In his sermon 'Paradise Lost', Jason Dohm explores Genesis 3:22-24, emphasizing the loss of Eden due to Adam and Eve's disobedience. He draws parallels between John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and the biblical account, highlighting humanity's ingratitude towards God's goodness. Dohm stresses that God's partial withdrawal of goodness was a consequence of disobedience, yet not a complete withdrawal, showing God's continued care. He explains the concept of the Trinity, clarifying God's unique knowledge of good and evil compared to humans. The sermon outlines the importance of recognizing blessings, the principle of sowing and reaping, and the necessity of a new covenant—the covenant of grace through Jesus Christ. Dohm concludes with the promise of a future paradise through Christ, emphasizing the enduring hope for believers.

Title of the sermon this morning is Paradise Lost. At least if you went to a public school you probably read a little bit of Paradise Lost. It's poetry from John Milton, you might think. I was a book. Well, he was a Puritan poet.

So that means he wrote 10, 000 lines of poetry and the poem was a book. If you're familiar with the Puritans, you know what a thorough people they were. Paradise Lost by John Milton. It's about the Garden of Eden, the things that happen in the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was a paradise, and when Adam and Eve rebelled against their Creator by eating their forbidden fruit, they lost it.

So we're reading about paradise lost. The Garden of Eden was a paradise and they lost it by disobeying God. The big point is this. So I'm skipping to the end. Can you do that?

Let me give you the big point right now. When I despise the goodness of God and I'm ungrateful for His goodness, I have nothing to complain about when He withdraws a measure of it. God's good to you and you don't acknowledge it, you're not thankful for it. If He withdraws a measure of it, no whining. So I have a question of our text.

Is this a complete withdrawal of God's goodness? Not even close. If God gave them what they deserve for their disobedience, that would have been the end of the human race. We just saw in last week's text actually that he's continuing to care for them. He clothed them.

He's signaling that he's not done with them. So it is so far from a complete withdrawal of his care for them, his kindness to them, but he is withdrawing a measure of goodness and kindnesses that they despised in their disobedience. And they really have no grounds for complaining on what we have in our text today. Let's ask God to help us. God we're coming to just three verses but there's so much truth packed into them I pray that you would help me to unfold these things in a way that would be helpful.

And I pray that for all of us that we would be able to be not just hearers of the Word, but doers of it, that we would learn things that would vault us into action. We would be so helped. We would be changed by your word in Jesus name, amen. So with our subdivision of this text, I'm going to take the first two verses. So hopefully your Bibles are still open to Genesis chapter 3.

Follow along as I reread verses 22 and 23. Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil. And now, lest he put 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 till the ground from which he was taken. In this verse we have God's decisive action, if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in the blanks, action fills in the blank. God's decisive action.

He was speaking, the Lord God, if you look at the transliteration of the Hebrew words Jehovah Elohim is the translation of those words, the self-existing Jehovah Divine One, Elohim. So this great God who needs nothing outside of himself to exist through all eternity, eternity past, eternity future, he doesn't need any fuel, any sleep, any anything. He can just exist on his own internal resources throughout eternity. And he's a divine one, he's not like humans, he's not like a created being having the limitations of any created being, He's totally without limitations. So this is the God who is speaking here, the one true God of Scripture.

Then what's this us stuff? Looking back through the lens of New Testament teaching, we can now see with great clarity that God is Trinitarian. Trinity, three. One God, three persons. Not three people who like each other a lot and work really well together, but three persons making up a single God, one essence.

Do you say that doesn't make sense? I know that. But that's, this is how God reveals himself to be. And I'm not sure when you look out on a starry night that you want a God that you can understand everything about. That wouldn't seem to match the creation that he's made.

So it does make sense that We struggle with the concept of what a God who could do all this would actually be like. He is one God, three persons or three subsistences, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God who is an us. This was mysterious and hard to explain and hard to understand to the Jews. But most of them just chalked it up to being the royal we.

God is so majestic that he should be addressed in the plural to show awe and reverence. So it was hard for them to understand and explain that's the best they could do with it. And I don't blame them. But with the value of progressive revelation, meaning through the centuries, God continues to reveal more and more and more of himself. And now we have very Trinitarian teaching in the New Testament.

