the Bible to Genesis chapter
3. I asked Brother Bob to read those
first two chapters to prepare us for the study in chapter 3. Last Sunday morning I had an
article in the Bulletin written by Pastor Danny Parks, in which
he said, If we would understand the grace of God, if we would
understand the workings of God's grace for his elect and in his
elect, we must study and understand something about the fall of Adam
in Genesis chapter 3. Because Genesis chapter 3 lays
the foundation upon which all gospel truth is built. Genesis 3, what we're going to
study tonight, lays the foundation upon which all gospel truth is
built. All the rivers of truth have
their beginning in what happened in the garden. That's the name,
the title of this message, What Happened in the Garden. Now,
I'm going to read you a You stay there at Genesis 3. But I'm going
to read you a passage over in Hebrews 10, which tells us that
this first creation that Bob just read about cannot be God's
eternal plan. It can't be. Because Hebrews
10 says, quoting the Lord Jesus Christ, Then said he, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me, to do thy will, O God. Then said he, Lo, I come
to do thy will, and he taketh away the first, the first Adam,
the first creation, the first earth, the first heaven, taketh
away the first representative, the first covenant, takes away
the first, that he may establish the second. So there's a second
creation. a new creation. That's the ultimate
purpose and glory of God. Now, I'll show you another scripture.
Over here in Revelation 13, I'll read it for you, verse 4. Revelation
13, verse 8. It says, And all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him. He's talking about this beast.
Let's read verse 4. They worshiped the dragon, which
gave power to the beast. They worshiped the beast, saying,
Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war? Now,
verse 8. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of
life, of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. All that you read about was accomplished
and brought forth as a book written by God, containing the names
of the people in a kingdom of a Lamb, slain before the foundation
of the world. Over in Ephesians, you can quote
this, "...Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the
heavenlies, in Christ Jesus." according as he chose us in Christ
before Genesis 1 and 2 and the creation of the world. So there is an everlasting kingdom,
a new heaven and a new earth to come. But can you imagine,
let me give you four things here to think about. Can you imagine
an everlasting kingdom made up of people like Adam and Can you
imagine an everlasting kingdom made up of people like that?
They didn't last a whisper, not very long at all until they were
gone. And can you imagine an everlasting kingdom where there
is always the presence of evil, always the danger of a fall?
Like God said in Genesis 2, 9. You've got your Bible open to
Genesis in chapter 2, verse 9. right there in the garden. Out
of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant
to the sight, good for food, the tree of life in the midst
of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Evil is right there, right there. Can you imagine a kingdom with
people like Adam and Eve subject to fall? Can you imagine an everlasting
kingdom with a presence of evil right there with you all the
time? Can you imagine an everlasting kingdom with people living under
the law? Not under love now, but under
the law, a kingdom of fear. Can you imagine a kingdom, an
everlasting kingdom, composed of people standing in their own
righteousness? That's where Adam stood for a
while, in his own righteousness. I wouldn't want to be a part
of that. That's nothing to look forward to. Can you imagine a
kingdom in which men get the glory for their standing, rather
than God who enabled them to stand. Can you imagine a kingdom?
You wouldn't want any part of that. And then, let me read you
a scripture over here. This is the true kingdom. Listen
to this. Talking about that city. I saw
no temple therein. For the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb were the temple of it. And the city had no need of a
sun. It had no need of a moon to shine in it. For the glory
of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Now,
that's the kingdom that I want to talk about. So I can't even
imagine a kingdom without a king, without the Lamb, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah. Well, let's see what happened
here in chapter 3 that leads us to that new kingdom. All right,
you heard the readings, verses 1 and 2. Now verse 1 of chapter
3. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And this
serpent said to the woman, and we know this is Satan speaking
through the serpent. to the woman. Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden." There has been
a lot written about the serpent. I'm going to help you a little
bit on this serpent, and a lot written and said about this serpent
whom Satan used to tempt Eve. Some writers have said this,
he was more like her, that he is having less hair than all
these other beasts of the forest. That's what one writer said.
Another one noted that he was naked, too. Some other writers said he was
more beautiful. Subtle means, he said, more beautiful,
and like a heavenly creature. But one of the better commentators,
John Gill, in whom I have a lot of confidence, he said this.
