to a person many centuries later, however many years later that is, in order for them
to understand how the creation period went.
At the end of the day, we just have to have faith that God wrote the Bible, that all scripture
is given by inspiration of God.
Now when we look at Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2, they're both essentially
talking about the creation.
And sometimes people can get confused regarding these two accounts because they're talking
about the same thing, but they seem kind of out of order.
But what we can look at here is the fact that Genesis chapter 1 is essentially the general
description of the six day creation.
And then Genesis chapter 2 is more specific regarding Adam's creation and his placement
in the garden.
So here's a good way to look at it.
Genesis 1 would be like the table of contents of creation.
Genesis chapter 2 is like the specific chapter on man.
You understand?
So chapter 1 would be like the table of contents.
You go to your Bible, you have the table of contents there.
It gives you kind of the generalities of what's taking place in the book, right?
Whereas Genesis 2 really is like a chapter specifically on man, on the Garden of Eden
and so forth.
And so that's how we need to look at it.
And obviously we know that chapter 1 is more so from the divine perspective because man
is not there.
Chapter 2 is more from the perspective of man viewing creation from his point of view
from earth, etc.
So man is the main focus of chapter 2, and then of course we see there's a transition
there in verse 4.
Look at verse number 1 if you would.
It says, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from
all his work which God created and made."
Now the first thing I want you to notice here is that God rests on the seventh day, not
because he needs to by the way, right?
He obviously creates everything in six literal days through Jesus Christ because through
the word of God all things are made and without him was not anything made that was made.
But it says here that he rested from his works and it doesn't mean that it's because of the
fact that he grew weary or he's tired.
It's essentially showing us that he's resting as an example to future generations that six
days thou shall labor and on the seventh shall be a rest.
That's what we see.
Now that's important to note because people who believe in the Sabbath in the New Testament,
how we should be resting on the Sabbath, just as it was instituted in Exodus chapter
20, will often use Genesis chapter two to reinforce that teaching.
Oh God, you know, rested on the seventh day.
Therefore he instituted it in Exodus chapter 20.
Therefore it transcends the Levitical law and it should be practiced even today.
But what people fail to realize is the fact that there's nowhere in this particular passage
where God prescribes this for people to do.
It's simply describing what God did and nowhere in the passage does it say that it's a sin
to not observe the Sabbath, right?
It was sinful during that particular time period known as the old covenant established
on Mount Sinai.
But once Jesus Christ was crucified, bringing about the new covenant, that is no longer
imposed upon the people.
And there's various scriptures that we can go to in the New Testament to prove that.
Colossians chapter two is probably the main one that it specifically says that we don't
need to observe the new moons or the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come,
but the bodies of Christ.
And it says, of course, in Hebrews chapter four, addressing Hebrews, right, that we find
our rest in Jesus Christ, okay?
The fact is that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath because when we believe on him, we are essentially
resting from our works for salvation.
And so we see that there he does not need to rest because he is tired.
He's simply setting forth an example for future generations to come.
Look, verse four says, these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they
were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heaven.
So we see a transition there in verse four talking about the heavens and the earth.
And then the latter part of verse four talks about the earth and the heaven.
So it's kind of giving us this perspective that now we're going to focus on the specifics
of what has been created such as man and what takes place during the sixth day.
Look at verse number five.
It says every plant of the field before it was in the earth and every herb of the field
before it grew for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth and there was not
a man to till the ground but there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole
face of the ground.
So we see here God talking about this irrigation system that he set in place because obviously
during this particular time it wasn't raining.
Look at verse seven.
He says in 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.
So keep this in mind.
This is taking place during the sixth day.
On the sixth day.
And if you remember the sixth day is the creation of the animals as well as man.
You have the land being created along with the rivers and the plants on the third day.
Animals, the beasts of the field and man is created on the sixth day.
These parallel one with another.
So we can safely assume that essentially Eden was created on the third day.
Man is created on the sixth day but then God plants a garden in Eden that was created on
the third day on the sixth day as well.
And what we're looking at here is a very unique creation, right?
The other creations are great.
Obviously you have, you know, the day and the night, you have the lightness and darkness,
you have the firmament, you have land, you have hills being created, you have thousand
marine life, you have the sun, moon and stars.
These are all extraordinary creations.
But the greatest creation of all is man.
And one of the reasons for that, the main reason for that is because nothing else during
the creation period is created in the image of God.
This is the apex of all creation.
And if you get nothing from the sermon, get this, we're more important than all the animals
on the face of the planet.
And when I say we, we're talking about humanity, it's far more important than all of creation
because we're made in the image of God.
And let me just clarify, when I say we, I'm talking about man is created in the image
of God, women obviously are not created in the image of God.
Man is created in the image of man.
And we'll see that later on in the book of Genesis, you know, churches wrongly teach
that men and women are created in the image of God.
But that's not true because God is not a woman, right?
You know, woman was created from man and it specifically says that man in Genesis chapter
one, by the way, it says that he was created in the image of God.
And so that's important to note.
So we see here that after he's finished completing the beast of the field, now he focuses his
attention on forming man from the dust of the ground.
And you know, obviously the terminology that's being used here seems to indicate that God
is very much there.
You know, I'm assuming that Jesus Christ, for example, was in the garden of Eden, forming
Adam out of the clay of the ground, the dust of the ground.
And then of course he breathes into his nostrils the breath of life.
And it says that man becomes a living soul.
And this is very interesting because throughout the Bible, we think of soul as that inanimate
object within us.
But the Bible seems to use soul interchangeably to just describe a man, whether it's referring
to his physical body or not, just referring to the person.
And so man becomes that living soul, he inhabits that shell, that flesh, and he lives.
So we see here the creation of man.
Look at Genesis 1 26, of course, this is the overview of his creation, verse 26.
And God said, let us make men in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, over the foul of the air, over the cattle and over all the
earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man to be in his image, but also to have dominion, meaning that we are
to rule over all things, not have all things rule over us.
We are the lords of this earth, so to speak.
And so he creates Adam.
We see this in 1st Timothy 2.13, that Adam was first formed, then Eve.
Isaiah 64, you don't have to turn there, go with me if you would to Ecclesiastes chapter
3.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3, hold your place there in Genesis chapter 2.
Isaiah 64 verse number 8 says, "But now, O Lord, thou art our father, we are the clay.
Thou art our potter, and we are all the work of thy hand."
