At the Surrey Tabernacle, Borough Road
“And the Lord God said Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” Genesis 3:22
ADAM was created in the moral image of God; not in the essential image of God, but in the moral image of God, possessing all those moral qualities and perfections which reflected the moral character of the great God. But that, of course, cannot be the meaning of our text, for that image he had lost, that likeness of God had departed, and departed for ever. And when the fall took place, or rather, I should say, when Satan set in, he set before Adam and Eve this temptation, that “God does know that in the day you eat thereof” the tree of forbidden fruit, “then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Neither is this the meaning of our text; for though Adam, when he did eat of that tree, knew the good that he was fallen from, and the evil into which he was fallen, yet that is not the meaning here. The meaning here we must look for somewhere else, in close connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. Does there not seem to be a mystic us in the words, “Behold, the man is become as one of us”? Who is this us but the Three Divine Persons, Father, Word, and Holy Ghost? And why is the man said to have “become as one of us”? Why not said to have “become as us”? for he was originally created in the image of God. But now we are especially directed to one person. “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” The first doctrine, then, that we have here is conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second doctrine we have here is God's determination to guard his people against evil; kind decision, that they shall not seek the tree of life in the wrong way, which we will make clear when we come to that part.
First, then, the doctrine we have here is, conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. “Behold, the man is become as one of us.” Now the Lord does call things very frequently in his holy word that are not as though they were. Hence you are aware the Old Testament speaks of the sufferings and of the glory of the Savior, even in the past tense; whereas it was hundreds of years afterwards that he came and suffered the things that by the prophets are spoken of in the past tense. Let us then trace this matter out, for our salvation is in it, our eternal life is in it, our everlasting welfare is in it. Here then is the “one of us, to know good and evil.” You do read in the Holy Scriptures of one Divine Person going forth in the depths of eternity, from everlasting; let us look at the good that he knew, and the evil he knew, and then as we go along see how all the saved are brought into the same secret. Now, then, the good that the Lord Jesus Christ knew, that is, the good that he was personally to know, practically to carry out; this, I think, is the way in which the good must here be understood. Now the goodness, then, that Christ knew, the first thing that he understood, was that good work which he on earth was to perform. He knew that the work that he should do would be a good work. And if we ask what the good work was, that answer simply is that the good work was to destroy the works of the devil; the good work was to put an end to evil. So that Jesus Christ must know what evil is; and he is the only person that ever did or ever will fully know the full evil of sin. You see, the evil of sin lies chiefly here, that it is against an infinite God, that it is against a God that is eternal, and that the very force and essence of sin consisted in these two things, in setting the everlasting God aside, and putting Satan into his place. It was this spirit that was infused into the minds of Eve and of Adam towards the Lord's law by which they were to live; and they, by Satanic advice, set the law of the blessed God aside, they set his order of things aside, and put Satan into the place of the great God. They obeyed Satan, and the world has followed that course from that day to this. You will find it an awful truth, look wherever you will. We see, where there is no religion at all, what awful things men are putting into the place of God; and then, in ten thousand cases, where there is a profession of religion, how seldom do we meet with those that are so taught as to lay aside every confidence in the flesh, and to let the eternal Three occupy their proper position in our eternal salvation. Now, then, the Lord Jesus Christ had to set this evil aside. And what the apostle says of ministers and of Christians may apply in a loftier sense to the Savior, that “He that strives for the mastery must strive lawfully.” The Lord Jesus Christ must all his days know not only the good work he is to perform, and good in other respects; but he must know the evil. And therefore, I cannot undertake, it would be presumption in the highest degree on my part to undertake to describe the griefs that the Savior daily felt; to undertake to describe the sorrows that he carried; to undertake to describe the labors, the anxieties, the cares, the life that he lived. His life was a life of perpetual trial; not one day during his whole life had he free; every day was a day of sorrow; every day was a day of grief; every day was a day of mourning; every day was a day of hard labor. And in addition to this, laboring under all the evils of sin, that is, as imputed to him; in addition to this, Satan was ever at work, contriving all sorts of plans and schemes some way or another to entangle