A little late, but notice something
here. There was no mansion built for
Adam in this garden. This just struck me. There was
no big house for him to live in. There was no material things
for him to get taken up with. None of those things were there. Happiness, and I want to get
a hold of this sometime before I die, happiness comes from being
made one with God. It doesn't matter if you live
in a mansion or in a shack. Happiness comes from being made
one with God Almighty and Jesus Christ. It's your union with
Christ. That's where real joy and happiness
comes from. Happiness comes from a clear
conscience. a clear conscience. I believe the simpler the life,
the happier the person. I do. I've been around a little
while now, and I realize that the simpler the life, the happier
the person. Solomon said this. He said, the
borrower is servant to the lender. You have to go. You have to go
to work. You gotta bring it in. You gotta
make a certain amount. You got to. You've got to pay
for a house and stage a bar. He said to borrow a servant to
the lender. The rich man's riches won't let him sleep. Won't let
him sleep. But when God provides us with
our living and He provides it, we are to enjoy it. And I tell
you, we can take real happiness in it. And notice here, Adam's
house was a perfect garden. Everything he needed to eat,
everything he needed to be satisfied with, he had to the full. I mean
to the full in God's garden. God said of every tree, you may
freely eat. Freely eat. Heaven, think about
this. Heaven was his roof, the earth
his floor, the flowers and trees, his furniture, and the grass,
his carpet. He had a perfect house to live
in, a perfect house. Never was Adam happier than when
he lived on what God provided for him, never. But this garden
here is also a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. God put us
in Christ by new creation. God the Father has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.
Everything we need, we have in Christ. God has provided for
us. In Christ, we live and move and
have our being. In Christ, we are, listen, we
are truly free. Adam was free in that garden.
He was free. He got free to move about, do
what his heart desires. He's free. In Christ, we have
fellowship with God. God will come into the garden
and he would fellowship with Adam. Remember when Adam fell,
he heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day. God came into the garden and fellowshiped with him. That's
where we fellowship with God is in Christ. There's no fellowship
with God anywhere else but in Jesus Christ, period. Holy in
Christ. In Christ, we are righteous.
We are the righteousness of God in Christ. We're holy in Christ.
Christ is our food. He's the tree of life. We'll
see that here in a little bit. He's the true manna from heaven.
And we may freely eat of him. You know, when God told Adam,
he said, don't eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
But he didn't tell him not to eat of the tree of life. Adam had
all the freedom he wanted to eat of that tree of life, but
not that tree of knowledge of good and evil. And we are never
happier. We are never happier than when
we have fellowship with God in Jesus Christ. When we can sit
down and have sweet communion. When we can sit down and meditate
upon the word of God, upon Christ, upon God. Never happier. And you'll never be more content
than when you're content with Jesus Christ. That's where real
contentment comes with. You show me where there's discontentment
and I'll show you where there's discontentment with Christ. Or
no knowledge of Christ at all. When we find our real contentment
in Christ, that's when we're able to settle down and let the
world go on by. When he's enough. Now also, it
is a picture of the Lord's church. This garden is a picture of the
Lord's church. Turn over to the Song of Solomon. Chapter four, Song of Solomon,
chapter four. We're gonna look at three or
four scriptures here. Look in verse... 12. It says, a garden enclosed is my
sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. She's
a garden. Look in verse 16. Awake, O north
wind, and come thou south. Blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden, I'm looking at the garden of the Lord. And God has put
me in this place. And I think He's put me in this
place as He said to Adam, dress it and keep it. Take care of
it. Oversee it. And watch over it. Let my beloved come into His
garden. I wish He would this morning.
Oh, I'm serious. I pray to God. I prayed before
I came in here, Lord, be with us this morning. Let Your presence
be known. Enable me to handle Your Word
and bless the people. Bless the people when they come
here to hear and to worship. Give us a spirit of worship.
What am I saying? I'm saying the same thing she
said. Let my beloved come into His garden. You're the garden of the Lord.
and eat his pleasant fruit. Enjoy the fellowship, enjoy the
worship that he gets from his garden. Look in chapter five,
look in verse one. Now he speaks, I am come, I am,
see it, I am God, the great I am. That is Jesus Christ. He is the,
I am come into my garden. My sister, my spouse, I have
gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. Eat, oh friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly. Oh beloved,
I say, he says this morning to us, drink abundantly. Drink from
his word, drink from his spirit. Drink abundantly this morning.