Now this is important to know when we read about the creation of Adam, because it reminds
us that we're nothing, right?
We are but dust, we are but clay, and it should bring some sort of thought of humility within
us to recognize that at the end of the day we're just dirt.
And so we're not eternal beings as far as our flesh is concerned, there's nothing extravagant
about us, obviously God esteems us, the Lord Jesus Christ died for us, but the Bible warns
about us being high minded, prideful and arrogant, right?
Thinking that we're something when we're actually nothing and at the end of the day, you know,
we were formed from the ground and guess where we're going to return?
Back to the ground.
Right?
Look at Ecclesiastes chapter three and verse 19 it says for that which befalleth the sons
of men befalleth beasts.
What do you mean by that?
It means that you're going to go to the same place that animals go to, obviously not your
spirit but your body will.
Why?
Because when you die, your body will decompose.
Yes, it's true.
You might be in a very fancy coffin, right?
With all the trimmings and all that, but you will still decompose.
You will go back to the ground because the same death that befalls beasts shall befall
you as well.
He says even one thing befalleth them as the one dyeth, so dyeth the other.
Yea, they have all one breath so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast for all
is vanity.
Now, this isn't saying that beasts are more important than man.
This is saying that we die just as beasts die.
In other words, death is the plague that saturates all of humanity, right?
We cannot escape death just like the zebra cannot escape the lion.
No one can escape that death this side of eternity, which is why we need salvation.
Look at verse 20, it says, "All go into one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to
dust again."
And so Adam, though he was a very unique creation of God, guess what?
He lived over 900 years, but still he died and returned.
It was dust once again, he decomposed, and he went into the ground from whence he came
out of.
And so that's important to note because of the fact that it creates within us a sense
of humility, a sense of recognition that life is brief, the brevity of life.
And no matter how much money you have or how good looking you think you are, right?
Or how much gains you got, what type of possessions you have, you will still die and death shall
befall you like it does a beast.
You will return to the ground.
You are but dust.
And we have multiple examples throughout the scriptures of godly men talking about the
fact that they are but dust, right?
And one of the reasons they had that perspective is because of the fact that they thought upon
the Lord and the greatness of God, how wondrous he is, caused the men of God in the Bible
to recognize man, I'm a worm, I am but dust, I am nothing, you know, compared to the glory
of God.
Go to first Corinthians chapter 15, if you would first Corinthians chapter 15.
And obviously we can get into the specifics of biology and how our physical body literally
has elements that you could find in the soil.
And you know, we are essentially a mixture, our tissue, ourselves are a mixture of what's
found in the ground because the animals eat what grows out of the ground.
We eat the animals ends up becoming ourselves and so forth.
But the more spiritual significance to that is the fact that we're nothing.
And that should cause you also to recognize, you know, how great the love of God is, right?
The breadth, length, depth and height to know the love of Christ that passeth all knowledge.
Look at first Corinthians 15 verse 45.
It says, and so it was written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul.
The last Adam was made a quickening spirit, how be it that was not, excuse me, how be
it that was not first, which is spiritual, but that which is natural.
And afterward, that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy.
The second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy.
And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now, the main thrust of what 1 Corinthians 15 is talking about
is obviously the resurrection.
But it's talking about Adam because it's showing us
that Adam can only carry us so far.
We are physical descendants of Adam,
but he could only carry us so far because he returned to dust.
Therefore, we need that last Adam.
Why?
Because we shall be raised in incorruption.
Yes, we'll be buried in corruption,
but because of salvation through Jesus Christ,
we will be raised in incorruption.
Go back to Genesis, if you would.
Genesis chapter two.
So the Lord God forms man of the dust of the ground.
He breathes into his nostrils the breath of life.
He becomes a living soul.
Look at verse eight.
It says here, "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden,
and there he put the man whom he had formed."
So we see here that this particular garden is unique from the third day.
Now I believe that Eden was created on the third day, but we have a garden in Eden that's
planted after Adam is made, right?
And so, you know, we can speculate why he did that or what it is, but I'm going to get
into some of the pictures that we see here.
Let me also mention this before I get into the garden of Eden itself.
We were just discussing this before the service, because a lot of people wonder, so like, how
long were they there, right, before the fall?
How long were Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden before the fall of man, before Saint
Hick came to tempt them, and they took up the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
How long was it?
And, you know, there's all types of speculations out there.
Some people surmise that they were there for years or whatever.
I think that they're probably there for about one to two days, okay?
You know, we can't say dogmatically how much, but the only reason I would come up with that
speculation is because of the fact that at the end of Genesis chapter two, you have the
creation of Eve and what is the result of a union is that they come together, right?
And she conceives.
Well, children are not conceived until Genesis chapter four, which is after the fall in Genesis
chapter three.
So their creation is in, we have the creation here, but it's on day six.
You have God rested on day seven and the fall either took place on day seven, which could
probably be the most logical conclusion.
Because if God is resting from his works, it may explain why he wasn't present there
in the garden.
And then he becomes present in Genesis chapter three, where he's looking for Adam, right?
We don't know.
This is all speculation, but for sure it had to be between day seven and day eight.
Okay, because again, you have the children being born in Genesis chapter four and that's
after the fall.
Okay.
And so that's my speculation.
I don't believe that they were there for like years, just in paradise, just like she's feeding
them grapes, you know, and then she's got the fan on him and everything like that.
She should have been, you know, maybe the fall wouldn't have happened if she was just
busy serving her husband or whatever, instead of out there exploring or whatever, trying
to be an independent woman, you know, but you know, that's, that's just the issue we
had here.
So it's possible that the fall happened either on day seven when God rested from his works,
which would indicate why he is returning in Genesis chapter three when he's looking for
Adam, but for sure it was after day seven around day eight or so.
So that's all speculation, but I think it's, I think it's a valid point.
So God creates the garden here and he places it in Eden.
Of course he places man.
And now this is referred to as paradise and you know, why is it called paradise?
Well because of the fact that this is the ideal situation, right?
You have God, you have man, and of course later on God recognizes that it's not good
for a man to be alone, which is why he creates Eve.
He creates the animals and whatnot.
But you know, the Bible refers to the garden of Eden as paradise.
And you know what?
From a, you know, from a carnal perspective, people think, oh no, paradise is like a beach.
It's the blue waters.
It's the Bahamas.
It's Aruba.
It's, you know, these really like exotic places.
