Good morning, if you have your Bibles, please turn with me again to Genesis chapter 2 And we'll be looking at verses 18 through 25 Genesis chapter 2 verses 18 Through 25 here the reading of God's Word Then the Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field in every bird of the sky and brought them to the man to see what he would call them And whatever the man called the living creature that was its name The man gave names to all the cattle into the birds of the sky to every beast of the field But for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him So the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon the man Then he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man The man said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man But this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife And they shall become one flesh and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed Amen may God add a blessing to the reading and hearing of his word This morning I want to talk to you on the topic the last Adam and the new Eve The last Adam and the new Eve Please join me in the word of prayer
Dear Father in heaven, we thank you Lord again for this time We thank you for this period of worship Lord that you have granted to us today I'm Lord truly as the song just said you are the one that we praise you are the one that we adore and we thank you Lord That you have given us this love to praise and adore you and and Lord We pray now in this preaching hour that you will give us even more reason to praise and adore you as we look at this passage Father, we pray that you will bless all of our ears to it Lord We pray that that you will give me the words to say that that I ought to say the words that I ought not to say I pray that you will not allow me to save them Lord, but ultimately Lord We pray and and praise and adore you Lord for the fact that Christ will be proclaimed in this message So help us to see our loving Savior Lord in this time and we pray and ask your blessings upon it in Jesus name. Amen Amen When we think about the biblical account of the creation of mankind a lot of different thoughts come to our mind Of for instance, we think of them being at the heights of God's creation mandate You know being made in his image and likeness We think of the command that God gives them to be fruitful and to multiply and to replenish the earth and to exercise the Dominion over all created things In addition, we also think of God's command for them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Otherwise, they would surely die And finally, we think of how they were deceived by the serpent Eight from this tree thus causing themselves as well as all of their posterity namely us to become totally plunged into the state of sin and death Now it's from these last two thoughts in particular that the foundation of the story of redemption takes place within this biblical narrative Which ultimately finds its culmination in our Lord Jesus Christ who is described by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1545 As the last Adam In other words while Adam failed in his quest to follow God's command in the garden due to Satan Jesus Christ on the other hand was successful in following God's command and by virtue defeated Satan and Because of such thus the world the world that got created very good That would be cursed because of the first Adam's disobedience will be ultimately renewed because of the last Adam's total obedience However, located within this title of the last Adam is an important title that is indirectly given to those of us who are chosen and found in Christ Namely the title of the new Eve And as since as believers we are told that we are the bride of Christ who again is the last Adam I believe we can easily deduce that we serve as the fulfillment as believers of a new and greater ease And Eve that is created to honor and glorify her husband in the manner that the first Eve failed to do in regards to the first Adam So again, this is what I want to do this morning I want to look at this point of Christ being the last Adam and believers being the new Eve and show how our marriage with Christ Is much greater than the marriage between the first Adam and the first Eve However instead of looking at this narrative from the fall which we often do to see this point What I want to do is look at the narrative just before the fall Namely when we see the creation of the new Eve over the first Eve rather and the reason why I want to look at this particular narrative is because when we are Finish beloved. It's my prayer that we will not only glorify God in for the wonderful and amazing blessing that we have in Christ being our last Adam But that we will also glorify him for the wonderful and amazing work he has done in creating us to be this new and greater ease Now in these eight verses what I want to do is highlight five points I want to highlight five points within these eight verses First of all. I want to highlight the creation of the first eve The creation of the first Eve Secondly, I want to highlight the first Eve's presentation to the first Adam The first Eve's presentation to the first Adam Thirdly, I want to highlight the reaction of the 1st Adam to the 1st Eve. The reaction of the 1st Adam to the 1st Eve. Fourthly, I want to look at the union between the 1st Adam and Eve. They are union between the 1st Adam and Eve, and fifth and final. I want to look at the life of the 1st Adam and Eve. The life of the 1st Adam and Eve, and I'll repeat those points as we go along. first, let's look at the creation of the first Eve, the creation of the first Eve. And I want to look at two points in particular in this passage. Point, I want to look at verse 18 and I want to look at verses 21 and the first part of verse 22. So let's look at verse 18. It reads, it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him. And that's God speaking