Open your Bibles this morning
to the book of Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. All the answers to all the questions right here. All the answers to all the questions
are in the Word of God. We believe that, don't we? Because
we found it to be true. All the answers are right here. And I hear this question. I just
read it in some ridiculous letter to an editor the other day. How
do we know where man came from? Well, if you've got a question,
go to where the answers are. I can show you plainly in the
Word of God where man came from. Look in Genesis 1, verse 26. And God said, let us make man
in our image. That's the Holy Trinity, us,
God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son. Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in
his own image, and the image of God created he him, male and
female, Created he them, and God blessed them, and God said
unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. Subdue
it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon
the earth." Where did man come from? God made him. He made him. It's just that simple. It's amazing
in that I forget who it was. I think it was John Chapman first
I heard say, man, one of the best indications of man's being
totally dulled by sin is that he'd rather believe he ascended
from an ape than he descended from God. We're descendants of
the true and living God. He made us in his own image. All the problems came from what
we did after that, as we'll see. Look at verse 31. God saw everything
that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Notice that
it wasn't just okay. It wasn't pretty good or good.
It was very good. What God does, he does perfectly.
And he made Adam, and he was perfect. Look at Genesis 2, verse
1. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them And on the seventh day,
God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it. And let me pause right here.
The word sanctified is just a sort of a big word that means God
set it apart. He made it holy. He made it special. And to this day, the seventh
day is special. That's what we're doing right
here, right now. This is the best day of the week. best day,
we get to come together, hear the preaching of the gospel and
fellowship with God's people. How much better could it be?
I tell you, if we don't like it here, what makes us think
we're going to like it one day when that's all we do is worship
Christ and fellowship with his people. So he set it apart, he made it
special, he sanctified this day because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made. How was man made? 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. I realize that
is foreign to us in one sense, and yet we believe as God's people
that what God did is He just gathered up some dust and formed
it into a man, and then remember this phrase, He breathed into
that clay and life came into it. He became a living soul. Now, being a living soul means
that it had more than just physical life. It had spiritual life.
When God breathes into somebody, they get two kinds of life. They
get physical life and then they get spiritual life. Look at verse
15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the man, 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 that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt not might die, could die, you'll
surely die. It's the only law there is, the
only rule. If you eat everything else, you don't eat that. When
you do, you'll surely die. Verse 18, the Lord God said,
It is not good that the man should be alone, and I'll make him and
help me for him. Now, you must forgive me. I'm
going to make a very personal illustration here, but I've thought
about it and thought about it, prayed about it. And I believe
it's the best way to make the point. Some things in Scripture,
all of it we ought to believe because it says what it says.
But some things we learn by experience. God sends something our way so
that we not only believe it by impartation, by reading and hearing
and believing in that sense, but we experience it in this
life in such a way that it becomes real to us. I'm one of the few, very few,
men that you know who's had the great joy of being married to
two godly women. I was married 18 years to Henry's
daughter, Becky Mahan Coffey, and she came down with cancer. The Lord sent it, it was in his
providence and purpose, and of course I prayed to all ends that
he He would deliver from it. But in his providence, he did
not see fit to do so, and she died. Time passed, and Becky's brother
Paul introduced me to Rebecca. She loved Christ. She was so
easy to love. We had been married ten years
this next month. One question is, and bless her
heart, she's so gracious about this, but I know the question
in a lot of people's minds, who do you love more? You ladies,
would that be on your mind? I finally figured out how to
answer that. Who does the Lord Jesus Christ love more? Does
he love Peggy, or Kara, or Ann, or Leanne? Who does he love most?
I'll tell you, when he puts two believers together, it's the
same love. It's the love of God that's experienced
in this life. And it's a foretaste of glory
divine. The two greatest gifts that God
can bestow upon any man, number one is give him a pastor who
preaches Christ and him crucified faithfully. Next, give him a
wife who loves Christ. You know why? It's not good for
man to be alone. And Adam found that out. He was
alone in the garden. We think he had it made. No,
he was alone. Being alone. When you've known
the love of Christ, being alone sounds like the most awful thing
in this world, much less the world to come. So what did God
do? Look in 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. And Adam said, This is now
bone of my bones. God reached into the side of
Adam and took a bone and made the woman. We believe that. God's Word says it. It's true.
