Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. I'd like to deal with verses
18 through 25. And in this blessed passage of
scripture, we behold the glorious blessing and the institution
of marriage. God's word upon this union is
set forth as this being a beautiful picture of the marriage, the
union between the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride. This is what this is all about. How the Lord brought forth His
bride unto Himself. The Holy Spirit, as we consider
the latter part of this passage in verses 23, 24, Adam said,
this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall
be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto
his wife, and they shall be one flesh." And the Spirit of God
moved upon the Apostle Paul to write that to the Ephesians,
to the church at Ephesus. He said, for this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother, shall be joined unto his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. So just as a man
leaves the home of his birth, cleaves unto his wife, the Lord
Jesus Christ would come being sent of the Father from the portals
of heaven into this earth, and in this earth he would openly
exhibit his union with his bride, with the church, the one that
he's everlastingly loved, had within himself, and had given
himself for. Now, the word begins today with
that which the Lord God declared that was not good. He said in
verse 18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should
be alone. I will make him and help meet
for him. Now, before we continue, I want
us to consider a wonderful revelation in that passage of Scripture
that would be, I know for me, If I had not just had the Lord
reveal something to me in that passage of Scripture, it would
be very easy for any of us to overlook a blessed revelation
in that. And what it is, what I'm about
to look at is the marvelous revelation of God's mercy to man. I want you to notice The scripture
says, verse 18, and the Lord God said, it's not good. Now, until Genesis chapter 2
and verse 4, just look back there. In Genesis chapter 2 verse 4
it says, these are the generations of the heavens and the earth
when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the
earth and the heavens. Verse of scripture, right there,
Genesis 2-4. We never found Lord, capital
O, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. We never found
the title, Lord. But we only found God, Elohim. Genesis 1-1, in the beginning,
God. And look down through all verses,
verses chapter 1 and everything, it's all God. and God, and God
said, and God saw. God, Elohim, is the plural name,
and I'm just going to tell you what I can glean from this, because,
and I'm thankful to read, when I was reading the commentaries
on this, men that I believe truly are taught of God, realize you're
not going to set forth the perfect definition of God. There's some
things that we do know, but there's some things that we'll never
know. This side of glory for sure. But God, there's some things
that I know about God. Elohim is that. It is the plural
name of Him who is Holy, it's a plural word. A plural word. But it's a plural word of Him
who is holy, eternal, independent, self-existent, the first cause,
and according to Hebrews 12, 29, who is a consuming fire. He is the just God. God, but when God, the name of
God, is revealed in covenant relation to man, then the Lord
is pleased to take the title, if I could say it that way, I
don't know any other way to say it, but takes the Lord God, Jehovah
Elohim. Elohim, God, is God that is holy,
just, the mighty God, the omnipotent, the creator, all that He is. And LORD, all capital letters,
Jehovah, declares God in His triunity, the Father who chose
a people unto Himself, The Son who redeemed and the Holy Spirit
who regenerates, keeps, guides, teaches the people of God's affection. God in His covenant dealings
with His people. Moses, turn over to Exodus 33. We've read this before, but I
want you to see something in light of this right here. Exodus
33. Next is 33 and verse 11. What it was, Moses asked the
Lord, would you explain your name to me? That's what he asked
him. Show me your glory. Explain,
explain, show it to me. Explain it to me. Show me. That's
what he said in verse 8. And he said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. And he was asking that the Lord
reveal to him the particular excellence of his nature as he
relates to man. Show me. your glory. And the Lord was pleased to show
him. He said in verse 19, and he said,
I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee. Now listen to that answer. Would
you show me your glory? Would you explain to me? Would
you tell me the excellence of your being
as you will deal with men. And here's what he said, I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. So whenever the Lord was pleased
to reveal His glory, His name, He said, this is, this is the
glory of myself. This is the glory of my name.
