So in our Bibles, we've turned to Genesis chapter 1.
This is the first in our series. It's part 1 of 2.
Our scripture reading for today will begin with Genesis 1, starting at verse 26.
And then I'll guide you from there as we read the word of the Lord.
As we do read, remember, we believe this is God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear and sufficient word.
It's God's very own word for you, his people.
So when I'm done reading, I'll say this is the word of the Lord.
And God's people will say, thanks be to God.
Genesis 1, starting at verse 26.
And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them.
And God blessed them.
And God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, and which is the fruit of the tree, yielding seed.
To you it shall be for food, and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life.
I have given every green herb for food, and it was so.
Verse 31, and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
In the evening, in the morning, or the sixth day.
Genesis 2, starting at verse 1.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he rested from all his work, which God created and made.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth that they were created in the day that 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.
Verse 9.
Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.
And the tree of life also in the midst of the garden.
And the tree of the 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, which encompassed the whole land of Hevala.
And there is gold.
And the gold of that land is good.
And there is Bedulium, the onyx stone.
And the name of the second river is Gihon.
The name, that is, that encompassed the whole land of Ethiopia.
And the name of the third river is Hedikel.
And that is, which goes 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 commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely.
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.
We'll continue reading the scripture in Genesis chapter 3 now.
Starting at verse 11.
Genesis 3, 11.
And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?
Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the Lord said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Now let's go to Genesis chapter 3, verses 23 and 24.
Therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So he drove out the man, and he placed him at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims,
and a flaming sword which turned away and kept everything away from the tree of life.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
You may be seated.
The Bible says that the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Let's pray.
O Lord, you made the snow.
And just as the snow is putting water back into the ground so that farmers can put the seed into the ground to bear food for us, tilling the ground.
You tell us in Isaiah that your word goes forth and will not return void.
We pray that the truth of scripture will be buried deep into our hearts and that it will bear the fruit of the spirit.
May your word today, as it's proclaimed, accomplish that which you please.
May it prosper in your purpose alone.
Please guard my lips, Lord.
May everything that is uttered bring glory to you.
For Christ's sake we pray.
Amen.
Well, dear friends, which would you rather?
Would you rather to live in an imagined reality?
Or would you rather to know the ugly truth long ago about your family?
Which would you rather?
Here's someone who would prefer to live in an imagined reality.
It's a philosopher named Thomas Nagel.
Quote, it is not just that I don't believe in God and hope that I am right in my belief.
I hope there is no God.
I don't want there to be a God.
I don't want the universe to be that way.
You got to admire his honesty.
Well, here's someone who would choose to know the ugly truth long ago about her family.
This journalist was adopted from another country by a family in the USA, and she was asked in an interview,
what would you like for birth parents to know?
Now that you've been raised up and you're an adult, what would you like your birth parents to know?
One of the things that she wrote was this.
Birth parents hold the key to an important part of who we are.
We benefit when we are told the truth.
As ugly as it may be.
You and I are here today by God's providence, I think because we want to know the truth.
Do you want to know the truth?
Well, God has revealed the truth and he's made it known to us through stories.
So, beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, I want to tell you today the story of your first king.
It's an ugly story, but you need to know the truth.
I've got four observations from these early chapters of the Bible, Genesis 1, 2, and 3.
So, you and I, we were born into an ancient story.
And here's the first observation.
You and I come from the line of the first king.
And he was the king in a good world.
We read in Genesis 1, 26, God said,
Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
And let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, over the earth, over every creeping thing of the earth.
So, Adam was put to have dominion over all that God made.
He was a king appointed by God.
Well, what's something that creeps on the earth that Adam gave a name to?
And he was had dominion over.
What comes to mind when you hear a creeping thing on the ground?
The serpent.
Serpents creep.
And Adam was given dominion over the serpent.
He was to rule over the serpent.
We read in Genesis 2, verse 2, that on the seventh day, God ended his work from which he had made.
And he rested on the seventh day from all of his work.
The Psalms and Isaiah, they describe the whole earth as God's footstool.
