Turn with me to Genesis, the second chapter. We will consider this evening the verses 16 and 17 of Genesis chapter 2. Again, the word of God. 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. Thus far, the reading of God's most holy word. Today, we note what could be thought of as the saddest, darkest day in the history of the world. The Son of God was brutally crucified The account itself is certainly not pretty. We read of its ugliness in Isaiah and then again in the account itself in John. He was falsely accused and reviled. He was scourged, and the Romans knew how to scourge people to a point in which they suffered tremendously but did not die. And he was nailed to the cross. If you have ever read, and they're out there, what medical science would say as the kinds of things that happens to a human body when one is crucified, it is, again, not a pretty picture. It is an awful account. Doesn't really appear like anything that we ought to be celebrating or even remembering. There are, in fact, many who would say, what a cruel and nasty God. They would also reject the idea that God would pour his wrath out on his son, even in considering that Christ accomplishes salvation and by that takes away our sin and suffers the consequences of sin. But again, Does a loving God actually pour out his wrath to the point of requiring this awful event to have taken place? There are, in fact, many claiming to be part of the Church of Christ who would find it absolutely unacceptable to speak of God who would, in his wrath, actually pour out his wrath against sin and would reject the notion of such a God. But you see, all of this fails to recognize the reality of sin, to recognize the result of falling into a state of sin. And before we simply think about the ugliness of the cross, and certainly it was, Let's consider what man did which brought about all of this ugliness. We want to note this evening then how man brought death upon himself, how God responded in grace, and how death was defeated on the cross. Now, without diminishing or taking away in any way the fact that God is a sovereign God and absolutely nothing happens that he has not in eternity been involved in or known of, however we want to state that. Yet the determination or the action which actually brings death into this creation is not any action on the part of God. It is that of man. Adam is our federal head, that is, Adam speaking and acting on behalf of every one of us, you and I, all of us here this evening, determined to disobey God and to listen to Satan, and therefore placed all mankind in a position where death entered into the picture where God had not put it into this creation. You see, God created man with life. God created man a dependent creature. That is, he literally needs to be, if you will, plugged into God in order to be alive, in order to have life. By means of a pipeline to God, Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden, and Adam had in the fullest sense everything. that gives him life. Yes, there was the possibility of death, but as God created him, God created him with life. And all of that is involved in the reality as we are told that God created man in his own image. See, God placed man into a place of life. He created this creation as a place where life could be lived as the creature made in the image of God, that he could enjoy that relationship. Specifically, we read about how God had placed Adam in the garden and that he had given him every good food to eat in the garden. That is a picture of life. a picture of provision to the highest extent, all that man could ever need and ever want and enjoy in the fullest. Yet even further, not just the food from the trees in the garden and all that that implies that God had given this creation for man and his enjoyment in his life and honor unto God, but even further, God is in the garden. God is there as the source of life, and there's fellowship, there's communication. They walked and talked with God. They literally were placed in a situation where Adam and Eve, who had fellowship with one another, also had fellowship with God, so you have man and man, and man and God, and that is the essence of what life is all about. All of this is possible by that relationship with God. Life was fully and completely and totally satisfying to man. There was no death. There was no ugliness. None of what we see on the cross, on what's represented on the cross, and all of that darkness that we talked about, none of what we struggle with in our own hearts because of the sinful nature that we deal with, none of what we see in the world when we read day after day of tornadoes and death and of lawlessness that brings death and shootings and what have you, none of that was there that requires for the cross to have taken place. Now what is also clear is that the consequences of rejecting all of this, the consequences of in fact not listening to God and believing the lie which was told them by Satan, that man in fact be life unto himself, He can cut the cord with God. He doesn't need God. You can be your own gods, right? The lie there is that will cause him to lose life and die. In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Literally, it says, dying you shall die. which is to say you will put yourself and all of mankind, again, Adam is the federal head, remember, into a situation of death. Death is not just something that happens at the end of life as we know it. Death is not just something that there's kind of a bad thing that's, death is a state and man plunged all of mankind into that