That's how he made the woman. Because she was taken out of
man. Verse 24, Therefore shall a man leave his father and his
mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one
flesh. Now, right here is instituted,
the institution of marriage is presented. as the right way,
as the only way. You young folks, I know the world
in our day says, well, it's okay to sort of cohabitate or live
together or whatever. Don't believe it. God's ordained
way is to marry. To marry. And Adam and Eve became
one. They were married. And this is a picture why this
is so important and why God won't bless any other kind of relationship
is because it's a picture of the relationship of the Lord
Jesus Christ and his church. The church of God is made up
of individuals who are all one and they're married to the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's the bride of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And every believer is Well, every man and woman that
comes into this world is born a sinner, as we'll see from the
fall. But God's people have a new birth. They're born again, and
they're married to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, look, then something
happened after he made the woman, and Adam and Eve were married.
Look what happened in chapter 3, verse 1. 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 every tree of the garden. And the woman said
unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden, 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 they eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened And you shall be as
God's knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eye and
a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat." Now stop right there just a minute. Eve
was deceived by the serpent. That's what this is saying. And
being deceived, she took the fruit and she ate of it. Now,
what were the consequences to Eve and what happened when she
ate that fruit? You know what happened? She died. She died
spiritually right then. Right then. What did she do then? As a sinner,
she's now a sinner, what did she do? And she gave also unto
her husband with her, and he did eat. Do we understand Eve
became a sinner when she ate? And she went to her husband and
enticed him to eat. Now, I've heard a lot of tough
things said about Adam in this regard. And, you know, what he
did after he ate the fruit also, it says he gave it, she gave
it also to her husband and he did eat. Now, we understand that
when he ate, the same thing that happened to Eve happened to him,
he died spiritually. He didn't die physically, neither
did she, right on the spot. That would take time. We realize
they were made perfect. If they hadn't eaten, they would
have lived forever perfectly. But she ate and became a sinner,
enticed her husband. He ate. But let me explain something. I don't know who first laid this
out for me, but I see the truth of it, and I'll use more scripture
later to prove it. You know what Adam did? Adam. Adam. For all he did as a sinner
after that was not yet a sinner. He was still perfect. Why did
he then eat? Do you know why he ate? He so loved Eve. And he said, I would rather die
than be separated from her. Now, that's love. He was made
perfect, and he loved perfectly. And as such, he said, I'll die,
but I can't live separated from her. Now, look at Psalm 38 next. And when Adam ate, of course,
that sin entered. And Adam forsook Eve, he became
a sinner, and the consequences of sin fell
upon Adam and all of his children. All of us here suffer the consequences
of what Adam did. We're sinners, we're sinners
in our own right, but the reason that we're sinners is by nature,
we became sinners. And the consequences of sin are
exactly what God said they'd be. Thou shalt surely die. And
every person born into this world is born, and then we simply wait
to die. We're just proceeding towards
the day when we'll physically die. And then there'll be eternal
death. But in the meantime, there's
only one thing we do. You know what that is? You say
there's one word for everything? Absolutely. It is called sin. It's all we do. Our best deeds,
our best intentions are nothing but sin. Because that's what
we became. And look at Psalm 38. O Lord,
rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me
sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger.
Neither is there any rest in my bones because of what? My sin. My sin. The man became a sinner. And the consequences of sin,
look over at verse 17. For I am ready to halt, and my
sorrow is continually before me. where I declare mine iniquity. I'll be sorry for my sin. The
only difference between the whole world of unbelievers and the
world of believers is this simple fact. Believers, God reveals
to them that we are sinners. And we become sorry for our sin.
That's called repentance. Turn to Psalm 51, just a few
pages over, and David acknowledged this. When God saves somebody, he gives
us an awareness of sin and a sorrow for our sin. And in Psalm 51,
you see, Adam, Adam blamed Eve. When the Lord came after he ate,
the Lord came walking in the cool of the evening and said,
Adam, where are you? And the first thing Adam said was not
where he was. He said, she made me do it. The one he was willing to die
for, he now is a sinner. You see what's changed? He says,
kill her, not me. And when that didn't work, he
said, well, you gave her to me. It's your fault. He did. He blamed God. And we're no different. But the
believer admits sin and sorrows over it, as David does after
his terrible sin, says in verse one, have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy loving kindness. According unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out whose transgression, not the
woman's. He said, blot out my transgressions,
wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin as ever before me.