I will show mercy. I will have compassion. So whenever
we behold the name Lord God, God, God itself, Elohim, just,
the mighty God, self-existent, separate, Lord God, Jehovah Elohim. Look at Exodus 34, Exodus 34,
verse six to eight. I think this gives us some light
on what I'm trying to say here. Exodus 34, six to eight, and
the Lord, now look at it, the way it's written right there,
and the Lord, Jehovah, passed before him and proclaimed the
Lord, the Lord God. Now he just revealed himself
as Jehovah Elohim, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgressions of sin, the Lord. God, and that will by no means
clear the guilty, vesting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children, upon the children's children, unto the third and
to the fourth generation. So you see, back in Genesis 2,
you see what I'm saying, the Lord God, when He said, and the
Lord God, now He's revealing Himself. One God, but God Himself
revealing Himself to be a just God and a Savior. So, when we see that, whenever
the Lord came to Thomas, remember when, after the Lord had risen
from the dead? And he met with all the disciples
except Thomas. Thomas wasn't there. The disciples
told him, they said, the Lord is here. Thomas said, I'm not
going to believe it unless I see the prince, I see the sign, I
will not believe it. About a week later, the Lord
met with him again, and Thomas was there. And he said, Thomas,
come here. Put your finger right here. Feel
my side right here. And what did Thomas say? My Lord
and my God. That's what he said. You ever
wonder why he said that? You're just God. And you're a
Savior. So back in Genesis 2, 18. And
the Lord God said, It's not good that the man should be alone.
I will make him and help meet for him. So, here in the absolute
wisdom, mercy declared that which was not best, not pleasant, not
comfortable, it was not good. that the man should be alone.
And ultimately, you know, he's not talking about just Adam here.
He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord had obviously,
when He said that, He had obviously formed out of the ground every
creature and supplied every creature with its help, with its confidence with its association. All the animals. Look in verses
19 and 20. Out of the ground the Lord God
formed every beast of the field, every fowl of the air, and brought
them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever
Adam called every creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam
gave names to all cattle, to the fowl of the air, to every
beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found
and help meet for him. Dominion over all the creatures. God had made all the creatures,
all the fowl, all the creeping things. And he brought them to
Adam to be named. And whatever Adam called them,
the Lord gave him that wisdom. And whatever he called them,
that's what they were called. But though Adam had dominion,
and that's what he said, verse chapter 1, verse 26, God said,
Let us make man in our image after our likeness. Let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, fowl of the air, cattle. He had dominion. He was to oversee,
you know, but though he had dominion over all the creatures, yet there
was nothing in this world that was found to be an help that
was meet or fit for him. There wasn't, and these are words
that I got from the definition of a help meet. When I say what
I'm about to say. There wasn't found a counterpart
of himself. Wasn't found a resemblance, an
equal, a companion, a sharer of thoughts, observations, or
joys. There wasn't one like Adam. There
were all the animals, male, female, all the creeping things, birds,
but there was Adam. There wasn't one that he had
union, fellowship with. In verse 21-22, 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. Now, obviously this was
more than a natural sleep as we would think of sleep. It was
a supernatural, it was a deep sleep. And the definition, it
just, that's it. It was just a, some say it was
a trance. It was a deep sleep. God put
him under. And the Lord provided that for
Adam. And having caused that deep sleep
to fall upon Adam, the Lord opened his side, because the scripture
says He took one of his ribs, in verse 21, and closed up the
flesh instead thereof. So He opened it. He opened his
side. And he took one of his ribs,
is what the scripture says. And then he closed up that flesh,
and from that rib, the Lord built, if you have a marginal reading
there, where it says verse 22, and the rib which the Lord God
had taken from the man, made, in my marginal reading it, built
it. Built it. He took the rib, and he built
a woman and helped meet and brought her to the man. Now Christ, and
here's the picture, here's the glorious picture in all this. Christ of whom Adam was a type, the Lord himself suffered the
