Journey to East of Eden | Road Trip (Part 1)

[00:00:03] Speaker B: you're listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. Travis Rutland is a spirit filled pastor and ministry leader who has been featured on International Christian Television. He serves as lead Pastor of Liberty Square Church in Cartersville, Georgia and as President of Global Servants. His sermons focus on clear biblical teaching, practical truth and encouragement for everyday life. Each message is designed to strengthen your faith and draw you deeper into God's word. This podcast is brought to you you by Global Servants. For more information about Global servants, please visit globalservants.org now here's Travis Rutland. [00:00:44] Speaker C: This morning is the Journey to East of Eden. This morning, Journey to East of Eden. These are going to be journey to all these different places in this series, but this morning is the Journey to East of Eden. Look, if you will, at Genesis chapter four. We're going to read verse 16. These are familiar, should be familiar passages, familiar thoughts and ideas to you. But just to remind you, God creates Adam and Eve. He places them in the garden of Eden. They sin against God. They're exiled, they're banished from the garden. After they leave the garden, they begin a family. Their oldest is Cain. Next they have Abel. Cain is jealous of Abel. They fight, they argue, and Cain kills Abel, hides the body. God confronts him about his sin and what he's done. And Cain then, as his parents were banished from the garden, Cain now walks away from sort of the presence of God, that intimate relationship he had with God because of the sin that he has committed. So look if you will, at Genesis chapter 4 and verse 16. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Do you see that? He left. He journeyed away from that intimate relationship. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. So he departs from the presence of the Lord and he goes towards the east of Eden. Let's pray. God, I ask in the next few moments that you will speak to each of us, all of us. We want to hear your voice for us this morning. God speak to us in Jesus name we pray. Amen. As I mentioned during the offering, we just returned. Courtney and I went on a vacation the last 10 days or so and got back earlier this week and we were gone last Sunday. So we do different things on vacations. None of the kids were doing other things, so none of the boys came with us. So it was just the two of us. And we had talked about and looked into going to a place you may or may not have ever heard of, well up north, way up north in Michigan, called Mackinac Island. And so we had researched this and decided to go to Mackinac Island. So it's a different sort of a place. They don't allow any automobiles. There's no cars on the island. There's no gas powered engines of any kind on the island. So the island, you make your way around the island either by horse drawn, sort of cartoon, there's horses with carts and you get horse drawn taxis. Basically you can do that, you can ride a bicycle or you can just use your legs. You can just walk everywhere you want to go. But there's all these options. So we thought, well, that might be different and fun and interesting. And we looked into maybe flying up there, but there's not an airport that's close. And I didn't want to fly up there and rent a car, to not drive the car for the whole week, because you can't drive the car on the island. So it seemed like a waste. So we decided, well, we'll just make a road trip. So we just got back from a road trip of our own. And so we drove, we got on i75 and you literally go north for a thousand miles. You just drive straight north almost into Canada and then you get to Mackinac Island. So we went there and we were there for the whole week and we had a great time and we rode bicycles, hadn't ridden a bicycle in about 20 years. And I don't know if you've gotten on a bicycle recently, but it's a little shaky when you start if you haven't. I haven't ridden a bicycle in a while. And so we had a great time. We rode bicycles, we did all the stuff on the island. And then the day came for us to leave. And leaving an island that doesn't allow cars is an adventure in its own right. So the horse drawn cart carriage comes for us and our luggage at the hotel. We're about a mile and a half from the docks. So you have to take a horse drawn carriage to the dock and then you get off with your stuff and you get your stuff and yourself onto a ferry and the ferry takes you back to mainland Michigan. And then of course they don't let you park right there by the ferry. So then we got all of our stuff and ourselves and we got on a shuttle and took the shuttle to the parking lot. So it was horse drawn carriage, it was ferry, it was shuttle. And by the time you get in your car, you feel like you've already been driving for like four hours. And we got in the car in the parking lot. And guess what? You're not home. You're not even close to being home. You're just sitting in your car a thousand miles from where home is. Because that's the thing with a road trip. No matter how much fun it is, no matter how great it is, no matter how much enjoyment you have, no matter how many things you see along the way, there is always the moment where you look at each other and you go, I'm ready to go home. Okay? [00:05:17] Speaker A: Especially if you take a road trip [00:05:19] Speaker C: with a lot of small children. Within just a few hours, you're ready to go back home again. [00:05:24] Speaker A: So it was just us. [00:05:25] Speaker C: It was just the two of us, [00:05:27] Speaker A: and we actually like each other, and [00:05:28] Speaker C: we still were ready to go home. [00:05:30] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying? [00:05:31] Speaker C: You just turn to each other and you go, I'm ready to go