This sermon delves into the parallels between the lives of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the life that Christians ought to live. It emphasizes the need for believers to rule over sin, have a healthy perspective on work, focus on the abundance of God's promises, cultivate unity with others, and find rest in God's love. The message encourages a deep spiritual connection with fellow believers and a profound understanding of God's promises and commands.

I want to share something from Genesis chapter 1 and 2. I want to share a truth that has been really being impressed on my heart deeply that the of the life that we ought to live as Christians. We know that in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 is where God created Adam and Eve and God created them innocent and God looked at it and said it was very good. And I want to talk about some things that the Lord has really impressed on my heart to talk about how our lives ought to be. We started off full of sin but God wants to give us a brand new life. We may think of our lives and just imagine if you were Adam and Eve. Imagine if you were them. You either could have been Adam or Eve. All of us are either man or woman. Just imagine if we were there. Imagine if you were in the Garden of Eden. No sin and imagine if we could do it over. Will we do it differently? I sure hope so. Definitely hope we won't hit the heat of that tree. But the wonderful good news is that in Christ we are just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God has us in Christ in the kingdom of heaven. God says in Colossians chapter 1 through the Holy Spirit, Paul says that God transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Children even you know that you've all heard the story of the Garden of Eden. You know how wonderful and like paradise it was. You've seen the pictures and all of that. Do you know that when we talk about Jesus we are telling you the reason we asked you to believe in Jesus and ask him to come into your heart and to receive him so that you may be born again. The reason we say born again is because we're saying you we are all part of this kingdom of darkness but when we're born again God takes us and puts us into the kingdom of light. It's almost like we're back in the Garden of Eden. We may not feel it that way. We may not see it with our eyes that way but spiritually that is what has happened. He has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and as it says he has seated us in the heavenly places with Christ and in Christ. And there are some things if we look at Genesis chapter 1 and 2 it's good for us to think about how they lived and how we ought to live with the parallel that it's not in the physical world but in the spiritual world. So just like Adam and Eve opened up their physical eyes and their physical senses and saw the Garden of Eden we ought to have our eyes opened spiritually to the spiritual kingdom of God the spiritual Garden of Eden that we're living in. So I hope all of you can imagine you are just like Adam and Eve spiritually in Christ and you know one of the if you if I would ask people what is what is the what is the first thing God told Adam and Eve? Most people will say the first thing God said was be fruitful and multiply. That's what most people think about God's telling it to Adam and Eve but actually if you look at scripture and you can look at Genesis chapter 1 verse 21 and 22 God didn't say be fruitful and multiply first to the humans. Do you know children who God said be fruitful and multiply first to? Let me read it to you in Genesis chapter 1 verse 21. God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves and the waters swarmed after that kind and every winged bird. So he created the sea monsters maybe the big whales and the sharks and all the birds and you know what he told them in verse 22? Be fruitful and multiply. So there's nothing special about this command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. So we're just not like any other human other animal if we're being fruitful and multiplying. Now see in verse 28 though God created man. 26 actually it starts where God says he finally finishes all the rest of creation in verse 26 God says God said let us make man in our own image according to our own likeness and here's what's going to be interesting about our likeness and our image and let them rule. Now be fruitful and multiply let them rule over all the creeping things over all the fish of the sea and all the birds that fly in the air and all the cattle and all the animals and the herds and over every creeping man creeps on the earth and then God created him in his image and then in verse 28 again he says be fruitful and multiply fill the earth but now you need to rule subdue it and rule over all the living creatures spiritually the creeping things the creepy things in the spiritual realm is sin the winged birds are the things that all those thoughts that fly around our hearts or that our minds all the time all of that things right if you just imagine it spiritually what that is as it relates over sins it's all the desires of your flesh that go against God's will it is all those thoughts that go contrary to God's will God says rule from when from day one that's his first thing he says let me make man in my image and now rule so the moment you're born again the moment God transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light God says I'm gonna make you in my image because I'm gonna put you in Christ who's in the image of God and he's gonna give me a command which says rule now rule over every feeling rule over every destructive thought pattern that says you're not good enough rule and subdue it Adam and Eve didn't say but God I can't do it he says I created you in my image I placed you in Christ I birthed you in this kingdom of light in the Holy Spirit now rule and subdue it that's the number one thing that I wanted to stress that that God repeated it twice in verse 26 and in verse 28 I want them to rule and then he created them and said no rule and subdue it we ought to live with the mentality that we are rulers not rulers over people but rulers over all of sin that has to be our very identity that when we are born again God has given us the first command which is no rule young man young boy young girl older man older woman doesn't really make a difference remember when you were born again remember when you were baptized God's command God looked you in the eye