Genesis chapter 2, let's read
verses 18 through 25. 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 meet for him. The Lord
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. The Lord took one of his ribs
and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the
Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her
unto the man. And Adam said, upon awakening,
he 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. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they
shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the
man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Now once again, I do
not want to address the arguments the world has against creation
or the roles of men and women in particular. The Lord said,
let the potsherds of the earth strive with the potsherds of
the earth. We're not called to argue with people. He told a
young preacher one time, avoid oppositions of science, falsely
so-called. In other words, don't get caught
up in the arguments. God's Word is not to be argued.
or even attempted to be proved, it's to be believed. God first
gives faith, and then He proves Himself. God gives childlike
faith. We receive it, we believe it,
and then He begins to unfold everything to us, and we see
clearly. When He doesn't prove Himself to anyone, He will not
do that. So this is a true story, an absolute
truth of God, how God made the woman of the man. That's what
it says, doesn't it? And no believing woman has any
problem with this whatsoever. They rejoice in it, every believing,
every godly woman rejoices in this, rejoices in the order in
which God made everything, and we'll see the wisdom of it as
we go on. It says, The Lord God said it's
not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmeet
for him. Every animal had its mate, male
and female. The man at this time did not. The first time the Lord said
something was not good, before he was saying it's good. He saw
that what he made was good. Good, good. Here he says, it's
not good, not good that man should be alone, or woman for that matter. It's not good to be alone. God
in wisdom made a bride, made a mate for Adam, for man, for
his happiness, for his companionship. Once again, this is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ who had a body, who was express image
of God. Remember, before the world began,
our Lord Jesus Christ had an image. And I can't explain that,
but it's so. So he made man in his own image. Man became his companion. Yes, he did. Not because he was
lonely. No. But for his glory and for
his, yes, happiness and companionship, In Proverbs 8 it says, he rejoiced
in the habitable parts of the earth. His delights were with
the sons of men. And I know that the Lord Jesus
Christ enjoyed walking in that garden with Adam, communing with
him, just as we do our children and those that we love. Well,
why is there a separate account of the creation of Adam and Eve. You know, it began back there
and talked about God in chapter 1, God creating man. And it was
male and female together, wasn't it? But here is a separate account
of the Lord creating the woman after the man. Why is that so?
Well, verse 18 again, it says, I will make and help meet before
him or for him. Look at 1st Timothy chapter 2.
1st Timothy 2 and another. We look at also 1st Corinthians. 1st Timothy 2. Man was made first. That is clear. He was made first. There is an order that God made
all things in. And by order, there is rank.
Scripture often speaks of the firstborn, doesn't it? The firstborn
had the birthright, didn't it? The firstborn had the birthright,
was the heir, the rights to, by law of all things, due to
the firstborn. Well, who's the firstborn among
many brethren? Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ. of
whom Adam is a picture here. But 1 Timothy 2, look at verses,
and I'm quite sure these verses have been corrupted in modern
Bibles. You know, Paul one time said,
we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God. I haven't looked
at these verses in modern Bibles, but I guarantee you, somebody
look it up, I guarantee you they've been corrupted. 1 Timothy 2,
these are the verses that speak of the role of man and woman
in the Church especially. Verse 11 says, let the woman,
1 Timothy 2, 11, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, to teach men, for it be
in any way have any authority over a man. I would certainly
go without saying that she could not possibly be a preacher, could
she? Or an elder, or a bishop, a pastor. Is that right? Is that very clear
to you? Sure it is. But to be in silence. Adam, verse
13, 4, Adam was first formed. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression. So he was
made first. Go to 1 Corinthians 11, which
these things speak of very clearly. Here it speaks of man being ahead
of the woman. He said, I would have you know
that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman
is the man. The head of Christ is God. Verses 8 and 9 read that. Man
is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was
the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. Is that very clear to you? The
woman was created afterward for the man, for his help. and for his glory. Look at verse
7. It says in verse 7, Man indeed ought not to cover his head for
as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is
the glory of the man. The glory of the man. and an
honor to him, a virtuous woman. Proverbs 31 is that whole chapter
about the virtuous woman. Her husband is known or made
known by her. She serves him and the family,
which is a picture of the church, isn't it? A virtuous woman or
believer. The church is made for the Lord
Jesus Christ, for his glory and for his honor, the honor of her
husband. And he in turn honors her, though.
Doesn't it? Oh, he honors her. And here's
the thing. If she honors him, she'll be
honored. Because if he's honored, they're
one. She's going to be honored. Right? Whoever honors him honors her. Whoever receives him receives
her. And that's this union that the
believer has with Christ. We're seated. And we're going
to be seated with him. He said it's going to rain with
him. Now you know we're not going to have any authority, but if
our husband is raining and ruling, that makes us his queen. So that's
the order. He's the head. And go back to
Genesis chapter 2. He is the head. He's created
first. Why? Why was this written? Why was
it ordered like this? Why? Because it pleased God that in
Christ should all fullness dwell. Everything is about to Him give
all the prophets witness. Everything is bearing witness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the head. We're the body.