there. Let's look at verse 21. It reads, so the Lord God calls the deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept. Then he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man. Now I want to highlight a few things in these verses. First off, notice that God's desire rather to provide the first Adam with the bride. In short, Adam doesn't go to God asking for one. He's totally satisfied giving names to all the animals and keeping the garden as God instructed him to do. Secondly, notice that the first Adam is put to sleep in order to bring about his bride. Now this detail shouldn't be overlooked because here's where we see one of those little statements that pack a big punch because the Hebrew word here for sleep denotes a deep, deep sleep. It's almost like a death-wide state. Therefore, what it's saying here is that the first Adam figuratively had to be put to death in order to bring about this bride. Now thirdly, notice that the first Adam is wounded on his side and that this wound comes before the fall. It comes before the fall. In short, when Eve comes along, Adam is still in his state of innocence. He's followed everything that God has commanded up to this point. Now when we look at these three points, it doesn't take much to notice that this particular scene just screams gospel. I mean, it just screams it loud. In other words, just like the first Adam, it was God the father's desire to provide a bride for his son Jesus Christ. Again, who is the last Adam. Secondly, to bring about this bride, Christ had to literally die to do this. And third, even though he was innocent, Jesus was also wounded to bring about this bride. In fact, if you recall, in the case of, as in the case of the first Adam, Jesus himself, among all his other wounds, also suffered a side wound on the cross. But instead of God taking a rib from him and fashioning a pure human bride, what poured out of Jesus when he was wounded on his side was both blood and water. And this blood and water beloved surged as the scene of rock of Asia tells us as his bride's double cure. To both purify and to cleanse her from all of sin's guilt and power. So again, when we look at these verses, it's not hard to see how they all point in every way to what we believe about Christ through the message of the gospel. However, in saying this, here's where Christ the last Adam is greater than the first Adam, namely in the fact that he knew what it would take to bring about his bride and yet he still did it. Again, the first Adam didn't know he needed a bride. He didn't ask for one. He was totally satisfied in and of himself. And if you notice in these verses, God is very evasive with him when it comes to the creation of this bride. In essence, he doesn't tell the first Adam how he plans to create this woman because I believe had he done so, namely that the man would have to be wounded and have a rip removed from his side. The first Adam might have said, you know, Lord, I'm kind of cool. I could run as a solo act. I don't need to go through that. However, when we look at the last Adam, Jesus Christ, we see something different because while he also was fully satisfied in himself before his bride came, he had the full revelation of what it would take to get her, namely again, to be wounded and be killed, and yet he still went through it anyway. You know, there are so many biblical accounts that beautifully show this truth beloved, but my favorite one has to be when Jesus was arrested in the garden. Because if you recall, as the soldiers were taking him in the custody, a Peter had this idea that somehow he needed to protect Jesus, you know, that somehow God needed his protection. So he decides to pull out his sword, and he gives one of these soldiers a homemade earsectomy. You know, he basically just cuts off his ear. Now, in the aftermath of this, do you remember what Jesus did? Did he say, you know, thanks Peter, who that was a close one? I don't know what I would have done without you. Did he follow Peter's lead, and somehow channel his inner Bruce lead, and start punching and flipping and roundhouse kicking all the other guards in order to make an escape? Or better yet, did he wait for an opportunity to come through all the commotion and make a break for it and save his life? Did the last Adam, Jesus Christ, do any of those things? No, he didn't do any of those things. But rather, he rebuked Peter the very one who was trying to protect him, and while he healed the soldiers' ear, by the way, he says to Peter these words, he says, the cup which the father has given me, shall I not drink it? In other words, he's telling Peter, don't you realize, Peter, that my arrest is for your benefit? Don't you realize that they are taking me to fulfill my purpose to be your great brideroom? You see, Peter, I don't need your protection, okay? I could call down a lesion of angels and could slay these men on the spot, or I could snap my fingers, cut off their wind supply, and they'll die right on the scene. But if I do that, Peter, how will you become my bride? How will you become that new and greater evil that you were chosen to be? Again, beloved, Jesus was fully aware of what he had to do and he did it ultimately to bring about his bride. Therefore, here's the first thing we can take from this passage. Jesus Christ, the last Adam, is proven to be greater than the first Adam because he knew what it would take to make us a better Eve and that is his full submission to the will of the Father even unto death. But following this thought, secondly, we also see some striking and glorious things when we examine this next point and that's the first Eve's presentation to the first Adam. The first Eve's presentation to the first Adam. We see in the latter part of verse 22 that after Eve was created, God quote, brought her to the man. God brought her to the man. Now, to say that this had to be quite an experience for Adam