All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. Now we've considered in the last
couple of services, and I'll just touch these points, won't
go back over them. The heavens and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them, That means everything that
would ever be brought to pass in time, the Father established
and ordered. And all that He ordered, He brings
to pass day by day, the host of all of it, all prepared. And
on the seventh day, God rested from His labor and He blessed
and sanctified, the scripture says, that seventh day. And the
Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living
soul. And that's where we stopped last
time. So now, I want us to pick up
in chapter 2, in verse 8, and the scripture says, and the Lord
God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the
man whom he had formed." Now, all preparations were made for
the placement of man, and the scripture says, and the Lord
planted a garden. And now I'm just going to tell
you what the word garden means. It's a specially prepared place,
fixed, hedged about. That's what it means. A hedged
about place. A place protected and defended
and established. And so the Lord made a place
for man that was separated, as it seems, from the rest of the
earth. The Lord finished the earth,
but there was a special place. It was a garden. A place enclosed. How it was enclosed, we're not
told, but that's what the word means. An enclosed place. And the scripture says that it
was a garden that was eastward Eden, meaning it was apparently
planted in the direction of what was known as Eden. It was in
Eden, eastward, and it was Eden meaning pleasure or delight. And so wherever it was exactly,
it was a place of special beauty, a place set apart, enclosed,
and delightful, the scriptures speak of. Turn over to Genesis
13, 8-10. Genesis 13, 8-10. Listen to how this garden, whatever
it was, however it was made, Genesis 13, verse 8-10, And Abram
said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between
me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren.
Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray
thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand,
then I'll go to the right. If thou depart to the right hand,
then I'll go to the left. Lifted up his eyes, and beheld
all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered, even where
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden
of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. So it was a a beautiful place,
a separated place, a special garden of God's making for man. And how beautifully now do we
behold the church being pictured in the garden. That's a picture
now of the bride of Christ, the garden, a prepared, fixed, hedged
about place, a type, of his bride, Song of Solomon 4-2 says, a garden
enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain
sealed. So this garden was a place where
special preparation was made for the pleasure and for the
enjoyment of the one who owned the garden. It was made for his
pleasure His delight, and we see the love and the interest
that the Lord has especially toward his spouse. Because that
garden was a picture of his bride. Hedged about, protected, loved. And as his garden, she's been
chosen, she's been separated, she's been enclosed. with his
distinguishing grace, and set apart by the Father, given unto
the Son. And all that she'll ever need
for her good and the flourishing of that precious bride, that
garden, Jehovah is going to provide. He loved her. He planted her in Christ, and
she shall be kept, and no good thing shall he withhold from
her. So remember that everything that's
ever been created, the scripture says, was created by him and
for him. Song Solomon 5, I am coming to
my garden, my sister, my spouse, I've gathered my myrrh with my
spice, I've eaten my honeycomb, my honey, I've drunk my wine,
my milk, it's his, it's his. But listen to how he says then,
but eat, oh friends. Drink, drink abundantly, oh beloved. All that's his is hers. All of it. How much, Brian, how
much does Chesney own of what you got? All of it. That's the way of the bride.
So all the graces, the fruit of the Spirit, bestowed, evidenced
in the sheep, are for His glory and the praise of His bride's
good. So the garden that the Lord had
prepared, that was a special blessing for man. For God's glory and for man. A garden that was going to be
to the honor and glory and praise of the Son. The scripture says
in Ephesians 2.7 that in the ages to come, the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness toward her through Christ Jesus. So the scripture says back in
Genesis chapter 2 verse 8, and the Lord God planted a garden
eastward in Eden and there He put the man whom He had formed. Oh, when we consider the wisdom
and the kindness and the power of God Almighty toward mankind,
the Lord made man in His image and His likeness, and we considered
that before, allowed Him to have dominion over the fish of the
sea and the fowl of the air and the cattle, every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth, and blessed them, the Scripture
says, When He made man, when He formed man, woman was there. She was in Him. She will be taken
out of Him, but she's there, just as the bride has always
been in the Lord. There's never been a time, you
think about the truth that God never changes. He never changes. How long has the bride been in
the Lord? We've always been in Him. We're
His body. We're His, belong to Him. So here, man formed of God and
blessed to be fruitful and to multiply and replenish the earth.
