God Triumphs Over Evil

St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Pentecost 3 June 25, 2006 Genesis 3:8-15

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

There are commercials—all year round—for “getaways”! These are small escapes! You can rent a room with your very own swimming pool—just for you—surrounded by hanging baskets of ferns. You can have a hot tub—a sauna—a fireplace. You can have a very large bed with a mountain of pillows—a TV with surround sound and movies and a VCR and a DVD player. You can have your own refrigerator for soda and a microwave for your own popcorn. You can hide out inside—and lock the world out. And for 24 hours—get away—escape—from your worries, troubles, responsibilities and obligations. You can go out to eat at a very nice place—and they will bring you a salad and soup and a very nice dinner—whatever you want—made just the way you like it—and then some dessert and then a snifter of brandy after that! And again—for a little while—you can forget about your troubles. But again—eventually you have to face painful reality! There once was heaven on earth. There once was Paradise—a garden called Eden—where everything was flawless. And that Paradise was wrecked—ruined—demolished—by sin. Today we see the immediate consequences of that fall into sin and we hear the first precious promise of a Savior—to take away all our sins. God’s Word today could hardly be more basic or practical than to remind us:

God Triumphs Over Evil

1. Evil brings fear and pain…

2. Jesus brings forgiveness and life!

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on—the first book of the Bible—the first book of Moses—the book of beginnings. Genesis does not begin with a theological argument for the existence of God. Genesis does not begin with a philosophical explanation for the existence of a power—a being greater than people. It simply assumes the existence of God. It explains who he is by recording what he does. God’s Word is the wondrous—God breathed—inerrant record of law and Gospel—God’s grace and goodness powerful and active for his glory and our benefit! We who love the Lord Jesus need to read and study and think about the Old Testament—in order to better understand and appreciate the New Testament! In order to understand the ending—we need to understand the beginning!

Genesis describes creation. Not billions or even millions of years—of slime and sludge accidentally sloshing together—DNA in strings and clusters—that oozed out of primordial swamps—to become life. Creation is not a series of accidents—chance changes that over incredible periods of time went from bacterium to bugs—fish to mammals to birds. Not apes to ape like little people covered with hair—walking all stooped over—bumbling into making fire and tools and weapons and ultimately words! No! It was in the beginning of recorded time that the Almighty God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light!” Maybe light went streaking across the darkness—the pitch blackness—like a laser beam. Maybe the light grew brighter and brighter like the indescribable gold and orange and rose color of the horizon at dawn. Or maybe light exploded everywhere—like the grand finale of the greatest celestial fireworks! Maybe all of the above! It was evening—it was morning—24 hours—a day! For six days of 24 hours each—God made things— organized them--filled them up—made them able to reproduce and to grow. God made people. He made the first man—named Adam—out of the soil and breathed into him the breath of life and he became alive. God said it isn’t good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable helper for him—someone to make him whole and complete! Adam was sound asleep when the LORD took one of his ribs—and from that rib God made a woman named Eve! God brought Eve to Adam—the first marriage! The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh!” That is a miracle, too! What God puts together—people dasn’t try to take apart!

Into Eden slithers a serpent from the filthy stinking pit of hell to spoil Paradise! His plan was brilliant in its simplicity! He will plant the seeds of doubt! Satan says to Eve, “Did God really say…?” Did God make a whole garden of fruit trees and then say you can’t eat any fruit? No—we can eat any fruit we want—except for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We can’t eat that fruit. We dasn’t even touch it! Maybe Eve was already beginning to crack—making the rule even harsher than God did—like we could pick the fruit and play catch with it. We could throw it and make it go splat against other trees—we just can’t eat it. Or maybe she meant—don’t touch it—don’t pick it and hold it—because the next thing you know you would eat it! Then comes the big lie—from Satan—the father of lies—“You will not surely die!” Instead—the devil says—God knows—and because he doesn’t really really love you—he doesn’t want you to be as smart as he is—knowing from experience the difference between good and evil! Eve doubted God and believed the devil and that ruined everything!

