I should like to call your attention this evening to the message of that chapter which has been read to us, the third Chapter of the book of Genesis and in particular the last three verses, verses 22, 23 and 24

‘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 forever. 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 Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Now we are living in an age in which the vast majority of our fellow countrymen and women, regard what we are doing here tonight as something which is not only old fashioned, out of date and out moded, but something which is really quite ridiculous. People have left the chapels and the churches and have turned their backs on the Bible, and the Christian Faith and religion, because they have a feeling that it is quite irrelevant and has nothing to say to the mounting and terrifying problems, that are afflicting this modern age.

And were they to come and find that a man proposes to give an exposition of them, and to speak on the basis of the third chapter of the book of Genesis, they would indeed regard it probably as a sure sign of insanity. To speak out of the Bible is bad enough, but to preach on the third chapter of the book of Genesis, in a modern world as it is at this moment, they would regard, as I say, as being utterly and completely ridiculous and nonsensical.

Now I want to try to show you tonight that it is not only right and good for us to consider the message of the third chapter of Genesis, but I want to prove to you that you cannot begin to understand the modern world and it's problems except by understanding the teachings of this chapter. I go so far as to assert, and I am going to try to prove, that it is quite impossible to understand the modern world and its tragic condition, without the message of this chapter.

And still more, that there is no hope whatsoever of any kind of solution to our problems, apart from the message which we find here, and in the whole of this book which we call the Bible. Now let me proceed to do that.

You see the preaching of the gospel, the purpose of the Christian faith and of the church, is really to call upon men and women to face the facts of life. The world I know does not believe that. The world thinks that we are just sentimentalists, and emotionalists. We are just people who meet together to sing our hymns and choruses and ditties, and to waft ourselves into some emotional condition. That we are people who have contracted out of life, that we have ceased to think and to face the hard realities, and to look into the face of the problems that are so bewildering and perplexing.

Well now, I say that I am concerned to show that we are the only people who can face the world. The only people who can understand it, and the only people who have a message of any hope to give to the people who feel this appalling state into which we have arrived. So let us proceed to do this.

Let us look at the state of the world in which we live. And in keeping with this - because anybody who thinks at all must be painfully familiar with the circumstances that prevail at this present moment - one of the great characteristics of life in this world tonight. And I suppose that one of the greatest characteristics is restlessness. Lack of ease - lack of quiet - lack of tranquillity. The doctors will tell you this. You must have read frequently in the papers the amount of money that is spent on drugs which are called tranquillisers, and other drugs that enable people to sleep. It is an age which is restless. It is an age which is unsettled. It is an age which is insecure.

It is an extraordinary thing this, perhaps it is true to say, that man has never felt more insecure than he is at this present time. Indeed a leading authority - not a Christian at all - has described our age as "The age of anxiety" - and that is undoubtedly the truth concerning it. Never have people, you may think, been more anxious - more troubled - more worried.

I am not talking about just Christian people. I am thinking in particular of great scientists. They of all men are most troubled and anxious at this present time. And they tell us why. They tell us that they are afraid of this terrible problem of pollution - of how we are polluting the land and the sea and the rivers. The problem of what they call "ecology". How we are disturbing the balance of nature - killing out certain types of animals and so on. And that the whole balance of nature is being upset and the consequences are quite frightening.

They are therefore telling us that terrible things may happen as the result of this "Atomic Fallout" as they call it. You know there are great enquiries going on, and people are worried about these things. This Strontium that comes into the land and into the milk which the little children are going to drink, and it is going to affect the development of their bones. What is the future? People are anxious about all these things.

Then some of them are forecasting a world famine. And at the same time there is this population explosion. They estimate that the population of the world may well double from what it now is before the end of the century. And that plus this pollution and so on - and the lack of food and possible famine - well, they are terrified. They are really alarmed.

Well now, that is the age in which we are living. And it is an age which has got an uneasy conscience. People have the feeling that somehow they are in some way responsible partly for all this.

And then it is an age of strife. There has never been more strife. Look at the industrial position - constant strife, quarrels. Not between one section and another, Capital and Labour if you like, but quarrels within each section - quarrels throughout the whole of society - jealousy and envy - greed - malice - spite.

