Reformed & Expository Preaching

The Lord has been reacting to what man is doing under the heaven. Man is trying to establish a personal Sabbath Garden like Eden where God is going to be lead around like a little dog catering to the wishes of man. Is the Lord going to allow something like this to happen again and again? What about the promise of the Lord raising up a faithful line to love Him, honor Him, and serve Him? Moses introduces to us a new character that the Lord has chosen to use in the building of His kingdom.

One of the challenges of the Christian life is not allowing our earthly perspective to get in the way of our heavenly perspective. We are people called to arrive at heaven. We are people called to have the orientation of heaven ever before us as we sojourn through this age. So, how is this worked out? On the one hand we are struggling sinners called to honor the Lord and on the other hand we are called by a perfect God. So, how are we to live our the righteous requirements of the law in light of our sinful struggle?

The Lord has washed the face of the earth with a flood, but has delivered a household through the ordeal waters of death. Has sin been washed off the face of the earth? We know that Ham mocked his dad and did not bear fruit of being one of the seed of the woman so clearly there are still sinners walking on the earth. However, did man learn his lesson from the flood? Did man get the message that God will carry out His justice? Or does God need to intervene to restrain man? How can God intervene now that he bound himself to preserve this creation until the final Sabbath?

The law of God is one of those difficult things to address. On the one hand we can go down the road of being self righteous where we reduce the meaning of the law down to a few outward things that are easy to keep. We can also become a people who dismiss the seriousness of wanting to conform to the law. We can claim that this law is not binding. We can also go to a place where we claim that our works are needed for our entrance into heaven. So, when James exhorts us to be doers of the law what can he possibly mean? How can we be a doer of the law without minimizing Christ’s one time completed work?

The Lord enters his rest at the end of the creation. The Lord has finished his work and is now in the rest where man is to join the Lord enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven. However, man has fallen, martyrdom has already happened, and the Lord has dealt with the offender. Now what is going to happen? How is this creation going to respond to Lord warning Cain? Will the Lord have to intervene once again?

James desires us to see and believe that God is the giver of all good things. This might sound strange considering that James just talked about the suffering that we will endure in this life. Why is it so important to see that God is good? Do we vainly hope that God is good or is there another issue and problem that we need to own which prevents us from seeing God’s goodness?

Adam and Eve are out of the Garden of Eden, and they are banished from the Garden. They will never enter this paradise again nor will they taste any of the fruit that was in this original sanctuary. How do they fare on the other side of Eden? How will human history progress or will it just digress?

James tells us that we are to be joyful in the midst of our suffering. What kind of system of belief is Christianity? Is it possible to find joy in the midst of suffering? Is this something that is optional where maybe we find joy 10 percent of the time and the rest of the time we claim an injustice? What does James mean and how can we possibly have a perspective of “joy” in the midst of suffering?

Adam is in the garden of Eden, called to honor the Lord, and love the Lord. There is a tree that God placed in Eden which will confer upon him the knowledge of Good and Evil. Is it wrong to eat of this tree just because the Lord says so? Is the Lord holding something back from Adam that would be good for him? How bad would it be for Adam to eat of the tree? What would ultimately happen to the human race and this world? This chapter in Genesis truly is a history changing moment.

The Lord has created and placed Adam in a wonderful garden sanctuary where Adam has a taste of heaven. This is a place where man communes with the Lord and fellowships with the living God. However, in the midst of this Garden there are two trees that will testify to man’s allegiance to the living God. What is the significance of this garden? Why does the Lord place these trees in the midst of the garden? Why does the Lord enter his Sabbath rest after revealing the generations of the heavens and the earth?