Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. If you would like to follow along
with me today, I am going to bring a message to you beginning
in Genesis chapter 2. In Genesis chapter two, we are
going to look at some very critical truths. If we are going to understand
the truth of this word, I mean the truth, the absolute
truth of this word, the truth of the gospel, the truth of salvation. If we are going to understand
the truth, then we need to understand the truth concerning three very
important events. Three very important events that
took place. I'm going to say it this way
and then I'll explain to you why I'm saying it this way. Number
one, we need to understand the truth of what happened in the
garden. We must understand that. Number
two, we need to understand the truth of what happened in the
garden. And number three, we need to
understand the truth of what happened in the garden. Three
very important gardens, three different gardens, but three
very, very critical gardens. What happened in each garden? The first one is right here in
Genesis 2. Genesis 2, verse 8, it says, and the Lord God planted
a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he
had formed. What happened in the Garden of
Eden? What really happened in the Garden
of Eden? Now let me show you the other
two, and then we'll come back. In John chapter 18, John chapter 18, verse one, it
says, when Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his
disciples over the brook Sidron, where was a garden into the which
he entered and his disciples. Matthew 26, And Mark 14, both
tell us that the name of this garden was Gethsemane. That's the name of the garden
he entered into right there. So what happened in the garden
of Gethsemane? What really happened? When he
went into the garden of Gethsemane, what truly happened? All right, the third very important
garden. is in John 19. John 19, verse
41, it says, now in the place where he was crucified, there
was a garden. And in the garden, a new sepulcher
wherein was never man yet laid. Where was he crucified? In the
place where he was crucified, there was a garden. Where was
he crucified? Calvary. He was crucified at Calvary. So what happened in the Garden
of Eden? What happened in the Garden of Gethsemane? And what
happened in the Garden of Calvary? What truly happened? I believe
it would shock us to realize how many people don't know. I believe it would shock us to
realize how many people do not know. Most people believe they
know. But this word tells us what truly
happened and seeing it in this word would probably shock many
people. Many, many people on this earth
do not know what happened in the Garden of Eden. And they
do not know what happened in the garden of Gethsemane. Something
happened right there. And they do not know what happened
in the garden of Calvary. And I pray the Lord would reveal
it to us today. I pray he might cause all of
us to see the truth regarding this, because if we don't understand
this, then we don't understand the truth of the gospel. And
we don't understand the truth of salvation. So let's go to
our first garden back in Genesis. It says in Genesis chapter two,
what happened in the garden of Eden? Well, in Genesis one, it
says, verse 26, God said, let us make man in our image after
our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea. and over the fowl of the air,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created
man in his own image. In the image of God created he
him, male and female, created he them. And then in chapter
one, verse 31, it says, God saw everything that he had made,
and behold, it was very good. It was very good, and the evening
and the morning were the sixth day. God made man, and he was
very good. Very good. He was perfect. He was made in the image of God.
Made in the image of Christ, and he was perfect. As God was,
so was man. All right, now chapter two, verse
seven, it says, 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. Man was alive. in this perfect
state that God created him to be in. He was alive. He was alive to God. He was alive
with God. He was physically alive and he
was spiritually alive. He was alive. God is life. God
is life. And in the image of God, man
became a living soul, a living spirit. All right, that's what
man was. Verse eight, and the Lord God
planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man
whom he had formed. He put man in this garden he
created. 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. Die. I want us to really get
a hold of this. I want to emphasize this. He
said, in the day that you sin against me and eat of the fruit
that I command you not to eat of, you're going to die. Die. Now chapter three, verse
six says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food
and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat
and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. They
both ate of it. Verse 17, And unto Adam God 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. 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 unto the ground, for out of it
wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return. That's what's gonna happen. All
right. What happened in the Garden of
Eden? What truly happened in the Garden of Eden? Here's the
answer. Man died. Man spiritually died. That spiritual death eventually
brings a physical death. Man spiritually died. In the day he ate of that very
fruit God commanded him not to eat, man became spiritually separated,
spiritually severed from God in death. Man now is born into this world
spiritually dead. Man did not just set himself
back a little bit. which is what many people think
happened. Many people believe man moved from the nice list
to the naughty list. That's not what happened. That's
not what happened at all. He died. He died. In the moment that he rebelled
against God, as soon as he rebelled, in that very moment, man earned
something from God. He became worthy of something
as soon as he rebelled. He became deserving of something. Right then he was owed something. Let's read about it in Romans
chapter six. If you turn with me over to Romans
chapter six, it says in verse 23, for the wages of sin. This is what man was owed. This
is what he earned. You go to work all week. Come
the end of the week, you earned a paycheck. You are owed your
paycheck, your paycheck, you earned it. All right, here's
the wages of sin. It says for the wages of sin
is death. Death. Not a slap on the wrist. death. That's what man earned. That's what man became worthy
of. That's what he was owed. Some
say, that's not fair. That's not fair. Adam did it.
