I want to read this chapter.
I want to bypass verses 10 through verse 14. And I also want you
to look at Romans chapter 5. If you'll take your Bibles this
morning and keep them handy, you're going to need them. And
hold Genesis chapter 2 and turn over to Romans chapter 5. Hold
those two places. When I finish reading Genesis
chapter 2, I want to read a verse in Genesis chapter 5. I want
us to look this morning in chapter 2 of Genesis, and I want us to
see Christ here. Christ in Genesis 2. Genesis chapter 2 and Romans
chapter 5. Let's begin in verse 7. Genesis
2. And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted
a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he
had farmed. And out of the ground made the
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and
good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now skip down
to verse 15. 15 And the Lord God took the man,
and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep
it. 16 And the Lord God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat, But on 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. And the Lord God said, It is
not good that the man should be alone. I will make him that
help fit meat 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 thou. And Adam gave names to all cattle,
and to the fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field.
But for Adam there was not found a help fit for him. And 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.
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. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and 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 look with me over
in Romans chapter 5, and look here in verse 14 of Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5, verse 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not seen at the similitude
of Adam's transgression. Now look at this. Who is a figure
of him that was to come? The reason I want to see Christ
in Genesis 2 today, because when God made Adam, when God made
the man Adam, formed him of the dust of the earth, breathed into
his muscles the breath of life, and made that man, that wonderful
man, he had another man in mind. And that was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now you and I know what a figure is, don't we? Adam was a figure. He was a type. He was a shape. He was a picture of him that
was to come. And it's so easy to see most
of it. You know, when God formed Adam
of the dust of the ground, he was earthly. When God breathed
into his nostrils, he was heavenly. He was earthly and he was heavenly.
Ain't that a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ? He
was earthly. He was born of a woman. He was
the Son of Man. But Glenn told us this morning
in our Bible class, He wasn't just earthly. He was heavenly. He came down from heaven. He's
the eternal Son of God. He's both man and He's God. Man and the Son of God. And Adam
here, we're told, is a figure of Him. When God made Adam, He
had His Son of Man. Now, as you look at this in the
fifth chapter of the book of Romans, they were alike in this
sense. Adam and Christ was alike because
both of them stood as the head, as the representative of their
race. Whatever Adam did, all his posterity,
all his children did. Whatever the Lord Jesus Christ
did, all of those that belonged to him did. Look here, for instance,
in verse 18 of Romans 5. Here's the way they're like.
Look at this. In verse 18, he said this, Therefore, as by the
offense of one, that's Adam. Adam offended God. They're in
the garden. But what happened? Judgment came. Upon who? All men. Not just Adam,
but it came upon all men who were in Adam, who he represented.
See? To condemnation. We'll read on. Even so, here's the way Christ
and Adam are alike. Christ is a representative too.
Even so, by the righteousness of one, who's that? Jesus Christ. The free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life. Look in verse 19. For by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners. See how Adam represented
us? When Adam sinned, we sinned. When Adam disobeyed, we became
sinners because we sinned with him. He was our representative.
But read on. So, by the obedience of Jesus
Christ, this God of man, shall many be made righteous. See how Adam and Christ are alike. They're both representatives.
If you're Adam, you're going to die. If you're in Christ,
you're going to live. That's what the scripture says,
isn't it? Because Adam is our representative, we died in him,
the Lord Jesus Christ came to represent us, and in him we live. That's right. And we can go through
so many places in the scriptures and find that, but we want to
see in Genesis 2. Turn back over there with me. Turn back over there with me
now. Genesis chapter 2. And let's see this. Let's see
in Genesis chapter 2. When the Lord created Adam, and
dealt with him, and Adam was put here in the garden, and ruled
over all these animals, and took to himself a wife, let's see
Christ in that. Let's see the Lord Jesus Christ
in that. And first of all, look in Genesis chapter 2. Look here in verse 15. In verse 15. First of all, here's
what we see in verse 15, that when God made Adam and He put
him down in the garden, He didn't make him to be idle. He didn't
make him to sit down and have it easy. He gave him work to
do. Look at that. And the Lord God
took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it
and to keep it. Now, why was that necessary?