But paradise, according to the Bible, is just to be in the presence of God.
It's to have fellowship with the Lord.
It's to have no obstruction between you and God.
Okay.
And so we see that there.
Revelation 2 7, you don't have to turn there, says, he that hath an ear, let him hear what
the spirit sayeth unto the churches.
To him that overcomeeth will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the paradise of God.
So we know that the tree of life is in the garden of Eden.
And it says here that the tree of life is in the midst of the paradise of God, therefore
Eden is paradise.
And I do believe that everything was perfect at this time, you know, the climate was perfect.
The trees are perfect.
Everything was perfect.
There's no sin.
Everything's perfectly made.
And so everything's good to go.
So we have creation and I believe not just Eden is perfect.
I think the whole world is perfect at this time, right?
There's no sin.
Satan is not running around tempting anybody because obviously Adam and Eve, or Eve hasn't
even been made.
Adam is the only one made.
I do believe Satan is in the Garden of Eden at this time.
And I don't believe he's referred to as Satan at this point.
He's simply referred to as Lucifer according to Isaiah chapter 14.
And I believe he's that cherub that's covering the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And I'll get into that next week when we go into Genesis chapter three.
But the world at this point is perfect.
God created it.
But then you have Eden and then you have the garden eastward of Eden.
Look at verse number nine, he says out of the ground, may 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, these were literal trees that existed in the garden, but they obviously have a significant
spiritual representation, right?
The tree of life represents who, Jesus Christ.
Because if you eat of the tree, you'll never die, you'll live forever.
And I believe that the tree of knowledge of good and evil represents the conscience, okay?
Because it's pretty interesting if you think about it, you know, if everything's good,
there's no sin.
You have this tree called the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
It's like, how can you call everything good?
How can you say there's no sin in the world when this tree of knowledge of good and evil
is present?
Well, I don't believe this tree is innately sinful, or there's anything innately evil
about the tree.
It's essentially just the doorway to discovering both good and evil type of a thing, okay?
And I think a good way to describe this is the law, okay?
Go to Revelation, I'm sorry, go to Romans chapter seven, if you would, Romans chapter
seven, because what happens when they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
They had the ability to discern between good and evil.
The tree in and of itself is not sinful, but disobeying God and eating of the tree is sinful,
right?
And I think a good way to describe this would be like the law.
And in fact, the Bible talks about the law as not being sinful, even though it brings
forth death.
Look at Romans chapter seven, verse number seven.
He says, "What shall we say then is the law sin?
God forbid."
Right?
"Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had
said, 'Thou shalt not covet.'"
So it's not until Adam and Eve, Eve of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that
they recognize that they're naked, right?
The tree in and of itself isn't bad.
It's what the tree awakens them, and they recognize, "Oh, I'm naked.
I've disobeyed God."
You know, that's essentially what the law does as well.
Look at verse eight, "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner
of concupiscence, for without the law, sin is dead.
For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and
I died."
And that's literally what happened to Adam and Eve, right?
They were alive once in the Garden of Eden prior to eating of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, but then the commandment came, sin revived, and they literally began to die
physically and spiritually.
They began to die physically because they would no longer live forever.
He says in verse 10, "And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be
unto death.
For sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
Now what's interesting about this is that it's saying that the commandment deceived
Paul and it slew him.
And you know, when you look at how Adam viewed the tree of knowledge of good and evil, she
said it was what?
Pleasant to the eyes, right?
And obviously she thought it was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes.
But what was the result of that?
Death.
Okay.
So it was deceptive.
You guys in verse 12, "Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and
good, was then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid, but sin, that it might
appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might
become exceeding sinful, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold
under sin."
So what are we saying here?
We're saying here that the law, like the tree of knowledge of good and evil, there's
nothing innately wrong about it, it's not sinful, God forbid, it says, right?
It's when the law slays an individual that they recognize that they've sinned, understand?
It helps them to recognize their condition before God.
And in like manner, when Eve chose to eat at the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
she recognized I've sinned, I'm naked, she gives into her husband, he does likewise,
and it brings forth death.
Verse 16 says, "If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it
is good."
And what's also interesting is the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 3, it says, "Therefore
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin."
Just like the tree of knowledge of good and evil, right?
It's the knowledge of sin.
So the law isn't bad, the tree of knowledge of good and evil isn't bad, but once you disobey
God's commandment to eat of that tree, now you have that knowledge of sin.
Go back to Genesis if you would.
Now one thing I want you to notice about this particular command that God gives, you know,
you think to yourself, "Oh man, why did God put that tree of knowledge of good and evil
there?"
You know, because no one wants to take personal responsibility, right, it's always God's
fault or something.
It's like, "Oh man, you know, I don't understand why God had to do that."
Well first of all, there's only one tree there that he told Adam and Eve not to eat from,
right?
Every other tree is available.
So it's kind of crazy to blame God for that one tree because he specifically said, "Hey,
don't touch it lest ye die," okay?
And then people are like, "Oh man, I just don't understand," you know, these dumb atheists
out there.
They're just like, "Why would God put the ..." because he's God and he wants to.
That's why.
Here's a better question.
Why did Adam and Eve eat from it if they knew it was going to kill them?
People always want to place the blame on God when it's actually their own fault for disobeying
God.
Here's the thing, folks, is that when it comes to God's laws, God's not just trying to impose
laws upon you just to make your life miserable.
First and foremost, you should just obey it because God said, but secondly, it's often
to protect you.
And quite frankly, he gives us far more, much more liberty than he does restrictions.
It's not like, "Oh man, did you hear we can't eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?"
Yeah, but what about all the other trees that thou mayst freely eat?
We don't have to ask for permission for all the other trees, but all of a sudden the tree
of knowledge of good, the one tree that God told you not to eat from, that's what you
decide to eat from and you damn all of humanity thereafter.
The thing that I'm making here is that never view the laws of God as being so restrictive
because God's just trying to impose misery upon you.
They're there to protect you.
They're there to preserve you.
They're there so that you don't destroy your life because the wages of sin is death, to
bring about death.
And so why not just eat of the tree of life?
Why not just eat of every tree freely?
He's not making these rules and saying, "Hey, by the way, you can eat of this one twice
a day, this one three times, this one only once."
He's like, "Eat as much as you want."
And by the way, one of the reasons he told him to eat freely is because he's working.
He's laboring, he's working, which by the way, this is another reason we need to make
sure we understand that paradise isn't just not working.
