Rebellion Rescue Restoration Gen 3

Invocabit, The First Sunday In Lent                                     9-March-2025
Sermon Text: Genesis 3:1-21
Sermon Theme: “Rebellion, Rescue, Restoration!” I. In Adam All Rebel Against Their Creator! (Vs.1-8) II. The Lord God Seeks The Lost Through Preaching!(vs.9-15) III. The Lord Jesus Restores Sinners By His Sacrifice Alone! (Vs.16-21)
I.N.R.I. Psa 91:15-16 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. (16) With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Today is “Invocavit Sunday.” Sound familiar? We begin each service with an “invocavit” or to anglicize the Latin - an “invocation.” We call on the Name of the only True and Living God... “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” and we answer, “This is most certainly true” or as we say it in Hebrew - “Amen.”  
        Where God’s Name is spoken He is really present. We are not to take the Name of the Lord our God in vain. We misuse God’s Name by calling Him to damn the hammer with which we just mashed our thumb. We abuse the Name of the only Savior when we cry out “Jesus Christ!” or type an “OMG” to make a point. We drag God’s Name into the mud when we “swear to God” that our lies are the truth. We abuse God’s Name as we daily neglect to “call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”  
        The 91st Psalm is the soldier’s Psalm as he faces battle. It echos David’s song and prayer in all the battles he fought. Psa 91:2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." When the giant Goliath cursed our Lord God of Israel and mocked the boy David for attacking him with a bag of stones and a shepherd’s stick. History records, 1Sa 17:45-46 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (46) This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. The battle wasn’t won by the great giant battle tested warrior Goliath, but by the shepherd David. One smooth stone pierced Goliath’s forehead and he fell dead. The victory for Israel was won by the Lord God through David.
        “A mighty fortress is our God!” our hymn for this day, is also called the battle hymn of the Reformation. Written by Dr. Martin Luther it echoes the words of Psalm 46. God is our refuge on battlefield earth. We wage war against the devil, the world, and our old sinful flesh - our old Adam. Our hope is never in our own reason or strength, but in David’s Son and David’s Lord - Christ Jesus - the Victor over sin, Satan, death, and all evil in this fallen creation. “One little word” fells Satan on the spiritual battlefield of this world, just as one little smooth stone fell the giant. What is that Word? Jesus’ Word, “Satan - you lie!” Hear Jesus preach to those seeking to kill Him for speaking Truth - Joh 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
      The Word they still let remain, nor any thanks have for it. Repent, Listen, look to Jesus alone as your Victor in all the battles you face in this world. Call upon Him in every trouble - pray! Learn today, “Rebellion, Rescue, Restoration!” I. In Adam All Rebel Against Their Creator! (Vs.1-8) II. The Lord God Seeks The Lost Through Preaching!(vs.9-15) III. The Lord Jesus Restores Sinners By His Sacrifice Alone! (Vs.16-21)
I.   The devil isn’t God, though he pretends to be. Idolatry is demon worship. Worship that rejects the Holy Trinity, no matter how reverent is still demon worship. The Spirit of Truth teaches, 1Co 10:20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. Satan is a created angel who in pride chose to rebel against his Creator. He led other angels to rebel with him - they chose evil - became demons - although they love to masquerade as angels of light (2 Cor. 11:14). They are doomed. Jud 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;” Their rebellion took place after the sixth 24 day of the creation of all that exists, when God declared with the creation of mankind and blessing of marriage all was “very good.” And the history now recorded, (vs. 1)
      Many ancient Christian and Jewish commentators placed the fall on the first Sabbath day after they were created. Dr. Luther thought Adam, fulfilled his vocation and preached God’s Word to his wife that morning. Rejoicing in God’s love and care for them in all He provided for their body and life. They had gathered before God’s ordained place of worship in the midst of the garden - the Tree of Life, and the Tree to Know Evil.
Jesus would later preach, Luk 8:11-12 "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. (12) Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. It’s the same with us - Satan steals Christ’s Word from our hearts - before the sermon is over we are distracted and by evening forget all of God’s Word and Christ’s teaching preached to us.
        The Lord God will not allow Satan to appear as an angel, but only as a lowly creature. The devil chooses the form of a subtle slithering serpent. He comes whispering to the woman, questioning Adam’s sermon, “Did God really say...” These words are the root and fountainhead of all heresies in Christianity. Satan questions the truthfulness of God’s Word. He also accuses God of not caring about the man and woman He created....”You can’t eat from any tree?” “Will He starve you to death?” “He isn’t loving and caring,” the devil accuses, “He is a cruel Tyrant caring only for Himself!”