Well, the garden would have grown up. Even though there was no
briars and thorns, it would have grown up. Somebody had to be
there to dig. Somebody had to be there to dress
the garden, to keep the garden, to protect the garden from the
animals that would come in. That's what the man was there
to do. And look here in the last portion of verse 5. When the
Lord had made all of the gardens and the animals and the plants
were growing, we're told there in the last portion of verse
5, look at this, there was not a man to till the garden. See that? It seemed like there
was a need, there was an absolute need for somebody, a man to be
in that garden to till it. So the Lord put Adam in there.
You can almost see him. Boy, it was work that was not
like it's work now. You know, we work now. And boy,
I tell you what, we get tired, we ache, we get blisters on our
hands. It wasn't like that then. Adam
loved his work. And he'd dig about those plants
and beautify them and maybe build
a fence around his garden. Dressed it. and planted in it. He tucked it in the garden and
kept it and tilled it. That's what the Lord put it back
for. Now I see the Lord Jesus Christ in this don't you? Aren't
you glad, aren't you glad that there's a man to till the garden
now? I'm talking about your heart.
The Lord Jesus Christ has a garden. God put Adam in this garden,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, the man, has a garden. Now you take
your Bibles, you put your Mark or something in Genesis 2, and
turn over to the Songs of Solomon. Over to the Songs of Solomon.
You go to Psalms, and you turn to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes,
and then you'll come to the Songs of Solomon. And here's where
you see the Lord Jesus Christ, the man, He has a garden. Look
here what it says about his garden. In Psalms of Solomon, look here
in chapter 4, in verse 16. He first says up here in verse
12, look at this. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse. A spring shut up, a fountain
sealed. Now there it tells us two things.
It tells us one, that this garden is the bride of Jesus Christ
that here he calls his sister and his spouse. Now that's not
allowed in our day. We don't do that. That's contrary
to nature. But Christ's sister is his wife, his spouse. And
what does he call her? A garden. A garden. And something
else we find out about his garden, he says she's enclosed. He has
a hedge about it. He's protected her garden. Brother
Paul Mahan said something to the effect of the night. He's
talking about the Lord's church being a kept church. The Lord's
people being a protected people. And he said, if you don't believe
that, you go ask the devil. If you don't believe the Lord
protects his people and keeps his people, go ask the devil.
He knows better. When he went up before God and
the Lord asked him, have you considered my servant Job? What
did the devil say? You've got a hedge about him.
I can't get into it. You've hedged him in. You've
enclosed him in. I can't get through the hedge.
Is that what he said? Well, that's what the Lord said
about his coming. He's Christ's guardian. And he's
enclosed. And it's his wife, his bride,
his church. And look what he says in verse
16. Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south, blow upon my
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out, that my beloved
may come into his garden, his garden, and eat his pleasant
fruits. You know, that's what my prayer
is this morning. O Spirit of God, come and breathe upon us.
Let Christ dwell among us today. Let Christ be in our midst today.
In the midst of his garden. This is his garden. Look what
he says in chapter 5 in verse 1. Here's what he said. No sooner,
no sooner had the church said, O come, wind, and breathe upon
us, that my beloved may come and dwell among us. Now look
what it said in verse 1 of chapter 5. I am come and to my God. My sister, my spouse, I have
gathered my myrrh with my spouse, I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk, all friends drank. Yea, drank abundantly, O beloved. His garden. And look what it
says over here in chapter 6. Look at this. Where is my Beloved
gone, O thou Fairest? Where is thy Beloved gone, O
thou Fairest among women? Where is thy Beloved turned aside,
that we may seek him with thee? My Beloved is gone down into
his garden, to the bed of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to
gather livers. I am my Beloved, and my Beloved
is mine. See the Lord Jesus Christ, He
has a garden. And the garden is his church.
It's his bride. It's his spouse. Our Lord Jesus
Christ. I'll tell you one of the names
I think I like about him that sometimes appeals to me just
about as much as any name that he gives himself. And he gave
himself this name. A gardener. A gardener. Remember in Luke chapter 13 where
he had the fig tree planted behind his vineyard in his garden? And
it brought forth no fruit. And they came and said, let's
cut this down. Do you remember what he said?
Don't you touch that. Don't you touch that. I'm going
to dig about it. Here's what he said. The gardener,
the dresser of the vineyard. That's what he said about himself.
