Adam, Eve, and the Three Trees

Lauren, can you come up here? It is time for Lauren to stimulate your mind, and all of you are going to participate, or I am going to call you an old crumudgeon. Lauren is going to take you guys on a roller coaster ride to wake you up, and when you get good and awake, I want you to put on your thinking caps. Alright, Lauren, get us started.

Is everyone awake?

Good! During the first night of VBS, the teachers and the kids discussed Adam and Eve, and I want you kiddos to listen closely to make sure I do not say anything wrong. Today, we are going to talk about Adam, Eve, and the Three Trees.

1. The Perfection of God’s Creation.

In the very beginning, it was God who created everything, and His creation was perfect.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

God created all the animals, all the plants, all the stars, all the planets, all the fruit, and all the vegetables. God created the air we breathe, and the water we drink. God even created the trees which help remove harmful things from the air and to help in making more oxygen for us to breathe.

It was really incredible what God created, but He saved His masterpiece for last.

Genesis 1:26–28 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.””

On the 6th day, God created Adam in the image of God Himself which means Adam was perfect and could have a relationship with God. God loved Adam so much that He gave the entire earth to Adam, and everything on it belonged to Adam. The zebras belonged to Adam. The apples belonged to Adam. The giraffes belonged to Adam. The stars and the sky belonged to Adam.

The perfect Adam created by the perfect God lived in a perfect environment. As a result, do you know what God did? And this is really amazing.

God walked and talked with Adam every, single day. That’s right. God walked and talked with Adam. God loved Adam very much. As a matter of fact, you will not believe how much God loved Adam, but more on that in a minute.

After God created Adam, God took the 7th day and rested. God did not rest because He was tired because God never gets tired. God rested so He could enjoy His creation. God rested on the 7th day of creation and marvelled at His wonderful creation.

As God rested on His creation, He began thinking that Adam was not completely happy because the animals had something that Adam did not. Something was missing. The zebras were created male and female. The bears were created male and female, but Adam was male. Adam had no female to keep him company. Adam had no one to help him.

Do you know what God did? He caused a great sleep to fall on Adam, and when Adam went to sleep, God took one of Adam’s ribs and made him a wife named Eve.

Genesis 2:21–24 “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.”

With the creation of Eve, God creation was complete. Earth was perfect. Adam and Eve were perfect, and God was perfect. Adam and Eve were in a perfect relationship with God. They communicated and fellowshipped everyday.

2. Adam’s Responsibilities in God’s Creation.

God created all of us for a purpose. Children, do not ever listen to anyone who says you are worthless. God brought you into this world because He loves, and He has great things for you to do. The world may give up on you. Your parents may give up on you, but God loves you, and He loves you so much.

As part of God’s purpose for Adam, Adam was given some responsibilities in God’s creation.

A. God gave Adam a garden to tend.

The earth was perfectly created, but there was a section of earth that was beyond perfect.

Genesis 2:8 “The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed.”

This Garden in Eden was absolutely breathtaking. It had the best fruit. It had the juiciest watermelons, even better than Missouri watermelons. It had the biggest pecans. The pecans were so delicious that Eve made the best pecan pie ever. The Garden in Eden had the most beautiful roses, roses of every color. Adam gave Eve a rose everyday just so Eve’s smile would light up the world, and you talk about tulips. There were beautiful tulips all over the Garden, and right in the middle of this amazing Garden, God allowed Adam and Eve to live.

Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.”

There was no labor involved. Adam just basically had to watch and tend the Garden. He did not have to worry about insects and weeds. He just had to watch his corn grow and pick it when it was ready. It was not work for Adam. It was pleasure.

B. God allowed Adam to name all the animals.

Genesis 2:20 “The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found corresponding to him.”

God trusted Adam to take care of the Garden and to name all the animals. You talk about trust. God created Adam for a purpose, and God gave him some tremendous responsibilities.

If you wonder why a hippo is called a hippo, you better ask Adam. I would have been tempted to call the hippo an oversized pork chop, but Adam named all the animals, and here is the amazing thing. None of the animals attacked or feared Adam, and Adam did not attack or fear any of the animals. I even understand that Adam had a bear that he took with him to the Garden to help him pick apples for apple pies, but I cannot confirm that.

Everything was amazing. Everything was beautiful. Everything was perfect.

Do you remember me telling you earlier about how much God loved Adam?

God loved Adam so much that He did not make Adam do anything. God loved Adam so much that He gave Adam the freedom to choose whether or not he wanted to stay in the Garden. God literally gave Adam the choice to stay in the Garden or not to stay.

Do you know what Adam had to do to stay in the Garden? Now, this is really simple. This is the only thing he had to do. He had to do what God told him to do. If he did what God said, he and Eve could live in the beautiful Garden of Eden forever.

3. The Garden’s Three Special Trees.

There were many trees in the Garden of Eden, but Adam’s destiny, and the destiny of mankind was tied to three trees.

A. The Tree of Life.

Genesis 2:9 “The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Rising from the middle of the Garden of Eden was the Tree of Life which was a very special tree. Do you know how special the tree of life was?

The tree of life made it possible for Adam and Eve to live forever.

As long as the tree of life was in the Garden, Adam and Eve would never get sick. They would never get old, and they would never die. The tree of life gave life, not death. Adam and Eve could eat everyday from the tree of life, but there was another tree right beside the tree of life.

B. The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:9 “The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Side by side stood the tree of life and the tree of knowledge.

Do you remember what I said about God loving Adam?

I said God loved Adam so much that He gave Adam the freedom to choose. God did not want to make Adam love Him. He did not want Adam to be a robot. He wanted Adam to choose to love Him, so God gave Adam a choice to make that would test Adam’s love.

