If you would, open with me to
Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2, and let's read together
verses 21 and 22. And the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of
his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib
which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, and
brought her unto the man." I have struggled with finding
a specific verse or verses for my text this morning, and at
some point during William's message this morning, it occurred to
me that these two are my verse, but I'm not going to get to them
in depth until much later. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. This morning, Gabe and his family
are gathered together once more, and they are reminded that the
measure of our days is in handbreath. As they do so, and as we remember
and think on them, we're also reminded that while we remain
in this flesh, we will sorrow as those that we love lay down
their bodies of flesh. And every time that we do so,
every time we are called to remembrance, we go to a funeral, Something in our nature cries
out, why me? Oh, poor, pitiful me. Why do
I have to once more say farewell to someone I love? Why do I live with the continued
threat that someday the Lord tarries? People are going together
around my empty shell to bid me farewell. Why? Short answer is sin. Do we find a contradiction in
the declaration, all things work together for good? and God's
declaration after the flood, the imagination of man's heart
is evil from his youth. How did man, created in the image
of God, who God declared good, over in Genesis 1.31, he says,
and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was
very good. How did man's nature change from
very good to evil? More so, how can that change
be declared good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose? Lord willing, this morning I
want to see what happened in the fall. What actually happened? What is the consequence of the
fall to man? Who is the good news from the
fall? And what is the condition of
those called after the fall? First, what really happened in
the fall? When Adam fell, when he sinned
against God, did he bruise himself? Did he hurt himself badly, but
with the right care, with the right effort, he can be recovered? Or did he, as the scriptures
declare, in fact die? Did Adam become as dead and vile
As that roadkill I saw on my way here this morning that had
been ran over a few times, maggots were eating its rotted, decayed
body. Is that what Adam became when
he died? What do our scriptures tell us?
Genesis 2, verse 7. And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and man became a living soul. Skip down to verse 15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the
man, God declared His law to His creature, to His subject,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it. For in the day, in the day, it
was no surprise to God when Adam rebelled and sinned against Him. He said, In the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The wages of sin is death. That's the penalty demanded of
God's law, and like God, it is eternal. His law is eternal. His penalty is eternal. When
Lucifer, son of the morning, before Adam was formed, said
in his heart, I will be like the Most High, He was cast out
of heaven, and our Lord said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven. The wages of sin, the penalty,
the earning of sin, is death. What does it mean, though? When
God said, Thou shalt surely die, we are surrounded by death. So
much so that we can't have, I can't imagine what it would be
like to not have death. But we can learn something. There's
not much told to us about Adam in the garden before the fall.
But we can learn something about his nature and what his nature
was before he fell. So what happened in the fall?
What is life? We lost life. Man lost life. He died. What did he lose? Genesis 2, 7 again. And the Lord
God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living soul. Now turn over one page, possibly
back to Genesis 1, verse 20. This is the first recorded use
of the word life. And God said, Genesis 1, 20,
let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath
life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament
of heaven. Prior to this, in verses 11 and
12, God created the plants, but he didn't say that they had life. It was only when he created those
beings that have the ability to move that he said they had
life. Then he made a separation, a
distinction between those beasts and the life that man has. Man became a living soul. For man there are two lives.
There's a life of movement, and there's a life of the living
soul. Our Lord said God is a spirit,
and He, God, unlike man of the dust, He deals in spiritual matters. What is the life? There's those
two parts, the life of movement and the life of a living soul.
That personality, the emotions, the affections, the passions
are nature. What was Adam's nature before
the fall? What was his spiritual life? Look in chapter two, verse 19. And out of the ground the Lord
God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the
air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them.
And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the
name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle,
and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.
But for Adam there was not found and help meet for him. First
thing we see here is Adam had fellowship with God. He had a
nature that allowed them to be together, and there was a trust
between the two. God, speaking to Israel and Amos,
said, can two walk together except they be agreed? Would God have brought to Adam
every creature that he had created, that he declared good? Would
he have brought those creatures to Adam for him to name, had
the two not been in agreement? Had they not been walking together?
Now look at Genesis 2, verse 25. And they were both naked, the
man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Before the fall, Adam
had fellowship with God, and he was not ashamed. But what happened after the fall?
Genesis 3, 7, 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. As soon as he did eat, The man,
the woman, and all those in him died. What died? The man is still moving about.
