Alright, let's take our Bibles
now and turn back to the book of Genesis chapter 3. I'd like
to try to finish this chapter today. I'd like to deal with
verses 17 to 24. And I've entitled this message,
The Grace of Redemption in the Garden. having rebelled against God by
eating of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve were exposed for
their transgression. They were made to hear the curse placed upon Satan by deceiving
the woman, and because of Adam's fall, enmity would now be the
seed of Satan and the seed of the woman and henceforth. The people of this world are
going to hate the people of God because they hate the God of
His people's affection. And so the woman, because of
her part in the fall, was sentenced to a state of sorrow and subjection
to her husband because she sought to gratify the desire of her
eye, of her flesh, and of her pride. Satan had told her, he
said, if you eat of the fruit, you're not going to die. In fact,
you're going to be as God. And you're going to know good
and evil. So sin brought sorrow into this
world and has since been the world's absolute sorrow. So now the Lord has cursed Satan. He sentenced the woman to her
travail and childbirth, subjection now to her husband because she
lifted up herself. And now the Lord is going to
begin in chapter 17 and He says, He said, because thou hast hearkened
unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which
I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is
the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life. Now, I'd like to read exactly
what I just read out of the King James Version. I want to read
it out of the Amplified Version. It says just exactly what the
King James says, but it gives some meanings also. The scripture back in Romans
chapter 8, I'm sorry, I said I was going to read exactly what
I just read. I'm going to read Romans chapter 8 is what I'm
going to do. And I'm going to read Romans chapter 8 verses
20 to 22, Romans 8. Now, when we read there God cursed
Adam and he cursed the ground, the Apostle Paul said in Romans
chapter 8 and verse 20 to 22, said concerning the curse that
was placed upon the earth, it says, because the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Now this is what I want to read.
I misstated what I was going to read out of the Amplified.
This is what the Amplified version says concerning the curse that
was placed upon the earth. It says for the creation, or
that is nature, was subjected to frailty, that is, to futility,
condemned to frustration, not because of some intentional fault
on its part, but by the will of Him, the Lord, who subjected
it. And then it says in verse 21
that nature, creation itself, will be set free from its bondage
to decay and corruption and gain an entrance into the glorious
freedom of God's children, and we know that the whole creation,
that is, of irrational creatures, has been moaning together in
the pains of labor until now. So what happened in the garden,
whenever God cursed Satan, He cursed also the earth, and so
now the earth is in bondage to decay and corruption. And it's going to be like that
until the Lord comes back and destroys it. And He's going to
make another one. And this was all part of Adam's
sin. That's what the Lord said back
in Genesis chapter 3. And to Adam He said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and has eaten
of the trees of which I commanded thee not, thou shalt not eat
of it. Cursed is the ground, for thy sake in sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread till thou return to the ground, for out of it
wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return." Now, because of man's sin, this habitation that we're
living on is cursed. God created the earth and declared
it in Genesis 131 to be very good. But now it's cursed. Adam wasn't cursed. But, the
serpent was cursed, the earth was cursed, and it was because,
this earth, because of Adam's sin. And now, in worry, pain,
struggle, Man, because the creation now is cursed, is going to have
to gain his livelihood in a world that's corruption. Before, things
grew no problem. Now man's going to have to till
the ground. He's going to have to persevere in pain and exertion. Ecclesiastes 2 verses 22-23 says,
For what hath man of all his labor and of the vexation of
his heart, wherein he hath labored under the sun. For all his days
are sorrows, and his travail there's no rest in the night.