And all for God's glory, again, man's good. And put him in this
special place, in this garden. And verse 9 says, And out of
the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that's pleasant
to the sight, good for food, tree of life also in the midst
of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now, the Lord placed within this
garden, according to the scriptures, every tree that would be agreeable
to the eye and to the taste of man. Everything that he would
need, Desire was there according to God's good pleasure. Divine
wisdom. And also in the tree, in the
garden, there was two trees that would be found to be of great
significance. The tree of life and the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. Now, Lord willing, the next time, I'm going to deal
with verses 10 to 14. So what I want to do for this
evening is just skip. And I'm going to pick up out
of verse 9, and we're going to go over to verse 15 through 17.
And I'm going to deal with that. And like I said, next time we'll
go back and I'm going to deal with these rivers, Poisson, Euphrates,
and everything. But right now I want to deal
with these two trees. The scripture says in verse 15, I ended up
now In verse 9, he put man in this garden and all the trees
that were there, pleasant to the sight, good for food. In
the midst of the garden, tree of life, the tree of knowledge
of good and evil. Verse 15, and the Lord God took
the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and
to keep it. Here we find that God has put
man in a garden as a place of rest. Now the Lord has rested
from his labor. The Lord made man, formed man
out of the dust, on the sixth day. And after he made man, he
rested from his labor. Now God has rested, not from
toil, but he's finished It's done. Everything's done. And God has rested, and man created
to rest. Man was created to be at rest
before God, who had rested from His work. And man was placed
in the garden, the Scripture says in verse 15, He put him
in the garden to dress it and to keep it. Now, man was to attend
the trees of the garden, the garden of God. He was there to
be in service of it, but not a labor as the result of man's
rebellion by the sweat of his brow that soon he would experience,
but he wasn't created that way. But it was a service of peace
and pleasure. Think of the relationship, again,
this garden is a picture of the bride. Adam is a picture of Christ. But that peace and that comfort,
again, if you consider a marriage, a man, a woman, and they love
one another, and they do for one another, It's not a labor,
a laborious thing. I mean, what a husband does for
his wife and vice versa to them that love. It's a joy. Marvin, would you take the garbage
out yet? Sure. It's not a, you know what I'm
saying? It's not a laborious thing. I
mean, it's peaceful. And man was, he was put there
to be in a service of happiness and contentment and peace associated
with man's fellowship with God. Now I know, I'm way over my head
here. I can't even enter in. I mean,
I know that man was placed there to tend the trees. What did they
need tending up? I don't know. But I know this
is what the Lord commanded. He put him there to dress it
and keep it. And I looked those words up to service it. And it
was a pleasurable thing. Man, before the fall, was placed
in the garden as a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
and His bride. It's peace. It's contentment. But even in the place of this
peace and pleasure, God in his absolute wisdom knew man's need
of instruction. God spoke to man and the first
words that are ever recorded that God spoke toward man are
here, are right here. They're the words of God's blessing
to man and his freedom in life for obedience, but words of God's
restriction toward man and the promise of certain penalty for
disobedience. Look at verse 16. 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 surely die. Now, man had this privilege. Of every tree in the garden,
thou mayest freely eat except one. Man had God's permission
and blessing to eat of all the trees, even the tree of life,
especially the tree of life. He could eat of all of them.
But there was one tree, that tree of knowledge of good and
evil, that man was restricted. You can't eat of that. In the
day you eat thereof you shall surely die. Adam was created
in the image of God. And it amazes me, he had never
seen death. I mean, we know something about
it, you know, we've witnessed something, but you think. Adam
obviously knew just as he was created in the image, likeness
of God. He knew something of death but
he had never witnessed death before. There was no sin at this
point. Two trees. You get of all these
trees, tree of life, but not this one. Not the tree of knowledge
of good and evil. Now, I just want us to consider
those two trees for just a few minutes. That's what I want to
look at tonight and then we'll go on next week, Lord willing,
from there. But concerning the tree of life,
That tree was a picture of God's grace to mankind in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The tree of life. And of that
tree, from the beginning, man could freely eat. Hold your place
right there, turn to Proverbs 3. Proverbs chapter 3. I think about that blessing,
those two trees. That tree is a picture of Christ.
That's Christ. And God told him. He said, you
eat of this one. You eat of this one. Proverbs
3, verse 13 to 18. Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding, for the merchandise
of it is better than the merchandise of silver, the gain thereof than
fine gold. She's more precious than rubies,
and all the things that thou canst desire are not to be compared
unto her. Length of days is in her right
hand, in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways
of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She's a tree
of life to them that lay hold upon her, And happy is every
one that retaineth her. Now that tree of life being spoken
of is Christ. And happy, wisdom himself. Happy, blessed is he who has
found wisdom. That's what he said. Happy is
that man that findeth wisdom. Wisdom. I'll just, if you want
to, you can hold your finger there and hold these places.
