The First Gospel Marriage

Well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter. 3, this is the 5th installment. In our series entitled The Gift of Gospel marriage.

And if you want to give a title to the message today, it would be the first gospel marriage. The first gospel marriage. After spending the, the first two weeks of this marriage series reviewing Some basic truths about marriage. We've spent the last two Sundays trying to understand what is wrong with our marriages and the intervention that our marriages need.

In order to make us and our marriages whole. And to accomplish this goal, part of what we're doing is we're going all the way back to the very first marriage in human history and we're doing a case study of Adam and Eve's marriage. After all, when your marriage is less than it should be, it's always easier to pick apart someone else's marriage, right? like, can you believe they did that?

Well, that's what we're doing, with Adam. And Eve, But actually, as we're doing that, it's turning out that studying Adam and Eve's marriage shows us a lot about ourselves and what our basic problem is in our marriages and the intervention that we need from God and the difference that that intervention can make in our life and in our marriage. What we've done 2 weeks ago. is we took a look at the first marriage crisis in human history.

We studied what went wrong in Adam and Eve's marriage, and here's what we saw that went wrong. They disobeyed God. They stepped outside of the bounds of God's loving provision. For them to partake of what God had prohibited.

They also attempted both of them to play the idol in each other's life, and they made an idol out of the other as well. We also saw that after sinning, they were hiding and withholding themselves from one another. They were hiding and running from God. And they were even hiding from their own eyes, afraid to see God because they knew that to see God was to see themselves truly, and they did not want to see themselves as they truly were in their sin.

We also saw that they sought to rescue themselves trying to address their shame. Through their own self-fort with fig leaves, apart from God. And we also saw that they blame shifted, blaming God, blaming the serpent and blaming Their spouse for their failings. And all of these failures that we saw a couple of weeks ago resonate with us because we've been guilty of the same things, right?

All of them. These actions and these tendencies started with Adam and Eve on the day of the fall, leaving their marriage in shambles and in desperate need of an intervention. A pathetic sight. Adam and Eve now stand before God dressed in fig leaves of their own making, yet still feeling naked before God.

They stand guilty before God, alienated from God, alienated from one another in their marriage, and alienated from their own selves as well. They stand in need of an intervention, just like our marriages often do today. And so last week, we saw the intervention, the first marriage intervention in history. We saw that it was a sweet intervention of grace performed by God.

In this intervention, God essentially does 6 things. First of all, he seeks them out and finds them. They didn't come saying, hey, we need counseling. No, he found them.

And he confronts them and draws a confession of sin out of them, and then immediately we saw. How God preached the gospel. Right away In Genesis 3:15, he announces the coming victory in which the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. We also saw in this intervention how God imposed consequences on Adam and Eve that were limited by grace and which pointed to gospel truth.

We also saw that he graciously provided sacrificial atonement for Adam and Eve. And then we saw how he dressed them. Adam and Eve, with garments fashioned from the skins of the atoning sacrifice that God had made. So at this point, Adam and Eve, after this intervention, will be able to see themselves and each other in the context of the atonement that God had provided.

They now no longer have to hide from God or hide from each other, or hide from their own eyes anymore. They're free. Free to confess their sins and to forgive their spouses sins. They no longer need to feel shame.

In God's presence and in each other's presence, even when the two of them experience conflict in the days to come, they can know, or they can go into those conflicts, clothed in these garments that represent God's gracious love and atonement for each of them. If we knew nothing else about Adam and Eve. And about their life after this intervention, we would imagine that God's intervention. In their life changed their marriage, right?

That would be a solid conjecture. But fortunately, we are not left to conjecture about their marriage and about their life after this intervention. It turns out that the scripture provides us enough of a glimpse of Adam and Eve after this intervention. To show us that God's intervention of grace made a massive difference in their life.

And so essentially what we'll do this morning is we're gonna, there's 4 glimpses that we have, and we're going to observe 4 actions of Adam and Eve after God's gracious marriage intervention. Are you interested? Yeah. Let's look at these actions.

Number one, the first action that we observe after God begins his intervention of grace is Adam gives his wife a gospel name. He turns toward his wife, not to accuse, but to give her a gospel name. In verse 20 of Genesis 3, the text says, now the man called his wife and we almost wince. Like, well, the last time he was talking, he was saying, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave, and now here the man called his wife and we're like wincing, waiting for what he's gonna call her.

