Christmas in Genesis (Part 2 of 6)

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden makes it clear that God does not take sin lightly. There are serious consequences for disbelieving God. And yet God does not abandon his people to the consequences of their sin.

As we'll hear today on Truth for Life Weekend, there is a promised cure for our predicament. We're studying in Genesis chapter 3. They had sinned in rejecting and disobeying the will of God by doing what he had told them explicitly not to do.

That's the issue of it, you see. Because now, with the entry of sin into the equation, all of that perfection, all of that goodness is now impinged upon by the categorical rejection of God's clear instruction, by their decision, their own choice to do it their own way. And they are about to be banished. Before they're banished, God comes to seek them out. Quite wonderful, isn't it, in verse 8?

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the cool of the day, and the man and his wife, they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Why'd you go ahead and do that? You had communion with God.

What has changed? Why can't you just walk out and talk to God? Well, we don't want to talk to God. I mean, he might talk to us.

And if he talks to us, he might talk to us about stuff. Like, this is one of the reasons people don't come to church—at least not to a church where the gospel is preached. Because God will speak to you about stuff—stuff you don't want talked about. But he doesn't do it out of an act of judgment. He does it out of grace and mercy. He exposes it in order that he might cover it. He reveals it in order that he might forgive it. Do you know how many people are running around hiding in the trees of their own rebellion, trying to cover up their own shame, trying to actually cover it up in some measure with religion itself? Maybe if I could go there, maybe if I could do this, maybe if I could attempt that, I could cover it all up. And you lie on your bed, and you go, This doesn't work.

Of course it doesn't work. That's our verse. God calls out to them. Isn't it great that God calls? They are fearful in their evasiveness.

They can run, but they can't hide. The reason God calls out in this way is not because he needs information that he doesn't have—clearly not—but in order that he might express both his justice and his love and his appeal in this day of reckoning. So it is that there is disruption and there is brokenness, and that's where they are on account of their disobedience. Well, why did God come as he did there? Because he's God. You see, he still loved them, even though they disobeyed him. If that wasn't true, what hope would any of us have?

There'd be no hope. If God did not love the rebel, if God did not call out to us, he calls out these questions to Adam out of an expression of his mercy. That's how God works. Imagine it for the little cheating man, you know, in Luke's Gospel, who's hiding up the tree. Now, he goes up the tree because he's small, but probably up the tree was the only safe place for him, given that none of his friends liked him. They couldn't stand him.

Because he was a cheat, and he robbed them, and he was ashamed. And he's up a tree. And Jesus says, Zacchaeus!

It's fantastic, isn't it? You see, I don't know most of your names. God knows every one of your names. God knows every one of us, even though we are by nature rebels, even though we are by nature on the east side of Eden, and he is the God who reaches out to the disobedient. What a strange thing that Eve should be so preoccupied with this tree. Milton in Paradise Lost describes her giving obeisance to the tree, bowing before the tree. She who would not bow before the God who made the tree, bows before the tree.

That preaches, I'll leave you to apply for yourself. The preoccupation with the now, with the material, with ecology, with all this stuff—yes, understood. But would you bow your knee to the God who made all this stuff?

Oh, no. Number one, I don't believe he made it. Number two, I don't believe he made me.

Number three, I don't believe it even matters. You see why this is a story that catches us up into itself? So God judges the serpent with a curse. It's there in verse 15, I will put enmity. There's going to be conflict between you and the woman.

Then between your offspring and her offspring. And then you will notice that it goes to the singular, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Who is the he? That's the question. Who is the he? That's what I say.

The hints are here. Here is the first hint of the one who will deal with the marauder and this malignant influence, the devil himself. Now, the implications of this curse on the earth extend in the immediacy to the woman and to Adam. To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing. Well, are we to understand this simply as an expression of the physical pain that is involved that we as men have no knowledge of at all?

Well, probably that. But beyond that, there is greater pain and childbearing than that—bringing a child into a sinful world, watching a child grow and not knowing where he will go, how he will go, what he will mean—some of us in the pain and sadness of the loss of children and so on. And people say, Well, why is it that the world is this way?

It is this. The world that we know this morning is not the world the way God made it in its perfection but is the world that man has spoiled in his rebellion. The implication is then for marriage too. That's the significance of what he goes on to say. You used to think you were absolutely perfect for one another, but you're gonna discover that your relationship becomes a potential battleground.

It becomes an arena for self-centeredness on the part of both the husband and the wife. And Adam, you should know as well that although I gave you the job of looking after the garden, you're about to end up as part of the garden. That's what he's saying. You've been sweeping up and around the garden and picking up the leaves and doing whatever needs done. Well, here I've got news for you. You will end up in the garden. You came from dust, and to dust you will return. This death is as a result of sin. Philosophers of the world have no explanation for death.