The dresser of the vineyard. He said, you let it alone. I'll
dig about it. And I'll dung it. And then we'll
see if it will bring forth fruit. What's he saying? He's saying
that I'm the gardener. I'm the dresser of the venture.
Aren't you glad for that? He knows how to prepare the soil. He's a wise gardener. He knows
how to work the soil and turn it over, dust up those old clogs. You can't sow seed on the hard
ground and get it to grow. Somebody's got to turn it over,
bust up those whole hard clods, make it soft to receive the seed. Well, that's what the gardener
does. That's what the man, Christ Jesus, does. Listen to Proverbs
chapter 16 and verse 1. The preparations of the heart
in men is of the Lord. You know you never prayed a prayer
in your life that was accepted of heaven. Except you first put
it in your heart. You know that. He prepared your
heart to pray it. You never had a holy thought
until he put it down. You never done a good deed until
he first put it in your heart. The preparations in the heart
of the heart is of the Lord. And there was a time in your
life and there was a time in my life I had no conscious need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says that light
is coming to the world and we love darkness rather than light.
So somebody prepared our hearts to need the Lord. Who was it? He did. He did. We had no conscious
need of having our sins forgiven. We loved our sins. We took pleasure
iniquity. Somebody had to prepare our hearts
to hate our sins. Who did that? He did that. He
did. The scripture says the Lord saves
such as be of a broken heart. Who is it that breaks the heart?
He does. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart and a contract spirit. Who prepares a man to desire
for mercy? I mean, you know, you look at
the world, Brother Glenn was talking about this morning, look
at the world. You see people out there crying for mercy? Most people not crying for mercy,
they don't realize they're in need of mercy. And the problem
is the ground of their hearts. It needs to be plowed up and
tilled. Who does that? There's a man. Oh, thank God there's a man that's
been put in the garden to till it and to dress it. The Lord
Jesus Christ does that. That's His work. That's His work.
God sent Him to do that. A heart that can live without
Christ, live without needing Him, Live without any desire
after holiness and salvation is a heart where the Lord Jesus
Christ is not working. Where He's working, He's tilling
up the ground. He's busting the clouds. Look
over here in Psalms chapter 10 and verse 17. Look at this. Psalms chapter 10 and verse 17. Jesus Christ is the husband. killer of the ground. He prepares
the heart. Look what he said in John chapter
10 verse 17. Look here what he says, Lord
thou hast heard the desire of the humble. Now who is a humble
man? That is a man where the Lord has been working in his
heart. The Lord's broken his heart. He's made a humble man
out of it. But look here now. Thou will
prepare their heart. Thou will cause thine ear to
hear. What's he saying? The Lord's
going to prepare that heart to pray. Ain't that what he's saying?
What's he going to pray? I'll tell you what he's going
to pray. God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's the prayer
that Jesus puts in the heart himself. And then he hears that
prayer. David said, Lord my soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? My soul longeth, he said, and
even fainteth for the corpse of my God. My heart and my flesh
cry for the living God." What's going on in this man's heart?
The dresser of the vineyard is doing a work there. That's it.
That's it. Boy, if you've got to cry your
heart this morning for the living God, if you need the Lord Jesus
Christ, If you've got a heart to receive Him and own Him and
trust Him, I tell you, He's begun to work in your heart. The gardener
has been there and breaking up that old fallow ground, that
old hard heart to receive Himself. Adam was put here in the garden
to till it, and he said he was put there to dress it. Is that
what he said? To dress the garden. I imagine
he was put there too. Plant some beautiful flowers.
Down home, I remember they used to plant their gardens and they
just didn't plant vegetables in their garden. They'd plant
those big sunflowers, you know, that came up. Beautiful sunflowers. And they'd have a rose bush on
one side of the garden. They dressed their garden. Beautified
it. Adorned it. And that's what the
Lord does with His church. That's what Jesus Christ does
with His children. He dresses it. He went by that infant. Remember that little infant in
Ezekiel 16 that the Lord said was born and nobody loved it. And when it came out of his mother's
womb, they didn't even cut the cord, the navel cord. It lay
there in its blood and finally they just cast it out into the
field. His mother didn't love it. Nobody cared about it. And
the Lord passed by. And He said, that's the way you
were when I passed by you. You were polluted in your blood.
