This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. Genesis chapter 2, verse 8. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground, the Lord God caused to grow every tree that's pleasing to the sight 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 flowed out of Eden toward the garden and from it, there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon. It flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good. The bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It flowed around the whole land of Kush. The name of the third river is Tigris. It flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden, you may freely eat. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. This is the word of the Lord. really in such a marvelous passage. And in fact, there is so much detail given to the garden, really incredible detail. And the detail, frankly, it demands that we pay attention. And what we're gonna find is that as we dive into the detail, there really is more than meets the eye. And in fact, what we're gonna do today is we're going to maybe, hopefully, get through this whole passage, true, 8 through 17, okay? And we can do the river part fairly quickly, I think. And then over the next week or maybe two weeks, we're gonna actually spend more time in this text drawing out the rich biblical theological truths that are so marvelously embedded in this text. This text is just not about gardening. All right? This text has so much to tell us, and so let's dive in at verse 8. Verse 8 says, the Lord God planted a garden toward the east. And so right away we see, as we noted last week, that we have the significant name Yahweh Elohim. And as we pointed out, in chapter one we have the consistent use of Elohim, which sometimes people think is just a generic term for God, but really the word Elohim demonstrates the transcendent majesty of God as a powerful creator. And so it's perfectly fitting, it's appropriate that that's the title that's used for God as we see these opening days of creation. But then, when chapter two starts to narrow in on man and then the garden, and then man and woman in the garden, it's a shift to Yahweh Elohim. Yahweh, of course, being God's personal covenant name. And so both of those names for God come together once we get to man and woman in the garden to actually underscore that the very one who brought into existence the entire cosmos, the one who brought into existence all of the universe, is also the one who is now personally, covenantally connected with the human beings whom he has made in his image and likeness. As we go through this section, Yahweh Elohim will be continually used by God with one exception. And that is when the serpent talks. The serpent will not use the name Yahweh. He will only use the word Elohim. And that is because the serpent is a stranger to the covenant personal God. All right? So, Yahweh Elohim plants a garden. Now, this might really excite some of you. Great, God plants a garden. But here's what the text is supposed to do for us. Here's the creator of the ends of the earth. We sang it this morning. He's Lord of heaven and earth. He's creator of the ends of the earth. He's creator of absolutely, positively everything that exists. Here is this majestic, transcendent creator who actually causes the universe and the galaxies all to come into existence. There's this vastness. And it's that creator, the Almighty God, who now plants a garden. The contrast is supposed to be striking to us. In a sense, you see, on the one hand, the transcendence of God as creator, and then you also see his eminence or his nearness as creator. He creates the entire cosmos, and then he focuses on a man. He creates the entire earth, and then he focuses on a garden. A little patch of land. Now the word garden, If you have a new English translation, you'll see that they translate it orchard, which is actually interesting because the idea behind the word is an enclosed area. So it's certainly marked off at rich in trees and water. And so here's this garden and it stands as a symbol of blessing. The garden actually represents a state of bliss. It's a place of peace and of well-being. In other words, it's a place of shalom. And so here's God who is tenderly planting this garden that is going to be this magnificent place, but this place also will become very quickly a place of testing. a test, a place of probation. Now, was Jesus tested? Where? In the wilderness. Was Israel tested? For 40 years, where? In the wilderness. Adam is gonna be tested. but not in a barren wilderness, not in a place of desolation, but actually in the perfect environment, which is a powerful reminder to us that what we see in humanity, even in a perfect environment, when tested, man will indeed rebel. So, For all of you who think all we need is to create a better environment, to have a better world, pay attention. So it says toward the east, so now in the Bible, eastward, eastward is typically, what's a positive or negative? Typically, negative, negative, all right? Which totally makes sense