Oh, I am not inventing all this. You cannot read a newspaper, you cannot look at a television news bulletin, but that you will see at once that I am literally giving you a description of the state of the world in which we are living.

And on top of all this there is this so called rat race, people working and yet wondering what is going to happen. Is it worth while? Can they trust anybody? Well this is our modern world. The age of insecurity, the age of strife, the age of anxiety and of struggle, and above all a sense of final futility.

Well I need not keep you with this. A poet belonging to this century - A.E.Houseman - far from being a Christian, he even said that he was not a Christian - he described the modern man in these terms. "I am a stranger and afraid, in a world I never made." How true that is! I am a stranger and afraid in a world I never made. Or take another one - T.S Elliot - this is his description of the modern man in a modern world. "Lonely men in a world without meanings." "Lonely men" - this is one of the paradoxes of the modern world. They were huddled together in these great conurbations, but people have never been so lonely. The old friendliness of the village is gone. "Lonely men in a world without meanings."

Well now that is the world in which we are living. And everybody will agree about this - the politicians - the philosophers - scientists - all thinkers - they are all really gravely troubled about the state and the condition of the world at this present time.

Well now, here then is the question - why is the world like this? And especially why is the world as it is and as I've just described it, in view of all our advances in this particular century? Education, Knowledge, Culture, Building, Technological Achievements, and so on and so forth. Here is the basic question. Why is the world as it is at this moment?

My suggestion to you is that there is only one adequate answer to that question. It is the answer which is given in this one chapter! I am claiming that you cannot understand the Bible, without understanding Genesis three! It is the key to the whole of the rest of the Bible! And in the same way I am asserting that it is the key, the only key, to the understanding of the modern world.

What is the explanation? Well let me put it to you. According to this teaching the world was never meant to be like this. More than that, there was a time when the world was not like this. Here is the teaching. God made this world. It is not an accident. It did not just come into being by chance. ‘In the beginning, God created’ .... and everything God does of course is perfect. And He created and made a perfect world, and as the kind of acme, or zenith of His creation, He created MAN. And He made man in His own image and likeness. In other words, man was made perfect.

And God took this perfect man and put him into this perfect environment. It was called "Paradise". And look at the life of "Paradise", what a wonderful life it was. Its great characteristics were harmony, peace, concord, joy. And man? He did not have to earn his food by sweating and labouring and striving. He just had to pick the fruit - no labour - no effort - sheer enjoyment. There was nothing evil, nothing sinful, nothing to cause any unhappiness at all. It was a state of perfection, a state of innocence, a state of perfect bliss.

And man's supreme moment of enjoyment was the moment when God, as it were, would come down and have fellowship and communion with him. God had made man in order that He might have this companionship, and he endowed man with this amazing faculty of being able to have communion and fellowship with the Almighty God. That is why God made him in His own image and likeness. There had to be a corresponding of natures.

And that was "Paradise". It is very difficult for us to imagine it, but that is what we are told about it. It was entirely perfect in every respect. So we are left with this question. How then did the world ever become what we know it to be tonight? Now if you do not face this problem my friend, then I have only one thing to say about you, that is that you are stupid. You do not think. Any man who claims to be a thinker is bound to face this question. Why is the world as it is? How has it ever come to this?

And we are given the complete answer in this one chapter. Let me note to you the things that we are told here. How did it become, or how did it fall from being that Paradise which I have described?

The first answer is that man ceased to realise that his highest and his greatest privilege was to have communion with God. He ceased to realise that the most marvellous and the most wonderful thing about him, was that he should, if you like, be in tune with the Infinite. And that he should respond to everything that came from God. He ceased to believe that. And you see, as I am telling you how it happened at the beginning, I am at the same time explaining to you why the world still continues to be as it is. And why it has been like this ever since this incident took place. That was the first step, but let me hurry to the second.

