Let us be seated. Let us begin with a word of prayer.
Lord, I am not a man of tears, but that song always brings me to tears. I just thank You, Lord. There is not a greater expression of the love that is in God’s heart than when we view Calvary, when we see the reality of what happened at Calvary’s cross.
O Lord Jesus, we do cling to Thee this morning, and to that cross. Lord, we thank You, for we have been the receivers of the blessings in the work of Calvary. O Lord, how we thank You. God, we thank You this morning for Your great plan of salvation. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Lord, I do pray also that, as we share this morning out of the book of Genesis, You will anoint and touch our hearts with the freshness of Jesus Christ. We ask in Thy name. Amen.
Well, this morning I am continuing my series on God revealing Himself and us seeing God. God’s quest seems to be to reveal Himself, and our quest should be to know Him and pursue Him.
Actually, this morning as I share, it is going to be out of the third chapter of Genesis. Some of you know that I am on a series. I wanted to go through the Word of God, showing how God has revealed Himself. I am only in the third chapter of Genesis. I was telling the brothers the other night, I did not know who would come first—the Lord or my passing away—before we finished. But anyway, we will see what the Lord does in the days to come.
But this morning, I am sharing on God—on Who He is, and that He reveals Himself to us—and on knowing God. You know, the conference, the whole thing, was “that I might know Him,” and it was on this issue of pursuing God.
It has been quite a few years ago; I cannot remember how many. A brother prayed a prayer in one of our times together, and his prayer was this: “Lord, when I meet You, I do not want to meet a stranger.”
That prayer obviously touched my heart, and it has stayed with me all these years. I think that is really what is on my heart in sharing these messages: that when we do meet the Lord, we do not meet a stranger, but One with Whom we are very familiar.
Now, let me begin by reading Genesis 3.
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
And 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 the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.
And the Lord God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?
And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.
Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
And the man called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever—
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
I think it is appropriate that we sang “The Old Rugged Cross,” because the chapter we are sharing on this morning is the fall of man and God’s great provision.
My heart is to see the Lord and to understand the Lord. In the past, we have shared that He is Creator. Out of His purpose, He spoke, and the worlds were made. He made everything out of nothing. He is God. He is Creator.
He has told man that creation should reveal His glory, and that He gave within man—within the conscience of man—a God-consciousness, so that man is without excuse. So the Creator uses His creation and says, “You should be able to look at My creation and realize that I am God, and submit to Me.” But man, we know, brothers and sisters, did not do this.
Then God revealed Himself fully in His Son, Jesus Christ. Creation, before we know the Lord, should draw us to God and cause us to see that there is a God. But once we desire to know God, the only way to know Him is through Jesus Christ.
So not only has the Creator given us His creation, but He has given us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who, as our brother read this morning, is the exact image of the invisible God. If you want to know God, you have to know His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the outward expression of the invisible God—an exact image.
He draws us to Himself to know Him. Then He gives us His Word, the inspired Word of God. I have no doubt in my own heart. The more I read it, the more sure of my conviction I am. The Word of God reveals Jesus Christ in His fullness. It reveals Who God is, and that is the purpose of the Word of God. It is like a manual: you can read it and find out Who God really is.
He gives us the Holy Spirit because He wants us to have not just an outward knowledge of Who He is by reading the Word, but an inward knowledge through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. As you read His Word, He makes it living and real to us, that we might actually experience Who Jesus Christ is.
Then the Lord sets us in His body. When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, not only is our salvation secure, but He puts us in the body of Jesus Christ. Why does He do that?
It says that He is the Head of the body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all. In other words, within the Lord Jesus all the fullness of the Godhead dwells. But the body He had on earth was not sufficient to express the fullness that dwelt within. Therefore, God purposed that He would have a mystical body, as we would call it: the church.
It is all believers joined together into one body. There are not many bodies; there is only one body. That body is designed to be a vessel to bring forth the full expression of all that dwells in Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, we have the Creator, Who has given us His creation to see Him. The Lord Jesus Christ has been given to us. The Word of God has been given to us. The Holy Spirit has been given to us. He has placed us into His body, that we might come into the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and of Who God is.
