The sermon explores Genesis chapter 3 and how it relates to our lives in a fallen and broken world. It emphasizes the importance of having a biblical worldview and understanding the enemy we face in Satan. The sermon also highlights the significance of Jesus Christ fulfilling the chief end of man and how we can live in holiness and glorify God despite the challenges we face.

Well, good morning to you all. And if you're visiting us here this morning, special welcome to you. It's always wonderful to have people come and worship our precious Lord Jesus together with us. Genesis, Genesis chapter 3. If you want to turn there, I'm going to read the whole chapter again and you will see as we speak about our life in this world, isn't it interesting that we need to go back to the foundations, back to the beginning, because that is where God sets out for us not only the fact that he is the creator but also how we have fallen and today we will look at how we should navigate our lives in a fallen world, a broken world.

So Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent who was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of the any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the tree of the fruit of the trees in the garden But God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths, and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and he said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.

He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman whom you gave to me to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate. And then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate.

The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat. All the days of your life I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing.

In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.

Now lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to God, the way to the tree of life. Amen. So dear brothers and sisters, when we look at this passage, I think we're all quite familiar with the story. This is the story of the fall of man.

But it comes in the context of what we've done last week. Man fell in the world that God created. So, Let me hear how many of you know Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 by heart this morning? Children? In?

Children! Where are you? Sleep! Come on! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Oh well done. A little bit of screaming from the pastor every now and then seems to be necessary. Right we need to know that verse because that verse is the foundation on which we built everything that we understand. God created. So we looked at that last week.

That then leads us to understand our place in this world. If God created this world and we are created beings, we must live our lives within God's purposes for his creation. And we need to align ourselves with his design for this world. You and I cannot just walk around and make our own plans and our own laws and define everything according to our gained knowledge of good and evil. It has to be God's.

But as we all know too well, this is not how we see the world around us, and often not what we see even within us. And the reason why this is the case is that because of man's rebellion against God the whole of creation finds itself under a curse. In Romans chapter 8 verse 20 to 22 we read these familiar verses where the Apostle Paul describes the world in which we live. He says, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

So today I want us to look at this world groaning, this world under the curse of God and our place in it. This world is in a state of rebellion against God. And this will help us then to understand some of the challenges that you and I face in our day in which we live. Because the whole reason for this series is for us to see ourselves in this world where we are now and to recognize the voice of the serpent and to know the voice of our God who created us and to be able to make the right choices by God's grace to follow him and not to fall for the temptations of the devil. Now every which way you turn, the reality is that all human beings look at the world through a system formed by their beliefs, by their experiences, by the philosophical influences on their lives, and we have a word for that, it is a worldview.

Now I looked at Wikipedia, the go-to definition seekers, Wikipedia, for all it's worth, gives us a definition of what is a worldview. I want to read this to you because I think we need to understand this. It says a worldview or the German word Weltanschauung, it's funny how many liberal teachings come from beautiful and lovely Germany. Anyway, they also gave us the Reformation, so we should be grateful. A worldview is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society, encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, its culture and point of view.

So a worldview can include our natural philosophy, our fundamental existence, our normative postulates – so those things that we postulate – themes, values, emotions and ethics. So to boil it down, a worldview is a system by which you and I are being informed in our environment through which we then view the world. We try to understand the world in which we live and then we organize ourselves according to our worldview. Now if society, our culture or your point of view believes that there is no God, or maybe there is a God, but you can comfortably ignore him, or change his laws as you please, if that is your world view, then you will be one who live your life without the world view that says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I know it's simple, it's straightforward, it's kind of obvious, but if you don't believe in God or if you willingly ignore God, it's going to change the way in which you live your life.

And you and I who cannot ignore God because we love him and we believe in him, we cannot live our lives differently either, can we? Because that knowledge informs how I'm going to live my life. And sadly the default position of man is one where they either do not believe in God completely, we call it atheism, or it is a worldview where we have replaced God for other gods, Or it is a worldview where we still acknowledge the existence of God and yet we want to ignore him. Since the fall when Adam and Eve first rebelled against God's Lordship, our whole posture has been one of creating a view of the world that would exclude or marginalize God, one that will suit our fleshly desires to cover our shame and to hide from God. We see that is the first response of Adam.

