Genesis chapter 2, we'll read from verse 4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life also, in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison. That is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. There is Bedellium and the Onyx Stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon. The same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hittikel. That is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And we'll leave the reading there, and may God bless it to us this Lord's day. You might have seen the program, Who Do You Think You Are? It's a documentary series that traces the ancestry of famous people. And some have discovered criminals or even murderers in their ancestry. Others have found they descended from royalty. Well, on one program, one man, Matthew Pinsent, he was an Olympic rower, He traced his ancestry all the way back to Adam. And so what you find is he's tracing his history, and you can see the program, and he finds he's descended from royalty, from kings, from Edward I, and they go back and they find William the Conqueror is one of his ancestors. And they go back and they find this scroll which has the ancestry of William the Conqueror. And they start unrolling it. And it's meters long. And they go back. It goes back centuries. It goes back thousands of years. It goes back to the time of Christ. And he keeps unrolling it, this historian. He's unrolling it. It goes back to the time of David. And he keeps unrolling it. And it's going back further and further into human history. And he's thinking, how far are they going to go back? Well, he unrolls the whole thing. And it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve and then to God. And as the man said himself, he said, I was hoping to find a rogue in the family, but instead I was connected to the creator. And I don't know how seriously he understood that. But the historian said to him, he said, so you're directly descended from God. And Matthew said, well, we all are, of course. And there's some truth in that, because if we all descend from Adam, and Adam's called the son of God, then we have that linkage all the way back. You know, people research their ancestry to gain a deeper sense of themselves, where they came from, what makes them who they are. Well, how positively true is this when it comes to learning of our first father, Adam? we learn where we come from and what makes us who we are. The more we understand Adam, his creation, his responsibilities, his fall and his redemption, the more we will understand of ourselves and our purpose in this world. Now, we've gone through chapter one, and when we read in chapter one the very brief account of man's creation, it prompts a number of questions. Very brief, it just tells us God made man on the sixth day and gave him these mandates. But there's a lot of questions, and they're raised, questions like this. How did God create man? Did he create man from nothing or from already existing matter? Were man and woman created in the same moment, in the same manner? What was the man's name? What was the woman's name? Was the man fully developed as an adult? Did he possess intelligence and the ability to speak? What location on earth did God place man? What was the environment they dwelt in? And what responsibilities did God give man? We don't get the answers to those questions in chapter one, but we get the answers to all those questions in chapter two. Now, some infidels imagine there is a contradiction between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. You might have heard people say, oh, we can't trust a creation account to be literal because, and I've had people say this to me, because there's two accounts given in Genesis 1 and 2. So obviously, they're not literal. It's just poetry. It's allegory. And they say that to dismiss it and the reality of it. They point out apparent differences in order of creation, as well as a change in style. It's quite a different style here in chapter two. But these two chapters are intended to be complementary. They complement one another. Chapter one looks at creation week generally, while chapter two looks at day six as it specifically relates to man in the Garden of Eden. So it's giving more light. You have the general picture of the creation of all things in the universe and earth in chapter one, but now we're narrowing down. The focus is narrowed down to the Garden of Eden and to this first man and the things that are going on there. Now, you notice in verse four is the phrase generations of the heavens and the earth. And we've talked about this previously in some of the opening sermons, this recurring phrase in Genesis, the generations of, the Hebrew word told us. It marks ten divisions in the book. You see over and over, and there's references there. You have the generations of heaven and earth here in chapter 2, verse 4. The generations of Adam, chapter 5, verse 1. Generations of Noah, chapter 6, verse 9, and on and on throughout the book. And it seems to create divisions in the book, particularly surrounding these patriarchs as the history progresses. And as we said previously, when compared with other ancient historical writings, it has been suggested that these toldos may be signatures of the individuals named at the completion of their record. Now some say the generation of is the introduction of what follows. The other theory is it's like a signature at the end of a section. And so if we take that to be the case here, so chapter 2, verse 4, the generations of the heaven and earth, that signs off on what has just preceded what has happened in chapter 1 and the opening verses of chapter 2. And this is almost like God himself putting his signature here and then from chapter 2 verse 5 all the way through chapter 3 and chapter 4 and then you come down to