The biblical definition of paradise, according to the first paradise, is that Adam was laboring.
He was working.
He's not kicking up his feet and a bear's coming and scratching, scratching his back
or something, and squirrels are massaging his feet or something.
That's fantasy.
It's nonsense.
Adam was laboring, and I don't believe he was laboring in misery either, because of
the fact that this is showing us that God created man to work, and he feels the most
fulfilled when he's accomplishing a task, when he's achieving goals, when he's making
a difference, when he's actually being productive.
That's how God created man to be.
In fact, this fantasy of just not doing anything for the rest of your life and calling that
paradise, that's actually called depression.
When you're just at home and you're not getting any sunlight, the blood's not circulating,
you're not exerting yourself, you're not exercising your mind, you're not accomplishing anything,
that will eventually make you depressed.
It'll make you physically weak, it'll make you mentally depressed.
That's not the life.
Now, look, folks, six days out shall labor, and on the seventh, you should rest, right?
There's nothing wrong with a little vacation, a little recreation, after you've worked.
I think sometimes in our society, we have too much workaholics, where they just kind
of exert themselves so much that they don't rest.
And I think resting is very much a necessary thing for us as humans to do when we've been
laboring.
But you have the other extreme where people just want to rest.
All they want to do is rest and relax and not do anything, play video games all day
long and just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we go to work or something.
They just don't know what to do with their lives or they just don't want to work at all.
They find an eight hour shift just like, oh man, miserable or something.
It's like, oh man, can you cut down my hours?
I've got anxiety.
God made man to work.
Adam before the fall is laboring.
He's working.
You say, yeah, but conditions were perfect back then.
He still had him work after the fall.
So he's just before, after the fall, in the millennial reign, we're going to be laboring.
We're going to be working.
You'll find fulfillment in joy in working as long as you're not spinning your wheels
off.
You see, right?
But you know, the Bible says that in labor, there's profit in all labor, right?
If you're working, if you're laboring, if you're being creative, if you are putting
in work, you will receive the benefits of that in one way or another as a Christian
especially.
So what I'm making here is that paradise, according to the Bible, is actually putting
in a full day's work.
And Adam had a lot to do.
He's naming the animals as we're going to see here.
And the Bible says that there's no one to till the ground.
There's no one to take care to keep the garden.
So Adam is there.
He's trimming the flowers.
He's picking off the fruit or whatever.
He's exploring.
He's making sure everything looks fine and dandy.
He's serving God by keeping the garden.
And so, by the way, flowers were made for man first.
Remember that.
Women hate to hear it, but it's true.
God made the garden for...
He made a garden for Adam.
He planted a garden.
He's just like, "This is for my boy Adam."
I don't want flowers, but I'm just throwing that out there.
Sarah, don't get any ideas.
All right.
Verse 10 says, "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was
parted and became into four heads.
The name of the first is Pisan.
That is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold
of that land is good.
There is Delium, and the onyx stone, the name of the second river is Gihon, the same as
that compasses the whole land of Ethiopia, and the name of the third river is Hiddickal.
That is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria, and the fourth river is Euphrates.
So let's talk about what this symbolically represents, because you have the world, you
have Eden, and then you have the garden of Eden, and when you look at this from a New
Testament perspective, even the book of Revelation, we can surmise that Eden is essentially like
a picture of God the Father.
Go to John chapter 14, if you would, John chapter 14, Eden would represent God the Father.
The garden that's placed in Eden represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
And of course, who goes into the garden?
Adam goes into the garden.
So Adam goes into the garden that represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
The garden is found within Eden, which represents God the Father.
Look at John 14 and verse number nine, "Jesus sayeth unto him, Have I been so long time
with you?
And yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and I'll sayest thou then, Show us the Father.
Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me?
The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very
works sake.
So this is a good passage in John 14 to prove the Trinity, right?
The fact that Jesus Christ is deity, he's God, but he's also the Son of God, because
this is showing us that Jesus Christ is in the Father, but both the Son and the Father
are distinctly different people, right?
That's what the Trinity is about.
There's not this oneness where Jesus Christ is the Father.
He's actually in the Father, right?
So just as the garden is in Eden, in like manner, Jesus Christ is in the Father.
And if, by the way, it's obviously showing us here that when it comes to the garden,
for example, in order to get to Eden, you got to be in the garden.
So God places Adam within the garden that pictures Jesus Christ that's in Eden representing
God the Father.
Not only that, but we see that there's a river that comes out of Eden, right?
It splits into four heads and where does it go thereafter?
Into all the world.
And what does the river represent?
Go to John 15, if you would, John chapter 15.
The river represents the Holy Spirit.
So the garden is God the Father, excuse me, Eden is God the Father.
The garden is Jesus Christ and the river represents the Holy Spirit, which consistently throughout
the Bible, water, oil is often a representation of the Holy Spirit.
John 15 26 says, but when the Comforter has come, whom I was sent unto you from the Father,
even the spirit of truth, truth, which proceeded from the Father, he shall testify of me.
And he also shall bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.
We see here that the Comforter known as the Holy Spirit is proceeding forth from the Father
unto the disciples.
Just as the rivers proceed forth from Eden, splitting into four heads, going out into
all the world.
Go to John chapter seven, John chapter seven, if you would, John chapter seven, the tree
of life representing everlasting life, Eden representing God, the Father, the garden representing
Jesus Christ, the river that comes forth from Eden represents the Holy Spirit.
John chapter seven, verse 38 says, he that believeth on me as the scripture had said
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this spake he of the spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
I do find it interesting that the river comes forth from the garden.
And what does it do?
It splits into four heads.
Well, what do we have?
The New Testament, we have the four gospels, right?
And obviously you have, for example, the Cherubim that's mentioned both in Old and New Testament.
The Cherubim are these anthropomorphic angelic creatures that have the body of a man and
they have four faces, right?
They have the face of a lion, the face of an ox, the face of a man, and the face of
an eagle.
And this, of course, is a representation of the four gospels because Matthew is represented
by a lion, Mark is represented by an ox, Luke is represented by a man, and then John
is represented by an eagle.
So it's interesting how you have that symbolic representation there, and then you have these
four heads splitting, right?
So the Holy Spirit is working through the four gospels to go out into all the world.
That's essentially the representation there.
Go back to Genesis, if you would, Genesis chapter two, look at verse 15.