and said no rule and it is a shameful degradation from being a human being created in the image of God to back to the animal what is the animal doing looking for food and being fruitful and multiplying in all the earthly things storing up some animals store up more meat than others meet so whatever they consider wealth they're just doing that but we're doing the same thing storing up money that's gonna burn anyways storing up food but not ruling not ruling spiritually then we are no different than the animals so the message whatever we call victory over sin or ruling over all the sin is from the very beginning and God created us in his image and when we are birthed in Christ we are created in his image to rule please turn with me to Romans chapter 5 verse 17. Romans chapter 5 is a beautiful chapter there's so much to meditate on in Romans chapter 4 and 5 which is the introduction into the Christian life but Romans chapter 5 draws one important picture he draws a Paul draws a picture between two men Adam and Jesus and God draws a picture and says you're in one of those two men every every person is going to be a product of one of those two men Adam and of course Adam and Eve or of Christ so you're either birthed and you're in the tree of Adam or you're in the tree of Jesus and what Jesus is what God is saying here through Paul is that when you are born again and when you bring yourself into when God brings you the kingdom of light you're now of the tree of Jesus you have been taken out from the tree of Adam and planted into the tree of Jesus and see this now in that context in Romans chapter 5 verse 17 now if you're the tree of Adam because of the transgression of one because of just Adam's sin death reigned ruled through the one but that's what the soul that that passage is building up this point which is transgression and sin ruled because of the sin of one man Adam how much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness you look at that word will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ picture is very clear which tree are you in the tree of Adam now Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 was supposed to reign something happened in Genesis chapter 3 they didn't reign and so death and sin came into this world but then Jesus sent his son no sorry God sent his son Jesus and then because of the life death and resurrection of Jesus now God says you have a chance to have a new to come off a new tree the tree of Adam or the tree of Jesus which tree are you in one thing is reigning one thing will rule sin will rule you or you will rule sin very simple from day one God wants you to have that mindset I'm not saying God wants you to have those results God wants you to have that mindset we may lose a few fights here and there but the fight the war consists of many fights but the mindset is I have been created to rule over every filthy thought over every spirit of anger over every loose word over every spirit of unforgiveness God created me to rule it's a mindset I'm appealing to not track record I'm not asking you are you ruling right now my question is much more fundamental than that are you living your life with the mindset that you are to rule that's step number one I hope I'm very clear about that it's not a very complicated point but it's a shift in our minds that I think is so fundamental that I don't even know of most Christians I don't even know most of us who've been living in this who've been hearing the gospel and the new covenant have a mindset waking up every morning and saying today God has created me to rule he's put me in Christ and I'm supposed to be ruling it's as obvious and should be as obvious to us as if I go to the house and I see a dog and a human being there's an expectation that one of those one of those two beings must rule but we've been to houses I think most almost all of us if not all of us have been to houses where the dog rules the family and there are other houses where the family rules the dog dog is loved we know who the ruler is with sin we're supposed to absolutely rule it without any love for it and we go to Christians lives and we see one of two patterns one where people have a mindset to rule the sin and another one where sin they call themselves Christians all kinds of things but sin rules them may not be all sin some sin God told us to rule over everything over every living thing that moves every little sin living sin that lives in us God do it in Genesis chapter 1 verse 28 next thing Genesis chapter 2 verse 15 Genesis chapter 2 verse 15 then the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it do you know what Adam was going to be doing six days out of the week working he had a job to do he and Adam and Eve were created with a job to do that sounds a lot like us we have jobs to do Adam and Eve were asked to cultivate and keep the garden we're asked to do different jobs we go to jobs Monday through Friday different things you have to do it takes up the majority of our time we have also jobs to be fathers and mothers of family to go to school of your children things like that this is how it was in the garden of Eden too so we don't need to be worried the majority of our time we spend taking care of the different jobs we have to do whether it's family whether it's work to make the money but what I also want to underline it is there's no big perk out of it just cultivate and keep it don't make lots of money not not make more and more money don't make it your idol don't obsess over it don't make a big deal out of it don't let it consume your thoughts and that's how that verse spoke to me I see that my work has the tendency and it's a constant tendency to dominate my thoughts and I'm thinking about it sometimes I'm in the shower sometimes when I'm going to bed and I'm at rest because all my deliverables got done for the week or the month and I sleep easy but when I don't I'm constantly restless I'm not I'm like that too but the Lord is asking me to think about verse 15 Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden no sin just cultivate and keep it do the best you can don't obsess over it don't make your worth out of it don't define success by it don't define failure by it we ought to be teaching our children this too because there's going to be successes and failures in our jobs and in our lives we're going to have children some people can't have children we're going to have children some of them are going to have sicknesses some of them