00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
If you take your Bible and turn
to Genesis, chapter number two, Genesis chapter number two, last Sunday morning we began
looking at the stark contrast between two trees mentioned in
scripture that really stand out more than all the other trees
since time began. In fact, these two trees have
had more of an impact on mankind that all of the other trees combined. The two trees we're talking about,
of course, is the tree of knowledge of good and evil, where man sinned,
plunged us all into sin, and then the cross of Christ, where
Christ, the second Adam, gave his life on the cross of Calvary,
and so we might have life and have it more abundantly and have
it eternally, amen? Last week we saw that the tree
of knowledge of good and evil was a tree forbidden for mankind. According to Genesis 2 verse
16 and 17, that's going to be our, our text again for today
as we look at another truth here. Let's read this. And the Lord
God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat of it. And here's the phrase we
want to look at today. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die. So the tree of knowledge of good
and evil was a tree that was forbidden. God said don't eat.
But the cross of Christ, we said, is a tree that is required for
mankind. We must look and live. Amen.
And this morning I want us to see another contrast between
these two trees. And that's this. A tree of knowledge
of good and evil was a place of death. It was a place of death. The Lord said, for in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now, the Hebrew rendering of
that is dying thou shalt die. And Genesis 3, 6, when Eve ate
of the fruit of the forbidden tree and gave to Adam, and he
ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree along with her, you know,
there was an instantaneous change that took place in their lives. It was a definite change. They
knew something had happened. And Adam and Eve, what really
happened that day is that they spiritually died. We'll talk
about what that means here in just a moment. So when the Lord
said that they would surely die in that day that they ate, that
did take place. They died spiritually just like
that. Additionally, we know that Adam
and Eve began to die physically that day. You ever heard of someone
who was under a sentence of death called, he's just a dead man
walking? Or maybe someone says, they're
as good as dead. That was the case with Adam and
Eve. Understand that the scripture records in Genesis chapter number
five that Adam lived 930 years. Now I want you to think about
that. 930 years is a good long time. Nevertheless, the sentence of
death, the cause of sin, assured that he was no more but a dead
man walking. God said, Thou shalt surely die. In other words, death is going
to be sure for you. And he was as good as dead, he
could have died at any moment along that 930 year path that
he walked this earth. None of us know the day of our
death. He certainly did not know the
day of his death, but he had God's assurance, hey, you ate
of that tree, you're gonna die. And listen, we are in Adam, and
we're as good as dead. except for the life that comes
to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. When we were born
in this world, we were as good as dead. I'm glad I'm not as
good as dead anymore. Amen. They said, well, you're
still going to die, preacher. Yeah, I may. I hope to go up
in the rapture. But if the physical death comes,
I know to be absent from the bodies, be present with the Lord.
You know, it's really a different scenario that we're talking about
there. That one act of sin by mankind
was the greatest tragedy of all time because of its great impact
on all mankind, even had an impact on all of creation. We're going
to see that this morning. That one act of sin, I want you
to see first of all, was tragic because of its internal impact
on man, the internal impact. By that, I'm talking about that
man died spiritually. In Genesis 3, let's take a look
in Genesis 3 verse number 7. It says, And the eyes of them
both were open. That's what happened after they
both ate. The eyes of them both were open and they knew that
they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. Think about that for just a minute. Man was made to have fellowship
with God. And he did have fellowship with
God up until this point. Knew something transpired. He
was trying to hide from God. Can you imagine the ludicracy
of that? Where are you going to hide from God? You can't.