him; political and ecclesiastical powers were at work in all shapes and forms. If we had lived in his day we should have said, Well, that Jesus of Nazareth, his name will never come to anything, for really it seems his character is blasted; for there are such reports about him, that he is a winebibber, that he is a friend of publicans and harlots, that he is a devil, that he is a deceiver, that he is mad, that really, says Saul of Tarsus, as soon as ever I get out of college I will drive people away from the mad notion of putting confidence in the name of such a person as that for their eternal salvation. Therefore there must be something wrong somewhere, or else surely everybody would not thus unite, all people, from the lowest to the highest, from the highest to the lowest, when it came to the last, all of them said, “Crucify him, crucify him!” and his character was so bad that they even desired, in the place of Jesus of Nazareth, a murderer to be granted unto them. My hearer, think you that this was a small part of his trouble to be thus represented to men, when at the same time he knew that not one wrong thought had ever possessed his pure mind, that not one wrong word had ever escaped his pure lips, that not one thing had he done during his whole life time that was not pleasing to God; “Which of you convinces me of sin?” “I do always those things that please him.” But, as the apostle Peter said, “he suffered and threatened not again, but committed himself to Him that judges righteously.” And oh, how triumphantly, we know, some of us, in our hearts and souls even now to our unbounded delight, how triumphantly he came out of it all! There is nothing in the whole range of existence with which we are more satisfied, of which we are more assured, or with which we are more delighted, than with the wondrous perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, Christian, read all your blessedness there. Contrast your sinful state, your rebellions, your guilt, and misery, and wretchedness, with the dear Redeemer, and see him living this life of sorrow, and remember they were your sorrows, and your griefs, and your wounds, and your sins, and your infirmities. He did indeed know, not only the goodness of the work he was to achieve, but he knew evil in a way that none ever did before, or ever will again. And I cannot forbear saying, in this department, that it is one of the most encouraging circumstances in the Scriptures is that of the life that the Savior lived, and the death that he died, to encourage us in whatever troubles we have. Oh, the flesh does so pine after its own objects, and the creature character of the Christian so cleaves to the earth, that, as Watts mournfully said, and I have often said the words with mourning myself:
“We can neither fly nor go
To reach eternal things.”
But when we can see the Savior laboring under our sorrows and our troubles, and see the thousands of ways in which he was tried, and the sufferings he had to endure, and then see at the last how everything was brought about as predicted, how he bare our sins in his own body on the tree, and how he poured out his soul unto death, and how he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, I was almost going to say, he cared not what he suffered if he could but redeem our souls; he cared not what he endured if he could but pay the mighty debt we owed; he cared not what he underwent if he could set his people eternally free. Oh, there was nothing he thought too much, never murmured at anything:
“How willing was Jesus to die,
That we, who are sinners, might live;
The life they could not take away,
How willing was Jesus to give.”
Thus, then, he knew the evil of sin; he knew what sorrow was, what grief was, what trouble was; encompassing all the sins, and all the griefs, and all the troubles of his people; and if we would get rid of all our sin and sorrow, it must be by faith in this wondrous Person.
But, again, the “one of us” knew good as well as evil. Now what was the good the Savior knew? I may just say, that he knew the goodness of his work. “He shall see” and there is something very pleasing in that, “of the travail of his soul;” the word “travail” there means “labor, he shall see of the labor of his soul, he shall see it, when it is done, “and shall be satisfied.” Nothing unbecoming in him to look back and see how well he lived, and to fill all heaven with the glory of his life; nothing unbecoming in him to look back and see how well he died, how completely he atoned for sin, how completely he accomplished the warfare, established pardon, and opened the gates of eternal truth, to bring poor sinners out of all these evils into the possession of life and everlasting good. “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” He knew not only the goodness of his work, but he knew the good will of God. How perfectly he understood that will! He knew the difference between God's legislative will in the first Adam, the difference between God's conditional covenant will to the Jews, and that will of God in the new covenant of which Christ himself was the Mediator. And also, he knew that everlasting good that he himself should possess, and all his people with him. Thus, then, the “one of us” is this wondrous Person; that he should perfectly understand divine and eternal good, and appreciate the same; and that he should know by suffering that evil in such a way as to know what it was in a way that no one ever did before or ever will.
