The sermon titled 'The LORD God's Gracious Provision' by James Lundquist focuses on Genesis 2:8-17, emphasizing God's gracious provision during creation. It outlines three main points: the planting of the Garden of Eden, the provision of resources, and the issuance of God's commands. The Garden of Eden is described as a place of luxury and pleasure, planted by God for humanity's enjoyment. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil hold significant roles, with the former symbolizing eternal life and the latter representing the choice of obedience. The sermon highlights that God's commands, including the command to work, are acts of grace meant to teach holiness and reliance on God. The sermon also contrasts the original Eden with the future hope of a new creation in heaven, emphasizing the ultimate choice of belief in God for eternal life.

We're in Genesis chapter 2, continuing through the exposition of Genesis 1 through 11 for the next several months. And in Genesis chapter 2, we have God providing more detail of what he did during creation week. All creation chapter two, just providing a fuller detail, more detail about specific areas that he wants us to know about. And I've titled this the Lord's gracious provision. This is all about the Lord's gracious provision, not just Adam and Eve, but it is about his gracious provision to us as well as we'll see.

I've got it in three points where the Lord plants a garden, his gracious provision of resources, and his gracious commands. We need to be thinking about his commands as him being gracious to us. Let's pray. God, Thank you for all of your gracious provision. Thank you especially now for your gracious provision of your word, your revelation of yourself to us.

And thank you God for it. Thank you for teaching us. So please use this, Holy Spirit, please give your word power. Give our ears to hear your teaching and to be taught, to be conformed more now to Christ than we were when we walked in this morning. So encourage us, help your children, encourage your children, teach your children, conform your children.

Thank you for your grace. In Jesus' name, amen. We're going to start with verses 8 and 9, chapter 2. Verse 8 and 9, the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now what we know about creation especially is in one chapter one verse 31 says, then God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Everything that God had made was very good at the end of creation. Very good includes everything that we're gonna be talking about today.

It includes the earth, the seas, the sun, the moon, the stars, plants, fish, birds, animals, and man. And Now, as we get more detail, we find out that the Lord God planted a garden for his people. And that was part of this very good planet, this very good creation. We tend to think when we get to the end of chapter one, just kind of this uniform world, right? This is the vision I get without this detail.

This uniform world where everything's good, very good, everywhere you go is very similar to other places, the land, the seas. Then God's here, he's telling us, no, there was something different about an area, and it's an area that God planted for Adam and Eve, planted for people. Now up to this point, it's very interesting, planted up to this point, what we've been used to is God saying, let there be, and there was. God's saying, and the Lord said, and it happened. And now we have the Lord God planted.

Planted just, when you think about planting, this just gives me a different vision of God I have no idea what God looked like. He's a spirit not a body like man, but we know Jesus was there in some way But it gives me this vision of just this interacting with creation different than anything we've we've had to this point and he's planting this garden Right. He's he's selecting of all the trees on the world He's saying okay I want this tree and I want this tree here and I want this bush here and I want that there and he's causing these things to grow. It says he's causing the trees to grow out of the ground. And he's creating these boundaries.

Like here's where I want this garden to be. This is where I want this land to be. And he's interacting and carving this out of this very good creation. This is part of it where he has put this there. And when we talk about Eden, the word Eden means pleasure, luxury, paradise, literally the King's garden, the royal garden.

This is God's garden that he planted for people to enjoy. I'm sure animals enjoyed it as well, but this was something he carved out specifically, interacting and giving as a gracious gift. So taking taking off on what we've heard the last couple of weeks about the Lord God, the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, the self existing divine one here, he has planted a luxurious, pleasurable garden and put Adam in it how gracious is that what would Adam or even Anybody else been satisfied with the rest? Yes, if it had, yes, they would have been very satisfied. Should have been.

I said, no, I want more. I want more for my people, for my image bearers. I want more. I want to plant this garden. And he did.

He did. And as the title I have here, The Lord's Gracious Provision, this is his abundant, gracious, pleasurable provision for Adam and Eve. And I use the word gracious very intentionally here, because This is obviously nothing they could have earned because they probably weren't even created yet when this happened Maybe they were there's a part of me that likes to think that that that God had already created Adam and and and then Then Adam got to see God plant this garden, but it seems like that's probably not what happened. It doesn't matter how this happened. It's grace.

Even if Adam had been created when it happened, what has he had time to do before God puts him in it? This is undeserved favor that God just has on Adam and Eve at this point such Grace that they've had Let's hear that God caused trees that are pleasant to the sight and good for food to grow in this garden. And this garden was a joy able place in every way, in sight and in taste. Further down in verse 16 that we'll see more in a little bit, it says, and the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree in the garden, you may freely eat. It's such an enjoyable garden that Adam and then Eve had his complete freedom to roam around and eat and enjoy and Literally literally live out Psalm 34 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good Blessed is the one who takes refuge in them able to taste and see the goodness of the Lord, the pure goodness.

It's all they had, nothing tainted by sin. They were literally able to taste the food, taste the sweetest, probably the best fruit anybody has ever tasted in this world. They were able to taste of it the the most fragrant most delicious herbs They were able to to taste of not tainted by by anything else Coming in and then they were able to take refuge. They were blessed for taking refuge in his provision This garden they took refuge in it Adam was placed in this very mature garden. It was ready to live in.

It was ready to eat from. He didn't have to wait like I do, seven to ten years if there were nut trees seven to ten years for my nut trees to be To be mature you have to wait three to five years For my apple trees or pear trees or two or three years for the peach trees or a couple years for blueberries and blackberries You didn't have to wait. It was all there How gracious is that you didn't have to wait at all? It was there That is so gracious to have this. And this is going to be his primary home, him and Eve's primary home.

So why would I say primary homo? Eden was just a part of the world. And if they were to obey the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, eventually they would outpopulate this area and have to go beyond. There was no command that they had to stay within that region. We don't have that.

They could have ventured out. They could have gone beyond the boundaries of the garden to see what else there was and just explore the world. And eventually, the plan was that they would have. They would have obeyed. They would have and not been forced to.

I mean, think about it. In the Garden of Eden, there were no houses needed. There's no protection needed from the weather, rain, snow, cold, heat, storms, wind, not needed. No protection needed from animals, no protection needed from thieves, all of that is a result of sin. Matthew Henry describes this garden this way.

The heaven was the roof of Adam's house, and never was any roof so curiously ceilings and painted the earth was his floor and never was any floor so richly in laid that's that's what he had That's what God had graciously provided in this garden. Now, in this garden of all the trees that are there, of all the trees God created, there are two specific ones called out by God in these first couple of verses. One is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I'll talk more about that later in this last. I mean, the knowledge of good and evil, I'll talk more about that in this last point.

And the tree of life. And the tree of life, unlike the tree of knowledge of good and evil, there was no prohibition to eating that. They could freely eat that all day long, partake of that if they wanted to. Now all these trees, all these trees were beautiful, were pleasurable, were for the sight it says. Now of the tree of life, There is something special about it though I I don't know all the details about how special it was, but it was more than just figurative I Think that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I think that a lot of that is just don't eat.

Don't eat. It wasn't anything in eating the fruit that caused anything to happen in and of itself. No chemistry, nothing there. It was as simple as don't eat. But of this tree, there seems to be something different.

It seems to be not just figurative at all. When you look ahead in Genesis 3, well, when Jason preaches this, whoever preaches this in a few weeks, we'll see what's said about it then. But in Genesis three verses 22 through 24, read this, then the Lord God said, "'Behold, the man has become like one of us "'to know good and evil.'" Right, This is after they've sinned and eaten of this tree, of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And now lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he, God, drove out the man, and he placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

It's not just any tree that God would put angels in a flaming sword specifically not to keep them out of Eden out of that area but specifically away from the tree of life. I don't know everything this meant but it is more than symbolic But let me read also though from Proverbs 3. There's about 15 places in scripture where the tree of life is referenced. Some of them are like in Proverbs 3. Most of them are like in Proverbs 3 here.

We're in Proverbs 3, we know this Proverb through verses 5 through 7 that say, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart evil. Further on in this chapter, verse 18, in referencing, comparing wisdom now to the tree of life. She, wisdom, wisdom is a tree of life to those who take hold of her.

And happy are all who retain her. So this tree of life, Like wisdom, godly, not just any wisdom, godly wisdom. God has given us knowledge, revelation of himself, commands, commands of what we should do to be holy, to be like him, to be conformed by him. Commands of what we should not do, what we should do. And these are wise commands.

And if you apply them, godly apply them, with godliness as a Christian with new hearts and a new spirit within you to know what are good commands, That's good. That's wisdom, and that's applied to the tree of life. And I don't know what would have happened if they would have eaten of the tree of life before or after. Lots of people think they would have had eternal life either way seems like they never ate of it actually there was be protected from it right there's a potential maybe if they ate of it after they sin that they would have lived this sinless life forever and ever I don't know what was there right I don't know But this is what I do know now. We don't have that now.

This is what I do know now. No matter what that tree was at that point, say it could be part of eternal life at that point. That's not what we have now. I don't have to spin and turn and read pages and pages of commentary trying to figure out what it was. Because That's not what we have now.

I don't have to spin and turn and read pages and pages of commentary Trying to figure out what it was because that's not what we have now What we have now is all have sin and fall short of the glory of God What we have now is the wages of sin is death What we have now is the wages of sin is death. What we have now is the only way for eternal life is to believe the gospel and repent. That's the only way now, no matter what that tree was. But that tree we will see again. You can turn to Revelation.

You can turn to Revelation. Revelation 2, look at a couple of places there. Revelation 2, this is from writings. The angel was commanded to write to the church of Ephesus. And in 2 verse 7, the writer says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Now the key here is the paradise of God. It's not Eden because Eden is long gone. This is talking about the new heavens and we know it's talking about the new Jerusalem because then you turn over to chapter 22 of Revelation and we get more detail. In Revelation 22 verse 2, This is talking, it says in the middle of its street, this is the New Jerusalem.

This is talking about the new city, this is talking about heaven, new earth. I don't know all of what happens with New Jerusalem, where it's going, where it's coming from. It's just the New Jerusalem, we're living there, God's creating this, this is what it says, in the midst of its street, and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit, every month The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. This tree, it sounds like it would be a couple of them across on both sides of a river that bears fruit all the time and is for eating all the time. Now, who gets to eat it?

Who gets to eat it? Let me continue in 2214. Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. Blessed are those who do his commands. The main command is, repent and believe the gospel.

You repent and believe the gospel. The work of Christ is imputed to you, his righteousness imputed to you, you are saved, you are in the heavens and the new earth and you have a right then to eat of this tree of life. It's given to you. You will be able, we will be able to taste this goodness that it seems like Adam and Eve never partook of. This tree is probably better than the tree that was in the garden most likely, but it's still the tree of life.

It's bearing fruit all the time. We do have that to look forward to. That's what we have to look forward to from Eden. That is going forward. So, the Lord God planted a garden of abundant, gracious provision.

So now, let's look at verses 10 through 14 back in chapter two. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it parted and became four river heads. The name of the first is Pashan. It is the one which skirts the whole land of Havillah where there is gold.

And the gold of that land is good. Bedelium and the Onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gion. It is the one which goes around the whole land of Kush. The name of the third river is Hedekil.

It is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. So in these verses 10 through 14, we have the Lord God graciously provides resources. The Lord God graciously provides resources. Many commentators spend a lot of time trying to figure out where the garden is.

Where was it? They don't say it still is, but where was it? They spend a lot of time. Well, let's look at these few details and see what we can figure out from this. The first detail is Eden is eastward.

I don't find that very helpful, because it begs the question eastward of what? Right? If I told you that Youngsville is eastward, if you're at Emerald Isle, it doesn't help you too much. If you're in California, well, you can head east, but good luck tracking down Youngsville. Right?

So it's eastward. Well, it depends on where east is, where you are, and where you are for east. Eastward of what? All right. So more detail.

The second piece of detail. Eden had a river flowing out that parted into four. OK, well, people can look at geography now and say, well, this looks like this might be where it's at. See these rivers, how they're split. Maybe this was.

The problem is the flood. Problem is the flood completely rearranged the world. There are no landmarks to depend on. Now, this isn't just my opinion of what happened during the flood. It isn't just the opinion of answers in Genesis either.

It's actually the truth of God. Second Peter, God tells us in Second Peter 3.16, the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. Now, the NIV, ESV, and NASB have a little bit stronger language. They say, they translate this, the world that then existed being deluged and destroyed. So imagine these floodwaters over the whole Earth.

Know anything about water and pressure and depths and all that it would just completely Destroyed everything yeah could God have kept everything, but that's not what happened. That's not what he said happened. It was Destroyed those right it seems like all the landmass was moved and rearranged and nothing there. When Noah got off his ark, trees needed to regrow. All the animals that were there were just the animals he had with him as far as land animals go and birds.

It was completely reshaped, completely different. So just because there were rivers, well, yeah, there were rivers afterwards. But it doesn't mean that we can tell by the landscape now. OK. Other details we have.

There was good gold, Bdellium and Onyx. Well, good gold. Good gold is described good because of its level of purity and the quantity of gold that's around in a single place. Well, does that help us? Not really, because there's good gold throughout the world.

All over the world, there's good gold. All right, let's go down to bedelium. Bedelium is a semi-transparent, fragrant gum resin. Think of it kind of like sap. Fragrant gum resin produced by plants and trees, including those related to myrrh, just an interesting fact, found where?

India, Africa, and the Middle East. That's a pretty wide range there. Onyx. Onyx. It is a type of quartz found in mineral rich groundwater.

It's also, it is used in the high priest garments. Yes, what? That's found all over the world. So from these details, especially due to the flood, we don't know where Eden was. And we don't need to know.

We don't need to know. We don't know where it was. But here's what I believe we can get from these details. I think we can take from this, though. The details of rivers' names, resources, even this nonspecific location help us to see this was a real place.

When Noah got off the ark, he was knowing his family, they're the last ones to know and the first ones, and you can say it that way as well, first ones know anything about the names of things beforehand. By the time Moses comes along and starts naming and starts writing this, these places, these rivers have been named, these lands have been named, all these things have been named. Noah continued, hey, that's an area that reminds me of Euphrates. Your name, the Euphrates, right? And so that's what we have here, but it helps us connect.

Hey, it was a real place. Scripture backs it up 15 times in Scripture. It refers to Eden, real, and uses it as examples for real places. Number two that we can learn from this, people need water to drink. Animals need water to drink.

Birds need water to drink. It's much easier to get water from a river than mist from the ground. So we see God's gracious provision on creating these rivers as part of his very good creation. Number three, the other thing we can get from this, did Adam and Eve need gold, bedelium, and onyx? Did they need these things?

No, they didn't need them. You might think, well what did they use them for? What would they... God created them with creative capabilities way better than any of us. I mean, look what we could do with gold.

I don't do anything with bedelium or onyx stone, but we know what people do with gold. What's to say they wouldn't have done that? That they wouldn't have taken this gold, found this gold, and shaped it and molded it into jewelry? You say they wouldn't have liked jewelry or stones or wanted fragrances, right? If they would have continued to to fill the earth even in their non sinful state That they wouldn't have wanted these things God God gave this to them Right bottom line God created God created these precious metals and resource we can get that from this God created these precious metals and resources.

We can get that from this. God created these precious metals and resources, not millions of years. God created this. In Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel is writing these words from God about the king of Tyre, about Tyre and how God has been so generous with you Tyre and he's being rebuked for for not honoring God though God was very generous and very gracious to him and this is how God through the Prophet Ezekiel explains how good God had been to Tyre. In 28, 13, you were in Eden, the garden of God.

Now, we know Eden is gone, so this is, just using this as imagery to explain how good you had it that God had given to you, King of Tyre. You were an Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. The Sardis, Topaz, and Diamond, barrel, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created." God's gracious provision.

He gives. You did nothing to earn this. He created all this before any human was on the face of the planet that you would praise Him, but also that He would give you these wonderful resources to use for his glory. Some of this is used in the temple later on, but much of it's just used to honor him through the abilities we have and also to craft things and to make things that we need. It's all just rich, richness that God has provided.

So we see in these verses, this is the Lord God's gracious provision for Adam and Eve and us. We don't have Eden, we don't have that garden, but look what God created that we still enjoy today. When you go out and you're around or you read a story about anything or you look at any precious gold or silver or turquoise, topaz, onyx, whatever it is. Just think God created that. Not saying that over time since creation that there's more things that happen to form some different minerals and stuff, but it was there, a mature world, ready for us to partake in that God created to glorify Him.

So let's look at verses 15 through 17. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, Of every tree of the Garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." In these verses we have the Lord God's gracious commands. Lord God's gracious commands. Have you ever thought of his commands as being gracious?

They are very gracious. First the Lord God commands work. Lord God commands work. Adam was commanded to tend and keep the garden. It doesn't say, Adam, you shall tend, but it is a command to tend and keep the garden.

He was put there, he was told to have dominion over the earth, and now specifically, here's one area, we see the whole dominion, But then God also has told him, hey, in this area, I want you to tend and keep this area. To have dominion over the whole earth, but specifically you, Adam, you're in charge of this garden to tend and keep. It's not that Eve couldn't help or if they still had children when they were in the garden that they couldn't help, but Adam, you're in charge of this. This is your area of domain, and bring others as I give them. But to work and take care of it, literally, this verse says, to serve and guard, or serve another by labor.

Adam is to literally serve God by his labor here. And this guarding here is not like we would think of a guarding of a garden, right? I'm gonna need, He doesn't need to guard it from pests, from weather, from animals, from thieves. There's no weeding he has to do. No poison ivy or thorns.

This is working like anything any of us can even contemplate. Even when I tried this week just to think, what is this like to work in a garden that everything's perfect, everything. And I just kept comparing it to what I have now and could never get to that point where I could see something. Because my only reference is I get tired. I get tired.

It takes as much as I enjoy gardening, I enjoy being outside, I still come in and I'm tired and I got to think about and plan about and I got all these other things, right? It's unlike work we've ever seen, but I think it's more like maintaining this garden. Not that it's going to get out of control, not that it's out of order. It is well ordered, but keep it that way. Maintain it.

Maybe there is some pruning to do. Maybe the trees don't grow exactly perfect and he does need to prune them. They're not living beings. Maybe he does need to prune these plants, but also he needs to set the boundary. God set the boundaries of the garden.

Make sure these boundaries are well set. Maybe it's not. Don't let this garden just go through the whole world like this. Keep it well set. What I've planted, what I've put here.

But also, I'm sure Adam had the freedom, hey, you can bring in other trees. Hey, you can take the seed off of this one tree, and you want to plant something over here. You and Eve want to have this little carve out, this nice little special place. We planted these things a certain way, rearrange some things. It's his garden to take dominion of that God gave him.

That's tending and keeping it as well. But when it comes to work, God commands him to work. It doesn't come out of nowhere, right? God created work by example in in verse 3 of chapter 2 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made So God created work by His example and commands us here, or commands Adam here to tend and keep. So we know because of this work is not a result of the fall, It's not a result of sin.

Go back to God. God says he worked. God is holy. So we know it's not sinful just right there. Then you come down lots of levels and you have Adam who hadn't sinned yet, Eve who hadn't sinned yet, and they were going to work in this garden.

They were going to be in this garden. They were going to work in it. So it is not sin. Work is good. Work is to be pursued.

Work is to glorify God. Our work is much harder than their work, but it's still that's what the purpose is. We're obeying God by working. God has commands in Proverbs. He has commands about what should happen to you if you don't work, that You are commanded to work, you are commanded to provide for your families.

Work is good and to be pursued. This is a reasonable service to the king that graciously created you in his image and his gracious giving of abundant provision talking about Adam and us. This work for Adam and should be worked for us is an act of thankfulness. When we work it should be out of an act of thank you. Thank you, God.

You've given me the ability to provide for this family, provide for myself if I'm single. Thank you, God. God, I'm going to honor you by the talents and the giftings You've given me no matter what they are. It's not about how much you make from your work or how much this or that. No, it's about God's given you some abilities.

Use them in what he's given you and use them out of thankfulness and honor and obeying. So God has commanded work. Second are the Lord's, Lord God's commands about the trees. He's told them to eat freely of every tree. Now that's, that's a command.

Now it doesn't seem like a tough command to us, but it is a command, eat freely of every tree. And I believe, just personal belief, I believe this is a large garden. Don't think of this small thing. There's a river, okay? There's a river in this place.

I believe this is a Large area. I don't know how large hundreds of acres hundreds of miles I don't know, but it but it it's bigger than this room. How's that? Alright, so so this is a large place and they're able to eat if I just I say that because they're able to eat There's this is Aaron there's trees all over that God has created. And Adam has the freedom to add more trees and plant more from seed and move herbs around.

Whatever, he's got a lot to eat from. He's able to eat freely from this. Of every tree Adam can eat without restraint, except there was one tree he couldn't eat from. He has all the trees in the world, actually. All the trees in the world, except one.

Except one. Don't eat of that tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, this tree is one of the trees that was created in God's very good creation. It is one of the trees that was pleasant to the sight and taste.

Why would I say that? Turn over to Genesis 3. This is the page in 3 verse 6. We'll get to this in a few weeks. But for right now, so when the woman, when Eve saw that the tree, this is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate.

She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. This was a pleasurable tree to look at, part of the very good, except God said, don't eat. Don't eat. Now at this point, you might be saying, you might think to yourself, which would be a wrong thought that I had to myself this week, I had to think through. God, why didn't you make the tree ugly and taste awful and make it non-desirable?

It would have made it a lot easier for Adam. Then I think of my own sin. God, why don't you make my sin so detestable to me that I'm not even tempted by it? That's my own fault. I'm blame shifting at that point.

I'm blaming God for my sin if I start going down that road. Blaming God for Adam and Eve's sin if I start going down that road. Here's what Adam is learning from this. This is important, where we're headed here. Adam is learning, God is teaching Adam what it is to be holy and completely satisfied in God.

To this point, In Genesis, it's all, there have been some commands. There's not been a prohibitive command, do not do this. And now Adam is being taught and learning what it means to be holy. What it means to be holy is being righteous. In order to be righteous, that means there's unrighteousness.

Adam, you don't do that because that's not holy. I'm your creator. I am the holy holy holy God And I'm teaching you about holiness Learn about holiness. I'm teaching you to be wise how to apply What I've taught you what I've given you We need to be taught holiness We need to be taught there's a holy God that's against our sin and that causes our problem Because God is holy and I'm a sinner. Adam wasn't a sinner here yet, but he's being taught what it means to be holy and completely satisfied in God.

And God pronounces a judgment. If you eat of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die. In that day, surely you will die. There is death. This is literally dying, you shall die.

The day that you eat of this, dying, you shall die. I don't know what Adam understood about death. I don't know what God had taught him about death. Jason may get to this more in the next couple of weeks. But you need to think of Adam as this came up last Tuesday.

It was just wonderful. You need to think of Adam not just a man with this blank slate, just gradually learning, learning, learning, learning, just soaking it all up. Adam was creative, fully formed, And I believe with so much knowledge already. So much knowledge already and definitely to the point he could understand God. He's not having to be taught just from the beginning A, B, C, D, 1, 2, 3, right?

Say that again. He was able to soak in everything that God had to teach him. He didn't have the full knowledge of God, of course not. He was able to teach us. So I don't know what he said, what Adam understood about death.

But we don't have to be concerned about what he knew about this because from chapter 3 and the rest of scripture we know this is about eternal spiritual death. That was the immediate dying you shall die in this day shall surely die spiritual death in this day you will surely have spiritual death immediate and for all of your descendants as well as physical death eventually for them Eventually hundreds of years as well as decay illnesses deformities sadness pains That will lead to death dying you shall die What God told him was keep the law and live. Keep the law and live, disobey and die. Ultimately, these commands and all commands though are about this. Listen, I've been listening, I think this is the key part to this section.

Ultimately, these commands and all commands are about belief. This is about belief. Will we believe God's commands are right, wise, good, and live? Will you believe God's commands to believe the gospel and repent and live? Will you believe God's commands where he says this is right, this is my will, this is good, this is well-pleasing, this is this is what holiness looks like.

Will you believe that or not? Believe God, Repent and live. Will Adam be satisfied with the Lord God's gracious provision, delight in his ways, and trust in his wisdom? Will he believe and trust in the Lord God's abundant grace that gave him all the reasons to believe and obey. He's lived a life of, we all do, but you can look at his a special way of all grace.

There's nothing he can point to to say, but I, but I, but I. But I was dust formed by you and breathed in by you But my wife was formed from my rib. I didn't do any of that you put me to sleep I woke up and there she was He didn't plant a garden I Didn't give myself life. You didn't give yourself life. I Didn't put myself in in this nation.

I didn't put myself here a Lot of things I didn't give myself. I didn't give myself 57 years. I didn't make any of that happen but God but God First John 1 3 do we believe that his commands are not burdensome that they are gracious now Understand we're talking about Adam. Adam and Eve. It's easy to think, but look at Adam.

All the trees but one. He's had one prohibition. Let me compare my list to yours, Adam. Adam, you're standing. All right, Adam.

Let's talk about how easy you had it. I'm not doing this to be funny. I'm going someplace. It's serious here. You had one tree.

List your prohibition. There it is. Yes, you can say that prohibition was don't, right? You need to work. You can turn that around to negative.

But prohibition was one tree. Adam, let me start. Da da da da da da da. Turn the page. Turn the page.

Turn the page. Turn the page. Just list and line after line after line after line of don't. We still have the same top level will I believe God? Ultimately, now if you go down this line thinking about Adam, You might start thinking you might start thinking about yourself.

Hey, I would be better than Adam. I would do better than Adam How easy did Adam have it surrounded by that beauty and everything wherever he went on the whole earth You go down that road. I'm here to tell you no you wouldn't have been No, you wouldn't have been And and that's not the most dangerous, but Here's the most dangerous part about that thinking, that I could have done better than Adam. Here's the most dangerous part of that. If you're thinking that, you're believing a whisper in your ear that God would have created you better than Adam.

And here's what's even worse yet. Worse is this thought means you believe God could have done better. If you let that thought creep in your mind that I could have done better than them, oh Adam had it so much better than me. Saying God wasn't wise in how he did it. It wasn't very good then.

It may have been good-ish is what you're saying in your mind at that point. No, it was very good. It was very good. You wouldn't have been better than Adam. God created Adam exactly how he wanted Adam to be.

In Romans 1, Romans 1.20, for since the creation of the world, since the creation of the world, His, God's, invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. From the creation of the world, Everyone, Adam and Eve and all of us that have come after and anyone that will come after us are without excuse. Just as much as Adam was without excuse, we're without excuse. And he's saved, now everyone needed saved after they sinned by believing the gospel and repenting. Matthew Henry says, let us acknowledge God's right to rule us and our own obligations to be ruled by him and never allow any will of our own to contradict to or competition with the Holy Will of God.

Submit to God. Are we going to believe that God is wise and good and loving in his commands? Are you going to believe? The Lord, the commands of the Lord God are gracious. Let me give us a couple applications here, two of them.

One, Eden was an amazing gracious gift of God. It was, absolutely was, and it's going to be in the future. All right, we're going to have a better Eden, right? Heaven and New Earth will be far better. The next Eden per se, right, the city of Jerusalem, you can write, you can point to that.

Not it's not called Eden, you can point to this future heaven and new earth that we have. It'll be way better than Eden was. The new Jerusalem will be way better. The new heavens will be way better. The new earth will be way better than Eden was.

Let me give you some examples here. In Eden, in Eden, there are only two people that ever enjoyed Eden. Only two ever enjoyed it. Heaven and New Earth, multitudes of brethren. You'll be enjoying that with multitudes of brethren.

In Eden, Adam and Eve created from dust and a rib with the possibility of temptation and sin heaven and New Earth were remade by God into perfect righteousness and holiness where evil is banished to hell forever no temptation or desire for sin there is only righteousness. In Eden there is day and night heaven and new earth only light no shadows no Sun needed Revelation 22 5 there shall be no night there they need no lamp nor light of the Sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever In Eden it was obey and live, disobey and die. In glory, heaven, new earth, Jesus obedience, his work, because of his work we live. Romans 5 19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. In Eden there's a curse for disobedience heaven and new earth Jesus the Lamb was cursed to remove the curse of sin.

We don't have this curse, in heaven and new earth, you're not having this curse hang over your head. I'm not looking at a tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thinking about if I eat that I die. No there's none of that. None of that. You just see life after life after life after life for all of eternity because of the work of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22, 3 & 4, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servant shall serve him. They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. In Eden, Adam and Eve are naked and unashamed. That was fine, that was good. But in heaven, new earth, we are clothed in the robes of righteousness.

Isaiah 61 10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. Overall, being glorified, eternal, eternally glorified, is better than anything Adam and Eve were in the garden. What we will be is better than what Adam and Eve were. Number two, Your eternal life hangs on this one truth.

Will you believe God and live or die in unbelief and eternal death? Will you believe that God is holy in the wages, the payment for sin, his death? Will you believe God when he tells you the only way for eternal life is through believing in Jesus' work alone to save and repent, that it's all of grace, none of my own works, or I definitely would boast? It's all of grace. We believe when God says, believe the gospel and repent, believe and trust in the works of Christ alone to save?

Will you believe Jesus who is God that he is the way the truth and the life and that no one comes to the father? Except through him Will you ultimately? Believe know that people are not in hell for eternity due to the works, the works they did or didn't do. There is nobody in hell because they didn't do enough good at the abortion Center. They didn't spend enough Saturdays there.

They didn't give away enough food, money, clothing. They didn't have enough of this or that, preach on the streets, sing enough songs, have enough attendance. Now, there's nobody in hell because they didn't do those things. All those things could be a result though, evidence of you not being a Christian. Some of these things can be, right, there are works that demonstrate that you have been saved, but the only reason why anybody is in hell, the only reason anybody is in hell is for the sin of unbelief you do not believe that you need saved you do not believe that Jesus you might believe you need saved but you don't believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the lie.

You don't believe that God is holy and your sin has a payment that's due for that and that Jesus paid that penalty and trust in him alone for salvation and repent and believe that gospel and be saved. The Lord God has graciously provided us all things, all the way up to the means and salvation. Let's pray. God thank you for your gracious provision. Thank you for what you gave Adam and Eve.

So kind to them. I'm so, Well, how beautiful is that? So glad for what you gave them. And then there is some of the things that we still have from that, from that day, especially in metals and and the, and stones and other things. And then we have this world still yeah you reshaped every but what a beautiful place it still is yeah we've got to work yes there is sin so thank you for your gracious provision of salvation that was your eternal plan you created us with that plan Thank you for providing salvation.

Thank you for graciously as a gift giving faith to believe. Oh God, would everyone here today even please believe walk out of here believing make them believe and repent thank you Jesus for your word thank you God amen