So Genesis 2, starting in verse 4. These are the generations of the heaven and earth when they were created in the day that Yahweh God made heaven and earth. Earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth and no plant of the field had yet grown. For Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And so the man became a living being. And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and there he placed the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. Now the gold of that land is good. The delium and the onyx stone are there. And the name of the second river is the Zegehan. It is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris. It is the one that went east of Asher. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And Yahweh God commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden you may surely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you should not eat from it. From the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die. And that's the reading of God's word. So in May of this year, Gallup released a poll about Americans' belief in origins. From 1982 to 2024, the percent of Americans who believe in a non-evolutionary young earth, biblical creation, exactly the way our church teaches, has dropped from 44 to 37%. Of course, when I read that statistic, I'm thinking, wow, there's still 37% that believe a true creation? But it has dropped. It's dropped dramatically over the last 100 years. In the same time period, the percentage of people who believe God made humans through an evolutionary process, so this would be one of the, what I would call, compromising positions, trying to stick millions of years into the Bible, believe that God somehow directed evolution, that this percentage has gone from 38 to 34%. So almost as many people in the church believe today in an evolutionary process that God directed in an old earth versus what the Bible actually teaches, which is young earth. Meanwhile, a non-God evolutionary view, so this is no God, this is molecules to man, this is goo to you evolution, that this view has increased from nine to 24%. So that means then when we put these numbers together, two thirds of the population in America do not believe God's word when it comes to the creation account. During almost the same time period, Gallup also did some studies about the Bible and who believes it's the actual word of God to be taken literally. Well, they found that this percentage over the same time period has dropped from 38% to 20%. And that's where we sit today. So looking at these numbers, no wonder why we look out there and people think it's perfectly normal for men to don lipstick and dresses and either face women in competitions or go into women's restrooms. Or that homosexuality is somehow normal when it's clearly not. Clearly not part of God's design, clearly not part of a natural order. The bottom line is this, God has largely been replaced by the God of somebody's own mind. They've made up fake gods. They've exchanged a truth about God for a lie. They've started worshiping the creation rather than the creator. And a lot of it has to do with God's Word not being put on the pedestal that it's supposed to be. Not trusting God's very Word. Not trusting God himself. Ignoring and suppressing the truth about God. And so why Genesis is so important is for us to see that God made everything. He did it the way he said he did it. And that as we read through Genesis 2 and continue in it today, we can see that the God that made every one of us cares about humanity. He cares about people. And that every last detail creation was created by God himself. So much so that even as we get into the account today, God has worked in creation, the intimate details of our every lives, the way we live, and he continues to work in our lives every day. And this passage today, Genesis 2, verses 8 to 17, will continue the study of the personal touch of God in creation as it relates to Adam, and then of course, subsequently, man. So as a review from last week, is that Genesis 1-1 to Genesis 2-3, we see the word Elohim for God, which is the Mighty One Creator. The accentuation in Genesis 1 is about Almighty God who created everything. Genesis 2, which is not an alternate account, it's getting into detail of day 6, also changes the name for God to the personal name of God, which is Yahweh Elohim. And this is the personal name, this is the personal touch of God now in creation in how it relates to man. And so we get the overview, majesty of God as creator in Genesis 1, starting in Genesis 2, 4 and on. It's about what God did for man in the pinnacle of his creation. So as we work through Genesis 2, we covered last week that the field that was made was a field separate from the rest of the surface of the earth. This was a field that was going to be for Adam. And then he created Adam right after that. As we start working through today, we're going to see the Garden of Eden was then created next within this field. There's a description of a river system that's made in Eden. Adam then is put in the garden and given instructions by God himself. We're not going to cover it this week. This will be in the future, but Adam is given the opportunity to name all the kinds of animals that are in that field. God creates Eve after this, and then we get a description of Adam, Eve, and marriage. So we left off last week in Genesis 2-7, the creation of Adam who is formed from the dirt and had the breath of God put into his nostrils, making him a living creature, a living soul. Our three points today are going to be this. This is all about the personal touch of God for man in creation. And now we're gonna get into some more details of this. Number one, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's provision. So the provision he's given to Adam. Number two, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's instruction to work. And then number three, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's one rule to follow. Point number one, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's provision. Verse eight. So back in verse five, as we talked about last week, there is He talked about there was no shrub yet in the earth. That did not mean that the entire earth had no shrubs, had no trees in it. This is specifically