I didn't do it. Well, turn with me back one chapter
to Romans five, Romans chapter five, verse 12 says, Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into the world. By one man, sin entered
into the world. And death by sin. And so death
passed upon all men for that all have sinned. All have sinned. All, all, all. We cannot say, well, Adam did
it. We've done it too. Some say,
well, every man ought to have a chance. He did. He was born
into this world. What's the first thing he did?
He sinned. He sinned. It's in his nature.
David said, I came forth from my mother's womb speaking lies.
We don't teach our children how to lie. Why do they lie? It's
their nature. It's in them. All have sinned. 1 Corinthians
15 says, in Adam, all die. That means every human being
that comes from the line of Adam dies. And it's because sin has
been passed to every man. So the problem for man is not
that he just has some bad deeds on his record that need to be
fixed. That's not the problem for man.
The problem for man is he's dead. He's dead. He's spiritually dead. He needs
life. That's what man needs. Life.
Man does not need rehabilitation. He needs life. You don't walk into a funeral
home and say every person laying in these caskets needs rehabilitation. No, they need life. If there's
going to be any hope for them, they need life. Man does not
need a support group. He needs life. What is the only way for a man
who is dead in trespasses and sins to receive life? What is
the only way for a man or a woman who is dead in trespasses and
sins to receive life? What must happen for life to
come back? Here's the answer. The sin must
be removed. That's the answer. The sin must
be removed. Sin is what killed him. Sin is
what causes death. Sin brings those wages. As long as sin is there, those
wages will be there. There will be death in him. It's not that the sin needs to
be tamed. That's not it at all. It must
be gone. It must be removed. It's not that the sin needs to
be forgiven. I so deeply want to emphasize
this. It's not that the sin needs to
be forgiven, which is what most every person thinks. Well, I
need to be forgiven. No, no, no. That's not so. Someone could say, well, I forgive
you. I forgive you for the sin you committed. Well, the sin
is still there. Therefore, the death is still there. It's not
that sin needs to be forgiven. It needs to be removed. has to
be removed. It's the only hope we have. It's
the only way. Now, let me ask us this question.
What happened in the Garden of Gethsemane? Well, turn with me,
if you would, to Matthew 26. It says in Matthew 26, verse
36, then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. And saith unto the disciples,
sit ye here while I go yonder, while I go and pray yonder. And
he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began
to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death, tarry ye here and watch
with me. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. What was happening right there?
What was happening? Is he sorrowful over the fact
that he's going to have to endure the cross? He's just dreading
it so much. Is that what it is? Is he preparing
himself for the pain and the torture that they're about to
bring on him, knowing that they're going to pull his beard out and
press the crowns in his head and spit in his face and smite
him? And is that what it is? Is he
saying, Father, if there's any other way besides this cross,
then please don't make me go through it. Is that what he's
saying? Absolutely not. He set his face
like a flint to that cross. He endured it for the joy set
before him. He said, for this cause came
I into the world. This is the only reason that
I came into the world. Then why did he fall on his face
crying, let this cup pass from me? What was happening? What was he saying? Why was his
soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death? Why? Why did he cry in the middle
of verse 42? Oh, my father, if this cup may
not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. What was happening right then?
