Let's open our Bibles to Genesis,
the second chapter. This evening, Genesis, the second
chapter. And you will quickly understand
the reason I asked Matt to read that passage of scripture, because
I'm speaking tonight on the bridegroom and the bride. The bridegroom. and the bride. And I'm going
to start by repeating a verse that I read to you this morning
out of Romans, the fifth chapter. You need not turn there, but
it's verse 14 that says, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression who is the figure of him who was to come. We often say of various men of
the Old Testament that they were pictures of, types of, our Lord
Jesus Christ. And there's nothing wrong with
doing that. But there is only one verse that
absolutely specifically tells us of a man who was a figure
of Christ our Lord, and that was Adam. And so the Bible speaks
of the first Adam and the last Adam. We read in 1 Corinthians
15, 45, and so it is written, the first man, Adam, he was made
a living soul. The last Adam, and in parentheses,
in 1 Corinthians 15, 45, it says, was made. But really, he just,
he was a quickening spirit. He wasn't made a quickening spirit.
By virtue of who he is, he's a quickening spirit. See, in
the covenant of works, Adam was a representative man. And so our Lord Jesus in the
covenant of grace, he was the representative man. And as Adam
represented all of his offspring, so our Lord Jesus represented
all of his offspring, that is the elect of God, those that
he bought with his own blood. We're all the sons of Adam, that's
why I didn't Ephesians, the second chapter, we read that we were
children of wrath, even the people of God. We were children deserving
of wrath, even as others. That's what we are by nature.
We're children of wrath. We're sons and daughters of Adam. But in our Lord Jesus, we're
sons of God, children of promise. ordained everlasting life in
the covenant of grace. The first Adam brought in death. Thank God the last Adam brought
in life. In fact, he is our life. We read in 1 Corinthians 15,
in Adam all die. In Christ shall all of his seed
be made alive. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly. Here in Genesis, the second chapter,
right toward the end, we see a picture of our Lord Jesus and
his church. Here's the bridegroom and the
bride. Here's God giving a bride to
the bridegroom, and the bridegroom is Adam. And of course, the bride
is Eve. And I'll just read here a few
verses beginning at verse 18, Genesis 2. And the Lord God said,
it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him and
help me for him. And out of the ground the Lord
formed He made every beast of the field and every fowl of the
air, and he 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. This shows how brilliant he was. 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 in help meat for him. With all of these animals,
God made male and female so that they could procreate, each after
its kind. But Adam had no help meat for
him. He had no wife, he had no bride. And so then we read in verse
21, and the Lord God caused a deep, a deep sleep to fall upon Adam
and he slept. And God took one of his ribs
and then he closed up the flesh instead thereof. No scar, no
stitches, no staples. God just closed it up. And the
rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he a woman
and brought her unto the man. 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. And you'll recognize this verse
very much like one of the verses that Matt read to us a few minutes
ago. Teaching us that we're united
to our Lord Jesus Christ, there's a unity between the bridegroom
and the bride. they shall be one flesh. And
they were both naked, had nothing to be ashamed of, the man and
his wife, and they were not ashamed. Now let me present several things
to you tonight. First of all, God gave Adam a
bride. Adam was alone. And so God purposed to give him
a bride. Here we have the very beginning
of humanity. Keep in mind that Adam was the
figure of him who was to come. He was a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord said to Adam, it's not
good that the man should be alone. It's what God said. Why was it
not good for the man to be alone by himself. Well, he had nobody
to love. He had the Lord. He loved the
Lord. He fellowshiped with the Lord.
I said this morning, I do believe that our Lord Jesus took a pre-incarnate
form and walked with Adam and talked with Adam. That was the
Son of God walking and talking with him. But Adam had no one
like unto himself. a human being. Being created
in the image of God, Adam had love to be shown as well as affection. And that love and affection has
to have an object. He had no one to talk to, no
one to speak with him. There was nobody like himself
with whom he could converse, with whom he could talk about
the beauties of God's creation, no one with whom he could share
his thoughts. He had no one to touch, no one
to touch him, no one to hug, no one to hug him. You see, this
matter of companionship, togetherness is essential to those who are
filled with love. We need to touch and be touched.
