Turn with me back to Genesis
2. Genesis chapter 2. We went through Genesis 1 and
the first part of Genesis 2 a while back. And we saw all the things that
God made in seven days. Chapter 1 verse 31 says, And
God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very
good. Very good. The word very means
exceeding. It was exceeding good. It was
perfect. It was perfect. It was a sinless
earth. A sinless earth. With a sinless
man on it. And it had a sinless ground.
Sinless. It was the way that it will be
again. I love Genesis 1 and Genesis
2. They're the time of sinlessness. That's what we all want. That's
what we all want. No more sickness, no more disease,
no more bacteria. Sinlessness. I'm ready for that. Truly, I'm ready for that. The
way it was is the way that it's going to be again. Sinlessness
is perfection. Absolute perfection. Chapter
1 tells us what God did. Chapter 2 goes into a little
bit more detail. Chapter 1 says God made man. God said let us create man in
our image, right? Chapter 1 says God made man.
Chapter 2 tells us how God made man. It goes into more detail.
Chapter 1 says he made man male and female. Chapter 2 tells us
why he made male and female. There's a reason for that. Chapter 1 says God did it all. Chapter 2 says the Lord God did
it all. Did you notice how that wording
changed? Verse 4 says, these are the generations
of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the
day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. The Lord
God. And every plant of the field
before it was in the earth and every herb of the field before
it grew for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the
earth. And there was not a man to till the ground. If it rains,
the Lord God sends it. Verse 6 says, But there went
up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the
ground. 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. The Lord God. made the earth and the heavens,
every plant of the field, every herb of the field, every single
thing that this world has belongs to the Lord God. Every single
thing. All of the dirt belongs to the
Lord God. And He took some of His own dirt
that He made, His own dirt, And he took some of that and
he formed man out of his own dirt. And that man and everything that
he produces belongs to the Lord God. It's the Lord God's dirt. It's the Lord God's man. And
everything that he produces belongs to the Lord God. But after he
formed that man, the man laid there a lifeless body. He took
this dirt and he formed a man, but man laid there a lifeless
body. So the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord God leaned up to his face and breathed into his nostrils. And man became a living soul. A living soul. And that living
soul, which is separate from this body, belongs to the Lord
God. It belongs to God. Go with me
over to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 7. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was. And the spirit shall return unto
God who gave it. When this body lays down for
a while in sleep, the body goes back to the dirt. soul goes back to God who gave
it. This breath of the Spirit of Life that I just took right
now, it comes from God. It comes from God. The one that
we have right now, it's a gift from God to a body. That's what
it is. It's not man's own breath. This world assumes that man makes
his own breath, but he doesn't. He doesn't. God sends it, it's
on loan for a while, until he takes it back. A child enters
this world and every person there is wanting that child to enter
this world alive. So that doctor, and that baby
goes, The breath of life. The breath
of life. God in grace gives that to a
man. Gives that to a woman. Back over
to Genesis chapter two. Verse eight says, and the Lord
God planted a garden. That's an amazing line to me.
The Lord God planted a garden that says something about who
our God is. You know that what he's like, what his desires
are says something about his tenderness says something about
his love of life. His love of beauty, His love
of fragrance. That's who our God is. Verse
8 says, And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and
there He put the man whom He had formed. Verse 15 says that
the Lord put him there to dress it and to keep it. To dress it
and to keep it. Now this is the sinless world.
What it was is what it will be. He put a man there to dress it
and keep it. He didn't put a man there to
sit in a chair and do nothing. He put a man there to dress it
and keep it. This perfect ground in a perfect
garden. A sinless man in a sinless garden
with a sinless ground. There was no such thing as fatigue
at all. We just got back from vacation.
And I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. And this body
right here is fatigued. One of these days, no more. No more. No such thing as fatigue. No
such thing as trouble, labor. What's wrong, Adam, this root?
I can't cut through this root? No such thing as sorrow, disappointment. I planted that, it was beautiful
two days ago, and look at that, the weeds are already coming
in. No. He didn't have to pull one weed. Everything was in its
place. Every single thing was in its
place. There was no such thing as sweat.
No such thing. Everything that Adam did was
100% purely for his recreation and enjoyment. Every single thing
he did. Nothing had to be done. He was finished. He was perfect. could be improved on. Well, we
did this last year, but I think this time nothing could be improved
on. It was finished. It was perfect. Nothing needed to be plowed.
No seed needed to be planted. Nothing needed to be watered.