deep sleep of death. That the church, his bride that
was everlastingly found in him. Now, remember this. I read this
scripture back in Genesis 1.26. It says, and God said, let us
make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion
over the fish. Eve was always in Adam. She was
there. The Lord had not taken her out
yet. And the church has always been in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before the foundation of the world, we were chosen in Him
that we should be holy and without blame before Him, before God
in love. So here is a picture of the bride
everlastingly found in Christ. Just like Eve, that rib that
the Lord took out of Adam's side, He built a woman out of that
rib. She was there. The Lord just
brought her forth. But the Lord God Himself sent
the Son into this world, Jehovah, sent the Son into this world,
that through death He might bring forth the precious bride that
had been given Him an electing grace, that He redeemed by His
precious blood, that He earned righteousness for. He brought
her forth as one, though she fell in Adam, He brought her
forth through the pierced side at Calvary when He shed His blood
as her Savior, her Redeemer, her Husband, her Friend. Always
there, but in time, the Spirit of God is going to call her out,
going to reveal her. And the Scripture says that the
Lord brought her unto the man, verse 23. And Adam said, verse
22, the Lord brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This
is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called
woman because she was taken out of man. Now, here's a beautiful
truth set forth here. The woman wasn't made from dust,
Adam was. Scripture says that Adam was
made from the dust of the ground. The woman was made from Adam. Her being, her existence came
from Adam. But from the woman being taken
from the side of Adam, again, her being and help, that's what
the Lord said, I'm going to make a help meet or fit for him. She was of the same flesh. She was of the same nature. She was part of Him. And do we not see the beautiful
picture of the bride again being found in the Lord Jesus Christ? We were created from the dust. We came just like Adam did. generation. But here's the picture
of the bride that was placed in him. The scripture declares
that whenever God is pleased to bring forth his bride, that
he's always had, she's always there, but when he brings her
forth, God Almighty rebirths her. And she's not born as she
was the first time. She's born from above. She's
born anew. She is born in regenerating grace. And now there's a new man there. A new man the scripture declares
that is created in righteousness and true holiness. which after
God is created that way. And just as God made that woman,
built that woman, God makes new creatures. We're born of God. And when the Spirit of God moved
upon Adam, when he saw her, until that time, there was not one
that was a help, that was a meat, Bone of his bone. This is what
he said. This is bone of my bone. This is flesh of my flesh. She
wasn't made out of dust like me. She was made for me. Came
out of me. I began to think on that. And
to be honest with you, thinking of us coming forth from out of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Created in righteousness, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. I wish I knew how to say what
I was thinking, Neil. I wish I could say it. I think
these things are too high for me, but as she came out of Him,
we came out of the Lord. We came from Him. Adam looked at her and said,
you came from me. You're going to be called A woman. A she-man. A she-man. She was taken out of man. And
therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall
cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. She came
from him. God took her out of him. And
he looked at her and he loved her. That was part of him. and the beauty of knowing that
we're formed in righteousness and true holiness. And he shall leave his father
and mother, cleave to his wife, and there'll be one flesh. And
they were naked, and the man and his wife, and they were not
ashamed. They weren't ashamed. We're ashamed now. We walk around
naked with shame. Why? Because of sin. You see
a cow, you see a dog, they're naked. Ain't no shame there. Why? Sin has depraved everything
we are. It ruined everything. Oh, but
to be found in Him, found, joined Him, built upon Him, upon the
cornerstone Himself, Oh, what divine inspiration. We behold
as the Lord God speaking either Himself or moving upon Adam as
He gave Adam the insight to speak about something that he's never
experienced. This is what said either the
Lord said this by His Spirit or Adam said it. I think Adam
said it. He said, therefore shall a man leave his father and his
mother. He didn't have a father and mother. He'd never seen one. And shall cleave to his wife.