may even die all kinds of things may happen don't define success and failure by those things here's how we define some of those things rule over every sin that's number two was just a redeemed attitude about work it's going to take up a lot of time it's going to be my job six days out of the week five days of the week that's what Adam was doing six days work cultivate it keep it kind of tend to it you got to prune it no different things cultivate it dig cultivate means to dig do different things nothing more than just cultivate no big emphasis on it that's a message for all of us to ask ourselves to judge ourselves lord i want to be in the kingdom of light i want to act as if this is the garden of eden again number three so number one we ought to rule number two have a healthy perspective about work number three in verse 16 and 17 the lord commanded the man saying from any from any tree of the garden any tree of the garden you may eat freely but from this one tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day of it he will die he will surely die god gave adam and eve an abundance to eat from and one commandment of what not to eat similarly in the new covenant listen to me carefully family because this is also something we miss in the new covenant have we seen our life as an abundance of promises compared to some commandments it's not one commandment some but wait wait the promises and the commands do you feel like you were in the garden of eden do you hear god telling you like in the garden of eden eat freely how many trees well i don't know count the number of trees in the garden of eden just go keep going counting there's so many trees in the garden you need from any one of them just this one tree just don't eat from that now look at your really our relationship with god now let us look at our interaction with god's word a ton of commands ton of commands yes there are some commands there are lots of commands in this book but we then compared to the weight of the promises and that's what god was speaking to me are you acting like you're in the garden of eden is my burden easy is my yoke light if you're in the garden of eden do you see the promises i have for you you see how much i've loved you with an everlasting love have you put way too much are you obsessing over this one tree you're constantly looking at it so you know it's lord why don't you let me eat this one tree well look around the garden of eden see every tree that god gave for you to eat this is a verse that we've underlined many times second peter chapter one verse four the great heritage maybe we should turn there just so that you know what the great heritage is of the new covenant what is the greatest perk of the new covenant i'll tell you what the greatest perk for me is for working in my job it's the money i get into my bank account that's it it's the greatest perk that's why i do it what's the greatest perk of being in the new covenant why do i go to india what's the greatest perk because my family's there see my dad and my mom what's the greatest perk for being in the new covenant what is the greatest advantage to being being in the new covenant second peter chapter one verse four here's what it is that we may share partake sit at the table with god and partake it says of his divine nature not divine actions divine nature to taste of god himself not just do good things like god does good things but the taste of his nature have we ever met a very very godly man or a godly sister and we've been impressed by the humility or the godliness of their life and you say i wish i could act like them well think way beyond that imagine if you could taste of their very nature and god has transformed them into it's a completely different level but here's how we do it verse four by his magnificent promises not by obeying the commands obeying the commands is definitely part of the pathway but it's through his magnificent promises this is how we partake of the divine natures read that in second peter chapter one verse four and so going back to genesis chapter 2 verse 16 and 17 you've saw all the trees in the garden of eden and there's one tree that god says don't eat of it now we must also have that attitude towards god an abundance and overflowing vast ocean of promises endless supply like a river constant gushing down and compare that one little cup of water the god says don't touch that all of them are pleasing to the eye all of them are looking delicious it says that god created every tree that was pleasing to the site that's in genesis 2 9 every tree is pleasing to the eye but says the one of the one that's pleasing me i don't touch that and god needs to show us all the promises that are in god spiritually remember i'm not talking physically in this world we'll have trouble we'll have difficulties but we can have a wealth and a vast abundance a vast abundance of promises let me repeat so far what i've got god is a garden of eden spiritually in the kingdom of god god wants us to rule number two god wants us to work but not make it a big thing god wants us to see the promises as being a vast garden and just one little tree that says those are the commands of god don't do this number four see what god did then after this he says i don't want you to be alone verse 18 well so it's not good for me to be alone it's not good for man to be alone i'll make him a helper and he goes and shows all of the created beings and you can't find anybody that's suitable for verse 19 for adam so god puts him to sleep and then fashions eve and see what it says in verse 23 this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man she was taken out of man she's off my same bones she's off my same flesh spiritually that tells us how we ought to be for those who are married with our wives i've got to see that my wife in the kingdom of god spiritually we'll have our personality differences i'm not trying to make my wife like the same foods i like or watch the same things i watch or listen to the same music i listen to we may have all different kinds of tastes but spiritually i must see that we are off the same bones and off the same flesh she's come out of me my own body as we heard in the conference last week lives in beautiful harmony you don't see the hand constantly slapping the leg and slapping the head back of the head constantly a lot of reasons why the hand could hit the head for all the poor decisions the head makes the hand doesn't do that hand is in beautiful harmony with