Dear brothers and sisters, peace be to everyone! It is great meeting everyone again. Today, we will continue with the Gospel of forgiveness. The Bible focus is Genesis 3:1-24 unless otherwise stated.

In the previous episode, I shared with everyone that we, “people in this world have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” There is none without sins unless you are not a human. All humans are sinners – some are good people so they are good sinners; some are bad people so they are evil sinners; some have committed very small sins so they are ‘small’ sinners; some have committed big sins so they are great sinners. Regardless of great sinners, ‘small’ sinners, good sinners or evil sinners, they are all sinners. The behaviour of sinners is evident – the more they sin, the more they cannot accept themselves, the more they hate themselves and have contempt for themselves, just like how we look down on those who have sinned.

In the same way, the relationship between God and the sinner is fundamentally in tension. When a person breaks the law, he dislikes the presence of the judge and the existence of God. People start to oppose and deny God, using their reasoning powers, culture, religion and philosophy to deny his existence. The relationship between God and humans is basically opposing and strained. After man had sinned, his interpersonal relationships are also tensed. A lot of couples demand the other party to change but they do not expect themselves to change. Why? It is because they are dissatisfied with the other person. They want their spouse to please them. However, who would marry you just to please you? Therefore, several situations arise in marriage: people cannot see their true selves and do not understand the responsibilities that they should bear. Instead, they push the blame to the other party and want them to change and take responsibility. In the process, they become irresponsible and interpersonal relationships are strained. After Adam had sinned, he shifted the responsibility to his wife and claimed that she had caused him to sin and fall. He did not reflect on his actions. At that point in history, if he were to walk together with his wife to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would most likely remind and encourage each other, and would not sin.

Dear brothers and sisters, how do we return to God after sinning? This is a very important point. You and I must first recognise clearly that we are sinners and clearly understand that there is no God in our hearts. The God, whom I have in mind, is usually conjured up in my imagination so I need to be humble, confess my sins and repent. I also have to bear responsibility for interpersonal relationships, face the issues and not push the blame to others.

There is another consequence after the fall of man -

the relationship between humans and the world is also strained

Let us continue to look at the Bible verses. The relationship between oneself is not only strained, but also the relationship between God and man and interpersonal relationships. It also mentioned that the relationship between humans and the physical world is also in tension. Genesis 3: 17-19 tells us, “And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Dear brothers and sisters, our sins have affected the earth so the natural laws start to have abnormal occurrences. For instance, the women have to experience the pain of childbirth. Originally, giving birth is a natural process but after the fall of humans, it is no longer natural and the pain is excruciating. Such childbirth pain is the most painful among the living creatures. It is incomprehensible.

At the same time, there is curse. People have to work laboriously in order to obtain food. Why? It was because humans did not listen to God’s words and were reluctant to obey His good will. They have departed from God’s grace so they have to rely on their own labor to earn a livelihood. Through this, people have to reflect and ponder over: Why must we work so hard?

Today, some of our ‘toils’ are external and visible while others are internal and cannot be seen. An example of external toil with perspiration is using the hoe for farming. A farmer needs to perspire so as to get food while others have to work in the office and rack their brains. For the latter, their perspiration flow inside them so they are also hard at work. Therefore, people have to toil laboriously to earn a living. This is our present day reality.

Dear brothers and sisters, are you and I like Adam? After we have done wrong, do we also have such similar reactions? Let us think about it. For example: do we hate ourselves? Are we unable to accept ourselves? And even look at ourselves with contempt? This is the first question that we have to ask.

Secondly, do you have a good relationship with God? Is God, whom you know, part of your imagination? Or you never truly know God. On the contrary, you use religion, culture and philosophy to avoid God?

Thirdly, how are your interpersonal relationships? Are they harmonious or getting more tensed? If they are strained, is it the result of your sin? We see that after the fall of man, people use excuses to push the responsibility, just like Adam shifting the blame to his wife, who in turn pushed the blame to the serpent. We shirk our responsibilities time and time again; then, the man wants to gain control of the woman and the woman has affection for her husband. Does this reflect our lives? ‘Control’ refers to the use of forceful means (most probably money and violence) to make the other party completely obey me. This is very scary! Today, some men use violence on their wives while others use money to control women. These are instances of control which are unacceptable in the Bible. Originally, the husband-and-wife relationship is loving and intimate. According to Genesis 2, “And they shall become one flesh.” However, after humans had sinned, the woman wants to completely possess her husband which means she has to entirely rely on her husband. It is often reported in the newspapers that some women allow the men in their lives (be it divorced or just a man who is not her husband) to bully or abuse her child, because she adores the man or wants to possess him. Sometimes, the infants die after they were abused by their mother’s boyfriend. This is something we cannot comprehend. Why? It is because this wife is obsessed with the man. It is a pity that such affections and feelings are abnormal. This is the scenario after the fall of man.