But we notice the words as applicable to the Christian; “The man,”, the Christian man, “is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” Now I will just glance here at four good things which the Christian knows, and he knows them as remedies, that they are the remedies for his evil, for the evil that he knows. And if a man does not know the evil, he will not appreciate the good; it is the knowledge of the evil that makes us appreciate the good. Now take it temporally. Most of you, perhaps have plenty; so far so at least that you know not what it is to want. Well now, if the Lord were to bring you so low that you did not know where to look for a mouthful of bread or a drop of water, how thankful you would be for the least morsel of bread or a little cold water, because it would save your life; but if you are not reduced to that strait you cannot appreciate the mercy. Just so spiritually; when a sinner is reduced to that strait spiritually, and made to feel that without the mercy of God he is eternally lost, that is the man that would be thankful for the least hope. But let me be a little clearer here if I can. Now there is a fourfold good that the Christian knows as a remedy for the evil. One is that that I have already stated, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will never live happily as a Christian unless you live in the knowledge of Christ as the remedy that God had provided. Take the gospel in its remedial character; take, for instance, the righteousness of Christ. We live by that, and are held righteous as he is righteous.
Now this righteousness Jesus Christ is the remedy for our unrighteousness, and this righteousness of Jesus Christ is complete; it is everlasting. That is the good we are to know. And how do we know that good? Why, first, by knowing the evil. When the law entered the heart of Saul of Tarsus, and brought to light what he was there, then away went all his own righteousness; then, and not before then, he began to appreciate the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, the atonement of Christ, that must be held in the remedial sense. Now it is one of the best lessons a man can learn; it is one of the brightest rays from on high in your soul if you possess it; it is one, shall I say, of the jewels and treasures surpassing, as we said this morning upon wisdom, infinitely surpassing in value everything else, if you have such a knowledge of evil as to know that none but Emmanuel, God with us, could compass it, or remove it, or atone for it; and that our supposed good works towards it are nothing but additions to our sins, for “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Now, if I know that none but Emmanuel can atone for sin, if I know that, and I know that if I attempt to bring anything of my own towards it, that that will be the worst of my sin, there is no sin under heaven so bad as that which would put itself in part into the place of Christ's atonement; because the man that so places his own doings is the first man that would crucify Christ. Why, the language of all such, to this day, is, concerning God's truth, “Away with it, away with it!” Now I will leave you to judge whether you know sin, and that you are in such a state as a sinner that none but Emmanuel, Jesus Christ, who is God and man in one person, that none but such a person could compass the evil, atone for the evil, or deliver you from it. That is one thing to know. Now, if you know this, then what is this but your conformity to the image of Christ? Christ knew that nothing but his own righteousness would justify you. Well, say you, that's just what I know. Bless the Lord for it; then you are like him. He knew that nothing but his own almighty arm could bring eternal salvation. Why, say you. I know that. Well, then, you know what he knows; so, you are like him; he and you are agreed. And the Savior well knew that nothing; could be added to his work, that nothing must be taken from it. And the Savior well knew there was none to help him; he stood alone; and you know that. And the Savior well knows there lies his satisfaction, that he has perfected to eternity all for whom he died. “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil;” to know the good work of my dear Son, and to be so acquainted with evil as to see that nothing but this work of Christ can be your deliverance, can be your salvation, or your way of escape. Bless his dear name, the