talking about the field that Adam would be placed in. We already know from day three that when God made the plants on the dry land, they sprang up immediately. So this is the specific field that Adam's going to be placed in. In verse seven, God then made man out of the ground and he's now ready for the next step here on day six of creation. Now God takes his creative work and plants an actual garden in Eden in this field that God put Adam into. And the only thing we know about Eden is that, and this garden is that it's in the east part of the field. And then he placed the man right there. verse 9a and out of the ground Yahweh God caused every to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food. So this Garden of Eden has every tree every plant that would be desirable for us to eat come out of the grounds immediately in front of him. This would be the food that was specially designed for Adam and eventually Eve as she comes along and make no mistake about it. This is the best food of the best. This isn't just the regular shrubbery that is around the rest of the earth. He is making a Garden of Eden that he specifically says is desirable in appearance and good for food. This was meant for Adam and Eve as God's special gift to him in creation. And so to make sure that we are reconciling Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 properly, in Genesis 1 27, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. And then with Adam and Eve both present, he gave them the dominion mandate in the next verse to be fruitful, to multiply and rule over the earth. God then tells Adam and Eve and their future progeny would be given every green plant, as well as seeds and fruit. This is what it was for, is this Garden of Eden was going to be for Adam and Eve going forward. And that would be what they would eat from, as well as any progeny coming from them in his original design of creation. And again, I have to stress that when the Garden of Eden was made, Eve was not made yet. Adam was placed there by himself. So Adam's alone but in perfect harmonious relationship with God while standing in this garden as these beautiful trees and plants had sprung up in front of him. Now, don't miss this point, is that despite the fall and us living in a sin-cursed world, God has still given us wonderful foods to eat. I enjoy sitting and eating my filet mignon or other steaks, blueberries, avocados, strawberries. God has still gifted us unbelievable foods. I can't even imagine how much better it would have been if we were still in a perfect creation or what it will be like in the future. So we ought to continue to thank God for the provisions he's given us in this life. The foods we get to eat, the taste buds we get to use to taste those foods, goes all the way back to God's provision to Adam and eventually Eve in the Garden of Eden. And for you kids, sorry, the vegetables, I know they don't taste as good. We still have to eat them, they're good for you. They probably tasted really good back in the day, and they will again in the future. Verse 9b, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So among the delicious trees, the fruits that is on them for us to be able to eat, for Adam and Eve to be able to eat, there are two trees that God singles out. Number one is the tree of life. The second one is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This tree of life is symbolic of eternal life. It's a tree that Adam either ate from freely or at least would have eaten from had he been allowed to stay in the garden long term. And we know this as a result of Genesis 3 verses 22 and 23 here. So after Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed creation, he added one last piece to the curse at the very end of it. He drove Adam and Eve out of the garden, blocked it with cherubim, who had lightsabers, for lack of a better term, flaming swords to keep them out. John MacArthur posits, and I think he's correct, that it's because Adam, who is now in a sinful state in Genesis 3 and during the curse, if he went and ate from this tree of life, he would have now permanently had a body that was sinful that would have lived forever. and so they were thus kicked out of it. Now the other specific tree that scripture speaks of here is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is the infamous tree that Eve ended up eating from and then passing it along to Adam in Genesis 3 when she was deceived by the serpent and plunged the entirety of creation into a fallen state. As a result of eating the fruit of that tree, their eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil. Now, why was it named the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Now, MacArthur believes this name was perhaps given because it would be the test of obedience for Adam and Eve. Would they be good, which is all they would have known, or would they choose something other than that, which we know to be evil, according to this test? Now it should also be noted that every completed act of creation was considered good throughout Genesis 1. So as Adam is staring at this tree of knowledge of good and evil, God will end up calling the entirety of creation very good. There's nothing bad in this creation. Every aspect of creation is in perfect harmony, was very good by the end of day six. Every relationship among the created things was very good. The lions weren't eating the gazelles in the garden. The relationship between Adam and Eve was a perfect relationship. Let's be honest, we have struggles even in our own marriages at times, don't we? There was complete perfection within the relationship that would have been there in the Garden of Eden. The fellowship between man and God was also good, unbroken fellowship. So all Adam knew at this point was good. When Eve comes along, both of them only know good at this point. They have no concept of evil. And there's really nothing to compare good to. Like all they know is good. Can you imagine that type of state? I can't. I mean, how far do we go in our lives? How many minutes do we go before some evil thought crosses our minds? And this wouldn't have even been present at the time. And it's hard to grasp this, but the depths of fallen creation go so deep. Look at something as simple as dust in our house. And we think