Turn to John 1. Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom. It's happy is the man that finds
the one who's found him first. Listen to John chapter 1, verse
43, 45. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip. Now there's a key right
there. The Lord came and he found Philip. and saith unto him, follow
me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, we have found him, of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now, Philip said, we found him. Scripture says the Lord found
him. But when the Lord finds us, reveals himself to us, we
find him. Back in Proverbs it says, blessed
happy is the man that findeth wisdom, the man that getteth
understanding. found Christ by the grace of
God and has the regenerating grace of God bestowed upon him. He's made to know, made to see,
and made to behold. He's more precious than silver,
fine gold, precious rubies, all the things that could be desired.
And also in Proverbs 3, Verse 14, the merchandise of it, better
than the merchandise of silver, gained than fine gold, more precious
than rubies, all the things that thou canst desire not to be compared
to her. Length of days, verse 16, is
in her right hand. Length of day, eternal life,
is in the right hand, in the power. of Him who has been given
all power in heaven and earth, that He should give eternal life
to as many as the Father has given Him. And in His left hand,
if you're looking back in Proverbs 3 and verse 16, length of days
is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. That left hand, it's an amazing
thing. It's a word that means to cover.
to envelop or dark. That's what it means. So, in
their left hand, riches in honor. That is, that which is bestowed
upon God's people is mysteriously concealed from the understanding
or the perception of man that God would show mercy and compassion
to whomsoever He will. It's beyond us. Why would God
have mercy on me? Why would He show me? It's mysterious.
Why? Here's the answer. He pleased
Him. He pleased Him to do so. He has the right to show mercy
or to withhold mercy. He's the Lord. Her ways, speaking
of the ways of wisdom, Christ himself are ways of pleasantness,
graciousness, splendor. It says she is the tree of life,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the tree that is life and
gives life to them that lay hold upon her. He's the vine. We're the branches grafted into
him. We have life. Him who is life,
and apart from Him, we are without life. Without Him, we can do
nothing. Without Him, we cannot live. So this tree is that tree that
was planted in the garden, and it was the visible declaration
toward man that life was in Christ. That's what. You look at that
life, Life is in Christ, that same tree that we find throughout
the Scriptures. That's even unto the closing
book, the book of Revelation. That life from that tree that
is promised to those who are found to be overcomers. I'll
just read this to you. It's Revelation 2.7. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To him that overcometh, that is, who conquers. who prevails
or gets the victory. I will give to eat of the tree
of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. That
one who gets the victory in Him. We are more than conquerors in
Him. Without Him we can do nothing.
What power do we have? None. The life of a believer
is said to be a life of one who is victorious, conqueror. We're more than conquerors. So
it's a life that is said to be a battle, a war. And God's people are said to
be soldiers. 2 Timothy 2.3, Thou therefore
endure hardness, as a good soldier. So as soldiers and servants of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we're engaged right now in a good fight
and we're sure of the victory as being found in Him. And all those that overcome victorious
in Christ over all that oppresses them in the world, God gives
a marvelous blessing to the overcomers. They shall eat of the tree of
life that is in the paradise of God. That resting place of
departed saints. So the Lord has declared in John
6 verse 48. Again, I'll read this for you.
John 6, 48 to 51. He said, I'm the bread of life.
Your fathers did eat man in the wilderness or dead. This is the
bread that cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and
not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread which I will give
is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. So
this tree of life is the bread of life. It is the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. And for us, we by faith, we eat
by faith. So here was a garden, and in
that garden, all the trees that were good for perception, good
for food, Two trees especially, tree of life, tree of knowledge
of good and evil. So that tree of life that was
planted in the midst of the garden that was among the trees that
Adam could freely eat, and every time that Adam ate of that tree,
he was reminded that the source of his life was from God Almighty
in the person of his blessed son, and that was the tree that
set forth God's love, God's grace, God's mercy and compassion toward
his people. He said, you can eat of this
tree all you want, all you want. But there was another tree. It
was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And God placed
a law upon man concerning that tree. God put a law on man. A law that was for God's glory
and for man's good. Now there was nothing evil about
the tree. Everything that God had created,
God saw that it was very good. There was nothing wrong with
the tree. That was a picture of God's law. One tree of grace,
one tree of law. That tree set forth the sovereignty
of Almighty God over man. Man had dominion over all the
things that God had created. All the creeping things, the
fowl of the air, cattle, everything. But God had dominion over man.