We don't exalt the body. We lift up the head. No. We don't
cover the head. Cover the body. That's a type. Alright? Now, remember how all
sin started in this world. We're going to look at it in
the next chapter. How did all sin start? How did sin begin? The woman usurped authority over
her husband. Didn't she? That's exactly what
she did. Had Satan come to her and she
said, I'll let my husband talk to you." That's exactly what
happened. And she usurped authority over
her husband. Adam rebelled willfully. Didn't it say that? He was not
deceived in the transgression. She was deceived. It's no coincidence
that the majority of modern religion today is the religion of women. led by women and mostly made
up of women. Right? Scripture talks about
silly women. God's women are not silly women. They're not led captive. No,
no. Not at all. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ makes them wise, not silly. But religion today
is made up of... Go ahead and tell everybody,
because I didn't say it. The Lord did. The Lord did. And boy, would this be hated
today. Well, look at verse 19 and 20. Out of the ground the Lord God
formed every beast of the field, 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. Adam
gave names to all cattle, to the fowl of the air, to every
beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found
and help me for him." Adam gave names to all of them. Why is
this inserted here? Why did our Lord all of a sudden
go back to that and then come back to the woman again? Number one, to show Adam's glory,
to show Adam's genius. Adam was a genius. Can you imagine
naming every single animal? He did. He named every single
animal that came to him. And to show his sovereignty,
his absolute sovereignty over all creatures. of which Psalm
8 tells us that he put all things under his feet. It says he made
him a little lower than the angels, but made him to have dominion
over the works of his hand, all things under his feet. Well,
that speaks of Adam. Yes, it does. But in the New Testament, that
is quoted as a speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the
second Adam. All things point to him. but
to show Adam's glory, Adam's genius, creating the image of
God, to show his sovereignty, to show the Lord Jesus Christ,
his sovereignty. When these animals were brought
before him, Adam said, call this one sheep, and call this one on his left
hand, goat. Did you catch that? When the
Lord brought before him on his right hand, this one, he called
it sheep. This one over here, he said goat. What creature did the Lord first
create? I'm going to answer the age-old
question, okay? The age-old question men have
been arguing. Which came first, the chicken
or the egg? I'm going to answer that, okay?
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Neither. A lamb. A lamb. I'm quite sure that the
first creature God created was a lamb. Was not Christ the lamb
slain before the foundation of the world? But the Lord brought
these animals before Him and He named them, which is a picture,
a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has absolute, well, genius,
glory. He made the heavens and the earth.
He telleth the stars. He knoweth the stars by name. He numbers the sands of the seashore. Talking about genius. Talking
about glory. Talking about sovereignty. He
said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. You can't
do that. I already have. show his absolute
authority. In the last day, it says all
people are going to be gathered before the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he's going to say, he's going to separate the sheep from the
goats. That's his divine prerogative.
He's God. I don't suppose there's any sign
or saying I hate more than this one. And I saw it on a so-called
Methodist church building on Route 40 that says, Let God Be
God. And that's one of the oldest
Arminian freewill sayings on earth, Let God Be God. I don't
know of anything that angers me more than that. I don't know
of anything more foolish than that. If He's God, you don't
let Him do anything, do you? That's an impossibility. If He's
God in the full sense of the word, reigning, ruling, controlling
all things, you can't let Him do anything. What the signs should
have said was, oh, may God let us live and move and have our
being and breathe and whatever. Oh, may God let us. At any rate, to show His absolute
sovereignty, He brought these animals. And I tell you what
also, this is a picture of how God the Father, the Lord Jesus
Christ, brought before Adam these creatures. Every single creature
that the Lord made, He brought before Adam. They came to Him. Did not our Lord say, All that
the Father giveth man shall come to me? It all came before him. And to hear him, whether or not
he pronounced him sheep or goat. So here's how and why the Lord
made woman for man and the church for Christ. Look at verse 21.