It says, "And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it
and to keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man saying, 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely
eat.
But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'"
I mean, there's no just clear commandment there.
He's just saying, "Don't eat this because it's going to kill you.
You can eat everything else, but make sure you don't eat this one because you're going
to die if you do."
Okay?
Now, what does this show us?
Show us.
It shows us that instead of criticizing God for placing the tree of knowledge of good
and evil, it should show you to appreciate the fact that God gave us free will because
that's what it shows, right?
God didn't create robots.
"Oh, why didn't God create robots?
It would have been better if He just made us do."
No, because then how are we going to genuinely and sincerely express love to God if we're
just forced to do so?
God wants us to choose to love Him.
He wants us to choose to keep God's commandments, and so He gave us free will.
One of the reasons that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is there because He wanted
Adam to choose right, and quite frankly, initially, He probably did.
It's of my personal opinion that He was not deceived by the serpent.
The Bible says that Eve was deceived, and it's possible that Adam just kind of went
along with it for whatever reason, maybe because he just loved Eve.
He didn't want it to be cast out of the garden, whatever it is, but He chose to do wrong at
that point.
The point being is that this is a clear indication that God wants you to choose to do right.
He's not going to make you do right.
He can work in us.
He can express His love toward us.
He can show us truth.
But at the end of the day, you have to choose.
We're not shackled by God, by the Holy Spirit.
We could be moved by God.
God can work in our hearts.
But at the end of the day, God wants us to choose to keep His commandments.
You know what?
That's the choice you got to make every single day, right?
Every single day, you know, you might've had a great day today, but guess what?
Tomorrow's a new day.
Tomorrow's the day that you have to choose to take up your cross and follow Him.
To deny yourself to take up your cross and follow Him.
That's a choice that you have to make.
That's why Calvinism is such a stupid doctrine.
Oh, you know, God just makes you do all these things.
He just preselected you to do, predestined you to accomplish all these things.
Wrong.
The Bible constantly talks about our will.
Whosoever will may come, right?
And here is the very first proof of that.
He's giving Him a choice, right?
Very important.
As I mentioned before, God's laws always provide more liberty than restrictions.
And you know, God's restrictions brings deliverance from death.
And so therefore, His commandments should not be grievous unto us.
We should see His commandments as a way of protecting us from the wages of sin and so
forth.
Now, let me also say this regarding the tree of knowledge of good and evil, like a principle
that we can learn from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, is that, you know, from
a physical perspective, it probably tasted good initially, right?
Just like sin.
And initially, that first bite tastes good, but then afterward, that mouth shall be filled
with gravel.
So I'm sure like Eve was just like, "Dang, ugh, probably tasted nasty."
And I'm not talking about just spiritual, I'm talking about from a physical perspective,
I'm sure that's exactly how it was.
Because the tree of knowledge of good and evil provided actual spiritual and physical
death.
And so this is a great representation of how sin works.
You know, when you take a bite out of sin, you know, when you take a bite out of fornication,
you take a bite out of adultery, you take a bite out of gambling, you take a bite out
of whatever, fill in the blank sin, you know, initially it probably tastes good, but you
know what?
The end result of that is not good.
What fruit had he then in those things were of your now ashamed for the end of those things
is death.
That's what Romans chapter six says, right?
And so we have to realize this is a good lesson for us to learn that when we are enticed
and tempted to sin, you know, the tree of knowledge of good and evil looks pleasant
to the eyes.
It looks like it tastes good.
Just remind yourself, it does taste good, but it doesn't end well fornication does not
end well.
Adultery does not end well.
Guess what?
The honeymoon of adultery ends.
Okay.
You know, Oh, people who commit adultery, they're just on this high.
It's just so great.
I feel so alive.
You know, just, Oh, this feels great.
The romance is back.
Oh yeah.
Just give it a couple of months and then you're going to taste your mouth shall be filled
with gravel.
The end result of you committing that sin will far outweigh the pleasure you got from
that first bite.
That's a guarantee.
Okay.
Oh man.
But I'm just going to, I'm just going to keep biting from a new apple, from a new apple,
from a new fruit, from a new tree.
And I'm just going to, yeah, but they all have the same result though.
It's just bitter at the end of the, at the end of the day.
Okay.
Bitterness is the result.
Death is the result.
You know, sorrow is the result.
Grief is the result.
You never enjoys, sin is only pleasurable for a season.
That's what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, meaning it's only short, it's short lived.
And so it's important for us to recognize that because you know, God is constantly trying
to get us to give heed to ourselves so that we don't give in to the temptation of sin.
And it's not because he's trying to keep you from fun.
He's trying to keep you from the deception that it is fun.
He's trying to keep you and help you to avoid the delusion that sin provides when it's trying
to entice you.
Oh no, you enjoy it.
It's going to be great.
Yeah.
It's not pornography.
You're just going to really enjoy it.
Yeah.
But afterwards that mouth shall be filled with gravel afterwards.
Your brain is going to be destroyed afterwards.
You're going to be depressed.
You're going to be discouraged.
Your mind is going to be filled with filth and perversion.
You'll be a disgusting person who can't enjoy a normal physical relationship with your spouse
because you took the sin.
You got involved in it.
You had pleasure in it, but now what fruit had even those things, wherever you're in
our shame, God is constantly trying to warn us against these things, right?
You know, I'm sure the tree of knowledge of good and evil prior tasted good.
You know, it reminds me of that nasty fruit.
How do you pronounce it?
Duron?
Durang?
Durong?
What's the American way to say it?
Durang?
But it's like the reversal.
Okay.
So how many of you have ever actually had that fruit?
How many of you have gotten close enough to eat it?
Okay.
So it's, it's, it's, well, I don't agree, but you know, you're messing up the illustration
here.
So like, it smells like garbage.
Like it's disgust.
It just smells like absolute trash.
And you know, I went to a church where there's a lot of Southeast Asians there and they ate
that a lot.
They would have it in smoothies and all that.
And you know, like you knew if someone was eating it in a room or had finished eating
something because it was just, it would just saturate the entire room.
And one day I went in there, you know, to one of the offices and I was like, Ooh, I
was like, someone's eating durang here and they're like, Hey, don't knock it till you
tried it.
It's a smoothie.
You should try.
I was like, I can't even get close enough to eat it.
I was like, I can't even, and they're like, they're like, trust me, try this smoothie
and you'll like it.
I'm like, how?
