Will you please turn to Genesis 3? We will not read it, because we will cover the whole chapter.
May we have a word of prayer first.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee for giving Thyself to us in such a way as to redeem us from the depths to the height. We thank Thee for all that Thou hast done for us. Without the Lord, where shall we be?
As we continue together in Thy presence, we pray that Thou wilt, by Thy Spirit, open Thy Word to us, that we may be absorbed by Thy Word and be one with Thy Word, and glorify Your name. We commit this time into Your hands. We pray in Thy precious name. Amen.
The Book of the Bible begins with a garden, the Garden of Eden. In a sense, it ends with another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane. And in these two gardens, we can see the work of God.
Some say the Garden of Eden is paradise lost, but the Garden of Gethsemane is paradise regained.
After God had created man in His own image, according to His own likeness, He put man in the Garden of Eden, the garden of pleasure. In the garden were all kinds of trees good for food, and in the midst of the garden were the tree of life and, by it, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Do not think that God would place a bad tree in His garden. No. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is second to the best.
And God told man that of all the trees in the garden, he could freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he should not eat, because in the day that he ate thereof, he should surely die.
Unfortunately, we do not know why Adam and Eve seemed to be divided. They should be together. They should work together, till together, and guard together. This is the will of God.
But we do not know how. It seems that the husband and his wife were divided; they were not together. And for this reason, Adam failed God and allowed the enemy of God to slip in.
And Eve, having wandered away from her husband, came to the center of the garden. But, strangely, her attraction was not to the tree of life. Rather, she paid attention to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Because of this, she was under temptation. The enemy came and said that God had forbidden them to eat of any tree in the garden. In other words, he put God in such a bad situation, as if God did not love man; rather, He wanted man to die.
And so Eve said, “Oh, no. God said we can eat all the fruit of the trees except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” But she added something to it. She said that God had said they could not eat it, because if they ate it, they would die.
Then Satan tempted Eve and said, “You may not die, because God does not want you to be as intelligent as He is. If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will have intelligence. In other words, you will be God. You will have no need of God.”
Unfortunately, she was tempted. She ate of the fruit, and not only that, she gave it to her husband.
Her husband knowingly ate. He knew what God’s Word was. But, you know, he loved his wife more than God. So he listened to his wife and ate the forbidden fruit.
By doing that, they discovered that they were naked. Now, brothers and sisters, God clothed every animal with skins. How is it that He did not clothe man with something?
Evidently, He did clothe man with glory. The day they sinned, glory left them, and they found themselves naked.
They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But we all know, if there is wind, the covering will not remain.
So when God came into the garden to have communion with them, He could not find them. They hid themselves from God. So God said, “Adam, where art thou?”
Adam said, “We were naked; therefore, we hid ourselves among the trees.” God said, “Who told thee that thou wast naked?”
Now, brothers and sisters, I firmly believe that if God should clothe all the animals with skins, He cannot leave man without any clothing. Therefore, evidently, God clothed Adam and Eve with glory. Glory had been their clothing. But because they had sinned against God, glory had left them, and they found themselves naked.
So God began to proclaim His judgment. But thank God, even in His judgment, He gave them a promise: the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head, and the serpent would bruise His heel.
And this, of course, we know refers to the coming of our Lord Jesus: how He would crush Satan’s head, but Satan would bruise His heel.
And because of this, God clothed them with skins. Now, where did the skins come from? Some animal, evidently, had to be killed in order that there might be skins to cover man.
And then, of course, this is a prophecy telling us that one day the seed of the woman, Christ, would crush the head of the serpent, Satan; but Satan would bruise His heel.
And God said that because of this, man should not remain in the garden. They were driven out of the garden, and cherubim guarded the gate to the Garden of Eden. It was paradise lost.
Yet there was hope in a future Seed who would crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent would bruise His heel. They were driven out of the Garden of Eden. It was paradise lost.
But God knew everything. Even before the foundation of the world, when God began to think of creation to express His love toward His Son, He knew beforehand that there would be a problem.
And it was at that time that the Son stepped forward and said, “Father, if it is Thy will, go ahead. I will be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world to redeem the situation.” This is in 1 Peter 1:20.
So, go ahead with creation. And I believe we all know the story.
But after two thousand years, we find another garden: the Garden of Gethsemane. This is in Matthew 26.
We find that our Lord Jesus, after He had lived a life of purity, pleased God in everything. On the Mount of Transfiguration, He was ready to leave the world and return to His Father. But He would not. Why? Not because of Himself, but because of you and me.
He was willing to come down from the mountain and turn His face toward Jerusalem, for there He would face another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane.
He was to undergo a press. He had already lived a life of purity, but He refused to return to heaven on the Mount of Transfiguration. He came down and faced Jerusalem, knowing what would happen there.