And I saw you laid there defenseless and helpless and perishing in
your blood. And the first thing I did, I
said to you, this is the time of love. I've loved you. You don't even know it. You're
just an infant, ready to die. But I've loved you. And He said,
I washed you. I washed you. And remember the
very next thing He said He did? I spread my skirts over you.
And I covered your nakedness. My skirts covered your nakedness. Ain't that wonderful? That's
what the Father put Him here to do. to dress the garden, to
cover the shame of our nakedness. The old prophet said it like
this. He said, Lord, you've clothed me with the garments of salvation. You've put your robe of righteousness
upon me. Now, ain't that wonderful? Aren't
you glad there's a man to till the garden and to dress the garden? I tell you, if it wasn't for
the Lord Jesus Christ, if it wasn't for Him, None of us would
ever come. None of us would ever be saved.
None of us would ever repent. None of us would ever believe.
If He didn't come to us and prepare our heart. And I tell you we'd
stand in our shame and nakedness if He didn't dress us with Him. He's a figure of Adam. He's a
figure of Adam. And when Jesus Christ dresses
us We're perfectly justified before God. That's what that
righteousness means. A righteousness that justifies
us perfectly before God. Who shall lay any claim to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is He that condemns? It's Christ the God. It's Christ
the God. There's our righteousness. It's
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And lastly, to touch on this
just a minute about our gardener, it said here that he put in there
to keep it. To keep it. Look here in Isaiah
27 for just a minute. We looked at this just the other
night in a message, but look back over here again in Isaiah
chapter 27. I don't know in this day that
Adam lived, I don't know what all he He was to protect the
garden from them. Maybe the beast, I guess, getting
into it and trampling it down. I don't know. Maybe that old
serpent. I don't know what he's going
to protect it from, but he put him there to protect the garden.
And to keep it. Keep it. And I know brothers
and sisters that this day, that you and I are gardeners. Are gardeners. The man Christ Jesus has a lot
to keep us from. If he don't keep us, you and
me, we're in big trouble. Father, I don't pray that you
take them out of the world. Keep them from the evil. Keep them from an evil heart
of unbelief. If you don't, they'll leave.
They'll leave. Keep them from Satan and keep
him from them. Keep them walking in the paths
of righteousness. Keep them following the Lamb,
wheresoever He goes. Don't let them leave Me. Keep
them. Keep them. Don't you feel a need to be kept?
Don't you know if the Lord Jesus Christ leaves you alone for one
moment, you're going to leave Him? Don't that scare you? He
said, I'll put my fear in your heart and you'll never depart
from Me. Oh, He has to keep us every minute, don't He? Look
here what He said about that in chapter 27 of Isaiah, and
look here in verse 1. Isaiah 27 verse 1, In that day
the Lord, with his sore and great and strong sword, shall punish
Leviathan, that piercing serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked
serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. I
tell you, that old dragon, that old serpent, give us a lot of
trouble now. He's firing darts into our minds, confusing us,
making us doubt. In that day, saying unto her,
saying unto his church, A vineyard of red wine, the Lord's vineyard. I, the Lord, do keep it. I will
water it every moment. Lest any hurt it, I will keep
it night and day. That's His garden. That's His
garden. And He's going to keep it. And
to get to her, to do her any eternal harm, you've got to go
through Him. He's the keeper. You're kept
by the power of God. Kept. Kept. I will keep it. Night and day. Look back over
here again, Genesis 2. Look at the second thing. First
of all, Adam was put here in the garden to till it, to dress
it, to keep it. And there's a beautiful figure
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He keeps His garden. He kills
it. He prunes it. He dresses it.
He keeps it. And look here at another thing
concerning Adam being a figure of Christ that was to come. Look
here in verse 19 of chapter 2. And out of the ground The Lord
formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and
brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them. Whatsoever
Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And look over here in chapter
1, in verse 28, look at this. And the Lord God And God blessed
the man, he blessed the woman, and said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. When God
made all these beasts, the fowls of the air, and the creeping
things upon the earth, and the beast, and the whale, He gave
Adam dominion over all these things. Put them all under your
feet. That's what he said. Subdue them.
That means put them under your feet. You rule over them. He
really made Adam the sovereign, didn't he? Over his other creatures.