would be an understatement. I mean, again, up until this point, he was the only one like himself and while every other animal had a park. But suddenly he's put into this deep sleep and when he wakes up, he suddenly sees this creature in the same manner as himself. And seeing her, I don't think it's far fixed to assume that Adam instantly got excited when he noticed Eve's beauty and presence. You know, one of the things that I like to do to relax in the evenings is watch Tom and Jerry on boomerang. I absolutely have always loved that cartoon. And one of the things that I've always made me laugh about that cartoon outside of the ways that Jerry often outsmarts Tom is when they happen to see a female cat or mouse because they absolutely lose it when they see these. I mean, there'll be hearts in their eyes. Their tongues will be hanging out their mouths. Sometimes they'll be howling like wolves. And Tom and one of my favorite episodes somehow got his hand on a cello. I don't know where he got it from, but that adds to the mystery of the cartoon. He had his hand on a cello and he starts serenading this one female cat with the song, is you is or is you ain't my baby.
I mean, they absolutely fall over these females. These female cat or mouse, it's crazy. Now, in saying this, let me be clear about something. In no way, in no way am I saying that Adam did any of these things when he saw Eve. Much less, I don't think Adam pulled out a cello and started singing, is you is or is you ain't my baby. Okay, I think we're safe to assume that he didn't do that. But what I am saying is that her beauty did bring an instant love. It did bring an instant affection and it did bring an instant excitement to his heart. In short, Adam didn't look at Eve and roll his eyes, beloved. But rather, I believe this scene is probably where we got our first thank you Lord in the history of mankind. However, in making this claim, once again, here is where we see the last Adam Jesus Christ is greater than the first Adam because just like the first Adam, the last Adam Jesus Christ also shows his excitement, his love and his affection and he also bonds all over his bride. But here's the big difference, beloved. When the last Adam Jesus Christ sees his bride, she's not a sight for sore eyes. But rather, she's an eyesore. She's dead in sins and trespasses. She's constantly standing in her thoughts, words and deeds. She has feet that are swift to run to evil and venomous words can tail us few out of her lip and her character makes a lower than the worms that crawl in the dirt. And summary, beloved, to quote some members of my family, this bride is a hot mess. But despite all these things, here again is the bottom line. Here's the truth. Jesus Christ despite all of these things still loves his bride. And his love for her is not based solely on what he initially sees, but rather it's based on the beautiful creation that she will become. You see, through his perfect obedience on her behalf, through him taking the punishment of her sins upon himself and dying for them. And through the victory which he accomplished for her and being raised from the grave, Jesus fully understands, beloved, that his bride is not going to stay in the ugly state he found her. But instead, when everything has culminated, culminated. And she is presented back to him again as the apostles, John and Paul puts it, she's going to be an adoring bride. She's going to be prepared by God without spot, without wrinkle, holy and without blemish in all of her splendor. And beloved, if your faith is in Christ and thus you are part of the bride of Christ, this is what awaits you as you're calling us, the new and greater Eve. So here's the bottom line, in those times where we face struggles with various types of sin. In those times where these struggles are so overwhelming that we can no longer stand into its sin's power. Here is what we need to do. We need to remember that our great bridegroom still loves us. We need to keep our eyes fixed on what he has already accomplished for us because it's through his love and through his work where we will not only find our victory over sin, but we will also behold what we will eventually be. A beautiful and a luring bride who is created by God that will be presented to our holy bridegroom to fulfill a true, holy matrimony. So secondly, we see that Jesus Christ, the last Adam is greater than the first Adam because he desires to love the ugly. And his love is what ultimately transforms that ugly into what is beautiful and radiant. The third, we see yet another wonderful picture in this narrative when we look next at the reaction of the first Adam to the first Eve. The reaction of the first Adam to the first Eve. Look at me at verse 23. We read, the man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of the man. Now we've talked at length in this message and how as believers we have become this new and greater Eve based solely on the work of Christ who again is the last Adam. Thus we can see that just as the first Adam named his bride as a new and greater Eve, we also have been named by our our bridegroom, namely again Jesus Christ. But secondly, as we look at this verse, notice again how the first Adam immediately notice how his bride is made just like him. Again, he says, this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. In short, the man and the woman share a common image and likeness, an image and likeness that finds its origin in the God who created them. Now as most of us are aware, this image and likeness was eventually marked due to the man's disobedience in the garden. And it's at this point, beloved, where we see yet another way that the last Adam Jesus Christ is greater than the first Adam. Namely since Christ was totally obedient to the things of God, this reveals to us that he is the one by which the image and likeness of God is renewed in a more glorious way. In other