So, yes, Adam was appointed as a king, part of the creation.
But it's God who sits enthroned over all the creation.
So, Adam was a king in a good world, but there's a higher king.
There's God the creator.
God entered his kingly rest.
He established his throne of heaven, the eternal glory of God, resting in distinction from his creation.
Well, this good God, he put his pleasing law inside the heart of the first king, Adam.
And he set up this pattern, Adam, you will work and then you will rest.
Naturally, as created man, Adam and all those who would come after him would be obligated to obey the creator in all things.
So, by nature, Adam had to obey.
But by nature, God did not have to bless Adam's obedience any further.
That would have been something special if God would say, in addition to obey me as your creator, I will give you even further blessings.
I will hold out for you a promised reward.
So, on this first point, we are all image bearers.
We are all under the great king, the God of heaven.
And he has put his moral law in our conscience.
Romans 1, 2, and 3.
We all know what is right and wrong because God made us and he made this creation very good.
So, if anyone is responsible for the brokenness of this world, it's not God.
We need to know more about this story of our first king.
And this also helps us answer a very difficult and important question.
Why are there so many good people in this world?
You and I probably work with people.
We know people that we would say, that's a better person than most Christians that I know.
Don't you know people like that?
Well, this explains that question.
It's because God made all of his creation very good.
As we walk around, you see people on the streets or in the grocery store.
Just remember, remind yourself, there's an image bearer.
That is an image bearer.
Next time your co-worker, who's probably not even a Christian, does something admirable, just praise God.
There's a reminder right there.
This is an image bearer.
God made everything good.
So, you come from the line of the first king in a good world.
You and I were born into an ancient story.
Here's the second observation.
Your first king, he was appointed by God himself, not only as a king, but also as a royal priest.
Your first king was appointed as a royal priest.
Notice what we read in Genesis chapter 2, verse 8.
You're going to want to look at this for yourself in your Bible.
Genesis 2, 8.
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.
So, God made all the creation, heavens and the earth.
But then he made a special place.
And he called it the Garden of Eden.
And then God put man there.
He put man that he had formed inside this garden.
So, Adam was to be this representative royal kingly priest of this garden.
And that's important because as goes the king over Eden, so goes his kingdom.
Why can we say that Eden was a garden temple if Adam was a priest there?
Well, look at the next verse, Genesis 2, 9.
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 the knowledge of good and evil.
So, do you get the geography that is being described here?
How many rivers were there that we just read?
Four rivers.
And did they all go in the same direction?
No, each one went in a different direction.
All the different coordinates.
And we know water runs downward.
So, what can we deduce?
Eden was a garden that God placed where?
On the top of a mountain.
It has to be on the top of a mountain.
On all directions, it's sloping downward.
And the rivers are carrying the water.
So, here's this mountaintop garden.
And the Lord, in the midst of it, right in the middle of this garden, he put two symbols, two visuals, two trees.
And then he took Adam and he put him in the garden.
Are you with me so far still?
Okay.
None of this is to waste your time.
All of this is significant.
I hope you'll see why.
Now, look at Genesis chapter 2, verse 15.
Here it says it again.
It repeats it.
The Lord God took the man.
There's only one man.
That's Adam.
Who had dominion over all that God made.
And he put him into the garden of Eden to do two things.
What are the verbs that your Bible says?
It's great if we have a lot of different translations.
Mine says Adam was to work it and to keep it.
To work and keep.
That verb work can also be translated to minister.
To tend to it.
In Sunday school with the book of Revelation, we were seeing how the priest had to tend to the candlesticks.
And the menorah was representing trees.
So, there's that image of a priest tending to the lamps, tending to the trees of the garden temple.
That's exactly the image of Adam in the garden of Eden on the top of this mountain.
And also to keep it.
The word keep it can be translated guarding.
So, the Levites, remember, they're the ones who had to go and slay all those who worship the golden calf.
Levites were butchers slaying the animals for the sacrifice.
And they were bodyguards protecting the holy presence of God.
Protecting pure worship.