    Learn well Satan’s strategy. He whispers questions into your ears to arouse doubt. Then he appeals to a supposed sense of deprivation - you are missing out in life by obeying God’s commandments. (Vs2,3) The woman answers by repeating the Word God had given Adam to preach, but then she adds the motive to obey is fear of punishment...”lest you die.” Satan sees the small hole in her argument and slithers in with his whole body. (Vs.4,5) “Isn’t worship to bring you closer to God - forget His Word, you can become just like Him by eating to know evil!” (Vs.6) Satan through lies arouses our first parents sensual appetites. Forgetting God’s Word of protection - the woman trusts her feelings, eyes, and own prideful wisdom. Satan’s lie turns her inward away from God’s Word of Life and goodness. She gives her will to the devil.
        Unlike us, Adam and his wife had total free will. They knew their Creator face to face having the knowledge of good. Their sin was rebellion against our Creator and full act of their will. Unlike them we are conceived and born in Adam’s sin - we have no free will in spiritual matters - we are captive to Satan’s lies and by nature children of God’s just wrath for sinners.
      What happened to the devil’s promise of god-like wisdom? (Vs7) It only brings shame. Now their nakedness of life apart from their Creator crushes them with shame. They try to camouflage their sin while running with the devil into the darkness of death. How’s camouflaging your sin working for you?
      Now they have broken fellowship with their Creator. (Vs.8) Pride, sin, rebellion fill their hearts with fear. Hearing their Creator drawing near they run to hide in trees. Forgetting God’s omniscience they deceive themselves that they have no sin. Adam’s rebellion is your rebellion and mine. We cannot free ourselves from this body of death, deception, and lies - we need the Rescuer!
II.   Satan hoped that the Lord God would wipe out mankind and all creation on the day of the rebellion. From eternity the Father had planned to rescue His creation through His Son and breath it to life again by the Holy Spirit. The Creator will not abandon what He has made. His Word stands forever! (Vs.9-11) Our Merciful Creator draws near to the lost by preaching His Word. “Where are you?” “What have you done?” “Repent!” Be honest! If you say you have no sin you deceive yourself, the truth isn’t in you! Stop your self deception! (Vs.12-13) Stop the blame game! Own your sin. It isn’t God’s fault, it isn’t others who make you sin, it isn’t even the devil who makes you do it - it is your own fallen will. You sin because you choose to sin! You love to live for self! Worship the idol called “ME!” Only when you are honest can you cry out, “God, be merciful to me - THE SINNER!”
    Hear His sweet rescue! (Vs.14-15) Satan is doomed to eat dust - his victory is short lived. God now fights for you. He rescues you by declaring spiritual warfare against the Liar and Murderer! He will separate those who trust in the Rescuer - the seed of the woman - Christ’s Church from those who live by lies. He will rescue us by becoming fully human by a virgin mother. The Son of God will become one with us! He comes to win the victory - crushing Satan’s head - stopping his lying mouth. He will take our rebellious poison of sin, death, hell into His own innocent flesh - lay down His life into our grave, then take it up to give us His victory by placing His Name upon us with water and His Word!
III.   Behold creation’s restoration begins on the battlefield! (Vs.16-19) Restoration? Pain, struggle, thorns, thistles, sweat, and death? It is the path of the cross by which Jesus enters this world through the womb of the Virgin Mary. It is the path of our restoration as He becomes our thorny King upon the Tree of Golgatha - death. Satan overcame mankind by a tree of evil - now this evil tree of the cross will fill the world will new life - as God’s atoning blood and rebirthing water pour forth from our Savior’s sacrificed side! He lays down His life to give us new life.
      Three days later He takes up His life again in our bodies - restoring us to His God and our God, His Father and Our Father! God the Holy Spirit opens Adam’s eyes to hear, see, and cling alone to Jesus!(vs.20) He blesses his wife naming her “Life” “Eve” - “The Mother of All Living!” Adam covers her sin taking responsibility for it into himself by honoring her with the name of Life! Now the Lord covers Adam and Eve’s sin by sacrifice. (vs.21) The Creator sacrifices a creature, perhaps a lamb, that He had declared “very good,” to cover the nakedness of our sin. He protects us from our shame and guilt washing us new and clothing us with the perfect life of the Lamb of God - Jesus - He has taken away the sin of the world - all your sins!
        Call upon His Name every morning and evening! Invocavit! Confess the Truth of reality against the Liar - the Apostles’ Creed! Let the Holy Spirit open your lips to pray with Jesus to Our Father asking Him rescue from the evil one! Pray for His Holy angel to guard you - that the evil foe have no power over you! Then go joyfully to your work, singing a hymn, like that of the Ten Commandments, or whatever your devotion may suggest. Amen.