The second answer, and this is most important today, is that man ceased to realise his finitude - that he is a limited being. He ceased to realise his dependence on God. Now of course the Devil in his subtlety and in his cleverness, he knew that this was the way to tempt man. The Devil came and said, ‘Yes, has God said?’ ....And “do you not realise", he said, "that God has said this in order to keep you bound? You have got it in you to be equal with God." You see he was creating a doubt as to their finitude. They had realised before that they were dependent upon God, and that they were limited. That they were not creators, but that they were created beings - finite. But now they begin to dislike this and they want to be equal with God.

So they flee away from their understanding of their finitude and their utter dependence on God. And this of course in turn was due to something else, and that was that pride and ambition came in. They wanted to be like Gods. This is the Devil’s whole point in putting it to them. "You will become as Gods". Exactly! That was the very thing that they wanted.

Now I am giving you the description of the modern world as well you see. Man believes today that there is nothing he cannot do. He can put people on the moon. He can do more than that. He is beginning to see now that he can determine life and determine sex - he can act as a creator. A great Professor in Cambridge said that a few years back . He said that “man now can take the place of the Creator - there is nothing now a man cannot do." Man is no longer finite - man is like a god and he is a creator and in his pride and his ambition, he boasts of himself, and he worships himself - MAN!

Then another factor is this one. That man began to put pleasure, and enjoyment, in the place of truth. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that it was a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit (verse 6) In other words you see, she was no longer guided by principles - no longer guided by truth. She is now guided by the appearance - a pleasant tree and very nice fruit to look at - and this appealed to her. Lust came into being for the first time - and desire - and from now on the man and the woman are not governed by truth and by principles - but by lust - by desire. It looks good - I want it - I like it - I must have it. Truth? It does not matter. Principles? They do not count. This is how men feel. This is how Paradise ceased to be the condition of this world. Desire! Lust! Passion!

Is this not the greatest evidence of life as it is at the present time? Is this not the most prominent feature? People are no longer governed by Principles - by Truth. I want it! What does it matter whether my wife, or my children suffer? I like it - attraction! And lust and passion come in and off they go. It all came in at this point, and this is why our world is in such terrible trouble tonight.

And then accompanying all this of course, was the feeling, again suggested and insinuated by the Devil, that God is against us. This is his whole point. "Yes, has God said? Why is He saying this? Well He is saying this because He is against you. God is a tyrant. He is keeping you down,. You have got it in you to be gods yourselves, but God is jealous. He knows you will be equal to Him. So He is against you. He is keeping you down." And this is what people believe about God tonight. God is some monster they think in the heavens, keeping us down, crushing us, the enemy of mankind. That is why they say that religion has been the greatest hindrance in the march and progress of the human race, and everything else. Religion has kept us down. And to be free is to shake off religion and Christianity.

This feeling you see that God is against us. The Apostle Paul puts that in these memorable words, ‘The natural mind is enmity against God, it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ The natural man hates God! But you say, "I know many people who say they believe in God and never go to a place of worship." Yes. But you get them to define their God, and you will find that He is not the God of the Bible, He is a God of their own making and imagination. And when you confront them with the God who has revealed Himself here, they hate Him. These are the things that came in and these are the things that are still controlling the world.

And then there is another thing here which is so tragic and so pathetic. The man and woman thought fondly that they could escape from God. You see the moment they disobeyed and rebelled, they had a feeling of guilt. They had never known that before. There was never a feeling of guilt until this point, but here "guilt" and "fear" come in. And yet they are not afraid. They think that they can evade God and avoid Him. So when they heard His voice in the garden, they went to hide behind the trees, and they thought that they would get away with it. That they could avoid God and He would pass by. He would not know that they were there. But suddenly God calls out, "Where art you?" And Adam and Eve had to stand forward.

It is still the same, my friends. Men and women say, "I don't care. You can talk about your God. I am all right. I am going on with it." They do not realise you see, that soon they will be dead but that death is not the end. It is appointed to all men once to die, but after death the judgment! (Hebrews 9.27.) The world is as it is at this moment because people do not know that there is going to be a judgment. They think you see that when we die, it is like an animal dying, or a flower dying, and that is the end of it. They cannot prove that. But it is not the end! We are responsible beings and we will have to face God! Adam and Eve had not realised this. But they have got to. And they did!

