The Gardener
Notes
Transcript
Call to worship
Welcome everyone!
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“King of Kings”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord,
“Revelation Song”
Words and Music by Philips, Craig, and Dean
“Hallelujah”
Words and Music by Bailey
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord,
SERMON
Introduction
I asked my youngest son (Judah) the other night before bed what Easter was all about. He is 4 years old. He told me is about the Eggs. Easter is about getting the eggs. I said well thats not what Easter is REALLY about. Tell me what Easter is REALLY about. And he said, it’s about me getting a whole bunch of candy. There is nothing wrong with a 4 y/o getting candy. But what this day represents is much better than candy.
I am going to do my best this morning to show us from the Bible what Easter is really about. The Easter story is more than what is covered on the pages that testify about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s what happened on Easter, but that isn’t the whole Easter story.
The Easter story begins all the way back in Genesis, 6,000 years ago when God first created man, put him on earth, and gave him the breath of life. That’s where the gospel begins. In the garden of Eden, with the world’s first gardener Adam, the father of the entire human race, the seed-bed of all prophecy.
If you’ve got a Bible today, you will get much more from this message if you will follow along in it. I’d like for you to turn to Genesis 2. We are going to start there, then move to the gospel of John, then finish in the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. We are going to cover the entire Bible today in about 35 minutes and I am only asking that you do your best to pay attention and take this message to heart….God may use it to change your life.
~PRAYER~
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 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 is 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 to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.
Explanation
Genesis gives us the origins of mankind
God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1), God created mankind in His own image (Gen 1:26).
Adam had a unique relationship with God that no other part of creation had
Adam had the ability to relate to God like you and I relate to one another today
He literally dwelled in the very presence of God.
Adam conversed with God just as you and I talk today.
Adam walked with God side by side physically.
And Adam worshiped God
Every person who came after Adam, came from Adam
He is the head of the entire human race
That includes all of us in here today.
We are not descendants of apes, we are descendants of Adam
GOD GAVE ADAM THE FIRST JOB ON EARTH
He was the official gardener of the Garden of Eden
What a privilege!
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
It was his responsibility to take care of the garden, cultivate the ground.
GOD GAVE ADAM ONE COMMAND
The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 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.”
God gave ADAM one command!
He said help yourself to any of the fruit that comes from this garden EXCEPT that one tree in the midst of the garden.
You see that tree Adam, do not eat from it, because if you do, YOU WILL DIE.
THEN GOD GAVE ADAM A WIFE
He said it is NOT good for man to be alone, I will make a helper for him.
God took a rib from Adam, and He created Eve.
AND WE KNOW HOW THE STORY GOES:
Eve was walking in the garden one day, Adam out working the field
And the serpent came to Eve and began to tempt her to eat from the forbidden tree.
Who is the serpent? The devil, the one we call Satan, the prince of the power of the air, the prince of darkness, the accuser of the brethren, he was there in the garden too.
And he talked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and when she did she gave some her husband Adam and he ate too.
And the world from then on was was changed forever.
Adam’s and Eve’s eyes were opened to good and evil.
He was no longer a perfectly innocent creature, but now a rebel, a sinner, someone who had broken God’s law.
The only command God gave to Adam, Adam disobeyed and betrayed his relationship with God, and sinned against God
And because Adam broke God’s law, he was banished from the manifest presence of God forever.
God’s perfect creation of man had no been marred by sin.
And because of their rebellion, Adam and Eve would experience a physical death
And had God not intervened they would have experienced a spiritual death
How did God intervene?
He sacrificed animals to cover their sin
The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
VERY IMPORTANT: The only way to cover their sins was by the taking of life
Sin can only be removed: LIFE FOR LIFE
Hebrews 9:22 (NASB95)
without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
And even though God covered their sin, they were banished from the garden And the manifest presence of God
therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Application
And you and I have been sinning ever since.
When our great great great ancestor Adam sinned, he passed on his sinful nature to his children, and them to their children, and their children all the way down through the human race to us
Romans 5:12 (NASB95)
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
When Adam sinned it was as if the whole world sinned with him.