state. It actually means that the moment that Adam disobeyed, he placed himself and all of mankind, all of us here this evening, into a state of death. And all that we know in this creation, which is ugly, which is painful, which brings sorrow and suffering, and ultimately, yes, physical death, that is what man plunged himself into. So all that we see on the cross, all that is ugly about the cross, is by man's clear choice and disobedience unto God. And though Adam and Eve continued to breathe after they ate of the forbidden fruit, Life did go on. The lifeline to God was cut off. And in reality, the day that they eat, they died. They knew it. And they knew that they could not live apart from God. The idea of life that they were created with was gone. And for that reason, they hid from God. Here's how the Apostle Paul in Romans 5 describes what took place. Romans 5 verse 12 says, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned, all disobeyed, all made the wretched choice, You and I made the wretched choice with Adam, saying, yes, we can be our own gods. We don't have to listen to God. You know, death is sometimes spoken of as a prison or as being in chains and locked up. From the moment that man listened to Satan, disobeyed, and ate the forbidden fruit, he placed himself into a prison of death. as a secure prison, as when the chains, there's no escape, and there is only misery. When we think of the cross, what needs to be clearly understood, even for ourselves, when we think of the cross and we think about the ugliness and even blame God for the cruelty that we see on the cross, Christ being scourged, Christ being reviled, Christ having a crown of thorns on his head, and all that went with that. Blame yourself. Blame yourself. Think about how you and I have caused that suffering. on the cross. The cross happened because of our sin. Now, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the test, the probation, if you will, that God set before man in the garden. And again, it's not that God needed to find out whether man was going to be faithful or not, whether man was going to obey or not. It's not that God was ignorant about that. But the requirement of living a life of acknowledging God and Him alone as God and acknowledging man's place as the creature had to take place. There had to be that submission on the part of man. And the consequences of failing was necessary to be spelled out very clearly in order to have that right relationship with God. So here is the test. What would man do? Would man acknowledge that God is God, that he's the creator, he has placed this creation, he has put all of the other trees in a garden, he has done all of this great stuff for a man, and he has determined good and evil? Or would man, the creature, say, I'm not just a creature, but I can be God? I can determine myself. I don't have to listen to God. What is good and evil? You see, it is God alone who reveals his own character. What is good and evil? It is simply who God is. It is a revelation of his own character. To come up with something contrary to God is to deny the reality of God. But that was the essence of the test. And listening to Satan, that's exactly what Adam did. And in Adam, we all with him, we in fact did say, I can be God. He sought to be the creator rather than the creature, which is a challenge to the one true God. So he sought to flip places, if you will, the creature determined to be the creator. And Satan is only about falsehood. He knew it was a lie. He knew that man could not have life without being connected to God. He knew about death. He wanted to destroy man because man had gotten in his way. And when the creature determines he is the creator, he in fact brings death into the picture. because life can only be by God. We know, of course, that man continued to be a living creature, and though removed from the place of life, but God did not change his mind. God did not say, oops, that didn't work so well. We're going to have to try something different, see if we can figure something else out here. Let's ignore the threat and just let man live anyway. No, not at all. What God said would happen really did. Man died. We, you and I, died on that day. It is also important to notice the God that we see here. Yes, just very briefly, but the God who gave every tree of the garden is a gracious, life-giving, life-sustaining God. And though he put man out of the garden, out of the place of life, he gave him a way to continue by being able to worship through sacrifice, but also, more importantly, God made it known that Satan would be stopped. You know, it's somewhat ironic if you think about it. Satan, who brought death into the picture, is going to suffer his own demise by the death that he brought into the picture. Death now will be used by God through his son crushing the head of the serpent, or Satan. Death does continue. Man is put outside a garden. Man must deal with the ugliness of life. It begins very early. Immediately, the first thing we see is that the son of Eve, that seed that was thought to be the savior, turned out to be the murderer. Cain killed Abel. And further, through sacrifice, which involves death, made it possible for man to yet meet with God, even in that state of death. So the gracious God does not overlook death. God does not turn ugly and mean. God continues to be the God who he is, but literally uses death, crushing the head of Satan, by which he destroys death. You know, Adam and Eve, of course, did not have this book that we have, they did not know a lot about the gospel message