Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to this early Sunday
morning broadcast. My text for this morning is Genesis
chapter three, and I want to read just two or three verses
from Genesis chapter three. The verses are as follows. 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. 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. My title for this morning is
What Occurred in Eden? What was it that actually took
place in what the scripture calls the Garden of Eden? The text
I just read are the last events that are ever recorded in Eden,
the Garden of Eden. What occurred there? What actually
took place in the Garden of Eden? TV shows, all kinds of things
about the Garden of Eden nowadays, but most of it has very little,
if any, basis upon the Word of God. What occurred there? Now,
some people would say that in the Garden of Eden, the human
race began to sin there. That's when they began to sin,
and that's certainly true. There is no doubt about that,
but that's not the whole story. It's not just that in the Garden
of Eden, man began to sin. Others would say that human trouble,
human suffering began in the garden. That's the Garden of
Eden. That itself also is true. There's no doubt about that.
But that's not the whole story. You see, what occurred in Eden,
that which took place in the Garden of Eden, That for which,
think of it, that for which what the scripture, what I read, that
for which the Lord God drove man out was sin. I said sin, I emphasize that,
sin, singular, singular. Sin is more than an act. It is an act, but it's more than
an act. Sin is more than just a deed. It is a deed, but sin is much
more than an act or a deed. Sin is a condition. Sin is a
state of being. The act of sin, that is, Adam's
act of sin was the outflow of a rebellious condition. Adam
failed when he sinned. You see, he did not just commit
a wrong act, but he failed when he sinned. Adam fell and when
Adam ate of that forbidden fruit, this is what occurred in Eden,
he died. Now we hear God saying that to
Adam very clearly. And you can read that in Genesis
2 and just a few verses there. Listen to what the word of God
says in Genesis chapter 2. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the
man saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. Think of that. Adam was able
to partake of every tree at any time as much as he wanted and
could enjoy those things. Verse 17, 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. You see that? Thou shalt surely
die. This is the word of God. This
was the warning of God. And God told Adam in the day,
not just if you eat of it, it's much more than that. Don't let
some people sidetrack the truth here. It's much more than God
saying, if you eat, he says, for in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. So here's what actually occurred
in Eden. According to the word of God,
according to the testimony of God's holy scripture, here's
what happened in Eden. And I just have three things
for you for this morning. First of all, what happened in
Eden? Death occurred. Death occurred in Eden. Now,
I know some people say, well, Adam didn't die, he lived for
hundreds of years. No, yes, he did live for hundreds
of years physically. But when he partook of that fruit,
he died that day when he partook of that fruit. So here's what
occurred in Eden. Death occurred in Eden. Here's
also what happened. Here's the second thought. This
spiritual death manifested itself in Adam's conduct in the garden. And then the third thing is this,
even before God drove them out of Eden, something wondrous also
happened. In spite of the sin, in spite
of the fall, in spite of the rebellion, something wondrous
happened, something gracious happened, something marvelous
happened. And we will see this, look at
these three things. This is what occurred in Eden.
As I said, death occurred. But when I say death, I mean
spiritual death, this spiritual death. Spiritual death fell upon
all the human race by Adam's one act of rebellion. That's
what happened in the garden. You see, in the Garden of Eden,
it was not simply that Adam fell, it was not simply that Adam sinned,
we all sinned when Adam fell in that garden. Now listen to
what the Apostle Paul, listen to what he writes concerning
this, and all of this is going to be from Romans chapter five.
Remember what I said, death occurred in Eden. Spiritual death occurred
in Eden. Physical death happened hundreds
of years later for Adam and Eve. but spiritual death happened
according to the word of God. And it fell upon, here's what
happened in Eden. It didn't just fall upon Adam
and Eve. It fell upon the whole human race. This is what the
Apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter five, verse 12. Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered. And notice it's singular, not
sinning, not sins, but sin, that state, that state of being, that
condition. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death, notice this
phrase, and so death passed upon all men. You see that all men,
it's already passed upon all men, not physical death, but
spiritual death. So that death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. Paul goes on, chapter five and
verse 15. Just look at the first part of
it. but not as the offense, so also is the free gift." Now,
here's the words. Listen to what he says. For if
through the offense of one, many be dead. Do you see that? Through the offense, through
Adam's one sin, many be dead. Not will die, but many be dead. You see, In a manner of speaking,
we were all in the loins of our father Adam. He represented us.