more we dwell upon his work in its remedial character, the more endearing it seems. Here, then, is the Man of Sorrows, and the man who is born of God mourns after this wonderful Person, and is led by-and-bye to see into the goodness of that work that Christ has done; and he, in this way, becomes our confidence. Second, the Savior knew the good will of God. Is that a remedy? Certainly, it is. God willed Christ to die, and rise, and receive eternal glory; and he has appointed us not to wrath, but to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ knew that God the Father had given to him, before the world was, a number that no man could number; and Jesus Christ knew that it was the will of the Father that not one of these, even the least in the household of faith, should perish; he knew that it was the will of the Father that of all that the Father had given him he should lose nothing; he knew that it was the will of the Father that every one that sees the Son and believes on him has everlasting life. Now, then, do you see the evil of free will, man's free will, the evil of duty-faith? Men stand up and tell me that people are damned for not savingly believing in Chris! Why, the counsel of God forbids my receiving such a doctrine. “We have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will.” Now then, Christ set up the will of God contrary, in opposition to, the will of man; so he knew this good; he knew the evil of setting that will aside, and he knew the good of following out that will; to put it in a simpler form, he knew the good of following God's truth, and he knew the evil of setting that truth aside: that evil he never did. How is it with you, believer? Believer, if you are a believer, if you are not quite right yet, you will be right by-and-bye, can you say that you see the evil of setting God's truth aside, and putting something else into the place of it? Yes, say you, I do. I would never hear false doctrine if I knew it; no; I test all doctrines by the immutable counsel of the blessed God. Now then, “to know good and evil.” Some people can receive all sorts of doctrines, see no evil in them. Then you are not like Jesus Christ, for he saw evil in false doctrines; he denounced them; “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees;” eight woes he denounced upon false doctrine. He therefore saw the good of abiding by the truth, the evil of setting it aside. And if that be the case with you; “Behold, the man is become as one of us,” to know the good of truth, and to know the evil of setting that truth aside. What shall I say in this part? Say! Why, I am three parts ashamed when I think of it, of anyone doubt or fear I should have. Is setting the truth aside an evil, and do I feel in my soul I would rather lose a thousand mortal lives than set that aside? Yes, I do. And do I feel that God's sworn covenant and blessed truth are so essential to my welfare that I could not commit a greater evil than setting that covenant or that truth aside? I do see that; and yet I am such a silly thing that sometimes I doubt and fear whether I have any interest in it; just as though the Lord would thus bring me to know his truth, and yet I am not interested in it; just as though he would make his truth dear to me, and that truth is not mine; just as though that should love me. and I love that, and we were not friends after all. But I will say to all of you, you little ones and seekers, if you can see that none but Emmanuel could bear your evils away; it you can so see the immutable counsel of God embodied in an everlasting covenant that you can see the good of that covenant, the good of that truth, and the evil of setting it aside, as the Lord lives, your soul is conformed already to the image of Christ you are become as one of his. And if the dear Savior was in the pulpit now, and I hope he is, but I mean personally so, and were to take the 17th of John for his text. I believe that most of you would join with him very sweetly where he runs along there reading out in various shapes and forms, all attractive, that eternal oneness between himself and his people. He knew the good work he had to perform, the evil he had to remove; he knew the goodness of God's covenant, and the evil of setting it aside, and he would not set it aside, did not set it aside, must not set it aside, and will not set it aside:
“His truth shall stand, his word prevail,
And not one jot or tittle fail.”