about, okay, dust, really, really, Sylvester, really dust? I posit there's gonna be no dust. in the future of New Heavens, New Earth. You know how I know? I know, I see some smiling faces right now. Because most of the dust in your house, you are inhaling your spouse's, or your own, or your pet's skin cells. The majority of the dust is them. Yeah, think about that one next time you're dusting off your TV stand. You might be dusting more frequently now. But this is what we have to think about when we think of Adam and Eve in the garden and that they're looking at this tree of knowledge of good and evil and they have no idea of evil. It's not there. And when we get to verse 17, we'll discuss this definition a little bit more of what good and evil actually is. Verse 10, now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four rivers. So like the tree of life, which is represented the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22, the river is also represented here. Revelation 22 verses one and two. Then he showed me a river of the water of life, bright as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So we have in creation what was supposed to be a perfected state, it falls, and we see a lot of the parts of creation actually duplicated in the new heavens and new earth in the end. Now, the only difference in Revelation with this water that came out from Eden is that in Revelation, the water that feeds the tree of life comes directly from the throne of God. Now here in the Garden of Eden, God provides water to the entire garden, which contained the tree of life, the tree of knowledge good and evil, and all the trees which man was to eat from. So God still provided the water just in a different way through these streams. Now, verses 11 to 14, the name of the first is Pipishon. It is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. Now the gold of that land is good. The Delium and the Onyx stone are there. And the name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris. It is the one that went east of Asher. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The four rivers here spoken of, the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates, the last two are names of modern day rivers. Now, there are some commentators that use these rivers to try to give an approximate area as to where the Garden of Eden may have been at one time. But we have to remember that we live in post-flood geology. Garden of Eden time, as far as we can tell, there was one land mass that came out of the water on day three. So at some point during the flood, that landmass has broken apart into many landmasses across the globe. Also at the time, you had a certain type of topography, ground that God had made himself. The only thing that would have been on the ground would be things that after the fall would have died and fallen on this ground. Before the fall, it would have been in the way that God had created it. The way our land is today, we are standing on trillions upon trillions of complex organisms, fossils. We are standing on dozens, if not hundreds of feet of sediments that has been washed upon all the land of the world as a result of the worldwide flood. And so there is absolutely no way we can get to the Garden of Eden. It is blocked off, we don't know where it's at. We have an idea about where it's at because of scripture, but we can't actually get to where the Garden of Eden is. We also have to look at these rivers and say, well, if the entire topography was buried, that means that those rivers were also buried. And the Tigris and Euphrates we have today are just named after the rivers in the Bible, but they're not the same. So obviously the lands here that were mentioned, Havilah, Cush, and Asher were also buried in those floodwaters. So we don't know where those spots are either, even though we have those renamed today for other lands. Now in these lands, there were some materials that were mentioned, gold, delium, and onyx stone. We're not given much information about why these are mentioned other than that the gold is good. So Moses pointed that out to us. These substances, though, appear in other parts of Scripture, and so that may give us some clues as to why they were mentioned. Gold itself is considered the most precious of all the metals. In Scripture, it's a sign of wealth. It was used for monetary purposes. It was also used for God's highest purposes. So we see the Levitical priestly garments, including the ephod, the tabernacle and its contents, including the Ark of the Covenant and mercy seat. And of course, it was also used in the building of the temple and its contents. So gold was used throughout God and his design for these things. It's also significantly used in New Jerusalem. Revelation 21, 18 says that the city was pure gold, like pure glass. Revelation 21, 21 says the street of the New Jerusalem was pure gold, like transparent glass. So there's a reason why it is being spoken of in both of these places. Interestingly enough, gold can also be used for evil purposes. And most of us remember pretty quickly that Aaron and others used gold to make the golden calf. Now the third material, I'm going to skip ahead, is the onyx stone, which is a precious stone of the quartz family. It's used in the ephod. It's actually really prominent. It's over both shoulder plates. And it's used in that six names of six of the tribes of Israel were written on one and six were written on the other. So onyx stone was looked at as precious, certainly later on. It was also the second stone in the fourth row. that ephod. On top of that, onyx can also be representative. So onyx is the onyx stone. It could also be referencing other types of quartz. And you can even look that up in geology books today. And there were several types of those quartz stones in the ephod. So onyx was pretty prominent in that. Fast forward again to Revelation 21, New Jerusalem, where it speaks of the foundation stones of the city wall. Multiple precious stones are said to adorn the stones of the city wall, which includes onyx and other quartz stones. So we see them in the beginning and we see those laid out in the end. Now number three, going back to the second material, Deleum, it's a word of uncertain meaning. We're not really sure what it is. It comes from the Hebrew word bedolah. It is