words, beloved, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a promise that you will not only be delivered from sin. You have a promise that you will not only inherit eternal life, but you also have a promise that you will be conformed to the image of Christ, who again himself is in the very image of God. And by the way, it is this act that ultimately will make you alluring and adoring the bride that you are supposed to be. In fact, listen to the words of Paul and Romans chapter 8 verse 29. He says, for those whom he forenew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the first born among many brethren. You know, I know none of you are aware of this, but let me let you in on something that, again, that you might not be aware of, my son, JD, happens to look a tad bit like me. Okay, let's not kid myself. He looks a lot like me. Okay? In fact, I've often joked with Deborah as well as other people that I'm the only man on the planet that really doesn't need to take a DNA test. I mean, I really don't need to prove that, to prove my fraternity when it comes to him, because all you have to do is just look at him or even look at his mannerisms and see that I've definitely had something to do with him being here. I was at the scene of the crime. Okay? However, beloved, while JD may physically look like me, while he might have some of my mannerisms and while he might have a hard time turning a meal down like I do, the greatest prayer that Deborah and I have in regards to him is that he will eventually look and act like me. You see, I am very aware that his looking like me will get him no closer to heaven than me looking like me will. In fact, this was the reason why we even gave him the middle name Layelle. Now, L-A-E-L, which comes from Numbers chapter 3 because it means belonging to the Lord. And it serves as a reminder of what we ultimately want for his life for him to be conformed to the image of Christ and to join his parents as well as all believers and becoming part of his bride who again is the new and greater Eve. And once more, beloved, this is a promise that is given to all who are with Christ, the promise that they, one day, will be just like him. So, thirdly, we see that Christ, the last Adam, is greater because through his obedience, he is the source in which the image and likeness of God is totally renewed and image that was once again marked through the sin of the first Adam. But, fourthly, we see in our text another important connection with the first Adam and Eve. And it deals with their union with each other, the union between the first Adam and Eve, which is our fourth point. Look at me at verse 24. It reads, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. So, when seeing Eve, Adam immediately acknowledges not only her likeness to him, but also that she has been joined in a marital covenant with him. And likewise, this serves as a picture for those of us who are in Christ, because when our faith is placed in him, we too become one with him. In fact, here are two scriptures that will back this claim. First Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 17. First Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 17. It reads, but the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. Again, that's first Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 17. The next scripture I want to give you is Romans 65. Romans 65. It reads, for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. And that's Romans chapter 6, verse 5. Now, in saying this here again is where the last Adam, Jesus Christ, is greater than the first Adam, namely in the fact that the last Adam, Jesus Christ, protects those who are his and their union with him. You see, if you recall, the first Adam failed in his attempt to keep his life pure. And he did it by allowing her to listen and follow the serpent, which ultimately contributed to his falling in the sin, which then caused us as his posterity to fall in the sin as well. You know, a few years ago, I was watching my little nephew on a Saturday afternoon and ironically, there was a cartoon account of the Adam and Eve story on TV, two cartoons and one message go figure. And in this particular cartoon, it showed the serpent trying to trick Eve while Adam happened to be on another part of the garden. And when Eve plucked off that fruit and started to bite into it, the cartoon showed the first Adam notice in this and running with all his might yelling, no, in order to get her to stop. Now, beloved, put her tunes aside and read the real account of what happened. This is what we discover. In Genesis chapter three, verse six, it tells us that Adam was with her when she sent. He was with her. And short, he also wanted to be like God. So not only did he disobey God, but he also allowed his bride to do so as well. Again, beloved, he failed to protect his bride. But in Jesus Christ, the last Adam, we have someone different. With him, we have a bridegroom whose food is to do the will of his father. With him, we have a bridegroom who faced the attacks of Satan, resisted him and thoroughly defeated him. And because he did all these things, beloved, not only did he prove himself to be righteous, but because we are in union with him, we have been given his righteousness as well. In other words, beloved, in Christ, we have total protection. Our salvation and our union with him is secure. Now, in this life, we can worry about a lot of things. We can worry about what career we want to choose. We can worry about what outfits we're going to wear this week to work in, to play. And in my case, since it's football season, I can worry whether or not the night is going to make a Super Bowl run. But if you're in Christ, here again is one thing you don't have to worry about. Whether or not your salvation is complete. You don't have to worry whether or not enough has been done for you to get into heaven because again in Christ, your