You can't hide from God. Look at verse number nine. The
Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? Now, it's not that Adam was really
good at hiding. In fact, God asked that question. It's for man to acknowledge where
he was at. That's the purpose of that. God
knew precisely where he was at. Verse 10, and he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and
I hid myself. And he said, who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, the
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree
and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. You know, man died
spiritually the moment he ate of that tree. In Genesis 2, verse
15 through 25, and I'm not gonna read those verses, I'm gonna
give you a summary of what happens there. God gave man some responsibilities
when he created man. You'll find in verse number 15
that God put man in the garden to dress it and to keep it. Then
in verses 16 to 17, we see that God gave him freedom to eat with
responsibility. You can eat any tree that you
want to, but that one tree you need to leave alone. Then God
gave him the responsibility to name every living creature in
verse 19 and 20. And God gave him the responsibility
to lead a mate, a helpmate. God gave him a helpmate in verses
21 through 25. And Adam had the responsibility
to lead her about. Now understand that man, unlike
any other creature, was made to have fellowship with God. But man's sin broke that fellowship
with God. We just read that in verses 8
through 10 there. And what a great tragedy. I want
you to think about this. To have had sweet fellowship
with the God of the universe one day and to be spiritually
dead the next. That's what's happened to them.
I mean, they had sweet fellowship with the Lord. But that was broken. In Genesis 3, verses 12 and 13,
we read that man was trying to pass the buck on the responsibility. It's not my fault, it's the woman
you gave to me. Basically, he was, in blaming
the woman, he was really blaming God. The woman that thou gavest
me. If you hadn't given me the woman,
Mankind today is still trying to pass the book on responsibility
for their sin. I saw it a lot when I was ministering
in prison ministry, ministered for nine and a half years in
the prisons. And a lot of folks want to say,
well, you know, it wasn't my fault, it was my family or my
friends that drug me into what got me in here. And a lot of
times we blame family or friends. Or someone would say, well, it's
a neighborhood I grew up in. I grew up in a neighborhood,
and quite frankly, it was just a bad side of the town, and I
was pulled in. But there were folks that grew
up on that bad side of the town that did not get pulled in. We make a choice, don't we? Some
say it was because I grew up poor. There's all kinds of stories
of people growing up poor who chose to rise above the poverty
in their lives. And then, of course, there are
many that say, well, the devil made me do it. And, of course,
that was a phrase that came out of the 1970s when Flip Wilson
was in a television show. He said, the devil made me do
it, and people grabbed a hold of that, and that was their story,
and I'm sticking to it. The devil made me do it, and
that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. But man chose to sin. Bottom
line. Chose to sin. That one act of
sin was tragic because of its internal impact on man. Second
thing I want you to see is that that one act of sin was tragic
because of its external impact on creation. We see there in
verse number 14 of chapter three, it says, And the Lord God said
unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed
above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy
belly thou shalt go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life. And I will put in between thee
and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said,
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow
thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy
husband, he shall rule over thee. And to Adam he said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat
of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou
eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns, also, and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat of the herb
of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread till thou returneth to the ground, for out of it
wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and into dust shalt thou
return. We see all of creation curves,
all of plant life and animal life were affected Every time
you have to pull weeds out of your flower bed or out of your
garden, have to hoe your garden, that is a testimony to the consequences
of sin. Every time you have to slap a
mosquito or a gnat, it should remind you of the consequences
a sin. Every time you have to go to
the doctor or have to take medicine, it should remind you of the consequences
of sin, because all of those things come from sin's effect
in this world. We see not only was all of creation
cursed, but also the battle of the ages began there. Verse 15,
we read about that. The battle for the souls of men
was on. Satan desired, and his desire
still is, to keep souls damned to eternity in hell. God wants
those same souls to live forever with him in heaven. That's why
he provided a way for salvation. We know that toil and trouble
began. We just read about it in verses 16 through 19 there.
Listen, work did not begin there, but labor did. You know there
was work before sin entered? Yeah, over in Genesis 2.15, a
man was put in the garden. It says, and the Lord God took
the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep
it. There was a job to do. There was a work to do, but there
was no labor in it. It was enjoyable. For the woman, there's labor
and childbirth. For men and women both, there's
labor and work. We know that physical death began. You know that up to this point,
there was no death? You know, there's some folks
who want to try to read into the scriptures a gap between
Genesis 1-1 and Genesis 1-2. They say, well, you know, in
there, that's where the dinosaurs came and they, you know, they
were on the face of the earth and they were, you know, they
died out during that time. No, there was no death. Dinosaurs
lived with Adam. They did. But Genesis 3 and verse 21, we
see the very first death. It says there, unto Adam also
and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe
them. Now in order to get coats of
skins, what do you gotta do? got to kill the animal. That
animal had to sacrifice his life for Adam and Eve to get a covering
for their sin. It's a picture of what Jesus
did for us on the cross. Up to that point there had been
no death, and then paradise was lost. Look at verse number 22. there of chapter 3. It says,
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of
us to know good and evil. And now, lest ye put forth his
hand, and take also the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.