We can say, oh, that's what it means for this one self-existing divine one To also say us He exists as three and one We know that this what we're seeing in our text is simply a not yet explained indication of the Trinity. And doesn't that make it that much sweeter to now having the doctrine of the Trinity and having the New Testament teaching on it? We know this isn't new revelation. It was just not yet quite explained revelation and we have the hints of it all the way back to the first chapter of the Bible. I think that's wonderful personally.

I'm very thankful that God hid some indications of this so that when Jesus came to teach it in its fullness and his his disciples did and his Apostles did we can say it's always been that way but we have progressive revelation and now we have the fullness of the revelation We saw it already in chapter 1 verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. This is the one in three God speaking. Let us. We will see it again in chapter 11 verse 7 at the Tower of Babel or babble come let us go down and they're confused their language that they may not Understand one another speech.

So this This isn't isolated this week. We've already seen it. We are going to see it again What does the triune God? Say within himself he says behold Look at this Notice this The man has become like one of us to know good and evil. There are two ways to understand this.

There's a big split among the commentators, two ways to understand it. Many including many of the old dead guys, you know I love them best, read this as sarcasm, A scornful pronouncement because of how unlike God, Adam and Eve actually are. Matthew Henry is a perfect example of viewing it this way. Here's what Matthew Henry says, a goodly God he makes does he not? See what he has got, what preferments, what advantages by eating forbidden fruit.

This was said to awaken and humble them and to bring them to a sense of their sin and folly and to repentance for it that seeing themselves thus wretchedly deceived by following the devil's counsel they might henceforth pursue the happiness of God the happiness God should offer in the way he should prescribe so he takes it as sarcasm Wow you're sure are like me God saying why you sure are like me See what good eating the forbidden fruit has gotten you. Now you'll know to pursue good through the way I prescribe. That's what Matthew Henry and many of his contemporaries and many others think. Here's what I would say, that makes for good preaching but I don't actually believe that God is addressing Adam and Eve at all. I believe God is saying this within His trinitarian self like in chapter 1 and like in chapter 11, the instance before this and the instance after this.

He's saying this within his trinitarian self and I don't actually believe this is sarcasm so the other way to understand it is as follows. The way I'm getting ready to preach it. Because although man was made in the likeness and image of God, this self-existing divine one is also fundamentally different than us in ways that make him holy, holy, holy. So, I think we should affirm both of those things. Are we made in the image and likeness of God?

We read the Bible and we say, amen. But then we see in Isaiah chapter 6 and in Revelation, God called holy, holy, holy, just means separate from us completely other, distinct and we say the Bible teaches that too, we say amen to that too. So we are made in the image and likeness of God and yet He is other, He is separate because of that we should understand that knowing good and evil are very different for God than for human beings. Eating the forbidden fruit did allow us, mankind, to know good and evil, but not in the same way that God knows good and evil. What do I mean by that?

I mean this. Scripture teaches that God is omniscient. He's all-knowing. There's nothing that can be known that God doesn't know, including about eternity past, including through eternity future, God is never going to be caught by surprise by something that he didn't know. He knows it all.

That's what scripture teaches. He is omniscient, all knowing. As such, God understands everything about evil. He knows all the nooks and crannies about evil, but none of that knowledge is experiential in the sense that he's entered into and engaged in evil. God has never been evil in thought or in word or in deed and he never will be evil in thought, word, or deed.

God is not vulnerable to evil. So we are vulnerable to engaging in it, to suffering from it, and God's not vulnerable to either. In John 14 verse 30, Jesus says this just think about this is John 14 verse 30 Jesus says the ruler of this world is coming and he's actually talking about Satan Satan for for a time has been given authority on earth not unbounded authority on earth, but leeway authority on earth Jesus says the ruler of this world Satan is coming and he has nothing in me It was not a crack for Satan to insert a crowbar to pry in Jesus. Not a vulnerability to seize on in Jesus. None of us can say that.

The ruler of this world is coming. He has nothing in me. Jesus is totally not vulnerable to evil. God is unchangeably and God is perfectly good. Perfectly good and that can't ever change and won't ever change.

He'll always be perfectly good. So God has no curiosity about what it would be like to engage in evil. It doesn't pique His interest. He's incapable of it. Not because he's not good at stuff, he's great at everything.

He's incapable of it because he's perfectly good and there's nothing that draws him towards it. James 1 verse 13, James says, he himself, God himself cannot be tempted by evil. There's no draw, there's no vulnerability. Mankind was created in the image and likeness of God. True.