bridegroom, everything you need is found. You see, beloved, his obedience is your obedience. His righteousness is your righteousness. His defeat of Satan is your defeat of Satan. And his eternal fellowship with the Father is your eternal fellowship with the Father. Again, beloved, in Christ, you have total protection. And thus, as the apostle Paul once said, nothing beloved, nothing will ever separate you from the love of God which is found in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So we see forthly that Jesus Christ, the last Adam is greater than the first Adam because he never lets us fall away from him. But again, in him, we have total security and protection and our salvation. And this now brings us to the fifth and final connection we see. And that is the life of the first Adam in the year. The life of the first Adam in the year. We see in verse 25 these words, and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. In other words, beloved, the first Adam in the year initially walked around free. They had no embarrassment. They had no fears. They were more than okay with being exposed. Now again, we know how things turned out. Once the first Adam and Eve sinned, this freedom was compromised. And they immediately felt embarrassment and fear over their exposure to the point that they actually tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. Now as a result of this, as their posterity, we all continue to fear or feel suffering and fear and embarrassment over being exposed, not so much from a physical sense, although that's true, but from an experiential and emotional sense. In short, we all have experiences in our lives that bring thoughts of shame, that bring thoughts of embarrassment to us every time we think about them. And thus, this causes us to want to hide these experiences under the fig leaves of our hearts and emotions. But here again, is where we see that Jesus Christ the last Adam is greater than the first Adam. Because in Jesus Christ the last Adam, we find that he removes the shame. He removes the embarrassment. He removes the fear of our experiences, thus allowing us to live exposed and free again. You know, just this past Wednesday, and ironically, we're ready even in our in our responsive reading, we went through the story of the Samaritan woman. Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman in John chapter four, and I have mentioned in that and mentioned in that Bible study a couple of times that this is not only my favorite story in the gospel, but it might be my favorite story in scripture all together. And in this story, if you recall, when Jesus meets this woman, it's at the sixth hour. In other words, that would be 12 o'clock noon, Jewish time, because you see time at 6.6, whereas we see it as 12.12. Okay. Now it was custom during that time for the women to gather together as a group, and to draw their water for the date, either at two times of the day, either at the third hour, which would be at nine o'clock in the morning, or at the ninth hour, which would be at three o'clock in the afternoon. They never came out at the sixth hour at noon because of the intense heat. It was hot. Okay. So the question becomes, why does this woman come out at noon? Why does she come out alone at noon? Well, beloved, she came out during this time because she was a shame. She was embarrassed. She was fearful. She was a woman that had five husbands and was living an open sin with a man presently. And thus because of this, she had a terrible reputation within her town. So much so that she went to this well alone at that time in an effort to avoid being ridiculed by the other women in that town. But one day, however, she came to that well and met the last Adam, Jesus Christ. And beloved, and one encounter with him, this woman who felt shame, this woman who felt embarrassment, this woman who felt fear over her life ran back into that village and set to the men there, come and see a man that told me everything that I ever did. In other words, beloved, one encounter with Jesus turned this woman shame into her testimony. It turned her hidden problems into outward praise. It turned what was gross about her into what was glorious through him. And beloved, if you are in Christ today, if you are a part of this new and greater Eve, this is why you can now speak on those past addictions. This is why you can now speak on the abuses and hurts that you've experienced in your life. This is why you can now speak on anything you went through that once brought you embarrassment and fear because you no longer see the shame in them. But rather, you see the delivering power of your Savior in them. The love is the Lord Jesus. The last hour, your great bridegroom has set you free and who the sun sets free is free indeed.
So if you are in Christ and you still feel the sting of shameful and embarrassing things from your past or even from your present, here's what you need to do. Go to the well of prayer and meet your bridegroom. Go find refreshment in the living water himself and just like that Samaritan woman, see him turn around what is shameful and gross in you into what is sublime and glorious. So in conclusion, we see that we have a wonderful and glorious calling and being a new and greater eve. And this is because we have a wonderful and glorious Savior in our bridegroom, the last Adam Jesus Christ. For he loves us so much that even in our ugliness, even though we're in the mirror of sin, he offered himself as a sacrifice to remove all of our guilt and to remove all of our shame. And thus we can look forward to the day where we are completely beloved, made in his image and likeness. And when we will have the eternal union and fellowship that he has promised us forever, Jesus Christ is the last Adam. We as his bride are the new and greater eve and rest assured beloved whom God has joined together. No man or nothing is able to put a sander. Amen.