Have any of you parents ever noticed that concerning your
children, it is never their fault? Is it? No, no. The reason they didn't take the
trash out is because you were angry at me when you told me
that. Or you make me do it every day instead of my brother. There's
always some excuse, is there not? Why? They're just little sinners like
us. And as believers, the only difference is we acknowledge
sin as mine, and we're sorry for it. We repent of it. Turn
to 1 Timothy 1. Is there just no hope for us
poor sinners? Adam got put out of the garden. Is that what waits for us? We're
just going to be put out one day. There is hope for the sinner
who repents. In 1 Timothy, verse 15, a verse
you're very familiar with, this is a faithful, a true saying,
and worthy of all acceptation. that Christ Jesus came into the
world for what purpose? To save sinners. But now these
sinners are qualified. Everybody's a sinner. So he came
to save everybody? No. No. I'll tell you the sinners
he came to save. They're like Paul, who wrote
this, who said, Of whom I am the chief. Well, I'd like to
debate with him, John, wouldn't you? Paul may have thought he
was the chief of sinners. So did Peter, maybe. I know who
is. We'd all have to get in line
for that one, wouldn't we? If God reveals to us a glimpse
very much of what we are, we'll take issue. Paul's not the chief
of sinners, I am. And that's who Christ came to
save, his sinners. Well, how does the Lord Jesus
Christ save sinners? He did it at Calvary. And turn
now to John 19. I know you children have heard
this over and over and over. Jesus died at Calvary to save
sinners. And we're familiar with the things that were done to
the Lord Jesus Christ, which led up to his death on that cross. So I'm not going to read them
all today. But the fact that Christ died at Calvary is irrefutable. And the way that he died at Calvary
is recorded in this book and to be believed. What I want us
to see this morning is for whom he died at Calvary. Did he die
for all sinners or were there specific sinners? I just said
it's for those who say I'm the chief of sinners. He died for
a specific people. Now Christ had many things done
to him and let's pick up the account in John 19 verse 28. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas
unto the hall of judgment. And it was early, and they themselves
went not unto the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled,
but that they might eat the Passover." The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified
on the eve of the Passover feast. Remember that, because we're
going to come back to that in just a minute. Pilate then went out unto them
and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? And they
answered and said, I'm sorry, I'm reading chapter 18. I meant
to be reading in chapter 19, verse 28. After this, that was all pertinent. It makes a point about the Passover,
but verse 28 of 19 says, After this, Jesus, knowing that all
things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
his and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. He died. He died. And by saying he bowed
his head and he gave up the ghost, it means he died willingly, on
purpose. It was his intention here. Verse
31. The Jews, therefore, because
it was the preparation. Here again, it's the preparation
for the Passover, which we'll come back to again. That the
body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day. For
that Sabbath day was a high day, besought Pilate that their legs
might be broken and that they might be taken away. What they
would do when they crucified someone, it was a cruel and horrible
way to die. They nailed them by the hands
and by the feet, but they wanted them to suffer a long time. And
the reason they nailed the feet was that if you're just hanging
by your hands, your body finally gives way, your shoulders come
out of joint and you can't breathe. And so you suffocate. To prevent
that, they nailed their feet so that occasionally they could
raise up on their feet, get a breath, and then hang some more. Well,
when they wanted them to die quickly, they'd take a soldier
with an iron bar and he'd walk out there and come up and swing
it and break their legs in two so they could no longer stand
up and they'd hang there and die quickly. And that's what
the Jews said. We need to get our religious
ceremony here. Will you break their legs? That's
kind, isn't it? It shows how misguided they were
about the Passover, as we'll see. Verse 32, Then came the
soldiers, and they break the legs of the first thief and of
the other which was crucified with him. They broke both their
legs. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already,
they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came out blood and
water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true,
and he knoweth that he sayeth true, that ye might believe. For these things were done that
the scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken." Now, keeping that in mind, turn
back to Exodus chapter 12. They came to break his legs. And he was already dead, so they
did not break his legs. In Exodus 12, we have the account
of, we realize God sent Moses down into Egypt to tell Pharaoh,
let my people go. And he said, I won't. So Moses
touched the water and turned it all into blood. Pharaoh said,
I still won't let them go. Eight more plagues followed,
flies and uranium and locusts and all these things. And Pharaoh
still wouldn't let them go. So finally, God said, all right,
I'm going to send one more plague. It's called the Passover. He
said, I'm going to come through and I'm going to kill the firstborn
of every house in the land of Egypt. And he gave Moses specific
instructions. He said, Moses, he said, number
one, you take a lamb. And he said, sanctify it, set
it apart. It's a lamb that's without blemish. It's perfect. He's not lame.