used in only one other place in scripture, Numbers 11.7, where the translation of it is that the manna from heaven had an appearance like that of Deleum. And the way that, if you read your commentaries, what is delium? Well, they say that it sounds a lot like the Hebrew bedolak, which is a resinous gum. In droplet form, this gum may have the appearance of a pearl or stone. So while we can't be dogmatic about it, it could have been used to describe pearls or other stones in the same section of Revelation 21 regarding the New Jerusalem. We don't, but we don't know. Besides the connection these precious materials given the garden even to the New Jerusalem, there are a few other thoughts about what these stones could have been. Number one is God could have provided these materials to represent the physical beauty of creation. So everything else has been beautiful. God's also going to make gold in these stones to also be beautiful in the creation. of course, bringing glory to his own name. It could have also been that it was meant to reflect, because these are precious metal, precious stone, that these could be used to show the richness and generosity of God in his creation to man. From a practical perspective, it could have been used for tool making. So we're gonna find out here in a moment that Adam had to cultivate the garden, he had to work the garden. With what? I mean, maybe his hands, I don't know. But he probably made tools. And we see that tools were going to be fashioned in Genesis 4. So early on, tools were made. There were toolmakers in the line of Cain. So it may have been that these were the materials used for those tools. But as we can see from just this part of the creation account, God designed not only the creation, but he designed the living space for Adam, giving him literally the best of the best in this creation. And while we live in a fallen creation, does God still bless us with great things? Absolutely. Things that we ought to be thankful for as we go about our everyday lives. It's easy for us to poke at Adam and say, man, you ruined it for all of us. By the way, we'd have done the same thing. But it should also cause us to think that God could have ended creation right then and there. And he didn't. He continued to let them live another day, let us continue to live, and we continue to get to enjoy his creation in so many ways through all the blessings he's given us. But the bottom line with this set of verses here is that God has gifted Adam multiple things for him, multiple provisions, including the garden, especially for him, the river, especially for the trees in the garden, and the materials that he could do whatever he wanted with. And so that's point number one, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's provision. Now into point number two, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's instruction to work. Verse 15, then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Now, application's gonna come here first. Believe it or not, work is not a curse. Most of us think it is. Most of us complain about it being a curse. But we've got to get an understanding of work proper here. The work that we do today is a result of the curse. Work is hard today because of the curse. That's not the way it was meant to be in the beginning. Right here in verse 15, before Eve is deceived, before she's even made, but before she's deceived certainly, God called Adam to work. There was no sin yet. They had not fallen yet. And yet they were, he was called to work. And so that means that we also by proxy are also called to work. And so kids, I'm going to pick on you again. If you think your schoolwork and your chores are hard, you still had to do them anyway. They're just harder now as a result of the fall. Now Yahweh put the man he created into the Garden of Eden, which was full of trees desirable in appearance and good for food, as well as the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This Hebrew word for cultivate here means simply to work. The Hebrew word for keep means to maintain. So Adam was called to work the same ground he came from. He was called to eat from it. He was also called to maintain it. So Adam was given a job, a non-laborious one, I'm not sure what that even looks like, honestly, but he was given a job to maintain the garden. The best I could think of is somebody who loves their flower bed so much that it doesn't feel like work to them. They go out there and they do their thing and the flowers come up and it's beautiful, is the closest I could even picture what this would have looked like. So obviously Adam had some type of responsibility, but then also this sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in cultivating this garden that God had planted and eating from these delicious fruits to the eyes that God had put there, but that Adam was called to cultivate. Now we should note a few things about this as well. Again, Adam was given this command before Eve was even made. So who bears the responsibility to work? Men. We bear that. Now I know society has changed and I know that economy has changed and it's a lot harder for this to occur, but the bottom line is this, is that men are called to work. You're called to provide. And this goes all the way back to creation. Of course, that being the provider has become harder as a result of the fall, but it's always been our responsibility to be the one to cultivate and maintain. Now, number two is this work that Adam was commanded to do was not originally meant to be laborious, but it became that way. And of course it became that way because we see what happened in Genesis 3. This gives us clues to understand that this cultivate in Genesis 2 is not the same type of laborious work that is the result in Genesis 3. As a result of the fall, As a result of Eve eating from the fruit and we see the entire creation being cursed, Adam is told that he is now going to, he's going to have to eat as a result of hard work. Genesis 3, 17 to 19. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles shall grow for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread to return to the ground. So men, when we hear blood, sweat and tears in work, that is literal. We are literally supposed to be working hard at it. Paul Washer in his manhood series that I've watched in the last several months, talks about the life of men and what work ought to look like. Men wake up tired, be tired all day and go to bed tired and do it all over again. That's how you know you've done the work you're called to do. is because we're meant to work, we're meant to work hard, and we know as a result of this creation that it's going to be, by the sweat of our brow, it's going to be painful at times. So Adam, as a result of that, was going to have to work hard, dealing with thorns and thistles. And let's be honest, any one of us who has a garden or even a little plot that we try to grow, the weeds always grow far greater, far more plentiful. You don't even have to water it and the weeds pop up. And yet to get that carrot to be made, not as easy. And so this is what was happened, this is what happens in Genesis 3 as a result of the fall. Going back to Adam again, he's meant to cultivate and maintain the garden. Now one other note here that should make us might make us a little happier is that Revelation 22 3 and there will no longer be any curse and the throne of God and the lamb will be in it and his slaves will serve him. So we will still work in heaven serving Christ, but it won't be laborious. It'll be the easiest thing we've ever done as we worship. So far we've covered the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's provision. And number two, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's instruction to work. Now our final point for this morning, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's one rule to follow. Verses 16 and 17. And Yahweh God commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden you may surely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you should not eat from it. For in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die." Now, you've heard me say from the beginning of the series in Genesis this summer, as we went through multiple sermons in Genesis 1, every doctrine of the Bible comes back to Genesis. Somehow, someway, every one of them does. And so we can see that that's the doctrine of man and woman and the doctrine of marriage, the doctrine of work as we just covered. Here in this passage is the first time law is introduced, rules for us to follow. There was one, there's one rule that Adam was called to follow. Do not eat from that tree amidst the garden. Now, some people might think that, well, wait a minute, wasn't the Dominion Mandate the first rule to follow? We read that at the end of Genesis 1. I have to remind you that Genesis 2, take that package and stick it in the middle of Genesis 1, day 6. So that means the dominion mandate didn't come until the very end of day six, right before God called everything very good. Adam and Eve were both present when the dominion mandate was given. That was the second rule for them to follow. The first one was actually this one. Now, because Adam was the only one present at this time, who had the responsibility of this rule? Adam. This is why we find in Genesis 3 who gets blamed for the fallen state. Our federal head Adam. So Adam was in some ways responsible to communicate this to Eve. And in looking at the text, I believe that Adam actually communicated this to Eve in Genesis 3. Somewhere, somehow, this got messed up when she was talking with the serpent. And that Eve was deceived and we see that as a result, Adam was blamed for the sin and plunging the entire creation in a fallen state, but yet Eve had a consequence for this as well. And Paul speaks of this when we get to Corinthians in that he looks at the order of creation and the fact that Eve was deceived first when he talks about roles of husband and wife. Now, God then not only expected Adam to provide for his family and working for food, it also extended Adam in providing teaching and protection to Eve and his family. Now, his family wouldn't be created until after the fall, but this would be his task to have. And this again is acknowledged in 1 Corinthians 11, where it talks about the head of a wife as her husband, also restated in Ephesians 5 verse 23. So back to verses 16 and 17a. So God who just placed Adam in the Garden of Eden gives Adam every tree to eat from, except one. Adam could have eaten to his heart's content. He could have done nothing but eat all day long, never being exhausted from the myriad of good, delicious foods to choose from, between the fruit, nuts, and seeds that would be in that garden. Adam, don't eat from that one tree. You've got all these luscious trees to eat from, Adam, don't eat from that one tree. That was the rule, that was the command that was given here. Now, John Calvin took this idea a step further in his commentary in understanding this idea because even though God was about to give Adam and Eve dominion over creation to multiply, have babies, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it. He's about to do that after he's created. He's essentially making Adam king of the earth. He's giving him full reign. MacArthur says this in his book on The Battle for the Beginnings, that Adam was given literally the throne for the earth, to which he abdicated to Satan pretty quickly. This rule demonstrates, though, that who is actually in charge fully? It's God. So while Adam is given whatever he wants in this field, in the Garden of Eden, eat from whatever he wants, Adam, There's one tree you can't eat from, and that's that tree of knowledge of good and evil. And so John Calvin took this a step further. He says, Moses now teaches that man was the governor of the world with this exception, that he should nevertheless be subject to God. A law is imposed upon him in token of his subjection, for it would have made no difference to God if he had eaten indiscriminately of any fruit he pleased. Therefore, the prohibition of one tree was a test of obedience. That is the purpose of the tree there. So we need to pause here to discuss some of these implications. Again, all Adam knew was good. No death, no disease, no destruction, no famine, no thorns and thistles yet in creation. Everything was bliss. Adam would have been ignorant to understand this tree of knowledge of good and evil. He would have been ignorant of the evil part. He wouldn't have understood what that was. Everything was good that he was facing. So the only thing left