From Garden to Garden: The Journey of Redemption

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The Bible says that God forms the dust of the ground. This is not like the surgical hospital down at UAB. This is not the best and finest equipment or machinery or resources. This is the Lord God and the dust that he had created forming this man. Now when I read the word formed, I don't know about you, but I think of Romans chapter 9 when it says that God forms us as a potter forms clay. So I get this image of intentionality and design. I get purpose and meaning that when God's forming this dust, he's not doing it like science would like to tell us, just happenstance. [00:03:38] (34 seconds)


Another reason I think that God does this is because I think in these verses, he's starting to establish what that companionship is going to look like. It's not one where one walks in front of the other and leaves them behind, or where one is following so far behind, they're not doing things together. But instead, this is a relationship that is to be shared side by side. They're supposed to walk through this life together. The reason I think that is because verse 24, he establishes that even further and says that this companionship you have is going to be one of covenant marriage, that you shall leave your father and mother and hold fast to your wife. You will do life together. And that's what happens. They did life together. They were naked in the garden and they were not ashamed. [00:10:41] (41 seconds)


Now, this truth here that we are given a companion is not unique to Genesis chapter 2. This is not something that God only gives us here in the book of Genesis. This is actually a fact throughout all of God's word that he doesn't create us and ordain us and command us to then expect us to do it alone. He knows we're not capable of that. We would fall short every time. So he gives us a helper. Obviously, he gives his saints the Holy Spirit. But let me just show you a few verses in each garden that we're going to be going through to show you that this idea of a companion is not just unique to Genesis 2. [00:11:23] (32 seconds)


In Genesis 2, Adam needed a companion, so God gave him. In the garden of Gethsemane that we're going to be starting in next week, Jesus goes to pray in Matthew 26, and he doesn't go to do it alone. He takes Peter and James and John with him because he needed some companions. [00:11:55] (16 seconds)


Or how about the garden of the empty tomb when Jesus has risen from the dead in Matthew 28? He doesn't enjoy this victory alone. Instead, he sends for his disciples because he needs some companions. [00:12:11] (11 seconds)


What we're going to see in verses 1 through 7 of Genesis chapter 3 is our next point. I'm going to go ahead and give it to you, and then I'm going to read and break down these verses. What we see happen next is the corruption. [00:13:21] (12 seconds)


Let's read verses 1 through 7. I'm actually going to stop in the middle of verse 1. It says, Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. We need to stop right here for just a second, because this is a new character on the scene. This is the serpent. He's crafty and he's cunning, but he's a little different than the rest of the characters. that we've been introduced to so far. In Genesis 1 and 2, we have God, we have Adam, we have Eve, and we have the created universe, all of which have been introduced to us by God creating them, except for God. He obviously existed before creation, but this character, even though the Bible says that God made him, it seems as if he has been invited. He has been crept into the story uninvited. [00:13:44] (44 seconds)


It seems as if he has snuck his way onto the scene, that he has slipped through the back door, and it's gone. So we need to do a little digging and just try to figure out who is this character, and how did he get here? What's going on here? [00:14:26] (14 seconds)


this crafty serpent. So for time's sake, I'm going to give you four passages of scripture, then I'll briefly explain why they tell us a little bit about who this character is, and then I'll let you go back this week and do a little deeper study as to just what these verses are getting at. [00:14:41] (15 seconds)


The first one is Ezekiel chapter 28 verses 11 through 15. [00:14:55] (5 seconds)


These verses introduce us to a character by the name of the King of Tyre. Now the King of Tyre we later come to understand as the same person that we see in Genesis chapter 3 verse 1, and Ezekiel 28 starts to give us an idea about some characteristics of this serpent or this King of Tyre. The Bible says that he is full of wisdom and that he's perfect in beauty. [00:15:01] (24 seconds)


I wouldn't describe a snake that way, but that's how Ezekiel 28 starts to describe him. [00:15:24] (5 seconds)


He also describes in Ezekiel 28 that this character is a cherub guardian angel. Now you're probably familiar with a cherub. It's one of the two types of angels we see in the Bible. The Bible talks about seraphim and it talks about cherubim. Now this specific character was a cherub guardian angel, and what this would look like is that this angel would sit or fly over the throne of God with its arms outstretched kind of like this as a covering over God's throne. It was a guardian over God's throne. That was the one sole purpose that this angel had in all of its creation was to guard or cover the throne of God like this. [00:15:30] (39 seconds)