We need to embrace and be embraced. Adam had nobody to assist, nobody
to help. Nobody to help him. There was no one who needed Adam. And no one to help Adam with
his needs. He lived by himself. And the
Lord mercifully took care to provide for him, for this needy
man, a bride. A help meet, the Lord referred
to him. And God chose for Adam a bride. And here's the picture. God chose
for the Lord Jesus Christ, the last Adam, a bride. He chose
that bride in eternal election. God, in His absolutely sovereign
will, He picked out, He chose a multitude which no man could
number, which would be the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Church of the Living God. This was a people chosen in grace. Without any consideration of
what they would be or what they would do or anything like that,
God didn't consider whether they would, the matter of faith, their
faith, the faith of God's elect is a faith given to them. We're
chosen to believe Christ. We're not chosen because we would
believe Christ. Faith and repentance are the
gifts of grace. because God purposed to give
his children grace in Christ Jesus. He did give us grace in
Christ Jesus before the world began. God gave Christ to people. He, the bridegroom, and she,
the bride. Our Lord referred to this. He
said, all that the Father giveth me. shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. There was an election
of grace. He said, this is the Father's
will, that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing,
but raise him up at the last day. And so we're immediately
informed, therefore, that Adam was a picture of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and Eve, she was a picture of the church. The chosen of
God. Now, how did Eve come into being? We're first told what God did
for Adam. God created him. But He didn't bring Eve into
the world by an act of creation. But He made Eve right out of
the body of Adam. God took a rib from Adam. And from that rib, he made a
woman. Then he closed up Adam's flesh. And Adam was none the poorer
for that which God took from him. He still had his ribs. God gave him another one. He
still had his life, while he didn't even have a scar. And our Lord Jesus, our Lord
Jesus, we came forth from Him, and He was none the poorer for us coming forth from Him,
though He suffered, bled, and died in order to redeem us. but he faced the death of crucifixion
with joy because he knew that the result of his death would
mean the inclusion to himself, the union with himself, a multitude
of sinners that God gave him before the world began. Now, God put Adam in a coma. No one else could do this to
Adam. And while Adam, while he slept a deep sleep, God took
a rib from him, closed up the flesh. And from that rib, which
he took from Adam, God made, literally he built, and you might
notice there in verse 22, you see that word made? It means he built. He built a
woman and brought her to the man. God did not create the woman
as he created the man. He made the woman. He made the
woman from a rib from Adam's side. He didn't take the woman
from Adam's head. to reign over him, nor did he take the woman from
man's foot to be trampled over by him, but from his side as
one who is his partner, from his side near his heart to be
loved and embraced. And then the Lord brought the
woman to the man. She was the gift of God to the
man. And remembering that Adam was
a type of Christ or a figure of Christ, Eve is a type of the
church which our Lord chose under everlasting life. You see, our
Lord Jesus He will have a kingdom. He does have a kingdom, the kingdom
of grace. The thief on the cross, who by
sovereign grace believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, Lord,
remember me. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. And in that kingdom, Christ will
not be alone. He will have a people with Him,
kings and priests under God. And God put His Son in the sleep
of death. Behold the Savior of sinners,
dying for those sinners whom the Father gave Him. Dying for
those given to Him in covenant mercy and grace. And while Adam was just in a
deep coma or sleep, our Lord Jesus actually died. That's the
penalty for sin, the wages of sin is death. None but God could
put him to death. None but God could exact from