Do you get the picture of Adam in the garden of Eden as a priest?
Guarding it.
Keeping it.
Ministering to it.
Tending it.
So, if Eden is on the top of this mountain, it's really a picture on earth of the kingdom of heaven.
It's the kingdom of heaven intruding onto a special place on planet earth that God created.
And over this special kingdom on earth, he puts a kingly priest, Adam.
And as goes the king, so goes the kingdom.
Do you see all that's in these precious verses?
Numbers 8.26.
I just want to read this for you.
Listen carefully.
It's the same verbs of what Adam was told to do describing the work of priests.
It says that they were to minister to the brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard and doing service.
Minister, guard, keep, serve.
That's the work of Levites in Numbers.
So, Adam's task was cultivation, guarding, keeping, and expanding the holy land of Eden in which God's presence dwells until this sacred garden temple fills all that God created.
It's for the sacred dwelling, holy presence of God to be expanded until the glory of God covers the earth.
You and I, we are wired to work.
We are wired to cultivate.
You can take an abandoned downtown area and put people there with resources.
They will clean it up.
They will repaint the buildings.
They'll fix what's broken structurally.
They will bring life to it.
We're tended.
We're built that way to tend, to cultivate.
People who can go buy really good produce at the grocery store, they like to garden just for fun.
It's relaxing.
God made all things good.
It's not part of the curse.
And here's another question.
Why do you think it is that every single human being knows that there are some things that are sacred?
Isn't that true?
Newborn babies.
Funeral homes.
If you see someone else praying, you give it space.
Everyone knows there are some things on this earth that are sacred.
And that's because your first king, he was appointed by God himself to be a royal priest over the temple garden Eden.
Are you still with me?
That was two of the four.
Number three.
You were part of an ancient story.
The creator God entered into a covenant with your first king.
The creator God entered into a special covenant above just making him.
Specifically with Adam.
I'm going to try to prove this to you from Genesis that we just read.
But first, I just want to try to give you some categories to even be able to evaluate whether this is true, whether there's a covenant there.
Why do we care about covenant?
Why take a semester and do a series on covenant theology?
The word covenant appears 316 times in all of the Bible.
It's very important.
38 different books of the Bible refer to covenant.
Both biblical and secular history record covenants, not between God and man only, but also covenants among people, among men.
Let me give you first an example of a covenant among men from the Bible.
So we have a category of what a covenant is.
Genesis 31 44 says that Laban made a covenant with Jacob.
Listen to a few of the details.
He said, come now, let us make a covenant.
You and I let it be a witness between you and me.
And as after they covenanted, we're not given more details, but we are told that Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar or an Ebenezer.
And that was a point of reference for all the descendants of Jacob.
They'd be able to come to the stone and remember the story and the covenant between these two men.
So the covenant involves at least two parties.
They make commitments and then there's a visual representation of the covenant.
So that's a covenant between men.
Does the Bible say that there was a covenant between God and Adam?
Hosea 6 7.
If you don't look this one up now, that's fine.
But write that down or memorize it.
Hosea 6 7.
Listen carefully.
The prophet Hosea is prosecuting Israel for breaking their covenant with God.
And he says, like Adam, you transgressed the covenant.
There they dealt faithlessly with me, their God.
So Israel broke the covenant with God.
What's the comparison that Hosea uses?
Just like Adam broke that covenant.
I believe that's the right interpretation.
The word Adam also means man.
Well, if there is one man who broke a covenant on behalf of all mankind, it would have to be Adam.
Here's what's more.
If you're a Christian, you need to know about God's covenants.
You need to know what the Bible says about divine covenants.
Here's why.
Second Corinthians 3 verse 5 says God has made us Christians, the church, sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant.
So if your job as a Christian is to be a minister of the new covenant, you better understand what this is, that you're supposed to be ministering.
So how can we understand what a covenant is better?
I love how this person put it.
I think this is so accessible.
Children, think of this.
One pastor put it this way.
A covenant is a perfect blend of both love and law.