home. This is the first road trip in the history of humanity, the first road trip recorded in the Bible. The problem for Adam and Eve is they spent the rest of their lives looking backward. What they wanted to do was go home again. And. And they couldn't. Home was closed to them. Home was gone. It was finished. They couldn't get back again, and they spent the rest of their lives desperate for Eden, but no longer attainable to them. And the same thing is true for us. There's that idea, there's that thought, there's that, wow, the Garden of Eden. It would be so wonderful. It would be so awesome. It would be so great. But it is no longer attainable. All of us, there is something inside of every human being who has ever been born or ever will be born. We have this deep longing for Eden, whether we know it or not. We have this deep longing for the garden, but it's gone. We cannot go home again. So what does that look like for us? And what did it look like for them? So turn back, if you will, to Genesis. We're going to look at chapter three. I want to read this so that we know where we're at. I talked to you before. We read that initial verse and explained the story. But I want to read it. So Genesis, chapter three and verse one. Now, the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden. God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that in that day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 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. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you? And Adam said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And God said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Then the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. Our own stupid decisions, our own sin. The temptation that turns to sin, the desire that turns to sin, though our own stuff is. Is what banishes us from the garden. We. [00:08:40] Speaker A: We are. [00:08:41] Speaker C: We are exiled from the garden. Not. Not because of what Adam and Eve did. Yes, they exiled themselves. And so what we like to do. Isn't it fun? Here's what we like to do. We like to say to ourselves, oh, if I had been in that garden, right? We always want to blame somebody else. [00:09:02] Speaker A: Oh, they blame each other. God says, adam, did you eat of the tree? And he says, this woman who thou gave us me. You see that? He says, this was your idea. She was your idea. It wasn't me. It was the woman. God. God says to the woman, what did you do? She says, it wasn't me. It was the serpent. The serpent deceived me from the very beginning. Everybody is blaming everybody else for the sin that they committed in the garden. We are the same way. [00:09:31] Speaker C: Did Adam and Eve lose the garden? [00:09:33] Speaker A: Yes. Have each and every one of us [00:09:36] Speaker C: lost the garden through our own decisions? [00:09:39] Speaker A: Yes. It's so easy to blame somebody else. [00:09:43] Speaker C: It's so easy to put the Responsibility on somebody else. But each and every one of us have lost the Garden. The first thing we see then is that the garden is lost. The Garden is lost to us. Now this is fascinating. In doing some research on the Garden of Eden, Christianity, through missionaries, Christianity came to what is now known as the Congo. Christianity came to what is now known as the Congo in the 1400s after those people became believers. When in reading the Bible, in hearing all the words of the scripture and everything, those Christians determined that the Garden of Eden was originally in Central Africa. They decided, oh, the Garden of Eden started here in Central Africa. At the same time, in the late 1400s, Christopher Columbus was making several voyages to the New World. On his third voyage, the initial voyages, he made it to islands in the Caribbean. But on his third voyage, he actually made it to the coast of South America. Upon seeing the coastline of South America, Christopher Columbus recorded in his journal that this had to definitely be the place where the Garden of Eden was. Was situated. This had to be where the Garden of Eden was located. Now, this is fascinating again. As Christianity makes its way around the world, missionaries go to China. And there was a Chinese Christian named Saan Tai. He was in the early 20th century, and Sasan Tai wrote a long book dissertation on why the Garden of Eden was in China. Isn't that fascinating? When everybody reads the story, they all want to take ownership of the garden in their place. [00:11:25] Speaker A: Oh, the garden was here. [00:11:27] Speaker C: The garden was in China. The garden was in Congo. The garden was in South America. [00:11:32] Speaker A: We see, we want to say, because [00:11:33] Speaker C: why, if the garden was where we grew up, then what? That makes where we grew up so much more wonderful. That makes it so much more lovely. It makes it so much more beautiful. [00:11:43] Speaker A: The Garden of Eden was. Was where I grew up. [00:11:46] Speaker C: That's how beautiful the place that I grew up was. [00:11:48] Speaker A: But the exact opposite is true. [00:11:51] Speaker C: We want to take ownership of the garden, but none of us want to take ownership of the loss of the garden. [00:11:58] Speaker A: All of us want to blame somebody else. Oh, it wasn't really my sin. This person tempted me. This person deceived me. It wasn't. I do. I wouldn't. I didn't lose the garden. [00:12:08] Speaker C: The loss of the garden is not [00:12:10] Speaker A: on my way watch. It's not my responsibility. [00:12:13] Speaker C: That was Adam and Eve. [00:12:14] Speaker A: That was somebody else. [00:12:15] Speaker C: If I had been in that garden, I never would have eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Please. You know what I'm saying. I love how heroic we are when we insert ourselves into Bible stories. Oh, I never would have Doubted Jesus. If I had been Simon Peter. [00:12:34] Speaker A: If I had been. [00:12:35] Speaker C: You know, we always want to do that. But the garden is lost. The garden was designed for us to live in direct contact with God. Notice what it says. Look again, if you will, in verse eight that we read. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. That is an unbelievable verse, by the way. But that idea that the Lord God himself would be in the garden as the sun is going down and the heat of the day leaves and the cool breeze of the late afternoon comes God himself walking in the garden where you can ask God anything. You can be in direct, intimate contact with God. You can talk to him. [00:13:27] Speaker A: You can express all that you're feeling. You can ask questions. You can talk to God. That's what this was supposed to be. [00:13:35] Speaker C: And the garden is lost. [00:13:37] Speaker A: And it is lost, yes, because of Adam and Eve, but it's lost because of each of us. Think about what you've done. [00:13:44] Speaker C: I think about the things that I've [00:13:45] Speaker A: done in the last week would have [00:13:47] Speaker C: lost me the garden. [00:13:48] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying? The things that you did in your 20s, the things that you did in high school, the things that you did yesterday. [00:13:54] Speaker C: I don't know where anybody in here is, but I'm just saying the garden, [00:13:59] Speaker A: yes, lost by Adam and Eve, but yes, lost by each and every one of us. That deep, intimate connection with the Lord. That's what we want. That's what we were supposed to have. That's what it was supposed to be. [00:14:13] Speaker C: And it's gone. It's gone. Now look back again, if you will, to Genesis again. Look at verse 22. The Lord deals with the serpent first. But we won't read that. And we won't. We'll talk about the serpent and Adam and Eve first. We're skipping forward. We're going to go back. Okay, so look at 3 and 22. Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us. Capitalized he's speaking to himself within the confines of the Trinity. By the way, anybody? The Trinity's never mentioned the Bible. Yes, I'm aware of that. I've, like, read it. Okay. The word Trinity is never mentioned in the Bible. I'm aware of that. But if you. There is no other explanation of verse 22 than Trinity. He's not talking to angels, okay? He's talking inside the triune Godhead. Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us. Capitalized to know good and Evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live forever, he says, look, there's two trees in there that they weren't allowed to eat up. One was the knowledge of good and evil. Now he ate of that one. And now they know all that stuff. Good and evil, right? All those things. And. And God speaking within the triune. Godhead says they cannot eat of the Tree of Life because the Tree of Life, they will eat of it and never die. They could eat of all the other bananas and pineapples and kiwis and everything else, but they couldn't eat of those two. And they've eaten of the knowledge of good and evil. [00:15:42] Speaker A: And God says the Tree of Life [00:15:44] Speaker C: is in the Garden, that life is eternal life, life forever. The man and the woman must not be allowed to eat of the Tree of Life. So what happens? Therefore, verse 23. Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So God drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life. Do you see that by the way? They went east of Eden to start with that journey continues east of Eden. East of Eden. They're in the Garden and then they're east of Eden. And then Cain kills his brother and he moves further east of Eden. Do you see what's happening? With every subsequent generation, we get further and further from where God created us to be. Everybody continuing to move further and further east of Eden, further and further away from the paradise that God had created for all of us. Further and further from the place where God wanted all of us to be. In the Garden, walking and talking with him in the cool of the day. And not only is the garden lost, but now we realize that the garden is locked. The garden is locked. [00:17:04] Speaker A: See, not only have we lost the [00:17:06] Speaker C: garden, but we cannot get back into the Garden. He places an angel there, a flaming sword. [00:17:12] Speaker A: The garden is lost, but it is also locked. [00:17:15] Speaker C: And so therefore we move further and further and further east of Eden, further and further away from it. [00:17:20] Speaker A: Why does God. [00:17:22] Speaker C: I want us to think, why does God place an angel there in a flaming sword? You hear all kinds of things about this. I do not think for a second it was because he thought Adam and Eve were going to try and sneak back into the Garden. I think Adam and Eve knew God at a pretty intimate level. Did they think that they could just like climb over the wall and God wouldn't see them. That's crazy. I don't believe for a second that Adam and Eve thought that they could sneak back into the garden. I believe that God put the angel and the flaming sword to symbolize that the garden was locked, that it was closed to them, that they could never return. They weren't going to try and sneak back in. What were they going to do? [00:18:04] Speaker A: Because it's what all of us do. [00:18:05] Speaker C: It's what humanity has done since the beginning of time. [00:18:08] Speaker A: They were going to prove to God [00:18:10] Speaker C: that they were good enough to get [00:18:12] Speaker A: back into the garden. They were going to begin to practice legalism. They were going to begin. What were they going to do? Hang around right outside the garden? Boy, God, I hope you see how good I'm being. Boy, did you see how nice I [00:18:25] Speaker C: was treating