These are the provisions that God has given us, and that I have previously shared on. Now, if we are going to know God, we need to know the ways of God.
The Word of God says that the nation of Israel saw God’s acts in the desert for those forty years, but Moses knew His ways. He knew God. Most of the children of Israel just saw His acts and took the blessings from the Lord, but never really returned to the Lord to bless Him, never really sought after the Lord. There were a few—Joshua and Caleb, we know for sure.
But He says, “Moses knew My ways.” In Psalm 95, it says:
They are a people that do err in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.
So it is important, if we are going to know God, to learn His ways. He has given us His Bible that we might know His ways.
Previously, out of Genesis 2, I shared some of His ways with us. The first way was the way of work and rest. God works; we rest.
What does that mean? The Sabbath day that the Lord gave and said to keep holy was man’s first day. He created man on the sixth day, and on the seventh day God rested. So the day of rest was the first day man had to come into what God wanted him to do—the work of God. God said, “What I want you to do first is to rest in what I have done.”
Elsewhere in the Word of God, it says that the work of God is to believe in His Son, Jesus. That is our work. So our work is really to believe, or rest, in what God has done in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, your whole spiritual life, your whole spiritual growth, works on this principle: God works, and we rest in what He has done. We apprehend what He has done. First, we discover through the Word what He has done in Christ. Then the Lord gives us faith to believe it and to rest in it. When we are able to rest in it, it is made real in us. That is the way God operates. That is His way. It will always be His way.
Man has tried to earn his way through his own works down through history, and man has always failed. God’s way is God’s way, and the only way is to follow God’s way. God has done the work, and we are called to rest in it—to believe Him.
Then He showed us the way of life and death through the principle of the two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These are the way of life and the way of death.
The way of life is to live by the tree of life. We know the tree of life is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the tree of life. We are called to live by His life and not our own.
What is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What does it mean? It means that you are able to operate out of your own will, out of your own mind. You make your own decisions. You express your own will, serve your own desires, and serve your own self. You become like God: you make your own decisions, you are the almighty in your life, and you replace God. That is the way of death.
God designed our souls that we might express His life. That is why He loves your soul so much, brothers and sisters. Your soul—your mind, will, and emotions—was designed to be an expression of His life. But because of the fall, we end up expressing the life of the soul, our own life, instead of His.
Thirdly, we spoke of union life. We spoke of union life, of marriage, and of the bride. This has to do more with His purpose than His ways, but His purpose determines His ways. His purpose is for union life.
God never wants, or wanted, to have a distant relationship with man. We have already seen that when man sinned, his first thought was to hide from God. Brothers and sisters, that is not the relationship God intends to have with man. He intends to have a close relationship—a relationship in which heart, mind, and soul are joined in one.
He desires a close, intimate relationship with His own. That is what He is after: union life. That union life comes about through the work of Calvary in our lives.
Then He speaks of marriage and, of course, the bride. The bride is looking forward to that day when our Lord Jesus will receive the church in its fullness, fully complete, without flaw or blemish. Right in the beginning, God showed us His ways and His purpose.
Now, in Genesis 3, we see more of God’s ways. The first way we notice is that God tests man. God proves man. In other words, part of God’s dealing—the way in which He works—is that He tests us and proves us.
God had a great purpose for man, and that great purpose required man’s obedience. So He tested man. He tested Adam and Eve, and He gave them a choice. He said, “There are two ways of life. I have shown you the way of life and the way of death.” Unfortunately, they chose the way of death.
In this case, to test them, the Lord did use the enemy. He came and tempted them. He knew that Adam had direct revelation from God. In other words, God had spoken directly to Adam about the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and Adam had shared this with his wife.
Satan is pretty smart. Right up front, he realized that if he challenged Adam, Adam would probably obey God. But he knew Adam’s weakness too, and so he went to Eve.