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid.” It is hard to comprehend how quickly everything fell apart! Adam and Eve were ashamed! Shame! Shame on them for doing the only thing in all creation that God said, “Don’t do it!” They had broken the only rule in the whole world! And the first result was shame! It is exceedingly significant to notice the name God uses—to describe himself—his presence palpable—moving through the garden. Adam and Eve heard the sound of the LORD God—they hid from the LORD God--the LORD God called to the man… The LORD—the Great I AM—is the Savior name! It isn’t the police—the law enforcer—the Judge—which God surely is—and makes no apology for. But the name he uses to describe himself—looking for sinful fallen people is the Savior God—the God of free and faithful grace—the God who always keeps his promise to save us from eternal destruction! Here is comfort for Adam, Eve and you and for me! “Where are you?” God could have squashed Adam and Eve—the way I slap flies on the window screen in my office! The LORD didn’t owe them any explanation. Just squish—and they’d be gone! But he didn’t. Where are you? Adam and Eve are what? Hiding behind some shrub? Quick—be quiet! What? Maybe the maker of Heaven and earth won’t see us here? How painfully pathetic is that? Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid.” God says--“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Confronted with the first sin—so soon after their flawless creation—you might hope Adam and Eve might say, “I have sinned! God be merciful to me—a sinner!” But they don’t! They compound the problem—by blaming the devil, blaming their spouse—even—blaming their Heavenly Father! Only the Holy Spirit—filling your heart—can make you strong enough and honest enough to admit your mistakes! Children admitting their mistakes—instead of playing that game of deny, deny, deny. Husbands admitting their mistakes to their wife and their children. Workers admitting their mistakes to their bosses and bosses admitting their mistakes to their workers. Imagine politicians admitting mistakes—not when they are backed into a corner and forced to admit them—but admitting them. From time to time it happens. A professional golfer admitting a mistake after he signs his score card—means he is not the winner of the tournament—but disqualified. Telling the truth costs him literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it is the truth! Coaches admitting they made a mistake—and the whole team is disqualified. That wouldn’t be easy! But it would be the right thing to do. It would give glory to your Heavenly Father! Again, if God were more like us—he could have squished Adam and Eve like annoying insects. He could have simply willed it—and they would have ceased to exist. He could have vaporized them. He could have made them suffer a slow and agonizing death. He didn’t. Instead he promised them rescue from sin—at the exceedingly high cost of his innocent Son’s life!

So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” I watched some of the NBA playoffs. A player went pounding down the court—for a layup. As he went up—off the floor—vulnerable—an opponent player plowed into him—hacking him in the face with his arms and elbows. Down the shooter goes—face first—into the photographers sitting on the edge of the floor. A teammate dives on top of him—holding him down. Why? The commentators say—to keep him from getting up to get even. To keep him from getting up and pounding back the guy who plowed into him. It’s a violent physical struggle between guys on the same team. “Don’t do it! Don’t get revenge!” Is it that tempting? Is the urge to get even so overwhelming—that you practically clock your own teammate—so you can get a shot at the guy who hit you? What would you do? What do you do—when someone hurts you? What do you do—when someone sins against you? Do you try to hurt them back? Is it—eye for eye—and tooth for tooth? Do you get them worse than they got you—so they won’t mess with you again? We need to remember—the source of all evil—is always ultimately the devil. Jesus came into this world to crush the power of the devil—to set us forever free. There is enmity—a terrible struggle between the devil and Eve—between demons and people. Ultimately the Christ child will be born a man—to do battle with the devil. And though the devil would succeed in causing Jesus horribly pain—Jesus will crush the head of the devil. Jesus would overcome sin and guilt and give us forever life. Jesus will squash the devil so that we might have forgiveness, life and salvation. Amen!