After they fell in sin, the first thing they wanted to do is ignore the fact that God will come and walk with him in the garden as he has done. And they hide themselves from him so that God need to call out, Adam, Adam where are you? And our generation is no more sophisticated than Adam. Without acknowledging God, you and I, or at least the world in which we live in, if you're saved by grace, thank God for that, but our society, we still pursue ways to satisfy the flesh, don't we? To cover our sins, by simply redefining sin.

That's one way to cover sin. Just call it something else. We cover our shame by making sin something to be celebrated instead of something to abhor. We hide from God behind words like love and tolerance and progress and human rights and any other transparent leave that we can gather in order to try to cover ourselves from God who sees everything. Now it's my duty before God as the shepherd of this congregation to do two things.

One, and we share this burden by the way, is we need to proclaim the wonderful good news of Jesus Christ to all men. But I'm also called to shepherd God's people to proclaim to them that Jesus Christ is Lord. And as the Apostle Paul writes here in Colossians 1 28, he says, him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. So this morning, it would be the warning part, teaching in all the wisdom that we find in God's Word so that you and I, dear brothers and sisters, may one day be presented mature before the Lord Jesus Christ or in the Lord Jesus Christ before the Father. So my greatest joy would be for you and me to die and maybe I shouldn't pause there yeah to die as those who are mature in Christ.

To be presented to God then, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2, he says, For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin in Christ." Brothers and sisters, we have sung that wonderful Psalm, Psalm 24, Who can come into the presence of God? You and I know and I'm very grateful for Fred pointing that out again. You and I can't. You cannot. It is only those who are covered in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ who can enter.

So the verse that follows in 2 Corinthians 11, the next verse, verse 3 says, But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. In other words, the very thing that will make it possible for you to enter into the presence of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the very thing that the serpent will try to prevent from happening. He will try to keep on deceiving you as he deceived Adam and Eve. So if you want to give some joy to me as your pastor but also to yourself as someone who walks in the Lord Jesus Christ but most of all to him the Lord Jesus and his glory, you have to, have to this morning think about who you are as a human being in this fallen world and where your hope is in order for you to live your life to glorify Christ. And we have to do that by recognizing our world views.

How do we as Christians keep our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ and navigate our way through this minefield where the serpent will constantly strike at your heel. Non-stop. So the way I want to help us to see this, at least this morning, is to use an illustration of fighting a war. Any warrior fighting to the end needs to understand the landscape. If you know you fight a desert war, you fight differently than if you fight in the swamps of Vietnam or wherever.

You need to know the landscape, you need to know where you are, you need to be able to look and see, oh there's the high ground, or there I should stay away from, or there I can be ambushed. And then secondly we need to know our objectives. And we need to know our strengths and our weaknesses. And this we do by having the Bible as our supreme authority in our lives because The Bible sketch out for us the picture of this war that you and I are involved in. You have no choice because we live in this world.

So let's look at the landscape. The landscape starts off with a garden. Genesis 1 verse 26 to 28 we read that God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. By the way, don't be afraid of those creepy-crawlies. You are supposed to have dominion over them.

So God created man in his image. In the image of God he created him. He created them male and he created them female. And God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. You see, we start off with God creating us to have dominion over the earth, to be vice regents, God's little kings as it were, kings that rule under his great kingship, his royalty.

And we were to present God in this universe. We were supposed to walk around with crowns on our head, having dominion over everything that God has created. When we sinned, we abdicated that position. When Adam and Eve sinned, they did not have dominion over the world anymore. They could not reign as kings under the great King.

But we did not only abdicate our position, we also transferred our allegiance. We were created to have communion with God. We were supposed to walk with him in the garden. We were supposed to love him and adore him and worship him with all our being. And when we sinned, what we did is we said, I now lost my position as a king, but I also have now transferred my allegiance from God to Satan himself.