BECAUSE through Adam sin entered the world.
And Adam was the first man the head of the entire human race.
Just as you pass on your traits to your children, so Adam passed on his sinful nature to his.
And we can trace sin all the way through the Bible all the way to the end.
Now lets jump forward 4,000 years
John 18:1 (NASB95)
When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples.
CONTEXT:
This verse picks up the night Jesus was arrested and then put on trial to His death.
Jesus is in Gethsemane He has prayed God’s will not His, and in perfect obedience He enters the place where he knows the mob will be coming to arrest Him.
Is is a coincidence that the place where Jesus would be betrayed by man was a garden?
Absolutely not!
There are no coincidences!
There is a sovereign LORD God who sits on the throne of this world and writes the course of history according to His perfect will!
And not a blade of grass moves without His permission!
And God had placed that Garden, and had it prearranged that IN THAT GARDEN, in the ravine of the Kidron, and Jesus would be betrayed just like God was betrayed 4,000 years ago.
How fitting that the place where Adam condemned the entire human race is the place where Jesus would go to make all things new
STORY: So Jesus goes into a garden, knowing that Judas would show up with an army of soldiers to arrest Him.
And Judas sees Jesus and according to his plan, he betrays Jesus with a kiss.
But it wasn’t just Judas there in that kiss, it was the devil himself.
And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them.
So its like da ja vu in world history!
Here is God in the garden
Here is Satan in the garden
And here again is the great betrayal of mankind against God in the garden
But theres one more piece we must not miss: THE SACRIFΙCE: In the Garden of Eden man sinned against God and God sacrificed animals to cover their sin
STORY
They come to arrest Jesus
Peter pulls out the sword to defend his Lord and cuts off the ear of the Malchus
Jesus tells Peter to put the sword back into its sheath, and says, “the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”
The Peter lays the sword down, and the soldiers come to Jesus “bound Him”
John 18:12 (NASB95)
So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him,
This language is significant because it is an illusion to how animals were bound before they were sacrificed.
The Bible says Abraham “bound” Issac when he placed him on alter to sacrifice him
Here they bound the Lamb of God as the perfect sacrifice for all of mankind, the garden the place of the first sin, is now a perfect sacrifice for all sin
So they take Jesus, place Him on trial before Pilate and the whole world chanted, ‘crucify Him!”
Because you cannot sentence a man to death unless he has been judged by the world
And the world stood not knowing what it was doing, and condemned the Son of God to die on the cross
BUT ALL OF THIS IS ACCORDING TO THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD BECAUSE THE GREATEST PROBLEM IN THE ENTIRE WORLD IS OUR SIN
And Pilate handed Him over to be crucified on the cross.
And HE carried His cross all the way to Calvary. And they beat Him and scourged Him and mocked Him, and nailed His body to a tree to die for the sins of the world.
God did not sacrifice animals as he did for Adam and Eve, This time God sacrificed His own Son.
And He did this because it was the only way!
Animal blood is not sufficient to remove sin, it had to be human blood.
Animals cannot redeem man, they cannot atone for sin, it had to be the blood of a man
no human blood ever in the history of mankind has ever been sinless perfect blood except the blood of Jesus
So in that garden, God has His own Son bound and hung to cover the sins of the whole world
And what did they do with the body of Jesus after he died??
John 19:41–42 (NASB95)
Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Is is a coincidence that there was a garden there where Jesus was sacrificed? NO, it was part of God’s providential plans to save the world!
It was in the garden where man first betrayed God by willful disobedience.
And so it is fitting that it would be in the garden where Jesus, the Lamb of God would die as a sacrifice to undo what Adam had done.
But He was laid in a new tomb there
That tomb, was for God Himself
It was the first tomb in human history that would only be needed for three days
It was the only tomb in history that a man would be placed in: lifeless, breathless, cold to the touch, rigor-mortis setting in, wrapped in burial cloths, face-cloth over His face, anointed with burial spices, and would would walk out by His own power three days later.