to me. The closer you get to New Jersey, the worst it gets, right? I mean, just geographically, there's a moral and ethical system woven into the geography. You go east and it just is the place of judgment and separation, all right? By the way, we'll see that with Adam and Eve being driven from the garden. We'll see it actually when we get to Genesis chapter 11 and Genesis chapter 13. But, but, in common ancient Near Eastern perspective, the east was the place of temples and the west was the place of tombs. And so it could be that planting this garden eastward is kind of indicative of the fact that the garden is to be seen as a temple. Now, notice it doesn't say the Garden of Eden. It says a garden was planted where? Eastward in Eden, okay? I take that to mean that Eden is the larger location and the garden is located on the eastern side. But here we have this word Eden. Now Eden conjures up really positive images, doesn't it? In fact, when we think about the word Eden, we have to understand that the word Eden comes from a word that means delight, okay? And so John Sailhammer says, we may assume that the name Eden was intended to evoke a picture of idyllic delight and rest. And so here's this place called Eden, and it is a place that is luxuriant, it is a place that is magnificent, it is a place of absolute bounty, and in fact, Later, when the translators of the Septuagint and then later even of the Vulgate come along, they take the word Eden and translate it exactly the same way, and that is with the word paradise. And so this Eden is this marvelous, magnificent place that really is paradise on earth. The text tells us quite simply and there he placed the man whom he had formed. So the special creation of the man, the intimate creation of taking man as it were with God's own hands, forming him from the dust of the ground and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life so that man becomes a living soul. He takes that man, that man that he is in special relationship with, special covenant with, special communion with, he takes that man and as it were, locates him in this garden, and the garden is now Adam's special place of habitation. In this garden, there are two trees. And so verse nine, it tells us first of all, of the lush abundance of the garden. So Moses writes that out of the ground, the Lord God, Yahweh Elohim, caused to grow every tree that's pleasing to the sight, good for food. And so here we have right away this absolute beautiful and yet very practical setting for the garden. Bruce Waltke says, life in the garden is represented as a banqueting table. It's good for food, delightful to the eye. And then he makes this comment, which is so true. Humanity had no need to eat the forbidden fruit. Everything that Adam could have ever wanted was provided for him in the garden. And so there really is this extravagance in the garden. Notice you see it in the way that it's described. Every tree that is pleasing to the sight. So yesterday we were over in my place of origin near Marysville, California. And one thing is, is there's just lots and lots and lots and lots of trees, right? Then you come to Nevada. In fact, one day I was cutting down a tree in my front yard because it had grown crooked and Dave Gamble called and Zach was little and Dave says, where's your dad? He's out cutting a tree. What is he doing cutting down a tree? You don't cut down trees in Nevada. In the garden, every possible tree that you could imagine that had an aesthetic appeal to the site was there. there was a beauty to the garden. You know, you can go to Shore Acres outside of Coos Bay, you can go to lots of places in the world and just see absolutely beautiful growth that is caused by God. And here's what you need to understand, is that the garden surpassed anything you could imagine in this world. See, God is actually all about the beauty, isn't he? He himself is the beautiful, glorious God. And so as he creates, he gives man right in this location, in this hemmed in garden, as it were, absolutely everything that could possibly be aesthetically pleasing to him. And then he turns around and says, and that which was good for food. the very idea that not only was it aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, but it was also very pleasing to the palate. There was nothing that Adam was lacking. God provided an absolute abundance, a succulent banqueting table, right there in the garden, absolutely overflowing, there's nothing, Adam just, I imagine, who knows how long he was there before he got married, but you could imagine him just walking through the garden and just looking at each of the trees and just, wow, look at that, that is absolutely gorgeous, that's magnificent. And he goes to the next one, he says, this looks good, pulls something off, starts to chomp on it, says, wow, he never, I hate pears, okay? And I hate pears for a good reason. My first job was sorting pears in the Sacramento Valley in the middle of summer, just terrible job. I made $3.25 an hour and I sorted pears and I hate the sight of pears. All