Now, this was before the fall. This was when God walked in the
garden. And God talked to them. And angels
talked to them. And it wasn't any surprising
thing for them to see a heavenly creature, or to be visited by
a heavenly voice, or person. This was before the fall, in
the garden of God. And this creature, he wasn't
a snake. You see the pictures. I always
tell people, don't pay attention to the pictures. Adam and Eve
standing there, and you don't want a snake right around her,
that wasn't what it was. And imagine her talking to whoever
was talking to her. And if it had been a lion or
a tiger or a reptile, she wouldn't, that would have been a shock.
But it was something beautiful. And Gil says he may have been
a beautiful cherubim. or seraphim. You know, Satan
was an angel, and he fell, and many angels fell with him. And
over in 2 Corinthians it talks about that Satan comes as an
apostle of Christ. That's right, and his ministers
as ministers of righteousness. He's nobody's fool. He came to
this woman in a beautiful form. And you can't tell what it was,
and I can't either, but this sounds more logical to me. You
see, angels bear the name of seraphims, too. Remember reading
about the seraphims that fly? Having six wings, Isaiah South. At least Eve was not surprised
to hear him speak. And perhaps his appearance was
like the angels. You remember the angels appeared
to Lot and talked to him, two of them. down in Sodom, angels
talked to her. So Satan, somehow, by God's permission,
entered into this unusual, unusual creature and talked to Eve. And he spoke to her. And he said
to her, hath God said that you shall not eat of every tree of
the garden? He's implying this. Now, he's
evil, she's She is still innocent and holy, very much. God made man holy, he sought
out many inventions. But he is evil, he is the conniver,
he is the subtle one, he is using this creature. As God said, you
shall not eat of every tree, now here is what he is saying,
you are a superior creature. The whole earth is supposed to
be in subjection to you and your husband. And yet God seems to
be keeping something from you. Is there a tree in the garden
of which you are not allowed to eat? Hath God said you shall not eat
of every tree?" Well, she replies, she said to the serpent. She's
talking to him. We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden. She said, we may. God told them
to. It would be for you, for me.
And you notice they didn't eat each other, animals didn't eat
each other. Everything lived off of the herbs and the things
God made. Trees. We may eat of every tree
of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not
eat of it. God said, she's quoting the Lover. She's quoting him. God has said
you shall not eat of it. Neither should you touch it lest
you die. And I've heard preachers wear that out right there. She
added to the scripture. No, she didn't either. No, she
didn't. She couldn't. That's nonsense.
It's not possible for a woman who's without sin to imply anything
about God not doing something. No, she couldn't do that. She
couldn't add to the scripture. She just had sense enough to
know to eat it, she's got to touch it. I said, Don't make
something there that's not there. This woman is a holy woman, a
perfect woman. She's not a sinner, she's not
throwing off on God at all, not a bit in this world. It's a perfectly
innocent statement. She's saying, God said, We shall
not eat thereof, nor touch it. You've got to touch it to eat
it. She knew to eat it, she had to. Then he replied, verse 4,
Serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die. You shall not surely die. Satan
declares two basic points of his diabolical message and the
two basic points of many preachers today, and that is, number one,
don't believe something because God says it. That's what he's
saying. He replied, his word is not to
be taken literally. Isn't that what they're saying
today? You say, The Bible says that. Well, I know, but God doesn't
mean that. He doesn't mean what he says.
You'll not die. You'll not die. God is not to
be taken literally. God does not mean that at all.
You surely don't believe that God Almighty intends to kill
you, do you? God doesn't mean that. Unbelief. God has said that should
settle all controversy. answer every question. This is
what the Lord said. And that's what she said. He
said, God said you should not eat of all the trees. Oh, she
said, God said we could eat of any of the trees, but there's
one tree we're not eating. He said, don't eat of it. And the second
thing that he did, he says, God's word is not to be believed. And
the second thing, he pits wisdom and reasoning against the word. Now, let's reason this out. He
said, God's too good to destroy you. You don't think that God created
this beautiful garden to be destroyed, do you? You don't think that
God Almighty created you and Adam to be destroyed. God's not
going to kill you. God's not going to judge you.