Think about what you'd have if you only had law in a relationship.
And then think about what you'd have if you only have affection in a relationship, but no, no real law, nothing binding.
And a covenant, it's more intimate and more loving than a mere contract.
And a covenant is also more binding and more accountable than a mere relationship.
That's the force of a covenant.
So to be a covenant, and I'm giving you the criteria now.
So when I show it in Genesis, you got to decide if you agree that it's there.
You got to have this.
You got to have promises, promises between the parties or commitments between them.
That which shall be required of each party.
That's got to be there for there to be a covenant.
That's the commitment part.
Now, the other part is the oath bound or the sanctioning pact.
So some kind of law that will bind it.
So legally binding agreement with curses threatened for covenant breaking and rewards promised for covenant fulfillment.
Those are the things you got to have for there to be a covenant.
So here's a concise definition of what I tried to explain.
OK, a covenant is an oath bound promise or a sanctioned commitment between parties.
If you only have a promise between people, what you have there is a promise, not a covenant.
And then if you just have a law, you know, a superior like the creator giving a law to the creation, all you have is a law.
But there's no covenant.
What makes it a covenant is if there is sanctions, if there's rewards for obedience and then punishments, curses for disobedience.
All right.
So we've got two or more parties, commitments, sanctions, and then a visual representation of it.
What is going to be a visual reminder of the thing we've agreed to?
Now, let's see if this passes the test.
Look in your Bible to Genesis chapter two, verses 16 and 17.
We read that the Lord God, the Lord God, that's the covenant Lord, the creator.
He commanded man.
Man is the vassal servant.
He's the creature here.
So there's our two parties.
And God said, you may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat.
So this was what's called a positive law.
It's an additional law.
This is above and beyond the laws that govern all of creation.
This was a trip wire.
You, Adam, are not allowed to eat of the knowledge of the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil, because if you do that, you will surely die.
So there's a legal sanction.
There's a threat for disobedience.
Now we read of the tree of life.
You can turn to Genesis chapter three.
Genesis chapter three.
Look at verse 22.
In Genesis chapter three, we have the promise of obedience implied.
OK, so in Genesis chapter three, verse 32.
Why did God put the cherubim, those two angels, to block sinful man from reentering the garden?
He says, because if you eat from the tree of life, you will live forever.
So what's implied here is that in this garden with these two trees, there is a visual representation.
There is a curse for disobedience with the one tree.
And then there's a promised reward for eternal life of the second.
And Adam was not allowed to have access to the tree of life because he had to obey God perfectly.
And his one command, do not eat of the knowledge of the tree of the tree of good and evil.
So each tree visually represents this covenant.
Eternal life for obedience and death for disobedience.
So this covenant was a good covenant.
It was for man's good and it was for God's glory.
God's divine covenants are always for our good.
Think about this.
Why do all people like picture billionaires in California?
Why do why do all people want to work for immortality?
Why do all people have that instinct that maybe if I do all the right things, I can be the one that just lives on in fame or I can I can never age.
I can stay young forever.
Well, that's because our first king was put in a covenant with God himself.
There were promises extended to him for perfect obedience.
But there are also curses for his disobedience.
You and I were born into this ancient story.
In our first king, God made him sinless.
Remember, everything was very good.
So what else can we infer about this covenant?
Number four is this.
The divine covenant between God and Adam was not a covenant of grace.
Why was it not a covenant of grace?
Well, because Adam had not sinned.
He didn't need grace.
He had done nothing to lose any merit.
He was created very good.
And God gave him this positive law.
Do this and you will earn eternal life.
Adam had a promised reward on the condition of his fulfillment.
Adam was threatened with the curse of disobedience.
And the goal was signified by the tree of life as a pledge of eternal life.
He would have unchangeable communion with God had he kept this in obedience.
The Bible says that sin is lawlessness.
And Adam had this one law.
And he broke the law.
He broke this covenant with God.
He fell short of the glory of God.
The glory of God was extended to him.
And he disobeyed, falling short of the glory of God.
So there was more glory to be had that was above and beyond what God gave man by being a creation.