Mankind was created good. True. But not unchangeably, unbreakably good like God is good. And the brake line was the one clear explicit commandment of God. So in the garden that's the line.

They were made in the image and likeness of God. They were made good, but there's a line there. And to remain that way, you have to stay on this side of the line, the obedience side of the line. If you cross over it, you will change. Adam and Eve crossed that line.

And now that the line has been crossed, our very core, meaning every human that's born from Adam and Eve at this time in our text on our very core, our essence, our nature has become dramatically vulnerable to evil. It is actually now present in our hearts and works from the inside. Did you know you don't need the external things to get you to engage in evil? Yes, they can aggravate it all, but sometimes we mistake the fact that external things can aggravate it as it made me do it. Actually no, evil is working on us from the inside because of the things we're reading and studying.

So yes those things can aggravate. We should try not to aggravate the evil in each other's hearts and we can do that we ought to repent when we do that but we're not the source of it. The serpent said you will not surely die For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. They bought the lie. They expected good from disobedience.

And their eyes were opened. Check. He said their eyes would be opened. Were their eyes open? Yes, they were open.

They expected that to be good. They immediately got shame. They expected good. They got shame when they did evil engaged in evil and came to know evil by experience by entering into evil Now that line has been crossed and the wages of sin is death and the spiritual death has happened. The change in nature, spiritual death, estrangement from God, alienation from God and the physical death is coming.

You keep coming back on Sundays, we'll get to people dying, it's coming, physical death is coming, and access to the tree of life must be denied. You can't have both, he let them have the tree of life and said, don't touch the tree of the knowledge of good and wisdom. You can't have them both. When you've had from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you forfeit access to the tree of life. You can't have them both.

Life was promised on obedience, death was promised on disobedience, and if the human race is to have Any hope at all, there will have to be a new covenant. That was the covenant. Obey and live, disobey, die. When they disobeyed and died, spiritual death was part of that package and now there's not going to be any hope for humanity unless you change covenants out of the obey and live disobey and die covenant. There's no hope for any of us in the obey and live disobey and die covenant There's gonna have to be a new covenant if there's going to be any hope for us The covenant of works has failed Yes, that's what we've been studying the covenant of works Has failed And if the human race is to have any hope, there will have to be a covenant of grace.

Be a covenant of grace. A covenant that doesn't depend on us anymore. If it depends on us, we're going to be lost. God cannot allow the man to put out his hand and take of the tree of life and eat and live forever. He cannot allow it.

At this point, there's lots I would like to know about the fruit of the tree of life and the text doesn't tell me. How does this work? You have to eat it one time, you live forever, you have to eat it every day. But I think we should set aside the question, how exactly does the tree of life work because God doesn't seem to have any interest in revealing that to us. It's just not there.

It's not a hint of it. I don't know how it would help us. That's why it's not there. I don't have like how would it help you to know? The fact is it did indeed work and as long as Adam and Eve had access to it and ate from it, they would not have physically died.

Adam and Eve would be alive on planet earth today if they had access to the tree of life. They would have lived forever. So what decisive action did God take? The Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. Now a few things to say about this.

First, this is happening to Adam and Eve. It's not like Adam has to go but Eve can stay. It's happening to both of them, But it is framed as happening to Adam. Adam is bearing the responsibility for what has happened in the framing of the text. There's no illusion at all to Eve in this text even though she's included in everything is happening the text reads like she isn't Why is that because Adam is bearing the responsibility?

For what has happened? Behold the man has become like one of us. And now, lest he put out his hand and take, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground. We're coming to verse 24. Not there yet, but we're coming to it.

So God drove out the man. Eve had an equal part in the sin, but the buck stops with Adam. She did the crime too, but the buck stops with Adam. This is so profound. This has such broad ranging implications and I won't chase them today.

Next the Hebrew word translated sent out is a really strong term. Listen to what you find in the Hebrew lexicon when you click on this word online. To send, send away, dismiss, cast out, put away, divorce. Actually when you get to Deuteronomy 24, which is the divorce chapter, if you've ever studied divorce and remarriage, you end up at Deuteronomy 24 trying to sort all this out. And Deuteronomy 24, the divorce chapter, has a husband giving a wife a certificate of divorce and sending her out.

This is that word. Gary at Men's Bible Study wanted to add one. Evict. He's right. It's really good.