What caused him to say death is coming upon me? Here's the question. What was
in that cup? That's the question. What was
in that cup? What was he drinking? And here's
the answer. He was drinking the sin of all
of His people. He was drinking the sin, He was
taking the sin that all of His people had committed and He was
drinking it into Himself. He drank the iniquity of His
people like water. Isaiah 53 says, the Lord laid
on him the iniquity of us. the iniquity of us all, all of
his people, every chosen soul. God the Father removed the sin
from his people. He took all of the sin from all
of his people and he put it in a cup and then he handed that
cup to his own beloved son and he said, here, drink this. And when Christ drank it, he
made himself to be sin. And when he made himself to be
the sin of his people, he made his people to be free from sin. He made his people to be the
righteousness of God that he was. That's what happened in
the Garden of Gethsemane. A transfer took place, an absolute
transfer. Sin was removed from all of God's
people by being laid on their savior. It was removed. It was removed. Now, what did
he do with it? What happened to all of that
sin? Well, what happened in the third garden will answer that
question. What happened in the garden of Calvary? Look with
me, if you would, at Colossians chapter two. Colossians two,
verse 13, it says, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him? You and I
being dead in our sins, spiritually dead, God the Father quickened
us, gave us life again. by joining us with Christ. That
transfer we just saw. You being dead in your sins and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses. That means removed,
removed all trespasses. Verse 14, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us
and took it out of the way nailing it to his cross. He removed all
of the trespasses of all of his people by laying them on Christ. And once he laid them on Christ,
he nailed them to the cross, the cross of Christ, nailed it
to his cross. He took our sin and he nailed
it to his cross. And on that cross, Fulfilling
the wages of that sin, what did we say the wages were? Death. Fulfilling the wages of that
sin, getting the paycheck, getting what was owed, getting what was
earned. He sovereignly bowed his head
and gave up the ghost. What did he accomplish by doing
that when he made that payment? What did he accomplish by doing
that? Well, in Hebrews chapter nine, it says in verse 12, neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. He obtained eternal redemption
for all of his people. all of his people. When he cried
from the cross, it is finished. At that moment, he did not just
make salvation possible. He made salvation finished. finished. Hebrews 9 verse 28 says, So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. No more sin. It's gone. He put
it away. It's gone. And now Hebrews chapter
10 verse 14 says, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. He's perfected them forever,
all of them. What happened in the Garden of
Eden? By sin, because of sin, man died. What happened in the
Garden of Gethsemane? Christ willingly, willingly took
the sin of his people, and he took their penalty of death. He took the wages. He took everything
that was supposed to go to them, everything they had earned into
his own body. That's what happened in Gethsemane.
And what happened in the Garden of Calvary? Through the wages,
through the penalty, through the suffering of death, that
all of that sin demanded, Christ put it away. Christ put it away. May we really get a hold of this.
Men stand up and very falsely tell sinners, you need to put
away your sin. You need to put away your sin.
You can't and I can't. That's why Christ came. But that's
what he did. He put all of it away. That sin ran its course in his
own body, and as he laid there in that grave, by his accomplishment
in the Garden of Calvary, he redeemed us, totally redeemed
us. We are redeemed, we are perfected,
and life has been restored. In the work of Christ and everything
that he accomplished in that garden, life has been restored. And in him we are no longer dead
and no longer ruined. God now looks at us in the person
and the work of Christ and he says, behold, they are very good. In Christ, in the redemption
of Christ, he said they're very good. And how do we know that
this is true? How do we know that everything
is put away and everything is completely restored? God raised
him from the dead. That's how we know. That's how
we know the sin is gone. Where sin is, death must be. Death will stay. Sin brings death. But when the sin is gone, life
comes. And God raised him from the dead.
And if God raised him from the dead, God will raise all of his
people in him with him from eternal death, physical death, no longer
ruined. redeemed, therefore all the glory
goes to Him. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His Word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.