He's not anything wrong with him. And you set him apart, sanctify
him, make him special. That's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he said then, he said, on this night, he said,
gather the household in. And he said, take the lamb and
cut its throat and catch the blood in a basin. And then take
a sprig of hyssop, a branch, and take the bowl outside and
take it and put blood on the doorposts and put blood on the
lentil above the door. He said, then get back inside.
And he said, then take the lamb and roast it with fire and then
eat it. And he said, what's going to
happen is he said. I'm coming through. And he said,
I'm going to come to this house. and there's no blood, and I will
kill the firstborn. And I'll come to this house,
and there's no blood, and I will kill the firstborn. And then
he comes to this house, and there is blood on the doorposts and
the lintel, and he says, I will pass over that house. There will be no death in that
house. That's a picture of how we're
saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope that picture will
get a little more clear still in just a second. But this lamb
that they ate, he gave one more specific instruction in verse
46 of Exodus 12. In one house shall I be eaten,
and thou shalt not carry forth out of the flesh abroad out of
the house. Neither shall ye break a bone
thereof." He said, you eat that lamb, you
roast it, you cut its throat, it will die. But don't you break
a bone. And the reason, the reason that
they did not break the legs of the Lord Jesus Christ, He went
to Calvary. And they took and plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head. And he said, my head? You take it. You take it. They then, those soldiers smacked
him in the face and hit him and beat him. And he said, my face? You take it. They grabbed his
beard and handfuls and tore the flesh off his cheeks. He said,
my cheeks? You take them. They tied him to a post in the
soldier's hall and they plaited a cat of nine tails with leather
thongs and they pushed metal and bone in the ends of that
so that when that soldier reared back and smoked his bare back,
the bone and the metal stuck in it and when he yanked it out,
he threw blood all over and gore all over the room. And he said,
my back, you take it. And they marched him up that
hill and he laid his hands out for them. They drove nails in
him and he said, my hands? You take them. You may have them.
They took his feet, set them down and drove nails through
his feet. He said, you take them. You may have them. The soldier
came with a spear and thrust it in his side. He said, my side? You take it. You may have it.
When that soldier came with the iron bar to break his legs, he
said, of my bones you will not crush, you will not break, you
will not so much as touch a bone of my bones. Adam said, I would
rather die than be separated from my bride Eve, and the Lord
Jesus Christ lowered his head, and died, rather than to have
his bones broken. Rather than be separated from
bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. You see, the Lord Jesus
Christ at Calvary was dying in our place, so that in the day
of judgment, or when the wrath of God comes through, the wrath
of God that day was such that the sun refused to shine. When
it fell on His Son, He was made sin for us. And the day of His overriding
wrath, the scourge of His wrath, when it comes through, it comes
to us, God sees the blood of Jesus Christ and He passes over
you. It's a beautiful picture, isn't
it? Of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only how He saves, but who
He saves. Just like he didn't save everybody
in Egypt, he saved his people. And Christ died at Calvary for
his bride, the way Adam died for his bride. It's a wonderful
picture. Rather than have his people die
eternal death, Christ died for their sin. Well, let's turn to
Ephesians 1 with me quickly. The Lord Jesus Christ died that
we might live. So for whom did Christ die? The
answer is for those whom he loved, for those who are born of his
bones, for those who are one with him, his bride. And I hope
the question on everybody's mind right now, it's on my mind, am
I one with Christ? Am I married to him? Well, how
does one get to be a bride? I'm the one you've chosen. And
God the Father chose a bride for God the Son. You see in Ephesians
1 verse 3, we read, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. According as what? He hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption. How? Through his blood. When
I see the blood, I will pass over you. The forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. Wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will. according to his good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him." You see, in verse 9, the word there, mystery, if we understand, if we believe
this word, it is because he has revealed a mystery to us. I realize
in this day and time, trying to explain to somebody the love
of Christ for his people and his bride is as futile as trying
to tell most men in the world that having a godly wife and
loving her and being faithful to her is a waste of words. But
in Christ, in Christ, we understand, don't we? Turn to Ezekiel 37.