right? I bite into a pear and you know, I just like. Asian pears are different. I like Asian pears, but just take pears. So there's no experience where Adam goes up and goes, oh, what's this pear? Oh my goodness. Everything he tastes, he's like, that was good. That was good. Oh, that was so good. And so here is Adam in this place that is absolutely stunningly beautiful, and there's nothing that, it's not as if Adam says, you know, I wish God would have given me something that was a little more crunchy, or I wish God would have given me something a little more juicy. I mean, it was just, it was all right there for him. Now, in the midst of this marvelous, magnificent place, Moses then tells us, and there were two trees in the midst of the garden. Now the two trees end up being specified. not only in terms of what they are called, but they are also specified in terms of their location. In all likelihood, what Moses is describing for us is actually in the midst of the garden, in the middle of the garden, the center of the garden, there were these two trees, perhaps even side by side, and the first tree is called the tree of life. Just sounds good. tree of life, probably the idea, the tree which gives life. I would suggest to you that the life that's represented in this tree is life beyond the life that God had breathed into Adam's nostril. I think that what is in view here is that this tree represents eternal life. Now this is not magical fruit. All right? The Tree of Life is actually a symbol of God's gift, and as it were, God's grace to man in the midst of the garden. And so here's this magnificent tree, the Tree of Life, and notice Moses is actually very streamlined in his description at this point. He doesn't tell us a whole lot about what was the Tree of Life there for, But then he quickly turns around and tells us there was another tree that is specified as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree, a lot of nonsense about what this tree represents, but this tree of knowledge doesn't just simply represent the tree from which knowledge came, or the knowledge of good and evil came. The tree actually, there's an appeal in this tree, and that is to the idea it represents human autonomy, human independence from God. Good and evil, by the way, is used throughout the Old Testament in terms of the idea of discernment, wisdom, being able to decide and to discern what is good, what is evil. And so here's this tree that is the knowledge of good and evil, and it stands in the midst of the garden as the tree of testing. It stands as the probationary tree. Cornelius Van Til wrote, if one does make human knowledge wholly dependent upon the revelation of God to man, then man will have to seek knowledge within himself as the final reference point. And so here's the point is that Van Til is saying, if you don't rely completely on God's revelation for knowledge, then you're gonna look for it. And where are you gonna look for it? You're gonna look for it inside of yourself. These are the two options, and so the tree kind of stands there that would tempt Adam and Eve to seize autonomy, to seize moral autonomy, and in doing so, to reject God's authority over what is good and evil. In a sense, the tree stands there as a test. Would they actually reach out and take into their own hands, not just simply the knowledge of good and evil, but the power that is associated with that knowledge? Would Adam be content with what God had given to him? And how could he complain? What had God not given to him that he needed, right? Would Adam be content with what God had given or would Adam want more? Oh, you see right there, it's such a big problem for us, isn't it? Will, in fact, we be content with what God has given or will we want more? Would Adam actually be content to live under God's lordship and God's authority and be dependent on him like a child is upon his parent for the discernment of good and evil? Or would Adam insist on independence and strive for independence by seizing the fruit of that tree? Now Moses is a master, he's a master writer. And he leaves us with these two trees and then he goes and starts talking about rivers, all right? Now, verses 10 to 14 talk about the fact that the garden has a river. So the river flows out of Eden and it divides into four rivers. Now you can read this in a way that goes, oh, well, look at that, a body of water. river so Adam got the fish as well or you know think in terms just body water but that actually is not what is it being indicated here the fact that you actually have this river that source in Eden is pointing us to the idea of living water that water which actually comes from the throne of God the dwelling place of God the psalmist actually would would celebrate this for instance Psalm 36 they drink their fill of the abundance of your house, and you give them to drink of the river of your delights, for with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light." Or Psalm 46, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. When Ezekiel sees that eschatological temple