I can't get close.
And they're like, and he does what he say, plug your nose and then drink it.
Once it's in your mouth, then you know, then taste it and you tell me if you like it or
not.
And you know, I'll be honest with you.
I did it and I actually liked it.
It was good.
That's the last time I ever had it though.
And one of the reasons why is because I don't want to be offensive to say if you're eating
durang and then you're talking to someone, you're just going to like, you know, you, you
talk to a flower, it's just going to like swither and stuff, you know, but you know, sin is like
a reversal of that. It tastes good, but it's just absolutely disgusting there. And you,
and you're going to be disgusted with yourself. You're going to be disgusted with yourself.
You're going to be ashamed of yourself. And here's how Satan works, folks. He tempts you
into committing that sin because I do believe Satan was in charge of covering that tree
of knowledge of good and evil. And he's the one who enticed Eve to eat it. You know what
that Satan does? He tempts you to do it. He gives you all the excuses why you should,
how pleasurable it is. He makes it pleasant to the eyes. And then when you eat it, he's
just like, I can't believe you. He would do something like, you know what that's called?
The accuser of the brethren. He shames you for doing it. So here's how you can avoid
all that drama. Just don't do it. Stay away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Stay away from that sin. Go eat of every tree freely. Get married and enjoy it in the right
way. Be content with such things as you have. Exercise self-control. Keep under your body,
bring it into subjection. Let's by any means when you preach to others, you yourself should
be a castaway. The point that I'm making here is that just because it tastes good doesn't
mean that it ends well. Taco bell. Tastes good but it doesn't end well. Amen. Can I
get an amen on that? We all know what we're getting into when we have Taco Bell. Keep
going back to it. We'll just keep going back to it, right? Let's move on here. Look at
verse 18. And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone. I will make
him a help me for him." Now this is interesting because everything is good, but then he's
saying it's not good that he's alone. So what does this tell us? It tells us that God created
man to be social, not antisocial, right? You know, God initially created man to be social.
And what does he do first to kind of fill in that void? Verse 19, "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 thereof." Now, the first thing I want to mention here is the animals
have already been created at this point, okay? Because this happened on day six and then
Adam was created. This seems to indicate that there was a separate, you know, formation
of animals in the presence of Adam in the garden. So animals are already saturating
the world at this time. But then God creates a separate segment of animals for Adam there
in the garden. And we see here that he creates the beast of the field, he creates birds,
and he brings them to Adam to see what he would call them. Now, this is pretty interesting
It's showing us that obviously Adam is not like a newborn child or something like that, right?
He has the mental capacity to communicate. He has the mental faculties to name things, right?
And I don't believe he's just like, you know,
Pleiadesaurus, you know, and you know Eagle. I think he's just like long net fat thing, you know, or whatever, you know,
Skinny and you know big, you know, he's probably just using really basic names big ears or whatever, you know
He's just kind of going off of what it looks like. Okay, but I like this
I find this passage so interesting because this shows me that God is very much interested in the details when he fellowships with us
Right, like he's bringing the animals and he's kind of like, what would you call it?
Now God already in his foreknowledge knows what the names of these animals are gonna be throughout the centuries
But he wants to know what Adam's gonna call it
He wants Adam to kind of exercise his brain and kind of identify things and be creative
and come up with his own names and it kind of reminds me of like me and my kids because you know
Sometimes my kids don't have these
Magnetiles or they'll draw and I go to my like, oh, what are you drawing? What do you got there?
Oh, this is mean you this is this is mommy. This is dad. This is me doing this and I'm like wow, you know
That's great. I rejoice and seeing my children be creative
So it seems as though, you know, this is part of God's fellowship with Adam that he wants Adam to kind of you know
Get involved use his brain get creative name the animals
This is the fellowship that he's having with him now one thing that we can learn from this is that you know
God is interested in your creative creative process, right?
Whether at your job with your family share your ideas with the Lord share your visions with the Lord, right?
Share your goals talk to the Lord about those things, you know, sometimes we only think well
I only talked to God about like really spiritual things, but he wants us to be involved in all
He wants us to talk to him about our job special creative projects that we got going on people that we're working with
Relationships that were in he wants to just talk right and this is what we see here
We see that God created Adam to be social. He brings these animals, but we see here that
Interacting with God is not enough though because sometimes we have this idea
Oh if I could just be placed on the island and I had one Bible
It was just meeting God would be fine wrong because we have paradise here
Adam is communion with God and as we're gonna see he's still saying it's not good for man to be alone
He considers man to be alone even though God is there with him. What does that tell us?
It tells us that God wants man to have people with him as well
Right and obviously he begins with animals and you know for you animal lovers. You're like that see yeah
But it's still insufficient though animals are not adequate companions now
I'm not gonna go overboard and say you should not have any animals as pets
I do think people in America are a little too over-the-top on pets
You know what I mean, and I will say this you should not call your pets your children
I think that's super weird. It's unbiblical. You say well. How do you know because we're better than them, okay, you know
Animals cats and dog for you cat lovers are apparently have we won't have more cat lovers here than dog lovers
They ain't got souls for sure cats don't have souls
You know and you know animals can't communicate
I don't care what PETA says or the the the vegan liberal
Blue-haired guy says about her her cat or her animal or whatever that thing can't talk. It can't properly communicate
It can't share ideas. It get meows. It just says meow
Okay, and it's just like why you know, I just you know, I relate to animals
But what you do you just use the restroom on the carpet is that how do you relate to animals?
You go use the restroom in the kitty litter box or something like that. What does that mean?
I don't relate to animals. How do you relate to animals are a pleasure. There's sometimes a necessity
You know, yeah, they can provide some level of companionship, but it's not adequate, you know
Oh, I just relate to this dog. You must be a very perverted person
What do you mean dogs can't talk cats can't talk? Oh, I just lost half of you right there
Okay, but look I have scriptural grounds for this scriptural grounds that you know
God brought these animals to Adam, but they were insufficient as companions point that I'm making
You know if you're gonna socialize socialize with people wrong with you having pets. I think there's I think there's more scriptural
Yeah, let me make you feel better. Okay, there's scriptural evidence for you to have pets
Okay, do you remember when when the prophet came to David and he used the you lamb of the family and there was brought up like
You know, the you lamb was brought up in the household like one of the family
Yeah, you know remember that story, you know, that's like an example of a pet
Okay, you know, we had a family in our church one time that they had a goat as a pet
You guys remember that the goat was literally named Birria. It was a legit goat
I'm not against that but may not be a substitute for actual
Interaction with people and and again God made man to be social
Okay, and I get it. There's people in our church and in this world who are more social than others
Somebody were like, oh, I'm just really just antisocial. I don't like where I'm okay
I get that but you should socialize to a certain degree cuz that's how God created you to be called fellowship, right?
