things 166 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:22.040 entirely. 167 00:10:22.040 --> 00:10:27.440 Sin didn't change God's love for us, but it obscured our ability to perceive and receive 168 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:28.680 His love. 169 00:10:28.680 --> 00:10:33.320 This was the enemy's goal, to create a barrier between humanity and our Creator, to keep 170 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:38.240 us from knowing and trusting in our Heavenly Father's unchanging love. 171 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:43.120 As humanity fell, so did our ability to discern truth from lies, good from evil, and so much 172 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:44.520 more. 173 00:10:44.520 --> 00:10:50.020 Sin clouds our judgment and blinds us to the truth of our Heavenly Father's love and provision. 174 00:10:50.020 --> 00:10:54.560 The enemy tries to block our comprehension of God's ability and desire to reach beyond 175 00:10:54.560 --> 00:10:57.760 the sin that separates us from Him. 176 00:10:57.760 --> 00:11:03.480 Satan's lies ensnare us and keep us apart and unaware of God's true love and provision 177 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:04.800 for us. 178 00:11:04.800 --> 00:11:09.200 This is what I call the first and foremost casualty of sin. 179 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.600 Although the fall of mankind was devastating for us, it did not take God by surprise. 180 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:19.240 He prepared in advance to send a Savior, His Son, Christ Jesus, to bridge the chasm that 181 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:23.080 sin had created between us and Himself. 182 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:28.200 Through Christ, God demonstrated His desire and ability to reach beyond sin. 183 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:33.640 He made a way for you to be reconciled back to Him, to walk in a restored relationship, 184 00:11:33.640 --> 00:11:37.320 and to experience the fullness of His love once again. 185 00:11:37.320 --> 00:11:42.600 God's love is relentless, His grace is sufficient, and His plan of redemption perfect. 186 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:45.140 All you need to do is accept it. 187 00:11:45.140 --> 00:11:52.000 For in Him, there is no condemnation, only love that reaches beyond sin to cleanse, restore, 188 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:53.560 and redeem. 189 00:11:53.560 --> 00:11:54.840 He will make you new.