in Ezekiel 40 to 48, you get to chapter 47 and you know it's flowing right out from underneath the new temple, a river. It is a river of life, it's living water. When you get to Revelation 22, 21 and 22, and you see a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem, guess what's actually flowing in the city right from underneath the throne of God? There is a river of living water. And so the picture here is not just simply that it was well watered and well irrigated, the picture is, is that this is a place that is signally blessed by God. Now there are four rivers that are named. The first two are just simply unidentifiable today. It's the river Pishon. which tells us goes into have a law that that that's pot I say possibly Arabia and then it talks about the gold right and in other words there's enrichment outside of Eden okay it's not just it's not just Eden that's blessed by God but but Eden is a source of blessing for that which is outside of the garden and then Gihan which goes to the land of Cush Cush is frequently thought to be Ethiopia, but that's also kind of hard to tell. And so you can read commentators that have literally pages of speculation as to what these two rivers are, the Blue and White Niles of Africa, the Indus and Ganges in India, on and on and on. And here is the thing that we know for sure, is that nobody knows for sure. There is a thought that these are two smaller tributaries because of the O-N ending may be a diminutive form of so smaller rivers, but there are two other rivers that we do know and that still exist today, the Tigris and the Euphrates. In fact, where is almost all of the trouble in the world today? It almost goes right back to that area of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Well, we'll see why. We'll see why. So here's the point. Here's this garden that's in this area called Eden and it is lush, it is a luxuriant, well-watered garden that is to be a blessing to the world all around it. Okay, and so after this interlude, so we have the two trees, Moses kind of holds us in suspense, then talks about these rivers. And of course, everybody in the ancient world would have been very familiar with these rivers. These were the important rivers, especially the Tigris and the Euphrates. And then Moses jumps back to the tree. Verses 15 to 17. We see not only does God plant a garden, not only does God put the man in the garden, not only are there rivers in the garden, the garden has rules and man has a role. Now, this is actually quite remarkable. Verse 15, then the Lord God, Yahweh Elohim, took man and put him in the garden of Eden. Now you might think to yourself, we already said that in verse eight. Well, he did say that in verse eight, but here in verse 15, for the idea of he put him in the garden, Moses uses a different word. And in fact, translators actually kind of wrestle with it a little bit because the word itself means he caused him to rest in the garden. So he took Adam and then, of course he put him in the garden, but the word indicates in verse 15, he put him there in order to rest. Now, what is the significance of rest? We already saw the seventh day, God rested on the seventh day, blessed it. There is a sense in which rest is going to be one of the heart and soul issues of God's future promise to his people. What are they going to look for in the land of promise? They're going to look for rest. What are they going to look for under David's rule and Solomon's rule? They are going to look for rest. What were they looking for as they wandered around the wilderness? They were trying to enter into rest. And so here, what God does is he puts Adam in the garden indicating that the garden itself is really, truly the first land of promise. It's the land of rest, it's the land of peace, it's the land of shalom, it's the land of well-being, it's the land of prosperity and the nearness of God. He tells him, he puts him there to do two things. He says, to take care of it, or to cultivate it, or to work it. And what's interesting is that all of these words are legitimate, but the next one is also interesting, which is to keep it. Now if you think of keeping a garden, what do you think you're gonna be doing? You're gonna be pulling weeds. Are there any weeds? Hmm, not yet. What a glorious day that was. Right, no weeds. So to keep it, is not the idea of, he's gotta make sure he arranges the rocks right, and make sure that he tills the land, and make sure that, in other words, he's not thinking, when keep it, it's not the idea of, he's out there raking. In fact, these two words, to work and to keep, are used later in the Bible together. What is in view here is Adam is way more than a gardener. The words that are used to work and to keep are actually used for priestly activity later in the book of Numbers, talking about what the priests would do in the tabernacle, which was to serve and more accurately to guard. Did the garden need to be guarded? you better believe it did, and for lack of guarding it, an enemy would come in, all right? So the priests were actually