A Help Meet For Adam

Back to Genesis, the book of Genesis, number 2. Genesis chapter 2. I'm taking the title for the message from what is said in verse 18. Genesis 2 verse 18. And the Lord God said. The Lord God said. This is repeated over and over in this chapter. Eight or nine, ten times. The Lord God took the man, put him into the garden of Eden, and dressed it. The Lord God, verse 16, commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but that tree of knowledge, you good and evil, you shall not eat. Verse 18, and the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, the Lord God said, it's not good, it's not good that a man should be alone.

Now he has all infinite wisdom, Adam was his creation, and he said it's just not good for Adam to remain by himself. And then the solution is this, God said, I will, I will. Adam couldn't create Eve, could he? Adam was in the garden by himself with the animals that God created. God said, I'll make, I'll build a helpmate, a helpmate. God said, I will do this.

So I'm taking a title from that verse 18, and the title I am using, and really it's the subject of the message, a help meet for Adam. A help meet for Adam. Now some have said that this could be translated as the margin has on verse 18, help before him, help before him. Others have said that it could be translated a help near him. Others have said a help like him, like him.

Now, so we see in these verses that God built in a woman, as it says in verse 22, God built in a woman, made a woman out of the side of Adam and presented her to him. We see the first marriage was arranged by God's eternal purpose, by God's eternal decree, the creed from eternity, God made both male and female. You remember, look back at chapter one, verse 26, and God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, let him have dominion, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he them male and female. God not only created Adam, he also created Eve. So this is the will and purpose of God according to his decree. He's always purposed to do this for Adam.

And this too is another gospel picture of Christ and his church as we read there in Ephesians chapter 5. The church is called, in the Revelation, called the Bride, the Lamb's Wife. Purchased with His blood that flowed from His side, just as God took a rib out of Adam, God made the church through the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He was wounded for us, bruised for us. Adam had that rib taken out of his side, and that's a picture of Christ crucified, and out of his crucified side comes the blood-washed bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 21, the angel said, come hither, come hither, John, I'll show thee the bride, the lamb's wife, washed and made clean through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 5, we read a moment ago, God says marriage is a picture of Christ and His church. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and His church, for we are members of His body, of His flesh, of His bones. For this cause shall men leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one, one flesh. And then he says, this is a great mystery, but I'm speaking about Christ and his church. They are one, they are one.

Now verse 18, it was always God's purpose, the Lord God said, When did he say this? Well, God's decrees are eternal. He eternally has said this. God's eternal is always God's, the Lord God's eternal purpose and decree to provide a help meet for Adam, for Adam to love, to touch, to enjoy, and to have fellowship with.

God created everything for his glory and the good of his covenant people. Chapter 1 closes with, God saw, verse 31, Genesis 1, God saw everything that he made and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Everything God made, he said it was very good, including Adam, including Eve, both made in the image of God. Verse 27 in chapter 1, so God created man in his own image, in his own likeness, Image of God created he him, male and female, created he them. Again, we learn the lesson about the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, Jehovah Jireh, he will provide as he provided for Adam, the Lord will provide for us. That's one of his names, that's part of his character. It's a picture of substitution, isn't it?

In Genesis chapter 22, we're going to see where God told Abraham to take his son Isaac up on a mountain and sacrifice him unto the Lord. Well, they started that way and Isaac being taught of God through Abraham, his father, he knew you couldn't approach God without a lamb. He said, where is the lamb? Dad, dad, where's the lamb? Remember what Abraham said?

God will provide himself as the Lamb. He did. He provided himself as the Lamb. Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away our sin. You remember when Abraham started to slay his son? God provided a substitute, a ram caught in the thicket. Again, we're going to see that's a good picture of the Gospel of Christ. Substitution.

The Lord God provided the first Adam a wife, For his pleasure, God provided the second Adam, a wife to enjoy for eternity, his church, his bride, his elect. God will supply our need according to his riches in Christ Jesus. Believers are married to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 54, the Lord Jesus Christ is called our husband, our head, and truly he is. I'm glad that's so. Now think about this. Think about this. Eve was always in Adam. Eve was always in Adam. Wasn't he? Wasn't she? When God formed man out of the dust, Adam had them ribs. Eve was always in Adam, in his rib, in his side.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always been in him. You see, we're chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. According as He blessed us, according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children to the praise of the glory of His grace. According as He chose us in Him, Christ is the elect, we're chosen in Him. The first time that word elect is used in Scripture, Isaiah 42 verse 1, God said, Behold my servant, my elect, and whom my soul delights. And I love what he says about him, but especially in verse 4, he cannot fail. He cannot fail, and failure is not a possibility. He cannot fail, cannot fail.

