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The Law
of Reversal part 3
Gorton Evangelical
Church Sunday 27.11.11
A. The blame game Genesis 3:11-13
The man
blamed the woman (and by inference God Himself)
The woman blamed the serpent
And the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on
The key
to all spiritual progress: take personal responsibility
e.g 2 Samuel 12:7 'You are the man'
Nathan the prophet speaking to King David after
David's sin of murder and adultery.
Psalm 51:3 'I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin
is always before me.'
B. The
origins of marital and relationship discord. The
origins of fractured marriages.
'The man blamed the woman...' 3:12 instead of taking
responsibility. The woman blamed someone else v13.
The Cure
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Take
personal responsibility for all our actions
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Stop
blaming other people, situations, circumstances,
hereditary or environment.
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Stop
listening to Satan
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Put God
at the centre
The
family that prays together stays together
Note:
The way to a healthy Church or any group of people:
Each member takes individual responsibility
Who's
job is it?
This is a story about four people named Everybody,
Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was
sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done
it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that
because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought
Anybody could do it but Nobody realised that Everybody
would'nt do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed
Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
What
kind of Church would my Church be if everyone in my
Church was just like me?
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The
law of reversal applied in this situation
Acts 2:11 When the Holy Spirit came at
Pentecost:
'we hear them speaking the wonderful works of God'
The power of a miracle in your mouth.
Groans turned to glory, blame turned to
blessings,
The
confusion of Babel Genesis 11 turned to the unity of
Acts 2
Compare:
Genesis 11:7 'Let Us go down there and confuse their
language...v8 so the Lord scattered them abroad.' And:
Acts 2:8 'How is it that we hear each in our own
language in which we were born.'
Acts 8:4 'those who were scattered went everywhere
preaching the word.'
I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody about
somebody who can save anybody
Matthew
17:27 Be like the fish with coin in the mouth-something
valuable to share
Proverbs 15:4 'The tongue that brings healing is a tree
of life.'
To be filled with the Spirit means to have the mouth
changed:
James 3:6 'the tongue is a fire' v11 'Does a spring send
forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening.'
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The
judgment
1. Genesis 3:14 On the serpent (The Nachash-the
whisperer)
Cursed ! To be the lowest- and crawl on his belly
,to be hated by all. His food-the dust. Is this a
pointer to his devouring of mankind who are without
God.
He will ultimately be crushed by the seed/descendant
of the woman Genesis 3:15
This is the first promise of the Saviour who on the
cross will bruise/crush /destroy Satan but in turn
will suffer the bruising of His heel.
Satan's
head, the origin of his plotting and mischief-will
suffer a terminal wound.
The Saviour's heel restored in the resurrection.
The serpent will suffer final judgment in Revelation 20.
The physical
serpent (whom no doubt Satan possessed) was but a
representation of God's judgment on Lucifer-the
spiritual being.!
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On the woman Genesis 3:16 sorrow in
childbearing and multiplied conception. Pain
and subjection to her husband.
Note: When
Christ was born – great joy-angelic rejoicing. The reign
of sin and death
was ending. Ultimately in Revelation 22:3 all the curse
is seen to be lifted
Women are the chief witnesses at the cross and the first
at the resurrection.
See Luke 24:1
Paul speaks of head covering in the context of these
scriptures
1 Corinthians 11:8-10
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On the man Genesis 3:17-19v17
ground cursed (reflects -the hardness of
Adam's heart)
sweat and toil v19 (Adam learns the way
of the transgressor is hard and the need
for rest).The ground brings forth thorns
and thistles reflecting the change in
human nature, hard, thorny, prickly.
Adam will one day return to dust. The
life without God's inbreathing.
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The great reversal
The three
great gardens of scripture: Eden, Gethsemane and the
garden city (New Jerusalem)
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Luke 22:44 His sweat became like
great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
His blood has reconciled all things to God (See
Colossians 1:20)
He has claimed back a fallen world completely for
His Father.
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John 19:2 The soldiers twisted a
crown of thorns and put it on His head...
He bore in His own body all the result of the curse
and judgment on the earth and on mankind.
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Revelation 20:6 Instead of the dust
believers will rise to an eternal holy life.
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Genesis 3:23 Paradise lost and
Paradise regained.
Man and women suffer the loss of Paradise and know
rejection.
The Lord from Heaven suffers rejection: Isaiah 53:3
' He is despised and rejected by men.'
And so
regains Paradise for mankind:
Luke 23:43 'Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be
with me in Paradise.'
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