is, was he curious? Was he curious about that tree? By the time we get to Genesis 3 and Eve, there certainly was a curiosity about the ability to become like God, knowing good and evil, as it states in the text. And so by the time that Adam is standing next to Eve, that curiosity obviously overtook him as well. So what is this good and evil? How do we understand this good and evil? We pass by this verse or these verses in Genesis 2 a lot without maybe getting a really good understanding of good and evil. What does this tree actually represent? Now, I can't give a full discourse of this. This would take an entire sermon, probably two or three to do it in its fullness. But we're gonna try to give a really good idea of what this is, and we're gonna start with good first. God is good. That's the definition. God is good. If you remember nothing else today, remember that. God is good. He's the very definition of good. By his very nature, he is good. And we see this in the story of the rich young ruler in Mark 10, starting in verse 17. As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him, Jesus, and knelt before him and began asking him, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. There's a lot of bad teachers out there that claim that this verse teaches Jesus isn't God. Completely wrong. Completely wrong. Jesus affirmed that he is God. And that he also said, he declared, no one is good except God himself. He was the standard. He is the standard. And so in going through several of the commandments with the rich young ruler, Jesus established that He is the standard of good. The law that he goes and tells the ruler, have you done all these things, is a representation of God's perfect righteousness. MacArthur stated it this way in his commentary, the Lord's reply, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone, was not of course a disavowal of his deity. that would have contradicted his explicit claims elsewhere. Its purpose was to rebuke this man's inadequate understanding of the word good and redefine it in relation to God. Good, unlike bad, is absolute and not relative. People may be more or less good or bad, but only God is absolutely, perfectly, eternally good. The law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Divine revelation in the law demonstrates and defines God's perfect righteousness, holiness, and absolute goodness, and is the standard to which all who would achieve salvation by their own righteousness cannot attain. The law shows sinners how perfectly good God is and how utterly evil they are. So God himself is the standard of good, and it's reflected in the law. The definition of good here is the thrust of John in writing 1 John 1.5, and this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. As MacArthur states in his commentary about this verse, Scripture reveals two fundamental principles that flow from the foundational truth that God is light. First, light represents the truth of God. as embodied in his word. Second, scripture also links light with virtue and moral conduct. So this God being light is that he is the foundational truth and he is the foundation for morality. He is the perfect moral standard according to this. And so this passage actually connects the light of God to both his truth and his moral goodness, which is what we're called to walk in. And of course, God's characteristics of goodness is shown in Galatians 5, 22 to 23 by the description of the fruit of the spirit that we are to display. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And this is just a partial list of what represents God and his moral righteousness. All this was understood perfectly by the psalmist in Psalm 119, 68. You are good and do good. Teach me your statutes. Good is God. God alone. Absolute good is God. We also see this goodness of God reflected in those attributes in Psalm 100 verse 5, specifically love and faithfulness. So God's attributes are also reflective of his perfect moral standard for how we define good. So as a result of this definition that God is good, we can extend that out to understand everything that comes from God is actually good. God declares what is good. Isaiah 45, 19. I, Yahweh, speak righteousness declaring things that are upright. God is good and he declares what is good. We also see the works of God are good. This is displayed in Psalm 145 17 Yahweh is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. This would include his creative works for everything created by God is good. First Timothy 4 4. Of course, the word good is using the creation account six times very good being the seventh. We also see that the works that he has us do are good. Ephesians 2 verse 10, for we believers are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. So God, not only is he himself the moral standard for good, he declares what is good, his works are good, and the works he has us do are good. Everything that emanates from him is good. How do we sum this up? God is good. God is good, thank you. Flip side, what is evil? How do we define evil? Well, the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for evil is translated in a number of ways. Same Hebrew word translated as evil, translated as wickedness, disaster, harm, bad, fierce, downcast, and ugly, among other things. In the New Testament, the Greek word for evil is translated also as evil, bad, wicked, envious, worthless, and lots of others. So what is our simplest definition for evil? It would be this. It's the absence of good or goodness. Anything that falls short of God's nature, declarations, and works. Whatever God is not is how we define evil. Matt Slick of Karm.org gives this definition. Evil is that which is contrary to the will and character of God and is synonymous with wickedness, worthlessness, disaster, and moral degradation. So if we use this definition, the farther somebody is away from God's goodness, the more evil they are. I'm gonna say that again. God is good. He is the perfect holy standard. The more that we do that is against God, the more evil that is. That would be the best way to understand what evil actually is. So being evil then includes any deviation from God's perfect righteousness and his perfect works. This is why when somebody comes up to me while we're either open air preaching or evangelizing Medina