God bless you. We never miss good health until we get sick. Then when we get sick and can't maneuver about, then we look back and see how much we ought to appreciate what we've got. And it's amazing. It's just absolutely amazing and how your natural body or your body is compared with the body of Christ. And I don't believe I've ever heard anybody could do as good a job as Brother Robert Champion describing that. It's amazing. I remember so well one time I had bursitis in one of my arms and my elbows and I couldn't pick up my Bible. But it was absolutely astounding how this other hand would reach over and help this hand. And it never did groan about it. Never did get tired of helping. Never did say, I've lifted you the last time, I'm gonna lift you. Always is just ready. When you get... Oh, you don't have to get old to be this way. When you get down and you can't get up, all together, it's amazing how that hand will say, let me get a hold of this, and I'll pick you up. Pick you up with this thing. Well, Jackie Burkham, I want you to testify. Help yourself. We're glad to see you, Brother Jackie. He's got a crippled leg here. Well, Brother Jackie, help yourself. We're glad to see you. Special friend of ours to our church. You're part of our family. Yeah. Yeah. God bless you, brother. Yeah. God bless you, brother Jackie. Amen! Amen! God bless you, brother Jackie. Yeah! Amen. Amen. Yes. God bless you, Brother Jackson. Amen. God bless you all. Yes, amen. God bless you. God bless you, dear boy. Amen. Yes. Yes, amen. Yeah. What a friend. So I asked y'all to come here, and I told Christian. He said, he's got a dollar or two. He said, he's got a dollar or two. He said, he's got a dollar or two. He got a dollar or two. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. God bless you. God bless your heart. and she had a ring. And she's been up, she's been real good, and she's served the church for the first. And then my friend Carolyn Newell had got a knot on her shoulder, and I went playing, and the doctor told her she'd been one day in a good society, and she said to me, don't say it, what? But she's a Christian, she's been born to the place, and it's her church. God bless you. In Genesis chapter 2 and also John chapter 18 and John chapter 19. Now, I won't have time to preach to you this morning, but I've got something, I'll give you an outline, and don't know where we'll finish this up at, and somewhere, it seemed like that I've preached this, it might have been here or somewhere else, but anyway, here we go with it this morning. I'll leave this with you and give you something to think about. That's the good of studying this book. If it ever gets dull with you, get along with God and stay with Him for a little while. Get along with Him and go back and read it again. In Genesis chapter 2 and verse 8, And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. Then in John chapter 18 and verse 1, When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron where was a garden into the which he entered and his disciples. John chapter 19 and verse 41, now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new sepulcher wherein was never man-made. Dear Lord, I thank you for the blessed word of God. I thank you, dear Lord, for this gathering together. I thank you, Lord, for every individual that's about here. Oh, God, I thank you for loving me when I wasn't lovable. You didn't have to do it, Lord, but you did, and I want to thank you again. You didn't have to save me, Lord, but you did. And I praise your name for it, Lord. Thank you for the testimony. Thank you, Lord, for the singing. Thank you, dear Lord, for your presence. Oh, God, speak this morning to our hearts today. Cause now when I hear this discourage, oh God, now when I hear this don't know which way to turn. Cause now when this is walked close to you, it was some car over there walking up far off today. Oh my God, help each other. Just to move a little closer, dear Lord. To be yielded unconditionally to you. Into the car of God, we'll thank you for it, in Jesus' name. Hallelujah, amen. For just a few minutes, I will preach to you about some gardens. G-A-R-D-E-N-S. More than one. There's many gardens mentioned in the Bible. The Song of Solomon tells us about the beauty of him going down in his garden, gathering the spices. And go down to his garden, gathering the lilies. And to me, that's what he does when a saint of God goes to be the Lord, he goes down in his garden. He takes somebody out and takes them on home to make a beautiful place out of it. And there's at least four gardens I'd like to talk about. The first one, God planted it. And it had to be an outstanding, astounding, beautiful place. Then God fixed that thing up. You think about how beautiful it must have been. It had to be. Because God planted it. Eastwood and Eden and there. Before man was ever made, he had a place to put him. A beautiful place. A wonderful place to live. And a man that had just obeyed God. Done what God wanted him to do. These other guys would not have been. The other two would not have been. had they gone to Calvary. Because Adam could have walked with the Lord all these years and never been an old man. He could have eaten the tree of life and lived forever. But he willfully turned his back on the best there was. And the reason today you're not enjoying salvation is because you and I and deliberately I slipped away and walked away, I drug our feet and failed to