You hear me speak a lot about
sin. In order to understand anything
of the Gospel, you have to understand something about sin. But if we're
going to understand how all men became sinners, how all men became
totally ruined, totally depraved in sin, which is what the Scriptures
teach. If we're going to understand
that, we have to go back to the garden and find out what happened
in the garden. That's our subject this morning,
what happened in the garden. If we're going to know why Christ
came, why it was necessary for Christ to come, if we're going
to know that Christ is a head and representative of His people,
we're going to have to go back to the garden and we're going
to have to see Adam, see how he's a head and representative
of His people. So let's turn here to Genesis
chapter 1. Genesis means beginning. And
in the first two chapters of the Bible, the Scriptures teach
us that in the beginning God created all things. He created the heavens and the
earth. He created all things in the earth. He created all
things. The book doesn't try to explain
to us anything about it. It just states it plainly. God
created all things. Now let's begin here in Genesis
1-26. And God said, let us, Let us, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. That's how God creates. He created
man after His image, after His 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. You know, before sin entered
in, God brought all the animals to Adam. And they came to Adam
without any fear between them whatsoever. And Adam named them.
And whatever Adam named them, that's what they were named.
Because there was no sin, there was no curse, there was no fear
of death at all. And so the animals came to it. Now look here, Genesis 2 verse
7. And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground. and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life. And man became a living soul. Now this is how the first man
was made. God created him. God created
him. If we're going to be born of
God, God's going to do the creating. Alright? Genesis 2.15. Look at
verse 15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the
man, 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 here's the first thing we
see. It was man's responsibility to obey God who created him. Now everything Adam had, God
gave it to him. Everything this first man Adam
had, God gave it to him. Adam opened his eyes and everything
was done. Whenever God gives us life, new
life, born again, He gives us faith to see. We open our eyes
and everything is done. It's all finished. The Lord God
gave Adam a body. He formed him of the dust of
the ground. The Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life and he became a living soul. The Lord God gave Adam
a place to reside and He gave him a profession. He put him
in the garden to dress it and to keep it. That was his responsibility. And the Lord God gave Adam food
to preserve him. It says there, He told him of
every tree of the garden they may freely eat. These are all
pictures of what God gives us in Christ, brethren. God forms
us, He creates us in Christ. He breathes into us life and
we become a living soul. We become, we have eternal life. And He puts us in His church,
in His body, in this earth to dress it and to keep it through
the preaching of the gospel. And He gives us freely all things
to eat. The bread from heaven He gives
us. He gives us the gospel and He gives us all temporal bread.
And God gave him a bride. Look down at chapter 2 verse
18. And the Lord God said, It's not
good that the man should be alone. I'll make him a help, meat for
him. And the Lord, verse 21, And the
Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept.
This is a picture of Christ. Christ slept on the cross. He
entered into death on the cross. And he took one of the ribs and
closed up the flesh instead thereof. Out of Adam's wounded side a
bride is made. That's how Christ's bride was
made. Out of His wounded side. Verse 22, And the rib which the
Lord God had taken from man made He a woman and brought her unto
the man. God made her and He brought her
to the man. God chose His people and He gave
them to Christ. Look now. 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. We're going to see this
in Ephesians. God's church, Christ's church,
His bride is bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. We're
one with Him. We're one with Him because we were taken out
of Him. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother
and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. Christ came down. He cleaved
to His wife. He came to where we are and He
brought us to where He is. Now look at verse 25. And they
were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. What does this mean, not ashamed?
It means that they knew no sin. It means that they had no corruption
of heart, no corruption of mind, so they were not confounded whatsoever. They had communion with God.
You know the scripture says whenever God gives faith, those that believe
shall not be ashamed. Because of what God has done
in the inner man, we have no sin. And we see Him and we believe
Him and we're not ashamed, we're not confounded, we have purity
of heart and mind. We have communion with God. Now
that's what they had in the beginning, in the garden, in Adam. Now watch
this. God gave Adam one command, And
He gave the consequence that would come when Adam disobeyed.
Look at verse 16. Genesis 2 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. God made this tree forbidden. This tree he named the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. The tree itself didn't give them
this or didn't do this. This was God's law. This was
his law. Now when he says thou shalt surely
die, he means spiritual death. They would lose all communion
with God. They'd lose that spiritual life they had from God residing
in them. And they would begin to die physically.
This is why men die. They would begin to die physically.