Square or other places, they're like, well, what do you think about Hitler? Do you think Hitler could have just repented and go to heaven directly? And I go, you're asking the wrong question. See, you're using somebody who murdered millions of people among other atrocities. Let's change this a little bit. Do you think that you deserve heaven if you've told even one lie in your life? Do you think you deserve heaven because the only thing you do is lust constantly in your mind, committing adultery in your heart? Do you think you deserve heaven because you've only spoken ill of somebody a few times in your life, which Jesus called murder in your heart? See, we have a wrong view in society, and sometimes even as Christians, of what good and evil are. Because ultimately, our default position is, you know what, I'm not that bad of a person. I'm pretty good because I'm better than that guy. And as some of you have heard me say in evangelism training, I can easily go to a prison and find somebody who murdered one person. We would call that evil, by the way. We would call, if you've murdered anybody, it's evil. You know what that person in jail that's murdered one person is saying? You know, I had one fit of rage. It was one bad time in my life. You know what? I'm a pretty good person. The guy next to me killed 20. And the person who killed 20, guess what he's going to find? Somebody worse than him. See, this is not a moral standard of righteousness. The moral standard is God, and anything that deviates from him, from his righteousness, is evil. You could live a perfect life and if you lie one time, guess where you're going for eternity? It's okay to say that word here. Hell and the lake of fire. One little lie does it. One little lie separates you from the goodness of God. That is evil. That is how we have to understand. It's not sure. Somebody who murders a bunch of people is more evil than if you told only a lie in your life. But we have to get this right. God is good, and any deviation of that is evil. Which means all of us, by our sinful flesh, are evil. Every one of us. There is no one good but God. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. There's venom on our lips. If you don't believe me, read Romans 3. Paul does a great job. of talking about the state of every single human being. That's evil. That's what this tree represented was good and evil. The knowledge of what this is. Now, did God create evil then? He created the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Did he create evil? No. He traded the tree of the knowledge of it. It didn't create evil. 1 John 1 5 again. And this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. There is no darkness in God. There's no darkness in his works. God did not create evil. Good is all God. Evil is all man. It's us deviating from God's perfect standard. And in fact, God, we can look at him and in the creation accounts, was there any evil sitting there? Was there any death? Was there any disease? Were they famine, thorns and thistles? In fact, God called creation good six times and then said it is very good. God did not create evil. It didn't enter into creation until Adam and Eve ate of the fruit. Not only did they have knowledge of it at that moment, but the entire creation fell in this. Now, I want to go back to this. With this understanding of good and evil and what this tree represented, Adam, again, only knew good. Adam was made from the dirt of a perfect creation that God called good six times, and then the seventh very good. Everything that Adam looked at was good. Everywhere he looked was good. The entirety of creation was free of any type of corruption. No sin was present. The garden was good. The relationship of animals to one another was good. The weather was good. There were no earthquakes or tornadoes or tsunamis or even house cats. I haven't done a cat joke in a while. Yes, they are really evil. When Eve gets created shortly after Adam is placed in the garden, there is a perfect relationship with each other. There's no sin present in that relationship. There's no sin present in their relationship with God who's walking with them. And of course, like other aspects of the Garden of Eden, we see this represented in Revelation. 2nd Peter 3.13, but according to his promise, we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. The righteousness of Genesis will be restored in Revelation in the new heavens, new earth forever. Now, I should probably say this too. Do we have rules to follow for today? We do. Goes back to the garden. And so we see Jesus is asked, what is the most important rule for us to follow? What's the most important commandments? Mark 12, starting in verse 30, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other commandment greater than these. So God, who is perfect, is the definition of good, we are not, gives us a standard to live by. And for those who are saved, you don't do good works in order to try to be saved or more saved or guarantee your salvation. You do good works strictly out of obedience to him. Last part of the verse, 17b, for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. So just like Adam not understanding what evil is, All he saw was good. He couldn't really know what this meant either. What does it mean to die? You don't see death. You don't see animals dying. So what exactly does this mean that he's going to die? He's made in the image of God. He's in a perfect relationship with God. There's no defects in his body. I mean, let's be honest. Look in a mirror. We all have defects. And I believe didn't. So everything is perfect in this creation. They don't not only see death, they don't even see the decay process of death. Something we can't comprehend whatsoever. But there's a warning in this statement. There's a warning in this one rule that God has given to Adam. From any tree of the garden you may surely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you should not eat from it, for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. So while he doesn't understand what that death is, there is a warning attached to it. There's some type of consequence that's going to happen when he eventually disobeys God and that command. Now, what does this death look like in his eyes after he fell? Well, there's two ways that we see death