And there they are, standing in their guilt and their fear in the presence of God. God cannot be evaded! We cannot escape the judgement of God. And likewise they did not realise the punishment that was going to be meted out for their rebellion, and for their act of transgression. But God tells them exactly what it is going to be. And still the world does not realise this. But this was the judgement that God pronounced. That there was now going to be strife between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And that has been the history of mankind ever since.

Read your secular history books. What is it? It is a history of wars and of troubles and of agonies, of strife and conflict. It has been the whole of history. Not only that, but unhappiness, this sense of guilt. But it did not even stop at that. The very ground was cursed. Thorns and thistles came in. There were none before! Man had no problem with thorns and thistles. But now - this is a part of the punishment. And we are all aware of this. If you have got a garden and you neglect it for a year it will soon be back into a wilderness - weeds and thorns and thistles.

Illness and disease came in, pestilences and disturbances. All that came in, because man sinned. And this is all part of the punishment. Man had no idea that this was going to happen, and people do not realise it still. But this is our world. And there is this constant fight against nature, and diseases, and infections - and above it all, and beyond it all, death itself. Now this is what we are told. Man was driven out of the garden. And there he is having to earn his bread by the sweat of his face. It has been strife and conflict and struggle ever since this point. And all that we know to be so true tonight is something that originated at this point in history. And it has continued to be the story of the human race ever since. And so we find ourselves tonight in this futile world. What is the explanation? There is only one explanation. Paradise Lost! Paradise Lost, that is the only explanation of our modern world. We are a Lost Paradise! We have been driven out of it . We' have lost it! Hence our world as it is at this very moment.

But wait a minute! There is another question we are bound to face. And I am putting it to you that this is the most urgent problem for every single one of us at this moment. Some of these leading scientists - and I repeat their words, they are not Christians - some of them are actually saying that we may well witness the end of the world in the not too distant future.

But come let us come right up to date. I remember very well in December 1918 - there are some advantages in getting old you know - I remember standing in 1918, for four hours, in a mixture of rain and of sleet to have one passing glimpse of a man called "President Wilson". President of the United States. He had come over to this country in order that they might go together to Paris to the Palace of Versailles to draw up a Peace Treaty. And do you know, we thought that this man was really going to lead us back into Paradise. We had had this terrible war - we had been told before the war that it could not happen, that we and our German cousins, in our educated, enlightened age and philosophy and science and so on, - war would be impossible. But the war came! And then our own fellow countryman - he gave us the explanation. He said, "Well I am surprised like everybody else. I was a pacifist and I did not believe in war. And I have done my utmost to avoid war, but the war has come. But it is all right. Do not get despairing. This is the war to end war!" Loud cheers..... The war to end war - the first world war!

But then President Wilson came. And what did he tell us? These are his words. "I believe", he said in 1918, "I believe that men are beginning to see, not perhaps the golden age itself, but an age at any rate which is brightening from decade to decade and which will lead us sometime to an elevation from which we can see the things for which the heart of mankind is longing."

"Marvellous", we said, "He is going to do it. He is bringing what he calls The League of Nations." He is modest enough to say that it is not the golden age itself - we are not actually in it, - but we are at any rate almost reaching the top of the mountain, and when we get to the top of the mountain we shall have a view of the promised land, and it will only be a question of time before we will be in it. Paradise Regained! And we believed him. We thought the League of Nations could do it!

And so you see mankind has persisted in this optimism. His own ability to get back to the Paradise which we have lost. But is it not about time that we began to ask questions? Can it be done? And you see - you and I by tonight are living in a world which is hopeless. We are no longer optimistic as we were sixty year ago. And indeed, even before this time, great thinkers have always doubted this fatal optimism.

A Philosopher like Spinoza, three hundred years ago he wrote like this. "Such as persuade themselves that the multitude of men can ever be induced to live according to the bare dictates of reason, must be dreaming of a poetic golden age, or of a stage play." He was a Jew, a brilliant Philosopher, and he said, "That any man who thinks that the majority of men can be persuaded to live according to their reason, must be dreaming of a poetic golden age or else of a stage play."