All the things that fly in heaven, all the things upon this earth
and everything that's under the earth and the sea. You reign
over it. You subdue it and rule it. And then as he made these
things, the scripture says here that he brought them to Adam
And Adam looked at it and said, well, that's a pig. Okay, that's
his name. Still has that name, doesn't
it? Rooting around in the dirt. Adam saw him rooting around.
Adam said, well, that's a pig. Seen a big ol' animal. Big hooves
and a long snout. What's that, Adam? Wasn't aware
of it. That's an elephant. Still has that name, doesn't
it? Seen a little four-legged animal come, yap, yap, yap, yap,
yap. Where you going? That's a dog. Still has that
name, doesn't it? God never changed the name after
Adam called him that. That's a great honor to stood
upon Him with. Made Him sovereign over all the creatures that He
made to rule over and He said, whatever you call them, that's
the name of. Don't you see Christ in that?
He's there so plain in it. Look over here in Ephesians.
Let me show you that. Just read it to you. I love to
read it. Mark it. Mark this in your Bible. Look here. What a figure of Christ
that is. The father sent his son to this
world, born of a virgin, lived and died, and raised from the
dead. And the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, only Ephesians
1, just before he went back to heaven, he said to them, all
power is given to me in heaven and in earth. I rule everything. You know what he said? Everything
that flies in the air, everything that moves upon this earth, and
everything under the earth, I have authority over. I have power
over all flesh, and that's what He said. Look here now in Ephesians
chapter 1. Look at this. This is amazing
scripture here. It tells of the sovereignty of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul prayed to them in verse
18 that the eyes of the understanding might be enlightened. that ye
might know what is the hope of your calling, and what the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the
exceeding greatness of his power, the power of God, to us were
who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,
and set him at his own right hand in heaven, in heavenly places. Look at this now. Far above all
principalities, and power, and might, and dominion, and every
name that's named, not only in this world, but also in that
world which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet. and gave him to be head over
all things to his church. That's the man, Christ Jesus.
He rules in heaven and in this earth and even in hell. Everything,
men and devil and angels are under his authority. That's amazing,
isn't it? He's no little Jesus, is he?
No, he's no little Jesus. He has all authority in heaven
and in earth. The Father loves the Son, and
hath given all things into His hands. One of the most comforting
truths to me, especially in times of trouble, in times of danger. I remember back in, if you read
the Fox's Book of Martyrs, where they killed so many believers,
put them up on the racks and literally pulled them a piece,
boiled them in oil, threw them into beasts and let beasts eat
them. And one of the things that comforted those people while
they were suffering is to know that Christ was upon the throne
and no more could be done to them than what he permitted and
what he allowed. Now that's comforted, ain't it?
That's comforted. God has given us and all things
to His Son to rule over us, and to subdue us, and to save us,
and even bring all His enemies and put them right under His
feet. Now that's comforting to me, to know that our Savior is
such a sovereign Lord. And it says here, the adamant.
He gave names to all the creatures. And you know something? Christ
has named this world. He gives names. If you got a
name, He gave it to you. He calls some people sheep. Do
you know that? And He calls some people goats.
He says to His sheep, Carmen, sit on my right hand. And He
says to the goats, depart from me. And whatever He calls you,
that's what you are. And you can't change it. He says
to some people, they're vessels of mercy. He says to others,
they're vessels of wrath. He calls some people and says,
you're blessed of my father. You're blessed, that's who you
are. And he says to others, you're cursed. And you can't change
that, can you? Whatever name Jesus Christ gives
to us, that's what we are. And I tell you, he calls us all
sinners. He calls us all sinners. And when He calls you something,
you might well agree with it. Because that's what you are.
There's a woman came to him one day, crying for mercy. Lord have mercy, my daughter
needs your mercy. I need your mercy. And he wasn't
even paying attention to her. He stood there with his back
to her. And she cried louder, Lord have mercy upon me. And
the disciples said, Lord, she's bothering us, send her away.
And the Lord looked at her and said, woman, I'm just sent to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It's not right to take
the children's bread and feed it to dogs. What did you say? He called her a dog. Was that
what she was? She owned it, didn't she? Truth,
Lord. Whatever you name me, that's
what I am. You call me a sinner, that's
what I am. He looked upon Daniel one day
and he said, Daniel, you'll be alive to the Lord. He looked
upon Harry and he said, you're a fox. He gives us names, doesn't
he? God has given him that right.