You see, God will never tempt you, but He will test you you. A test is an opportunity to stand strong for God. A test is for good. A temptation comes from the Devil, and it is for evil.

The tree of knowledge was every bit as magnificent as the tree of life, but unlike the tree of life, Adam and Eve were forbidden from having any fruit from the tree of knowledge.

Genesis 2:16–17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.””

God did not restrict Adam from eating of the tree of life, but Adam could not eat of the tree of knowledge. Adam could eat of every other tree. All trees were available to Adam but one. If Adam did as God said, he would have access to the tree of life and live forever, but if he disobeyed God and chose to eat of the tree of knowledge, he would die.

We do not know how much time elapsed, but Adam and Eve did exactly what God said. They ate of every tree, but the one God told them they could not have, and God walked with them everyday. They loved God and were obedient to what God expected. They were on their way to living forever until one day, a slippery, slimy serpent hissed his way onto the pages of history.

The Serpent was the Devil, and his goal was to get Adam and Eve to disobey God, and guess what? The Devil wants you to disobey God too. The Devil did the unthinkable. He convinced Adam and Eve to do what God told them not to do.

Genesis 3:6–8 “The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Say it ain’t so! Adam and Eve did what God told them not to do, and immediately, everything changed. Adam and Eve had never feared God before, but after disobeying Him, they hid in fear. Prior to their disobedience, they did not even know what fear was. They were hiding from God, and something was different.

The love for God that had filled their hearts and souls was gone. They did not feel as usual. Surely, the tree of life would make them feel better, but to their shock, the tree of life was off-limits. They no longer had access to the tree that brought them life.

They looked at each other asking if this is what God meant by death. They had no knowledge of death, but surely this was what God was warning them against. They always looked forward to their afternoon walks with God, but after disobeying God, they did not even want God to see them.

Their one-time disobedience turned into lying as both blamed someone else for their disobedience, but excuses did not hold water with God. Excuses do not matter to God. Obedience does.

Now, Adam and Eve have an enormous problem. They are dying, but what’s worse is that they were dying without God. God could not overlook Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience. God can never break His Word. It is impossible for Him to do so.

But.....Do you remember what I said about how much God loved Adam? Can I tell you what the Bible says about how much God not only loved Adam but how much He loved Lauren Binkley too?

John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God loved Adam, and God loved Lauren so much that He wanted both Adam and Lauren to live forever. For that to happen, God had to send His Son, Jesus, to earth. Jesus had to come to earth so Adam and Lauren could live forever with God.

Jesus had to leave heaven and come to earth to be born in a manger in Bethlehem. Jesus had to be what Adam was not and what Lauren could not be. Adam was disobedient. Lauren has been disobedient. For Adam and Lauren to go to heaven, Jesus had to live on earth in perfect obedience to God, and guess what?

He did. Jesus lived on earth and never sinned a single time, but Jesus living on earth was not enough for anyone to get to heaven. For Adam and Lauren to go to heaven, Jesus had to die.

It was God’s Word. Disobedience means death.

God knew this before He ever created Adam, so in the Garden, God planted a third tree.

This Third Tree grew big and strong. It was a tree that was planted for a very specific purpose. This tree was going to have to carry the weight of the entire world. Can you imagine one tree being able to carry the weight of the world? Well, this third tree could.

One day, many years after it was planted, the Roman government needed this tree. They had a special purpose for it. They did not know that this tree was planted specifically to carry the weight of the whole world.

The Romans had someone they wanted to nail to that tree. Can you imagine that? This tree was designed to carry the weight of the whole world, but the Romans were wanting to nail someone to it.

The Romans cut the tree down and took it to the sawmill, Bruce, and they cut that big, strong, beautiful tree into a Cross. They turned that beautiful tree into a nightmare as it was now a gruesome sight to be feared.

To make matters worse, you will not believe who they wanted to nail to that tree. They wanted to nail Jesus to that tree. Jesus, the Son of God, who had never done anything wrong. Jesus, who had obeyed the will of His Father perfectly, was being killed on a tree.

The Romans thought that tree was fulfilling their purpose, but indeed that tree was carrying the weight of the world that day as Jesus hung before the world. The Romans did everything you can imagine to the body of Jesus as He hung on that tree in pain and agony. It was so bad that for three hours the entire world was dark.

Suddenly from the midst of darkness, Jesus cries from the Cross, but He was not crying because of His pain. He was crying because of Adam. He was crying because of Lauren. He was crying because of you, and do you know what He said as he was in such pain and agony?

Luke 23:34 “Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.”

“Them” was Adam. “Them” was Lauren. “Them” was Mrs. Hope. “Them” was me, and “them” can be you.

Jesus died on the Cross so that every act of disobedience so that every sin from Adam’s and Eve’s to mine and yours could be forgiven, but you are not forgiven automatically.

To be forgiven, you must choose like Adam had to choose so many years ago, and this is what you must choose.

You must choose to admit that you are a disobedient sinner if you want to be forgiven.

You must choose to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who lived and died so you could be forgiven.

You must choose to confess Jesus Christ as your Savior if you want to be forgiven.

After you admit, believe, and confess, you need to follow through in obedience to be baptized.

The Bible says it like this, and I want you to pay careful attention.

Romans 10:9–10 “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.”

Believing in Jesus Christ allows you to have the life Adam could have had and did have in the Garden for a period of time. Believing in Jesus gives you eternal life, and do you want to know something amazing?

Do you remember the tree of life I mentioned? Do you know where it is today?

It is in heaven waiting on you to believe in Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22:1–2 “Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations,”

You will have eternal life forever and forever in heaven if you make the choice to believe in Jesus Christ.