Eve did not have direct revelation; she had heard it through her husband. But she was still responsible and accountable. The enemy deceived her, and how did he deceive her? He put the seed of doubt in her heart: “Hath God said?” He changed what God said a little bit, and then he just straight out said, “You will not die.”
Eve became convinced that God was holding back something from them, that God was not completely fair. Therefore, she took of the tree, and then she went to her husband.
Adam realized, because he had had direct revelation from God, what this meant. But the enemy knew Adam’s weakness. What the enemy did was use Adam’s love for his wife against him.
How deceptive is our enemy, how cruel he is. But he used Adam’s love for his wife against him, and Adam could not give up Eve. So he ate too, along with her, and man fell.
Not only did man fall, but the very nature of man changed. He became a sinner. He had the nature of a sinner, and Adam and Eve passed this nature on to their children.
It is important to remember that Adam became a sinner because he sinned. We sin because we are born sinners. We are born with this nature, and therefore we too are corrupted from the beginning. So man failed the test that God gave.
But, brothers and sisters, God did not prove man for His own knowledge. Let me say it another way: God knew Adam’s heart. He knew Eve’s heart already. He did not need to test them to see for Himself.
But He needed to prove their hearts so that they would know what was of themselves. So He proved them, and in the proving we find failure, unfortunately.
Listen to these words from Deuteronomy 8:2:
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or not.
Brothers and sisters, one of the ways of God is to prove us. He proves us not that He might find out what is in our heart, but that we might see what is in our heart.
Why is that important? Because at some point, in our desire to know God, God has to show us what we are and how unacceptable we are before Him, that we might really turn to Him, come to Him, accept Him as our Savior, and accept His love for us. So He tests man. That is one of God’s ways.
Let us read Genesis 3:8–10:
And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.
And the Lord God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?
And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
A second great principle, another way of God, is that God pursues man. We need to remember that Adam had failed, but God did not give up His purpose.
He could have done away with man completely and come up with some new order of being. But He did not do that. Instead, He pursued man. Not only did He pursue man, but He pursued fallen man.
This one in whom all of His hopes rested to bring about His full purpose had failed. Yet He did not discard Adam and Eve. If He had, we would not be here today. But He pursued man. He has this pursuing love.
Brothers and sisters, most of us here are probably already Christians and have been for many years. We know, unfortunately, that often, as God proves us, we fail. But have you not found that God is pursuing you? Have you not found that He just will not let you go? Have you not found that His love is so faithful that He can never let you go?
He is always trying to bring you back to a place of fellowship with Himself, a place of restoration before Him. That is one of the great principles of God’s heart. One of His ways is that He is the pursuer of man, the pursuer of our souls, the lover of our souls.
We hide, do we not? Most of the time, I know some people say, “I do not know if I will go to the prayer time or the worship time.” A lot of times, it is because of a guilty conscience. We just want to hide.
We want to do something else, maybe something good that day. We will not gather with the saints, but we will do something good. We will get some fig leaves and sew them together. That is what we do so often. Adam is not the only one to use fig leaves; we do ourselves. We fail; God always pursues.
The third way of God for this day is the way of the cross. Not only does He pursue man, but He makes a way of restoration, and that is always, always the way of the cross.
Man had failed, and the Lord had two issues to deal with. He had to deal with Satan, His enemy, and then He had to deal with fallen man in order to restore Adam and Eve. The way He used was the way of the cross.
Look at Genesis 3:14–15:
And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.
We know that Genesis 3:15 is prophetic. It points to the day in which our Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s cross and those spikes were put in His hands and feet. His heel was bruised. The seed of woman, our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of Man, was put on the cross, and His heel was bruised.
But a great wound at Calvary’s cross was also given to the enemy, Satan. He used his last and greatest weapon against our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is death. Nobody escapes death. But on the third day, our Lord arose.
It says He stripped off principalities and powers and put them to open shame. He came out of that grave in victory, and God raised Him up. He was victorious over the enemy’s greatest weapon.
The enemy has been allowed to reign, but we know that his wound is incurable, and one day he will be put in the lake of fire. So the Lord made provision right here in the very beginning. He does not use the word cross, but there it is in the very beginning as He deals with man.