Not only that! I should have reminded you of this. Take the so called great world religions. And there are many of them. Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and many others. And there are people today who are turning back to these in their utter hopelessness. There is a man who has been a great Judge - Christmas Humphries - he has become a Buddhist. Aldous Huxley ended as a Buddhist. Brilliant mind, brilliant thinker, but in his utter despair he says, "The only hope for the word is not reason - that has failed - it is Mysticism, Buddhism."

And so we have the great worlds religions. But you know, every one of them is utterly hopeless. They have no hope at all, they have no hope for this world. What is the hope they offer us? Well it is this, that I may have to come back several times into this world in a series of re incarnations and gradually shuffle off a little bit more each time, until at last I am lost in some Nirvana, in some absolute. I cease to be, that is the only hope. No hope for this world. Every single one of the so called great world religions, is completely hopeless. Entirely negative - and has nothing to offer us.

So you see, there have been people who have always doubted this. The man who has been more responsible perhaps for turning more people against religion than anybody else in this century, is the late Bertrand Russell. He lived to an old age and we used to see him on the television - this great brain - this great thinker. "This is what we want," they said. "Not the stories of the preachers, not singing these hymns and choruses. Let us have some reason, some understanding. Let us have a man who can think it out, a man who is logical. This is it , logic - analysis - reason." But what does he say? What does he offer us? Let me read to you the words of Bertrand Russell. "All the labour of the ages - all the noon day brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and the whole temple of man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins." That is Bertrand Russell! He was indeed logical enough to see that man will never get back into Paradise, that he can never lift himself and his world and humanity back into Paradise! It is impossible!

And a very modern psychologist, Eric Fromm. You could have seen him a few weeks back on the television. He has just written a book with the title, "To Have and to Be." And do you know what he says? He says, "We are working against the survival clock, and the odds for global or nuclear destruction and psychological and ecological destruction are shortening. The odds are shortening sharply. We must produce a sane society or perish." This man, of course, is not a Christian. He is almost an anti Christian. But he says that the odds are shortening. There is going to be a complete collapse and destruction in all these respects. And he pointed out, "There has never been a time in the history of the world before when man has got it in his power to destroy the world."

Man has always been able to do a lot of harm. And he has always done a lot of harm, and that is why the world has been chaotic and unhappy and miserable. But it is only now in this century that man at last has got this nuclear power whereby he really can destroy the world. And he says that if we do not return to some sort of sanity, we are finished! And do you know the only sanity he has got to offer us? Women's Liberation!

Well, my friends, there it is. This is preaching of the gospel you know. This is not sob stuff! It is the people who spend their lives looking at the television who are indulging in the sob stuff! I will guarantee that none of you have had to think as much as you are thinking now for a long time. This is Christianity. Come let us reason together. I am not here to tell you fairy tales, or to play upon your feelings, or to tell you stories about myself or anybody else. I am here to ask you in the name of God to think - while you have still got time to think!

Let me quote you finally Lady Meadowell, the wife of Sir Peter Meadowell, one of our leading Geneticists and Scientists at the present time. She wrote an article last July which I read and she said this: "At least we are beginning to realise the worst." Are you? Have you realised the worst? What is the worst? It is this. "No scientific or technological trick is alone going to improve the quality of life."

Of course you can land people on the moon! But does that improve the quality of life? Of course we have got more education! Is the quality of life better? Of course you can read more and you can listen to learned men on the television and radio, and read the Sunday Newspapers and their pompous articles. Is the quality of life improving? She says, "Have we realised the worst?" Here it is. None of these tricks are going to improve the quality of life. Though man has made this magnificent effort throughout the centuries to get us back into Paradise, we are not there. He cannot do it!

Paradise cannot be regained. Why not? The only answer is at the end of chapter 3 of the book of Genesis. So He drove out the man, and He placed at the East of the garden of Eden, cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (verse 24.) Why cannot man in all his genius and brilliance get back to Paradise? The simple answer is God has made it impossible for him to do so. God will not allow him to do so. Why not? Here are the answers.