The truth of the matter is this. Look at verse 5. This is what
God does know, that in the day you eat of, your eyes will be
opened and you will be like God. knowing good and evil. The truth
of the matter is this, he said. You can, by eating this fruit,
enter into a new and wonderful and noble kind of life. You can
yourself be like God. You can, in the largeness of
your knowledge, understand things that you don't
understand Because the tree is called, isn't it, the tree of
knowledge? That's what it's called. So don't
pay attention to what God says. What God really means is this.
Let's interpret what God means. Isn't that what the world's doing
today and what the pulpit's doing? Don't take the Bible literally. Don't take the word of God literally,
as if that's what God said and that's the end of Let's reason
it a little bit. That's what we'll do. You'll
not surely die. God knows this, that if you do what you want
to do, then you can be like God, and you can have a largeness
of knowledge. Well, verse 6, Eve was deceived. She was deceived. There are a
lot of folks who don't think Adam was there, and it may be
that he wasn't. But there's a little word right
down at the end of verse 6 that implies he was there. But that's
neither here nor there. Some people say it came up later,
that Satan wouldn't have talked to her, he would have addressed
the man if Adam had been there. I do not know. We'll find out
in a minute. Let's see. Verse 6, And when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, Eve was deceived, wasn't she?
She believed Satan. But do you know what her greatest
sin was? Not believing Satan. her greatest sin, she didn't
believe God. And that leads you to believe
something. If you don't believe God, you're going to believe
somebody else, less than God. So the great problem here is
not that she believed Satan. It is a problem. But that started
when she didn't believe her maker. She knew God made her. I bet
Adam told her 10,000 times about that operation. He talked like
I talk about mine. You know he did. You know he
did. And his first sight of her when
she walked up, don't you know he told her, he said, you took
my breath away. You know, you wear that out,
too, don't you? That's just normal. You know
she knew that God made her, her Creator, her God. She didn't
believe him. I believe him. You know, when
you were reading that story of creation, I thought about all
the theories of evolution and all these things, and I thought,
isn't it a joy to believe God? Isn't it a peace to believe God,
to believe my Maker? It's he that has made us, not
we ourselves. We're his people, the sheep of
his pasture. But she didn't believe her Maker.
There are many theories. And you know something, that's
what we're warned about. Let me just turn over here and read
something for you. We're warned about this very thing that caused
Eve all her problems. Over here, it says in the book
of Hebrews, listen to it. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be found in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. believe God no matter what, because
the last verse of that chapter says they couldn't enter in because
of unbelief. A lot of theories say that Adam
was not with her and she ate, and he came along later and she
said, I ate it and nothing happened to me. That might have been what
Satan said to her. He could eat it all day and he
couldn't die anymore, he was dead spiritually. But I don't know. She took the
fruit, did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and
he did eat." But do you know something? One
thing is clear here. Whether he was there or wasn't
there, she ate first, didn't she? And nothing happened. That's right. Because if she
had eaten and died immediately, like they will in a minute. She
wouldn't have given it to Adam, or he would have said, what's
wrong with you? But Adam was our representative. God made one man. The woman came
out of him. The woman was in him just like
you were in him. Adam has got to sin for us to
fall. Listen to what one writer said,
one thing is sure, the fall is not the fall of the whole race
unless Adam Adam's got to eat. Now, this is supposition, but
it's true what he's saying. If only Eve ate that fruit, she
would have died, and God could have made another woman for the
propagation of the human race. That's right. But you don't want to talk that
way, because this is ordained of You just want to take it like
it's ordained of God, just like Judas. So what if he hadn't betrayed
Christ? There's no what-if about it,
it's ordained of God, he's the son of perdition from the beginning.
God ordained the power. He left man to do what he will
do, and Satan to do what he will do, and Judas to do what he will
do, and the crucifiers of Christ to do what they will do, but
they will do what he wills for the good. of his people and the
glory of his kingdom. That's right. Leave them alone,
they'll do what they will, and do what God will. And the woman,
in her actions, when she did that, she gave it to her husband,
and then he did it. And this is what scripture says,
in Romans 5, verse 12, "...wherefore by one man sin entered the world,
and death by So death passed upon all men, when Adam ate.