This tomb, was the womb of new life.
It was the place where the curse of sin would be broken
It was the place where Satan would lose His power and men would be set free
Now I want you to turn to John 20:1-2
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
Now it is Sunday
The first day of the week
They crucified Jesus on Friday.
Laid Him in the tomb Friday evening, DEAD
He laid in the tomb in the garden all day Saturday on the Sabbath
Mary comes to the tomb early Sunday morning, before the sun had risen she was there to anoint the body of Jesus.
And when she arrives she sees that the body of Jesus is gone
She panics, wondering who took the body of her Lord.
And she begins to weep, because she so desperately wanted to honor Jesus in His death
John 20:14–15 (NASB95)
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
Explanation
It is still dark
The sun had not risen yet
But the SON OF GOD had risen indeed
And Mary sees just the shadow of a man standing in the garden, and she supposes Him to be the gardener, not knowing it was Jesus
But the Bible does not mention this without reason
Then word “gardener” is put there for a reason!
Scripture is painting a portrait of the whole gospel story for us that began 6,000 years ago in the garden of Eden!
It was Jesus, and Jesus is the New Gardener
He is the New Adam, The firstborn of a new creation
He has went back into the garden to take back the dominion that the first Adam lost
Jesus was arrested and bound in the garden
He was crucified and buried in the garden
And now He is resurrected in the garden
The place where Adam had failed Jesus succeeded
The place where Satan thought he had won and deceived Adam and Eve, Jesus has victory
The place where Adam was banished from the presence of God, now Jesus stands as the mediatory between God and man
The place where Adam condemned the entire human race, Jesus brought justification to all of mankind
The place where Adam made us all sinners, Jesus now makes us righteous!
Jesus stands in the garden giving life to A NEW CREATION
As Adam was the head of the entire human race, now Christ stands victoriously as head of a new race of people
Every human being born is born under the headship of the first Adam.
Just like Adam we live in rebellion against God
We live for ourselves
We live for this world
We are rebels and lawbreakers because we have a sinful nature like Adam
And like Adam, we stand under the judgement of God
Jesus now stands as the new representative of a new race of people
These people are no longer enemies of God, but followers of God
These are those who walk by faith in Christ, and not by sight
They have been born again into a living hope
They are a new race of people who were once sinners but have now been forgiven because the Jesus bore their sins on the cross and purchased them with His blood
Application
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Let me tell you something very important: When you commit your life to Jesus Christ 100%, you be moved from the Adam that leads to death to the New Adam who gives life
You will have a brand new life like you have never known before.
And I don’t mean that now you have to get up and come to church.
No that religion, but this a new creation.
You will want to come to church because that is where your people are!
The new race in Christ are are going the same direction, they are following head which is Jesus Christ.
And the Head of this race is leading them in a totally different direction then the old sinful Adam.
THE FINAL PART OF THIS SERMON
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear 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. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
Explanation
The world started off in the garden, with the river, the tree of life, with the first Adam and the manifest presence of God.
Adam betrayed God, disobeyed His command, and brought condemnation to the entire human race
Jesus chose to come to earth, die for the sins of the world, and create a new human race righteous, holy, obedient, faithful, and blameless before God
And when this age comes to a close, AND IT CERTAINLY WILL, the New Gardener, the New Adam is going to come and take His creation home to his New Garden.
And there will be people there from every tribe, every nation, every race, anyone who turns from the headship of Adam and follows Jesus by faith.
Conclusion
And the final invitation is given to the whole world and it is “TO COME”
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
If you want new life COME
If you want forgiveness COME
If you want eternity COME
If you want to be freed from your sins COME
I cant save you, but Jesus can.
The Spirit says come
The bride (church) says come
The one who hears says come
To whoever is thirsty come
Whoever wishes to take the water of life YOU COME
~PRAYER~
RESPONSE
PUBLIC INVITATION
“In the Garden”
Words and Music by Hillsong
OFFERING
We will now worship the Lord through our tithes and offering.
BENEDICTION
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His face to you, And give you peace.’”