He's gone to work. He's making himself some fig
leaves for aprons. What died? And how's it revealed
that death was there? The living soul, man's nature,
is what died. It was a living soul. Now it's
a dead soul. How do we know that? They knew
they were naked. They were ashamed. They had no
covering for their nakedness, no covering for their want. Then
we see verse eight. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. Because his nature is now dead,
he no longer desires to have fellowship with God. He's separated
and wants to stay separated. He has no covering for his shame. He is dead in trespasses and
sins. The soul that was once living
is a dead soul. In the fall, in Adam's rebellion,
he died. What about those in him? What
about the woman? Genesis 2.6 said, And when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat. And what happened? Nothing. She ate. Her eyes weren't opened. She
wasn't ashamed. She did not die. Why not? She was complete in him. Adam had not transgressed. Adam had not sinned. And she
was complete in him as long as he was complete. He was the head
of mankind, and thus far he had kept the law. In verse 6, continuing,
And she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. In Adam all die. The woman being made from the
rib taken out of the man was in him, and when he died, she
died. When he died, all his seed died
in him. That's our nature. That's what
we inherit. Dead souls, ashamed before God,
having no desire to be in God's presence, earning the just reward
of our sin, death. This is so essential. so important, and I know I'm
doing a poor job of getting it across. There is no good news
to be found in the fall without this foundation. In Adam, all die. Who was in Adam when he died? Eve, the woman, Cain, Abel, Seth,
and the list continues all the way down to all of us in here. We were in Adam. We have this example of being
in a person and doing in that person. In Hebrew 7, we have
another example. Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews 7
beginning in verse 9. And as I may so say, Levi, Levi
is the great grandson of Abraham. And as I may so say, Levi also,
who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in
the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him. Being not yet even thought of,
Levi paid tithes in Abraham, just as we stand against God
in our father Adam. You can go back to Genesis. What happened in the fall? Cody
read to us in Romans 5, 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. Man sinned against God, and he
died. His nature is enmity against
God. The consequence of that death—separation
from God, shame, and fear—is their good news to be found in
the fall. Genesis 3.15 And I, God, will put enmity between
thee, the serpent, and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed. It, the woman's seed, shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This is no contingency
plan that God made up on the spot. This was no plan B that
man might sin and they might need a Redeemer. This was God's
anointed. The sin that separates us from
God must be paid. The work we did and do has earned
us death, and that wage must be paid. Can we pay the debt? Well, to pay the debt of death,
you have to have something with which to pay. Only life can pay. And we don't
have it. We are born dead, so we don't
have anything to pay. We need a redeemer. We need one
who has the ability and the willingness to take our debt, to make it
his own, to pay the price, and to go even further, to give us
life, because we don't have it. Turn over to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter
1, verse 18. For as much as ye know, that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things. I have a need to be redeemed. And it has to be, it's a far
greater value than those corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, before Adam ever existed. but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him
up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope
might be in God." Before the foundation of the world, God,
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit entered into a covenant
regarding Adam's fallen race. The Father chose of that fallen
race, unlike that race that fell with Lucifer, a number to redeem. God the Son, for the love and
for the glory of His Father, stood as their surety. When the question was asked,
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Our Lord replied,
Here am I. Send me. Knowing the price to
be paid, His life, He willingly took up the burden, and He came,
shed His precious blood, and paid our debt. And God the Spirit
in that covenant said, I will call and I will quicken all those
for whom the Son redeems. As we lived in Adam while he
lived before he sinned, and as we died in him when he died in
sinning against God, so also did those called according to
his purpose walk in Christ before God in righteousness. The sin
that I am, that dead nature that's enmity against God, the sin that
I do because of what I am, that exposes what my nature is, my
sin, God the Son owned as his own. And he bore it. He bore
that burden, my burden, the burden of all those He came to save,
to the cross of Calvary. There, as the Lamb of God, without
blemish and without spot, He shed His precious blood to pay
the price of life owed by those that He loves. Those given to
God the Son before the foundation of the world, He has fully redeemed. While Adam lived, while he did
not eat of the fruit, we all lived in him. We were complete
in Adam. But oh, how fragile was that
standing! We need a sure foundation. Who is it? Therefore thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a tridestone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. The Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners, and he shall not
fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth
and the isles shall wait for his law. While we were in Adam,
our righteousness, our acceptance before God was secured in a man
keeping the law. The problem was that that man
was just that, a man, a created being, and nothing more. Today,
we are the same as we were in Adam after the fall. Adam, as
soon as he fell, he went to work making a covering for himself,
while still trusting that he could make himself that covering
that would make him acceptable before God. That's a false hope
and an unsure foundation. The Lord Jesus Christ, God, not
being a created being, God came in the likeness of sinful flesh.
He is the foundation stone laid by the Lord God. He is the tried
stone. He is the precious cornerstone.
He alone is the sure foundation of acceptance before God. When
the day comes that our bodies of flesh are laid down and our
souls are returned to our Creator, will we be standing on a sure
foundation? Or will we be standing on a false
refuge that says, I know Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
and I have fill in the blank? Therefore, I'm saved. Or will you be standing in Christ
alone, crying out, Lord, save me, else I perish? If we are, in that last day,
if we are found standing and trusting in Christ alone, it's
not of our doing. It's all of God's doing. The
only thing that any child of Adam has ever done is earn our
just condemnation. But because God is good and ready
to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon
thee in Christ, we have a future that these minds can't even begin
to comprehend. Back in our text, Genesis 2,
verse 21. And the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of
his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib
which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and
brought her unto the man. What happened in the fall? Man
was separated from God, just like that rib that was in
Adam was separated from that man. While that rib was in Adam,
it had life. It had nourishment. It had ability. As soon as it was separated from
man, that rib was dead. The life-sustaining blood from
Adam no longer flowed through that rib. But God acted upon that dead
rib, and He made of it a new creation. For those That rib God took and made a
woman, something that had not existed before. It was no longer a rib, but it
was an entire creation. For those dead sinners that God
has chosen, redeemed, and called, the fall in the garden is indeed
included in all things worked together for good. For the first
man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam, our Lord
Jesus Christ, was made a quickening spirit. And those He saves, those
He redeemed, those He gives life. Because the fall, Lord Jesus
Christ, is the good news of the fall. And one day soon, this
body of flesh will be put aside. And in Christ, those he loves
and gave himself for will be presented as a bride adorned
for her husband. Our Lord said in John 5, verse
24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death, that
rib that was dead, unto life. That body, that woman, that bride. Pray the Lord will bless that
to us. And look forward to seeing Brother Tom Harding tonight.
And Lord willing, Gabe will be back Wednesday.