This is also vanity. So with all the striving, with
all the effort to direct A man's labor to great ends. And that's
what we're doing. We want to, you know, I think
about all the work that we do around our houses. You know,
we do a lot of work around the houses so it'll be maintenance
free. It ain't maintenance free. It's just not like that. There's always something that's
going on. So what does all of man's work
produce for his eternal good? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. With all man's wisdom, with all
of his knowledge and skill to accomplish things, his labor
will be shown in the end to be fruitless. I think about going
back to the house and how you all will tell me how the fields
just before I get to the house used to be all mowed Things like
that, and now it's all overgrown. It goes back because it's cursed. Thorns and thistles are now going
to grow without cultivation. You don't have to worry about
planting them. You don't have to go buy any seeds. And by the sweat of
a man's brow, he's going to eat until he dies. But with all the
struggles that came onto man because of man's sin, I want
us to consider for just a second the satisfaction that was made
by the Lord Jesus Christ by His death and His sufferings that
set forth in the redemptive work of the Lord even in the midst
of the curse that we find ourselves under. See how His travail answered
the sentence that was passed upon our parents. Adam was going
to have to eat bread now by sorrow. But consider the travail of the
Lord's soul because of man's sins. What he suffered, we suffer
because now we're going to have to work in order to eat. The
scripture says concerning him, he, that is God the Father, shall
see the travail of his soul. and shall be satisfied. By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." So man
now, because of sin and sorrow, was going to carry the burden
just to eat. But the scripture says concerning
him, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. And man was now subject to these
sufferings because he had broken God's law. And the scripture
says, because of that, Christ was made under the law. Galatians
4 verse 4 says, When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. So here's what's happening. The Lord Jesus Christ, because
of man's rebellion, He suffered everything in the redemption. The earth was cursed and it's
now a hindrance to us. It's a hindrance. For Him, it
took everything for Him to redeem us. The earth was cursed because
of sin and to free us from the curse, Christ had to be made
the curse. God cursed the earth. And Christ was made a curse.
When the fullness of time has come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
So, here's the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Now, look, man
by the sweat of his brow, thorns are growing. Thorns? came in
with sin. But now, here's the Lord Jesus
Christ as the substitute of his people, crowned with the thorns
for us. Sweat, that would now be the
evidence of a man's labor and eating his bread. Because of
our rebellion, the Lord Jesus Christ sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood in the garden, praying, Father, if there be
any way that this cup might pass from me nevertheless, not my
will but thine. So the Lord Himself, because
of the curse that was placed upon the earth, He bore all of
these things that were cursed for the earth and a hindrance
to man. Christ fully was made to be that
curse to redeem us from the curse of the law. And then the scripture
says, in verse 20, and Adam called his wife's name Eve, because
she was the mother of all living. In Genesis, hold your place,
just turn back to Genesis 2, 23. When Adam first referred
to his help that was meet or fit for him. This is how he referred
to her. Genesis 2.23, 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 this is bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman. But now back
in Genesis 3.20, When the Spirit of God moved upon Adam, He refers
to her as His wife, and Adam called his wife's name Eve. The Spirit of God referred to
her as His wife, and Adam called her name Eve, which means living. And surely he called her this
under divine inspiration. He didn't just come up with that.
The Spirit of God gave him a heart to call her what he called her.
Her name, Eve, means living. And surely because of that which
the Lord had promised, Satan, back in verse 15, look what God
said to Satan, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed, it, or he, shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel." So, whenever the Lord moved and
spoke to Satan, and Adam and Eve is listening, and when He
said, I'm going to put enmity between thee and the woman, between
thy seed and her seed, He knew, by God's instruction, that here
was the one through which the Messiah was going to come. Here
is, he called her name Eve, because Eve meant living. Adam, the word
Adam, the name Adam, that Adam bears the name of the earth,
the earth, the dying body. Eve, her name means living, referring
to the one that would come through her, the Lord Jesus Christ. So
here, Adam called his wife Eve because he foresaw by faith the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would come. Adam believed God. He believed God was going to
send the Messiah through the womb of a woman. referred to
her like the seed of the woman, for Christ to be coming through
her womb, not conceived by a man, but conceived by the Holy Spirit.