Man of course wants to get back to Paradise. Nobody wants to be miserable - nobody wants to be unhappy - nobody wants to sweat, and to work. Everybody wants to have his food for nothing, more pay - less work, that is wanting to get back to Paradise! Everybody wants to get back to Paradise, and mankind, as I say, throughout the centuries has been striving to get back to Paradise. Why can he not do it? For this reason. He wants Paradise without God! He wants Paradise on his own terms. But it cannot be done. There is no Paradise without God! And man in his unutterable folly, in spite of the genius of the philosophers, is mad enough to think that you can go back to Paradise without God. It is impossible. But not only that. Here is another reason why man has failed to get back and regain Paradise. It is that man whilst he is still a sinner can never regain Paradise. Why? Well, for this reason.

What is Paradise? As I have defined it to you and as it is defined here, it is a place of bliss - a place of concord - a place of happiness - a place of mutual understanding - a place of mutual appreciation. So you see whilst man is a sinner, he is selfish, he is self centred, he is self interested, self concerned. He does not care who else suffers. He must have his rights. He must have his money. It may throw thousands out of work. What does it matter? I want this!

It is equally true of the masters! This is true of the whole of humanity. It is true right through society from top to bottom! Man, whether he is wealthy or poor, whether he is learned or ignorant, every man is a sinner. And every sinner is selfish, self centred, greedy, avaricious - we want everything for ourselves. Well, whilst everyone of us is like that Paradise is a sheer impossibility. It is the very antithesis of Paradise. So man, whatever he may do, until he is entirely changed and delivered from this infection of sin, which leads to such selfishness and self centredness, can never experience Paradise.

Another reason which the Bible and this chapter indeed give us is this. Man can never get back to Paradise as long as he is under the power of the Devil. You see that is what happened when man listened to the temptation and defied and rebelled against God. He thought that he was going to make himself free. What he succeeded in doing was to make himself the slave of the Devil. And ever since this man has been controlled by the devil.

Paul says that. The Devil is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4.4). He is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2.2.) He says, ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood.’ What is our problem? Oh, it is the principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6.12.) Why is our world as it is? Because it is controlled by the Devil!

Can you explain this century to me apart from the Devil? Why have we had two world wars? In this most educated century the world has ever known. Why are they piling up these terrible armaments? Why all this expenditure on these foul and terrible things? What is the meaning? How do you explain it? My dear friends there is only one explanation - this evil power that is controlling mankind, creating the enmity and the division - and the malice - and the spite - and the suspicion - and the hatred. There is no other explanation! And whilst man is the dupe and the slave of the Devil he will never experience Paradise. It is impossible!

BUT - and this is the supreme explanation - over and above all that, the cherubim! What of the cherubim? The cherubim are always represent and are emblematic, if you like, of the Presence of God, The Holiness of God. They are in a sense the guardians of the holiness of God. And so man cannot get back into Paradise because to get there means to be in the presence of the holiness of God. And God is of such a pure countenance that he cannot even look upon sin.

God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1.5.) And there is no fellowship between light and darkness. The cherubim - the holiness of God! Man cannot stand it. We are told in the book of Revelation that when evil men will have a glimpse of it they will cry out to the mountains and to the rocks, “fall on us and hide us” (Revelation 6.16). The holiness of God!

But not only the cherubim, the flaming sword! ‘And a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3.24.) What is the meaning of the flaming sword? It is the Law of God! The Justice of God! The Righteousness of God! This is a universe that is governed by a Holy and a Righteous God. We have not made it. We have just found ourselves in it. But it is made by God and He has given laws, He has given rules. It is in the heart of every one of us, a sense of right and wrong. But God has given it explicitly in the Ten Commandments and the moral law. And what does He tell us there? Well, what He tells us there is this. Would you like to live a life of Paradise? Would you like to be happy, live a life of contentment and of ease and of amity and of enjoyment? The way to do it is this. You shall not worship any God beside me! You shall not bow down to any graven image! You shall observe My day! And then the practicalities. You shall not kill! You shall not steal! You shall not commit adultery! Honour your father and your mother! You shall not bring false witness against your neighbour. You shall not covet your neighbour’s ox or his ass or his wife or his manservant or his maidservant. "Live like that," says God, "and you will be back in Paradise. But you cannot come back until you live like that."