And unless God intervenes, what can a dead man do? He can do
nothing. So unless God intervenes, it
means they would die eternally. After they died physically, then
they would enter into judgment and die eternally. So here you
have the first man. There's Adam with no sin, in
a perfect environment, with one law. This is a man right here
who has a will that's free. Not free from God. He's under
the dominion of God. But he has a will free in the
sense that he's not bound by sin. This man can do as he will. He's the only man that can be
said of. Alright? With the exception of
Christ. Now, God put this one restriction
upon man's liberty. Now what we see here by this
is man is not an independent creature. He never has been.
When men talk about free will, the first question you ought
to ask them is, free from who? Free from God? Free from who? Man's not an independent creature.
We were made by God, created by God to glorify God, and so
our responsibility is to obey God and glorify God in everything. In everything. That's man's responsibility. Alright, here's the next thing
we see. We see Satan's methods. Now here's Satan's methods. Look
at Genesis 3 verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. When it
says serpent here, it's speaking of Satan. This revelation tells
us that Satan was a created angel. He was made by God. And Satan
rebelled against God in heaven. And Satan and a host of angels
were cast out by God into the earth. It says that old serpent
was cast out. Now here's the lesson to get
from this verse, brethren. Satan appeared in his subtlety
to Eve in a pleasant form. Yet he was still a serpent. He
was still that old serpent. But he appeared to her in a form
that was reasonable, that she talked to, that made her never
doubt or question this person that was speaking to her or this
one, whatever it was that was speaking to her. He was transformed
into an angel of light, but he was still an old serpent. His
number one means, brethren, is to appear as an angel of light
in a pleasant form. And his number one form of doing
that is in a preacher. He's in a preacher. Listen to
the Scripture. 2 Corinthians 11, 13 says, Such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostle of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no
great thing if his ministers, Satan's ministers, his preachers,
also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall
be according to their works. Now, that's his number one method.
He appears very subtle and he appears in a pleasant form. Alright, here's number two. Satan
in his subtlety loves to beguile the weaker vessel. He tricks
the weaker vessel. He didn't come to Adam, he came
to Eve. He knew Eve was the weaker vessel. She's more easily beguiled than
Adam. And he knew this, he knew Adam's
love for Eve, so he knew if he could get Eve, he could get Adam.
If he could get Eve, he could get Adam. Now brethren, Satan's
ministers know, if they can get the woman, they can get the man.
Is that not so? Scripture says that so. 2 Timothy
3.6, Paul said, Of this sort are they which creep into houses,
and leads captive silly women, laden with sins, led away with
different lusts, ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. Alright, here's his number three method. Satan puts a question upon God's
Word. He puts a question upon God's
Word. Look at verse 1. He said to her,
Yea, hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the
garden? See, he asks a question. He questions
God. So whether Satan is speaking
by a preacher or he is speaking by some sweet, kind, benevolent
man or woman transformed into an angel of light, here is what
he is going to do. He is going to cast doubt on
God's Word. Have you ever talked to somebody
and the first thing they start doing is putting doubt on God's
Word? They start doubting God's Word.
Look at verse 2. 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
has said you should not eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die. Some say Eve added to God's Word
and took away from God's Word here. But to do so would have
been a sinful thing. And at this point, Eve was not
sinful. She had no sin. He had no sin. Now look here,
number 4. Using a preacher or some religious
person, Satan substitutes his word for God's word. Satan substitutes
his own word for God's word. Look here in verse 4. And the
serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. Now
that's Satan's word. That's not God's word. That's
Satan's word. He substituted his own word for
God's word. Listen to me carefully. Try the
spirits. What do you mean by that? I mean
check every preacher. How are you going to check him?
Right here, this book. Look at this book and see if
what he's saying is in this book. Why do I have you turn to Scripture?
I want you to see that what I'm teaching you is in the Word of
God. It's what God says. And that's
what God blesses. You're going to be more blessed
to see what God says than to hear what I say. So, we see what
God says in His Word. This is what the Scripture says.
Isaiah 8.20 says, "...to the law and to the testimony. If
they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is
no life in them." Now, we don't make a man an offender for a
word. He may say something and his tongue slips and he's off
the mark, but what's the whole tenor of his ministry? If it's
not according to this Word, There is no light in him. God's given
him no light. Alright, here's number five.
Whoever Satan is speaking through, he tarnishes God's attributes
and God's character. Now look at verse five. He said,
God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened and you shall be as God's, knowing good and
evil. Now see what he did? He cast a slur on God's knowledge. You see that? He says, God does
know. And then he says something that's opposite to God's knowledge.