You see, many people think you can just stay neutral. Just stay neutral. Don't believe in God, believe in God, all your choice. But no dear brothers and sisters, Instead of submitting to our Creator, we have willingly submitted ourselves to the Lordship of Satan himself. So God cursed us, and the created world around us is cursed.

And this curse obviously resulted in death, both spiritual death but also physical death. But it also included slavery. Man became a slave to sin. So here we are, we have been created to live this beautiful world, in this beautiful world, as kings over this world, to have dominion over this world. Even the birds had to submit themselves to Adam and Eve.

The creepy crawly things should have done that. All living creatures should have done that. And now we become slaves to the very world that now turns against us because of the curse. Look at Romans 6 again that we've read. Romans 6 verse 16 we read, do you not know that If you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, as we have done to Satan, you are slaves of the one whom you obey.

Adam and Eve, you submitted yourself to Satan, either of sin which leads then to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness. And then verse 19 he goes on, he says, I'm speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations, for just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now brothers and sisters present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So since Adam and Eve sinned, the landscape is full of land mines. The landscape are full of snipers.

The landscape are full of mortars flying. It's full of missiles. It's full of bombs. It is a place where you are constantly, non-stop, under attack. In Titus 3 verse 3, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

And in Galatians chapter 4 verse 9 the Apostle Paul says, but now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and the worthless elementary principles of this world whose slaves you want to be once more. Within this world you and I find ourselves in, you have men and women and children who were designed to rule as kings, as viceregions of the living God, yet we find ourselves now subjected as slaves to sin. I want you to have a picture on your mind. I don't know if you saw Aida or Verdi, that wonderful opera. Or maybe you have a picture in your mind of slaves being tied together and they're being dragged over the desert into a place where they will continue to live as slaves.

Or maybe you have that picture of that movie, The Miserables. Les Miserables. And it starts with there they are in that boat and they're rowing as slaves and they're being sweared at and being beaten. Brothers and sisters, spiritually that's where we are unless you're in Christ Jesus. Satan will beat you, Satan will curse at you, Satan will try to break you, Satan will not allow you to have any freedom to live in this world that God has created you to live in.

And he does it non-stop. Now this might all sound airy-fairy to some, maybe too theological to others, so I want to put this in the context of what your day might look like. Just to show you that you and I cannot get away from this. So you wake up in the morning and you're still fighting the fatigue of the flesh, you don't want to wake up, you want to sleep a little bit longer, and then you walk to the bathroom to go and clean your face and you try your best to look nice enough not to scare your kids. So you're ready for the day and even before you've made your first step from the bed to the bathroom you have sensed the enslavement of your flesh that is at war with God.

Let me show you. What was your first thought when you woke up this morning? Was it, how will I please my God on this day? Or how you were looking forward to walk with God in the early dew of the morning? Or maybe how grateful you are that you are able to keep God's commandment, that one that he gave in the beginning, or how wonderful this day will be with no weeds on the lawn, no mosquitoes sucking you dry, no natural disasters threatening your life, no conflict in your relationships, no hindrances between you and God, no sin, no death, no disease, no cancer, nothing.

You just woke up this morning and everything was as it was supposed to be. Well I bet you it wasn't. This does not describe the first two minutes when you woke up this morning. We woke up and our first thought goes to the worries of the day ahead. Maybe the first worry is what you will find when you actually get to the bathroom mirror.

You will see the effects of aging. Man, I'm 50 and a bit. And I'm telling you, I don't look as handsome as I used to. I can see my skin is being drawn by gravity. I can see my eyes are not as bright as they used to be.

My hair is turning a different color. You will See the effects of aging, the scars of time dragging you to the dark clutches of what awaits. So what is that? It's death! And instead of looking forward to be in the presence of God, you are more likely to look forward to the cup of coffee to get a kick start, to get going.