But I thought about this song and the reason that we sang that one song of Isaac Watts. When I was thinking on this point of the elect and those chosen in Christ, this song came to my mind that Brother Henry used to quote quite often. It's a song written by Isaac Watts. And I looked it up and I found there's four or five verses, but one of the verses goes this way.

Christ be my first elect, he said, then chose us in Christ our head before he gave the mountains birth or laid the foundations of the earth. Thus did eternal love begin to raise up from death and sin. Our characters were then decreed, blameless in love, a holy seed. Isaac Watts said that so, so many years ago, 1700 to be a minister there in England. Just as God builded and made Eve and presented her to Adam without spot, blameless, having never sinned, That is how the Scripture describes us right now in Christ Jesus. You get a hold of that now. When we're dragged down by our guilt and our sin, we are still sinners.

But before God, the believer has no sin. Matter of fact, He presents us, you remember our study? In the book of Jude, He's able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless, without blame, before Him in love, before His presence with exceeding joy, to the eternal glory of God Almighty. And then the Apostle Paul writes to the believers there in Colossae, He said that in the Lord Jesus Christ was all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Him we stand complete, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. The way God sees things is the way they really are. The believer resting in Christ, being one with Him, has no sin. He's as righteous as God Himself. Eve was always in Adam, and believers have always been considered as they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Verse 19 and 20, God gave Adam sovereign dominion over the garden. Sovereign dominion over the garden. In chapter one, verse 28, and God blessed them and said unto them, be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, have dominion. over the fish of the sea, over the fowl there, over every living thing that moves upon the earth. Adam, you're in charge. You have dominion. You have all authority. You have all power. I've given it to you. What does that sound like to you? Isn't that a picture of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ?

We read about all the living creatures were formed or created from the ground, verse 19 of chapter 2. And 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.

Now you think of all the different living creatures there are. God brought all them before Adam, and he said, okay, that's a cow, that's going to be a chicken, that's going to be a pig, that's going to be an owl, that's going to be an eagle, that's going to be a hawk, whatever he named them, God said that's what it is.

He must have been a brilliant man. He must have been a genius man. God brought the whole animal kingdom before Adam to see what he would call them, and whatsoever name Adam gave them, that was it. Adam, being made in the image of God, had a brilliant mind, a superior mind, vast and far-reaching knowledge. God gave him dominion over every creature in the garden. Adam ruled them with authority, wisdom, power.

He was the owner of the garden. God said, you're in charge. It's yours. It's yours. This too is a gospel picture of a second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator of the covenant. The second Adam is called the Lord Jesus Christ who has all wisdom, all power to execute God's will and to work perfectly everything that God gave him to do.

He said, I finished the work you gave me to do. When he was manifested in the flesh, he plainly demonstrated he had all dominion and power, didn't he? Even the wind and the seas obeyed him. He cast out demon spirits. They said, we know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. He raised the dead. Lazarus come forth. He gave sight to the blind. He did all these mighty things. Why? How? He had dominion. He had power over all flesh.

Daniel writes about it in Daniel 7 verse 14. And there was given him dominion, a prophecy concerning Christ, and glory, and a kingdom that all people and nations and languages should serve him. Serve him, he's the Lord of lords. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. He has all power and all dominion.

We read in John chapter 3, verse 35, the father loveth the son, hath given all things into his hand. Remember how we close our study in the book of Matthew, Matthew 28. Our Lord, Risen Lord, he says his last words to his apostles before he ascends to glory. He said, all power, all authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and preach the gospel to every creature. And then he prayed before he went to the cross. In John 17 he prayed as a mediator. He said, Father, glorify Thyself with the glory which I had received before the world, for Thou hast given me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given to me.