They have no explanation, really, for evil at all. The philosophy that begins with time plus matter plus chance teaches us again and again that man is on his ascendancy. He's going up from down. The Bible says, No, he is going down from up. He was created in all of the perfection of God's plan. And in rebellion against God's plan, the rest follows.

And to dust we will go. Adam, the tender of the garden, becomes part of the garden. And in terms of the conflict and the enmity between the one who will bruise the head of the serpent and the one who will bruise his heel, this, my friends, is the great conflict—the great conflict—which is, if you like, almost the underlying plotline of the whole Bible. That's why we've been saying in our studies in 1 Samuel, this is not ultimately about David and Goliath.

This is not actually ultimately about the Philistines and the Israelites. This is actually about God and the devil. You don't have to go but turn the page in your Bible to find the fulfillment of this when Cain kills his brother Abel. The rising animosity of humanity against God's word and God's plan is then revealed by the time you get just a few chapters into it with the building of the Tower of Babel. We will build a way up to God. We'll get to God ourselves.

We'll run our own operation. It is the building of the kingdom of darkness in order to confound, if it may, the kingdom of God. I'm not gonna take you through the whole Bible, but if you want to understand what is going on between Egypt and the bondage of God's people in Egypt and the intervention of God in that case, in the same way that he intervened and destroyed the Tower of Babel, so he intervenes in the Passover and brings his people out, so that his line may continue. Because, you see, the whole Bible is going somewhere. It's going to the he.

It is going to the, he will crush your head, and we have to get to the he. And the devil's agenda is to make sure we'll never get to the he. Hence Goliath v. David. Hence the Babylonians against Jerusalem. Hence Nebuchadnezzar against Daniel.

Hence the design of Herod to destroy all the male children under the age of two. What's he doing? Wittingly or unwittingly, he's seeking to destroy that which God has planned so that men and women who are banished from his garden may be brought into the beauty and the wonder and the enjoyment of forgiveness instead of shame, of intimacy instead of alienation, in beauty instead of brokenness.

That's what's happening. And when Jesus steps forward and is introduced to us, what's the very first thing that happens? The temptation in the wilderness.

And what does he say to him? Why, I'll give you the kingdoms of the world. Just do it my way. That's all I'm saying.

You don't have to do all this stuff that you've got in your mind to do. We don't need a cross. We don't need a Savior. You want to have the kingdoms of the world? Let me help you with that.

Now, that's why I say to you, here is the issue. And the cure! The cure is when the Garden of Eden, which has been turned into a desert, eventually it's turned back into a garden. You say, Where's that?

Bookends! Garden becomes desert. Revelation?

Desert becomes garden. And in the meantime, what is happening? Romans 8 tells us that all creation groans in travail, waiting for the redemption of the sons of man.

So when we talk to our friends who are concerned about these things—about global warming, about all of that—I say, You know, it's no surprise to me that these issues go on, nor is it a surprise to me that we would be concerned, and with a measure of justification. But here's what the Bible actually says. What is really happening, the subplot in all of this, is that the one who has come, the second Adam—the first Adam flunks it in the garden, the second Adam triumphs in the garden, the first one in the Garden of Eden, the second one in the Garden of Gethsemane. And in that triumph in the cross, he crushes the head of Satan.

He is defeated, but he is not destroyed, for that day is yet to come when in his return he will gather all who are his own and give to each one the privilege of enjoying a world in which there is no sin, no sorrow, no cancer, no bitterness, no political wrangling—just fantastic beauty. Oh, you say, if I could get in that garden, can you tell me how you get in the garden? Yes.

Yeah. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hanged on a tree. The wonder of it is this, that the garden is protected so that Adam and Eve cannot get back in. Verse 24, there's a flaming sword. The cherubim are there to make sure nothing happens, and they're turned away. They're guarding the way to the tree for life.

So how in the world can you get in here? Well, somebody is gonna have to endure the flaming sword. And what does Zechariah tell us? He says that God will smite the shepherd. Who's the shepherd? Jesus says, I am the good shepherd.

I give my life for the sheep. It was the will of God to bruise him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was bruised for our sins.

He was crushed for our iniquities. We who have no mechanism whatsoever in ourselves to gain entry into that garden find that as we trust in Christ, as we choose no longer to live beyond the boundaries that he has set, as we choose no longer to live in the folly of it all that says, you know, I think if there is a God, he's just trying to keep everything good from me. I want to be able to cheat when I want. I want to be able to sleep with anyone I want. I want to be able to do everything. I want to be free. I want to just have it all. And I don't like that Christian stuff and that restrictive stuff.