And he's wise enough to name us well. And whatever name he
gives us, it'll stick. It'll stick. Thou worm, Jacob. Thou worm, Jacob. That's what
he calls him. But we're his worms, aren't we?
We're his dogs. And lastly and thirdly is this.
Here in Genesis chapter 3, Adam was a husband. He was a husband
man. He was a tiller of the ground.
He was a sovereign ruler over everything and named everything.
And He was also a husband. He had a wife. We read about
that here in verses 21 through verse 25. He's a beautiful picture,
a figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has a wife, doesn't
He? He has a bride. I have espoused you, Paul said,
to one husband. One husband. You belong to Christ. You're the bride of Christ. You're
the wife of Christ. And here in verse 18 of chapter
2, now look at this. This is so amazing. Verse 18. And you just consider this belonging
here to Christ, and this would be an amazing statement to you.
Look in verse 18. The Lord God said, it is not
good that the man should be alone. I will make him that health fit
for him. Ain't that an amazing statement? Here Adam was, and he was a perfect
man in perfect surroundings. Everything he needed was there.
A beautiful place, a comfortable place. And you know what the
Holy Spirit said to him? It's not good for him to be alone. He needs some company. He needs
some friendship. He needs a help fit for him.
He needs some communion. God did not make Adam to be alone. Now, ain't that amazing when
you think of the Lord Jesus Christ, the man? God don't need anybody. God's been full and happy and
joyful ever since He's been God, and that's been forever. If I
needed anything, he said, I wouldn't ask you. He don't need us, he
don't need anybody. But the man, Christ Jesus, the
Son of God incarnate, he has a need. You know what he needs? He needs a wife. He needs a bride. He needs a spouse. Now that's
amazing, ain't it? And I read, I read over there
to you, I didn't read it, didn't get that part, but hold on, just
let me read it to you. Let me read that last verse that
I read to you here in Philippians chapter 1. Listen to this. Listen
to this. When he said he put all things
under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and gave him head over
all things to the church. Listen to this. The church, which
is his body. The fullness of Him that filleth
all in all. Ain't that amazing? He refuses
to call Himself full and complete without His Church. You look
at Him without His Church, and you know what He said? I'm not
complete. I'm just not complete. I'm not full. That's amazing. That's amazing. Where did He
get His Church? Where did He get His Church?
Look here in verse 21 and verse 22. Here's where Adam got his wife,
and here's where Christ got his church. And 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. That's
where Adam got his wife. God put him to sleep and took
his wife out of his sight. That's where she came from. But you know Adam. Adam couldn't
have that wife while he was living. While he was awake, he couldn't
have a wife. To have a wife, he had to go
into this deep, deep sleep. And that's where God took his
wife from the side. Ain't that the same way with
the Lord Jesus Christ? I tell you, brothers and sisters,
we have life. Everything we have, we have from
the Lord Jesus Christ. But we don't have it from His
living, do we? Living, He loved us. Yes, He
did. And living, He's our example.
Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ. And I'll tell you
what we got our life from. His dying breath. I'll tell you
what redeemed us. His blood poured out of His body.
I'll tell you what reconciled us to God when we were enemies.
And that's His death that He died. Upon the cross, when they
put that spirit aside, and blood and water came out, that's where
you and I came from. That's what bought His church.
That's where she came from. His side. In whom we have redemption,
even the forgiveness of sin. Everything we have come out of
Him. Come out of Him. And look here on the last portion
of verse 22. Look at this. Not only did the wives, not only
were we redeemed by Christ, purchased with His blood, reconciled with
His death upon the cross, but it doesn't stop there. God made
this woman, but look what He did when He made this woman,
and brought her unto the man. God brought her unto the man.
He didn't leave that to chance. He didn't make this woman and
stand back and say, boy, I hope she searches enough until she
finds it. I hope they get together sometime or another. He didn't
say that, did He? You didn't see her wandering
around out there, not knowing where she was going, not knowing
who she was looking for. God brought her to Adam. And He does the same way with
His elect sinners. He brings them to Christ. Now
I tell you, I tell you, I'll be honest with you, and you know
this well as I do. If you've come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
boy, when He first, when the Spirit of God first visited you,
you were so confused, weren't you? You just got so confused and
dark in your understanding. You didn't know what was taking
place. All you knew was, boy, I'm lost. I'm probably going
to be damned. God ain't going to ever have
anything to do with me. And in your own eyes, you were
just wandering around. You were lost. Without God, without
hope. But one thing you couldn't see.