You might want to go first and foremost to your Facebook feed to see, you know, what did I miss last night while I was asleep. You also know that even if you wanted to, your life will not be one of complete, joyful, happy obedience to God. You know that it will be a struggle. And as you stand there in the kitchen after you've cleaned yourself up, waiting for the water to boil for the coffee, you can almost hear the weeds grow outside and you know I have to deal with that. And as you think about that you scratch yourself because of the mosquito bites.

And you stand there, dazed, feeling ambushed by the snarky response that just came out of your mouth when your wife just asked you something and you wonder where did that come from? I love her, why in the world would I say something like that? And throughout the whole day you're confronted with mortality, you've confronted with sickness and disease and you know that at any moment could be your last, hopefully not as a result of your snarky comments to your wife, but that has been the case before. Does this describe your life? You see, every bit of our lives are lived in a broken, fallen world.

It is dark. We are enslaved to sin. We cannot help ourselves. When you wake up, it's there. We were created to enjoy God's blessed presence.

We were created to wake up and think, today's another day in the presence of my God who made me and who loves me. I've been created to enjoy him, to be satisfied with him. We were created to stand in dominion over this world and now the world is literally out to suck you dry. So we find ourselves in a position where what we were designed to be is not what we physically experience. This creates confused, unsatisfied people who will then try anything and everything to try and make this work.

And we can't. We are not made to live like this. You have not been designed to live in slavery. We are like fish out of the water gasping. I almost say gasping for air.

I think it doesn't work for the fish. But just gasping, you're out of there, of that habitat that God has created for you to enjoy him. And you're slowly dying. We're like blind men and blind women, knocking each other over as we try our best to survive, because we want to be the fittest. To be the last one standing.

And yet at the end we all die. You ready for some more bad news? Before we get to the good news? The second thing we need to understand is our enemy. If you now understand that this is the landscape, this is where we live, that no matter where I turn, the enemy is shooting at me, we actually need to understand who the enemy is.

Well the enemy is the one to whom we have given ourselves, and the enemy is Satan. You remember, we have given him our allegiance. We are now his. He promised immortality and knowledge, so we decided to switch sides. We don't want God's knowledge, we want our own.

Yet instead of having God as our Lord, we now have replaced God with a new Lord. One who is an active, powerful enemy, and guess what? He's working against us. In that act of insurrection, we gave our authority over to satan we said we won't have dominion over this world he can have it Jesus referring to Satan calls him the ruler of this world in John 12. Paul calls him the prince of the power of the air, the god of this world.

John makes a further distinction when he says we know that we are of God and the whole world is in the power of the evil one. Do you know what? Those should have been descriptions of us in God. We should have been rulers of the world. We should have been the prince of the powers of the air, we should have been those to whom this world bows down in our dominion in Christ or in God.

But didn't we say that this is God's world? Didn't we say Genesis 1 verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? Isn't that his world? Well, of course, he owns it. And this is important for you to get.

So listen very carefully. When we sinned in Eden, God lost nothing. Don't miss this. God didn't lose a thing. He didn't lose his creation.

He didn't lose his dignity. He certainly did not lose his authority, he's still God. This is so important for us, everything and everyone who stands against God, stands as rebels against God who is still sovereign. Sin did not change God, it changed our relationship with him. He's still the sovereign God to whom everything belongs God is untouchable in his reign in his majesty in his glory so then in what sins does the Bible then say that Satan rules this world?

Well the Bible frequently uses the world or this world to refer to the present evil system that is at work in opposition against God. The Bible never teaches that Satan actually rules over the entire world, but that he is ruler over the current system of sinful opposition against God. In other words, he's leading the rebellion. He now has followers. He now has slaves that he can beat into submission.

He has been given this authority to do so by God. Martin Luther said the devil is still God's devil. Satan is a creature. Satan is not omniscient. He's not omnipresent.

He's not God. So this means that Satan as a created being is still subject to God. We shouldn't look at Satan and think, well, you know, I bind Satan here and I bind him there because he's everywhere. He's not. Satan is one being existing in one place.