And so the choice that he gave them, which gave them the freedom to choose, was the thing that brought them into the predicament. I've had a song going through my head. There's a prize for anybody who knows what this song is. You have to be honest afterwards. I'm not calling that out right now. But there has been a song in my head for the entire week. In fact, you could actually argue that this I should have preached from this song rather than this passage, because it would have been easier to preach from this song than this passage. Someone said, Amen.

But… Okay. Fifty years ago, a little less, a little more, August the 8th, Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, the Manson family, murder Sharon Tate, and four of her friends. Two days later, in Los Feliz, they take out a married couple. Meanwhile, 2,300 miles away, in upstate New York, everything is in motion for a festival of peace and love. Woodstock. The anthem of Woodstock was written by somebody who was not at Woodstock, namely Johnny Mitchell. And Johnny Mitchell was on The Dick Cavett Show, and that prevented her from being at Woodstock.

That shows you how long ago fifty years is. Her friends, Crosby Stills, Nash, Young, they told her all about it. She sat then and wrote the song, which begins, I came upon a child of God. And he was walking along the road, and I asked him, Where are you going? And this he told me, I'm going on down to Yasker's farm. I'm going to join a rock-and-roll band. I'm going to camp out on the land. I'm going to try and get my soul free. I'm going to try and get my soul free. Then can I walk beside you? I've come here to lose the smog, and I feel to be a cog in something turning.

And maybe it's just the time of year, or maybe it's the time of man. I don't know who I am. Okay? I gotta get my soul free. I feel like I'm a cog in something turning.

I don't know who I am. But I dreamed. I saw the bombers riding shotgun in the sky, and they were turning into butterflies. Of course. All we are saying is, Give peace a chance. We understand this. And what's the refrain? We are stardust, billion-year-old carbon, we are golden, caught in the devil's bargain, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

We've got to get ourselves back to the garden. The tragedy of that is that the longing, you see—the longing of their hearts, to this point at least—has not been met by the discovery of the one who has opened the way back into the garden. And if you talk to people who are lovers of the song, you get this kind of response. It is a song of hope and positivity, a celebration of a generation whose dreams still seem to reside within the realm of possibility. Even now, after all, we and the world has been through.

The sense of optimism and change, for the better, shines through its words and its melodies. Well, I don't know. I choose to disagree. All the optimism of half a century ago has been completely overwhelmed by fifty years that has revealed again to us what happens when we choose a lie over the truth, when we choose to break the boundaries of God's plan, when we choose to reject the only one who has the key, who is the key, who opens the door back into the garden.

I wonder, are you confident today that when God comes to us in all power and glory in the person of Jesus, that you will be included in that company, and only because you came to him and you said, Lord Jesus Christ, I admit it. It's not my heredity. It's not my spouse. It's not my circumstances.

It's just me. I am ashamed. I'm naked. I've been hiding too long. And I thank you for coming to find me. And I want to love you and trust you and follow you.

Well, I leave it with you. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend. That is Alistair Begg reminding us that although there are consequences for our sin, God has the cure for all who will trust Jesus.

Have you trusted him? If you just prayed that prayer along with Alistair and you'd like to learn more about the gospel, you can take a few minutes and watch a couple of free videos and listen to a special message from Alistair on our website. Visit the learn more page at truthforlife.org slash learn more. These videos are also a free and easy way to share the gospel with others. And if you still have questions, there are several short stories highlighted to help you gain a deeper understanding about Jesus, the gospel and the church, even the basics of Christianity. All of us here at Truth for Life are thankful for the privilege we have of opening the Bible with you each day and studying God's word together. Our mission is to teach the Bible in a way that is clear and helpful to you as you seek to apply God's instruction in your daily life. It's our prayer that as you listen, God's spirit will work through the teaching of God's word to draw you closer to Jesus. So if this is your experience today and you'd like to share your story, we would love to hear from you.

Email us at letters at truthforlife.org, and we look forward to hearing from you. Now here's Alistair to close today's program with prayer. Father, thank you. Thank you for the clarity of the Bible. Any confusion is all our doing. Thank you that Jesus has come, that there is a Redeemer, and that one day, when the day of reckoning is over and when all the matters have been settled, then we will praise your glorious grace, all that love divine, about which we sang earlier in the service, the love that excels every other love, joy of heaven to earth come down. And so we pray, fix in us your humble dwelling, please, for your son's sake. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening. Next weekend, we'll journey forward in Genesis from the Garden of Eden to Noah's Ark. How do we find Christmas in the flood? Find out when you join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.