Come, them here are two evidences of conformity to Christ. First, that he alone could remove these evils; he had such a knowledge of the good work he had to perform; he knew he could achieve it, and he knew that nothing else could put an end to sin; he knew the evil of coming short, the evil of faltering, and therefore he never did. “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” He knew the good of maintaining the truth, the evil of setting it aside. So does the Christian. You beware, some of you, of that doctrine in our day that makes conformity to Christ consist in a little demure fleshly pretension. There is a tradesman tells as many lies behind his counter as would extend from Hyde Park to Whitechapel; puts on a demure look, so meek and all that. “Very nice man; very much like his Master; very Christian man; ah, he wears the image of his Lord.” He wears the mask, I was going to say, of the devil all the while; a parcel of fleshly stuff, put on, carnal rubbish. Why, there are some people naturally meek and naturally quiet; it is a spiritually meek and quiet spirit that is of great price in the sight of God. So beware, then, of a fleshly imitation of Christ in the place of a Bible conformity to him. There can be no conformity to him without knowledge. The new man is created in knowledge, in righteousness, and in true holiness. If you know, then, that Christ alone could remove these evils; if you know the good of the truth, and the evil of setting it aside, then your soul is conformed to the image of Christ, and if you were to die here in the pew this moment your soul would enter triumphant into heaven, in all the happy consequences of a victory wrought by an incarnate God, and you would rejoice that truth had girded your loins in your pilgrimage, and will be your delight forever and forever. “The man is become as one of us,” quite agreed together. Why, I have in my mind now a long golden stream; I could, stand and talk for two hours, more than that, upon this very subject of the blessedness of the truth, the awfulness of setting it aside, but I must forbear. Again, one more I name, and that is, that Jesus Christ knew not only the goodness of the work he was to perform, and the evil of failing, the evil he had to put away; he knew not only the goodness of God's truth and the evil of setting it aside, but he knew also the good of eternity, when time should be no more, and the evil of putting anything else into the place thereof. Oh, how sweet the words, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross!” He looked to eternity. With what emphasis did he dwell upon the eternity of life, the eternity of light, the eternity of righteousness, and indeed upon the eternity of godliness altogether! He, therefore, thought nothing of time in comparison of eternity; he saw the good of an eternity of blessedness, and the evil of putting time things into the place of eternal. I mention one instance, and then pass on to the latter part of our text. “I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and say to my soul. Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, take your ease.” Ah, that is putting time into the place of eternity; that is putting the creature into the place of the Creator, and temporal things into the place of eternal. “Much goods laid up for many years.” I'll help the poor, and help the cause of God, and help the ministers of God. No, not a word about it. If he had said that, he would not have had the answer he met with; no; but; it was all for self. Then comes the voice from him that never errs, “Thou fool; this night shall your soul be required of you; then who's shall these things be?” They offered to make the Savior king; no, he would not put time things into the place of eternal things; he would neither be driven aside nor drawn aside. Just so with you; whatever your worldly tendencies are (and you, as a Christian, may have your infirmities in this matter), still, at the same time, if the sentiment of your heart is right you will say, Well, Lord, I do desire to thank you and bless you for your kind and bountiful providence; but, Lord, preserve me from making a god of these things. Lord, preserve me from misusing these things; from not using them at all to the good of others, help me to use them to the good of your poor, to the good of your cause, to the forwarding of your kingdom. “Honor the Lord with your substance, so shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst out with new wine.” And when this is our spirit, then there is a spirit of likeness to the Savior; he ever prized eternal things above time things, looking to the end that was to be accomplished. Now, then, if we are looking not to the things that are seen as our ultimate object, but looking at eternal things, which you are come here this evening for the very purpose of hearing about; if you had supposed it to be a lecture upon temporal things you would not have come; you came because you wanted to hear something concerning eternal things; if we are looking to eternal things as our ultimate object, then we have a spirit of conformity to Christ in this respect.