Then He had to deal with fallen man. Genesis 3:7 says:
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Then Genesis 3:21–24 says:
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever—
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
First of all, we see the fig leaves. What had happened? We have all heard the verse that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. In the beginning, it seems to me that the glory of God was upon Adam and Eve. They were innocent. They had not yet taken of the tree of life, but they were what God had made. He was pleased.
They were clothed in what I would think was glory-light, something similar to our Lord’s transfiguration on the mount. It says that He began to glow from inside. Well, something happened: they became uncovered. They lost that glory. They realized it was gone, and something terribly wrong had happened.
Immediately, they tried to cover themselves—the work of man. But the Word is very clear: God totally disregarded this work of the fig leaves. Then the Word says that God clothed them. God clothed them.
It was the work of God that began to restore man back to His own purpose. How did He clothe them? It says with skins of animals. This is the way of God. It is God’s way. The blood of the innocent had to be given for the guilty. A price of death had to be paid for sin.
We know, brothers and sisters, that this also looks forward to that day on Calvary, when the Lord Jesus shed His blood for your sin and my sin. The penalty of sin was paid by His own death on Calvary’s cross. He took our place in death.
This is His way: the way of the cross. It is the only way. God did it. There was nothing Adam and Eve could do to restore this relationship. God had to do it. It was His mercy and His grace.
But there is something else we need to notice. He would not allow Adam and Eve at that point to take of the tree of life. He expelled them from the garden, from His kingdom. They were no longer worthy of the kingdom. They were defiled. There was this sin-nature issue.
What is the significance of God expelling them from the garden and not allowing them to eat of the tree of life? This was part of the work of Calvary.
Galatians 2:20 says:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
The old Adamic life, the fallen nature, can never please God. It can never be a part of God’s kingdom, and it had to be expelled. It could not be redeemed. The Adamic life could not be redeemed, and He would not let Adam and Eve take of the tree of life.
So, it is not confusing: the Lord did not destroy Adam’s soul. That vessel that was supposed to express the life of God was still there. But God said, “The old Adamic life will never be acceptable. I can never allow it to take on eternal life.”
The point is that the Lord does not repair you. He does not fix up the old stuff—the old you. He does not do that. That is not what Calvary is about.
It is not about changing the old man; it is about exchanging a life: God’s life for your life. That is why, brothers and sisters, you have to be born again. It is very simple. That nature you inherited from your mother and father is not acceptable. God has done away with it on Calvary’s cross.
What He has said is, “I need a new creation.” Remember, the Word of God says that when you are born again, you are a new creation. It is that new creation in you that partakes of the tree of life—Jesus Christ.
It is the life of Christ in you that feeds on Christ, that grows from feeding on Christ and feeding on the Word of God. That is how it grows. That is how that life God has put in you—His life—grows and matures in you.
Your soul is not destroyed. But with that new life in your spirit, that new life begins to affect your soul life. As we mature, we deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him. That soul is transformed into the vessel that God originally intended.
That is why the Word of God says, “Work out your own salvation.” A lot of people stumble over that, but that is exactly what it means. He is not talking about eternal salvation; He is talking about your soul being transformed into the vessel He needs. So He does love your soul.
Calvary is God’s way. It is God’s way to restore man. It is God’s way to spiritual growth in your life. You can never get away from Calvary.
The Word of God says that Christ was the last Adam and the second Man. In other words, the old Adamic life ended with Christ when He died on the cross. But a new Man—He became the second Man, God’s second Man. Through the second Man, God has what He wants.
The other way of God is this matter of government. God always sets up government and works through government. He does it in the family, in the world, and in the church. He is the Head of the family unit. He is the Head of worldly governments, whether they listen to Him or not. He is the Head of the church.
Let us look at Genesis 3:16:
Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
A lot of women are offended by this Scripture. Most of the world does not understand what is being done here. But you need to know, brothers and sisters, that God is a God of government.