commissioned to serve priestly service, which is worship, divine worship, and then to guard the temple, that is to take care of it, but also to keep watch over it. And so the words actually underscore that the garden is more than just a place where stuff grows, it is a place of worship. And so man is not only God's vice-regent, that is king, lowercase k, on the earth, but he's also a priest. He's a worshiper. He's one who has been, as it were, put into this garden temple to serve and to worship the living God. He's put there to guard what happens there. And then, verse 16, we see God's gracious generosity to the man. So he gives him these priestly functions, not just raking and arranging the rocks or whatever, but rather he gives him this magnificent priestly function. Adam, this is the place where you serve me. This is the place where you worship me. Make sure you guard this place. It's sacred space, Adam. It's sacred space, this is where I'm gonna walk with you. This is where we're gonna commune together, guard it. Then verse 16, and Yahweh Elohim commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden you may freely eat. What a tough command. It's like going into Baskin-Robbins and saying, from any of the tubs thou mayest freely eat. Oh, God's commands are not burdensome. Right? I mean, just think about it. It's really, it's quite amazing. So the first part of the command is actually really generous. It is lavish. It is extravagant enjoyment. Notice, from every tree or from any tree. So there are virtually no restrictions except for one that we'll see in a second. And then this is the way that Moses puts it, eating you shall eat. Keep that in mind, eating you shall eat. So here, Adam, first part of the command, absolutely gracious, from every tree that you see that is appealing, pleasing to your eyes, is that gonna play into significantly in the next chapter? You better believe it. And that which is good for food, Adam, will that play into the next chapter? You better believe it. And so Adam, here you go, everything, it's yours. There's just this abundant generosity that God is extending. Adam every from every tree eating you shall surely eat one prohibition one prohibition but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for In the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Simple command. Ariel will tell you, I hate putting stuff together. I hate putting anything together. Because the people that write the instructions are typically inept, right? For all of you instruction writers out there, my apologies, but you could do better. Now, one of the problems is that in trying to follow the instructions, they make the pictures, because that's what I'm interested in is the pictures, not the text, the pictures. They make the pictures too small. So I can't see what it is. So I'm just guessing, all right? So here's God, and he says, Adam, there's an abundance, there's a luxuriance, there's an extravagance for you. It's all yours, but here's just one simple command. Adam, there's no fine print, okay? There's no fine print on this command, is there? There's no complicated flow chart on this command, okay? It is as straightforward as can be. Adam, one tree. And from that one tree, you must surely not eat. Just one tree. Now, the command itself, is in a sense demonstrating the fact that man is in a covenant relationship with the living God. God himself, Yahweh Elohim, is Adam's covenant Lord. And as Adam's covenant Lord, he has the absolute right. I mean, God could have actually said this, Adam, you can eat from every other tree. Right? He could have done anything that he wanted. Instead, we see the abundance and the generosity of God's heart towards Adam, and he gives him one simple restriction. He's given him specific tasks. He's saying, Adam, this is your job. This is your job, Adam. Your job is to worship me and to serve me and to guard this garden. That's your divine employment, Adam. That's what I'm putting you here to do, Adam. And there's joy in it, Adam. There's satisfaction in it, Adam. Now, as covenant Lord, I'm telling you, there's one thing that you cannot do. And that is you can't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, period. The commandment not only assumes God's authority and his lordship over Adam, but it also indicates that God assumes that Adam has taken the responsibility to think and to work and to live and to act exactly as God says. Do you understand? that when you came into this world, you were born with an inherent responsibility to think, act, live, and worship as your creator said. Do you understand that? There is not a single human being that does not come into this world who is somehow exempt from that responsibility. There is a universal responsibility that every single person has as they come into this world to be one who thinks and lives and acts and worships as God himself has said. And so Bruce Waltke, he says, what could have made one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so attractive in comparison to the full range of colors and tastes that