There was a glory further held out to him.
But Adam fell short of it.
This is why theologians have called this covenant between God and Adam a covenant of works.
And it governed the entrance into a consummated cosmos.
Eden was like a microcosm.
As goes the king, so goes the kingdom.
And if this king would have obeyed perfectly, him and all of his posterity would have received blessing.
But because he disobeyed, he rebelled and he sinned.
He committed lawlessness.
Instead, he brought on the curses.
Sam Reneham confirmed this conclusion.
He said, had Adam obeyed God, he would have obtained the glory of God and constituted the many righteous.
Nehemiah Cox also wrote that God's covenant with Adam was the grounds for friendship between God and man.
It was promise promising Adam rich bounty and goodness as a reward for obedience.
So it was for man's good.
But listen carefully.
This covenant did not contain even an iota of pardoning mercy.
If obeyed, it would raise physical man and his posterity to the high degree of the immortal angels of heaven.
But if disobeyed, it would sink man to the lowest state of apostate devils and leave him under a misery like theirs.
Think about why all men everywhere know when they're breaking their conscience.
They know that law inside of them.
People know when they're doing wrong.
Think of all the good deeds people everywhere in the world try to do to appease their conscience.
And that's because our first king, he was created sinless.
And he was put in a covenant of works.
If you can do this, you can receive blessing for yourself.
That's what our flesh is always tempted to go after.
Do you see how everything was at stake in the Garden of Eden?
Because of King Adam now, we are all born naturally into this covenant of works.
That's the default state we enter.
We ask the question, why are we so broken?
Don't have to look far.
I look at my own heart.
I look at my own family and extended family.
We were all so broken, aren't we?
It's because you and I were born into this ancient story.
In our first king, he was a federal head.
This is our fourth point.
Your first king was a federal head.
A federal head means that what this person does affects everyone under him.
You might say, well, I don't like that.
I didn't choose to be under Adam.
I didn't ask for that.
Well, that's natural to feel that way.
But let me try to give you some answers because as you share the gospel, this will be a very common objection.
Let me give a lighthearted one first and then a very heavy one.
So let me try to think of a good example of losers.
The USA men's national soccer team.
You might say, I want to try to be a goalie and play in the World Cup.
And they say, okay, well, what country were you born in?
USA.
Oh, man, you're going to have to play for the USA.
Well, I didn't choose that.
Well, that's where you were born.
And then you get to the World Cup and the goalie lets the ball get across the line.
The whole team loses and gets disqualified.
They got to pack their bags and go home.
Well, the strikers are saying, I didn't even get to touch the ball this whole game.
Well, guess what?
Well, your teammate let the ball get across the line.
The whole team gets penalized.
You could say the goalie is like the federal head of the team.
And everyone born in that country is cursed.
So here's a heavier example.
My point with this is that we actually accept the same premise, even if we deny it.
It's a very, very late modern way of thinking that I have to choose what I'm part of.
Here's a heavier example.
There's a child that was born four years ago in the Gaza Strip.
And they're now homeless, thirsty.
They lost one of their parents.
They can say, I didn't choose to be born here, to have all these curses on me.
Well, guess what?
You're part of these nations.
These federal heads made choices.
You're suffering as a result.
So it's a very, very entitled Western, late modern way of thinking to say, I don't want to be part of Adam's curses.
Well, welcome to mankind.
We have no choice.
So Adam was placed in the garden prior to the creation of Eve.
This means only Adam was a federal head, not Eve.
And when God comes to hold them accountable for their sin, who does he start with?
Adam's quiet the whole time God starts with Adam.
Genesis 2, 8, we were told that the role of Eve was to help Adam.
So she had a very important role.
If he's the king, she's the queen.
But God is coming after Adam.
He's the federal head.
And this is important.
If Adam had fulfilled this covenant of works, he would have secured all the blessings for himself and all those he represented.
The spiritual kingdom of heaven would cover all the earth as much as it fills the heavens.