Opposite to what God does know. He changed God's knowledge. Men
say this, God wants for you to have so and so and so and so.
You ever heard men say that? God wants for you to have so
and so and so and so. Whatever God wills, God does. I can tell you that. He does
not want and wish for anything. God's not sitting there complacent
and just saying, well, I wish all men would be saved, but since
they're not, I'm going to be disappointed. Whatever God wills,
God performs. That's what Scripture clearly
teaches. Instead of saying here, God's holy and just, what do
men say? They say, instead of saying God
will justly condemn a transgressor, He casts a slur on God's holiness
and justice. Now look what He did. He said
here in Genesis 3, he says in verse 5, he says, in the day
you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened and you'll be as God's,
knowing good and evil. He says, here's what Satan says,
God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life. Not at the expense of justice.
Never at the expense of God's justice. If God has a wonderful
plan for your life, it's going to be done justly in accordance
with His holy character. You can bank on that. God said,
in the day you eat of this tree, you shall surely die. Because
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Because the wages of sin
is death. Because God is just. You see how He changed God's
holiness and His justice here? Men can speak of God's love,
and they speak of God's love in a sentimental way. Now brethren,
let me tell you something. God's holy and He's just, and
His love is always consistent with His holy justice. Always. God loves one place, in Christ. God loves in Christ. He put a
people in Christ and He loved that people He put in Christ.
Christ became their surety. There was no possibility justice
was satisfied when He became surety. He became the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. That's what Christ did. There
was no possibility whatsoever that justice would not be satisfied. Now look, That's where He loves
in Christ where He's just and the justifier. He loves in Christ
where He put His people from eternity. Okay, here's number
six. It's not accident here that there
are six things because six is the number of Satan. That's the
number of fallen man is six. Now look here. Here's number
six. No matter who Satan is speaking through, he always has a message
that appeals to your flesh. Always. Satan's message appeals
to our bodily senses. Look at verse 6. He said, Genesis
3, 6. When the woman saw that the tree
was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes. He
appealed to the senses, the bodily senses. And then Satan's message
appeals to our fleshly passions and emotions. Verse 6. A tree
to be desired. A tree to be desired. Satan's
message appeals to our intellect. Verse 6 says, to make one wise. To make one wise. Satan's message
appeals to your pride. You take, you exercise your will. And verse 6 says, And she took
of the fruit thereof and did eat. You see that? So brethren,
if you see these means and these methods being used, they may
appear to be an angel of light, they may appear to be a minister
of righteousness, a preacher of righteousness, but if you
see these means being used, beware, beware, beware. Alright, now
thirdly, We learn something about representation. When Eve ate
of this fruit, nothing happened. Nothing happened. But now, when
Adam ate, watch what happened. Genesis 3, 6. And she gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat. And immediately, the eyes of
them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. When
Adam ate, He transgressed God's law and they both died spiritually
and they began dying physically in that very moment, as soon
as He ate. Not only did they die, not only
did they die, but all mankind died in them. Turn to Romans
5. Romans 5. Why was it that when Adam ate,
sin entered? and their eyes were open, and
they saw they were naked. Why did that happen when Adam
ate? Look here, Romans 5, 12. And that sin passed upon us too.
Look here. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men for that. If you have a Cambridge King
James Bible in the margin, it's going to say, in whom? In whom
all have sinned. and Adam all have sinned. Now
you hold your place there in Romans 5. We're going to come
back. Go back to Genesis 3. Be sure to get this now. Here's
why Eve died and here's why all mankind died when Adam ate of
that fruit. Adam was the head and representative
of all mankind, of every man, of Eve and of everybody that
would be born of him. He was the head and representative
of all men. And since Adam was the first
man, Adam was the legal representative of all men. Every man was in
Adam. Every man was in Adam. Every
man would come. He would have a child, and he
would have a child, and he would have a child. Every man was in
Adam. And therefore, what Adam did, his people did in Adam. His people did in Adam. Really,
truly, before God, we did what Adam did. And also, since Adam's
the father of all men, Since all men are going to be born
of Adam, every person will be born of Adam's seed, by natural
generation. And therefore, everybody would
get Adam's nature. If Adam had not sinned in the
garden when he had a child, he would have had the nature of
Adam. Perfect, upright, holy. But Adam sinned and his nature
became corrupt. And so Adam passed his nature
on in natural generation to those born of him. Adam's sin and his
death by sin passed upon all men. Legally, by standing before
God, we became sinners. And seminally, as we're born
of His seed, His nature is passed on to us. And here's what happened
now. You wonder why men act the way
they do. You wonder why men, everywhere all over the world,
why do all men do these things? Why? We see it right here. As
soon as Adam sinned, here's what happened. Here's what's the consequence.