walk hand in hand with God. God's got the blessing. Well, if we'll walk with it, we're poisoned. And I can fool you and you can fool me, but all of us together never have and never will fool God. But people will tell you they're walking right in the lap of God or sitting in the lap of God and live like the boogerman. I tell you folks, it means something to say you love the Lord. But God loved man so much that he put him in the best place. There was nothing to be added to. And I'm not going to take time to tell you all the good things that was in the first garden. But the devil messed it up. He done it through the very instrument that God wanted to glorify him. Everything that God ever created honors the maker, except the man that he wanted to do it. He gave man a power to make a choice. He wanted to be loved. He wanted to be loved by somebody, by something he wanted to love him. And today, friends, If you just get down to business with him, when you're going to get down to the real nitty gritty of this thing, I wonder how many of us could have been fellowshipped or stayed in fellowship with the church right after the day of Pentecost. They would be literally be just like criminals put in jail, but I'll be around ridiculed, all but by being you. And the reason we get hurt so much, our religion is your skin deep. If we get further than that and get down where it can't be touched with a human family, we can enjoy living down here, right here. We can have joy in our bosom today. We're praise the Lord. You don't have to wait to get what people are referring to the millennium. You don't have to wait till then to enjoy salvation. I want to tell you now, you can enjoy salvation now. Now, if you get enough of God in your bosom. This man troubles inside of her. And that's the place that needs straightened out. That's where the Lord come in. Down down to, oh, do you see him? When they were driven out of the garden. Don't you know, it must have been a sad place. It must have been a lonely place when they started walking out. But when God said it, brother, you better mark it down and sew. I thought of some more things, but I ain't got time to tell you. But the devil marred and scarred and messed up. He was the first gardener. Then God had planted it. God had put his creation in it. And all he had to do was just dress it. And the Bible hadn't said a thing in the world. about winter and summer, the lack of the flood. Oh, today, friends, please, please, will you get a picture of it? How pretty it must have been. But the devil scarred man's life. Man was driven out. He owned it. He put a flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life. And here it is this morning. There's a sword that'll cut you down. On the way in the world, you'll never get a taste of the tree of life. From a spiritual standpoint, this book has got to cut you down. Got to let you know that you're on the way. You're going to get the other tree of life. You have to come out of the sword. And that's the blessed word of God. The power of God. The devil's caught it up. Whoo! Well, I'll cut that down. I told you it wouldn't stand long. Don't hold it against me. I didn't tell you how long, but maybe it won't stand too long. The man was driven out. God fixed a way for him to come back. He fixed it through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in the olden days, When it was set up, the priesthood was set up, they could go there once a year, they could never go without blood, they had to carry that. And if you study about it, in Leviticus you'll find where the high priest went inside the Holy of Holies, and the first thing he did was he sprinkled the ground in front of the mercy seat. That gave him a place to stand. Then on top of that, Under the mercy seat was the law, the Ten Commandments. He sprinkled the top of that. God can't speak through the blood. Oh, hallelujah. When the blood's been applied, God will say, you're innocent. And if you get saved today, regardless of what you've done yesterday, it's gone and gone forever. I know that that sin is forgiven, but it leaves a scar. It'll track you down, follow you to the graveyard. Oh, today, God helped us this morning. I realize that every bit of this is in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Man went away from God, but Jesus came and gave man back to God. I praise His name. Oh, bless the Lord. No way we can get there by ourselves. No way we'd be able to live it by ourselves. But do you see him, Matthew, telling about this garden, Garden of Gethsemane? Let me tell you something. Would you, if you ever got a picture, and Luke said he'd be in agony, he played more earnestly. And the Bible said he played until his sweat became as it were great drops of blood. How long has it been? Have you ever prayed until you got wet with sweat? I'm talking about everybody in this building. Have you ever prayed until you were wet with perspiration and agonizing with God? But now we don't want to get warm. We're not going to get warm. And that's the reason we're cold as an ice house spiritually. God wants to bless us. He will bless us when we get where we ought to get. The Bible said Jesus prayed. And the Bible said he fell on his face and prayed. Because the devil messed up the first garden, Jesus had to go through this other garden. I don't know when, I don't know what time, that Jesus was made sin. I don't know, that's a part that I've never, I've never been able to fully