And what the Lord was concerned about was that they live forever
in that condition of sin. Therefore the Lord God sent him
forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence
he was taken. So he drove out the man and he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming
sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life. Aren't you glad that The Lord
moved man out of that garden and he didn't take and live forever
in his sin. Can you imagine living in these
bodies like we are right now forever? It would be bad, wouldn't
it? It would be bad. The most perfect
place God created was forfeited by man. In fact, verse 24 says
that God drove out the man, drove him out of there. So we see the
internal impact, we see the external impact. And then that one act
of sin was tragic because of its eventual impact on man. Genesis 5, 5 says, And all the
days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and
he died. You can call Genesis 5 the death
chapter. because it lists a genealogy
there, and every one of it says, and he died, and he died, and
he died, over and over again. Adam died. Yes, he lived 930
years, but he died. The eventual impact includes
physical death. Man began to die physically the
day that he ate of the fruit. And since that time, man has
continued to die physically. Every cemetery is a testimony
to the tragedy of sin. Every cemetery is a reminder
that we too will pass that way. Hebrews 9, 27 puts it this way. It is appointed unto men once
to die. After this, the judgment. Psalm
89 verse 48 says, what man is he that liveth and shall not
see death? Ecclesiastes 3 verse 20, all go into one place, all
are of dust, and all turn to dust again. Romans 5, 12, wherefore
as by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin.
That's why I say there couldn't be death beforehand, otherwise
the word of God would not be true. We know the word of God
is true. The Bible says it's by one man
that sin entered into the world and death came by sin, right? And so you have no death before
Genesis 3, 21. Then every person who loses a
loved one to death wants to know why. And a lot of folks will
shake a fist in God's face, you know, they'll point a finger
and say, this is God's fault that this happened. No, this
man's fault, Adam's fault. And listen, the eventual impact
includes eternal death if that's not taken care of. Hebrews 9.27
says, but after this, the judgment. It's pointing to man wants to
die, but after this, the judgment. We're all going to stand before
God. And those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their
Savior will stand at the great white throne judgment in Revelation
20 verse 14. It says, and death and hell were
cast in the lake of fire. This is the second death. You
don't want to take part in the second death. There's an internal
impact, external impact, eventual impact. Fourthly, that one act
of sin was tragic because of its universal impact on creation. All of mankind was impacted. All of us. You could say even
the Lord Jesus Christ was impacted because he came into the world
to die for sin. He wouldn't have had to come
into the world to die for sin if it hadn't been for Adam sinning
to begin with. Now Christ had no sin of his
own. He took in his body our sin. So understand that. Look at Romans chapter 8 real
quick. Romans chapter 8 and we see all of creation was impacted
and it talks about that very thing in Romans 8 and I want
to pick up in verse number 18. Romans 8, 18. It says, For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Talking about
the future glory, when Christ comes back and changes us. Amen? That's what he's talking about.