He has all dominion. and all power. He's in charge. He's in charge. He has all power. He's always been in charge. He's always been the sovereign king of kings and Lord of lords. But it says there in verse 20, 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 a help meet for him. He had no one to enjoy and fellowship with. As the first Adam was not complete without the woman, so too the Lord Jesus Christ must have a bride to enjoy forever, a helpmeet that is one like himself.

That's what predestination is all about. God determined the predestinated people to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read this to you. This is familiar with all of you. It says in Romans 8, 29 and 30, for whom He did predestinate, for whom he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, he also glorified.

Now, what shall we say to these things? Well, if God be for us, who can be against us? God is determined to populate heaven with a people just like his son, Jesus Christ. we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 21, Genesis 2, and the Lord God, it keeps saying that over and over in this chapter, the Lord God. He said, I'm God beside me, there is no other. And the Lord God caused He's the first cause.

The last cause, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. Now this wasn't a natural sleep. This was a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept. And God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, builded he a woman and brought her unto the man." Now, this is another picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord our God built and fashioned a woman in a most unusual way out of the rib of Adam. What an amazing creation. God took a bone out of Adam's side, and he made the woman. God put Adam in a deep sleep.

He put him in a coma. Now, I've been operated on several times, and you know what I tell the doctors to do? I said, put me out. I don't want to know anything. You just put me out. I'm so thankful for that, aren't you? They put you out, and you don't know a thing till you wake up.

God put Adam in a deep, deep sleep, and he operated on him. And somehow he whittled out of that side a rib, and he made a woman from that rib. God put Adam in this coma, operated on him, and then closed up his flesh. Adam was a real man. You cut into a side, he's going to bleed. But God took care of all that, didn't he? Now, I thought about this. Did he have a scar? Did Adam have a scar? Now some of the old writers that I read after John Gill and others, they say he did not have a scar. But I tend to think that he did have a scar on his side.

And I'll tell you why. Adam being a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, When the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ showed up before his apostles, you remember at first Thomas wasn't there. And Thomas said, you fellas said he's risen from the dead. I won't believe until I see him myself. I put my fingers right there in that scar and I put my hand right there in that side. I won't believe. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ showed up one day and Thomas was there. And the Lord said, okay, Thomas, look right there. Look right here at my side. Put your hand right there at my side.

I think he had scars, don't you? Thomas said, oh my Lord and my God. He bowed to his Lordship, my Lord and my God. There'll be scars up in heaven, scars, his battle wounds, the wounds that he, who was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquities. But notice, and I got this from Matthew Henry, and I'll give him credit for this.

Notice, it was from his side, it was from his side, near to his heart, not from his head to be ruled over, not from his foot to be trampled upon, but from his side. to be loved, to be cherished, close to his heart, to be protected. I thought that was good. This, too, is a picture.

Can't you see the picture here? Christ crucified. He died for our sin, according to the scripture. This, too, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified. He was put into a deep sleep. Oh, he died for our sin. He died for us because he was guilty of our sin. But out of his side comes a church washed in his blood. Remember, they pierced his side. What came out? Blood and water. Blood and water. Remember those old Jews said, the Lord said, it is finished. He bowed his head and gave up the ghost. And those old Jews didn't know and they said, so we don't defile this Passover, let's make sure that they're dead before the Passover starts.

So they took a mallet and they started breaking the legs of those thieves. So they would die quickly. They couldn't push themselves up and they would suffocate quickly. They broke their bones in their legs and they suffocated and died. But when they came to the Lord Jesus, remember, He had already died. Remember what happened next?

That soldier took that spear and thrust it in His side. Why did He do that? Because it was written in the Scripture, They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, Out of his, you can go back and read it in John 19, by of his side. came water and blood, water and blood.

Christ bought us with His own blood. He washed us from our sin in His own blood. What can take away my sin? Nothing, nothing but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of His death, we have atonement for our sin. We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. He reconciled us. Our sin separated us from God. We read in Isaiah, But then Paul writes about God was in Christ reconciling us unto Himself. We're reconciled. What does that mean? We're no longer separated. We're reconciled. We're joined together with the Lord Jesus Christ out of His death, out of His atonement. Look at verse 22. Genesis 2, 22. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, He built it a woman and brought her unto the man. Notice here, it's all the work of God's creation. In the beginning, God created heaven and the earth.