I think the Hebrew lexicon should add it, evict. Finally, there is a radical change in the provision of food and a radical change in work. This matters a lot to us and how we live our lives. Radical change in how you get your food, a radical change in the labors of your hands. Before sin, acquiring food was as simple as picking fruit from trees that God planted that were pleasant to the sight and good for food.

Just turn back to chapter 2 and look at verses 8 and 9. Chapter 2, 8 and 9. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, so He did the planting. And there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

So no sin, how do you get food? You pick fruit from trees you didn't even plant. Sounds good to me. Now that Adam and Eve had brought sin into the world, Adam would be tilling the ground. Who's going to do the plowing?

You Adam, you're doing the plowing. Who's going to do the planting? You Adam, you do the planting. Who's going to do the harvesting? You Adam, you do the harvesting.

Who's going to do the storing? You Adam, you do the storing. And sometimes those crops will fail and there will be famine. There was none of that in Eden. Before sin, work was tending and keeping this garden that I described last week as soft and gentle.

That's how I described the garden last week, soft and gentle, both literally and climatically. It was work in which total physical nakedness was totally compatible. So we don't know exactly what the tending and keeping was but we know that total physical nakedness was totally compatible with the work. Okay, so that does sound soft and gentle. Now that Adam and Eve had brought sin into the world.

Adam would be contending with thorns and thistles. Want to be naked now? He would be toiling and sweating. When God had given Adam suitable clothing for this new life, God clothed him in a shoulders to knees leather tunic. So the old world total physical nakedness works.

In the new world, Adam have a shoulders to knees leather tunic. The clothing really says it all about work. There's been a radical change in the provision for food and a radical change in work. And we're living in that world now, and you know it. Just know the world wasn't always like that.

Food used to be as easy as picking fruit from trees that you didn't even plant, tending and keeping the soft and gentle garden. One last comment before we move on. We have a subtle reminder of what we are. To till the ground from which he was taken. Yes, Adam was made in the image and likeness of God.

There's such privilege in that. Amen, the Bible teaches it. It's such an exalted position. Amen, No other creature is like that, made in the image and likeness of God. Given dominion over the rest of creation.

But Adam was also just dust that God breathed life into. Have the full-orbed view, not just made in the image and likeness of God, all privilege, all exaltation, all dominion, yes, all that's true. And, chapter two, verse seven, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being, it's all God. The value here is God. It's dust plus God's breath.

The value here is God. Verse 24, our last verse. And if you think that means we're almost done you haven't seen my notes Chapter 3 verse 24 So he drove out the man And he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. It's not mythology, it's actually happened. Real people really being evicted from a garden paradise and when they're evicted an angelic guard placed so they couldn't return.

Angelic guards bar the way to the tree of life. If you're taking notes on the handout. Guards. Fills in the blank. Angelic guards bar the way of the tree of life.

As with the Hebrew word translated sent out being a very strong term, the Hebrew word translated drove out here in verse 24 is an equally strong term. Hebrew lexicon drive out, expel, cast out, drive away, divorce, put away, thrust away. So that's what God did to Adam. God drove Adam out of the garden. God evicted him.

And that is equally true of Eve, though the text explicitly calls out Adam. And God placed a guard, stationed a guard, Cherubim, which is the plural of cherub. So there were multiple, more than one, we don't know how many, but it's plural, cherubs. These are angelic beings. We think of Cupid, fat, harp-bearing babies.

Cherub, not a cherub. Like with the tree of life, I don't understand the exact mechanics of how this works. Multiple angelic beings stationed on the east side of Eden with a flaming sword which is flashing back and forth in every direction, but the main point couldn't be clearer There is no way back to the tree of life So that that's the main point lots about cherubim that we like to know. We have a limited view. I'll give you a little more from scripture, but we have a limited view.

Here's what you need to know. There's no way back to that tree. There will be no sneaking back into the garden to eat of the tree of life. Paradise is lost. Exodus 25 gives us a description of the Holy of Holies.

What's the Holy of Holies? It's the innermost sanctum. First in the tabernacle when they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years they had a grand tent and not a temple because they were on the move but in the middle of that was the Holy of Holies. Then it would be when they were settled in the promised land and Jerusalem was the place where God chose to put his name. They would build a permanent structure, a temple, And it would have the holy of holies in the middle in both cases It would only have in it the the Ark of the Covenant a Structure that housed the the two tablets of the ten commandments And originally it had Aaron's budding rod and a jar of manna from the wilderness.