Look at verse 19. For the earnest expectation of
the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. Verse 22, For we know
that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together
until now. And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the first roots of the spirit. Even we, ourselves,
grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the
redemption of our body. We're ready for Jesus to come
back and change this vile body into one like his own. So, because of the because of
sin has a universal impact on creation. That one act of sin,
fifthly, the one act of sin was tragic because of its eternal
impact on man. Because of sin, man was doomed
in his sin, and that meant eternal death, meant separation from
God for eternity in hell, except for what Jesus Christ did on
the other tree. Because of sin, a substitute
was needed. Again, that was pictured in Genesis
3.21 when God himself took the life of that animal to provide
a covering. We needed a substitute as a sacrifice
for our sin, and Jesus provided that. Romans 6.23, the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5 verse 20 and 21 says,
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. We needed a substitute. We needed
a covering for our sin. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For
he, speaking of God, hath made him, speaking of Jesus, to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Christ is our covering. He is our atonement. He is our
righteousness. We have none of our own. because
of sin, our substitute came, and that brings us to the contrast
of the other tree that we're talking about, and that's the
cross of Christ. Yes, the tree of knowledge of
good and evil was a place of death, but the cross of Christ
is a place of life. The cross of Christ brings us
spiritual life here and now. The tree of knowledge of good
and evil was a living tree that brought forth death, in mankind
because of disobedience, but the cross of Christ was a dying
tree. They had to cut the tree down
in order to put Christ on it. It was a dying tree that brought
forth life. Jesus Christ, the man on that cross, because of
his obedience, there was, first of all, was Christ's obedience.
Philippians 2 verse 8 puts it this way. It says that he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Luke 19 verse 10 says, For the
Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
In order to save, he had to give himself. How did Christ accomplish
that? By his obedience unto death,
even the death of the cross. Then there's the obedience of
the sinner to believe the gospel, Ephesians 2 verse 1. And you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. How was that accomplished? Well,
when we obeyed the gospel and believed on Christ's finished
work on the cross of Calvary on our behalf, that's when the
change took place. John 3.16, for God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Romans
8.1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. So the cross of Christ brings
us spiritual life here now. Secondly, the cross of Christ
brings us physical life hereafter. And we're looking forward to
that, aren't we? Because it's not going to be the same kind
of life that we have right now. These bodies are going to be
changed in a body just like the resurrected Lord. It's a spiritual
body, amen. It's a body, but it's a spiritual
body. And we know that 1 Thessalonians 4, I'm not going to read those
verses, verses 13 through 18 and 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51
through 57 talk about the coming of Jesus, when he's going to
come, he's going to change us in a moment, in a twinkling of
an eye, the last trump, amen, we're going to change. I like
Hebrews 2.9 that says, but we see Jesus, who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with
glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death
for every man. Jesus tasted death for us. I like the Easter song that we
sing sometimes, we shall rise, hallelujah, we shall rise. Looking
forward to that resurrection morning. Then last of all, I
want you to see the cross of Christ brings us not only spiritual
life here now and physical life hereafter, but the cross of Christ
brings us eternal life here and hereafter. Do you know if you're
in Christ, eternal life is your present possession? It's a present
possession. John 3.36 says, He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. So not that you're going to get
everlasting life one day. You have everlasting life. He
that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abideth on him. John 5, 24, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death into life. We have passed
from death into life. You say, but we still die physically. Yeah, be answered from the bodies,
be present with the Lord. Amen? It's not the same as what
it was before we came to Christ. So, in conclusion here, the tree
of knowledge of good and evil is a place of death. We all are
protectors of that tree because of our position of being in Adam. Every one of us was in Adam. But we don't have to be stuck
with all the consequences of that tree, do we? We have an
alternative. We have another tree. We can
look to the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is a place
of life. We become partakers of the cross
of Christ by grace, through faith, which changes our position from
being under condemnation to being in Christ. And from being under
the shadow of death to having the life of Christ within. Our positioning of being in Christ
gives us spiritual life and it guarantees us eternal life. Amen. So do you know Christ today? That's the question. You partake
of that first tree. Have you partaken of the second
tree? That first tree, all it will get you is death. for all
eternity. Come to Jesus if you don't know
Him. Embrace Him today. Come get His life. And if you
do know Him, listen, everybody that's in Adam needs to know
about Christ. They're not going to know unless
we tell them. We need to be busy telling them, listen, you've
got a problem. You were born in sin. You need Jesus. Come
to Jesus today. Amen. Let's pray.
Two Trees-Pt 2
| Sermon ID | 41821161611214 |
| Duration | 29:14 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Genesis 2 |
| Language | English |
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.