him the full penalty for sin, the payment for sin. At the cross, God punished His
Son, and He died that we would live by His death. You see, as a result of Adam
being put into deep sleep, there came forth from him Eve, and as a result of our Lord Jesus
Christ, laying down his life for those given to him in covenant
grace, covenant election. We came forth, as it were, from
his wounded side, redeemed by his blood, owing God nothing
except thanksgiving. For our Lord Jesus, by his death, He fully and He finally paid
the indebtedness we owed to God. And we are, by the grace of God,
through the death of Christ, we are absolutely debt free. We owe nothing to justice. And just as grace demands our
salvation, so also does divine justice. For the justice of God
has no quarrel with any sinner in whose stead the Lord Jesus
Christ died. Notice again in verse 22, and
you might want to just circle that word made. Made, it means
built. And I'll tell you how this word
is used in the Bible. Built as a city, built as a house,
built as a family, built as a temple. You see, Adam was created, but
Eve, she was made, she was built. And as the Lord made or built
Eve for Adam, so a bride for our Lord Jesus Christ is being
built. The city of God is a people. The blueprints for this building
of God, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, the blueprint is
the very eternal purpose of God. So that all that God designed
to happen, all that God purposed to happen, is happening and will
happen because of who made the purpose, whose blueprints they
are. Every part of the church, every
person designated for Jesus Christ in the covenant of grace, He
will bring to Himself. Peter says in 1 Peter chapter
2, Ye also as living stones, lively stones, are built, are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. You see, here's what the Lord
is doing today. And certainly the bride of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we were chosen in grace before the world began.
But the church of our Lord Jesus Christ is being built from Abel
till now, till the very end of time. The Lord is adding to His
church daily Such as should be saved. That passage I read to
you from Peter. We are lively or living stones. The Lord went out as it were
into the very quarry of mankind, having chosen various ones, a
multitude who would be living stones in this temple that he's
building. And as it was in Solomon's temple,
where no sound of the axe or a hammer was heard, every stone
that went into Solomon's temple was dug out from the quarry,
finished, polished, shaped exactly to the specification of the stone
that was to be put in the building. Even so, our God, having chosen
us in Jesus Christ, He goes out wherever His elect are, He digs
us out, He has redeemed us, He polishes us, He washes us in
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He fits us in this building
that He's a building. He's building a building. He's
building a temple for Himself. And the tools that He's using
in building this church, the preaching of the gospel, the prayers of the saints, and
mainly that great power of the Holy Spirit. For you see, this city of God,
this temple, it's like that city that Abraham sought. He sought
a city whose, remember the verse there in Hebrews 11, whose builder
and maker is God. That's the church. And our Lord
is building the church. Look over at Matthew 16. Let
me just show you this verse real quick. Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. Look at verse
18, and I won't read the verses prior to this. Matthew 16, 18, here's what our
Lord says. I say also unto thee, to Peter,
that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, the rock of your confession,
that I'm the Son of God, I'm the Christ, the Son of the living
God, upon this rock of your confession, I will build my church. And that's what he's doing now.
Now, the interesting word here, or the word that I have particular
interest in, is the word build. The word build. Because the word
means, look it up, the word means repaired and built. And you see, we have been repaired,
we've been redeemed. We've been bought by our Lord
Jesus Christ. And the Spirit of God has done
a work within our hearts. It's the work of regeneration.