And so in a glorious display of glorious revelation, God Almighty
moved upon Adam to call his wife Eve. Adam called his wife name
Eve, because she was the mother of the living. Then in verse
21, And unto Adam also, and to his wife, Did the Lord God make
coats of skins and clothed them? Now, not only did the Spirit
of God move upon Adam to call his wife now Eve. He didn't call
her woman anymore. He called her Eve, which meant
living. He was moved by God's Spirit
to declare the Messiah is coming. But not only was God pleased
to move upon Adam to call his wife name Eve, meaning through
her the living would come, then the Lord was pleased to display
to Adam and Eve how He was going to redeem them through a substitute. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. God showed our parents in the
garden that without the shedding of blood there is no remission
of sin. God is just and in picture in
type we behold the Lord Jesus Christ who laid down his life
for the sheep. And here we're taught that we
must put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. That's in Romans 13, 14. The
Lord clothed Adam and Eve. They didn't clothe themselves.
They clothed themselves with fig leaves the first time. But
now the scripture says that the Lord clothed them. God made coats
of skins. God clothed them. An animal was
sacrificed to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness. And it was by
the Lord Jesus Christ willing sacrifice that atonement for
our sins were made and His perfect righteousness now robes His people,
His elect. And there we see that garment
of salvation typified. God robed them, the only robe
that He will accept, the righteousness of His Son. Now in these last
three verses, verses 22 through 24, these last three verses, we behold an amazing statement
from the heart and the mouth of a thrice holy God. And if
we'll consider these last verses as the declaration of God's sovereign
grace and the revelation of His will and purpose not to allow
His people to perish in trespasses and sin, we'll truly see the
beauty, of these words. Now let's look at these words.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us,
to no good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his
hand, and take also the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out
the man and he placed on the east garden of Eden cherubims
and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. And the Lord God said, behold,
the man is become as one of us. Now, who's speaking here? Well,
it's Jehovah. The Lord God, and he's declaring
himself in the triunity of his persons, father, son, and spirit. And God said, behold, the man
is become. Now, here's where we need to
make sure that we understand just exactly what's being said. The word become there is a word
that is interpreted exists or has its existence. First time that that word is
used in the scriptures is in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2,
and it says, and the earth was without form and void. It's not a word that means it
used to be. Like, you know, well at one time,
you know, there was a lot of houses out here. There was, I'm
talking about now past tense. You know, that's not the interpretation
of that word. The word means to exist, to exist
or its existence. If you look at Genesis 1-2, and
the earth existed or had its existence without form and it
was void. So whenever the Lord said in
verse 22, and the Lord God said, behold, the man now exists. as one of us to know good and
evil. Now, truly, God only knows good
and evil, being God. The Lord, in the giving of the
law to Moses, He declared that which was good. Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all your heart. Worship no other gods. You shall not kill, you shall
not steal. God knows good and evil. Because
God Almighty is good. God knows. And He knows evil
because everything that is contrary to His law, in word, thought,
and deed, is evil. You know, I read in the scriptures,
there'll be, here's the name of a king. And he did that which
was right in the sight of the Lord. He did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord. Well, what is being said there
is that anything that is not of faith, and God only knows
what is and what isn't. And God knows. And so, now man,
the Lord is saying man now exists as one of us. to know good and
evil. It wasn't that man, you know,
now has become as God because of his rebellion. That's not
what he's being said, you know. But what it is now, man is become
or exists as one of us. He knows good and evil, but here's
the difference. Man knows good and he can't do it. Psalm 14, two
and three, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children
of man to see if there were any that did understand and seek
God. They are all gone aside. They
are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. God's people know now good. They know what's good. Paul the
Apostle said in Romans 7, to will is present with me. I can tell you what's good. It's
good to obey God. It's good to follow after God.
It's good to believe God. It's good to work. Paul says,
to will is present with me, but how to perform that which I find
not. I see I can't do that. So mankind
now, he knows good, a believer does, but he can't do it. And he knows evil now by experience. And he can't avoid it. You know,
the scripture says in Romans 5, 19, for by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. So now the Lord is saying, now
behold, the man exists now as one of us. No other animals knew
this. No other part of the creation
knew this. No other part of the creation had the capacity now
to know good and evil. But the Lord said that man now
knows good and evil. He knows good and he can't do
it. He knows evil and he can't avoid it. And so here man has
now taken of the forbidden tree and eaten it. And now here is
Adam. He is a representative now. God
deals with two men. Everybody and two men. Two men. God Almighty is either going
to deal All people in Adam, in Adam's thinking, in Adam's ways,
in Adam's failure, or he's going to deal with them in Christ.