I'm coming to my garden. Look in chapter 6. In chapter
6, look in verse 2. My beloved, my beloved has gone
down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the
gardens and to gather lilies. Doesn't that sound so beautiful? I think that sometimes when the
Lord comes and He takes a believer home, This is one of the things
I think of. He's gathered his lily. He's
came into his garden, into his garden, to the beds of spices,
to feed in his gardens and to gather his lilies. They're his
lilies, aren't they? It's his garden. His spices. He planted it. You know, the
Scripture says, you shall be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord. He planted this garden just like
he did Eden. It says he planted a garden.
Eastward in Eden. Oh, it's a picture. It's a picture
of the church. The church is the Lord's garden.
He planted it. He dresses it and he keeps it.
He keeps it. Now, look in verse 9. We're going
to go to verse 9, 16 and 17. We're going to meet with these
two trees in the garden. And out of the ground made the
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, good
for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and
the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God provided Adam He
provided him with everything he could desire. Adam did not
fall from want of anything. Adam's cup ran over. It ran over. And then it says
here in 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 thou eatest thereof,
and really, it just sounds to me like he's saying, and I believe
he is saying this, Adam, you're gonna eat of it. And the day
you eat of it, you're gonna die. For he says, for in the day thou
eatest of it, thou shalt surely die. He's saying, you're gonna
eat of it. Just like the Lord said to those Pharisees, He said,
you search the Scripture, for in them you think you have life.
And what He's saying to them, you do search the Scriptures.
I know you search the Scriptures. And you search the Scriptures
because in them you believe you have life. But there they must
testify of me. And He said here, Adam, in the
day you eat thereof, Adam, you're gonna eat. The day you eat of
it, because you're going to. You're gonna die. You're gonna
die. Now we have this tree of life
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God planted
these trees in the garden on purpose and for a purpose. For a purpose. The fall was not
accidental. It's not accidental. It was in
the purpose of God. But God planted these trees there,
first of all, to demonstrate his sovereignty over his creation. Adam was given dominion over
all creation, but not over his Creator. He has no dominion over
his Creator. God gave him dominion over the
fish and the fowl and the beast and the earth, but not over God. Not over God. The first Adam
had limits. He was of the dust. He was made
of dust. We saw that last week. All power
and authority was not turned over to the first Adam at all.
He had no power in heaven. You notice that? He was given dominion over the
earth, but not heaven. He had no power over angels at
all. He couldn't tell an angel what
to do. He couldn't command Gabriel or Michael. He couldn't command
the angels. But the second Adam, this is
where it gets good, the second Adam has no limits, for he's
the Lord from heaven. The second Adam has all power
and authority, as he said, in heaven and in earth. The second Adam can say, Gabriel,
go, Michael, come, and they do it. The second Adam, God said,
let all the angels of God worship Him. That was never said of the
first Adam. But the second Adam commands.
He commands worship from all of creation. None are over Him. He is God. That's amazing. God became a man. He's the second Adam. He is the
true King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's who He is. He is the one who truly entered
the Holy of Holies. And not just the Garden of Eden,
like Adam did. God put him in the garden. But
the second Adam, he walked right in, it says, to heaven itself
in Hebrews. He has taken over heaven for
us. Now the tree of life represents
Christ, the tree of life. It says in Revelations 22 too,
listen, in the midst of the street of it and on either side of the
river was there the tree of life. The tree of life. That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
tree of life. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. No man. And the other tree, the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, listen, it represents Christ
and Him crucified. It represents Christ and Him
crucified. Where do we learn good and evil?
Where do you really learn? I'll tell you where you learn
it at, at the cross. That's where you learn good and
evil. At the cross, we see God's hatred of sin. We see God dealing
with sin. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
suffering and dying for the sins of His elect. But we also see
the goodness of God to sinners. They shall mourn when they look
on Me whom they pierced. And when you look on Him whom
you've pierced, whom I've pierced by our sins, you know what we
see? We don't just see a man dying
on a cross. We see the goodness of God. God
becoming incarnate. God becoming a substitute, as
you said in your prayer. God taking our place. Do you
know what it says in the Scripture that leads a man to repentance?
It's not hell, fire, and brimstone. You know, I've seen, before we
moved here, there was a, last summer, there was a, I hate to
call it a church, but it was a church up in Ashland, and they
were showing this movie on hell. That doesn't lead men to repentance.