Nothing. God had already made every tree
pleasant to the sight. It's most pleasant to me when
it's full of blooms. Pleasant to the sight and good
for food. It was already bringing food. It was perfect. Finished. It was paradise. Absolute paradise. That paradise still exists. Our Lord told a thief on the
cross, today you're going to be with me in paradise. A finished place. Place where
Christ has fulfilled everything. Everything. Verse nine says,
and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that
is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life
also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of
good and evil. And a river went out of Eden
to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became
into four heads. The name of the first is Pisan,
that is, it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where
there is gold. And the gold of that land is
good. There is Bedellium in the onyx stone, and the name of the
second river is Gion, and the same is it that compasseth the
whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river
is Hiddekel. That is it which goeth toward
the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. 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 I studied and studied and
studied like everybody else has and came to the conclusion that
everybody else is right. Nobody knows where that garden
was. Irrelevant. It's irrelevant. But two trees
are mentioned in this garden. Two trees were specifically mentioned. The tree of life, and the Lord God said, freely
eat of it. And the other one was the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord God said,
don't touch it. Don't touch it. One tree led
to life. The other one led to death. And it's amazing. Our Lord is
so clear on his gospel. Book one. I wish the world could
hear this. I really do. One led to life. One led to death. These two trees are still in
existence. And the tree that we partake
of is a matter of life and death. One tree was given for food. It was a gift. The other tree was not given
for food. It was not a gift. One was of life and unto life. The other was of the knowledge
of good and evil, and it was unto death. Now, what do you
call a gift unto life? It's called grace. Grace, grace,
God's grace. The gift of grace. It's a gift
unto life for by grace are you saved through faith. The gift
is Christ. The gift of God, the grace of
God, Christ, that's one. What do you call the knowledge
of good and evil? Turn with me to Exodus chapter
20. Exodus chapter 20, look at verse
3. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Don't do that, that's evil. Let it be known, thou shalt have
no other gods before me. Look at verse 7. Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will
not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Don't do that.
Tell everybody, make sure everybody knows. Don't do that. That's
evil. Look at verse eight. Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Do that. That's good. Verse 12,
honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon
the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Do that. That's
good. Verse 13 says, Thou shalt not
kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt
not covet. Don't do those things. They're
evil. The knowledge of good and evil
is the law. It's the law. How do we know
what we're supposed to do and not do? The law. The works of
the law. God told the first man and woman
on earth, here's the difference and the consequences of grace
and works. This whole thing is about grace
and works. I had a man call me almost two
years ago and he said, I got a question for you. It's about
free grace and free will. That's the issue. That's the issue. Grace and works. That's the issue. Adam, Eve,
you're alive. And it's by the free grace of
God. Freely eat and live. But as soon as you lay hold on
works, as soon as you try to bring life
through the law into my finished work, it's finished. The work
that's very good. As soon as you lay hold on that,
thou shalt surely die. And the reason is because you
cannot fulfill what that law requires. You just can't do it. It's either grace or works. It's
either free grace or it's free will, one of the two. There is
no mixing them. There is no common ground. It's
one or the other. One leads to life, one will lead
you straight to death. Well, what did Adam and Eve's
free will choose? Go back to Genesis with me. Genesis chapter 3, verse 1 says, Now the serpent
was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
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 hath said, You shall not eat
of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent
said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. For 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. He told Eve, you'll be just like
God, responsible to the law. As soon as you eat that, you're
going to know good and evil. It's going to bring you under
the law. Every single thing that God does
is in agreement with the law. That law is his character. It's
just who he is. His nature is the law. Every
single thing that I do is disobedience to the law because my nature
hates the law, the law of God. Christ by nature and by character
he cannot disobey the law. And I by nature cannot obey the
law. It's impossible. So if I want
to live, and here's what I want to tell people. If you want to
live, and if I want to live, I cannot
touch the law. I cannot touch the law. If I
touch it, I will surely die. I cannot fulfill what that law
requires. Only God can touch it. That's
it. Verse 6, right here in Genesis 3, verse 6 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. And the eyes of them both
were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed
fig leaves together and made themselves aprons." They became
immediately under the law, and they were found lacking. They
were free from the law before, totally free from the law. Now they're subject to it. Now
they're under the curse. Verse 8 says, And 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 among the trees of the garden. They were afraid.
And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where
art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and
I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said,
who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, the
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree
and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
the serpent beguiled me and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto
the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above
all cattle and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly
shalt thou go and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between
thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception in sorrow
shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam 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. 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 into dust shalt thou return. What happened
in the Garden of Eden? There's an old saying that says,
wrong on the fall, wrong on it all. If we don't know what happened
right there in the Garden of Eden, then we have no idea what
happened in the rest of God's Word. We have no idea what Christ
did. If we have no idea what happened
to Adam, what happened in the Garden of Eden? Man died. Man died. Man went from immortal
to mortal. He went from innocent to guilty. And sin went to work in his body
right then and there. It brought misery, it brought
affliction, it brought disease, it ultimately brought death. Death. He died. Verse 22 says,
Genesis 3, 22, And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become
as one of us to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth
his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live
forever. Lest he put forth his hand, he
has laid hold on the law. He's laid hold on works and less. He now try to grab the tree of
life. and apply these works to life. You cannot mix the two. No one
will enter into life through the works of the law. So he says
in verse 23, 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 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. In the Garden of Eden, man became
severed from God. Separated from God. Man had it
all. Man lost it all. Lost it all. In Adam, all die but God. That's the only thing that can
be said for man. There's nothing good in man but
God. But God, look at verse 21. Unto
Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins
and clothed them. As soon as they fell, as soon
as they fell, God revealed the gospel to them. He showed them
both that the wages of their sin is death. God killed a lamb. An innocent lamb. But in that
death, a covering is made for our sin. God killed the lamb. Who was the lamb? The lamb that
died instead of Adam and Eve. Who was the substitute for sinners? It was the same one that made
the sinners. Very same one. The one that made
us is the one that bought us. That's what God is saying right
here in Genesis 2 and Genesis 3. He bought us with his own
blood. He's the one that clothed us
with his own righteousness. We sinned. He took the punishment. He died so we might live. That's the gospel. He died so
we might live. What part of works is involved
on my part in that? None. Don't touch them. Do not touch them. The gospel
is the good news of how the Lamb of God became the substitute
for sinners. I believe that the question that
I'll ask forever is why? Why? And I'm going to have a
moment of honesty with you, okay? I just told you a minute ago
that this body's tired. This spirit is tired. This soul is
tired. I can't even enter into what
I'm saying right now. You know what I'm talking about? We're
talking about the glory of eternity concerning my soul of eternal
damnation and darkness and hell's fire and separation from God
or eternal glory in the presence of Christ in His glorious kingdom
and my soul is not entering into it like I want to. Why would
he do this for me? Why would he give it to somebody
who cannot at this moment in time as the preacher fully appreciate
everything that I'm declaring that he's done for me? Why would
he do this for me? Why would he do this for me?