That says now the man called his wife's name Eve. Because she was the mother of all the living. If you read the flow of the narrative, you will note here that God is not even done with His intervention. He hasn't even provided the atonement.

And clothed Adam and Eve yet, but he has spoken gospel words. That they have heard and that is enough for Adam to act upon. In verse 20 Adam acts decisively and bestows on his wife a name. The name Eve.

Let's make some observations about what is happening here as Adam names his wife. First of all, Adam's naming of his wife was an act of leadership. Understand that to name somebody in this day was an act of dominion. So right off the bat, we see Adam exercising leadership in his relationship with Eve.

God had told Eve in Genesis 3:16 that Adam would rule over her and lead her, and we see him doing that here. Though Adam has failed, Here he is on the other side of his failure, stepping into his role as the leader and naming his wife. And of all names, he gives his wife a name that embodies hope. And this leads us to another observation about this act of naming Eve, and that is that Adam's naming of Eve was an expression of hope.

In fact, one writer says that Adam's naming of Eve was an overwhelming shout of hope. The Hebrew name That we pronounce as Eve is Java. Which is from the root word that means life. The word Eve can be translated as life or life giver.

In fact, the ancient Greek Septuagint translation translates this verse in this way. It says, he, speaking of Adam, called his wife's name Zoe. Which is the Greek word for life because she was the mother of all the zone tone. The living ones.

So a fair English translation of this passage would be the man called his wife's name Life. Because she was the mother of all the living. Think about what's going on here. Giving Eve this name is an expression of tremendous hope on Adam's part.

Adam is expressing his belief in the promise of God that Eve will live and that she will give birth to many and be the ancestor of every human being who will ever live, and that ultimately, she will be the mother of the coming champion who will crush the head of the serpent. Adam knows now that God will not be replacing her with some other woman. Somehow through Eve, life will go on and life will ultimately prevail over death and Eve will have a vital part. In that process, and so Adam turns to his wife before the intervention is even over and bestows upon her the name Life.

Where did this vision come from? That enabled Adam to name and crown his wife with a title of hope like this. This leads to yet another observation about his naming of his wife, and that is it was based upon gospel truth. Listen to what R.

Kent Hughes says in his commentary on this passage. Speaking of Adam's naming his wife, he says Adam was able to do this because he had a very precise awareness of the overall significance of God's words to his wife. Adam had listened closely to God's speech to his spouse. He understood that one of her offspring would crush the head of the snake, and he knew that his wife's pain and childbearing meant that people would follow.

So where did Adam get the idea of giving his wife the name Life? He got that idea from listening in on God's speech. To his spouse in verse 16, and he got that idea from God's speech to the serpent about his spouse. In verse 15 Adam, He is a quick learner and he has made himself a student of God's words about his wife.

Just two verses to go on here. And he learned enough To crown her with this wonderful name. Husbands, I ask you this morning, how well do you listen closely to God's speech to your spouse? When God speaks to your wife in His word, How well do you listen to what God is saying to her?

When you read Ephesians 12 and 3, do you realize those 3 chapters are declaring your wife's gospel as much as they are declaring your gospel? When you read the Bible, do you realize that you are not simply reading your Bible, but you're reading her Bible also? By the way, if you want God, maybe your wife is a believer and you're really struggling in your marriage and your attitude towards her and you want God to change the way you view your wife, sit down and read Ephesians 12 and 3.

Read Romans 8 and put your wife's name in the text anywhere you can.

Don't just read those chapters for your own benefit as being about only you, read them as a way of listening to God's speech to your wife. Read those chapters as a way of getting to know your wife in the context of her gospel past and her gospel present and her gospel future. In fact, if you don't mind, let me brag about my own wife. I hope Donna doesn't mind.

I've read God's speech. To my wife in Ephesians, and I've learned that God has blessed her with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. I've learned that God elected her to salvation from before the foundations. Of the world.

I've learned that God predestined her to be adopted as his daughter according to the kind intention of his will toward her. I've learned that my wife is accepted by God. In the beloved. I've learned that she has been redeemed and forgiven through the precious blood of Christ who died for her.

I've learned that God has put His spirit inside of her. And that his spirit is a token of God's promise to receive her one day into heaven and to glorify her and make her a woman of such splendor. That my eyes as they exist right now cannot handle the beauty. That she will be in that day.