So He took His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. And the Bible tells us how He was grieved even unto death.
He told His disciples to wait there for Him. He took three of His closest disciples with Him to go forward. He hoped that these three disciples would watch with Him for a while.
He went forward to pray:
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me;
nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
In other words, He had lived a life of purity. For Himself, there was no need to suffer anymore. But He realized that He came for us. It was for our sake that He had to go through death. He had to go to the cross in order to save people such as we are.
But think of the conflict that must have been in His life. Now, the Garden of Gethsemane is really beyond description.
Our Lord was so grieved in His soul that He was almost dying. Unless an angel appeared to strengthen Him, it is possible that He would die in the garden.
And what is the conflict? The conflict is us. Because He knew He had to go to the garden and to submit to the will of God for Him.
Throughout His life, He lived such a pure life, never offending the Father at any moment, listening to God all the time. He said:
I can do nothing of Myself. I do because I see My Father do it.
I can say nothing of Myself. I say it because I have heard My Father say it.
I can go nowhere by Myself. I go because the Father has sent Me.
Throughout His life, He obeyed the Father in everything. He was not worthy to die; He was worthy to be raptured and return to the Father.
But He knew that if He did, there would be only one Man in heaven: Christ. We would all be left behind because we are sinners. And He was willing to die in our stead and to take our place. Otherwise, there would be no hope for each and every one of us.
And for the love of us, brothers and sisters—again I want to emphasize—it is for the love of you and of me, people such as we are, that our Lord Jesus was willing to deny Himself, take up the cross, and die on Calvary’s cross.
What love is this? It is beyond description.
So the agony that our Lord Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane is beyond description. Think of that. If you are a very clean person, and someone who is so unclean and careless, casting things all over the house, is going to live with you, now what do you think?
We would quickly drive him out and say, “You are not fit to be here.” But not our Lord.
As we find in Matthew 26, as He prayed, He said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Thy will be done.”
Brothers and sisters, we cannot even imagine the agony that our Lord Jesus went through in the garden. We who are not pure, we who are sinful—suppose you are a clean person and another person came and dwelt with you, being so unclean, casting things all over the house. What would you do?
Probably you would cast him out and say, “You are not worthy to live with me.” But not with Christ. He was willing to give up Himself in order to save you and me. And that is love.
So, dear brothers and sisters, Gethsemane is a scene beyond description. We cannot imagine what our Lord Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. But for our sake, He said, “Father, not My will, but Thy will be done.”
And after He had prayed three times, He knew what the Father’s will would be.
And we know how He was judged and crucified on Calvary’s cross. And it is all for our sake—for you and for me.
Otherwise, how can we stand this morning and listen? We are here this morning because of what our Lord Jesus had done on Calvary’s cross. He died in our stead to redeem us from the enemy and save us, even save us to the uttermost.
So thank God for the Garden of Gethsemane. And because of all that our Lord has done for each and every one of us, we are here this morning.
So we ought to have a grateful heart. We cannot accept such marvelous love without being touched in the depths of our being.
You can only bow before Him and say, “Lord, Thou hast saved people such as we are. Thou, the purest, didst die for us, the dirtiest. And we are here; it is all by Thy mercy and grace.”
What can we do, brothers and sisters, except give ourselves totally over to Him and let Him rule over our lives? Let Him work out His salvation in each and every one of us.
This is only a small way to express our gratitude to Him.
So between these two gardens, we see the salvation of our Lord. And we are here this morning.
Brothers and sisters, I do not know how you feel, but I feel so grateful to Him. Our Lord Jesus died in my stead. I should die. I should have no hope.
And yet today, I can look up to Him. He is my Savior. He is my God. And He will save me to the uttermost.
I do confess, oftentimes I sin; I fall. But He never gives me up. He always takes me up and brings me on, because He wants to save each and every one of us to the uttermost.
Thank God, He will do that. So, are you willing this morning to give yourself totally over to Him and let Him take full charge over your life?
Learn to be obedient. Learn to allow the Holy Spirit to work in your lives. Learn to deny yourself, and learn to be saved to the uttermost. This is the perfect will of God for each and every one of us.
So may we have some words of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we think of the love that Thou hast bestowed upon us, we who were the chief of sinners, and yet Thou, the purest One, the Son of God, wast willing to die in our stead.
And because of this, Thou hast saved us, and Thou art willing to save us to the uttermost. Oh, dear Lord, how can we keep ourselves from Thee and not surrender ourselves completely to Thee?
Lord, take us and fashion us according to Your will, until Thy will shall be done in each and every one of us here, as it is in heaven. We look to Thee, Lord. Hear our prayer in Your precious name. Amen.