abounded in the garden? We're gonna see when Adam and Eve are actually tempted, the devil is gonna use the very things which God had already given to satisfy them with every other tree that was in the garden. There was no meanness on God's part. There was no stinginess on God's part. He just simply says, listen, one tree, that's all. Out of the hundreds and hundreds, who knows thousands of various trees, Adam, there's just one. Don't eat from it. And then he gives the consequence. This is why, Adam, you don't eat from this tree. Because the day that you eat it, Listen carefully. Dying, you will surely die. From any tree eating, you shall surely eat. But if you eat from this one, dying, you shall surely die. Does God have in mind physical death? I think obviously, but there is something that is far more threatening as a consequence of eating from this tree, and that is spiritual death. That is an alienation from God and ultimately from his future wife. Dying you shall surely die. It is absolutely emphatic. In other words, Adam, listen, I've given you an abundance. There's nothing that you're lacking, but make sure that you make a note of it. There is the death. penalty for disobedience. In the very day you disobey, dying you will die. So much is at stake, right? What we're going to find out is that this is not just simply a matter between God and Adam. What we're going to find out is that this is an issue between God and the entire human race. What we're going to find out is that what is at stake was not just simply Adam and his well-being, but Adam and all of his posterity. So much was at stake. And there was so much kindness, so much abundance, so much goodness. And there actually, think about the privileges that God had given to man. There was no animal in the animal kingdom that was to work and to serve in the garden and to protect it. That was given uniquely to man. Man is the unique worshiper of the God that has made him. So, In this simple passage, there's so much for us to think about. There's so much for us to understand. And so, next week, we're gonna look, by the way, at the garden in Eden as a garden temple. And we'll look at the garden in Eden and eschatology, has everything to do with the future. Remember, the last things are as the first. We're gonna look, and this is, I know there's a better word, but we're gonna look at tree-ology, okay? And the reason is, is because the tree of life also will appear again in redemptive history, and there's gonna be another tree that connects these trees. We'll look at Adam. in covenant with God and on probation with God? And what were the implications? What were the implications of actually giving Adam the command? But there's one concluding application I want to make today. And that is this, we sang it, we sang it. God's absolute Lordship over every area of life. His absolute lordship of being able to tell you what to think, how to live, what to worship, what to say. One of the things that will appeal to Adam and Eve in a way that goes beyond my ability to comprehend is the idea of an autonomy, an independence from God. And yet Adam and Eve come into this world just like you and I come into this world. and we are to be utterly dependent upon the God who made us, and we are to be utterly in submission to the authority of the God who made us. I have news for every single one of you, whether you are young or whether you are old, you are not your own. You belong to the God who made you. And it is He who has lordship over your life to tell you what to do, what not to do. And do you understand that actually makes us all accountable to the God who created us. That's why most certainly the Bible teaches us that there is a day that has been slated for final judgment. It is that day in which we will all give an account to the God who has made us and the God with whom we have to do. You're accountable to that God. You're accountable to that God for what you do with your body. Your body is not your own. Oh, that we should shout this from the rooftops in a day when we say, because a woman's body is her own, it gives her the right to kill another human being. Absolute nonsense. We're under the authority of the living God who has said, you shall not murder. We're under authority. You're not free just to have sex with whomever you want. God says, I'll tell you who to have sex with. your husband or your wife within the bonds of marriage and that's it. It's God who actually tells us how to live and when we come into this world, we should actually be in a posture of being in submission to the authority of almighty God. And yet just as with our first parents, so with us, we desire to throw that yoke off. We desire to be our own people. We desire to do our own things. We desire to be morally autonomous people who make our own decisions and make our own choices. And there is a God in heaven who knows and who sees and who will hold us to account. Absolute Lordship. Absolute Lordship. And yet, what is this absolute Lordship? What is this God like who has this Lordship? He is the God of