And on the Ark of the Covenant, on the Ark would be the mercy seat. And above that was a two cherubim and the wings of one would touch the wings of another in the middle and the wings would extend out and touch the far wall of the Holy of Holies and they had faces, there's not a lot of description of what they looked like, but you know they had wings and they were there covering, covering cherubim, they were there covering the mercy seat and the ark of the covenant. They appear in a number of books in the Old Testament. Ezekiel is probably where we get the most descriptions. And I'm not going to even bother taking you there, because after you read it, you still don't really know what they look like.

They have sometimes multiple faces, and they're Riding and things with wheels that I'm not describing. Okay, but here's what I'll say from Ezekiel. The most description is in Ezekiel and you can tell that the author is struggling to describe what he's seeing in the visions. But it's terrifying. It's no fat, harp-bearing baby.

When the path to the tree of life has been blocked by the cherubim, you don't have to be told twice. Let me give you five applications. So the way back to the tree of life is blocked. So what should we do with this text? It's all very interesting.

But we don't want to be just hearers of the Word, we want to be doers of the Word. So what should we do with this text? At least these five things. One, don't be surprised and don't complain When God removes a measure of good gifts you have despised. I've had that happen in my life.

Looking back, wow, wasn't it great when this thing that I took for granted was firmly planted in my life. And I didn't think another thing about it. It was just part of the baseline. So I never acknowledged it. I wasn't thankful for it.

And then it was taken away. And I realized all the good that was coming through this thing that I wasn't thankful for at all Don't be surprised when that happened and don't complain when it happens When God removes a measure of the good gifts you have despised if you despise something don't be surprised if God removes it. And not acknowledging it and not being thankful for it is despising it. It is called presumption to enjoy blessings without acknowledging them or being thankful for them. That is very wrong and you can count on God running out of patience at some point.

Now he's very patient and he's very merciful and and maybe you will never see the end of his patience when you're despising something that's good I can't guarantee you that he will but I'm telling you as I read the Bible more and more and live life more and more, I can say, friends, don't be surprised. It's very wrong to enjoy blessings without acknowledging them or being thankful for them. And you can count on God running out of patience at some point. If God didn't pull back at least a measure of the good gifts we've been despising, we would just persist in that forever. You just continue in your unthankfulness.

So it's a sort of kindness to us that God addresses this in our lives in that way. Oh, you don't care anything about this? You're not thankful for this? I'll have that back now. Now, we could just wait for it to happen and then repent, But I would suggest that instead we should take time to take inventory.

Just think about, count your blessings, name them one by one. Make a list. And then start being as thankful for them as you can be. Acknowledge them. God, these are blessings.

I'm so glad I made the list because I wasn't thinking about these things. I've just taken them from, I've enjoyed them for so long that I've just started to take them for granted. Repent now! Don't wait till God takes it away and then repent. Number two, very closely related.

The general principle is that we will reap what we sow. So be very careful about what you sow. I sowed thorns. Wow, I hope a fig tree grows up. Jesus talked about that.

That's not how it works. I sowed brambles. Wow, I hope I get an apple tree. The general principle is that we reap what we sow. Careful about what you sow.

People go through life acting like it doesn't matter what you sow. Listen to Galatians 6 verses 7 and 8. Galatians chapter 6 verses 7 and 8. Paul writes, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked For whatever a man sows that he will also reap For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." That can't be in Galatians.

Galatians is in the New Testament. Surely that's the Old Testament. Sowing and reaping surely is part of that dark Old Testament. No, that's Galatians. The favorite book of every antinomian that ever lived has that.

The gospel changes this in the ultimate sense. That is true. Ultimately, Jesus reaps what I have sown when I have saving faith in him. Isn't that wonderful? The great exchange.

I sowed all this garbage and Jesus reaps what I have sown. And Jesus has never sown anything but righteousness and goodness and I reap from that. So praise the Lord in the ultimate sense, the gospel changes this. But that is not the same as the principle of sowing and reaping being universally revoked. Otherwise, Paul never would have written this to the Galatians.

It does not mean that the law of sowing and reaping has been universally revoked so that you can sow whatever you want and you won't reap the consequences of it in your life. Many dear Christians have sowed to the flesh and reaped corruption. Be very careful what you sow. Number three, Understand the relationship between grasping to be like God in ways not given to us. We want to become conformed to Christ.