She gave it to her husband, and he did eat. Romans 5.19, by one
man's disobedience, we were made sinners. First Corinthians 15.21,
for a chance by man came death. First Corinthians 15.22, in Adam
all died. Let's see what happened in verse
7, when they ate the forbidden fruit. And verse 7 says, And
the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked. Their eyes were opened. What
did Satan promise? Your eyes will be opened to greater
knowledge. That wasn't what happened. Their eyes were opened not to
advanced knowledge, not to things pleasant and profitable, like
he promised. But their mind eyes, well their
human eyes were already open. But their mind was open. Open
to distress. Open to deception. Open to depravity. They realized they had been deceived. That's what they realized. Immediately
they knew something's wrong. We've been deceived. And they
knew they were naked. Well, they were naked before,
but didn't think anything about it. Why? Because they didn't
know anything about nakedness. I know this is hard for us to
even conceive of, but they didn't have an evil thought. They never
had an evil imagination. They never had an evil suspicion.
Nothing evil ever entered their minds. They were perfectly holy.
Nakedness wasn't something that they knew anything about. Something is happening here,
inside. And they felt something they
never felt before, shame. Shame goes with sin, not holiness. Christ said, he that believeth
on me will never be ashamed. But those that do not believe
will be put to shame. And they knew guilt. What happened? The robe of innocence. were stripped
off, off their hearts, spirit. The role of innocence, it wasn't
just a nakedness outwardly, it was a nakedness inwardly. The
glory was stripped from their souls. They had lost contact
with God, and they were devastated, they were ashamed. What did they
do? They sowed fig leaves together.
A fig leaf is a bigger leaf, the biggest leaf they could find
in the garden. And they were trying to cover their nakedness.
They knew they were naked. But what happened inside of them
ruined everything about them, an evil heart of unbelief and
shame and guilt. So they sewed these fig leaves
together and tried to cover their nakedness. I read that verse and I went
back and read, go back to that last verse Bob read in Genesis
2. Here is a state of holiness,
listen to this. Genesis 2, verse 22, And the
rib which the Lord God took from the man made ye a woman, and
brought her to the man. This is beautiful. And Adam said,
This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She is
going to be called woman, because she was taken out of a man. Therefore
shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his
wife. And they should be one flesh. And they were both naked,
the man and his wife. And they were not ashamed. They
were not guilty. They were not fearful. Perfect
holiness. Look at the difference after
they sinned. Verse 7, Genesis 3. And the eyes
of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked. And
they began to sew fig leaves together, to make themselves
aprons. so that even the animals wouldn't
see their nakedness. And then look what happened next.
Verse 7, stripped of holiness, lost the image of God, now there
was nothing in the world but old naked flesh. And verse 8,
and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day. They had heard that before. They
had heard that before, because God had spoken to them many times.
God had spoken to them. They had listened to God. But
filled with shame and filled with guilt and dread of judgment,
conscious of their nakedness, instead of running to God to
greet him and to seek his fellowship, it says, they heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
God. among the trees. Foolishly, they ran from God,
running from God, and hiding in the trees, desperate for covering,
shame and guilt, torn up on the inside. And the Lord God called
unto Adam and said, Adam, where are you? And he summed it up
here. Listen to these four things he
said, I heard your voice. And I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid
myself. You know, you read this chapter
as we go on, Adam never said, I sinned, not one time. Adam
not one time said, I'm a fool. Adam not one time said, I'm sorry.
Adam not one time said, O Lord, have mercy. This is part of his
fall, too. He doesn't know the extreme condition into which he is falling. Men do not know what it means
to be lost. Did you know that? If we could
just grasp what it means to be lost. Oh, God, I heard your voice
and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Now, here comes the apex of apostasy. And the Lord said, Adam, you
know, God never, write this down in your mind somewhere, God never
asks a question for information. No, no, when he said, Adam, where
art thou? He wants to hear it from him.