Eve and the boys? [00:18:27] Speaker A: Do you see what. What a good dad I am? What a good husband I am? Boy, I'm being pretty good out here. I bet I'm good enough to earn [00:18:35] Speaker C: my way back into the garden. [00:18:37] Speaker A: I bet I'm being good enough to get back into the garden. I bet that I've been, you know, whatever it is, brave enough, courageous enough. That is the lie of legalism. We cannot be good enough to get back into the garden. The garden is locked forever and for always, for all of us. That's the sobering news. That is the Garden of Eden. It is this paradise. It is this wonderful place. It is this amazing thing. It is magnificent and authentic. And the animals and the fruit and the food and God is there and [00:19:12] Speaker C: he talks and walks with us, and it's all gone. [00:19:17] Speaker A: Gone. [00:19:19] Speaker C: And we cannot be good enough to get back in. We cannot do enough good stuff to get back in. [00:19:26] Speaker A: In fact, not only are we not [00:19:28] Speaker C: doing good stuff to get back in, [00:19:30] Speaker A: most of the decisions that we make [00:19:32] Speaker C: most of the time take us further to the east of Eden. [00:19:36] Speaker A: Not only are we not doing enough [00:19:38] Speaker C: good stuff to get in back in the garden, actually, most of what we do looks a whole lot more like Cain than it does like something that we should be doing to get back in. [00:19:47] Speaker A: We are slowly, over time, becoming further and further and further and further away from the garden. [00:19:55] Speaker C: All of humanity is moving east of Eden. [00:19:59] Speaker A: We can see it. We can see it in the de evolution [00:20:06] Speaker C: in how our culture is disintegrating around us. [00:20:11] Speaker A: Listen, I don't want to be the angry old guy screaming at kids to stay off the grass. [00:20:17] Speaker C: You understand? [00:20:17] Speaker A: I've never wanted that to be my [00:20:19] Speaker C: ministry or my preaching style. But in like a week, I'm going to be 51. [00:20:24] Speaker A: And I'm telling you, how it is now is not how it used to be. There's stuff that I remember from a kid and the world and the culture and how we treat each other and how we act and how we behave. I've seen it disintegrate in my own lifetime. I remember how mad my grandparents used to be about how it used to be. And I thought, they're so crazy. Why would they be mad? It's the same world, it's the same culture, it's the same country. And it's not. It's not. We are all moving east of Eden all the time. Not only are we not doing the good stuff to get back in, we are consistently moving further and further away [00:21:06] Speaker C: from where we were supposed to be. There's a great scene. One of my favorite sitcoms of all time is a comedy called the Office. I love the Office. One of my favorite sitcoms of all time. There's all these unique and eccentric characters. They work in a paper company. If you've never seen it, that's basically what it is. It's a bunch of eccentric people that work at a paper company. You wouldn't think that's funny. It's hilarious. I love it. I love the Office. There are two characters in it called Jim and Dwight. And Jim is constantly pranking his co worker, Dwight. So one day, the boss is going through all the list of grievances that Dwight has of the things that Jim has done to him, and one of them says, at the end of the day, my desk was 18 inches closer to the wall. And it cuts to Jim, and Jim goes, oh, that was easy. Every time he got up and walked away, I just moved the desk one inch. Listen, that's what it is. [00:22:06] Speaker A: We think, oh, no, no, I'm doing good. But we got all this stuff in our life. We got all these things. Every time we let the addiction win, every time we look at the thing on the Internet that we shouldn't, Every time we have the thoughts that we shouldn't have, Every time we operate in anger, every time we refuse to forgive, every time that we lash out at our spouse and our kids, every time that we hate a co worker in our heart, every time that we're mad about all this stuff, Every time that we refuse to operate in the gifts of the spirit. Every time. Every time. Every time we move east of Eden, we move east of Eden. And then we look back and we can't believe how Far we've gone. Do you see that? [00:22:52] Speaker C: Not only is the Garden lost, but the Garden is locked. And that is the journey of all of humanity, is us but realizing, maybe realizing sometimes, never even understanding that we are moving further and further and further away from where we were called to be. So far from east of Eden that we can't even remember what home looked like. So the story of the Garden of Eden, the story of humanity, the first man, the first woman, the first family. Brother kills brother. Wife betrays husband. Husband betrays wife. Blames each other. The story of humanity, the story of that first family, the story of the Garden of Eden is actually not a very fun story at all, is it? You've been sitting here now very patiently for 20 minutes, thinking to yourself, this is a pretty sobering Sunday morning, right? [00:23:49] Speaker A: I know, I know. [00:23:51] Speaker C: The Garden's lost. The Garden's locked. Now, imagine if I said, okay, I'll see you next week. You'd be like, whoa, that wasn't what I thought was going to happen here. And see, for thousands of years, that's what it was. We had the Old Testament recorded. We knew the stories. [00:24:15] Speaker A: They knew the stories. [00:24:17] Speaker C: They knew Adam and Eve. [00:24:18] Speaker A: They knew what Cain did to Abel. They knew what they themselves had done. And so the story was there. And there was no hope. [00:24:29] Speaker C: There was no future. There was no promise. [00:24:33] Speaker A: For thousands of years, generation after generation [00:24:36] Speaker