The word of God says, the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. It's the goodness of God. And
where we really learn the goodness of God is at the cross. At the
cross. Only at the cross can we see
the real goodness of God. Listen to these scriptures. In
1 Peter 2.24, who his own self, bear our sins in his own body,
you'll notice in these two scriptures I'm gonna read, it doesn't say
on the cross. It says on the tree. There's a reason for that. On
the tree. That we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. It says in Galatians 3.13, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Adam don't eat of
that tree. of the knowledge of good and
evil. Adam already knew good. He knew
God. There's none good but God. He
already knew good. It was the evil that he didn't
know. And what he realized after he
did it, the evil that he didn't know was right there in his heart
himself. Just like Satan, lifted up with
pride. Lifted up with pride. Adam, listen. Well, let me read Galatians 3.13
again. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us where it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Adam could eat of the tree of
life before the fall, but not after the fall. We'll see this
in chapter three. He couldn't do it after the fall.
And one of the reasons, I'm gonna give you two or three reasons
here. First of all, there's no life in types, and that tree
was a type of Christ. There's no life in types. And
salvation cannot come to the sinner by his own efforts. We
can't repair a broken law. You can't repair it. If you break,
once it's broke, it's broke. Now, the judge may have mercy
on you. You know, you go driving down the highway and you break
the speed limit, you're pulled over and you say, hold it, officer,
let me back up past that sign that I just, you know, it said
do 55 and I was doing 70. Let me back up and I'll do 55. You can't repair what you've
broken. Not God's law. He can't do it. And that's why
Adam could not do it. He could not eat of the tree
of life in that garden. Because the sinner can't repair
the law. The broken law can only be satisfied by one who's not
broken it. Christ never broke the law. He
never. Now it says... Well, first of all, let me finish this.
Christ who is the real tree of life. We need to see this before
I go on. He's the real tree of life. He
can be eaten by the sinner. He can be eaten by the sinner
through faith. The one in the garden, the tight
nose. But now listen, through faith
we can. the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, John 6, 54. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I'll raise
him up at the last day. Now we're able to do that because
Christ is life. He's not a type. He's not a type. It's written in John 6, 56. He
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I
in him. Christ, the tree of life, was
planted by the Father for sinners. He can be eaten by faith by a
sinner. And Christ, the tree of life,
is by the grace of God. You know, God did not just put
the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden, and that's
it. He also put the tree of life that represented the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's pointing to Him, who is life. Now it says here,
and I'm going to close with this. It says, a river went out of
Eden. And a river went out of Eden,
that's verse 10, to water the garden. And from thence it was
parted and became into four heads. The Scripture tells us in Revelation
22.1, there is a river that flows from the throne of God. John said, and he showed me a
pure river of water of life. Not just water, but the water
of life. What did he see? What did he
see when he saw this river flowing out? He saw Christ. Christ is that river. He's that
water of life. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. He said in another place, I am the water
of life. He that drinks of this water will never thirst again.
He that drinks of me, and if you drink that well, that well
water, that river water out, well there's not a river out
here, is there? I'm used to being home, there's a high river behind
me. But he that drinks of that water shall thirst again. But
he that drinks of me, the water of life, shall never thirst again.
He's the water of life. And he flows from the throne
of God. Someone said this. Someone said
that this river that flowed out of Eden and watered the garden
and became four heads, someone compared it to one of the writers
I was reading, compared it to the four Gospels going throughout
the world, watering. You know, this morning, I stand
here and preach the Gospel. It's being preached in Mexico,
being preached in Lexington, Danvon. Throughout this whole
world, I've gotten emails from people that's India, the gospel
being preached. Out of Christ, out of Christ comes this pure,
it says pure. No sin in it, no, Now if you
drank out of the high river, if you just drank out of it without
it being purified, you're in trouble. You'd probably glow. It's a dirty river. A lot of
sewage dumps into that river. There's no sewage in this river.
There's no sin in this river. It's a pure, pure water of life. And this gospel that we preach
here, and it's gone out to other places, Christ being the head
of it. He's the head of it. It's a pure,
pure water of life. And it waters God's people all
over this world, wherever God has planted them. This river
is flowing to them. This river of life, which comes
to us through the gospel, is watering them. And the Lord knows
where they are. He knows where they are. I thought of those places, those
names of those places where those four rivers parted and it went
out to those places. You look at those places now. Desert, sand. But I bet when
that river, and before the fall, I bet it was so beautiful and
so well watered. But in Christ, now listen, in
Christ, We have life. We have the pure water of life.
We have all we need. God has provided for us absolutely
everything we need in Him. In Him, you are complete. And
I'm going to end with that. You're complete.