There was a secret power guiding you. And leading you. And where was He bringing you?
To Christ. Ain't that so? Those men on the
day of Pentecost when Peter preached that you killed the Lord in glory.
You fellas are in trouble. You guys are in trouble. You
were arrogant, you were full of pride, you took the Son of
God and you nailed Him to a tree. God's found you out. You fellas
are in trouble. God's exalted this one that you
killed and made Him Prince and a Savior and Lord over all. You
guys are in trouble. Boy, they threw up both hands
and said, what are we going to do? What are we going to do?
What were we going to do? What was taking place? The Lord
was bringing those men to His side. You see these fellas, they've
got it all figured out. They walk in an aisle and pop
in their bubble gum and say, I'm going to decide for Christ.
You know, it don't happen that way. It don't happen that way.
First thing you do is you get all confused about this. I have
no idea what's going on. Oh, I'm lost. I thought I knew
something. But I'm the most ignorant man in the world. I need a Savior
that can't even find me. I need forgiveness of sins and
I don't know where it's at. I'm next to Him. That's the first
thing that happens to me. But all the time, the Lord's
bringing you to Himself. Leading you to Himself. Just
like God brought this woman to Adam. And something else, look at this.
Verse 23. Look what Adam said to her when
he had received her. No sooner had he saw her, probably
put his arm around her and pulled her up to his side because that's
what she came out of, you know. I've often said that the Lord
didn't take a bone out of Adam's foot and make a woman. Husbands
not to walk on his wife. He didn't take a bone out of
the head of Adam. Woman's not to be the head, she's not to
rule. But where did that real comfort come out here again?
The side. That's where a man is to keep
his wife, right next to her side. And that's where she stood by,
as to gather the grace of life. When the Lord brought this woman
to Adam, He received her so graciously and lovingly. And here's what
He said in verse 23. Look at this. And Adam said,
This is now born of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall
be called woman because she was taken out of man. Adam confessed something here,
and I wish you and I could believe it. I wish you and I would get
more acquainted with this and believe this. What's Adam saying
about this woman? He says, she's one with me. Ain't
that what he's saying? That's exactly what he's saying.
She's my flesh. She's my bone. If you touch her,
you touch me. If you touch me, you touch her.
We're one. We're one. I wish we could believe
that about our husband. that we have this perfect unity
with Him. That's what Paul said when he
talked in Ephesians 5 about a man and his wife being one flesh,
one bone. We're now born of each other's
bone flesh. He said this is a mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Christ says of His
church, she's born in my bone, she's flesh in my flesh. Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto
his wife. And what did the Lord Jesus do?
Didn't He leave His Father? He said, I come from the Father
to come into this earth. He left His Mother. He left the
old Jewish church and the Jewish nation. He was a Jew and He was
united to his Gentile wife. And he said she was born of my
bone and flesh of my flesh. You and I don't believe this
very much, but the scripture says when Christ suffered, we
were there with him. That's what our baptism signifies.
When he died upon that cross, the cross said we died with him. When they buried him in the tomb,
we were buried with him. You say, Bruce, that's just a
figure. I beg your pardon, that's real. That is real. And that's our problem now, you
see. We say, wow, this just represents that. No, it's real. It's real. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. That's the way God looks upon
it, you say. Well, that's real the way God
looks upon things, ain't it? Paul said you died with him,
you were buried with him, you rose with him, you're seated
with him in heaven. And he said then in the same
breath, likewise reckoneth so to thee. And that word reckon
means to look upon it like God looks upon it. The church of Jesus Christ is
in this world today. The wife of Christ, the bride
of Christ. And boy, she's in a warfare. She's in a battle. Wrestling against principalities
and powers. Struggling with unbelief and
doubts and fears. But you know something about
this church. Though she looks upon herself as being unworthy,
she looks upon herself as being vile, but you know this bride,
this Church of Jesus Christ, is just as accepted in heaven
right now as Christ is. And she's just as loved by heaven
as the Lord Jesus Christ is himself. You don't believe that, do you?