C: of humanity knew that the Garden was [00:24:39] Speaker A: both lost and locked. [00:24:41] Speaker C: We could never, ever get back in. [00:24:44] Speaker A: And not only couldn't Adam and Eve get in, none of us could. No one who ever lived could. [00:24:50] Speaker C: And so the story of the Garden of Eden was this sobering, depressing, discouraging look at the evil of humanity, right? [00:25:03] Speaker A: The stupidity of humanity. [00:25:05] Speaker C: Humanity continuing to fall prey to sin, [00:25:08] Speaker A: humanity falling victim to temptation, humanity going [00:25:11] Speaker C: in the wrong direction, humanity constantly finding [00:25:14] Speaker A: themselves further and further east. [00:25:16] Speaker C: Eden. And it's not a fun story, but glory to God, the story doesn't end with Malachi. You know what I'm saying? The story doesn't end. [00:25:30] Speaker A: So we have to say to ourselves, [00:25:32] Speaker C: then, what is the Garden's legacy? What is the Garden's legacy? The Garden is lost and the garden is locked. [00:25:42] Speaker A: So then, what is the Garden's legacy? Now, what we say to ourselves initially, [00:25:46] Speaker C: based on the first two things, right? [00:25:48] Speaker A: Based on Genesis 3 and 4, what we say is that the legacy of [00:25:52] Speaker C: the Garden is condemnation, right? [00:25:55] Speaker A: The Garden of Eden reminds us how each of us has sinned. The Garden of Eden reminds us of what we've done. The Garden of Eden reminds you of your depravity, of your addiction, of your sin, of your temptation. The garden of Eden. The legacy of the garden is condemnation. [00:26:12] Speaker C: But nothing could be further from the truth. [00:26:15] Speaker A: Jesus comes. Jesus is born fully God, but also fully man. Right? And that is important. [00:26:23] Speaker C: Fully God and fully man. [00:26:25] Speaker A: What does Jesus tell us? Look, if you will. [00:26:28] Speaker C: He tells us plenty. But I want you to read this. I've said it many times. One of my favorite verses. Look at John 10:10. Jesus himself is speaking in John 10:10. And he says this. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. Let's stop right there. [00:26:48] Speaker A: Who is the thief? [00:26:49] Speaker C: The serpent. Satan. In the garden. [00:26:51] Speaker A: What did he do in the garden? The serpent came to steal, to kill and to destroy. Right? He robbed from them the relationship they had with God. He robbed from them the intimacy in the garden. He killed the garden. [00:27:07] Speaker C: He killed the garden experience. [00:27:09] Speaker A: He destroyed their ability to live in the garden. The thief, the serpent, Satan, the devil, whatever word you want to put on that. He does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. And he did. The garden is locked and lost and it's over. [00:27:28] Speaker C: Except Jesus says in the next sentence, [00:27:31] Speaker A: but I have come. Do you see this? But I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. I have come. What does abundant life look like? It looks like a garden to me. Looks like a garden to me. With all kinds of. [00:27:48] Speaker C: Not mangoes in the garden. Not mangoes. I do not care for mangoes. [00:27:51] Speaker A: But there's all kinds of other stuff in the garden. There's pineapples and there's strawberries as big as your fist. And there's apples, green apples, probably more than red, but regardless, I like bananas. There's berries. There's all the stuff. You see, Jesus said, I did not come that you might have life. How many of you have had life where you just making it, you're just pushing it, and you feel overwhelmed and you feel beaten up and you feel messed up and you feel slapped around. He said, I haven't come that you may just breathe. I haven't come that you can just have breath. He says, I have come that you may have life more abundantly that we can. What? He says, I have come to destroy the thief who stole the garden from you. I have come that you may inherit the garden once again. That is the legacy of the garden. The legacy of the garden is not a legacy of condemnation. It is a legacy of promise yet to come. Adam and Eve lost the garden. All of Us have sinned and lost the garden. It's lack to us. We can't be good enough. We can't do enough good things. The law is never going to get us back in the garden. The law will never get us back in the garden. Jesus says, I have come. I have come. I will sacrifice. I will shed my blood on the cross to cover your sin. Your sin lost and locked the garden. But he said, my grace has opened the garden again. And I have come. That you might have abundant life, that you can eat of the garden, that you can be relationship with the Father, that you can commune, you can walk with the Father in the cool of the evening. I have come to kick the gates [00:29:34] Speaker C: open on the garden again. You can have abundant life. But Jesus isn't finished. Look at what he tells him in Acts chapter one. This is where we see. Who the Trinity is. Again look at Acts chapter one and verse four. Now this is the resurrected Christ. Jesus has been arrested, tortured, crucified, dead, buried three days later raised from the dead. This is now the resurrected Christ speaking to them in the beginning of Acts Acts 1:4 and being assembled together with them. Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem. Excuse me, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Verse 8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. [00:30:59] Speaker A: Now Jesus says, I have come. [00:31:00] Speaker C: That you might have life and life more abundantly. That is salvation. [00:31:04] Speaker A: That is us the ability to re enter the garden, that he has forgiven us of sin. Sin exiled us from the garden. Sin banished us from the garden. His blood on the mercy seat, his blood shed for my sin gives us access to the garden again. [00:31:19] Speaker C: But the problem is, even after that experience, so many of us find ourselves, what, drifting east of Eden. There has to be something else. [00:31:33] Speaker A: There has to be a way for us to overcome. There has to be a way for [00:31:36] Speaker C: us to be victorious and triumphant. [00:31:39] Speaker A: I don't want to inherit the promise [00:31:42] Speaker C: of the garden, but spend the next [00:31:44] Speaker A: 50 years slowly drifting east of it. Do you see what I'm saying? This is an important component that many of us miss. [00:31:51] Speaker C: I am not negating the need for salvation. [00:31:56] Speaker A: I am not negating the importance of salvation. He has come that you might have [00:32:00] Speaker C: life and that more abundantly we need salvation. [00:32:04] Speaker A: The doors to the garden have to be opened again. Abundant life. But if you have no power, you [00:32:12] Speaker C: will find yourself moving east of Eden. [00:32:16] Speaker A: You will find yourself drifting the wrong way. [00:32:20] Speaker C: So here's how the triune Godhead works. Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly. [00:32:26] Speaker A: But then he says, when I go [00:32:28] Speaker C: back to the Father, you remain in Jerusalem and you shall receive the promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit. [00:32:34] Speaker A: And you shall receive power. You shall receive power. You don't have to spend the next 30 years or the next 30 minutes drifting east of Eden. You can receive power. Power to overcome. Power to be victorious. Power to overcome sin. You can't. You shall receive power. There is no reason for us to be a Pentecostal church if we don't preach on and talk about and celebrate the power of the Holy Spirit. You shall receive power. The filling of the Holy Spirit. You don't have to spend the rest of your life drifting somewhere east of Eden. You not only can inherit the Garden, you, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can begin to become an overcomer. We shall be what? More than overcomers. Through the power of the Holy Spirit [00:33:23] Speaker C: that is in us. [00:33:24] Speaker A: I am unwilling at almost 51 whatever years I have left, I am unwilling to spend them treading water east of Eden. I want the power to overcome. I want the power to be victorious. I'm no longer going to let stuff hold me in bondage. I'm no longer going to let things keep me in bondage. We can be free. You shall receive power. Do you see this? Everything that the thief tried to do in the garden, everything that the serpent tried to do in the garden, Jesus has turned it around. So much so that Paul numerous times [00:34:05] Speaker C: in his writing refers to Jesus as what? Second Adam. Do you see that Paul numerous times [00:34:13] Speaker A: calls Jesus the second Adam? Because all the stupid sin that Adam [00:34:17] Speaker C: committed, Jesus turns it upside down. [00:34:21] Speaker A: Adam loses the garden. [00:34:24] Speaker C: Jesus gives us life and abundant life back. [00:34:27] Speaker A: Adam drifts east of Eden. Jesus sends the comforter, and we shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon us. And then we begin to move back towards the garden. We filled with the Holy Spirit are no longer willing or able or want to drift. [00:34:46] Speaker C: We don't want to move east of Eden anymore. [00:34:48] Speaker A: We're ready to Go this way. [00:34:49] Speaker C: Now do you see that? Everything about it, everything, what the first Adam did, the second Adam has changed it, flipped it upside down. But we're not done. I want you to look at Genesis very quickly, and then we're going to look at Revelation. So we're going to go from the front to the back. But I want you to see it. We talked about it. I want you to see what. What God said to Adam and Eve in the garden. We won't talk about what he said to the serpent because I don't care about that. Look at Genesis 3 and 16. Look at 3 and 16. To the woman, God said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain, you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. So in 16, the woman is cursed. And in doing so, all women, for all of the time humanity, are under that same curse, right? As Adam and Eve lost the garden and also received the curse, but we also lose the garden, as we talked about, but we also received the curse. So he says to the woman in verse 16. Now he says to the man, look at 17. Then to Adam, he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground. For your sake in toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. So curse, curse on Adam, and in return, curse on all men, curse on Eve, and in the same way, curse on all women. The garden, gone. People say to me, it's interesting, the questions you get in pastoring. People have asked me, does the Garden of Eden still exist physically? No, no, no, no. It's gone. The garden's gone. It's gone. There's not some place on Earth where the Garden of Eden still is. That's gone. Okay, so the garden is lost, the garden is locked. Right? We talked about all that. But Jesus said, I've come to give abundant life. [00:36:50] Speaker A: Then Jesus says, I give you the [00:36:52] Speaker C: promise of the power of the Holy [00:36:54] Speaker A: Spirit, so you no longer have to [00:36:55] Speaker C: move east of Eden. But what does the Father do? Look at what the Father does at the very end. Turn now, if you will, to Revelation, chapter 22. Revelation, chapter 22. John the Revelator is seeing heaven, the new heaven, the new earth. He's seeing what eternity looks like. And I want you to notice this in Revelation, chapter 22, look at what eternity looks like. And he showed me a pure river of water, of life, clear as crystal, proceeding 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. [00:37:38] Speaker