It says, 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. And the
rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and
brought her unto the man." How was the woman created? A deep
sleep, a wounded side, a rib, and a new creature. Now what
could that possibly represent? other than the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. A deep sleep, a wounded side,
something taken from Him to make a new creature. You know, Genesis 3.15, the woman's
seed, we often say that's the first time the Lord preached
the gospel to man. No, it's not. Right here it is. Right here it is. the gospel
very clearly in picture. Now, lest man glorify himself
over the woman. We talked about man being the
head of the woman because of the Lord's order of things as
a picture of Christ and the church. Lest man should glorify himself
over the woman. Here, Adam didn't have anything
to do with the creation of this woman, did he? He was asleep. The Lord did this to him. and
brought this woman to him. The Lord, he was asleep. She
was from him, but she was not by him. Just like Christ was
made of a woman, but he was not made by that woman. He was made
in the likeness of sinful flesh, but he did not have any sinful
flesh. Man, he didn't come from man. He was a man, but he didn't
come from man. But this is still a clear picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. I want you to
turn with me to Jeremiah. Why don't you turn to Jeremiah
31. Let me quote to you one of the
most beloved, glorious passages in all of God's Word
concerning Christ and Him crucified. The Lord caused this deep sleep
to fall upon Adam, and he opened up his side. wounded him or bruised him, and
from his riven side, the psalm says, he brought forth this woman,
a new creature. Isaiah 53 says this, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He, God, hath put
his son to grief. And when thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall
see his seed. The church came from him. He
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied." My, my. When Adam awoke, was
he satisfied? Oh, my, was he ever. Look at
this. I've always loved this verse.
Maybe you've never seen it. Adam awoke from his sleep and
saw his bride for the first time. Oh my, he was well pleased, wasn't
he? And look at Jeremiah 31 verse
25 and 26. I have satiated or satisfied
the weary soul. I have replenished every sorrowful
soul. Upon this I wait and beheld,
and my sleep was sweet unto me. Christ, for the joy set before
him, endured the cross, was obedient even unto death, buried and rose
again. And when he arose, he saw the
travail of his soul and was satisfied. Preaching, teaching the Word
is made up of two things, basically. It's a declaration of the truth.
You must preach the truth, declare the truth. You must apply it
where we are. Apply it to where we live, to
our circumstances and our spirit. It must apply to our spirit.
Here's a blessed thought. It was the Lord who wounded Adam,
was it? The first one to cause a wound upon man was who? Even
in his sinless state, his holy state, the Lord wounded him then.
The Lord says, I wound. I wound. But whoever he wounds
in this fashion, what does he do? Is he going to leave you
wounded? No. I heal him. Whatever wound
the Lord causes. And again, was it good for Adam
that he was wounded? Oh, was it ever. His greater glory and happiness.
The Lord healed him though. Although this operation on Adam
was severe, he opened up his side to remove a rib. Brother
Burt Dunbar was here from Orlando, from Apopka, Florida. And I saw
him with his shirt off. And he had a huge scar all the
way around his body. Well, I knew right away he'd
had some serious, serious operation. And he did. He had a kidney removed,
didn't he? When he was just a child, four
years old. But it left him with a huge scar all the way around.
It was a serious operation, wasn't it? Well, Adam had this serious
operation. I wonder if Adam kept a scar.
That would be fitting, wouldn't it? It would have been beautiful
to eat, wouldn't it? That's where I came from. It
wasn't for that scar. I know this for a fact. I know
that there's one being in glory who has a scar. Has five scars for that matter.
Everyone else is without spotted blemish. Church, the Bride of
Christ has no scars whatsoever. No blemishes. But her husband
has scars. And they think they're beautiful.
Beautiful. As old Brother Ed said, I'll
be looking That's where I came from. I don't
know if Adam retained that scar or not, or had one or not, but
although this operation on him was very severe, it gave him
sleep to get through it. And that's what the Scripture
says. He gave it his beloved sleep, comfort, consolation.
No matter how difficult the trial, no matter how severe the operation
upon us, it's the Lord that wounded and He'll heal us. He's promised
us that. And in spite of how serious it
was and how really terrible an operation it was, after it was
over, would Adam have gone through that again? Oh, in a heartbreak. In a heartbreak. Glory and happiness
such as he had never had before. And those of you who have gone
through, well, every one of God's people will go through tribulation.
Operations of God upon us. And in the end, we're going to
see, oh, it was all for our future glory and happiness. I wonder,
do you reckon the Lord told Adam he was going to do this? He doesn't say that. Do you reckon
He told Adam? I think He may have told Adam,
at least as a type of our Lord. The Lord knew, known unto God
are all His works from the beginning of the world. Christ was with
him, together with him in everything that was done. And if he did,
it was certainly a picture like Isaac of old. Remember when the
Lord told Abraham to take his son Isaac up on the mountain? And Isaac willingly carried the
wood and the fire. And our Lord was obedient. knowing what he was going to
have to go through, he did it. He did it. Adam? Maybe so. I don't know. Perhaps. What is
this rib? The title of this message, this
subject, is Adam's Rib. What is this rib? What does it
stand for? Well, very plainly, simply, the Lord did something
to Adam in order to create Eve. He took something from man and
made a woman. What could this be? You know
what this is without me telling you, alright? There are two things
that make up the gospel. What two things would you say
sum up the gospel? Two things. We sing a hymn with
this title, Jesus Thy Blood and What? Righteousness. These two
things make up the gospel. Sum up the gospel. Can you sum
up the gospel? We must have righteousness to
justify blood to pay for our sin. Blood and righteousness. Christ died that we may live,
but Christ lived that we may not die. This bone, this rib
bone from Adam, was used to form a new creature. What does the
Scripture say? God hath made Him, Christ, to
be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be what? Made what? The righteousness of God in Him. Alright? The Lord took something
from Adam to make us. He took the righteousness of
Christ to make a new creature. creating the image of the Lord.