All right. You guys are all mad, you know a bird won't do anything, you know a goldfish, you know
but I like animals I do I I
Rejoicing God's creation. I love to see them eat and being eaten
Would you like it when the lion is just like and he gets that little gazelle and then you know
I'm just like that's cool heart or the eagle and you got the American music playing in the background
And he's just like snatching that salmon. That's the bear. I love seeing that. It's great
God's creation is awesome, but it's inadequate as a companion
Okay, all right verse 20 and Adam gave names to all cattle and the foul of the air into every beast of the field
But for Adam there was not found and help me for him. So he's naming them, you know, let's just make up
You know, he's just saying giraffe. He's saying elephant. He's saying dog. He's saying cat, you know
He's just naming these things and I'm sure he's just having a grand old time doing this because God's making he's like
What would you name this one? He just names it. He's like, what about this one? They're big and small
There's dinosaurs as well, right? There's all manner of creatures that he's creating and he's naming them
He's exercising his brain there verse 21
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 there. Oh, so what do we see here? We see that, you know, even though Adam is being productive
He is being successful at keeping the garden. He's naming the animals. There's a void in Adam, right?
There's something that's missing in his life. And you know what?
You know who's the one who identified that was God God's like no you need someone right now
I want you to notice that God didn't say you need like two or three of these
He's just like Judith and Eve, right? You need two wives three wives
You know from the beginning it was male and females just two, you know, just just Adam and Eve
No third party. Okay for all you polygamists out there not in our church, but just out there in an internet lamp
You know, he gives them a woman. Okay, and it could be, you know, obviously this is speculation
Part of the void that Adam has is that when God's creating the animals, I'm sure he's showing them pairs
Right showing the lion and the lioness, right?
He's showing the male and female of all these creatures
So there's like a pattern in creation that God views and that Adam sees and so, you know, he needs them
So what does God do?
He gives him some anesthesia causes a deep sleep to fall upon him and
He removes one of his ribs and he closes the flesh instead of and it says in verse 22 in the rib
Which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man
Now what's the first thing that we can learn from this?
Okay, the first thing is this that the woman was made for the man not the other way around
And let me just remind everyone here tonight
That women according to the Bible were created to make man successful not the other way around to fulfill man
Not the other way around and you know
We got to like shout this a lot because feminism is so prevalent today and you know men seem to walk around
Frustrated not having the stones to understand what the Bible actually says about this is what the Bible teaches
God literally called Eve the Hilton, right?
He made her specifically for Adam not the other way around 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 8 says this for the man is
Not of the woman but the woman of the man neither was the man created for the woman
But the woman for the man ladies you want to be fulfilled in this life serve your husband make him successful
Love your husband fulfill the desires and wishes of your husband
And you will be a very happy woman like that doesn't make me happy. It's cuz you're a feminist
That's why don't dye your hair blue. Don't look like a dude
Don't try to be a boss lady fall in line with this and I get it not every situations like this. Don't get mad
I get it. Not everyone is in this ideal situation. I'm speaking in a general sense here
We understand that this is God's order. You say is your wife the happiest when you're happy? Yep. Yeah, that's how it works
There's no such thing as it as if mommy happy ain't nobody happy. What are you talking about?
Adam was first formed then Eve what when was Adam gonna be like, oh man, I can't play animals
I can't play today, you know, I can't name anybody right now
He's really mad because I didn't throw out the trash as if it's all about mom or something
That's not the biblical model and you know, if you have the mentality you are not right with God you need your mind to be reformed
Because you're literally subverting what the Bible says. Okay. Oh, that's just such a male oriented book
Yeah, I mean God is a man. It says the woman was made for the man for this cause ought the woman to have power on her
head because of the angels
Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman neither the woman without the man in the Lord
In other words, this doesn't mean that man is superior to a woman
Okay, you know in essence, we're both equally as important to God
The Lord loves women just as he loves the man
It doesn't make us better than them
We're talking about order here, right?
And in the Lord, we're both important to God
But guess what?
Man holds a superior position to the woman though
And at that point we're talking about positions
Okay, verse 12 says for as the woman is of the man
Even so is the man also by the woman but all things of God the Bible says
And of course in 1st Corinthians 11 it talks about the hair length for example right
And it basically tells us that you know this is why a woman needs to have long hair
Because the long hair on a woman signifies that she is under authority
Okay, that's what it signifies
So if a woman were to shave off her hair it's an open declaration of her rebellion against authority
Basically what it says
And it's for that reason that we should not as men have long hair
Okay, men are not to have long hair
And what are we talking about when we say long hair?
We're talking about the length of a woman
Where if like you're walking that way someone can't tell if you're a man or a woman or something
Okay, because at that point according to first Corinthians 11
You're ashamed of your authority which is Christ
So therefore men need to keep their hair short
That's what the Bible teaches
Read first Corinthians 11 that's outside of the scope of the sermon
But get a haircut if you have long hair like a woman and you're a dude
Okay, it's ungodly
You're saying that you're out from under the authority of God
It's you know, oh no, what about you know, what about the nazarite?
That was only for a short period of time
And guess what?
When the nazarites grew out their hair
It was literally considered a shame
Because it was an indication that this person had not yet fulfilled their vow
Because they were to grow out their hair until the vow was complete
And they would cut it off
If you had some dude growing out his hair long
It's like oh this guy's a nazarite and he hasn't completed his vow
How embarrassing
What about Jesus?
Jesus didn't have long hair because it is a shame for a man to have long hair
That's what the bible says
Yeah but I saw the chosen
What is the chosen?
What is that?
It's not the bible
Chosen is like some mormon soap opera with a bunch of false prophets
Amen
Anyways
So beautiful picture here that we see with Eve
Obviously she's created from the rib of Adam
Just as essentially believers the church is created from the wound
The wounded side of Jesus Christ, right?
When he's crucified on the cross he brings about the new covenant etc
Look at verse 23 almost done here
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
So Adam gets very poetic here
I love this statement
He just, you know, he's only like a couple
He's only like a day old, right?
