If you have your Bibles, please
turn to Genesis chapter 3. We'll read the last three verses
of the Bible of this chapter tonight. And the Lord God said, Behold,
the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. And now,
lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life
in Eden and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him forth from
the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he came. So
he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of Eden, the
garden of Eden, cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned
every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Let us pray. Blessed God of Heaven, Lord over
all, Master, Creator, Sustainer and
Consummator of the Universe, Ruler of all things, Sovereign, Glorious and Majestic. There is but You. There is no
other God. There is none like unto You.
You declare the end from the beginning. Things that are not
yet happened, you declare them to come to pass. You speak and
it is done. You purpose and it shall stand.
We bow before you in adoration and praise that you have been
mindful of men. That you have been mindful of
your creatures. That of this fallen race of humanity, you've
chosen some to save. and have redeemed them by the
blood of your dear Son on Calvary Street. We are thankful that
you have given us your Spirit, whereby we understand the things
that are freely given to us by you. Father, we pray tonight
that we might get some sense of your greatness and your majesty,
that we might bow down ourselves in awe and wonder of your magnitude
and magnificence. Father, we pray for those of
our company who are sick, those who are having troubles. We ask, Lord, your help for them
and strengthen them in Jesus Christ. For those who've lost
loved ones, we ask, Lord, your help for them and strengthen
them. We ask your help tonight, Father, that your blessed Holy
Spirit may take these things of Christ and reveal them unto
us. Let us see the glory that you have set forth as you began
this book through inspiring Moses to write it, of the things that
cover so much of your divine word. Help us, Lord, and I to
worship you. In Christ's name, amen. Now these verses in this third
chapter draw to a conclusion. The first three chapters of Genesis
Now I've understood, if grasped by faith, these chapters set
up all that is afterward revealed in the Word of God. There's so
much here in these first three chapters. Everything that involves
the creation, the new creation, the fall of man, the recovery
of man, accomplished by the substitutionary work of the Son of God. It's
all first illuminated in these first words from heaven in these
first three chapters. One man said, there's three things
people are ignorant of, that if they understood the first
three chapters of Genesis, they would be ignorant no more. But
there's three men, three things men are ignorant of. What happened
when men failed, when man failed? What happened on the cross of
Calvary? And what happens when God saves a sinner? If you understood
the first three chapters of Genesis, you'd have an answer for all
of that, every bit of it. Tonight, we'll consider The fact
that Adam's removal from the garden was essential to you and
I to eventually hear the gospel of God's grace. It was essential.
He cannot remain in the garden. He must go out with the word
of truth. This is set forth in no uncertain terms in this final
passage of the third chapter in Genesis. Verse 22 falls fast
on the heels of the declaration of God's sovereign substitution
in verse 21. Unto Adam also he said, and to
his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them.
We saw last week that speaks specifically of substitution.
And follows, that means this is a continuation of the thought.
And the Lord God said, behold, the man has become one of us
to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.
As I said, it falls fast on the heels of the declaration of sovereign
substitution. So Adam being removed from the
garden, the first thing we realize, must fall under the theme of
grace, under the theme of mercy, and not under the theme of wrath.