One of the two. That's the way God's going to deal with two
men. And everybody's going to fall under that category. So
here is Adam. And in Adam, all of mankind's
going to come. They all come back. You know,
people like to do this heritage. I can tell you this, you're going
back to Adam. Eventually, we're all going to go back, and we're
going to go back to Adam. So here is Adam. Here is mankind. This is mankind. And God's got
an elect. And they're in Adam. They're
found in Adam. They're all there. And now, the
Lord said, Behold, the man is become of one of us to know good
and evil. unless he put forth his hand and take also of the
tree of life and eat and live forever in that existence. If man stays where he is, God's
got an elect and they're all in Adam. And if he puts forth
his hand and takes it, he's already eaten of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil, which God told him, don't eat of it. And as
soon as he ate of that, he died. He died spiritually. And there's
one other tree there, the tree of life. And now having taken
of that tree of knowledge of good and evil, and now he's dead
in trespasses and sins, and sin now is separated between man
and God. And now man is shut out from
fellowship and communion and harmony with the Lord, but though
man had sinned, God, for Christ's sake, God, for the sake of His
Word, God, according to His covenant of mercy, I will have mercy. I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy. God in absolute mercy said, verse
23, Therefore, because Adam is taken, he exists now as one that
knows good and evil. He knows good, he can't do it.
He knows evil, he can't avoid it. And therefore, God sent him
forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence
he was taken. God said, I'm going to send man
who is now dead in trespasses and sins, and I'm going to send
him out of the garden to keep him from taking of the tree of
life and eating of it only to live in that state forever. Man, again, thought by disobedience
that he'd be like God, and God knows that the only state that
he found was completely opposite that. Instead of life, he died. Instead of being as God now,
he's a fallen creature, separated from God, and to keep him from
eating of the tree of life. And thinking in that present
state, now I'll tell you what he did. When Eve was beguiled
and when she saw Satan, I believe she saw Satan eat of it. That's
how she knew. She gave it to Adam and Adam
who, that's what he said, because you listened to your wife. You
didn't listen to me, you listened to your wife. And he said, now
Adam, listening to Eve, thought that he could He is God. And the Lord is saying
now to keep him from eating of the tree of life, thinking that
he could, by a covenant of works, obtain righteousness, and life,
and happiness, and being forever in that state. And all that would
come through, they're all gonna come from Adam. And whoever comes
from Adam, they're gonna think just like Adam does. And God,
in mercy, sent him out of the garden to till the ground, a
place of toil, but not torment. God did this in absolute mercy. God didn't send him out in wrath,
in separation. Man separated himself from God,
but God in mercy sent him out. And verse 24 says, so he drove
out the man, and placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims
and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life, to keep man away from it. That's what it
was all about. Here was the blessing of God's
mercy and grace to His people. God drove out the man. For in
that man was the vessels of his mercy. His son's honor was going
to be magnified in those that he was going to redeem out of
that mass of humanity. He did this for Christ's sake.
He did this for the glory of his blessed son. And he drove
the man out to protect the man. To keep Him. It's like you tell
a child, you know, don't stick a hairpin in a socket. What do
you do? You put a cover over it like
that. You're protecting Him is what
you're doing. You're not mean to Him. And the
Lord drove Him out to keep the way, to protect Him, to assure
that the way to the tree of life, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. was not eaten or trying to approach
Him in a covenant of works. Thinking, I have the right to
take hold of the Messiah by my own merit, by my own way. And would bring upon Himself
nothing but damnation. You know, the Lord, He that cometh
to me, cast Himself upon the mercy of God. But thinking that
He has the right, like the Pharisees, It lifted up his eyes in the
temple there and said, God, I thank you. I'm not as other men are.