Man was given dominion over God's creation. God is God. And that tree of knowledge of
good and evil was so called because there was a positive revelation
from God toward man concerning God Almighty. And here's what
it is. That tree set forth this. Again,
reminding you that there's nothing wrong with the tree. There's
nothing wrong with the tree. But God put restrictions on man. And here's the knowledge of good
and evil. It's good to obey God because
God Almighty is God. It's good to obey. And it is evil to disobey God's
Word. When God Almighty told Adam,
you can eat of all the trees except the tree of knowledge
of good and evil. That was the law. Now, you obey
and you'll live. You disobey and you're going
to die. Sin is the transgression of God's
law. And it was not Adam's place to
question. Why? Why can't I eat? Told you that's what kids do.
That's what kids do. Don't do this. Why? Because I said so. That's enough. I may or may not tell you why,
but it's enough that I said don't. I know it's going to be for your
good, and I said don't do it. Almighty God, in his infinite
wisdom, God placed restrictions on man. This is what Satan did. I will ascend into heaven. I will be like the Most High.
I will. I will. I will. And God put restrictions
on man. It is evil to disobey His Word
and to think that I am the author of life, life in myself, above,
and I don't have to be in submission to God. That's evil. That's evil. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. In
these two trees, God set before mankind life in Christ Jesus,
and death is sure without Him. I don't want to jump ahead, but
we went through the third chapter already here. I'm going back
to chapter 1, chapter 2 now. And whenever man did disobey
God, when he took, when Eve took of that fruit she ate, she gave
it to her husband, and he did eat, he took of it. He took it. And he ate of it. And he died. Immediately. And that's when
God said man has become like one of us, to no good and evil.
And God put him out of the garden, lest he take of the tree of life
in that condition and think and live forever. Lest he take of
the tree of life and live forever in that condition. God mercifully
put him out. But lest that man come and take
and think, I can disobey God and I can attain life by the
same hand that I disobeyed him with. God put him out. He did
that in mercy, but we'll look at that another time. God Almighty
set forth a restriction upon man, gave him life, eat of this
tree, live. You eat of this tree, you're
gonna die. And man fell, you know he did. He fell in the garden, but even
in man's failure to keep God's law for righteousness, The law,
which was used lawfully. Brother Neal, you brought this
out last Sunday. Law is good if a man uses it lawfully. What is it to lawfully use the
law? It's to realize that the law
is our schoolmaster. That by the grace of God brings
us unto Christ, points us to Him as our only hope. that we
might be justified by faith. Adam didn't and couldn't keep
himself by obedience to God. He did take, but what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Man's
rebellion was wrong. It left man with no hope in himself. But even in man's sin against
God, God was magnified in man's recovery in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5.20. Now I'll close with
this. The law entered that the offense
might abound. The law entered that the offense
might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. What does that mean? It means
that the law came in to make apparent the evil that was in
us by birth, after we fell in Adam, by birth and by nature,
and it takes away all of our excuses. The law is good if it's
used lawfully. Bring us to Christ. Show us.
We have no hope in ourselves. It came in to make apparent what
we are before God, sinners. And it takes away any excuse. We have no excuse. No excuse. I was thinking about, that's
one of the first things that I learned. You guys were in the
military or are in the military now. When I was in boot camp,
The first thing they told us. They called us stuff that wasn't
good. They told us, you have no excuse. If you're questioned, the answer
is no excuse, sir. No excuse. I have no excuse for
my stupidity. I have no excuse for my rebellion.
I have no excuse for my mistakes. I have no excuse. No excuse.
Man has no excuse before God. But where sin was shown to abound
in us, the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ did much more
abound in us being justified in Him. God made a garden, and in that garden He placed
every tree that was pleasant, the sight, the taste of man. He put man in that garden to
dress it. And in the midst of that garden,
there were two trees, the tree of life, of which man could freely
eat, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And here's
the word. You eat of all these trees, but
of that tree, that tree of knowledge of good and evil. You eat of
that tree and the day you eat of that tree, you're going to
die. Man fell in the garden, but oh
the glory of God in his redemption. Reconciliation back to God. The
mercy and grace of God where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. to the glory of God and to the
eternal good and salvation of God's people. Amen.