When John the Baptist came and began preaching, what did he preach? “The kingdom of God is at hand.” You need to prepare, because the kingdom of God is at hand. Our Lord Jesus’ message was the same: “The kingdom of God is at hand.”
Kingdom speaks of government. When we see the heavenly Jerusalem in the end, it is a city. It is governmental in nature. It has government, with the Lord Jesus as the Head.
Government is God’s way. He works through government. He has order through government. He executes His will through government. Government is essential in the family, in the world, and in the church. Without it, there is no representation of God’s kingdom; there is just chaos.
Any of you sisters who want to are welcome to challenge me on this, okay? I know it might be difficult for some. But in the family, it says He established man as head, and the woman was to be his helpmeet.
I hope we do not take offense at this, because there is real glory here. May God give me the words to express what is on the Lord’s heart. It is not a matter of one being better than the other, or man being superior to woman. That is not what is being said here.
It is totally an issue of government, of the sovereign government of God. It has nothing to do with life, or with your place before God.
According to God, man and woman are equal. It says in Christ there is neither male nor female. What does that mean? According to life, there is neither male nor female.
In other words, in Christ it is not a matter of male or female. It is according to life, according to God’s grace. Whether you are a brother or a sister, you can partake fully of God’s grace. In fact, you can become as spiritual as you are willing to take of God’s grace and willing to submit to the cross in your life.
You can grow spiritually. There is no limitation whether you are a brother or a sister. That is the life of God. But according to government, He makes man a delegated authority under Him.
Whether you are a man or a woman, you did not have any choice. It was God’s sovereign choice. He is the Head of the family, of government, and in the church. It speaks of the testimony of the kingdom of God.
Let me put it another way. In the Godhead, there is life and there is government. In fact, the government He establishes in the family, on the earth, and in the church is patterned after His own government—the government of His kingdom.
What is that government? You remember that in Philippians it says that Jesus Christ was equal with God, but He did not grasp at that. He did not hang on to the fact that He was equal with God. He was equal with God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are equal in life. They are one. One is not greater than the other.
But when the work of redemption was required, government came within the Godhead. How was that government established? There is God the Father, and then there is God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
What does it say of the Lord? He did not grasp at this thought of being equal with God and try to cling to that. Instead, He took a lower place. In fact, He took a lower place not only than God the Father, but a lower place than the angels had. He came in the form of a man, and as a man He humbled Himself further and took on the form of a bondservant.
Most of us are not too familiar with being bondservants. But that is where you are a servant because of love. You choose to follow someone because you love them so much—a bondservant.
As our Lord Jesus was on earth, He so submitted Himself to the headship of God the Father that He said He did not do anything out of Himself. Whatever He did was what the Father wanted Him to do. He was absolutely submissive to God the Father and obedient.
It says He learned obedience through the things that He suffered. That is because of God’s government. As God, He did not have to be obedient. He always remained God, but He took this place in God’s government that the work of redemption might be accomplished.
Then we have the Holy Spirit. In some ways, I am humbled by the Holy Spirit, because He actually lives in us and puts up with us. His whole job is to reveal Christ to us and to bring us into the experience of Christ in our lives. That is His job. What a job—seemingly an impossible task at times.
But that is what He has submitted to do in this government of God. So we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He duplicates His government in the family, in the world, and in the church.
If there is no government, then there is no testimony to the kingdom of God on this earth. Brothers and sisters, we do not really expect the world to understand this, and they do not. Because they do not, they do a lot of things that are contrary to the Word of God.
But in the church, there should be a representation of God’s government. Therefore, God does set up delegated authority within His house.
We need to be clear about that. God’s delegated authorities are not the authority. God is the authority. They only represent that authority. They do not have authority within themselves. They only represent, and they are to represent, what the Head wants to do.
So, brothers and sisters, according to life, every brother and sister here is equal as far as knowing God. Your ability to know God and receive the grace of God is up to each one of us.
The way in which the kingdom is manifested is through submission. It is manifested through submission.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was not only absolutely submissive, but absolutely obedient. When it comes to delegated authorities, we are to be submissive. That is an absolute.