He has quickened us by his power. and we have been put into the
church that our Lord is building, he who adds to his church daily,
such as should be saved. Our Lord built a bride for Adam, and he's building his own church, adding to it daily. throughout
the world, throughout the world. Now, what did God do for Eve? Well, and go back to our text
in chapter two of Genesis and verse 22, and the rib, which
the Lord God had taken from man, made or builded, constructed
he a woman, And He brought her, He brought her unto the man. Our Lord Jesus sends the gospel
out. We're preaching the gospel of
the free grace of God through the doing and the dying of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We preach redemption. We preach
the atonement. We preach the reconciliation
of us to God by Christ's death, burial and resurrection. And
somebody comes along and preaches to us the blessed, glorious gospel
of free grace. And the Lord draws us, brings
us to the bridegroom. It's referred to as the effectual
calls of the gospel. His people shall be willing,
willing in the day of His power. The Lord doesn't just pick us
up by the scruff of our neck and throw us into the kingdom
of God. He makes us willing. He makes us willing in the new
birth. He gives us new life. We have new thoughts, new desires. Our desires are toward Christ. So our Lord brings us to the
bridegroom. John 6, 37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Wonder why they'll come? Because
they're being brought. Like Eve was brought to Adam
by God. Did not our Lord say in John
6, 44, no man can come to me except the Father which has sent
me? Do what? Draw, draw him. Draw him. So Eve is a picture of the church,
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Adam is a picture of the blessed
Savior. Look back into chapter 3, and
I dealt some this morning with chapter 3, and I'm going to do
the same thing the Lord willing next Sunday, because I did get
to finish my message this morning. I'll finish it the Lord willing
next Sunday. As you look into chapter 3, remembering
that Eve is a picture of the church, and Adam is a picture
of Christ. Here's the bridegroom, and here's
the bride. So here's what we have in the
third chapter, the serpent and the bride. In chapter three,
we're introduced to the evil one, the serpent, the devil.
And I told you this morning, and certainly I encourage you
to look up these words, but look up the word serpent. And the root word means one who
closely observes. The serpent that is Satan, he
closely observed Adam and Eve. And as he observed them, he reached
this determination. The woman is the weaker vessel. So he set Eve as his target. And he intended to do all he
could to destroy the bride of the bridegroom and thereby frustrate
the creation of God. And I'll tell you what Satan,
I'll tell you who's his target today. The church. That's who he's after. He can't
get Christ. He can't get Christ. But he's
after the pulpits of the church. He's after the leaders of the
church. He's after those who influence the church. You remember in Luke, the 22nd
chapter, Our Lord said, Peter, Satan hath
desired thee to sift you like wheat, but I
prayed for you that your faith fell not. Satan went after Peter as he
went after Eve, and he will come after you. He is pure evil, if that's the
right way to say it. There's nothing but evil there.
He can't get to our bridegroom, but his goal is to bring reproach
upon our bridegroom by causing the bride to fall. And we're not ignorant of his
devices, are we? That's what Paul says. Don't
be ignorant of his devices. He's a roaring lion who goes
about seeking whom he may devour. He has ever sought to do away with
and destroy the bride, thereby bringing disgrace to the bridegroom. but his designs will never be
realized because the purpose of God cannot be frustrated. He will fail, Satan will fail
for the seed of the woman has already bruised his head and
his purpose will fail. The serpent had closely observed
that Eve was the weaker vessel, the one more likely to believe
his half-truths. And a half-truth is a whole lie. That's why our Lord said to his
disciples, watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation,
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And we know at the cross, our
Lord Jesus defeated the evil one. I'll get into that more
next Lord's Day morning. But Satan, though he is ultimately
defeated, He knows his time is short. And he is still on the offensive
against the pride and joy, as it were, of God, his chosen people. He's out to destroy his church. I say to all of you, stay close
to Christ. Because the enemy, he is very powerful, and you
are no match for him. But our sovereign Christ has
all power everywhere, in heaven, earth, and in hell. Stay near
him. He is your shield, and he is
your strength. But as I said, Satan, even though he's been ultimately
defeated, he still attacks the church. Turn with me to the book of Revelation
chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. I'll tell you what he goes after
first is the pulpit. Now, no true preacher of the
gospel will be overthrown. But those who lead churches,
and some of them God's church, there are some men who are evil
in their hearts. A church finds a man they like,
seems to have some preaching abilities, some gifts, He has
some new, more modern ways and methods, but the church says,
you know, I believe that's the guy we need. They bring him in. And he's one of those minions of Satan, false preachers,
who masquerade as angels of light. And Satan, having gone after
the pulpit, and make no mistake, that's where he goes first. He'll go after the pulpit. Because
people listen to preachers. Thank God he can't frustrate
the purpose of God. That's impossible. But he sure
will try. And he has more tricks up his
sleeve than Carter has liver pills. You young people don't
even know what I'm talking about there. But believe me, he does. He has virtually limitless ways,
limitless ways to deceive. He goes after the pulpit. And he goes after the church
because you see the church is the weaker vessel. We're the weaker vessel. We need
Christ. That's why I say keep your eyes
of faith on Him. That's why it's important to
come and be fed the gospel of the grace of God to sinners through
the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to stick
to this message. There's strength in this message.