One more scripture. Chapter 37. How do we find out if Christ
chose us? Well, the answer is Christ, by
His Spirit, calls His bride. He comes where His bride is.
He finds His bride where she is. He chooses His bride. He calls out His bride. And look
what He does for us. Here's what He does for His bride
in Ezekiel 37, verse 1. The hand of the Lord was upon
me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me
down in the midst of the valley which was full of what? Bones. Any of you ever been out hiking
somewhere, and you come across a carcass, and all there is is
dried up bones left? Well, it's dead, isn't it? Anything
you can do about it? Not a thing in the world. They're
just dead, dry bones. And that's what this was, a valley
here. He caused me to pass by them round about, and behold,
there were very many bones in the open valley, and lo, they
were very dry. They were completely dead, and
that's us. It's a picture of us dead in
sin, in the depths of sin, the valley of sin. And he said unto
me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord,
you know, you know. And again he said unto me, prophesy,
and that word is preach. Preach upon these bones. and
saying to them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. That's
what preaching is. It's what our pastor comes in
here every time to do, is he's preaching to the dry, dead bones,
looking for some bones. Now, there's some that are alive,
as we'll see already, but he's preaching to, trying to find
dry bones. Verse 5, Thus saith the Lord
God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter
into you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you,
and I will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and you shall live. And you shall know
that I am the Lord." That's a common thing all who have been given
life know, who are married to Christ. He's the Lord. He's the
Lord. So I preached as I was commanded.
And as I preached, there was a noise. And behold, a shaking,
and the bones came together. What? Bone to His bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews
and flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above,
but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Preach
unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind,
Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I preached
as he commanded me, and the breath came unto them, and they lived,
and stood up upon their feet an exceeding great army." Then
he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of
Israel. Behold, they say our bones are
dried and our hope is lost. We're cut off for our parts.
They realize, God's people, when they hear the gospel, realize
I am nothing but sin. I am dead, dry bones. There's
no hope for me as I am. Therefore, preach and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open
your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and
bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am
the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought
you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and
you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then shall
you know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith
the Lord." How did these bones get life? The same way Adam got
it the first time. God breathed into Adam and he
had life. He had physical life and spiritual
life. You say, well, we've got physical life right now, but
by nature we don't have spiritual life. And that's what the preaching
of the gospel is. It comes from four winds. Who
knows where it's going to, where it listens and where it goes.
But I'll tell you what, when it finds the heart of one of
God's own, glory be to him. And we bow. And we worship. And we love Christ. And oh my,
oh my. You know, one day it says here, I'm going
to give you your own land. One day we're going to the land.
The promised land. We're going to be with Christ.
We're going to be without sin. It's going to be wonderful, isn't
it? But not yet. Not yet. In the
meantime, you know what? We're right here. We're right
here. We're separated, sanctified,
we're set apart. And when God gives life, the
living desire to do what? Be with the living, not with
the dead. And one of the marks of a believer,
a bone of his bones, his pride is that we love the Lord's day
and we love the worship and fellowship of God's people. Ladies, do you
ever get tired? Do you ever get tired? of your
husband going, I love you. I love you so much. I can't express
to you how much I love you. Oh, I know y'all just hate that,
don't you? Of course you don't. There's
nothing like the object of your affection bestowing the very
best that they can upon you. That's what love is. I tell you what, When God chooses
a bride, makes them one with Him, makes them bone of His bones,
makes them His bride, you know the only thing in their world
they want? They want to hear, I love you. And I hope this morning
you came here and heard, I love you, from the Lord Jesus Christ. Because if you're one of His,
He loved you so much. He died rather than be separated
from you. May the Lord bless His Word.