So too was the creation of the woman. Eve had absolutely nothing, Adam had absolutely nothing to do with his making. Eve had absolutely nothing to do with her making. God purposed and made her exactly what he designed her to be, a helpmate. She was the most beautiful woman that was ever created or built upon the earth. Just think, can you imagine how this perfect couple, Adam made in the image of God, Eve made in the image of God, no sin, no shame, no guilt in paradise. Oh, I tell you, what a marriage, what a marriage. This was truly a marriage made in heaven, wasn't it? The creation of the church, and Eve was a picture of the church, the creation of the church was all the work of God alone, just as Adam and Eve had no part in this. The church has no part in its making. We didn't make ourselves.

We were created in Christ Jesus on two good works. Remember what the Lord said to Peter in Matthew 16? When he asked Peter, whom do men say that I am? Well, they say maybe you're one of the prophets or maybe John the Baptist come back from the dead. But Peter, whom do you say I am? The heart of Christ, Son of the living God. Oh, Peter, you're a blessed man. You're a blessed man. And then he said, I will build my church upon that rock, upon that foundation of Christ the Lord. I'll build my church. Who builds it? Who purposed it? I built my church.

And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You see, it's all... You can talk about free will all you want to. Man is not free. He's dead. As I said Wednesday night, they talk about man being a free moral agent. He's not free. He's in bondage to his sin. He's not an agent because he's dead in sin.

But this is all the work of God. God Almighty built the woman and brought her to Adam and presented, think about this, He made Eve and brought her to Adam and He presented her unto Adam. No sin, no spot, no stain, blemish, no blemishes. The Father gave the Son a special bride chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and presented faultless before God. This is all the work of God, is it not? And the Lord building His Church, His Kingdom. It's the work of God to bring the bride of Christ unto Himself.

No man can come unto Me except the Father which sent Me. Draw him. And we are presented to the Father. How are we presented to Him? Don't turn, let me just read it to you. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, gave himself for it, Ephesians 5, 25, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, not even a wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, And without blemish. That's how God sees his people in his son. And he brings us unto the Father. Christ suffered once for our sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. And what does Adam do? Adam receives her, doesn't he?

Verse 23. Adam said, now, he said, this is bone of my bone. This is part of me. This is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman, Isha, because she was taken out of the man. Adam receives her and says, this is my body, my bone, my flesh. Adam owned her. He says, she's all mine, all mine. She's called Isha, that is made from man and joined to man. They too shall be one flesh. One flesh. This too, again, is a picture of the oneness we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. What's true of the head is true of the body.

We are one with Christ, married to Christ in that eternal covenant of grace. Eve, and I thought about this, Eve was born of Adam, wasn't she? Came out of his side. Believers are born of God with an incorruptible seed, the Word of God. We're born from above, born of God, perfect and one with Him.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is chosen in Him, purchased by His blood. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ, His bride, is nourished by Him. He's the bread of life. Protected by Him, we're kept by His power. We're loved by Him. He loved us with an everlasting love. Here it is love, not that we love God. He loved us. We are made one with Him. One with Him. I in them, thou in me, that we may be made perfect in one.

He prayed that in John 17. Over and over he prayed for his elect. He said, I pray not for the world, I pray for those the Father hath given to me, made one in Christ. Now think about this. John writes this in 1 John chapter 4, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. How is the Lord Jesus Christ?

He's seated at the right hand of God, a place of love, a place of honor. And we are seated in Him because we're one with Him. When He came and lived as a perfect man, that's our righteousness before God. When He died for our sin under the judgment of God, that was the payment in full for our sin against God. When He ascended to glory, we ascended in Him. And we're seated in Him right now.

And Adam said, this is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman. She was taken out of me, out of me. Verse 24, therefore, therefore shall man leave his father and mother. He's talking about marriage now, and Adam and Eve's a perfect picture of a perfect marriage. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother, shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. In the marriage relationship, the man leaves his native home, his parents, and cleave unto his wife, and they become one. Paul writes about it. Marriage is honorable, and a marriage bed ordained and undefiled before God. Again, this is another picture of Christ in the church.

He left his father's house. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and He identified with His covenant people. He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham, made one with them. In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of womb and made under the law. He left His Father's house to take up His bride.