I've learned from what God says in the New Testament to and about my wife, that anything wrong with her right now is only temporary. And that she will shed those things when she enters into glory. And I've learned that anything that is good in my wife right now, that's a part of her permanent self that she will take into glory with her. So here's a decision that we husbands have to make regarding our wives every day if they know Christ.

Will I see my wife, will I look at my wife in the context of her gospel story? In the context of her gospel past, present, and future, or will I insist on only seeing her in the context of her sin history? Men, quit rehearsing your grievances and start rehearsing your wife's gospel. This is the choice that all of us as husbands have to make every day.

And by the way, wives, you make the same choice and should make the same choice. And I'm here to tell you that when God performs his first marriage intervention in history before he's even done with that intervention, Adam turns to his wife and honors her with the name of Hope. Basically saying to her, Eve, based on what I've heard God say to you and about you, I name you life, because this is who you are. This is God's gospel plan for you, and I want you to know that this is how I see you now and from this day forward.

This leads us to another observation we can make about Adam's naming of Eve, and that is this is an act of grace. It's interesting to note that Adam has now named his wife twice. In the text of Genesis. The first time he named her Isha.

On the basis of where she came from. He named her Isha because she came from Is. On the second occasion, he names her life on the basis of her gospel destiny. Eve has not even given birth to one child yet.

She's not even conceived. But when Adam looks at her right now, he doesn't just see her as she is in the moment. Nor does he see her as she was earlier that day when she was sinning. He sees her as she will become, according to what God has said.

And then Adam uses His husbandly authority to give her a name that blesses his flawed wife and crowns her with hope and with destiny. Man, I ask you, Do you use your authority to bless your wife and crown her with grace? How are you using your authority in your relationship? Do you use your authority to crown her?

With grace What name have you given to your wife? What names have you given to your wife? If I asked your wife this morning, give me a one word title that represents what you think your husband thinks of you. What name Would your wife give?

Maybe your wife would not have to think about it all that hard because she's heard your little one-word summaries. Of her What name? What word would your wife give? That represents what she thinks that you think of her.

Would it be a title Of hope Would it be a title of grace? Would it be a title of respect? An honor. Adam names his wife.

Life on her day of worst failure. Think about what Adam could have named Eve. He could have named her Eater of the forbidden tree. He could have named her rebel.

He could have named her gullible. He could have named her Temptress. He could have named her Death. Saying that death is now at work in the world because of you, Eve.

But Adam does not name Eve based on who she was in her worst moments earlier that day, nor does he name her based on consequences that her failures generated. He names Eve based on what she will become according to the promise of God. In Genesis 3:15 and 16. It seems that Adam here is accepting his role as the vision keeper in the relationship.

To be the, the keeper of his wife's story, which is one of the roles that we have as husbands, to be the story keeper. The keeper of our wife's gospel story. And Adam here is falling in love not merely with the woman that Eve is in the moment, but he is falling in love with the woman. That she will be calm by God's grace.

And Adam is saying, I see Eve, who God is making you to be and it excites me. I wanna be a part of that, and I want to be. Apart Of the larger cosmic plan of what God is going to be doing in you and through you. So I name you Eve.

I name you Life. And this is how I will refer to you from here on out. We can also say that Adam's naming of his wife is an act of equipping. You don't think Eve needed.

A name like this, and giving his wife the name Life, Adam is equipping his flawed wife with the vision that she's gonna need for life in a post-fall world. Eve will need this reminder so that she too will begin to see herself in this way, and she will need the encouragement of knowing. That this is how my husband sees me. And if in later days, Eve is ever tempted to sin and maybe even lead Adam into sin, maybe she'll stop and think, wait a minute, this is inconsistent with who I am.

I am life I am a bringer of life. And that name would serve as a point of accountability and encouragement for her, equipping her. To make wise choices on the road ahead, we can also say, That Adam's naming of his wife is an act of reception. And naming Eve, Adam is thereby receiving her afresh.

When God first brought Eve to Adam, In chapter 2, Adam received her and he symbolized that reception of her by naming her Isha. Now God brings his wife to him again, only now she is a fallen woman. She has sinned, yet Adam receives her afresh and conveys his reception of her by giving her The name Life. He doesn't reject Eve and ask God to give him a different woman.

He receives this broken, fallen wife, and he represents that reception by crowning her with the name of hope in the name of honor. Adam has come a long way from the man who called Eve out and blamed her in part for his sin earlier that day. But here, In verse 20, now instead of crowning his wife with blame, He is crowning her with grace and with vision and with hope. What could bring about this change in Adam?