But I will now come to the latter part of our text. Now, therefore, as Adam is conformed to Christ, same kind of knowledge, conformed to him, belongs to him; now, lest he fall into the error of supposing he can get back to me by the works of the law, lest he fall into the error of supposing he can do something towards recovering himself, lest that error should overtake him, lest he “put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” Some have thought, if Adam could have reached the tree of life, he would have been an immortal sinner, would have lived on in his sin forever. That is a doctrine I do not hold. There was a virtue in the tree of life in Eden that would have kept Adam alive for ever if sin had not come in; but sin came in, and put Adam to death in spite of the tree of life. But sin cannot come in and put the people of God to death in spite of Christ. But let me make this clear in conclusion. “Now, lest he put forth his hand.” Who must put forth his hand? Jesus Christ. Now, Adam, you are become conformed to Christ, you must stop. What am I to stop for? Jesus Christ must put forth his hand. Justice demands a sacrifice; Jesus Christ puts forth his hand, and presents himself. “Lest he also take of the tree of life.” Now between Christ and the tree of life there was the flaming sword; between Christ and the tree of life there was the mighty gulf that no creature could ford, the bitter cup that would destroy any one that should taste it. Now, lest Adam think he can do something, the Lord sent him into a kind of natural slavery, drove him out of the garden; just the same as he will drive you out of all your fleshly confidence. “He drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim's, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” This flaming sword is the fire of God s law, that forbids any sinner's approach to God by the law. Therefore, lest Adam should attempt to get back by his own doings; least, after I have revealed to him this gospel, this promised seed, he should fall into a legal spirit. I am determined he shall not do that; I will give him such a knowledge of the law, such a knowledge of its fiery character, and such a pledge of the impossibility of access to me by the law, that he shall not attempt it. And we do not read that he ever did. Just so with Christians; they know more of the law after they know the gospel; like the Israelites, they knew more of the law after they came out of Egypt than they did before. Now, then, Jesus Christ puts forth his hand, and he takes of the tree of life; he reaches the tree of life, and he eats, and he lives forever. Why, say you, where is your scripture for that? “As I live by the Father,” and how did he live by the Father? By meeting the sword of justice; by finishing the work the Father gave him to do; “So he that eats me, even he shall live by me.” Therefore, the meaning of this evidently is that lost Adam should attempt to restore himself, or go back to God in a way that was contrary to God's order, God therefore prevented him, and hereby showed more clearly the necessity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, then, Jesus Christ faced the flaming sword, he has reached the tree of life, he had eaten thereof, and he lives forever. And now take notice of the language; “Because I live;” not because you have faced the sword, not because your works could help; but because “I live,” said the Savior, “you shall live also.” Just hear the account the Savior gives of this very subject, that we are to live not by trying to get back to God by the law, for “by the law is the knowledge of sin;” to show us our distance from God, no approach to God that way, lest, therefore, we should fall into that error, the Lord graciously teaches us the spirituality and majesty of his law; that we may seek life in another way, namely, by faith in Jesus Christ. Hear what the Savior said: he said, he that puts forth the hand of faith, he that takes of him, he that eats of him, shall live forever. “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life.” There it is, that is the way. So that the idea of driving out the man is to represent that part of the Lord's dealings with you that drives you out of all fleshly confidences, free will, duty-faith, and all the rest of the devil's doctrines, in order to make you know that you have eternal life by the free gift of God. Simply by Jesus Christ. Now Jesus Christ says, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed,” and with four thoughts upon that I close. First, Jesus Christ's flesh is that meat that endures to everlasting life sacrificially, sacrificially. And the test to know whether you have this life, is this one test: as you cannot live without food naturally, so, if you are divinely taught, you cannot live without Christ spiritually; take Christ away, your sustenance is taken away. Therefore, it is that you are to eat his flesh sacrificially; that is, he had by his one offering, as I have already said, put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and thus he becomes sacrificially our sustenance. Secondly, he is our sustenance by being the cause, that is, he is the cause. Hence, he compares himself to the corn of wheat that falls into the ground; if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. So, Jesus Christ is our sustenance not only sacrificially, but as the cause of it. He has ripened all the promises into eternal perfection. And third, he is our sustenance rightfully. Jesus Christ had a right to all the provisions of eternity; that right he never lost. Adam lost his right to the first paradise, but Christ will never lose his right to the second paradise, and the people can never lose their right, because he is their right. Therefore, it says, “The Lamb in the midst of the throne shall feed them,” he will never lose his right; “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Lastly, he is their sustenance eternally; sacrificially, as the cause, rightfully, and eternally. Can anything be more delightful to us than this? First, here is sacrificial sustenance, suited to poor sinner; second, Jesus Christ as the cause is our sustenance, because by him the promises are yea and amen; thirdly, that he is rightfully our sustenance. The poor and hungry man knows what it is to see stores of food, but he says, “How can I get rightful possession of it? There is the food, but I have nothing where with to buy.” Now then, Jesus Christ is entitled by what he had done to all the provisions of eternity; and it comes free to us; he is our right, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.”