Christ In The Garden Of Eden Series

*The Lord did not want them to be lost. II Peter 3:9 tells us that He is not willing for any to perish.

-So the Lord was there in the Garden seeking for Adam & Eve.

-And now Jesus is the Good Shepherd is seeking for us.

*Hear the Lord in Luke 15:4-7:

4. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

5. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'

7. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

*The Lord wants to connect with us in a close, personal way, so He seeks for us, and He calls out to us. In the Garden, He called out to Adam, asking, “Where are you?” And in Matt 11:28-29, Jesus calls out to us, saying:

28. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

*The Lord walked and talked in the Garden of Eden seeking for Adam & Eve.

-Two thousand years ago, Jesus walked in our world again to seek for sinners like us.

-Now the Holy Spirit of the Lord is here to seek for sinners like us.

*The Lord wants to connect with us in a close, personal way. Jim Irwin found that out in a most unusual place.

*Jim was one of only 12 men who have ever walked on the moon. Even as a child, Jim had a dream of going to the moon. And because of this dream, Jim first became a test pilot for the Air Force. Then he became an astronaut.

*Jim Irwin flew on Apollo 15, and on July 26, 1971, he fulfilled his dream of walking on the moon. Jim was the seventh man to accomplish that feat.

*But while he was standing on the moon, looking back at our world the size of a blue marble, Jim Irwin felt the presence of God like never before.

*It was an experience that literally changed his life. He left the space program and devoted himself to telling people about the life changing power of Jesus Christ. By the time of his death in 1991, Jim Irwin had told countless people about Jesus, and many of those people put their trust in the Lord.

*Jim Irwin was absolutely right when he often told them that “Jesus walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon.” (1)

-Christ was there in the Garden of Eden, seeking to connect with sinners like us.

2. And He was there seeing through our conniving ways. God sees right through our conniving ways.

*Adam & Eve sinned against God. The one thing God told them not to eat was the very thing they foolishly chose to eat. And they immediately tried to find a way to wiggle out of their sin problem.

-How did they do this? -- The same 3 ways we often try to get around our sin.

[1] First, in vs. 7, they tried the cover-up approach: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”