He was our federal head. And when he sinned, we sinned. And this is exactly what Paul
is saying. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. And
let's look at the offense. For if through the offense of
one, many be dead. Look at also verse 16, the first
part. And not as it was by one that
sinned, so is the gift. for the judgment was by one to
condemnation. Paul here is not talking about
Hel or the lake of fire, the condemnation, that which God
pronounced upon Adam, that which God told him would happen. In
the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. The condemnation, the judgment
was death, and death passed upon Adam, but not only upon Adam,
it passed upon all of us as well. Look at, same chapter, look at
first part of verse 17. For if by one man's offense,
death reigned by one. Do you see that? Look at it.
For if by one man's offense, a singular offense, partaking
of that forbidden fruit, that fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, which God said, you're not to eat of it, but
in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. But if
by one, four, if by one man's offense, death reigned. Also have verse 18, the first
part of it. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. And remember,
the condemnation here is not men and women go to hell or the
lake of fire because of Adam's one sin, his act of rebellion.
The condemnation was death. spiritual death, no spiritual
life in mankind whatsoever. And it's kind of summed up by
Paul, same chapter, verse 19, first part. For, look at it now,
for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. That's what happened in Eden.
Now this is not what most will say. This is not what most will
talk about. You won't hear this on TV. But
this is, thus saith the Lord. But not only did that occur,
that is death, spiritual death fell upon the whole human race. This is what this book declares.
But there's something else it shows us. This spiritual death
now. Remember, it's spiritual death.
Adam began to die physically. Now the effects of that glorious
and grand creation that God had originally made in making Adam
and Eve and all that there was, the effects of that lasted for
years and Adam did not die for hundreds of years physically.
But in the day he ate of that fruit, he died. And my friends,
you died and I died in that day, the aid of that fruit. But here's
also what this book tells us. It tells us this, this is what
occurred in Eden. This is what happened in the
Garden of Eden. This spiritual death. manifest itself in Adam's
conduct after the fall. Now, just a few things here.
Remember what I said. The spiritual death manifests
itself in Adam's conduct after the fall. Now, first of all,
look at it. Now, if you are following along,
look at Genesis chapter three, and let's look at what it says.
In Genesis chapter three, we see this. Here, Adam sinned. He ate of that forbidden fruit.
He had committed a crime against God. He did that which God had
directly forbidden him to do. But rather than seeking God for
forgiveness, he tried to remedy his problem by his own efforts.
And this is what it tells us in Genesis 3. And it tells us
this in verse seven, look, and the eyes of them both, that's
Adam and Eve both, and the eyes of them both were opened, and
they knew that they were naked, look, and they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves aprons. Now, that may not seem
like much, But Adam was trying to remedy his own problem. He
did not seek his creator's forgiveness, his mercy. At this time, he knew
nothing of it. He had sinned against God and
what does he do? He and his wife took what? Fig
leaves and sewed them together and tried to cover his own nakedness
by his own efforts. By nature, my friends, that's
exactly what we still do today. In our unregenerate state, that's
before God ever breathes this spiritual life that was lost
in Adam, before God ever breathes that into a soul of a man or
a woman, we're constantly going about to cover ourselves before
God. Think about this, that's not,
all that happened in Eden. Look, as I said, this spiritual
death manifests itself in Adam's conduct after he fell. And rather
than seeking God's forgiveness, he tried to remedy his problem
by his own efforts. But not only that, even after
he had tried to remedy his own problem by his own efforts, look
at it, Adam hid from God. Now go on in verse eight, the
next verse. And they heard, that's Adam and Eve, And they heard
the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day. Now, if there's ever been a time
to fall down upon their faces before the Lord God, whom they
hear walking in the cool of the day and say, Lord, we messed
up. We've sinned against you. We've
rebelled against your command. We have done that which you forbid
us to do. What does it say? And Adam and
his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. They took those very things,