He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness. We must have this righteousness.
The foundation, like a skeleton, you know, our skeleton, this
rib bone is part of the skeleton upon which everything hangs,
doesn't it? This whole body hangs upon a skeleton. It's the foundation. It's the foundation of the body,
the skeleton. Well, the foundation of the gospel
is the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
must have this righteousness. That's why Scripture speaks of
the righteousness of God more than 500 times. 500 times. We saw Wednesday how that the
Lord spoke of the kingdom 55 times, just in one gospel alone. And over 500 times it speaks
of righteousness. You must have it. This is the
question. How can man be just with God? How can sinful man be in the
presence of God? How can man be accepted by God? How can he that is born of woman
be clean with God? It's nothing from us. We can't
do it. We can't produce it. It's going
to have to come from Christ. The righteousness of Christ imputed
to us, imparted in us. We are partakers of His divine
nature. This woman was made from this
man. She came from the man. We come from Christ. death and
his life, his righteousness. Listen to this in Romans 3. You
know these verses, and you knew the answer to that. I love what
Paul said. He said, see, and you know these
things already, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I'll tell
you again. See, we're not telling any new
thing here. We don't have any new revelation,
just a new scripture to preach the old truth from. Listen to
this. In Romans 3, it says there's
none righteous. No, not one. But now, the righteousness
of God without the law is being made manifest. The righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe the righteousness of God, which is Jesus Christ. That's this rib. I think that's
what this rib stands for. It didn't come from his head.
Matthew Henry pointed this out. He said it wasn't something that
came from his head. That would make her equal, wouldn't
it, or above him. But it came from his side, that
is, underneath his arm, next to his heart, out of love. In verse 22, it says, "...the
rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and
brought her unto the man." Brought her to Adam. As Scripture says,
all things were created by our Lord and what? For. for him. For thy pleasure they
are and were created. Verse 23, And Adam said, This
is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. I love what
our Lord first did when He appeared to His disciples after He arose
from the grave. He said, Touch me. Handle me.
It's me. It is I. He said, A spirit hath
not what? Flesh and bones. Bone of our
bones, flesh of our flesh, made in our likeness as the children
were, so he must be. And it says, verse 23, he named
her. Adam named all the animals and
he named this woman. He gave her his name. She was named for him. She took
his name. Woman. His was Ish, or the Hebrew
was Ish. Hers was Isha. She was taken
out of man. And He gave her her name. And we take the name of Christ. We don't take it. He gives it
to us, doesn't He? He gives it to us. What do we call it? Sons
of God? What do we call it? Christians. It says the disciples... And
I hate the fact that Modern false religion has made us shy of using
that name. I hate that. Because it's a glorious
name. It has our Lord's name in it.
Don't you? Don't you hate the fact that
so many people have abused that name that we now are hesitant
to use it? I hate that. Such as religion
has done to every part of God's truth. But it's a glorious name
reserved for his blessed bride, his beloved Christian. Christ is his name. Christian
is her name. It's a blessed union, a union. What God hath joined together,
no man shall put asunder. And verse 24, let the man, it
says, shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto
his wife, and they shall be one flesh. He used to think that
the woman left home to go be with the man. That's not what
this says, does it? That's not what this says, does it? No,
he leaves home to go be with her. And I'm glad it's that way
because we've got mostly girls here. And so if anyone's going
to marry them, they've got to move here. At any rate, this
is a picture, though, another picture of how our Lord Jesus
Christ left His Father. to come to his bride in Cleveland
and what God has joined together. Who shall separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ? Nobody. Can't do it. He said,
I'm your husband. Where's your bill of divorce?
He won't find it, ever. Nobody can put us asunder. A
vital union with Christ. Vital union. Christ took our
flesh. And we take his nature. And there's a vital union which
nothing and no one can separate ever again. And verse 25 says,
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed. And we're going to deal with
that next week because it goes well with the next chapter, how
that something happened that made them realize they were naked,
and shame.