But because Adam was a federal head, we read in 1 Corinthians 15, we read this earlier, in Adam all die.
Nehemiah Cox also said it could be only on account of such a covenant that Adam's posterity, that's all of us,
should be involved as they were in his standing or falling.
Adam was covenanted to bring all of creation into a state of secured glory.
But instead, we see the evidence in Genesis 6, 5, that the wickedness of man was so great in all the earth.
This is the posterity of Adam.
That every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
But God made everything very good.
How can that be so quickly?
Just three chapters later.
It's because Adam was a federal head.
And now his sin is imputed.
His sin is passed on through his blood to his children.
Adam's sin, not Eve's, is passed on.
And this was true for every single man and every human being that walked this earth except one.
Who was the one that did not inherit the sin of Adam?
Who was the one?
Well, there's only one person who was born of a virgin.
And who was that?
It was the man, Jesus Christ, God himself.
We read in Romans 5, 17, because of one man's trespass, death reigned from that man throughout the world.
Adam was a federal head over all of his natural offspring.
That's what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15.
So all mankind were represented with Adam.
Michael Reeves drives this point home.
He says, if we deny Adam's place as a federal head of a covenant that would bring either blessing or condemnation upon all those he represents,
then we lose the ability of all mankind to fall in Adam.
And if that is the case, we remove the reason for God's wrath against all of mankind's sin and trespasses.
So do you see how if you deny Adam as a federal head in this covenant with God,
you undermine Christ's incarnation, Christ's imputation in Christ's new covenant?
God's laws are fixed.
If one man's sin can bring curses on all the world,
this is good news because one man's righteousness can bring blessings on all of his posterity.
We need Adam to be our first king, our federal head,
because without that principle in place and trusting the laws of God,
we have no hope in a second Adam, the first king over his new creation, Jesus Christ.
So our first king was a federal head.
I'll try to bring this together this way.
Because you and I were born into this ancient story.
How does understanding this story of our first king help you?
Well, Romans 5, 18 says,
Yes, that one trespass led to the condemnation of all men,
but one act of righteousness by Jesus Christ led to the justification for all.
Hercules Collins wrote,
A public head, so Adam stood as Christ is of his spouse.
And what he did as our chief head, we did it, whether it be gain or lose.
Under the rule of that first king, Adam, we lost all hope of God's blessings.
But with Christ as king, we gain all of Christ's blessings.
Think of that.
Adam, the federal head, and Eve, his spouse, his helper.
Christ, the federal head, and who is the bride?
It's the church.
We have the place of Eve in the story now,
if you're part of the new creation.
Think of that, how through the church,
through the church, the Holy Spirit gives birth to the king's spiritual seed.
It's through the preaching of the gospel.
It's through the prayers, through the ministry of the word,
that the church now,
the Spirit uses that to give birth, to regenerate,
to make others be born again,
to draw them into this line of Christ.
How did Christ achieve this?
Well, you know the gospel,
but I want you to make this connection with Adam, the first king.
Meredith Klein, a professor at Westminster Escondido, wrote,
attainment of the kingdom and entering divine rest
take the form of a victory in battle.
Confrontation with Satan was unavoidable for each of the two Adams.
Adam was to have dominion,
to rule, to guard over the temple.
And then he didn't.
He failed.
He did not confront the serpent.
Meredith Klein wrote,
To combat and vanquish God's enemy is the one act required of God's servant king
to activate all the blessings that God promised by his covenant.
Jesus Christ went to battle Satan in the wilderness for 40 days.
He was tempted.
He drove out the money changers from the temple.
He cast out demons everywhere he went.
He was bringing the power of the kingdom of heaven on earth.
He was reclaiming all that God had made good.
And on the cross, it's the great twist of human history, of redemptive history.
On the cross, it's where Jesus Christ, he crushed the serpent's head.
That's why Colossians 2.15 says that Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities
and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.
Christ is the last Adam.
He's the king who conquered Satan.
And he is currently extending the temple presence of the father on this earth.
We are Christ's Eve.
We are here helping him.