That's our whole problem, we don't believe that. It ain't
that we haven't read these things, we just don't believe them. Now
look over here at John. I'll show you that we just don't
believe this. Look over here at John chapter
17. Look at what the Lord Jesus said
in his prayer to his Father in heaven. And look what he said
about his church, his people. Look what he said here in verse
20. John chapter 17 verse 20. Adam was a figure of Christ's
wish to come. Adam said about his wife, she's
one with me. She's one with me. Does Christ feel that way about
his church? Does he feel that way about you? Look what he says
here in verse 20. Me to pray I for these alone,
these disciples of mine, But for them also, which shall believe
on me through their word." That's the way you and I come to believe,
isn't it? We're here this morning, we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, because we've heard the gospel. "...that they all may
be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be one in us." that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me, and the glory which thou givest me, I have given
them, that they may be one, even as we are one." Now, you're going
to separate the Father and the Son. Glenn told us this morning,
they were one. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. They're one. There's three by record in heaven,
and they're one. Here's the Father, here's the
Church, and here's Christ, and what do you say? We're one. We're
one. Look in verse 23. I in them,
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that
the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them as thou hast loved me." Now get a hold of that if you
can. Believe that if you can. I spend a lot of my time not
looking for some new thing in the scripture. I spend most of
my time praying, God give me faith to believe what I already
know. God loving me as He loves His Son. Oh my soul, I couldn't
hardly get a hold of that. I'm one with Christ. You're in
Christ, you're one with Him. You're as accepted as He is.
You're as loved as He is. You're one with Him, flesh of
His flesh and bone of His bone. Now that's what He said. You're
going to walk up to Adam with his wife standing there with
his arm around her. And you say, well Adam, you're
two people. You're two people. No, He said we're not. It's right
here at bone in my bone. We're one. That's what God said
about His church. That's what the cross said about
His church. And lastly, and I'll close with this right quick.
Look back over in Genesis chapter 2. And the last verse. Look at this last verse. Verse
25. Genesis chapter 2 verse 25. And they were both naked, the
man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Had no clothes on. They were naked as they could
be. Looking upon each other. Neither one of them was ashamed.
What makes us ashamed? You know what makes us ashamed?
Sin. Sin. What fruit have you now
in those things? Where are you? Now shame. Those
past things. Shame. Sin brings shame, doesn't
it? Well, if you've got no sin, you've
got no shame, haven't you? The only reason Adam and Eve
was clothed is to cover up for shame. Now remember that next
time you ladies and next time you men dress up. You're just
dressing up because of the shame. Don't dress too proudly and too
arrogantly, wanting people to look at you, because all the
reason you're dressed up is to cover your shame. If we hadn't
had sin, we wouldn't have to dress up. We'd still be naked. But you know something? You know
something? In the Lord Jesus Christ, we
can still stand without any clothes on. Do you know that? We don't have anything to hide.
We don't have any sin to be ashamed of. When you stand there with
your husband, you can stand there without anything to be ashamed
of or try to hide. You can't hide it anyway. God's
all seeing eye. Didn't He say everything was
naked in His eyes? What are you going to hide there?
We all got to stand before God defenseless. without any doors
being closed, without any sin to be ashamed of. We've got to
stand there complete and perfect and without sin. That's the way
we've got to stand there. There can't be anything to be
ashamed of. That's the way you are this morning if you're in
Christ. You even have a desire to stand before God this morning,
don't you? You do. You're not afraid. You're not
filled with this awe and dread when you're thinking about standing
before your Father. Because the blood of His Son
has cleansed you. Are you afraid of death? Are you afraid of standing before
God? I mean, you're filled with dread
about that. You can't sleep over that. You're concerned about
all that. Then you better get that settled. You better find
out how you can get rid of that sin and that shame. And here's
where it's at, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, the
Savior. If we walk in the light as He
is in the light, we have fellowship with Him, and the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses us. I know this old flesh is vile,
I know that. I know we're ashamed of this
old flesh. But I tell you, we have a heart, we have a new man
inside. that longs to be with the Father
and that longs to be with the Lord. And we know how we can
stand there without being ashamed and be opened up and exposed
without being ashamed because we have no sin. It's taken away. It's washed away in our sin.
Christ is a figure of Him that was to come. God bless you.