He wants to hear those four statements. I heard your voice, and I was
afraid, and I was naked, and I hid myself. When he said, King,
where is your brother? He knew where his brother was,
lying dead over there under a bush where it hit him. But you want
to hear him say it. Am I my brother's keeper? But Adam, who told you you were
naked? Have you eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee
that thou should not eat of it? Now, here comes what I call the
apex of apostasy, the depths of depravity, and the revelation
of the rottenness. He's going to tell you right
now what he really is. The woman, first word out of
his mouth, it wasn't me, it was that woman. Second, that you gave me. Isn't
this terrible? This man, this man has sinned
against his maker, his creator, his God who gave him everything
a man could have for complete happiness, holiness, everything. And he wasn't deceived. He did
this deliberately, but instead of taking the blame, he says,
the woman which you gave me, and I didn't take it, she gave
it to me. Isn't this terrible? This man in a mask, this is the
man that while ago was naming every animal, a robin flew over
and he said, that's a robin, that's a wren, that's a canary,
that's an eagle, that's in the image of God, and here he is,
groveling there, wrapped up in fig leaves. It's sticky. Did
you ever pick a fig? I mean sticky fig leaves, hiding
in the bushes, peeping out, you know, at God, saying, It's not
my fault, it's that woman's, and really it's your fault, because
you gave it to me. I didn't take it, she gave it
to me. Isn't this something? I want you to turn to Job, chapter
33. Here is the right direction to
take with Almighty God, if a man can find God-given grace in his
heart to do it, and quit blaming everybody else and blaming God,
denying your part in the fire. In Job 33, verse 27, The Lord looketh upon men, and
if anybody, anywhere, would just say, I've sinned, I've perverted
that which was right, I'm in a mess, it profiteth me not,
he'll deliver his soul from going down to the pit, and his life
shall save a life. Just one statement, Lord, be
merciful to me a sinner. I've sinned. And I said, I'm
not fit to be called your son. Just make me a hired servant.
They can't say it. Just can't say it. Adam couldn't
say it. Well, how about the woman, verse 13? And the Lord said to
the woman, what is this that you've done? Well, she said it
wasn't me, it was the serpent. I haven't done anything. The
serpent beguiled me, and I did it. It wasn't my fault. He tricked
me. You wouldn't have been tricked
if you had believed God. And we'll never be deceived if
we believe God. You say, we preachers who are
on television deceive you. Don't listen to them. Listen
to God. Don't believe them. Don't believe Satan's lies. Believe
God's truth. Saturate yourself in God's word. Steep your heart in God's word. Spend time and find out what
he says, and don't believe anybody. Don't believe me if I don't read
it? Honestly, I mean that with all my soul. And the Lord said, let's see
these things now. The Lord said to Satan, Lord
God said to the serpent. Now, he's talking to both of
them here. Now, he's talking, listen to me. Satan is in this
seraphim or whoever it is, whomever it is. Satan is using him, using
him. It's like Satan entered Judah. Satan entered Peter. Do you remember
when Christ said, Get behind me, Satan? Well, it's talking
to Peter. And here the Lord is talking to that beautiful creature
and turns him into a crawling snake. Listen. And the Lord said
to the serpent, because you've done this, talking to both of
them now, but the serpent too, you're cursed above all cattle.
Well, that's not just saying that to Satan. Satan is not a
cattle. It's just whoever this creature is. You cursed above
all cattle, above every beast of the field, and upon your belly
shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your
life." That's that serpent, a slimy, slithering, dust-eating creature.
He can't even get ahold of a rat without getting ahold of a mouth
of dirt. He's going to eat dirt all the days of your life. Then
he says something to Satan. And you know Brother Park said,
Christ, the The work of God's grace, the incarnation, the death
of Christ, the defeat of the enemy, the destruction of sin,
it's all in Genesis 30. Now here it comes, listen. He
said to Satan, and I'll put enmity between thee and the woman. I'm
talking to Satan here now. I'll put enmity between thee
and the woman. He's not just talking about woman's
fear of snakes, that's not it. He's talking about this. Now,
listen to me. I got a hold of this, and this just blessed me. The woman. We've been giving
her a pretty hard time up to now. God's been giving her a
hard time. Adam's been giving her a hard
time. But God says the woman, Satan, the weaker vessel, the
one you deceived, the one you plied upon and deceived and tricked,
she's going to be the instrument. by which God will bring you down,
that woman, she's going to be the instrument of your destruction.
