From the beginning, the inclination of sinful humanity has been to hide from God. When Adam and Eve realized their sin, the last thing they wanted was to be in God’s righteous presence. But He was the only one who could address their shame and provide an ultimate solution, a promised descendant who would crush the enemy of their souls forever. Do you need to come out of hiding today and face the God who offers, in Himself, the solution to your greatest problem?
Here are all of the ways that you can follow along with 5 Minutes With Pastor Lutzer:
- On our Podcast via iTunes and Google Podcasts
- On our Facebook page
- On our YouTube channel
Transcript: Welcome to “5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer.” I’m so glad that you joined me today as we continue our series, entitled, “Making the Best of a Bad Decision.” If you were with us last time, you know that we spoke about Adam and Eve, who made the worst decision ever made, and of course the consequences of that decision are still with us.
Now, having disobeyed God, what were some of the consequences? First of all, from now on, man would always run from God. God came looking for Adam; Adam was not looking for God, Adam was hiding. And because of sin, all of us hide and Adam explained why he was hiding. He said, I was afraid and I was naked and ashamed. Fear and shame are now going to be very important parts of who we are as individuals but there’s more. Not only that, the environment was cursed. You know, this is really a longer discussion but God said that you cannot have an imperfect man living in paradise in a perfect environment. So, all of nature was cursed and nature looks forward to the day when we’ll be redeemed because then it will be redeemed. And then something else, when you make a bad decision, there is no returning back to the garden of Eden; God did not allow it. He put up a flaming sword to keep them from the tree of life. They were banished from the garden.
And when you and I make a bad decision, it cannot be reversed. Now, God picks up the pieces, we’ll talk about that but it can’t be reversed. There’s no use praying like the teenager did: “God, I pray that this accident would not have happened.” And so, what happened is they can’t go back to innocence. Just like those who are involved in immorality, you know, they may say, well, things will be like they used to be. No, they won’t, because you cannot go back to innocence.
But in the midst of all of this, God gives a promise, and you probably already know that in Genesis 3, we read in verse 15, “I will put enmity (now God is speaking to the serpent) — I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.” God is speaking to Satan and says, first of all, redemption is going to be accomplished through suffering and of course, this is ultimately a prediction of the coming of Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, but not only that, in that verse, what we see is a contrast of wounds. The devil is going to be able to nip Christ’s heel, so to speak. What the devil will not be able to do is to crush Christ. Whereas Christ is going to bruise his head. Visualize a serpent, imagine someone with a heel on the serpent’s head just grinding that head into the dust. That’s the prediction as to what Jesus Christ is going to do.
Now, isn’t it wonderful to know that in the midst of this very bad, destructive decision, God comes with redemption? And God comes to us as well. He comes with grace and He comes with hope and as you join us next time, we’re going to talk about what that looked like in Adam and Eve’s life but also, we’re going to emphasize something that is very important that even though circumstances do not change, there’s an internal change that can happen in you and in me and that’s always where God begins. Remember this: we cannot predict what a bad decision will lead to but we always know that at the end of our rope, God is there and He is the God of redemption. So, no matter where you are at, I want you to take hope and above all, be sure to listen next time but as for today, you just go with God.