A true sinner that sees the mercy of God will say, why me? Why
me? This is so much more than systematic
theology. Well, we start out bad. You know,
it starts out good. Usually you start it out good
and then you show the bad. But now it's great. All right. See you tonight. This is so much more than that.
Lord, help me. Forgive me. Why me? Of all the people there are. Why me? Why me? Why me? This is my message. Why
me? Why would Jesus Christ do this
for us? I'm going to show you why and
then I'm going to close. Go with me back to chapter 2. Now, I just gave you some systematic
theology. Whatever it is that means. We
showed all the good that God made. We showed God's law. Freely eat, don't touch it. But
man just cannot uphold God's law. And after man broke God's
law, he lost it all. It was ruined, ruined by the
fall. But God showed them through an
innocent, helpless lamb. Death. Substitution. No, it wasn't fair.
Grace. And now I'm going to take the
skin off of this animal and I'm going to put it on you. And now
your sins are paid. Now here's the question. Why? Why me? Why me? We're going to look right here
at Adam as the Lord Jesus Christ and Eve as us. Look at chapter
2 verse 18. And the Lord God said, it is
not good that the man should be alone for I will make him
and help meet for him. It is not good that Christ should
be alone. Now this is the whole story of
eternity, of God, of man, of salvation, of life. Why? Why? God said it's not good that my
son should live the rest of eternity alone without a bride. Why would God say that? Because
he wanted to. That's our God. That's a look
into his heart. It was in his heart to feel that. And he said, it's not good for
my son to go the rest of eternity without a bride, somebody to
hold to and cling to and love and cherish. Verse 18, and the
Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone.
I will make him and help meet for him. And out of the ground
the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of
the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call
them. And whatsoever Adam called every
living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names
to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast
of the field. But for Adam, there was not found
and help me for him. Now think of all the beings of
heaven, all the beings of that field,
this sinless place, celestial beings, cherubims,
seraphims, angels. None of them did Christ set his
affection on like he did fallen man. None of them. His heart is for fallen man. That's our God. The only reason
any of this goodness happened to us is for God so loved. That's the only reason. Christ
loved His bride all the way to the end. I want to show you something. Go with me over to 1 Timothy
chapter 2. First Timothy chapter two. First Timothy two, look at verse
13. For Adam was first formed, then
Eve and Adam was not deceived. But the woman being deceived
was in the transgression. Christ was not deceived. He was not deceived. He took
that sin upon himself willingly. When he saw that fall, his heart
willingly said, I will fall with you. I will fall for you. Why would he do that? He loves
his bride. He loves his bride. Go back to
Genesis chapter 2. Verse 21 says, And the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept, and he took one
of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. God the
Father put all of the chosen bride in Christ and then he caused
Christ to sleep for three days. Three glorious days. The sleep
of death. And during that sleep, all of
the people in him, these ruined, defiled, vile, wicked, polluted,
rotting sinners, in that sleep became brand spanking new creatures. Brand new creatures. Verse 22 says, And the rib which
the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her
unto the man. They were made new creatures
of righteousness. Righteousness laid in that grave.
And out of righteousness, righteousness was made. They were made new
creatures of sinlessness. holiness, purity. Verse 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. What he's saying is as I am,
so is she. new creature. Verse 24, therefore
shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto
his wife and they shall be one flesh. He says, wherever I go,
you're going to go. As I reign, you're going to reign
with me. You'll be by my side to have
and to hold from this day forward. No till death do us part. There
is none. from this day forward, verse 25, and they were both
naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. They were
both spotless. They were both sinless. They
were both innocent. They were both pure, and neither
one had anything to be ashamed of. That sin that was on the
sinner, that sin that was laid on Christ is gone. Never to be
remembered again. It's gone. Totally spotless and
pure. And they lived happily ever after.
I can't wait. I just can't wait. All right,
let's stand together.