that has been revealed over time and that we have, but they knew two things for sure. They knew what they had done brought death into this world, and they knew that God promised to them that he was going to take care of it. He is going to take care of death. Just think about it. Being fully aware of the reality of what God had said. Adam and Eve remembered and knew very clearly that God had said, the day that you eat, you shall surely die. They knew they had died. That's why they hid. And there they're standing, and here's God speaking to Satan, and Eve hears the words, the seed of the woman. Well, death doesn't produce seed. It's a message of life is yet going to go on. Wait a moment. God had said no life, yet he spoke of it. Imagine the joy that was in the heart of Eve and Adam, that when they brought death, He brought life again, but again in a context of death through Satan, there would be suffering. Even the seed of the woman's heel would be crushed. Means that yes, the Savior is going to suffer. And God's people are going to suffer as we struggle throughout the history of the world, as we see every day in our world around us today. Sin has brought misery into this world. But the head of the serpent will be crushed. Death itself will be put to death. By this work on the part of the seed of the woman, though many generations later and identified as actually God becoming flesh, in the person of the Son of God, through his death, death itself would be destroyed. So you see, the death of the cross, the death of Christ on the cross, this cruel event must be seen in terms of the reality. The day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. It had to end on the cross. The ultimate fulfillment of that, that what Adam and Eve and God's promise of what would happen when they disobeyed requires the cross. While God did not overlook death, yet the gracious God provides so that death will be destroyed. So here's the thing, without diminishing again in any way the ugliness of death, and all that is related to it, the crucifixion, is not about a mean and nasty God. Not at all. Yes, his wrath is rightfully poured out on the cross. It must be, because his wrath is against death and sin, that there might be life. It is the payment for disobedience that is required. It is the ugliness and the cruelty of death which we see on the cross. So here's the reality of Good Friday. Christ became sin for us. That which happened when Adam ate, rebelled against God, is placed on Christ. Paul speaks of Christ as the second Adam in this passage we quoted earlier from Romans 5, but then also in the next chapter in Romans 6. Very interesting statement in verse 2 and following. We read it this way. How shall we who die to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ into Jesus were baptized into his death. You see the connection. By your faith in Christ, all of the effects of Adam's sin, all of what happened in Genesis 2.17 was nailed to the cross. You see, what makes the cross something to remember and something even to celebrate, What makes the cross not a picture of a cruel God, but of a loving God of grace? What makes the cross? where death is destroyed is because Christ became sin for us. And when Christ, just as when Adam sinned and we sinned with him, when Christ was nailed to the cross, we by faith are nailed to the cross. And that death, that effect, that state of death that we were placed into is put to death. Until the Lord returns, yes, the effects of sin Sin will continue to be with us. We see it every day around us. We struggle with it every day in our own lives, in our own hearts. We see it every time we read the news or hear the news. We live in a world which has brought death on itself. We should not be shocked, though we are. It is tragic. It is awful. It is not to be made light of, but the only answer is God's provision of nailing death to the cross, nailing his son on the cross who took the place of Adam and accomplished what Adam failed. The chains of death I spoke of, they are broken. Death is no longer a prison with no escape. Even our own physical death will be reversed in the resurrection of the body which we look forward to one day. As it turns out, the cross is, in fact, not a picture of the ugliness and the cruelty of God. It is a picture of the love of God and the grace of God. He, by grace, ended the reign of death on the cross. Yes, there's a sense in which Good Friday was the saddest day in history, but it is also the greatest day truly worth celebrating. You see, the message of our text is a sad one. The cruelty of the cross is real. But you need to know, and I trust that you know, it is not the final story. It's not the final message. The cross is. Death is ended. Death is defeated. Satan is crushed. And therefore, you and I are back with God. We are back in life. We again have the life in all of its glory. And truly, we do celebrate the cross. Let us pray. Our God and Father, we are awestruck. We are humbled. We have tears, because we know, even as Adam and Eve, what we did. We have joy, because we know what you have done. and especially we rejoice today in Christ on the cross putting to death death that we might have life. May all here truly know that and may many beyond throughout this land and throughout this world know that Christ and that answer to death. the work of Christ on the cross. For that, we thank you, and for that, we rejoice in your love demonstrated in putting your son on the cross. Your son, who taught us to pray together, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.