chapter 5 and verse 1 where it says this is the book of the generations of Adam. And perhaps, as the theory goes, not everyone agrees with this, but this could be Adam's signature on the part that he penned and recorded of what he'd just written there and he writes out at the end of it. And then the next section is Noah's and on and on after that. So this is, you know, there's different ideas about this, but this could be what we're looking at here with the toldot. as it appears in chapter 2 verse 4. Something else in verse 4 here is you'll notice an introduction of a new name of God, which is Lord God, literally Jehovah Elohim. Now up to chapter 2 verse 3, the name for God is Elohim, and it's used 35 times. from 1.1 to chapter 2 verse 3, 35 times. And it's just God, Elohim, over and over and over. But here we have Lord God, Jehovah Elohim. And from here on, all the way through from chapter 2 verse 4 to the end of chapter 3, Jehovah Elohim is used 20 times. And that's significant. Now Elohim highlights God's power and transcendence over the creation. Elohim is the strong one, the mighty one. While Jehovah denotes his covenant faithfulness. This is a covenant in the name of God. This is the name that God uses when he makes covenant with his people. It's a relationship name. It also denotes self-existence, I am that I am. But here we're thinking of that idea of his covenant faithfulness. Now, in Exodus 2 verse 3, It says, God says, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. So the full revelation of the meaning of the name Jehovah was not revealed until the time of Moses. But obviously it's put here, and now we read it, Moses and the children of Israel could read it at later times, and they could see, oh, this is God's covenant name, his relationship name, and we can read that today. But it's not just Jehovah, it's Jehovah Elohim. And the combination of these two names shows God to be both powerful, but also personal and imminent, that is present. So the mighty one is also the present, imminent God who has relationship with his creatures. Something else to notice here in chapters 2 and 3 is there is a kiastic structure in these two chapters. And that's best seen in my diagram. But you can see that in verses 4 to 17, man is placed in the Garden of Eden. But on the other side, in chapter 2, verses 22 to 24, man is driven out. In chapter 2, verse 16, God commands the man, but then in chapter 3 verses 14 to 21 the man is punished. In verse 22 you have the creation of the woman, but in chapter 3 Verse 16, the woman is punished. In chapter 3, verse 1, the serpent tempts Eve. In verse 14, the serpent is punished. And then right in the middle there, in chapter 3, verse 6, is the first sin. And it all hinges on that, doesn't it? Everything changes, and it all flows into that or flows out from that. And so that's a helpful thing to see that structure. Well, let's consider, first of all, the formation of Adam in verses 4 to 7. And here we have a description of the conditions on earth. You see there in verse five, every plant of the field before it was in the earth and every herb of the field before it grew. So the plants were created in a state of maturity, ready for man and animals to make use of. It doesn't say they're growing, it says they're planted, they're already there. Adam's not waiting for them to grow, no, they're ready to make use of. So we understand that the creation, just like Adam, was created in a mature state. So were the plants and the trees and so on there. Now, the land was watered by mist rather than rain. It talks about that there in the last part of verse five and verse six. So there's no rain there upon the earth. A mist went up from the earth, it watered the whole face of the ground. So that's quite interesting. The plants were created on day three, you'll recall. And at least for the duration of the creation week, the mist sustained them. So there's no rain apparently in the creation week, and the plants are being cared for though by this mist. Now, there's different ideas about, well, when did rain first start? One idea is that rain didn't start until the flood came. And the windows of heaven were open. And that's the first rain. And that's a possibility. But it doesn't say that's the first time it rained. But it's a possibility. And there might have been this canopy of vapour around the earth, which created those excellent conditions for plants to grow and so on there. It's a theory. but it's not explicitly stated in scripture. It may be that after the creation week, the normal hydrological cycle produced rain on the earth. But at least at this point, it hadn't rained, but God was taking care of it through this mist. But it also says at the end of verse five, there was not a man to till the ground. So there's a garden there, there's all these things there, but there's no man to till the ground. Here we see God's intention for man to have dominion over the earth and to work within the natural creation, to till the ground. In fact, that word till is the same, in verse 5, is the same as in verse 15, where it says to dress the garden, to dress and keep it. And so that's the same word, and it simply means to work. It's a broad term, it means to work. And so he's to work the ground, he's to work the garden, and so that shows God's intention there. We'll look more at that idea of men created to work later on. But here we have God forming man and giving him life in verse 7. And that's interesting. How did God form man? He formed man of the dust of the ground. The basic chemical elements that are found in the earth comprise the human body. The human body doesn't have all the elements that are in the earth. Some say 20, some say more than that. Actually, about 99% of the human body is made up of just six elements. Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, calcium, and phosphorus. So those same elements, they're in the earth. God formed man, that physical body, out of the dust of the earth. But here's the truth, the truth that man is dust should have a very humbling effect upon us. We are dust. And throughout the Bible, it repeats this idea and it reminds us that man is dust and man as dust is used as an emblem. And these points are from Horatius Bonar. But looking at these different places where this dust is representative of man. It's an emblem of frailty. Psalm 103 verse 14, God remembers that we are dust, do we? It's an emblem of nothingness. Genesis 18 verse 27. Here's Abraham. Abraham answered and said, Behold, now I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. See the humility there. I'm nothing. It's an emblem of defilement. Azar 52 verse 2, shake thyself from the dust. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Shake that dust off. Shake that defilement off. It's an emblem of humiliation. Lamentations 3, 29. And Job 42 verse 6, what did Job say? Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. I repent in the dust of the earth. And it's an emblem of mourning. Joshua 7 verse 6. It's an emblem of mortality. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 20. and all turn to dust again, end chapter 12 and verse 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto the God who gave it. So you see how the Bible is reminding us we are dust. We are formed from the dust of the ground, and we are dust, and we will return to the dust. And after forming man, God imparted life to man. So there's two steps here. It's not simply God formed man from the dust and he became a living creature. No, no. He formed man, and that physical form was there, but he was lifeless. There was a physical body, but he was just like clay, as alive as the clay is. Something had to happen. God had to breathe into him the breath of life for him to have life. God is shown to be the author of life. There is no life without God. And man especially and uniquely has God breathed life into him. No other creature was bestowed this honor of God breathing life directly into him. Only the image bearer of God, that is man, showing again the separation between man and other creatures. Not even the angels are said to have the breath of life breathed into him. And this life that God breathed into Adam was more than physical, it was spiritual, making him spiritually alive and able to commune with God. And so he has spiritual life. How do we know that? Because there is communion with God. And the fact that he has that spiritual life, his spiritual life, and his communion with God, that shows that this is a spiritual life. Because what happened later on? He would die. What is death? It's a separation. And next thing, he's separated from God. He's spiritually dead. All right, and so, and then it says in, again, the end of verse seven, and man became a living soul. We understand soul simply describes a whole man. You know, sometimes it talks about there were, you know, eight souls on the ark. And so it talks about eight people, eight beings, eight, a person. So this, it means he became a living man. So there's the formation of Adam in verses four to seven. We'll look secondly at the felicity of Eden in verses eight to 16, the blessedness, the joy of paradise here in verses eight to 16. So God planted a garden eastward in Eden, it says there. Now we know God made all plant life on day three, but on the sixth day he planted this garden in Eden for man to dwell in. And then it says not only did he plant the garden, he put the man whom, there he put the man whom he had formed. So he placed man in that garden. We'll note the trees of the garden. Of particular importance are the trees of the garden of Eden. In verse 9, he made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and then talks about the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So they were good for food, these trees. They were made for the purpose of sustaining life. God not only made Adam, he made the means by which Adam's life would be sustained, and these trees are good for food. But notice also, and this is something that can often be overlooked, every tree it says there that is pleasant to the sight, So they were not only functional, good for food, but aesthetically pleasing. They were beautiful trees. And I think that's an important thing just to dwell on for a few moments. God's works are not only intended to fulfill a purpose, but to display beauty. God is interested in beauty. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11, he hath made everything beautiful in his time. Not just functional, beautiful. God makes things beautiful. And we can see that in the cosmos, what beauty in the heavens. We can see that on a large scale in the natural creation. We can see that on a microscopic scale. And you look in the microscope, you can see the beauty of the microscopic realm. You can see it in the laws of physics. You can see it in mathematics. And I know our kids probably don't see mathematics as something beautiful. But there's beauty in mathematics when you look into it. And I've a mind to, there's a seminar or a talk given by Dr. Jason Lyle on fractals. And if you've ever studied fractals, fractals takes a mathematic equation and plots it on a graph, and you plug it into a computer, and you repeat that, the iterations of that, and it comes up with the most beautiful designs. And you replay it over and over, and you go deeper and deeper. And God put all those, the beauty of those things in these equations that only we can, in the last generation, we can actually see because we have computers that can do these things. There's no limit to the beauty that God has put in the creation. Now, God himself is beautiful. Psalm 27 verse 4. God is the source of all