Our missionaries are taking his word to the unreached people groups
because the temple presence of God is extending through the church.
That's what we get to do as his helpers, as the bridegrooms.
He's the bridegroom and we're the groomsmen.
We point to him.
We long for the day when he returns.
So when you gather with his church in Christ's name,
you gather to get this foretaste of the sacred kingdom of heaven.
You get a foretaste of the rest, of the presence of God that he made all good.
You see how a divine covenant truly is much more intimate and loving than a mere contract.
You see how it's also much more binding and accountable than just a relationship
to the point that Christ put himself under his own law to purchase you.
Colossians 3, 1 through 4 says that if you have been raised with Christ,
then seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father.
You were born into an ancient story.
And if Christ is your king, then his story is the best one your soul can hear.
Praise be to God.
Let's pray.
From Colossians 3.
Lord, please help your people.
Help us, Father, to set our minds not on this earth, but on things that are above.
We confess that you died and rose again.
And so we who have died with Christ, we hide our lives in him.
We trust, Lord, that when Jesus Christ appears, who is our life,
then we also will appear with you in glory.
We long to live with you and dwell with you, the new heavens, the new earth.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Well, the Bible tells us to take the Lord's Supper often.
Jesus said, as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.
So we make a practice of taking the Lord's Supper together every week.
And we do this for several reasons, that when we do this, we're told we're proclaiming Christ until he returns.
So by coming up to take of the bread and the juice, you're proclaiming Jesus Christ and his gospel for you.
This is a picture to us of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus.
Our sin put him on the cross.
All of the suffering that we deserve, he suffered.
And all of the goodness, all of the love that is God, the perfect peace, he gives to those who belong to him.
It's also a picture for us of a hope we have of the future.
It's called the wedding supper of the Lamb.
Where the great king, the Lion Lamb, Jesus Christ, will enjoy a feast with his bride, with his church.
So we do this together as a body.
We long for that day where we'll be able to look as far as the eye can see.
More than there are stars that fill the heavens of all those that Christ ransomed with his precious blood.
So that's what this represents.
It's the gospel.
It's the work of Christ.
We're not to take this in any other way except resting in his finished work for us.
So let me read these words of caution to fence off the Lord's Supper and make sure that no one is drinking judgment upon themselves.
1 Corinthians 11 says,
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.
Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
To discern the body is to say,
How can I approach the holy God?
There's God in the holy of holies and here's me with this condemnation from Adam as well as my own sins piled on.
So how can I have access to God?
Well, it's only if Jesus Christ has clothed you for the banquet feast, if he's put on those white garments of his righteousness freely onto you.
And how do you receive those?
Who is it that receives those white garments?
It's whoever puts out the beggar's hand and takes it.
What is that hand?
It's faith.
Faith is the poor beggar's hand receiving the righteousness of God freely for you.
Jesus says in the words of institutions,
This is my blood of the covenant.
Thomas Watson commented,
The Lord's Supper is a covenantal seal.
It is a certified deed to bestow the blessings of the new covenant to us.
A small piece of wax stamped by the king's ring is made the instrument of imparting the wealth of an empire to another.
In the same way, these elements of bread and wine in the sacrament, though in themselves of no great value, are signals to confer the covenant of grace to us.
This gives them more value than all the riches of the wealthiest bank.
If that's how you receive Christ, then you come and you feast on him.
If you're a believer, you're a member in good standing at another church or you're looking for a church, we welcome you to enjoy.
This is the Lord's Supper.
Please come and take as well.
If you're not a believer, you're under church discipline or you're not sure if you should, then play it safe.
Don't take the Lord's Supper today.
Instead, talk to a Christian that you respect and ask your questions.
Work through it.
We're all here for that, to minister Christ to one another.
We ask that we all respond to the gospel today and still in your hearts before God.
When you're ready, we'll make a light through the center aisle.
We'll tear his body.
We'll take the cup and we'll go back to our seats and hold on to it.
Then we'll all stand together as a spiritual family and we'll enjoy the feast together once all have been served.
You may come to this table.
Amen.