I have a right. I can approach God. I fast, and
I tithe, and I do all these things. And the publican on that side
wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven. But he said, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. God kept his people. He drove
Adam out. God placed cherubims, those living
creatures that I believe, set forth the glorious character
and attributes of our Lord Jesus Christ in His redemptive glory. You know, we've looked at those
cherubims. They had the four faces, the face of an ox, the
face of a man, the face of an eagle, and the face of something
else. I'll tell you what they had.
I'll look them up. Ezekiel chapter 1. It slipped
my mind there. Ezekiel 1, verse 10. The likeness of their faces,
they had four. The face of a man, the face of
a lion, that's one I forgot. On the right side, they had the
face of an ox and the face of an eagle. These are emblematic
creatures, living creatures that God set forth the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ in his redemptive, glorious attributes. And God
placed cherubims there, and they had a flaming sword. A sword
that set forth the sword of God's justice and wrath against all
unrighteousness. Here's the sword. The sword of God's law. It kept it. You're not going
to get to this tree. You're going to have to get past
the law. You're going to have to get past
the justice of Almighty God. To get to Him, to get to that
tree of life, you're going to have to get past God's justice
and His authority. And there was something that
happened. Turn with me and I'll end this. Zechariah 13, toward
the end or just before Malachi. Zechariah 13. Here was the demand
that was placed upon all that would try to enter back into
that garden. God drove them out to protect them, because there
was no way that God was going to allow. He said, I'm going
to have mercy. He delighted in mercy. And he said, I'll have
mercy and compassion on whom I will. Whom I will, I'll harden.
And he drove Adam out to keep him from coming to that tree
of life, thinking that he could approach God by his own works
and his own merit. some cherubims there with the
sword of His justice and wrath. In the day of the Lord's crucifixion,
when the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life for the sheep,
when He in willing submission to the Father. He prayed to the
Father just before His crucifixion. Father, glorify Thou me with
the glory that I had with Thee before the world was, as the
Redeemer. Glorify me as the Redeemer, that
I might glorify You. In Zechariah chapter 13, in verse
7, here's what happened. for all that the Lord has everlastingly
loved in Christ. That sword of justice, that sword
of God's wrath and of the demand of God's law, Zechariah 13, 7,
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow,
saith the Lord of hosts. You smite the shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn. That is, I will
turn my face of mercy and compassion turn mine hand upon the little
ones. I'm going to save them because
I've spewed out my wrath and my justice upon the shepherd. So Almighty God in the garden
did something of indescribable wisdom, mercy, grace. Man rebelled against God. This is what Genesis 3 is all
about. If we're wrong on Genesis 3, we're wrong for the entire
Bible. If we miss the message of Genesis
3, we miss the message of all the scriptures. Genesis chapter
3 is the foundation on which...
Here's what happened at the garden in summary. Almighty God created
Adam, made him out of the dust, placed him in a perfect environment,
made woman, took a rib out of his side and made a woman to
be a help, meet him, a picture of the church. But the woman
Eve was beguiled and she was fooled by Satan. Being beguiled
she gave that which God forbid and gave it to her husband. And
Adam took with his eyes wide open. He knew exactly. He wasn't
fooled. Adam knew what he was doing.
Adam rebelled against God. And Adam fell and all mankind
fell in him. But Almighty God, who had eternally
loved a people, who were all found in Adam, because all men
would come from Adam. Almighty God, who had purposed,
I will have mercy God Almighty, having declared that the man
now exists as one of us to know good and evil, drove him out
of the garden, that perfect environment, to keep him from coming and taking
of the tree of life and staying like that forever. Drove him out out of that garden
and kept the way of that garden that man could not. They're setting
forth that God's not going to allow all of His people. He's
not going to let them perish. He's going to save some of them.
But He kept Adam from getting back and staying like that to
show him that redemption and salvation was only through the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That salvation was by grace,
through faith, and not of Himself. It was the gift of God that God
would give any man a heart to believe that. And so here we
are today, reading this chapter and seeing the totality of all
that God describes in the rest of the scriptures in that blessed
third chapter of the book of Genesis. And I pray that God
bless it to our heart and that we would be profited, that God
be honored and we would be edified and made to joy in these blessed
scriptures for His glory and our good. Amen.