But he is speaking poetically
He recognizes the affinity that he's going to share with Eve
He says this is bone of my bone flesh of my flesh
He calls her woman verse 24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother
And shall cleave into his wife and they shall be one flesh
Now this is showing us that although Adam has just been created
He actually has knowledge of things that are not yet to come, right?
Because it's just like he shall leave father and mother
Like what do you mean father and mother?
There's no, you know
But the reason he's able to say that is because he's conducting himself
As though he's lived for however many years he's alive
Let's say if he's 25 or 30 years old
He has the knowledge of that, okay?
So just to put this to bed
Adam had a belly button
I know that's a silly thing
But that's something that people wonder
They're like, "Hey, does Adam have a..."
Yeah, well how could he if he wasn't born?
Because he's created as though he was born
With the features as though he was born
And here's the proof
He's talking about leaving father and mother
There is no father and mother
But he's obviously speaking as though
These things are already in creation
It's already in, you know, it's already part of the process
And I want you to notice this
It says that he shall leave father and mother
And cleave unto his wife
And they shall be one flesh
What is this called?
Leaving and cleaving
And this applies both to the man and to the woman
Meaning you gotta leave mommy and daddy
And cleave unto your spouse, okay?
What does it mean?
You gotta leave the in-laws
And in-laws need to stay out of the marriage
Unless you decide to invite them in, okay?
You know, this is a big thing
And you know, years ago someone once said like
Oh yeah, this only applies to the man though
The woman doesn't necessarily have to leave her parents
But the man definitely has to leave his parents
And cleave unto his wife
Well, there's a problem with that
The problem is this
It says day 20 shall be one flesh
Which implies that the woman also has to leave
Father and mother and cleave unto her husband
The reason it's not saying that the woman has to do that
Is because it would be redundant
A lot of commandments given in the Bible
It's often directed towards man
But it's also implied that the woman's being addressed as well
Why doesn't he say that?
Well, because it would be redundant to repeat that over and over again
You understand?
And so, you know, leave your in-laws
And look, folks, let me just give a word of advice as we finish off
Here, we see verse 25, they're naked and all that
And they're ashamed
Or not ashamed, excuse me
Let me just mention the in-laws real quick, okay?
This is a good point
I'm done
I'm done here
Let me just say this
You know, in-laws can be a blessing if they do it right
They can be a major curse, though, if they do it wrong, you know?
And the biblical model is that when people get married
they should have no outside interference in their marriage, okay?
Meaning that leave and cleave and leave your in-laws out of it
Now, you say, "Well, what if I want to be a part of my children's lives, though? What do I do?"
Well, here's the thing is that you can't impose that upon your children
They have to invite you into their lives, right?
You need to be invited, you cannot impose yourself into your children's life
Now, here's a good way to make sure that that happens
or at least increase your chances of that happening
Treat your future son-in-law or daughter-in-law right
before they get married, right?
So that when they get married, the son-in-law is like, you know, he's not like
"See you later, she's never seen you ever again"
You know what I mean?
And that is, you know, a real thing
I've known some people who have done stuff like that, right?
Whereas like they're mistreated, it's just like
Kiss her goodbye, you ain't gonna see her for a long time, you know?
And you know what? You know what God's view is on that?
He's right, because they're one flesh, he's the ruler of that home
If that's what he sanctions for his household, then that's justified, right?
So you know, be a good in-law, okay?
You're like, "Well, show me a verse in the Bible where a woman left her parents to go..."
"Oh, how about Isaac and Rebecca? She never saw her family ever again!"
"Yeah, but what about Jacob?"
"Yeah, do you know the story of Jacob though? With Laban and everything that he did?"
Right? All that nonsense that he had to go through
and all the deception of Laban and how he mistreated Jacob and all that
The point being here is that we want to be good in-laws
And in order to be good in-laws, we need to make sure
that we treat the future son-in-law or daughter-in-law
with grace, compassion, love
so that they invite us into their lives thereafter
And here's a good example of a good in-law in the Bible
Jethro is a good in-law, right?
You say, "How do you know?"
Jethro, the Bible doesn't specifically say
but we know that somewhere along the way
Moses sent Zipporah home
We don't know why
It could be because it was getting too dangerous
I'm assuming it was after the whole foreskin thing
You guys remember that?
Where she cuts out the foreskin and throws it at his feet?
I'm not being vulgar here
That's what the Bible says
It's a bloody husband art thou
She's British or something
Assuming that that happened thereafter
He sent her home thereafter
And so we don't hear from her
But then Jethro comes on the scene
And what does he say?
He's like, "I brought your wife"
And then Moses just ignores Zipporah
And he's just like, "Hey dad"
Like there's no interaction between Moses and his wife
He just goes straight to Jethro
But contrast that with Laban
Laban chases Jacob
And he's like, "These are my daughters"
"These are my children"
Every time I read that I'm infuriated
Just like, I'm like reading the Bible
I'm like, "Oh, it makes me angry"
What do you mean, "These are your daughters, your children"
This is my...
The proper way would be like, "This is your wife"
"These are your children"
"Let me kiss them goodbye" or something, right?
You know, Jethro on the other hand is like, "Here's your wife"
And then he's a blessing to Moses
He imparts some wisdom unto him
He benefits him
And then what does he do?
He leaves
He doesn't overstay his welcome
And you know, Moses loves him for that, right?
You say, "What is that a result of?"
Leaving and cleaving
That's, maybe I might preach on that on Sunday
I don't know, I got to figure it out
But you know, you want to be a good in-law
Treat that future son-in-law, daughter-in-law with respect
Let them know that you love them
Don't mistreat them
Don't handle it wrongly
Because they will come back to bite you in the rear
And later on, I promise you that
Let's pray
Father, we thank you so much for your word
And thank you for the recap of creation in Genesis chapter 2
And Lord, if there's one thing we can learn from this is
Your desire to fellowship with us
And the fact that even though fellowshiping with God is supreme
It's insufficient for us as people, as Christians
Because you created us to be social beings
Not just to interact with you
But to interact with others, to interact with our spouses
And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to do so, Lord
Help us to be social people through fellowship
As we talk to others and share ideas
And condescend to men of low estate
To weep with them that weep
Rejoice with them that rejoice, Lord
And I pray, Lord, that you bless us as we go on our way
Thank you so much for being good to us
We love you and we thank you
Pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen