In the sermon 'The Gospel in the Garden' by David Green, Genesis 3 is explored to highlight humanity's fall through Adam and Eve's disobedience. The speaker discusses the significant change when Adam and Eve became aware of their nakedness and shame after eating the forbidden fruit, leading them to attempt to hide from God. This event symbolizes the division between man and God due to sin. The sermon contrasts two belief systems: one relying on human efforts and the other on divine salvation through God. It is emphasized that modern life's struggles are akin to the shame and separation experienced by Adam and Eve. The solution lies not in human efforts but in embracing the Word of God and knowing Jesus Christ. Genesis 3:15 is highlighted as a prophecy of hope, foretelling the coming of Jesus who would ultimately defeat sin. The sermon underscores the need to run to Jesus for rest and salvation, rather than trying to navigate life independently. The message concludes with the assurance of peace and life through faith in Christ, emphasizing the importance of repentance and belief in the gospel.

Alright, so you have your Bibles, Let's go ahead and go to Genesis. Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. Where we'll be this evening. Can y'all hear me alright?

Alright. These days we'll get the loudspeaker. Get the loudspeaker. Genesis chapter 3 and we'll read for a text verses 7 through 9. The eyes of both of them were opened.

They knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst of the trees of the garden. Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, where are you?

Let's again go to the Lord in prayer. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, Lord how thankful we are to be able to gather ourselves together here in this place and at this time. Lord, I pray that even at this hour that as we look into your word as as it's proclaimed here in this place Lord I pray that that that that hearts will be stirred that your people will be encouraged, that you'll give us boldness. Lord I pray that others, sinners who know you not, that today would be the day that they'd hear the gospel preached and come to know you as their Savior. Lord, I pray that you'd be pleased to add to our number.

Lord, give us fruit for our labor and use us for your name's iron glory. We give you the praise for it all. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Our text finds us in a place that is familiar.

We looked at this prior. This is when Adam and Eve broke the law of God. They rebelled against their creator. They rebelled against their creator. They tried to then take care of it themselves on their own terms.

As creatures of their creator, they had committed high treason against Yahweh God. And in doing so, they now found themselves trying to hide from him. It was a terrible scene that day. The serpent had promised that if Eve would but eat of that fruit, that they would be like gods. But now they could not face the true God as he called out Adam's name.

Something changed that day. Something terrible was different. And Adam and Eve sensed that. The realization sunk in that they were naked. The Bible describes it in that way.

Had they been naked before? Absolutely. That's the way that they were created. But now, now something was different. The eyes of them both were opened and they realized for the first time that they were naked.

There was shame before where there had been none. And their reaction to that fateful realization, to that terrible day, to that shame was to try to hide, to try to try to cover it up themselves, to try to make a solution for themselves. They knew that there was a problem. They knew something had to be done. But instead of running to God, their only hope, They tried to run away from him.

They tried to hide from him. They tried to come up with their own solution. I want to submit to you today that in this world there are but two religions and only two. There's a religion that says Me, myself, I, mankind can figure things out on my own terms and then there's a religion, there's a truth that says God is the answer. Even though there's several thousand years between us and our first parents, there's much that we can relate to them.

You and I are in the same situations. You're either today at this very hour finding peace in the Word of God, or your living life with the anxiety of trying to figure things out as you go along. We're all on this journey of life. You say maybe to yourself that this is all unrelatable, that what happened in Genesis 3 is nothing like what you're going through. And that I don't know what I'm talking about, but whatever it is that's going on in your life, it is very similar.

That we all have this complex problem called life. And at its root, it's a sin problem. We don't have the solution to get through it all by ourselves In fact in fact What we find is that We all come short of it, but we're all trying to figure it out in the flesh. If it wasn't true, the self-help section of the bookstore wouldn't be so popular. The counselors wouldn't be getting so rich every year and the antidepressants and anxiety pills wouldn't be flowing through our streets so much.

How many times have you heard somebody say if only life had a user manual. If only there was a book that could help me get through life. My friends, there is a book. There is a book, and God has given us a book. It is the Word of God.

And I ask you, have you been in it? Are you a doer of the word and not just a hearer? But not only that, Not only that, it is the word of God, but do you know the God of the word? There is a Savior. Do you know Him?

Over in Matthew chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11 and verses 28 through 30. I love this passage. Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 11 sorry Matthew 11 verses 28 through 30. Verses 28 through 30.

Jesus says, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. You'll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Jesus says to come, come to me.

All who are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Oh, how terrible it is to go through life and try to work things out all on your own. To labor and to be burdened. But Jesus says, come to me. Jesus says, come to me and I'll give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light." When you get down to it, what happened there in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, they turned from the true and living God to make gods of themselves, for themselves. And that's what happens far too often. Far too often, rather than going to Jesus first, people will go everywhere else and never to the one that they should go to. In our society, people in this country want to be captain of their own destiny.

They want to be their own boss. Many today have a model of Jesus, maybe in their own mind, that's only as big as what they can put in their pocket to get out of their pocket on certain holidays or when things are going bad or when things get rough. Then when things get good again They put him back up. The song says Jesus take the wheel as if he doesn't have the wheel all the time. The old bumper sticker used to say Jesus is my co-pilot but listen if Jesus is your co-pilot you're in the wrong seat.

You're in the wrong seat and even now here in this park there are probably people, people There are probably people, people who are going through life proclaiming that they're atheists and maybe not proclaiming that they're atheists but living like they're atheists. But can you imagine? No God? Within your own heart, within your own conscience, you know that there is a God. The evidence is all around you.

Why, even the most primitive of tribes in this world have known and acknowledged that there is a God. In Psalms 14 and verse 1. The wicked fool says in his heart, there is no God. They act corruptly, they commit abominable deeds, there is no one who does good. The wicked fool says in his heart, there is no God.

And over in Romans Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1 verses 18 through 20 says For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks but they became futile in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened and so that Paul says that the Gentile world was without excuse because nature is so evident, clearly speaks that there is a God.

Your conscience speaks out that there is a God. And indeed, indeed, even among those of us who have been raised in Christian homes and been around the Bible and prayer and raised in, around churches in this civilized society where the Bible is so much available, where church services are being held so accessible. And yet the excuse so often is, I don't have time. I don't have time. I don't have time.

And if there's anything in the world that will haunt you throughout all eternity, are the wasted times that you spent scrolling on Facebook, playing on Twitter, gaming and so on and so forth. And those things will be in your memory haunting you knowing that there was time there was time but you saw those things which do not matter. So back to our scene there in the garden, we see Adam and Eve in a pitiful scene. They're in that perfect place. Everything had been provided for them and choice.

They chose. They chose the forbidden fruit. And then, God came. And he called to Adam. And what did they do?

They fled from God as he called to Adam as they hid or tried to hide in their fig leaves. In their fig leaves. I ask you, what are you hiding from? As He calls in the Word of God, as He calls to you. Man was made in the image of God and they had great fellowship with Him.

But sin separated. Sin separated. They ran. What are you running from? What are you running from?

But understand something as we think about that awful scene that day in the garden. God Yahweh did not come there that day in the garden to condemn Adam and Eve or to strike the human race from the face of the earth. He could have. He could have. And he would have been just to do it.

But that's not why he came. True, he did pronounce a curse. He pronounced a curse upon Eve, upon Adam and the serpent, and upon the whole of the world because of sin. But understand something, he could have done that from where he was at. He didn't have to go seeking out Adam, he didn't have to go seeking out Eve, he didn't need to come down to their level, But he did.

Why did he come down to where they were? I believe he came there. To let them know that there is hope. There is hope. Genesis chapter 3.

Is chapter 3 and verse 15. Now put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel." When God spoke to that serpent that day, there was this prophecy that the seed of the woman would destroy the serpent. That's hope, folks. That's hope. Eve, when she heard that, Adam when he heard that, they knew there was hope.

That somehow, some way, things were going to be alright. Their silly fig leaf coverings, that wasn't the hope that they had. The hope that they had was going to come in the seat of the woman in the future. And instead of physical death happening that day, there was death, but it wasn't them. In verse 21, verse 21 it says, Then Yahweh God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and he clothed them.

Adam and Eve could have been struck dead that day. And again, God would have been just in doing so, but he didn't. Death had to come. But it came in the form of an animal whose blood was shed and they were clothed in its skins. That was a picture, a picture of something coming.

A beautiful picture because again, the seed of the woman, And Adam and Eve wouldn't have understood everything about this, but it was coming. He was coming. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. Verse 21, He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. There was a great exchange that happened in the future from where Adam and Eve was standing, in the past from where you and I are standing, but Jesus Christ on the cross took our sins, on the cross died for us, died for His people.

He took our sin debt. We, we became righteousness, righteous in Him. I brought us righteous in him. I brought this out last time we were here but in John chapter 3, John John chapter 3 verse 16. John chapter 3 and verse 16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Do you Do you see it there in the garden? Our God came back there to that place to those sinners to rescue them from themselves, from the wrath of God, to proclaim the gospel to them. He came to tell them that in spite of all they'd done in rebelling to him, that there is hope, a way of salvation and deliverance. A few thousand years later, he again came back.

Only this time, there were no animal sacrifices. He came to die on the cross to fulfill that prophecy that the seed of the woman would indeed crush the serpent. The greatest need of Adam and Eve. Your greatest need, my greatest need is Jesus. There was no need for them to run that day.

They couldn't. When When God called out, Adam, where are you? He knew exactly where he was at. There's no hiding in the bushes. No hiding with the fig leaves.

There's no way to hide from God and you wherever you're at. There's no hiding from God. You can't run from Him. You can't hide your own conscience, your sins, your guilt. All of these things, they will follow you.

Yes, even if you try to run this whole life, all that will follow you on into the next, into an eternal Hell, except you repent and believe the gospel. Run to Jesus. Believe in Him, and He's died on the cross for sinners. That's the hope that we have. He died on the cross, he was buried, and he rose again.

And because of his faithfulness, we don't need to fear the wrath of God. Trust Him, repent of your sins. We have peace, we have life. And that's the message that we can get from Genesis chapter 3 because of Christ in spite of the sins that we have committed. May God add the blessing to the preaching of His Word.