Not only that, the justice of God metes punishment upon sin. He is a holy, righteous God. And we have no complaint. He has told us. He told the man and the woman, that if they disobeyed Him they would suffer punishment, and that they would be cast out, that they would suffer death and separation from Him. And the flaming sword is the justice and the righteousness and the holiness of God, the law of God, condemning sin, destroying all who sin, and making it impossible for anybody to get back to Paradise, except he comes in terms of God's holy being expressed in His holy law. The cherubim and the flaming sword!

Now that is why the world is as it is tonight! And that is why civilisation has failed completely. That is why Bertrand Russell was so pessimistic about the future. That is why Eric Fromm is equally pessimistic and I could name you many others who see no hope whatsoever. That is why it is. They do not believe this, but this is the only explanation. They are baffled. They thought reason, education, culture, knowledge, would do it. But it does not do it. Man is not prepared to live by reason. He is governed by lusts and desires. But here is God! The holiness of God! The cherubim and the flaming sword!

Well you say, "Have you come to Cardiff again just to tell us that everything is hopeless? Are you just preaching Paradise Lost, and leaving us to fester and to welter in a state of complete hopelessness? Not at all! There is a way to regain Paradise. There is a way back to Paradise. And this is the Christian message. What is it? Well you see, the task is this. We cannot get back there unless somehow we can answer the cherubim and the flaming sword. The only one who can get back into Paradise is one who can stand up and look into the face of God, in His utter absolute holiness. You know the hymn.

How can it be done? There is only One Who is able to do it. There has been only One in this world who could do it. He could look into the face of God's holiness and not shrink. Who is He? Well He is the one of whom the archangel in speaking to the Virgin Mary said, "That Holy One that shall be born of you." Here is the only Holy Person, ever since this history, that this world has ever known. Who is He? Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God! He has come from God. He has looked from eternity into the face of God!

‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1.1). There He is looking into the Holy Face of His Father! Eternally! He alone can do it! He alone can answer the demands of the cherubim. But what of the flaming sword.? What of the law of God? Here He is - the same one. ‘Made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law’ (Galatians 4.4-5). How does He do it? Well He starts by giving a perfect obedience to the law Himself. He came under the law. He carried it out to every jot and tittle. He gave a perfect obedience to the law of God. He is the only one who has ever done it.

What is true of all of us is this. ‘ There is none righteous, no, not one - the whole world lies guilty before God’ (Romans 3.10, 19). That is why we cannot get back to Paradise. Here is one who has kept and honoured the law of God. He defied everybody to find anything wrong or evil in Him. He has satisfied God in all the perfection of His demands.

But you say, "What about our guilt? What about the punishment that we deserve for our sins?" Oh, blessed be the name of God! He came to take our guilt upon Him, and the sword that would have smitten us and killed us, killed HIM. Yet because He was the Son of God as well as the son of man, He bore the full punishment. He was smitten - stricken of God. The sword, guarding the entrance smote Him! But He was able to take it all and still go on. He has entered into Paradise.

Now He came, this blessed Son of God. Not to do it for Himself, but to do it for us! He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. He came if you like, into the world in order to take us back again into Paradise. And He has done it! He satisfied the cherubim and the flaming sword, and all that you and I have to do is to believe in Him! And to trust ourselves to Him and to become incorporated in Him, and in Him we enter again into Paradise. This is the message of the Bible!

You and I can enter into a spiritual Paradise NOW - at this very moment! Every Christian, every man who truly believes this message can enter into Paradise spiritually at this moment. What do you mean? Well, what I mean is this. What is Paradise? I say the most essential thing about Paradise is fellowship and communion with God. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5.1.) God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Any man who believes that, he is in Paradise! He is reconciled to God. He has peace with God. He can pray to God as his Father. He can have communion with God, as Adam and Eve used to do freely before the fall. He is in this spiritual Paradise.

Not only that being justified by faith we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom also we enjoy this access by faith. We pray to Him- He is our father - we take our troubles and our problems and He is with us. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You receive a new nature, and the new nature does not love the darkness and hate the light. It loves the light and it hates the darkness. We are new men and women. We are made partakers of the Divine Nature. We have again something that responds to God's being. It is no longer light and darkness, but light and light! We are back in Paradise, enjoying the blessings.