Obedience is appropriate unless that authority is asking you to do something against God’s will—against God’s known will. Then you have to obey the Lord, Who is our Head.
Some of you sisters may wonder why some of the sisters have a head covering. That comes from 1 Corinthians 11. Paul speaks of head covering.
What is the significance of that? Head covering is something only a sister can do. But really, it is a testimony to the principalities and powers that God’s government is in this place. God’s government is in this place. That is what the testimony is.
It testifies that there is a submissive heart and that God’s government is more important than my own will. I am willing to be submissive. It is a sign of submission. It is a sign before principalities and powers that God’s kingdom—His government—is there.
It is important, really important. Now, it is not legal; it is an issue of the heart. There is no need to put on a head covering if your heart is not there. That is the point.
But if the Lord really shows you the significance of His government in your life, then please feel free to do that—to be a testimony to the principalities and powers. That is its purpose.
The last thought about God’s ways is this: God is a God of judgment. God holds men accountable.
We have just talked about the mercy of God and Calvary’s cross for restoration, for bringing man back to God’s heart. We are thankful for Calvary. But God also judges. God does hold us accountable, brothers and sisters.
To Satan, He said:
Cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;
Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
To the woman, He said:
I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception;
In pain thou shalt bring forth children;
And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
To Adam, He said:
Cursed is the ground for thy sake;
In toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
And thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.
He judged. In other words, He held man accountable. Yes, He provided a way of salvation for Adam and Eve, and He forgave them because He gave them the skins to cover them. But, brothers and sisters, there were consequences. Here we see the consequences of God’s judgment.
God is a God Who judges. He forgives. I remember the story of David. David ended up actually committing murder and adultery. God forgave him because David came with a heart of repentance before God. God forgave him. But David suffered the consequences of that for the rest of his life.
It is a serious matter. But God’s judgment is not just a matter of dealing with sin. Let me put it this way: it cleans things up. God’s judgment cleans things up and brings everything back to God where it should be. He does hold us accountable.
That accountability is based on the light He has given us and the grace that we take to follow Him. I think some parables—the parable of the wise virgins and the foolish virgins—make it very clear that God holds His people accountable.
We shared at the conference about pressing toward the mark. We know there will come a day at the judgment seat of Christ. Out of that judgment, it will be determined what you will do in the kingdom age, if anything, and what you will be responsible for.
It will be based on the light God has given you and on the grace you took from Him to fulfill and walk in that light. He will also judge the nations. He will judge the unbelievers at the great white throne, and He will judge the fallen angels.
He will clarify everything. It is not really all negative. God’s judgment has a great purpose. It cleans everything, clarifies everything, and brings everything back to God.
So God is a God of judgment. He will forgive us, but sometimes there are consequences. These are some of God’s ways.
Brothers and sisters, the important thing is that this shows us Who God really is, not what we want Him to be. We do not make God in our own image. I hear so much of that in worldly Christianity today, where they are really making God in their own image, the way they think He ought to be, not the way He really is.
It is important, brothers and sisters. The time is short. The judgment seat is at hand. We need to remember that He is a God Who pursues us, and we need to be clear with our Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to remember that His way is the way of life: partaking of the life of Jesus in our everyday life, in reading His Word, and through the Holy Spirit. We need to remember that His way is the way of the cross, and it is the only way.
Lord, we do come to Thee today. Lord, we have really covered a lot of territory today, and we have only done one little chapter in this immense book.
Lord, how great and immense You are. Your ways are higher than man’s ways. Lord, I want to say to You that I am thankful and grateful they are, because they have provided a way for man—for fallen man.
Lord, we thank You for Your ways. As we continue on toward the mark, may You continually reveal Yourself to us. Lord, open our eyes. Lord, prove us if You need to, that we might see who we are and that we might see Who You are.
Lord, You are the great God. You have us in mind; You have us in hand. You have us in Your school, Lord, and You are teaching us, training us, and preparing us. Lord, do Your work in these days. We know it is a short time, but we look for the mighty grace of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.