beauty, and God is to be worshipped in the beauty of holiness. God is not just holy, but he has the beauty of his holiness, you see. Now, rebellious man rejects God and therefore rejects God's beauty, as is evidenced by man's pursuit of ugliness. in art, in music, architecture, and all those things. And you think of what people do, the God-haters do to their bodies. And you see someone who's in rebellion against God, you see all the metal they pierce their body with, and you see what they do to their hair and their appearance. It's ugly, and they glorify that ugliness. And so here's a young lady, she might be in her teen years, in her late teens, and she's a beautiful young lady. God has given her intrinsic beauty. and natural beauty, but she rebels against God, and she starts doing these things to her body. She starts mutilating herself and doing things to her hair and her face, and she goes from that beauty to ugliness. Why? Because when you hate God, you hate beauty, and you love ugliness. And don't we see such ugliness in the world around us? In the entertainment and all these things that man pursues, it's just ugly. You look at architecture, you look at atheistic architecture, it's ugly. You look at the architecture of the Soviet Union under communism, which was decidedly anti-Christ, anti-God. They call it brutalism. It's just these concrete blocks. These buildings, they're just square. There's no colour. There's no ornamentation. Very functional, but there's no beauty. And they're soul-destroying. And that's the intention of them. They take man down to a base level instead of elevating man to something transcendent through that beauty. Now, we think of God being beautiful. Well, when Christ came to earth in human flesh, man said, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Remember, he was a man of sorrows, a chronic with grief. He was despised and rejected of men. But it says, particularly, there is no beauty. And so when sinful man, unregenerate man, they looked at him, they said, there's no beauty in him. And they despised and rejected him. But to those who believe, He is beautiful. What did we sing before? Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, son of God and son of man. Thee will I cherish, thee will I honour, thou my soul's glory, joy and crown. And so he is beautiful. He was beautiful even when his deity was veiled upon the earth. And he is all the more beautiful in his glory. as we read of, for instance, in Revelation chapter 1. But I just wanted to point that out. We think of beauty and it should be important to us as Christians to pursue beauty in every area of our lives because God is interested in it. Because he says these are pleasant to the sight, these trees and that. Now, it also says the tree of life was placed in the garden for man to eat from there. The tree of life also in the midst of the garden. Here we have this tree of life, what a fascinating tree, and it really captures our attention, this tree of life. What did the fruit look like, and what did it taste like, and what would happen if we could eat from it? Well, this particular tree has properties to preserve and sustain life, even a fallen man, to enable him to live forever. And you see that over in chapter three there. Yeah, chapter 3 verse 22, now man has fallen, man has sinned, man is now mortal. And it says there in verse 22, Behold, man has become as one of us to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, he drove him out. And you see there in verse 24, he set up cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life, banish from the tree of life there. But it shows the power of the fruit of this tree. That even a fallen creature like us, if we could eat of it, we would live forever physically in our fallen state, which is not what God wanted or intended. But the tree of life is emblematic of man's creative state, his fallen state, and his redeemed state. So it becomes an emblem, it becomes a picture. And the tree of life as it progresses from the creation there in the garden to the new creation in the end of Revelation. First, in having access to the tree as Adam did here. But secondly, in being banished from it through sin. And then finally, in being restored to it in the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem. Revelation 22 verse 2. In the midst of the street of it, this is New Jerusalem, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life. which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So not just the fruit, even the leaves of the tree have beneficial life preserving effects in it. But you see, we can look forward to the day if we belong to the Lord, when we will one day have access again to the tree of life. from which we are banished even at the moment. So there's the trees in the garden. We'll look next at the rivers from Eden in verses 10 to 14. And now these verses can be regarded as parenthetical, giving geographical descriptions of the pre-flood world. So there's a pause at the end of verse 9. which picks up again at verse 15, and these five verses are inserted in here parenthetically. So it just sort of sets things aside and gives this information. Adam perhaps gave this description for the benefit of his descendants who might have wondered where Edom was located. This is where it was, and this is the geography and so on. These descriptions of geographical locations, rivers, and even minerals and gems found in them give further confirmation that this account is a literal historical account, not mere poetry or allegory. These were real places. This is real gold. These were real rivers and so on there. And so in the original creation, a fountain flowed from Eden, which became four rivers. And so this is the place from which all blessedness flowed from. And here's the names and the meanings of each of these