But we are still in this evil world of sin, with its bombs and its wars and its illnesses, and we are getting older and we have got to die. We are in this old world still, brought to the shambles as a result of this incident we have been considering together. But you know my friends - and this is the thing to me that makes life not only worth living still, but glorious and joyous, a royal pilgrimage and crusade - not only does the Christian enter immediately into a spiritual Paradise, but we know that a day is coming when the whole cosmos will be returned to its original condition in Paradise.

What are you talking about says someone? Well, what I am talking about is this. Jesus Christ when He was in this world nearly 2000 years ago, He conquered all our enemies. He has delivered us from the bondage of sin and from Satan. He has restored to us the peace and the happiness and the joy of which I have been speaking. He gives us exceeding great and precious promises - all these we enjoy at once. But that is not the end of the story. He has defeated the Devil, He has defeated death and the grave, He rose triumphant over them, He has conquered the last enemy, He has ascended to heaven, He is seated at the right hand of God, waiting until His enemies shall be made His footstool.

And do you know? We have something wonderful to look forward to. Listen to this in Revelation chapter 21. ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth’. Not only are we going to be renewed men, we are going to be renewed men in a renewed universe - a new heaven and a new earth - ‘for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I John saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, “Behold the tabernacle of God is with men” - Paradise again! - “and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Paradise! Throughout the whole universe - “and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.”

Paradise regained! All the evil removed and banished and destroyed. Listen, still more marvellously, “And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.” We are back into the Paradise we have lost! The trees and the river and the fruitfulness and the happiness - and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The League of Nations will never do it!. The United Nations will never do it! All the travelling of these Secretaries will never do it! But there is a day coming when the leaves of the tree will be for the healing of the nations. “There shall be no more curse. But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.” Paradise regained!

That is the message my friend. Do you believe this? You have got to die you know? What then? What is going to happen to the whole world? Here is the only answer. You can be delivered from the fear of death immediately. There is no terror in death to the Christian. The Christian, with Paul, can say, “Oh death, where is your sting, Oh grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15.55-57). He has conquered them! And he is going to restore the whole cosmos in this grand regeneration.

He will come again! And He will come to judge the whole world in righteousness, all who died without believing in Him will go on to eternal misery - the life as they live it now, but even worse. But all who belong to Him, will see Him as He is and be changed like Him. Their very bodies will be glorified - they will live with Him - they will reign with him for ever, and forever. Are you enraptured by this prospect? Do you believe this is going to happen to you? It is realistic. It has got to be one or the other. Here is the message. Are you prepared to agree with a man who wrote a hymn in the last century? This is the kind of thing I am living by these days.

What does He say in reply? Listen! “Surely I come quickly.” What do we say to Him? Are you ready to say with me, Even so, come Lord Jesus - reign ,take Your own, receive us to Yourself and reign in Your glory everlastingly.

That is the message of the Bible to this modern world, the only explanation of our condition. the only hope of regaining Paradise. My dear friend are you already in Paradise spiritually? You can be. You have nothing to do, but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - and you will be saved! In Him you are already seated in the heavenly places, you are in Paradise. And you can look forward to the day when with Him you will be in this new heavens and new earth wherein dwells righteousness. You will be judging men - you will be judging angels - you will be sharing with Him in the glory everlasting. In spite of the darkness, the evil of the hour, there is this blessed hope for the children of God. Make sure that you are amongst them!

IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT PUZZLES YOU?

If so please EMail us with your question and we will do our best to give you a satisfactory answer.EMailus.

FREE Scholarly verse by verse commentaries on the Bible.

THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

Doctor,Martyn,Lloyd,Jones,Paradise,Garden,Eden,Adam,Eve,
Christ,crucified,crucifixion, sin,death,perdition,punishment,
Satan,Devil,knowledge,good,evil,Bible,answer,bible,research,
helps,Satan,Christian,Christianity,faith,facts,repent,
forgivness,suffering,Holy,Spirit,Creation,
old,new,testament