Adam is not here being punished. He is being delivered. He is
being delivered. The reason is plainly stated
in a conversation recorded as a dialogue between the persons
of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The
Lord God said, behold, the man has become as one of us. One
of us, that's plural. And he knows good and evil. Now
this knowledge that Adam has only applies to knowledge, not
in any way to deity. God knows good and evil. He's
the creator of them both. As instruments in his workshop
to bring all things to their appointed end. In Isaiah chapter
45. Words that a great number of
people wish weren't even in scripture. Our Lord says this in verse 5. He says, for I am the Lord and
there is none else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not known me. He's speaking to
Cyrus, whom he anointed to deliver Israel, but then allowed Cyrus
and suffered Cyrus to die in his own pagan self. I did that, he says, I did that. I raised you up a pagan to deliver
my people, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and
there is none else. I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. And because that's the case,
he says, drop down ye heavens from above and let the skies
pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation. Let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created all of that. He's the sovereign Lord. So knowing good and evil is his
knowledge for good. But Adam is not so. His knowledge
with God will always and can never do any harm to God or to
his people. However, the knowledge for man
will always end in confusion and a downward plunge into depravity
and ruin. According to Paul in Romans 7,
our knowledge of good and evil always results in the woeful
cry, who shall deliver us from the body of this death? That's
our knowledge of good and evil. How is man considered then the
same as God? How does God say he's become
as one of us? In what sense is this true? One
man gave this analogy. He said if a man stepped off
an airplane wing at 20,000 feet without a parachute, he would
be up in the air like the pilot who could say, that man has become
as one of us. To no altitude and gravity. But
there would be no power in him to maintain altitude or to defy
or avoid gravity. but there would be no power in
him to do so. This is the result of man's attainment
of this knowledge. It will never help him. It will
never help him, and it will always hurt him. This is what he gained
in the garden. It will never bring him up, and
it will always bring him down. That's the difference. In Jeremiah
chapter 4, verse 22, Jeremiah wrote, our Lord inspired Jeremiah
to write, for my people is foolish. They have not known me. They
are a sottish children. They have none understanding. They are wise to do evil, but
to do good they have no knowledge. They have no knowledge. Therefore
God acts in mercy here. He acts in mercy toward those
for whom he has provided a substitute. All this is about mankind because
it's all about Adam and all about Eve, but particularly about Adam
in whom we all fell. If Adam was to remain in the
garden and take a bite of the fruit of the tree of life, he
would live forever in his fallen condition. The tree of life is
the tree that provided eternal life, which is the experience
of all men, either in glory or in ruin. But God has fixed it
and does so by removing Adam and many of his progeny from
the possibility of being eternally damned. Grace and mercy send
Adam out of paradise. Grace and mercy, not punishment. Then in verse 23 it says, therefore
the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the
ground from whence he came. This is the act of mercy and
it's revealed in these words. Therefore the Lord God sent him
from the garden. Sent him from the garden. He
would not go far because the altar he describes in the next
verse is where Cain and Abel offered their respective sacrifices.
at the east of Eden. In effect and in type, shadow
and picture, Adam was sent forth into the world, out of paradise
into the world. Anything outside of paradise
is the world. There he would till the ground
and sow the seed and God would give the increase. Note that
there is no mention in this verse of the toil or the sweat of the
face involved because that curse has been removed by the substitute. It is merely a statement of fact
concerning what he will do in this world. What will he do in
the world? He will sow seed. He will water the ground. He will plow the ground. And
God will give the entries. Does that sound like anything
you're familiar with? In first Corinthians chapter three and
verse six, Paul said, Apollos planted and I watered. and it's
God that gave the increase. The word sent is a word that
exudes kindness and purpose. Though the word can be interpreted
as dismissed or cast out, it's way down in the line of interpretations
or line of definitions. Most of the definitions mean
to let go, to set free, or to shoot out, or to shoot forth
as the branch of a tree or a vine. Did not our Lord say to his disciples,
I am the vine, and ye are the branches? Then in verse 24, we
find another word used to describe Adam's removal from the garden
east of Eden. It says he drove out the man. First it says he
sent him out, then it says he drove him out. This word means
to actually force out, to force out. This perhaps indicates that
after Adam was to be sent out, he was reticent about leaving
this wonderful and beautiful paradise. So it required that
God drive him from the Garden of Eden. Since this was done for Adam's
good, there is no anger or wrath involved in God's action. This
is rather a revelation that Adam was indeed a child of God, chosen
of God. An elect sinner. Only in the
believer do we find the two lives of the flesh and the spirit.
You don't find them in a natural man. He's only got one. He has
his nature. But he does not have the spirit
of God. And so man may have struggles with conscience and the law,
which he invents for himself. He may have struggles with that,
but he'll never have spiritual struggles. I know that word is
tossed around a lot today. Everything is spiritual. Everything
is spiritual. You know, if you're good at something,
it's spiritual. If you have a kind idea, you're
in a spiritual place. But many people have kind ideas
and will have them all the way to eternity in hell. And that's
just a fact. But here we see something. Adam
was a spiritual man. That's what it means when it
says he was sent. Adam was a natural man that had to be driven out
of the Garden of Eden. because the flesh and the spirit
are always contrary to one another. We see this in the early church.