A: Stop right there. The Tree of Life that God said man cannot eat of, because they will live forever in the new garden, in the new heaven, in the new Earth, in New Jerusalem. The Tree of Life is there, and it's not just there. Look at what each tree yielding its fruit every month. [00:37:54] Speaker C: The leaves of the tree were for [00:37:56] Speaker A: the healing of the nations. It's available to everybody. God the Father recreates the Garden of Eden in Heaven and gives us access to the Tree of Life, which heals, which redeems. And look at what else isn't there. Look at verse three. And there shall be no more curse. Right? The curse that was spoken over them in the Garden of Eden is taken away. It is no longer there. The Tree of Life is accessible. It heals, it prospers. We have eternity with God the Father, the Tree of Life. What does he do? He's built a new garden for us. We screwed up the last garden. We sinned, we rebelled, we were banished and exiled from the Garden. But God the Father, in his infinite mercy and love for us, recreates the Garden and puts us back inside it. Do you see that? The whole Trinity working together so that we, sinful humanity, can inherit the Garden once again. That's how much he loves us. [00:39:01] Speaker C: And look, verse three. There shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. And his servants shall serve him. They shall see his face. You know what that sounds like? Sounds a lot like walking with God. In the cool of the day. They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun. For the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever. The Garden of Eden is lost, but the Eternal Garden is yet to come. [00:39:46] Speaker A: It is available. It is there. We can inherit it. It is for us I have come [00:39:52] Speaker C: that you might have life, and that more abundantly. [00:39:55] Speaker A: I have sent the Holy Spirit though that you may have power. [00:39:58] Speaker C: And the Father, in His infinite mercy and grace, has prepared a new garden for you. So let me close with this. [00:40:10] Speaker A: Every road trip. [00:40:13] Speaker C: You're trying to get back home. I talked about that at the beginning, right? Every road trip is us. It's time to go home. I'm done with this. I'm finished with this. I'm ready to go home. Right? That is what Adam and Eve wanted. [00:40:27] Speaker A: They didn't go some far way place. [00:40:31] Speaker C: They didn't get on a boat and start sailing away. You know where they went? They went just east of Eden because they wanted to go back home. They wanted to be back in the Garden. [00:40:41] Speaker A: But that was done. [00:40:42] Speaker C: It was over. It was finished. But here's the deal. We're actually not trying to get back to the home that we started from. We're trying to get to the home that we're going to do you see what I'm saying? [00:40:58] Speaker A: We're not trying to. When we say, I'm ready to go home, I'm ready to go home again. We're not trying to get back to the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden pales in comparison to the garden that the Father has prepared for us in eternity. Remember, in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life was closed to them. [00:41:20] Speaker C: In the eternal Garden, the Tree of life is available to anyone who wants to eat of it. It brings healing. It brings life. [00:41:28] Speaker A: And there shall be no curse. [00:41:31] Speaker C: And we shall see God face to face and his name shall be on our foreheads. I like that. I don't have any tattoos. I'm not interested in getting any tattoos. It's expensive and painful and I try [00:41:47] Speaker A: to avoid both of those. [00:41:51] Speaker C: But I will one day have a tattoo right here. It'll say God's possessive, possessive. I belong to Him. [00:42:04] Speaker A: I am his. [00:42:06] Speaker C: I am God the Father's. And I will spend eternity in his garden that he has prepared for me because he loves me and his mercy and his grace [00:42:19] Speaker A: here. [00:42:20] Speaker C: That's the thing. That's why I wanted to do this one first. As we prepare for this summer, in [00:42:27] Speaker A: just a minute, I'm going to pray [00:42:29] Speaker C: and we're going to close and these altars are going to be open. Pastor Chris, the prayer team, some of the elders are going to be down here. I got two things for you. Here's what I want to challenge you with. Have you inherited life and life more abundantly? Have you? Have you made Jesus your Lord and Savior? We live in the South. There's churches everywhere. I drive by nine churches to get to this church from my house every day. There's churches everywhere. [00:43:08] Speaker A: I'm not. [00:43:08] Speaker C: I'm no longer asking people, are they Christians? In a cultural context, that can mean almost anything. I'm going to be honest with you. [00:43:18] Speaker A: Is Jesus your Lord and Savior? You locked the garden. You destroyed the garden. Your sin destroyed the garden. But he came that you might have life and that more abundantly. Is he your Lord and Savior? There's nothing to be ashamed of. There's nothing to be embarrassed of. Every person in here who is a believer, who is a Christ follower, at one point or another, we have made Jesus our Lord and Savior. You want to inherit the home yet to come? You want the garden in heaven that is waiting for you? [00:43:54] Speaker C: You have to make him your Lord and Savior. Number two, are you moving east of Eden, or do you need a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit for power? You say he's my Lord and Savior. [00:44:11] Speaker A: You said, I've been going to Liberty Square for 50 years. He's my Lord and Savior. Okay, but how have the last 50 years looked? What have you done in the last 50 years? Have you drifted in the last 50 years? Where were you 50 years ago and where are you now? If you are east of Eden, if you're moving inch by inch further and further from where you're supposed to be, then by all means, come to the front and receive power. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Power to overcome. Power to not have to fall prey to every temptation and sin that comes your way. I'm sick of churches that are full of people that are beaten. We are not beaten. I refuse to accept it. I refuse to accept it. We are not going to be some country club church that comes in here beat up Sunday after Sunday. I want bold warriors, men and women of God, who are full of the power of the Holy Spirit. We transform our world. We transform our community. You transform your high schools. You've been at camp all week. Transform your high schools. It only happens through the power of the Holy Spirit. Transform your job places. Transform every restaurant you go into. Transform your home. Transform your marriage. Transformation yourself. [00:45:37] Speaker C: We shall receive power. I'm tired of us acting like we're beat up all the time. Listen to me. I hadn't preached in two weeks, so I got it all inside of me. Listen to me. I realize it when I hear myself. [00:46:03] Speaker A: I'm not mad. I know it seems like I'm mad. I'm not mad. [00:46:08] Speaker C: This is a problem we have when we occasionally disagree. Courtney's like, why are you yelling? [00:46:12] Speaker A: I'm like, I don't know. [00:46:13] Speaker C: It just comes out of me. [00:46:16] Speaker A: I'm not mad. [00:46:19] Speaker C: I'm passionate. [00:46:23] Speaker A: I'm passionate. I'm passionate. I am passionate for each and every one of you. You say, I just. I just showed up today. It doesn't matter. I'm passionate for you. I'm passionate for each and every one of you. [00:46:41] Speaker C: Because victory is available. It's attainable. [00:46:47] Speaker A: It's right there. It's right there. The thief has come to steal and to kill and to destroy. What he is telling you is you can never be free. What he is telling you is your sin has destroyed the garden. What he is telling you is you'll never have freedom. What he's telling you is the addiction will always be there. And I'm telling you that our God says you shall receive power. You shall receive power. From the back of the balcony to the front row, you shall receive power. You don't have to walk out of here defeated. One second longer. [00:47:29] Speaker C: The garden. The garden is lost and locked. But glory to God the Father has [00:47:36] Speaker A: made a better garden. [00:47:38] Speaker C: And that garden in heaven is not for two. It's for what the healing of the nations. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and [00:47:48] Speaker A: you shall be saved. Then you shall receive power when the [00:47:52] Speaker C: Holy Spirit has come upon you. [00:47:54] Speaker A: And then we shall all inherit a [00:47:56] Speaker C: garden, Jesus and God at the center of it, the tree of life, fruit abundance. And there shall be no curse. There shall be no curse. I don't know where you're at today, but I know because I understand people. There's some of you that need to make Jesus your Lord and savior. But there is a whole bunch more of us that need power to overcome [00:48:29] Speaker A: for a Sunday morning crowd. [00:48:31] Speaker C: What I'm betting is some of us need to make Jesus Lord and Savior do it this morning. But a whole bunch of us have spent weeks, months, years, decades just drifting east of Eden. I'm not going to be able to pray with anybody first because the first person there is going to be me. I, as your pastor, am sick and [00:48:54] Speaker A: tired of allowing any drift in my life. [00:48:58] Speaker C: I am no longer going to be east of Eden. I am no longer going to be east of Eden. [00:49:06] Speaker A: You shall receive power. [00:49:11] Speaker C: You shall receive power. Jesus promised us. [00:49:15] Speaker A: If we then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children. [00:49:18] Speaker C: How much more will our Heavenly Father [00:49:20] Speaker A: give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him? [00:49:25] Speaker C: All you got to do is ask. [00:49:27] Speaker A: Have you been drifting? Are you in sin? Do you have addiction? Do you have the stuff that is put its fingers in you and you can't seem to be free? This is your moment. This is your moment. You shall receive power when the Holy [00:49:42] Speaker C: Spirit has come upon you. I'm going to pray. [00:49:45] Speaker A: If you need to make him, Lord [00:49:47] Speaker C: and Savior, do it this morning. If you need power to overcome and to stop drifting, receive it this morning. Let's pray. [00:49:55] Speaker A: God ask that you finish this sermon [00:49:57] Speaker C: in the hearts of every person here. [00:50:00] Speaker A: God, this simple prayer if you need to make him Lord and Savior, come to the front and do so. [00:50:06] Speaker C: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. [00:50:09] Speaker A: If you need power to overcome if you're tired of drifting east of Eden, if you're tired of moving further and further away from your calling and your destiny and your purpose, if you're tired of living in impotent chains, then by all means come to the front. You shall receive power. Just ask the Holy Spirit to fill [00:50:33] Speaker C: you and God promises if you ask, he will give it to us. As the band plays Come to the front. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. [00:50:49] Speaker B: Thank you for listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. If you enjoyed this this message and you're in the Cartersville, Georgia area, we invite you to join us at Liberty Square Church. You can also watch online and connect with us on Facebook and YouTube. We'll see you next week for another message from Travis Rutland.