Apart from this, we see that there are tremendous changes to the earth. The changes to the earth and the sins of humans are inseparable. Why are there so many disasters? Why do droughts result in crop failure? Why does heavy rain result in flooding of farm lands? All these are caused by humans. We often destroy the physical world because of sins – I constantly pursue developments and possess material things as a result of greed. Consequently, I pollute the earth. When we reflect on these issues, we know that humans have truly sinned.

How does God react after humans had sinned?

How does God react after the fall of man? Genesis 3: 8-9 clearly describe: “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. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” From here, we can see that Jehovah God took the initiative to seek man in the garden of Eden. This is the gospel. The Bible clearly tells us: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) Who is he finding? He is seeking the lost. God took the initiative in His act of love. The religions in the world require people to seek God. However, the gospel in the Christian faith is about God seeking the people. Humans are already in the bondage of sin and have lost their direction. How can the lost find the righteous path? How can people in bondage have freedom to look for God? This is impossible. Therefore, God especially came to the garden of Eden (or to the world) to seek man. His purpose is not to condemn our sins but to wake us up from our sins. The Bible depicted him coming to the garden in a gentle way and calling out to Adam: “Where are you?”

Even though God knew where Adam was, He still called out to him. Just like I asked my child: “What did you do?” although I knew what he had done wrong. In doing so, I wanted him to know the wrongdoing he had committed. In the same way, God’s call to Adam was to make him realise his plight and know his sins so that he would return to God once again instead of avoiding Him.

Adam’s answer demonstrated that he lacked sincerity and repentance so God had to question him. Every sinner must thoroughly realise his sins – unless he does not sin, otherwise think that God does not know or cannot find out the wrongdoing. After the questioning, God executed His righteous judgement and drove man out of the garden of Eden. In spite of this, God made garments of skins to clothe them. God’s grace is evident even when humans had fallen. He still reveals His love to them in their imperfection.

How does God reveal His love to people?

We see that after the fall of man, The Bible recorded the first prophecy and promise. God said, “In future, the offspring of the woman will bruise the serpent’s head and the serpent will bruise his heel.” Who is her offspring? He is the incarnated Jesus Christ. ‘The woman’ here is singular, not plural so is the offspring. It points to the woman, virgin Mary. The offspring of Mary is Jesus Christ. We know that later, Jesus Christ is incarnated, just as it was written in Hebrews 2:14, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” Also, in John 1:29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” We thank God that He became flesh and came to the world to bear our sins and forgive us.

Why? It was highlighted in Romans 5: 6-9 that “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.” We thank God! When we were still sinners, God descended to the world and died on the cross for us. By God’s grace, we receive salvation and become his children.

Dear friends, brothers and sisters, the great work for forgiveness of sins had been accomplished. Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day for the purpose of salvation. Our sins are forgiven in Jesus and we are saved. The gospel for forgiveness of sins is completed for Jesus said on the cross: “It is finished.” As sinners, are we willing to repent sincerely and receive His forgiveness with a humble spirit?

Let us pray together (please open your hearts to receive God’s grace for forgiveness of sins).

Dear heavenly father, we come before you and thank you because Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God, died on the cross to accomplish salvation. You said on the cross: “It is finished!” Indeed, you had finished the great work of salvation. As sinners, we are willing to open our hearts and ask you to forgive our sins. May you enter our lives so that we receive the grace of salvation. Lord, forgive us and remove the guilt in our conscience so that we can accept ourselves. In Jesus Christ, the old has gone and the new is here! In you, we have a new beginning and a new life. Our families will also have new lives and new relationships. May you enable us to be gentler and have more harmonious interpersonal relationships. By doing so, our families will be more peaceful. Lord, be with us so that we do not have to worry about the future and are filled with the assurance of your presence. We thank you God for listening to our prayer. In the holy name of Jesus Christ, Amen!