super abounding kindness and grace to his creation. It's not as if he is this stingy, tight-fisted God who says, I'm gonna make your life so miserable, I'm gonna give you all these rules, and I'm gonna make this life just absolutely odorous to you, and you're gonna hate me. The God of the Bible is a God of generous abundance and kindness to his creation. He's the God who actually showers gifts on his creation. And although paradise was certainly lost through Adam's sin, God continues to be better to us than we deserve. If you just breathed. Who? Just breathe. Okay, call 911. There's some of you that just not getting enough oxygen. If you just took a breath, God was better to you than you deserved. If your heart just beat and pushed some more blood carrying oxygen through your body, God's better to you than you deserve. If you're gonna stand at the potluck table afterwards and look and choose stuff that tastes good to you, God's better to you than you deserve. That's the God of the Bible. A God of absolute abounding kindness to. His creation, and so if you're here today and you're without Jesus Christ, the very fact that you're breathing and enjoying life to one degree or another is a gift from God, and that gift is designed to bring you to repentance. Romans 2.4, it's God's kindness that brings you to repentance. God doesn't need to be kind to you. He could be totally just and crush you and condemn you, and nobody could say a thing about it. But instead, he lets you breathe his air and drink his water and walk on his earth. And it's his kindness that's designed to bring you to repentance. Maybe you're sitting there and you go, you know what? I mean, okay, I'm living life, but I'm kind of miserable right now. Well, your misery is a gift from God too. Because in your misery, you long for something better. And you long for wholeness, and you long for peace, and you long for well-being, and you long for restoration. And that misery can be used by God to demonstrate to you that that better is found only in Jesus Christ, both now and in the age to come. And so if you're sitting there and you think, you know what, I realize that I don't deserve to be breathing right now, but I'm absolutely miserable. I've got a guilty conscience and I feel absolutely terrible. And I say to you, that too is the gift of God that is intended to draw you to his son. God is so good to you. Do you realize that every single one of us right now could actually be in eternal torment, paying the just penalty for all of our sins? And instead, here we sit. God is good. God is kind. God is better to you than you deserve. If you're a believer, the joy of knowing God's kindness and faithfulness should absolutely elicit your praise. God's not only given me life, he's given me eternal life. He's not just given me eternal life, but eternal life is in his son. God's given me a son, that means God's given me nothing less than himself. And so whom have I in heaven but thee, and besides thee I desire nothing on earth. And though my heart and my flesh may fail, God is the strength of my heart and my inheritance forever. You can't beat that. There's nothing better than that. Life may stink for you right now. Life may be miserable for you right now. There may be trials for you right now. But the very fact that you're breathing and not suffering eternal torment, the very fact that God's given you nothing less than himself and has forgiven your sins and clothed you in righteousness which is not your own, is a demonstration that he is so much better to us than we deserve. And there should be nothing that comes forth from our lips except praise and adoration. So let us give thanks to God our Father who's not stingy but who overflows with grace and love and abundance to us. Some of you are sitting there with your children, and some with your grandchildren, and some with a spouse, and some of you are sitting there by yourself, and the very fact that you're surrounded by people that love you, the very fact that you're breathing this air, the very fact that you have friends, the very fact that somebody in this world likes you is actually a demonstration of the grace of Almighty God. Don't take it for granted. Don't take it for granted. God is so kind, and he's a God of abundance. Praise his holy name. Let's pray. Father, what a wonderful passage of scripture. And we pray that we would take it to heart. We pray that we would see your goodness. Open our eyes, Lord. We're such complainers and whiners. Open our eyes. to see your abundance in just daily life. The very God who planted the garden is our God. Father, for those that don't know you, I pray today that you'd provoke them to jealousy. I pray that they'd want to know you because of how wonderful you are. I pray that they'd want to know your son because of the great work which he's accomplished for us on Calvary. Father, may your repentance, may your kindness draw people to repentance today. And may we rejoice that you are our covenant-keeping God. In Jesus' name, amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.