Number 1, verse 7 says, the eyes of them both were opened and
they knew they were naked. Before, they were not ashamed.
They weren't confounded. Their thoughts were pure. They
saw God. They had communion with God. They had a love for God
in their hearts. But as soon as they sinned, their
hearts and their minds were corrupted by sin. God removed His Spirit
from them. And when he took his spirit off
of them, the shame that comes with sin engulfed them completely. And they were ashamed of their
nakedness. They were ashamed of it. They
became guilty and they knew they were guilty. And fear terrified
them. Now look, Adam is the only man
who ever sinned to become a sinner. Adam is the only man that sinned,
that transgressed himself to become a sinner. Everybody else
is conceived in sin. And we come forth sinners doing
what sinners do, sinning. And that's all we do in our flesh.
That's why God says a man that's in the flesh can't please God.
All he does is sin. You know you've never done anything
that's not sinful in your flesh? The plowing of the wicked is
abomination before God. An innocent thing like plowing
a garden That's utter, total wickedness before God. Now, immediately
they began to try to save themselves by their will and their wisdom
and their works. Here's where free will works
religion started. Right here. Right here. The second
Adam sinned, he started trying to fix what he broke. The second. Verse 7. They sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves aprons. Now that's why every
sinner is religious by nature. It's no great thing to make a
man religious. That is not any good. He's born
religious. He's born trying to cover up
his sin. I told you about that time when
Will was about this high. He broke a mirror. It was sitting
on the floor. He broke this mirror. And I came
out and I saw that mirror broke and Will was nowhere to be found.
And I went into his bedroom and about that much of his feet was
sticking out from under his bed. He was hiding. Why? He knew he did something that
was wrong. He knew he did it. He didn't have to be told. He
knew it. And he went and hid from his father. Every sinner
tries to cover his sin by his own making, brethren. Every sinner
does it. Some come forth and they do it
by commending themselves and trying to bring others down.
You talk to a man, he may not appear religious outwardly, but
he'll tell you this, I'm not as bad as other men, doesn't
he? He's trying to cover his sin.
That's a fig leaf. That's a fig leaf. Men use morality. They live moral lives. That's
a fig leaf. That don't make you righteous
with God. Men use benevolent deeds. They try to give and give
and give. Especially rich folks. Rich folks will heap up their
treasures all their life and live high on the hog all their
life like they want to live. And right before they die, they'll
try to give it all away so that they can earn some righteousness
with God. Fig leaves. And most use a religious
profession. Most make some profession. They
turn over a new leaf. I'm going to get religion. I'm
going to go give the preacher my hand and give Jesus my heart. I'm going to live for Jesus.
That's a fig leaf. If God hadn't worked it in the
heart, that's a fig leaf. The natural heart also became
enmity against God. Look at verse 8. They heard the
voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. They hid themselves. They began, they ran from God. Romans 8 says the carnal man
is enmity against God. He's enmity against God. And
then, here's what they did. They hated each other. Look at
verse 12. And the man said, the woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did
eat. You see, he blamed Eve. He blamed God and He blamed Eve.
It's not my fault. It's your fault, God. And it's
this woman's fault. That's hate, brethren. That's
hate. So this is why every man sins. Now, go back over there
to Romans 5 and verse 14. I'm out of time, but I'm going
to show you this. Ah, messed up. I've been told
don't say nothing about time. Alright, here we go. I'm going
to show you this. Now, Romans 5. Here's the good
news. Adam was a type of Christ. Adam
was a type of Christ. Look at Romans 5 and verse 14.
At the end of the verse there, it says, it speaks of Adam's
transgression. It speaks of Adam right here.
And it says, Who is the figure of him that was to come? Adam
was a picture of Christ. How was Adam a figure of Christ?
Adam was the head and representative of everybody he represented.