Now its purpose was not to protect God. Me and you both know that God doesn't need protection, but his purpose was to do what happens when you get your picture taken. The umbrella that's behind you flashes light and it reflects onto the image or onto you. [00:16:08] (15 seconds)


This is the goal of this King of Tyre. He hovers over the throne of God, radiating and magnifying the glory of the subject, which is God's throne. [00:16:33] (10 seconds)


Now Isaiah 14 goes a little deeper into this character and he doesn't just let us think that this character stays as the guardian angel hovering over God's throne, but instead this passage starts to reveal that this character has started to place his will over God's will. [00:17:05] (17 seconds)


In Isaiah 14, we see this day star make a comment five times, a comment along the lines of this. He'll say something like, I will make myself like the most high, or he'll say, I will ascend to heaven, or I will sit on the mount. [00:17:17] (17 seconds)


He's more concerned about making himself known and making his will prominent instead of focusing on the one goal he has to make much of the subject of the throne. [00:17:34] (11 seconds)


The third passage we can look at is this. Luke chapter 10, verse 18. [00:17:44] (5 seconds)


It introduces us as Jesus is speaking to his disciples to a character by the name of Satan. And Jesus says that he saw Satan fall like lightning. [00:17:48] (11 seconds)


Jesus says his name is Satan. And then the fourth and final passage is Revelation chapter 12. It introduces us to the same very, serpent, but in this passage, he goes by the name of the devil, the adversary, the deceiver. [00:18:10] (13 seconds)


So when we start to stack all of these truths about this person, we can then understand just how he crept his way into the garden. He was the covering angel intended to magnify God's glory and majesty, but because of his pride, he's fallen and crept his way into the garden here in Genesis chapter three. Let me read you the rest of these verses here. [00:18:21] (22 seconds)


He approaches the woman and said, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit. [00:18:46] (12 seconds)


the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die but the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for god knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like god knowing good and evil so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they said fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths as i mentioned earlier this is the passage of corruption we saw creation that god intentionally purposefully created humanity we saw the command that he gave them we saw the companion that he gave him and now we see the corruption this serpent this wise and beautiful cherub guardian angel who's fallen from heaven who's you you more crafty and cunning than any other beast of the field he walks onto the scene in genesis 3 and he doesn't introduce himself like you and i might he doesn't say uh hey eve how's it going or he doesn't walk up to her and what's up neither of those he walks up to eve and he says did god actually say did god actually say now up until this point in the story god's word has been of utmost importance god's word was the pinnacle of authority in all of creation genesis one says that and god said and things took place and god said let there be light and it was so and god said let the earth produce vegetation and it was so and god said let there be a sun and moon and stars and it was so and god said let's make man in our image and it was so god's word was the pinnacle authority and it was the only thing that was respected in all of creation it was god's authority it was his word but this person sneaks onto the scene and he wants to try to replace god's word with his word this is the same trick he's been using all along and ultimately this is the same trick that me and you fall into every day this is where our sin comes from [00:21:02] (125 seconds)


Just like Eve, sin is missing the mark that God has set for us. It's falling short of the standard that he has for us. But it ultimately boils down to us falling into sin is because we have done what Eve has done. We have misremembered the truth about God. We have failed to remember what God has said about us. Let me just give you a few examples. How about lust? You think lust is you just falling short or missing the mark. And while that's true, it's also you forgetting that God is your delight and that God is your comfort. Or how about gluttony? You think that's you just missing the mark or falling short, when in reality, it's also you forgetting that God is your portion. Or how about pride? That's you just missing the mark, right? You're a sinner like everyone else, right? Yeah, that's true, but it's also because you've forgotten that God is your king. Or how about idolatry? That's you forgetting that God is your Lord. Or guilt and shame? That's you forgetting that Romans 8 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Or how about doubt? That's you forgetting that God has said he knows his sheep. And no one will ever pluck them out of his hand. [00:21:04] (63 seconds)


When you fall short of the standard that God has set, it is likely because you have misremembered the truth that he has proclaimed about you. [00:22:04] Ask a question about this sermon