Because one of these days the Son of God is going to find a
home in her womb, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and she's going
to bring him forth, a woman is, one of her daughters, and nurture
him and nurse him and raise him, and he's going to meet you at
Calvary and put you out of business. And everything you represent,
and everything you are about, and everything that you've laid
your filthy hands on, this woman, her feet is going to bruise your
head. Bruise your head. Now you bruise
his heel. That's his human nature. You're
going to give him a rough time. But you can bruise my heel and
I can live. But if you bruise my head, I'm dead. Out of business. And y'all are going to meet at
Calvary, and he's going to destroy you. You're going to come out
of that womb. Isn't that something? I think
that's just beautiful. Hershey will bruise your head,
bruise your power, your authority over men, and deliver them from
the fear of death. And in that conflict on Calvary,
you'll bruise his heel. There you have our Lord's incarnation,
his death, his victory. the defeat of evil, the addiction
of his people. And then to the woman, verse
16, he says, I multiply greatly, multiply your sorrow and your
conception. And sorrow, see God always told
her she's going to have children. He meant for a woman to have
children. But he's going to punish women because of their part in
the fall. by making that conception a difficult
time. In sorrow, in pain, you'll bring
forth children. And your desire should be to
your husband, he'll rule over you. Now, this rule, I saw something
here that I haven't seen before. This rule is not tyranny. It's not tyranny. It's not Baptism. It's God's order. And look over
at chapter 4, verse 7. This is when he was talking to
Cain. When Abel brought the sacrifice
and God accepted it and Cain brought his works and God turned
it down, in verse 6 of chapter 4, the Lord said, Cain, why are
you mad? Why is your countenance fallen?
If you do well, if you bring a lamb, if you do what I say,
if you believe my word, if you look to Christ, you will be accepted. at your door, and unto thee shall
be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." In other words,
if you would listen to him and do what I say, you will still
be the number one son, firstborn. And your brother Abel will submit
to you, and you will rule over him, if you do right. So God
has an order. He has the Father ruling over
the home, he has parents ruling over the children, he has even
the firstborn son. direct in the household upon
the death of the father. God has an order, you see. And
that's what the woman is under her husband, in God's order.
He rules over thee, like the firstborn son rules over the
inheritance. That's right. All right, let's
look at verse 17. So in him to Adam the Lord said,
Because you've hearkened to the voice of your wife, you've eaten
of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake, because of your
sin. The whole earth, the whole world was cursed. And in sorrow
you shall eat of it. See, everything man has comes
from the ground. The coal we burn is out of the
ground, the wood we build our house with is out of the ground,
the food we eat is out of the ground, the clothes we make grow,
cotton and other things out of the ground. But it's all going
to be, it would have been joy, you know, everything brings forth
after its kind of joy and happiness, no end to it. Not anymore. Sin has messed up man, messed
up the world, messed up the vegetation, the animals, and everything.
Sorrow. Verse 18, thorns and thistles shall it bring forth
to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field, and the sweat
of your face. The whole body sweats, but that's
where it appears first, on the face. of your face, run down
in your eyes, you're out there on that hot sun, your sweat running
in your eyes, and you'll eat bread until you return to the
ground, for out of it you are taken dust thou art, to dust
thou shalt return. Now then, and Adam, let's see,
this thing gets fixed up between them, gets fixed up. Let's look back over and see
what he called her the first time he met her, in Genesis 2. When God performed that operation
and made that woman and brought her to him in Genesis 2, verse 23. And Adam said, This
is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called
woman, female. Woman came out of a man, female. Male and female. Wife taken out
of a man. But look at the tenderness and
the depth of understanding that he has now in verse 20 of chapter
3. Now in the light of what God
had said, out of her is going to come the seed that will redeem
him from sin. He calls her, listen, and Adam
said in verse 20, Adam called his wife Eve. Do you know what
the word Eve means? There it is right there in the
middle of your center reference, living, life giver. That's what the Hebrew says,
life giver, preserver of life. Now, in the light of what God
said, he calls her Eve, not woman. Not female, but he calls her
Eve, because she's the mother of all living. This Eve, though she's justly
sentenced to death and sentenced to bury her children in sorrow
because of her sin, yet by God's mercy she's going to continue
in life herself. And she's going to become, by
God's purpose and grace, the mother of every man and woman
ever walked on this earth, came from her. Isn't that awesome? Adam said, this is Eve. It's
not just that woman, this is Eve. She's the mother of every
living person that'll ever live. And to think of it, one of her
daughters down the road or somewhere is going to give birth to the Son
of God, who will destroy evil, who will bring life and immortality
to the light through the gospel, who will redeem a people through
whom there will be a new heaven and a new earth. So it was with
pleasure and affection that he looked upon this glorious person
and gave her the name mother of all living, life giver. Her seed was going to be his
savior. That's what he's thinking. They
thought, I believe, they thought when Cain came along, they had
the Messiah. All right, then at last I'll
give you this, verse 21, and the Lord God said to man, no, Under Adam also and his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them. I don't
know whether God used an angel to do this. They said that God
buried Moses, but a lot of the people think that God didn't
dig the hole and bury Moses, an angel did. But maybe, I don't
know. And about this, angels are ministers
of God and ministers of those who are there as a salvation.