rivers. There's Pison, which means increase. There's Gaihon, bursting forth. There's the Hittikel, which is rapid. Or there's the Euphrates, which means fruitfulness. So you have these different rivers, and some of these names are familiar. You have names like Euphrates, you have names like Havila, Ethiopia, Assyria. They pop up again throughout later scripture and in history. But these original rivers and locations would have been destroyed in the flood. The later names, they bore the same names, but were in different places. So how can that be? We read about the River Euphrates here, and then later on there's a River Euphrates, which is far removed from Eden. Well, how can that be? They were different rivers. And one way I've seen it described is, it's like when the explorers came over from England and they came to places like the Americas or to Australia, And they wanted to name a new place. What did they do? They took names from back home. So we have the Severn River, which is from back from the old country. Or we have a town like Warwick. They took the name from the old country. And so when Noah and his family got off the ark, and oh, there's a river here. What do we call it? We'll just call it Euphrates. And they just used the old names and so on there. So that's one way to think of it there. But these are different rivers and locations. than what we have in the world today. And then we think about Adam's role in Eden. And this is picking up again in verse 15. So Adam was given the responsibility to dress and keep the garden. You see, even in paradise, God expected man to occupy himself with productive activity. God works, you think of the work that he performed in those six days, and man is to work also. Work is a blessed gift from God. And so this, Adam was not just to be passive and just to sit back and do nothing. No, there was a job for him to fulfill. This is even before the fall. Work is not as a result of the fall. No, Adam was working even before the fall. And now after the fall, the ground was cursed and work became tollsome and burdensome, yet still retained its blessings and rewards. Even now, there's blessing in work and there's reward in work. And God's people especially should be diligent in their work. Let me read to you 2 Thessalonians 3 verses 10 to 12. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busy bodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. And so work, if you're able, work, work with your hands. Paul labored with your own hands to provide for himself. And so we should work. God blessed us with work and we should see it as a blessing, not as a curse. And so we should see those things. So God put him in the garden to dress and keep it. So there's the felicity of Eden, verses 8 to 16. And then we look at verses 16 and 17, the forbidden tree. The forbidden tree. So here we have a command from God that the Lord God commanded the man. Previously, God has blessed man and given mandates for man, chapter 1, verses 28 to 30, and his intention for man. Well, here, God gives clear and strict commandment. This isn't suggestions. These are commandments or a commandment. So the first part of it is in verse 16, the freedom to eat of the trees. Of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. Adam was permitted to eat freely of the abundance of the trees in the garden of Eden. Incidentally, the word Eden means delight. The whole picture of Eden is one of blessedness, of fruitfulness, of paradise. Where God put man, it means delight. God is a bountiful God who intends for man to be blessed and to enjoy the bounties of his creation within the boundaries he has set. You think of all the good things God has blessed man with. Even lost man that rebels against God, God sends rain on who? The just and the unjust. He provides for even the rebels in this world who never give thanks to God for what he does. But God is a bountiful God and his mercies are just continuous. He daily loads us with benefits. But too often man is blind to God's kind provision for us and only sees what God forbids. And they only see, oh, God won't let me do this, and God won't give me this. Well, what has God given you? What has God permitted for you? Think about that and praise him for it. The prohibitions are small compared to what he has allowed us to enjoy. And so there's the positive side, he may eat from all these trees. But then verse 17, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. God gave only one simple prohibitive command, thou shalt not eat of it. Is that simple? And so here we come to this other tree, which was mentioned there at the end of verse nine, but it's given the significance here in verse 17. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What an interesting tree. What a fascinating tree. What do we make of this tree? Is it poisonous? Is this a toxic tree? No. The tree itself was not intrinsically evil. The fruit was not poisonous. Remember back in chapter one, verse 31, At the end of the sixth day, God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. That includes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's good. See, the tree itself is good. And we could surmise, what if an animal ate of that tree? I think it would have been fine, because the animals were not commanded to not eat of the tree. Only man was. And so in itself it's not evil, but the tree was chosen by God to perform the role of a test for man. Will he choose God and life, or will he choose sin and death? This was the focal point. It was going to test where man's heart was, and test the will of man. Was it for God? Was it against God? And so this tree became the place of that test. And so you think of the name, it's quite a curious name, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When you eat of it do you get this knowledge when you eat of it? Not