Where did he come up with that word? God gave it to him. Cleave to his wife. They shall
be one flesh. Look at what God taught him in
that. That a relationship that he personally
never experienced. and cleaving unto his wife, and
the two of them being one flesh in purity and innocence before
there was any sin, man shall leave his father and
mother. Not that a man neglects his father and mother or is remiss
in his responsibility to honor or esteem them. It's not that
he neglects or fails to care for them as they stand in need
of him, but you think of the relationship. of how the Lord
Jesus Christ, as I said a few minutes ago, left the portals
of glory, being sent of the Father, coming this way, left His Father, came, cleaved to His wife, loved
her, joined Himself with her, joined her to Himself, that union.
But all that truth set forth Though a man leaves his father
and mother, he doesn't continue to dwell with them as he did.
He dwells with his wife. He takes a wife, provides a habitation
for her. Isn't that what he did? Father, I will that those that
Thou has given me be with me where I am. I'll be honest with
you. I want to go home with Glenda. That's who I want to go home
with. I want to go home with her. Why? We have a home. We have
a marriage. And she's my wife. And I cleave to her. I love my
mama. I go see my mama. They'll let
me raise the window and talk to her and stuff like that. And
I enjoy it. And I love her. I want to do
everything in the world I can for her. That's my mother. from
Cleveland, my wife. I was talking to Gabe just the
other day and we were talking about the relationship, man and
wife, and I said, Gabe, I said, as close as you and I are, we
talk every day, we talk about the scriptures, you know, but
I'm going to tell you something, if it came between me, his dad,
and Hannah, his wife, he's going to take her. He's supposed to
do that. Man cleaves to his wife. That's
what Christ cleaves to. He loves you. He says, I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. Never. Where his wife, his
bride, glued, it would be one flesh, already glued, this flesh,
glued together. We behold this glorious union. So, though the bride, She was
chosen in Christ, fell in Adam, but she was never out of Christ.
I mean, these are great mysteries, but this is the truth. Though
she fell in Adam, ruined in the fall, separated from God because
of her iniquities, children of wrath, even as others. That's
what she is. That's what we all are in ourselves.
And you know that. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Loved us, gave Himself for us. God's purpose never thwarted. The Lord said concerning Adam,
He said, I'm going to make, I'm going to make and help that is
me, that's fit, fit for Him. I'm going to make and help meet.
For him, oh I'll tell you this, in ourselves, the bride would
say of herself, I don't see myself being in help
fit for him, one suitable to his nature and need. I don't
see that in me. One made like unto himself, the
scripture says, When we see Him, we're going to be like Him. I don't understand the depth
of that either, but I believe it. We'll see Him as He is and
be like Him, like Him. Eve was like Adam. She was in
hell meat for Him. That blessed institution of marriage
reveals that relationship between God's Son and His Bride. And according to His Word, He
looks at the Bride and she ravages His heart. Steals His heart. He said, I'm heartless. I'm heartless
when I look at you. How can that be? Because He's
made her what she is. The believers, I am what I am
by the grace of God, robed in His righteousness, cleansed by
His blood, holy and without blame before
God in love. In closing, this is the foundation. This is the foundation whenever
somebody will ask me to perform a wedding, And I'll tell them,
I'll say, I've got two rules. You've heard me say this before.
There's two rules. Two rules. I'm telling you spiritually,
these are the two rules of the union between the Lord Jesus
Christ and His bride, between a man and a woman. Listen, Ephesians
5, 22 to 26. Now you listen to this. Wives, bride of the church, submit
yourselves unto your own husband. as unto the Lord. For the husband,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the head of the wife. Even as Christ
is the head of the church, he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives. even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. The Lord made Adam and help meet
fit for him. And in the Lord Jesus Christ,
he did the same thing for the bride. He made her fit. He gave her a new heart, a new
will, a new love. He washed her white in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and robed her in his righteousness.
And now standing in him, she is accepted in the beloved. Boy, that's an help that's meet
for him. God made her so. I pray the Lord bless this to
our hearts for Christ's sake and our good. Amen.