And just like that, Christ was the head and representative of
everybody he represented, of all those God gave him. Now,
I told you this the other day, when you read all in connection
with Adam, it means all whom Adam represented. And when you
read all in connection with Christ, it means all whom Christ represented. Adam represented all men because
all men would come from him. Christ represented His elect,
giving Him before the foundation of the world. And all of those
come from Him. They'll be born of Him. Alright,
now look at Romans 5.18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one... Here's what I'm talking about,
representation. As by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation. By the offense of one, by Adam,
judgment came upon all who Adam represented. and it made them
fall into condemnation. That means everybody. Alright?
Romans 5, 18. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, Christ Jesus, the free gift given to whom God pleases
to give it to, the free gift came upon all men, all whom Christ
represented unto justification of life. Now listen, by Christ's
obedience, the free gift of justification of life came upon all whom He
represented. How do you know that? Because
everybody Christ represented, He justified. And everyone Christ
represented shall be made alive. Else, Christ is a failure. Do
you want that to be declared? I don't. Christ succeeded. He succeeded. We were not present
physically when Adam fell, but we were in his loins. And so,
we were in Him when He stood as the covenant head of the human
race. And therefore, by Adam's disobedience,
we were condemned when Adam sinned. Alright? In the same fashion,
His people were not physically present when Christ fulfilled
all righteousness and put away our sins on the cross. But we
were in Christ. And what Christ did when He fulfilled
the law, His people did in Him. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our justification. Christ is our life because we
were in Him. Christ made us accepted of God
by what He accomplished in Him. Now notice down in verse 19,
the words were made and be made. Watch still. These words are
important. Verse 19, For as by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, they were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Now, Adam's sin didn't put us
on trial, brethren. Adam's sin didn't make it so
that there might be a possibility that we would be made sin. Adam's
sin made us sin. We were made sin by Adam's transgression. And in like fashion, Christ's
obedience didn't render those he represented savable. It didn't
make it so that they possibly could be made righteous. What
he did made His people righteous. The reason it says here they
shall be made righteous is because every one of them is going to
be born of God. And every one of them is going
to be brought to faith in Christ to behold Christ is our righteousness. They shall be made. By one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. It don't
get more perfect than perfected forever. That's what the Scripture
said. For He made Him to be sin, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. Do you see that? Made the righteousness
of God in Him. Alright, look back up now here.
Why did God give the law at Mount Sinai then? Everybody wants to
go back to the law. This is fig leaves. Men want
to run to the law. Fig leaves. Why did God give
the law? Look at verse 20. Romans 5.20.
Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. That's
why God gave the law. That we might see we're sinners.
If you can turn back to Romans 3.19, you'll see this right here. We know that what things whoever
the law saith, that saith to them who are under the law, that's
only once the law speaks to, brethren, those under the law. That's an unregenerate dead sinner.
But you and I who are in Christ, we're not under the law. The
law doesn't have anything to say to us. Why? It's perfectly
fulfilled by Christ. Now look, so those that are under
the law, it speaks to them that every mouth may be stopped and
all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of God." That's what
the law was given for. But now look back at Romans 5.20.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Sin overflowed,
it abounded, it contaminated us in every single way. but much
more than sin. Grace abounded much more. It
exceeded sin. It abounded much more in justification,
in regeneration, in sanctification. God made us just before the law.
He makes His people holy inwardly when He regenerates us. It's
all by Him. It much more bounds. Look verse
21, that as sin has reigned unto death, had dominion over you
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. There are some differences. Back up in verse 15, this is
the parenthesis, that's why I skipped it. Now go back up there. Not
as the offense, so also is the free gift. There's some differences
about this free gift. If through the offense of one
many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace
which is by one man Jesus Christ has abounded unto many. In Adam
we lost everything, but in Christ we gain much more than we lost.
That's what he's saying. Now look at verse 16. Not as
it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. It's not the same.
For the judgment was by one offense. It was by one offense to condemnation,
but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.
Adam, he just sinned one sin, but Christ doesn't pardon just
one sin, He pardons all our sins. He justifies us in such a way
that the believer is righteous and he can never perish again.
He can never be condemned again. Romans 5, 17. For if by one man's
offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ. You see that? What did you have
to do with being made sin? Nothing. You know what you're
going to have to do with being made righteous? Nothing. God's
going to do everything. You know what he did? He came
and he found Adam. He found him. Adam wasn't seeking God, God
found him. And God stripped him of his fig
leaves, and God clothed him in the garments, in the raiment
of one that was slain in Adam's place. That's the picture of
Christ. And that's what God does for
His people. That's what He does for people. So you see, all we
did was sin. And God does all the saving.
All right, amen.