Now we're one together with Him. We cleave to Him. Cleave. We have a death grip by faith. upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In that covenant relationship, nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We cleaved to Him, and He cleaved to us. Stuck on Him. He stuck on us. Verse 25 and closing, and they were both naked. The man and his wife.

They were not ashamed. They were not ashamed. Adam and Eve were completely with no clothes, naked, naked before God, naked before God, but they had no shame, no guilty conscience, no sin nature, no wicked thoughts, no wicked actions, clothed with what God provided them. Now we're going to see a total flip on this in chapter 3, because Adam and Eve start blaming one another for their fault and their guilt. when they found out they were naked before God and were ashamed. But that's after sin entered into the picture. Adam and Eve were both completely naked, had no shame, no guilty conscience, no sin nature, clothed with what God provided them.

A picture of our perfect righteous standing before God. In the Lord Jesus Christ we have no guilt. We have no shame in Christ Jesus. We have in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Isaiah 61, it says, we're robed with a robe of righteousness and clothed with a garment of salvation. Abraham believed God and was counted to him for righteousness. Blessed is the man whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works.

He's not ashamed. We read this in Hebrews chapter 2 so many times. It says there, He's not ashamed to call us brethren. He's not ashamed of us. He's not ashamed of His bride. He chose her. He bought her. He made her everything that she is. We read in Hebrews 2, For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all one.

For the rich cause, He's not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed of us. And we're not ashamed of Him. Ashamed of Jesus? Can it be? A mortal man is ashamed of Thee? Ashamed of Thee, who angels praise, whose glory lasts through endless days? We're not ashamed to own Him. Remember what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1, verse 16, where he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Jew or Gentile, therein is a righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, from Christ to Christ. Faith comes from Christ, faith looks back to Christ. And then in closing, let me give you this. You remember 2 Timothy 1 verse 12? Paul said, I'm not ashamed. Verse 2, he said, I'm appointed a preacher, an apostle, a teacher of the Gentile, for the which cause I suffer these things. Paul's in prison. Paul's in prison.

Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I believe, and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Against that day. Now, I got a phone call from a prisoner on Friday. Now, I'll tell you this story in closing. It's an interesting story. I got a phone call from a prisoner in a prison, a state penitentiary up in West Virginia. His name's Paul. His name's Paul. And he has come to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he often tells, he was telling me this when he called me. It was an unusual phone call.

But he said, I tell these new prisoners who come in, and they're so discouraged because, you know, we're given 10, 15, 20 years in prison. That's just not much fun. But he reminds them, he said, you know, the Apostle Paul was in prison too. He was in prison too. And that's when Paul writes this. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Now, let me tell you this story. This is how the Lord works in His good providence with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Back in the 80s, this is 1980, when Brother Henry was on the TV station out of Huntington and Charleston, reached a hundred mile radius. A lot of people listened to that TV program and we're rebroadcasting those locally here on the station locally. But a number of years ago, this is seven, eight years ago, a man contacted me from the Mount Olive Correctional Institute way up in northern West Virginia.

And he contacted me. He said, I listened to Pastor Mahan before he was incarcerated. He said, now I'm in prison. Didn't tell me how long. But he said, I'd sure love to hear some preaching by Brother Mahan again. I said, well, I've got CDs. I'll send you CDs. He said, well, we can't get CDs up here. He said, do you have anything in print? I said, yeah, I do.

So all those TV sermons that Bridget printed out, typed out, and I started sending him sermons, TV sermons. Well, he wrote me back and thanked me so much. He's even sent money to this ministry to support it. But you know what he did with those sermons? He started passing those sermons out to other prisoners. And this thing started to grow.

So then I got a letter from a man by the name of Royce. And he said, I'd like to have some of those sermons. And I started sending those sermons to Royce. And then I got another letter from a prisoner called Kenneth. And Kenneth said, can I get some of those sermons too? And they started passing them around the prison. And there was a revival going on in that prison from that ministry. So there's Dennis, there's Royce, there's Kenneth. And Paul Bouchy, his name's Paul Bouchy. But see how the Lord uses the Gospel to bless His people? This ministry right here started from his TV ministry those many years ago, back in the 1978, 1979, 1980.

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A Help Meet For Adam

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