Amen! Christ like this, amen! All that's been given to us. God says go for it could be conformed to my son Okay, but there are ways to be like God that God has reserved to himself so that's what I'm talking about so there's a relationship between grasping to be like God in ways not giving to us given to us think Genesis 3 they're saying the devil says you'll be like God and there was in a way not given to them, knowing good and evil, because we wouldn't know good and evil in the way that God does. So there's a relationship between that and being with God.

Grasping to be like God in a way not given to us, he reserved it to himself, and being with God. And in our chapter it's an inverse relationship. They went for being like God in a way not given to them, and their relationship with God was fractured. It compromised their ability to be with God in the way that God originally intended it and designed it to be. They forfeited the closeness of relationship with God that God intended and designed.

David says this in Psalm 16 verse 11. David, you can tell David is very sensitive to this and tender hearted towards this. Psalm 16, 11, David says, You God will show me the path of life in your presence as fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forever more." I think our text today would have us go for that. Forget about grasping for things that God has reserved for himself. Getting out of our territory, going for being like God in ways that we're not meant to be like God.

Think autonomy. Total independence. No, no, go for being with God That's more than enough that's better We weren't made to be like God in those ways but we were made to be with God and he offers us that and David describes it as Pleasures forevermore at your right hand to be near God There are pleasures forevermore In your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand or pleasures forevermore. So that was number three. Understand the relationship between grasping to be like God in ways not given to us and being with God.

Inverse. They went for the one and it fractured the other. Number four, ask yourself, what is disobedience buying me? We obviously have an objective in mind when we disobey. Okay, so what's it buying you?

What's it buying me? Paul asks it this way in Romans 6, 21. Paul asks it this way, Romans chapter 6 verse 21. He says, what fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed for the end of those things is death. He's writing to Romans believers and he's talking about all the things they used to chase, saying, what fruit did you get from those things?

You're ashamed of them now. The end of that pathway is death. What did you get from it? So it's a good question to ask ourselves. What am I getting from these pockets of disobedience in my life?

What is it getting me? You know, it's buying you shame. Soon enough, you'll be ashamed of it. Lastly, our text spells out the problem. This is number five.

Number five. Our text spells out the problem. The Lord Jesus Christ is the answer. Alan Ross had been quoting him every week and I wanted to keep the streak alive. So here's your Alan Ross quote right here at the very end from his commentary creation and blessing.

Alan Ross says, the human race, of course, lives on in the present evil world. And so the curse remains in effect. But for the believer, there are better prospects. The sting of the curse has been removed in view of the glorious prospects that lie ahead. There is no going back to the garden.

The only way now Is on the glory to join the last Adam Who died as the curse for the human race and changed death into life through his resurrection from the dead? So he's acknowledging we still live in the world under the curse the things that we're seeing described here, we see them in technicolor in our world. There's no way back. The way is forward through Jesus Christ. Listen to this.

I have exceedingly good news for you. I have come today to deliver good news. Something better than Eden can be regained. Paradise is lost. It Took John Milton 10, 000 lines to say that.

Paradise is lost. Something better than that paradise can be regained. Just going to read you from the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22. Listen to the first three verses. And he, an angel, showed me, John, the author of Revelation, And an angel showed John a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

In the middle of its street and on either side of the street was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb of God shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him." We are actually not done with the tree of life. Those who trust in Christ are going to see the tree of life again and somehow it bears its 12 fruits every month and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. How much of that is figurative? I don't care.

Do you care? Why do you care? It's either literal or better. There's no way back. There is a way forward.

It is through Jesus Christ, who He is and what He's done. Let's give thanks. God, Thank you for the stark warnings in this text. God, we know there are a multitude of ways where the kindnesses in our lives have gone unacknowledged and we've not been thankful for them and we have no right to complain if you withdraw them. Pray that you would show us these things.

Pray that you would give us some quiet moments to take inventory and to just acknowledge and give thanks the thousand ways that you've been kind in ways we didn't deserve thank you God for these problem tax that bring us to the glorious a solution to the all of these problems the Lord Jesus Christ from pray he would be so precious to us, so dear in our hearts that we would trust him so implicitly, so fully, we would forsake hope in any other thing in this world. Pray in Jesus' name, amen.