the trees that they were able to freely eat of. could eat any
time they want, as much as they want, and enjoy it all they want,
but they hid themselves from God. This is exactly what you
and I still do by nature. This shows that when Adam sinned,
we sinned. that when he represented us,
we fail when he fail. When we come into this world,
we do the same thing. If we begin to get any inkling,
any idea whatsoever of the fact that there is this thing called
sin and sins, this thing I've called, this condition of sin
and these acts of sin, we immediately begin to try to remedy our own
situation. And what happens? When the Lord
God himself begins to seem to show his presence, what do we
do? We hide from him amongst the very things that God Almighty
has ordained in this world. But not only that, rather than
seeking God, he tried to remedy his own condition. Not only did
Adam hide from God, but as we see in this same chapter, Adam
blamed God for his predicament. Do you see it? Look at verse
12. And the man said, the woman, look at, he's talking to the
Lord God now. And the man said, the woman whom thou gave us to
be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. This is
exactly what we still do today. We try to remedy, at best, we
try to remedy our own condition. And even when we do, we know,
we know deep down inside, we know deep down inside that does
not cut the muster. And when we seem to have any
sense of the presence of the Lord, we begin to immerse ourselves
in the thing, under the trees of the garden and the things
that God has ordained. We begin to start going to church,
we begin to start singing in the choir, we begin to start
witnessing, we begin to do all these things. But what do we
actually do? We actually blame God for our
predicament. This is what happened in the
garden. And it didn't just happen to
Adam. This is what I'm stressing. It did not just happen to Adam.
It happened to me. and it happened to you. And you
and I, just like Adam, after he ate of that fruit, after he
partook of it, he rebelled against God and rebelled against God
and even blamed God for his predicament. Now, as I said, this is what
happened. Death happened in the garden. Spiritual death happened
in the garden. It didn't happen just for Adam.
It happened to us. to us. And this spiritual death
manifested just like it did in Adam and Eve. This spiritual
death manifests itself in you and I today. Ah, but something
else occurred in the garden. Something profound. You hear
what I said? Something profound. A thrice
holy God which the Lord God is. Remember, Isaiah says when he
saw the Lord high and lifted up, what did he see? He seen
these angels flying around the throne of God, flying around
God, and they had six wings. And with two of those wings,
they covered their face. two of those wings that flew it,
two of their, they covered their feet, they covered themselves
and cried what? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. This thrice holy God could have,
could have banished the human race into outer darkness and
left us in this spiritual death itself. He had the right to if
he'd been pleased to. Oh, but this Lord God is full
of mercy and full of compassion. As I said, something else occurred
in the garden, something profound. And here's the third point. The
third, even before God, remember, drove them out. That was our
text. And the Lord God drove them out. He drove Adam and Eve
out. He forced them out of the garden.
But even before he drove them out of the garden, four things
we see happening. Before Adam ever sought God,
remember what Adam did. He tried to cover his own nakedness.
Think of the futility of trying to cover your own nakedness from
a God who just created you and all that's around you. A God
who sees all, knows all, and has all power, but he tried to
cover himself before God. And when he heard the Lord God
coming, walking in the cool of the day, he went and hid himself.
Went and hid himself. And then when God calls him to
the carpet on it, he says, well, the woman you gave me, The woman
gave, you gave me. Ah, but even before God drove
them out of the garden. Here's four things we see that
occurred in Eden. Do you hear what I said? Occurred
in Eden. Here's number one. Before Adam
ever sought God, God sought him. Do you see it? Remember, Adam
had tried to cover his own nakedness. Adam hid from the Lord, and yet
we read in verse nine, Genesis chapter three, and the Lord God
called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? Do you see that? Where art thou? God did not do this because God
did not know. God knew exactly where he was. God knew exactly what had happened
because God told him, in the day, for in the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. God knew where he was, but
what God was seeking him out. God was forcing him in love and
compassion, forcing him to confess where he was. Before Adam ever
sought God, God sought him. Now listen to this amazing passage.