in scripture. This death, which we'll get into more detail in a future sermon, is twofold. There is a spiritual death that occurs. The knowledge of good and evil they now immediately had. the moment that they sinned. And the evidence of that is that at the end of Genesis 2, verse 25, it says they were naked and not ashamed. And you're like, whoa, where'd that verse come from? Like, why is that all of a sudden thrown in Genesis 2? Well, it's because when you go forward in Genesis 3, you recognize that they were ashamed and they covered themselves in fig leaves. There was something different that happened in regards to their nakedness that they now understood that they did not understand as they were freely walking around in the buff in the garden. So they had immediate spiritual death. But then there was also the promise of a future physical death. Adam was told that by the sweat of your face you will eat bread to return to the ground because from it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return. They are now going to die. Their bodies that came from the dust, well, Adam's anyway, came from the dust, hers came from his rib, which came from the dust, will now return to the dust. They have an actual visual of what that is going to look like after the fall. They will return to the dust. They will physically die. In the meantime, this phrase, you will surely die in the Hebrew is better translating dying, you will die. The death process started. The decay process started. Every one of us today is decaying. Our bodies are decaying. The older we get, the faster they decay. And it starts literally from birth. It's a result of the fallen creation. And so this is, this is the broken world that they would once be part of. And this is the death that was going to occur as a result of Adam and Eve not following this command that was given. So what does this mean for us? We've seen today the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's provision, the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's one instruction, just to work, and then the personal touch of Yahweh God in Adam's one rule to follow. This is God in his personal relationship with man. That good and evil, why I harped on it so much, is there's a ton of evil in this world. We've already established every one of us is evil by nature. And even those of us who are saved continue to sin. It goes all the way back to the garden. It goes all the way back to the command that was given to Adam that they didn't follow. And so what does that mean for us? Well, God's provision is in our lives. Even despite the fall, he's given us provision. We have water, we have food, we have the ability to work. He's given us some rules, yes, but those are really for our good anyway. So God's given us all these things. We have a beautiful world we live in. Even the post-flood geology. I mean, when you go to the Grand Canyon or Sedona, it is absolutely gorgeous. And yet, that was the result of God's judgment on creation. It's amazing to think about. He has given us so much beauty, even amongst Him being a perfectly righteous God. And so, what does that bring us to? It brings us to us. If you today are somebody who has repented of your sin and put your trust in Christ, praise God. that Jesus' blood covers you for eternity. That when you die, because everyone else is going to die now, Hebrews 9.27 says, every man's appointed wants to die, and then the judgment. We're all going to die. We're all going to face God. And we're going to have an accounting to God. And if you are covered in the blood of Christ, you are literally cloaked in the righteousness of Christ, you go directly to heaven. However, I know there are some in here who are not covered in Christ's blood. There's some of you in here who think that somehow, someway, your goodness will earn your way there. That somehow, someway, you will be good enough to get there. That somehow, someway, God's going to look at you and say, the scales of justice, as long as I've done enough good and outweigh my bad, I will be in heaven one day. And I can't tell you there's nothing further from the truth. You will perish. God is holy, he's perfect, he's just. The same God who created a perfect creation himself is perfect. He has a perfect standard. All of us fall short. And if you don't know Christ today, if you don't know him salvificly, you have fallen short of the glory of God. You deserve the punishment that's coming your way because of your sin against Almighty God. That's what you deserve. But I'm here to tell you that this God who gave provisions to Adam and Eve and then continued to give his good gifts to humanity since the fall, continues to give good gifts to all of us today, has a free gift of eternal life. He calls you to repent. Turn from your sin, put your trust in Christ alone. Turn from your idea that your good works can save you and turn to the one who can save you. Turn to the one who took the brunt on the cross, that the father poured out his almighty wrath, eternal wrath on his son, so that you can be saved. And that if you repent of your sin and put your trust in his death, burial and resurrection, that your sins can be paid for, that literally his payment on the cross is transferred to you. and your sin is transferred to him. And that when you die, you get to go to heaven instead. That is the good God that is still present today in his free gift of grace. Lord, I just thank you for gathering us together today and going through your words some more. And again, I know I can't do it justice. There is so much more to dive into. Lord, I just pray that your word here was clear and that You give clarity to everybody in your mind and heart to continue to think about these words and maybe go back and listen again or read the sermon again and glean even more out of your word. For those who don't know you today, who aren't saved, who aren't born again, who do not have the Holy Spirit residing with them, I pray that today is a day of salvation. I pray that today that they were moved, seeing the baptisms of people with amazing testimonies, that they see that and recognize that there is so much more to life, that they deserve hell for eternity and yet can be at peace with you through repentance and faith. It's in your holy and precious name we pray, amen.