necessarily. Put it this way, it is called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because through this tree man would know good and evil. Firstly, by obedience to God, to know good and evil as victors over temptation. So if they pass the test, they would know good and evil. They would know that it is good to obey God, and it's evil not to obey God. Remember, they're in a state of innocence, that God is going to test them. So they would know, this would be the knowledge of good and evil, positively, if they obeyed God and didn't eat. of that tree, but then negatively, by disobedience, no good and evil as slaves to sin. And sadly, we know that is how they came, that is the side they took, and they did come to no good and evil in the worst possible way, even as we do too, as entering this world as slaves to sin. You see, God intended that through this tree humans would come to know good and evil, either from above, as masters of temptation, or from below, as slaves to sin. And that's as simply as we could put it. Now, I put this quote here from Franz Delitzsch, and it's a little bit lengthy. I think it explains better than I could of the significance of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So let me just read to you this quote. The tree of knowledge of good and evil was to lead man to the knowledge of good and evil. And according to the divine intention, this was to be attained through his not eating of its fruit. This end was to be accomplished not only by his discerning in the limit imposed by the prohibition, the difference between that which accorded with the will of God and that which opposed it, but also by his coming eventually through obedience to the prohibition to recognize the fact that all that is opposed to the will of God is an evil to be avoided. and through voluntary resistance to such evil, to the full development of the freedom of choice originally imparted to him into the actual freedom of a deliberate and self-conscious choice of good. By obedience to the divine will, he would have attained to a godlike knowledge of good and evil, that is, to one in accordance with his own likeness to God. He would have detected the evil in the approaching tempter, But instead of yielding to it, he would have resisted it, and thus have made good his own property acquired with consciousness and of his one free will. And in this way, by proper self-determination, would gradually have advanced to the possession of the truest liberty. But as he failed to keep this divine appointed way and ate the forbidden fruit in opposition to the command of God, the power imparted by God to the fruit was manifested in a different way. He learned the difference between good and evil from his own guilty experience, and by receiving the evil into his own soul, fell a victim to the threatened death. Thus, through his own fault, the tree, which should have helped him to attain true freedom, brought nothing but a sham liberty of sin, and with it death, and that without any demoniacal power of destruction being conjured into the tree itself, or any fatal poison being hidden in its fruit." And so that's, it's a little bit wordy, like I say, but I think it shows how this is a tree of knowledge of good and evil. And it could have been to Adam's benefit to know it by resisting it. and having a full understanding of the morality of good and evil and the benefits of shunning evil and pursuing righteousness, but he failed and he knew good and evil in the worst possible way. So let's just finish with a few closing thoughts. If we trace our ancestry back to the beginning, we find that we all come from one source, the dust of the ground. The dust of the ground. Is this how you view yourself? As nothing but mere filthy dirt who will one day return to dust? It's quite humbling, isn't it? It shatters all proud thoughts of how wonderful man is and how wonderful we are. You're dust. I'm dust. This is a humble attitude by which we must approach our God. Like Abraham, Genesis 18, verse 27, when he said, Behold, now I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. When's the last time you got before the Lord and said, I am but dust and ashes, Lord. I'm nothing. I'm dust and ashes. That's how you must come before God. That's how the publican came before the Lord. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Not like the Pharisee. I'm wonderful. I do all these things. I'm not like this publican. No, you're dust. What a false view he had of himself. And it has to be said, most people in this world have a false view of themselves and would be insulted to be told, no, you're dust in the sight of God. We saw how God breathed into Adam the breath of life. And to us also as his creatures, he has breathed physical life into each one of us. If we have life, it is because God gave us life. He is the author of life. He has breathed that physical life into us. But there is another breath of life we need God to breathe into us. That is a spiritual life. This is the breath of God that not everyone receives. In fact, we enter this world without it. We enter this world as spiritually dead. And we require this. In John 20, verse 22, this is what it says. And when he had said this, this is Jesus, he breathed on them and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. And it's a clear allusion back to here in Genesis 2, when God breathed into Adam, into man, the breath of life. And here is the Lord Jesus breathing upon the disciples. and saying, receive ye the Holy Ghost. And they did receive the Holy Ghost, that life-giving spirit. Have you come to the Lord Jesus Christ for the everlasting life that is found only in him? Do you have that breath of life, that spiritual life within yourself? You can only get that through repentance and faith and that God will breathe that into you. Amen.