This was written by the Apostle Paul, and it's right in the end
of what we have as Romans chapter 10. And listen to what God writes
here through the Apostle Paul. Look at it. Romans chapter 10
and verse 20 and 21. But Esaias, or that is Isaiah,
but Esaias is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. Do you hear that? Do you see
all those times you've tried to cover your own nakedness before
God? When you immerse yourself in the things of this world,
maybe even religious things, and you just kept trying and
trying and trying to remedy your own situation, and it still doesn't
work. and find yourself anytime that
the scripture, the word is preached or mentioned or you hear something
of church or religion or God or Jesus Christ, you just feel
so unclean and empty inside. Think of it, listen. But Esaias
is very bold and saith, this is God speaking, I was found
of them. Oh, this is mercy. This is grace. This is unearned
compassion. You see it? I was found of them
that sought me not. You see it? Oh, man. I was made
manifest unto them that asked not after me. That's what happened
in the garden. Before God ever drove them out,
drove them out, put a cherry abed, flaming sword to keep them
out of the garden, God still sought them out in spite of the
rebellion. In spite of all the rebellion before Adam, before
God ever drove him out, God sought him. But something else marvelous,
miraculous, gracious occurred in the garden. Look, Genesis
chapter three, let me go back there. Look at what it says in
Genesis chapter three. God declared the remedy. God
declared the cure, and God declared the answer to sin in Genesis
chapter three and verse 14 and 15, 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. But now listen to these words. And I will put enmity,
that is hatred, between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed, that's the seed of the serpent, the people of the devil,
and I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed, the woman's
seed, singular, remember, seed. See, look, and it shall bruise
thy head, thou shalt bruise his heel. Oh, my friend, this is
the promise of the Messiah, the promise of the coming of the
Son of God, the promise of the coming of him who would take
on himself humanity and become as one of us and suffer and bleed
and die for sinners to be buried and raised again and ascended
back and exalted at the right hand of God. For who? Who did
he do this for? Sinners. sinners, people who
rebel against God's commands, people who try to cover their
own nakedness with their own hands, people who try to hide
from God and do not seek God, and yet he seeks them out. And
he gives them this message, Jesus Christ came into the world to
save sinners. That's glorious if you're a sinner.
So this is what occurred in the garden. Remember, death occurred.
Spiritual death occurred. This spiritual death manifest
itself in our conduct. But even before God drove them
out, God sought Adam before Adam ever sought him. God declared
the remedy, and the remedy is the Messiah, Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. But not only that, we also see
this in Genesis chapter three, God, as a type, As a symbol,
as a picture, he clothed Adam. Look at verse 21 of Genesis chapter
three. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. You see it? God clothing them. And how could he make coats of
skin? Of course he could just create
them, but it doesn't say he created them, he made them. An animal
was slaughtered. A substitute was slaughtered.
This is picture, this is type, this is symbol. A substitute
was slaughtered and God clothed them in skins which included
the shedding of blood. Before Adam ever sought God,
remember this is what happened in the garden, God sought him.
And God declared the remedy, the cure, the answer to sin.
And also God as a type, as a symbol, he clothed Adam. But here's the
fourth point. God did this in Christ. Now this is my last. I'll close
up with this. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
wrote to the church at Colossae. Some amazing words. And he wrote
these words to the church at Colossae. Colossians chapter
one and verse 20. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, this is talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, and having made peace through the blood of his cross
by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you, look at it,
and you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he, that is Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
reconciled. How did he do it? In the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight if you continue in the faith.
Have you ever begun in the faith? You see, Christ only reconciled
those who believe. Mark it down. Christ died for
and reconciled those who would believe. And those who believe,
they continue. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard and which was preached
to every creature, which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister. That's what occurred in the garden.
God promised the Messiah, and my friends, God sent the Messiah,
and he reconciled sinners, and those sinners believe on him
and continue to do so.