There's salvation in this message. There's safety in the gospel
of redeeming grace. We're warned of his strategies. He tries to divide, right? He'll divide. He tries to cause
disagreements within the church. We're weak. We all have different
ideas about several things. And if he can, he will enter
in and try to drive a wedge between the people of God. Because he's
our enemy. And where the gospel of God's
free grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus is set
forth, you may be certain the evil one is not far away. Because
he despises this message. Preach works. preach tithing,
preach man's righteousness, He won't bother you because He's
already got you. But you preach the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you preach the power of His blood
redemption, you're going to have an enemy. That's for certain. I want you to look here in Revelation
chapter 12. Look at verse seven. There was
war in heaven. Michael, and Michael's name means
one who is God. And I believe that Michael is
another name for our Lord Jesus Christ. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon. This is the same one who entered
into the serpent, you see. This is the same one who went
after Eve. But here he goes after Christ. As he did in our Lord's temptation. And as he did in the Garden of
Gethsemane. And as he did it, the cross where
he was fully defeated. The dragon fought and his angels,
I love this, and prevailed not. He can't prevail. He can't prevail
against our great Michael. He can't prevail against the
Son of God. Neither was their place found
any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world. He was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him." Cast out. Remember our Lord's words in
John chapter 12. He cast Satan out. Now shall
the prince of this world be cast out. When did that happen at
the cross? Therefore, in verse 10, and I
heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is salvation come. When did salvation come? When
our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, bled, and died for His people.
That's when salvation came. That's when we were saved. You
want to know when you're saved? I'm not interested in the date
that you'll give me. You want to ask me when I was
saved? When Christ died for me, that's when I was saved. And
I can go back further than that. When God gave me to His Son in
electing grace, that's when I was saved. And when I heard the true gospel
for the first time and the Holy Spirit penetrated my heart with
it, that's when I was saved. Guess what? I'm still being saved. And now is my salvation nearer
than when I first began. So a loud voice comes forth in
heaven. Now has come salvation and strength,
and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night, and they overcame him. And this
is the only way you're gonna overcome him. By the blood of
the lamb, and by the word of the testimony. That is the word
of the gospel. And they loved not their lives
unto death. Therefore rejoice ye heavens,
let's keep reading, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants
of the earth and of the sea of mankind. Woe, that's talking
about us. Look out. Watch out. Woe, for the devil
is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth
that he hath but a short time. Who's he coming after? The bride. That's who he's coming after. And when the dragon saw that
he was cast upon the earth, he persecuted the woman He persecuted
the church. You read back through church
history and see the martyrs, people who sealed their faith
with their blood. Pick up a copy of Fox's book
of martyrs. Read about those who sealed their
testimony with their own blood. They persecuted the woman which
brought forth the man-child. But God keeps his people safe. Thank God for our all-powerful
Redeemer. Jim, you worried about the devil?
I don't take him lightly. But he's no match for my master.
I'm no match for him. But he who redeemed me will keep
me safe. And none of the sheep given to
him in the covenant of grace by the father will ever perish. For if even one of the sheep
could perish, our Lord Jesus would lose his glory. And that will never happen. He's after the bride. He's after you. He's after me. Stay under the sheltering wings
of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's sing a closing song. I
believe it's 505.