And it's a good possibility that when an animal was killed, it's
the first blood shed. An animal was killed. And that
animal was killed for three reasons. Number one, it was a sacrifice.
It's a picture of the seed of woman who will die for our sins,
the blood of the lamb, the blood of an animal was shed. Secondly,
it's the picture of the garment of salvation. It's an emblem
of the robe of Christ's righteousness. They took away those fig leaf
aprons and he clothed them with the righteousness of Christ,
the skin of the animal that dies. And thirdly, this garment was
provided for them for modesty, for protection from the weather,
from briars and thorns that's coming up from that ground they're
going to work in. and serves at all times to be
a remembrance of what's happened. We sinned against God, and there
will be a remembrance. Now, I know you're going to want
to know if I've got any light on verse 22. Well, I've got a
glimmer, but not much. It's a path first. And the Lord is ready to give
you this. That'd be quick. Let's look at
this. I looked at it and it's pliable.
The Lord God said, speaking to Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Behold, a man is become as one
of us. The man has become, not all men,
the man, this man has become as one of us, knowing good and
evil. I don't become as one of him
because I don't know good, I just know evil. Adam expressed good. Adam was
holy. Adam was made holy and expressed
evil. This man knows good and evil.
He knows good, but he can't do it. He can only do evil. God
knows good and evil. God can't do evil, only good. That's right, only good. This man knows, this man, Adam,
knows what good is, he knows what evil is. In that sense,
he has the knowledge that God has about good and evil, that
he can only do evil. So God said, lest he put forth
his hand and take of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Now, this tree of life, did you
notice back in Genesis 2, there were two trees that were mentioned
with special emphasis? In verse 9 of chapter 2, out
of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant
to the sight, good for food, but two more trees, the tree
of life in the midst of the garden. The tree of life. That's not
the tree of good and evil, that's the tree of life. That's the
tree of life. Now it's mentioned in Revelation,
old Genesis 2. Let's go to Revelation a minute.
Let's look at this. I know I was interested and I
didn't get But this is the best thing that I've found. I've read
lots of writers, and I think this is the best. Revelation 2, 7. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
To him that overcometh what I give to eat of the tree of life, which
is in the midst of the paradise of God. It's called in Ezekiel
the garden of God. He said, Satan, you've been in
the garden of God, the garden of Eden, he used the word Eden,
the garden of God. And this tree of life in the
garden and the paradise of God. Now, Revelation 22, it refers
to that tree of life again. In Revelation 22, verse 2, In the midst of the street of
it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of
life. which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit
every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. Verse 14, Blessed are they that
do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of
life, and may enter in through the gates of the city." Adam
didn't have that right. Adam didn't have that right in
his state, and God had to put him out. out of the paradise,
out of the garden of God, out of the garden, meaning away from
the tree of life, away from the tree of life. And so he, down here in verse,
that's what he says in verse 22, sent him forth from the presence
of God, from the paradise of God, from the garden of God,
from the tree of life, out of it, to kill the ground from which
he was taken. And he drove out the man and
placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims with a flaming
sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life. That's as good as I can do on
that. You know, I have one great consolation that I think I've
got a lot of light on the rest of that chapter back earlier,
enough light to understand the gospel, that the secret things
belong to God, and the revealed things to whom God has revealed
it.