Sermon Tone Analysis

In The Beginning God

God Created the Heavens and the Earth

God existed before anything else.

“a period of remote and unknown antiquity, hid in the depths of eternal ages; and so the phrase is used in Pr 8:22, 23.”

God created the heavens and the earth.

God existed before they were there.

It was the Godhead, the three in one together in creation.

“God—the name of the Supreme Being, signifying in Hebrew, “Strong,” “Mighty.”

It is expressive of omnipotent power; and by its use here in the plural form, is obscurely taught at the opening of the Bible, a doctrine clearly revealed in other parts of it, namely, that though God is one, there is a plurality of persons in the Godhead—Father, Son, and Spirit, who were engaged in the creative work (Pr 8:27; Jn 1:3, 10; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2; Job 26:13).”

Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997).

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 17).

Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

The Earth was Without Form and Void

or in “confusion and emptiness,” as the words are rendered in Is 34:11.

This globe, at some undescribed period, having been convulsed and broken up, was a dark and watery waste for ages perhaps, till out of this chaotic state, the present fabric of the world was made to arise.

Day 1 - evening and morning.

Day 2 - Dome

Heaven

Separated water and dry ground

Day 3 - green plants

according to their kind

it was good

Day 4 - lights in the sky

signs for appointed times, seasons

Day 5 - fish, birds

according to their kind

Day 6 - everything on the ground

humankind

be fruitful and multiply

according to their kind

every green plant as food

it was very good

God blessed the seventh day

This is something the Jewish people get right.

Man is in the garden

every tree good for food

The tree of life

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil

God took time with Adam to show him all of creation

All of these were for our use, but none were “counterpart”

bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh

In vs 24 a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they shall be as one flesh

Adam understood the concept of father and mother, procreation, and all that meant.

They had the garden and all in it as food

They walked with God

They might have lived forever

But they believed the serpent

The Knowledge of good and Evil

They hid themselves

They were conscious of their sin

They knew they were naked

They were afraid

They are put out of the garden

There is the curse of pain in child bearing

There is the curse of the ground, by the sweat of your brow ...

This was the first death, the death of an animal to cover their nakedness

It was also the beginning of them eating meat for food.

They go and are living their life

They have two sons, Cain and Abel and their sons grow up

Abel brought an offering of blood, as the Lord had now established for the covering of their nakedness.

Cain worked to bring forth fruit and brought it to the Lord, but his conscience was seared, he didn’t acknowledge his nakedness.

Cain came to the Lord as if nothing had ever happened and then was angry with Abel and kills him.

The Lord says to Cain

Cain takes this further and says

From Your Face I Must Hide

Cain adds to what God had said “from your face I must hide”.

Then in

The presence of the Lord was there for all of them even after they were expelled from the garden.

It was Cain’s own guilty conscience that separated him from the Lord just as it had been Adam’s guilty conscience that had caused him to hide from the Lord.

They knew their actions had consequences and felt the very real separation as a result.

Now, Cain is living apart from the Lord altogether.

Cain went ahead and lived his life and had children and built a city

God Has Appointed Another Child

Adam and Eve have also been living their life.

They have experienced one of the worst things a couple can face, the death of a child.

But God has said, be fruitful and multiply and they do.

And their son, Seth has a child, they are grandparents again.

This is the state of many people in the world.

They are just living their lives.

They may have a knowledge of God but they have no relationship with him.

Call on the Name of the Lord

The Bible is silent on the relationship of Adam and Eve with the Lord until we come to Seth.

None have called on the name of the Lord until here.

The guilt of their sin, rejection they felt after being expelled from the garden, the premature death of a child which is a tragic and an emotional wound that is hard to get over, any or all of these may have been justifications for their separation.

But now, one man calls on the name of the Lord.

He Has Spoken to us by His Son

We have come into a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ.

We are sealed with His Holy Spirit, our comforter, our teacher.

And what is it that Jesus has said to us?

God wants those that come wholeheartedly to him.

We are no longer just living in guilt and shame and rejection and grief.

Yes, there is still tragedy in the earth, we suffer loss of loved ones, offenses, and accusations, but God s with us.

Praying and Singing to God

Today, we have a different relationship.

Wherever we are, we have access to the presence of God.

Think about this, they had been arrested, beaten and locked in the deepest part of the prison, today we might call it the hole in

But how do Paul and Silas take this?

They start singing ...

I Love you Lord, and I lift my voice (sing here)

They all thought Paul was dead.