He cannot exist everywhere. He's not God. He's not omniscient and omnipresent. He does not have the authority to operate outside of the Lord's decree. So again, how do I then take this truth of Satan having this power and how do I live in this world every day?

Well, it starts for you and me to understand that all human beings under the curse of sin has this hanging over them. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This is our enemy. And in this world, the seed of Eve, every boy and every girl ever born will find the serpent constantly striking at his heel.

And you are not the ultimate target by the way. We know the ultimate target was this seed that would be born to redeem mankind, the Lord Jesus Christ. So Peter warns us, he says, Christians be sober minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. This is the world we live in brothers and sisters. And this is the enemy.

So if you have a proper biblical worldview, you will understand why you personally struggle with life, why you face all these many challenges to godly living. You will understand why things are so broken. We should not be shocked by all the unnatural ideologies being forced down upon us in our day and age. I'm not surprised at the lack of empathy for the unborn. I'm not shaken by the increase in hostility against the Church of Christ.

Having a worldview that is informed by God's Word helps me to understand the world in which I live in. I don't have to agree with it but I understand it. To understand that original sin and the curse has an effect even on me and on you. I understand that I have an enemy who's constantly trying to destroy me and it will always produce that which is contrary to God's will. I understand that.

Do you understand this? Because the world is in rebellion against God. Now it fascinates me that our politicians and world leaders and those in education, they believe that man is inherently good. They build their whole world view on this idea that if we just do better, we can build this utopia in which we will all live happily ever after together. There will be no problems with race.

There will be no problems between men and women, everything will be equal and right. They've forgotten that we live in a world that is broken, they've forgotten that sin is in our own hearts, They've forgotten that we are all slaves to Satan. They think that we will all treat each other as equals, there will be no crime, we will be committed to one another, there will be all the human rights we will keep, none of them will be infringed upon, and we will just be happy forever in this world without God. What a foolish thing to think. So what is our objective then in this battle?

Our objective is in him we live and move and have our being. Our objective as men and women created in the image of God living in this world must be therefore I am here, he created me, so I live for him. We all know this very well. What is the chief end of man? You know it?

Yeah, it is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That's why you're here. Our forefathers had that right. We have the statement at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes. In chapter 12 he says after he has looked at this world and he thought about, well, all the projects I can do and all the things that can make me happy, and he says in chapter 12 verse 13, the end of the matter, after everything has been heard, fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it's good or evil. Oh, I wish I could press this on our hearts this morning. I pray that we will never forget. You live for one reason and one reason alone, and that is to bring glory to God. I know this might shock you, this world does not pivot around you or me.

It's not. It doesn't exist so that you can do whatever you please. God has placed boundaries around us. This world is made for the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the purpose.

And So to do this you and I must first of all know and believe Genesis 1 verse 1. And then you need to understand Genesis 3 that teaches us that everything is marred by sin and this curse. And this you need to know so that you can recognize the forces working against you to live for God. Now I'm almost done but let me get to the good news. In every war we fight, We first need to take stock, don't we?

Are we strong enough to actually defend ourselves, or should we find allies to fight with us? Are we so strong that we can actually muster an offensive? So let's look at our strengths and our weaknesses. Slaves are not free, are they? In our case, our slavery killed us.

We are dead in our trespasses and sins, so to even attempt any war against the enemy is futile. You don't have it within you. You cannot wake up this morning and say, watch me now. Watch how I'm going to fight every single temptation that comes my way. Like I said, before you get to the bathroom mirror, you're gonna fail.

Man in his natural state has been defeated. We have given over. We are slaves. We are the walking dead. Dead men can't muster up the courage to organize a defense or even breathe to plan an offense.

Your strength to live up to the chief end of your existence is beyond you and me. It's utterly beyond us. So far removed from your capacity as it is for the dried bones, and forgive me, but you know, think of your great-great-great-great-grandfather that's far enough for it not to be personal, and think about him there in his grave somewhere, and his dry bones will he have the power within himself to gather flesh, to gather life to himself, to have a soul again, to wake up and visit you this afternoon for a cup of tea? It's impossible. So why do we think then that we have the power within ourselves to fight the enemy, to navigate through this world in our own strength and power.

