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6/ Jesus is our defender from Satan’s accusations… (Our intercessor)

— Romans 8:34 “who also maketh intercession for us.”

Also, see Hebrews 7:22-25 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. (23) The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, (24) but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. (25) Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

We must make a proper note: The courts of heaven are not like our earthly courts, because there cannot exist any favoritism, prejudice, or deception…

— Only complete and naked truth can stand before this court and our God. Therefore, our judge can also be our advocate and will always defend the REDEEMED. You can be sure that we would all be found guilty of our sins, unless we have ACCEPTED God’s plan for salvation through the SACRIFICE of Jesus Christ.

Q1/ — Can you comprehend such a court?

(I ask that because as we watch the news locally and from all over the world, we see the court systems failing miserably in meeting out true justice, for it seems our modern courts have more protection for the criminals than for the victims.) — What do you see?

I bring this up so we will consider well the difference when we all must stand before an all-knowing, truly pure, just, and holy God, who will sit as our Judge. (We cannot think that arguments will sway His righteous judgments.)

Q2/ — So how will any of us who have reached the age where we willfully chose to sin, be able to find an excuse and be exempted from paying the penalty for our failures?

(HINT ~ Hebrews 9:24-28) For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. (25) Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, (26) for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (27) And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, (28) so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

— This is such a wonderful statement with a promise for all who decide to accept Jesus as their intercessor. (The one who answers God’s judgment of sin on our behalf.)

After we talk about this a bit, I want to take this question of our sin, and look into it a bit further…

As Bible-believing Christians, we accept as fact that Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God in the Garden of Eden, and we read that as part of their, and our inherited punishment, sin then entered all of God’s creation which they were charged to be the care-takers of.

Let’s read this account in Genesis Gen 3:1-8 and I want you to become part of the jury in a court that is charged with one task, and one task only… We are to decide question #3.

Q3/ — What went wrong?

— Let’s read Genesis 3:1-8 Now the serpent 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 any tree in the garden’?” (2) And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, (3) 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.’” (4) But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (6) 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. (7) Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (8) 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.

— Our task is to determine how sin first entered into this account. It is like we are appointed as a workplace inspection team to find out what went wrong. We are trying to make the workplace (our world) a safer place by eliminating problems and hazards.

— So what went wrong?

Let’s take some notes on this situation…

1/ In Genesis 3:2 we have Eve’s testimony that God did tell them to not touch the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’…
(2) And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, (3) 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.’”

— So we see that God is responsible for placing a hazard in the garden…

— Maybe God is to blame?

Q4 – Why would God place something dangerous in their garden? …(Why allow such a temptation?)

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2/ We see also that a serpent was involved in this incident… Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent 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 any tree in the garden’?”

— So maybe the serpent is to blame? (And how did he get in there in the first place?)

Q5/ — Who is this serpent?

— SEE Revelations 12:7-9 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, (8) but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. (9) And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

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3/ What about Eve and Adam?

Genesis 3:4-6 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (6) 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.

— Now the ‘BLAME GAME’ can really begin…

— It’s all Eve’s fault, but Adam could have said “NO”.

However, I want us to let God’s Spirit open our eyes to the real battle here.

YOU TELL ME:

Q6/ — What in your mind attracted Eve to eat this forbidden fruit? (Was it about its appearance or something else?)

Q7/ — Do we find a similar situation anywhere else in the Bible (the history of mankind)?

(HINT ~ Genesis 11:1-9) Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. (2) And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. (3) And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. (4) Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (5) And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. (6) And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. (7) Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (8) So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. (9) Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Q8/ — What was the objective of building this tower? (And why was God displeased?)

Q9/ — Is our world guilty of similar thinking today?

Q10/ — Is there a remedy for mankind’s arrogance?

— To accept Jesus as our defender, our intercessor, we have to abandon such arrogance and pride and follow these words of the Apostle Peter…

SEE 1^st Peter 5:6-8 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, (7) casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (8) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

— In life’s battle we have a vicious, deadly protagonist. Satan will accuse you of all the failings that he can deceive you to fall into. HE IS THE DEVIOUS PROSECUTOR IN THE HEAVENLY COURTS.

— YOU NEED A GOOD DEFENCE ATTORNEY, and there is ONLY ONE WHO CAN ANSWER SATAN’S CHARGES AGAINST YOU. Because there is only one who has already paid your penalty for sin.

— You and I, we all need Jesus to be our intercessor, to plead HIS forgiveness before God the Father.

With Peter’s challenge and promise of God’s blessing, we will close with further discussion…

and prayer time requests.

In our time of prayer, I am going to remind all of the instructions from Ephesians 6:18 to keep… “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints…”

The worship song ‘Open my eyes‘ will help prepare us for our prayer time.