The disciples had been sent into the world to preach the gospel.
God said that in Acts chapter 1. Sent them into the world to
preach the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. Y'all do
that, he said. There's a great power of the spirit coming. It's
going to empower you to preach the gospel and y'all preach it
starting at Jerusalem and go to Samaria and then to the uttermost
parts of the earth. Spread this thing out. Well,
we find seven chapters later, they're still in Jerusalem. They
ain't gone nowhere. They're in their comfort zone,
and they were pretty well established, and you know, it's okay. But
then something happened. They grew angry. Men grew angry
at the message they were preaching. And they stoned the first martyr,
a deacon named Stephen, to death. And when they stoned him to death,
the next chapter said, great, persecution broke out. Great
persecution ensued, and the church was scattered into all the world. First they were sent to preach
the gospel. Then they were driven out of Jerusalem by persecution.
The church was sent, and the church was driven throughout
Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth, even to this
nation, wherein we received the gospel of Jesus Christ. Adam
was sent, and Adam was driven out. Adam was driven out. Then
the Lord, having removed Adam from the garden, placed at the
east of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way,
to keep the way of the tree of life." Now we know that the way
is Jesus Christ. He said that of Himself. I am
the way, the truth, and the life. That word means the road, the
journey, The distance, it means all those
things. He is the way, the truth, and the life. The tree of life
speaks of eternal life. That tree is mentioned in the
Revelation as having all manner of fruit that feed the 12 nations,
or feed all the nations. 12 manner of fruit that feed
all the nations. That's the tree of life. That's
Jesus Christ. That's eternal life. Our Lord
said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on
me shall never die. So this altar set up at the east
of Eden was not set up to keep man from eternal life. to keep
man out, but to set the absolute requirement for having eternal
life, for obtaining eternal life. Merely this, that the law of
God must be satisfied. That's what this altar is about.
It says here, so he drove out the man and placed at the east
of Eden, the east of the garden of Eden, cherubs with a flaming
sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life. This altar was the place where
God would be satisfied. The word place here is interesting.
It means a continual dwelling. The word in the original is the
word we get our word Shekinah from. The original word is shaken.
We get our word Shekinah. You've heard that phrase before,
that word before, the Shekinah glory of God. That means the
brightness of God's glory. In the holy of holies, between
the cherubim, dwelt the Shekinah glory of God. That is why the
high priest, before he went in under that curtain, he first
filled a censer with coals from off the altar and put incense
on them and put it under that curtain without going under that
curtain and shook it and shook it and shook it until it covered
the place in smoke. So he would not view the Shekinah
glory of God. It was too bright and too great
for him. That's the Shekinah glory of God. The Jerusalem Targon
said of this phrase, and he made the glory of his Shekinah. or
glorious majesty to dwell of old at the east of the Garden
of Eden over or above the two cherubim so between these two
cherubim dwelt the Shekinah glory of God here represented as a
flaming sword or a licking sword which consumed the sacrifice
it turned every which way and that's what it says about the
Word of God sharper than a two-edged sword discerning even the thoughts
and intents of the heart, dividing down to the marrow. So between
these two cherubim dwelt the abiding glory of God, represented
by a licking flame which could consume the sacrifice if it was
accepted as a typical payment for sin. That's how the sacrifice
was always accepted. Remember when Elijah offered
it up on the mount? God sent down fire from heaven
and consumed the sacrifice that he made up. After he had poured
12 buckets of water on it, 12 buckets of water around the sacrifice
God sent the flame down and consumed the sacrifice so here we have
a picture of an altar at the east of Eden at the east of Eden
now remember garden was at the east of Eden and this is the
east side of the garden that it was east of Eden and there
on that altar are two cherubim Cherubim were winged creatures.