We all fall short of the glory of God, we know that, and yet we still try though, don't we? Even our good works are nothing more than filthy rags. So where's the good news? Well, here it is. Jesus Christ fulfilled the chief end of man.

And while living as the better Adam, the perfect Adam, he stood in our place to receive the punishment that was ours. Christ is the obedient, Father glorifying Son who becomes our substitute. 2 Corinthians 5 to 21, you have to know this verse, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This is why we call on you week after week, and everywhere we go, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, place your incapable, inept, dead self in his care. You cannot live this life that is expected of you, but Christ Jesus did, and this is why he came.

So this being said, am I now just to sit around passively? You know I'm in Jesus, I don't have to do anything to pursue holiness? No. 2 Corinthians 5 17 therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the oldest passed away, behold the new has come. So I stand restored in a restored relationship with God, I am a new creation, I understand now the broken world, I feel its knocks and I still breathe its air, but I am new." And then Galatians 2 verse 20 Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.

But he doesn't stop there does he? He says then, And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. You don't stop living in this world. You don't just say, well, I'm now in the Lord Jesus, so I don't have to pursue holiness and godliness. It is from this position that you are in Christ Jesus that I can now glorify my creator.

I am again restored in Christ. Where is Christ Jesus now? Do you know? He is enthroned as the Lord and the King. We read in 1 Corinthians 15, that wonderful chapter about the resurrection, that he brought the kingdom to the Father.

He said, I am the second Adam. I have now ruled where Adam failed. And you and I, if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we stand in that restored position. So in other words, you're not a slave anymore. If you believe in Jesus this morning you're not a slave of Satan.

So don't act as if you are. Don't be there and you have choices to make in your life and you see the system of this world expecting you to believe this, to do that, to agree upon that, and yet it is in contrast with God's law. You stand in Christ and you say, I reject that. I cannot follow that because I'm in Christ Jesus. I want nothing to do with Satan's lies.

I want nothing to do with Satan's lies. I want nothing to do with his world. I want everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, who's my Lord and King. His hordes might still pursue you. He may even destroy your body, but your soul will be safe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, over the next few weeks I'm probably going to say things from this pulpit that were it not in the context of a church I would probably be cancelled, I would probably be liable to criminal charges, not because what I'm doing is evil, but because the world system has turned itself against the Lord Jesus Christ. And you and I stand with a choice. What are we going to do? Am I going to agree that it's okay to kill babies in the womb because it's convenient? Are we going to say, well, It's just a matter of time, you know, we don't like late-term abortions because you know, that's gross.

But 12 weeks, that's fine. What about marriage? What about the gender issues that are constantly in the news? What are we going to do? Are we going to say, well, I'm going to follow this world system because, you know, that's just who we are and it'll make life easier for ourselves?

Or are we going to say, this is God's world and I'm in Christ Jesus and therefore I must obey him? And let me tell you before I close, this is not going to be an easy ride for you and me as Christians in the next few decades ahead. It's not going to be. As I stand here, I am almost 100% convinced, unless the Lord changes things for the good of his church in the sense of protection, Do you know that many of you might lose your jobs if you obey Christ? Do you know that some of you will end up in prison if you obey the Lord Jesus Christ?

They are taking away your ability to earn money to support your families. That's the world system. Satan is biting at your heel. Just this morning I looked at a little video clip of a pastor, he's a vicar in England. He wrote to the bank about the gay month, you know, LGBTQ month in America and England was a big deal, I think, here as well.

And he wrote to his bank and he just said, as a vicar, I cannot support this. The bank wrote back to him and said we give you 14 days to close your account with us. Are you ready for that? Brothers and sisters we need each other to encourage each other to live holy lives, to glorify Christ, even if it's going to cost us something. I don't want to scare you because the good news is that your soul is safe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But understand the world that you're living in. Thank you.