every other part of the body the hand doesn't go and slap the foot when the foot stubs itself the whole body feels pain but the hand doesn't go and start smacking the toe what are you thinking you crazy toe lives in harmony always tries to help now this is the picture then god says now your wife came out of that in her own body now just because it's somewhat different now looking and other things that's what man said he came from my very bones he came from my very flesh so why i do i never hit my toe when the toe gets in stubs itself but i hit my wife verbally or with my you know with my words most of the time hopefully nobody's hitting them with their hands but with dirty looks bad moods gotta sleep on the couch tonight all that i mean how could how could that happen around the kingdom of dark around the kingdom of light and this extends even for those of us for every one of us in the kingdom of light as it relates to brother and sister and brothers with each other sisters with each other to see the members of the body of christ that god has placed me with and look at them spiritually and say the bone of my bone the flesh of my flesh i'm not gonna put up with you so what one hand does to another hand we don't put up with the other hand we're rooting for it we're seeking the best for it and to think about adam i hope we can meditate on these things as we go back think of we think about the garden of eden think about adam and when he saw eve think about how adam looked at eve he didn't look at it and say wow you're so beautiful he didn't say that you know what he said he said your bone of my bone the flesh of my flesh is such a deep connection between us it's not face deep it's not body deep it's all the way down to my bones and then ask myself lord i want i want to look at the your body that way the brothers and sisters you've given to me in the church i don't want it to be based on behavior if they are in christ they may be less mature than me but i want to see that they're bones of your bones they're also members of the body of your body lord jesus they're your part of your flesh i want to root for them i want to seek to do whatever i can do to build them up for all of these things our mind and our the eyes of our heart need to be open you see lord this is the heritage i'm not speaking as one who's arrived as you should know for sure but i my eyes have i've seen what i'm supposed to live i'm seeing genesis chapter one and two and saying god this is how you wanted me to live you wanted me to live with my brothers and sisters with my wife in this way that she's bone of my bone she's flesh of my flesh that's why it says in verse 24 that's why moses put that commentary because he's the one who wrote this book he said that's why a man should leave his father and mother because when i get married i see how deep that connection is that god is establishing between husband and wife similarly when god puts me into his body and the local church i must see how deep that connection goes that even physical family is less important than the local body did you see the connection man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to know the other members of the body that are in christ that's what jesus said who's my mother and my brothers and my sisters those who do the will of god that's that deep richness of connection that we have now that we've been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and put into the kingdom of light and then the last thing was god asked us to have the first day after he told us all of this he created a man and woman and created those things he said now just rest how long did he take to take this to make all the stars i think he took just a day you know how many stars there you can't count them oh sorry on the other but not universe can't count them did it all in one day in your rule stars in that same period of time god says now rest be at rest with me don't do anything don't cultivate the garden rest in me come sit on my lap rest in my love first day before you do anything before you seek to before you seek to obey all the commands rest in my love and let me sing over you let me sing over you all my promises let me tell you the plans i have for you that's where we start that is genesis chapter 1 verse 2 i'm sure there's a lot more number one god asks us to rule number two god says all this work that you're going to do most of the time all these activities you're going to do to take care of your family to take care of your work all that stuff cultivate and keep it don't make a big deal out of it don't let it drive your definition of success number three look at the garden of promises the vast garden i want to make it pleasing in your eyes all these promises of god i've loved you with an everlasting love look i've inscribed you on the palm of my hands anybody even a nursing child may forget his newborn child but i won't forget you how precious are your thoughts to me oh god these are promises your grace is sufficient for me i can do all things through christ who strengthens me look at the garden of promises don't get tripped up by these small few commands look at it and see an ocean of promises and a little cup of commands that god says don't touch that cup focus on the vast ocean of promises of god's love for us number four seek to be united the garden of eden is it's not good it's not good to be alone it's not good to rule over sin in your private life to have a healthy perspective of work and to obey all the commands and enjoy the promises if you're alone seek to be one with other people it's not good to be alone let me give adam a helper i need sandeep to see how he needs to be helped and he gives me brother and sisters in the local church he says here's how they can help you and i got to see them as bone of god's bone flesh of jesus's flesh and then after he shows us all of those things he says now come and sit on my lap and rest rest in me enjoy my love then go out and live your life and this is the life god's calling me to live this is the life god's calling us to live what a wonderful life to be born again what a wonderful life why is life so hard and difficult you in the garden of eden spiritually have we seen as our eyes been opened if we haven't let us the lord let's ask the lord to open our eyes to these truths but god is placing us like adam and eve and saying it can be so in your lives too in christ it can be like that what he did for jesus he will do for you may god help us