grasp. But the Bible said he that knew no sin was made sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Somewhere in this category. When he told his disciples, you stay here while I go yonder to pray, he got three more of them a little bit closer to him. They went to the edge of the garden. He said, you sit here. And the Bible said he went a little farther. Oh, this morning, if we could see what deed or what thing we had to keep me and you out of hell, we'd be ashamed of our trifling ourselves today for how little we've done. in return for the goodness of God. I know you can't pay Him. I know you can't. But somebody befriends you. You ought to love Him enough to respect Him. Jesus died. I ought to keep you out of hell. You ought to respect Him enough. I say, Lord, I want you as my Redeemer. Anybody with love of God. Sin drove him through the garden of Athens. Sin drove him down through the pain of sin there. You remember Jesus said in prayer, if it be possible, let this cut at the knee. Before that, he said, all things are possible with God. But now then, here he is saying, if it be possible. What's he talking about? To me, he's simply saying, if there's any other way that man can be redeemed without me becoming sin, let it come to pass. But when he wound up saying, not my will, but thine, he said, not what I will, but what you will. God committed me to it. Oh, I believe the suffering of Jesus. You can believe anything you want to about it. I believe the third, stop saying it. Now I never understood how God stood it. Then I look and see how little, how little, how little, how complacent that I've been in His Word. I could hang my head in shame. Just to think about it, he loved me enough to die in my place. He didn't have to do it, but he did it because of L-O-V-E. Oh, you explain it, I can't. It goes farther than my vocabulary will speak the words. Friends, this morning really don't mean that much to most people. Only through the mercy of God, me and you here today, Dad ain't got a loan. Dad ain't got a loan. I must hurry. Ladies, I want you to come to the music. You come on, but most of the time when I actually come, I'm ready to sing. But I'm not ready to sing right now. I want you to come to the music. Come on. Come on, you men. She's going to direct it. Sandra, I wish you'd play softer on the organ. I want people to hear what I'm about to say. But in the garden, where he was crucified, in the place he was crucified, when he was at the garden, they carried his darling body without me. In my mind, I'd be sick. spittled right in his ears. The thorns of the dark glass. I don't know how God's doing it. But in this garden was a sufferer. A grave. There, they made it. This middle garden was the straight out of the first garbage the man had dug. This third garden with a garden of absolute victory. The third morning, he come out. With the keys, hell and death, he's never given to nobody. Then finally, there's another garden. Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. I'm going to prepare a place for you. I'll come again. Younger in the other world is another God's plan. Oh, but praise the Lord. Is that God to be wronged? Well, if you think of Him, you won't tell me. That's the only time that I believe we will ever have wronged Him and don't have a part of Him. Oh, but praise the Lord. Oh, thank God. He fixed it where everybody can live now. Oh, Quinn, the devil messed up the first one. Jesus paid to split that in the next one. He buried in another one. Oh, to claim victory. He said, because I live, you should live also. Would you study me? I ain't got time to quit. I ain't got time to go on. Study me. If you want to come, you ought to. Come on right now. If you're here today, Oh, how did you? I've been out of place for a long time, haven't I? about what God doesn't give us out of heaven. If you need to come, would you come this morning? How about it? Oh, how about it, baby? How about it, baby? I come to the garden alone, while the seed is still on the ground. Would you like to come back this morning? and take him again. Oh, would you love to come back? Oh. With me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share, as we share it today, is not a third as it was. If there is hope, then there's nothing we need to hope for. He thinks that good shall not be won. If there is hope, then there's nothing we need to hope for. I will travel, I will travel, I will travel, I will travel, I will travel, I will travel, I will travel, I will travel, I will travel, I will travel, Nobody ever paid. Nobody ever cared. Let me tell you, we are happy, Lord. And the joy we share as we carry on. That none on earth has ever known. I'd stay in the garden with him the whole night. Around me be falling But I'm pleased to be called to the voice of all his voice, to be found in me. There I'll be watched, With thee I belong, with thee and with thee I have belonged, and with thee I will be there. Will you come? Oh, let me beg you to come. Let me urge you to come. Let me persuade you to come this morning. The lord that left glory and come in this world. I've gone away, I've gone away How about it this morning? Oh, how about it this morning? Can you sing it? Can you truthfully sing it? How about tonight? Will you cry in the morning? Oh, won't you come this morning? Won't you come today? Won't you come today? Oh, won't you come this morning now? Whiter than snow, wash me just now. Oh, how about it this morning? You