We don't know exactly what they are, but we know that they are
probably the type of the winged creature in Isaiah chapter six
that flew day and night, crying, holy, holy, holy, these six winged
beasts. But these cherubim are facing
each other with their wings toward the center. And between their
wings is this shining, flaming sword. That's how it's described,
but it's actually, the word place makes it the Shekinah glory of
God. The way of the tree of life was
kept this way. It was kept this way where sacrifice
was made because it paid the penalty that
God was owed for sin. The elements of the altar pointed
to one thing, and you know what that thing is. It's the mercy
seat. because this describes the mercy
seat as it's described in the holy of holies the most holy
place where once a year the high priest would offer the blood
of a lamb for himself and all the people of Israel as a remembrance
of their sin and atonement by blood not propitiation but atonement
by blood however when you run across the word propitiation
the four times it's mentioned in the new testament if you look
at the interpretation of the meaning of that word it's mercy
seat That's the meaning of the word. The word mercy seat means
propitiation or satisfaction or appeasing God by blood death. And that's important. God said
this over in Exodus chapter 25. Exodus chapter 25. Listen to
what he says about this place called the mercy seat. In Exodus chapter 25, in verse
22, he says, and there I will meet with thee Well, verse 21 it says, and thou
shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark and in the ark thou
shalt put the testimony that I give thee and there I will
meet thee. I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee
above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims which are upon
the ark of the testimony of all things which I give thee in commandments
of the children of Israel. There's where he meets people.
So here at the east of Eden is this, at least a typification
of the mercy seat where God meets and communes. And that is a familial,
favorable relationship between two people when they commune.
They may converse and they may hate each other, but when they
commune, they are together. They are in agreement on the
same thing. So here at the east of the Garden of Eden was the
mercy seat, or the propitiation, the only way to keep the way
of the tree of life, the only place to commune with God, the
place where propitiation is made. in Romans chapter 3 the Lord
said he was of blood was offered or he was charged to be or charged
a propitiation for our sins a satisfaction for our sins in 1st John chapter
4 verse 10 here it is love not that we love God but that he
loved us and gave his son the propitiation the propitiation
for our sins the mercy seat for our sins Adam was sent and driven
from the garden into the world But he was sent with a message.
He had seen some things. He had learned some things. And
the message was how God had shed blood and killed beasts to cover
his nakedness. And God would accept men only
by a blood sacrifice. He knew that when he left that
place. He went out of the garden with the gospel. Adam was a gospel
minister. The gospel minister. A blood-bought
sinner with a message. That's all a gospel ministry
is. A blood-bought sinner with a message. And that message is
the testimony of God. And we know this because his
son Abel offered the sacrifice of blood and was accepted. And Cain offered the sacrifice
of his works and was rejected. Abel offered the sacrifice by
faith. That's an interesting thing.
If you read Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 4, that's how it's
described in that great chapter called the heroes of faith. In chapter 11 and verse 4, it
says by faith. Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being
dead yet speaketh. By faith he offered. Well, how
did that happen? How did that happen? We don't
hear about that concept of faith very much in the Old Testament,
except in the sense of believing God. How did he have faith? How did Abel get faith? It doesn't
say that Adam had faith, but we know when he left the garden,
he had the message of faith. He had the message of the gospel.
How does a man get faith? Modern religion says he works
it up. But he's not born with it, is he? The natural man receiveth
not the things of the spirit, their foolishness to him, neither
can he know them or discern them, because their spirituality is
there. He can't understand things. No man understands God by nature.
No man seeks God by nature. None whatsoever. Our Lord said
that. Well, how in the world does a person get faith? Does
it differ in the Old Testament or the New Testament? How a person
gets faith? It's only defined one time how
a person gets faith in Scripture. Well, twice actually. In Ephesians
chapter 2, he gets it by the grace of God. by grace who you
say through faith and that not of yourselves it's a gift of
God not of works lest any man but boast but there's another
passage how does a man get faith? scripture says whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved but how shall
they call on him in whom they've not believed and how shall they believe on
him in whom they've not heard And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? So, faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God. Well, from whom did Abel hear
the Word of God? He heard it from the only man
who had it. Genesis, the first three chapters
is the story of the fall, the story of the cross, and the story
of how God saves sinners and put his words in their mouth. This is a beautiful, beautiful
introduction, complete introduction into the world of the gospel.
the world of the gospel. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ. Amen.