What would transform his disposition from one of accusation to one of grace and hope towards his wife? Again, it's the gospel words that he heard. In verse 15, as God spoke about his wife, it's what God said to his wife in verse 16, 2 verses, and that's all it took to turn Adam's perspective around. Adam has at this moment so much less revelation to go on than we husbands do today.

And God hasn't even slain an animal and clothed Adam and Eve. With the atoning garb. Eve's sin is fresh on Adam's mind, and she hasn't even conceived and given birth yet, yet simply based upon the words that God has spoken in two verses. Adam turns.

From accusing his wife to now receiving her with honor and grace. That's the power, men and women of the gospel. If we will truly allow it to shape the way we see ourselves and the way that we see our spouse. Interestingly, in the flow of the Genesis narrative, Adam names his wife Life because she will be a propagator of life in Genesis 3:20.

And then in the very next verse, Adam And Eve are confronted by the cost for this life giving. God makes garments of animal skin in verse 21 for Adam and Eve, which means that an animal had to die. So there is death inside of Genesis 3:21. In verse 21, God slays an innocent animal confronting Adam and Eve with the first death in human history.

And part of what God is saying to Adam and Eve is this, yes, you are. Crowned with the name Life Eve. Yes, life will come forth from you. But it will come at the price of the shedding of innocent blood.

It is then that God Takes this animal, slays the animal, then takes the skins of the slain animal and makes garments for Adam and Eve. God then draws near to them as we saw last Sunday, and he personally dresses them, each of them. Now they have atonement, now they have atoning garb to wear in the context of their marriage. They no longer need to hide from God or hide from each other.

Now they can relate to one another openly and in the context of the atoning grace of God, they can treat one another as God has treated them. Also in moving, and God moving towards Adam and Eve and personally dressing them in this way, God was thereby modeling. For them, how they too are to move towards each other and show each other love and deeply personal ways. And so not surprisingly, we come to Genesis 4:1 where we get yet another glimpse of Adam and Eve after their intervention of grace into their marriage.

And we observe yet another thing that Adam did with his wife after God's gracious intervention, and that is Adam engages in sexual intimacy with his wife. In Genesis 4:1, the text says now the man had relations with his wife. Eve This is huge, and it's, it's very interesting. I'm sure Adam and Eve did quite a few things to get themselves situated for life in a post-fall world after they were driven from the garden.

but it's interesting that the first thing that the text tells us that they did is they engaged in sexual relations with one another. A few verses earlier, we saw Adam receiving his wife afresh and giving her the name Eve, and now here in verse 1 of chapter 4, we see Adam giving himself to her in physical intimacy. This is a beautiful thing that's happening. Adam was formerly covering up and withholding himself from his wife.

In shame, but now he's uncovering and giving himself to his wife. Eve was formerly covering up and withholding herself from her own husband in chapter 3, but now she's uncovering and giving herself to her husband. And please, guys, don't take the beginning of verse one for granted. If God had not intervened in Adam and Eve's marriage, they may not have ever had sexual relations.

After the fall. They might have died that very day, or they would have spent the rest of their gradually dying existence with Eve having no desire for Adam and with them both withholding and hiding themselves from one another and accusing each other in a vicious cycle that would have only driven them more and more apart. That happens And marriages. I know of one couple that I had counseled that they, they got married, they had sexual intimacy during the first week of their marriage and never again.

Never again Because of bitterness and acrimony between the two of them. So don't take this for granted. This is a precious thing that we see Adam and Eve doing on the other side of God's intervention of grace. It is precisely because of God's gracious intervention that Adam and Eve on the other side of their fall are now no longer hiding and running from each other and withholding themselves from each other, but they're now coming together in physical intimacy.

Think back now to what God said to Eve in chapter 3. In Genesis 3:15, God used the word seed, speaking of her seed, which means offspring, which comes about as a product of sexual intimacy. In verse 16, God uses a Hebrew word that speaks of both conception and pregnancy, and he also uses a word for childbirth, all of which come about. As a result of sexual intimacy.

In verse 16, God speaks of Eve having a desire for her husband, and we saw last week that this word desire is a word that includes sexual desire. So now arriving here in Genesis 4:1, we can now look back at God's intervention in chapter 3 and see that amongst other things, God was seeking to save and preserve the gift of sex in Adam and Eve's relationship. It turns out that God was not just saving Eve, nor was he just saving Adam, nor was he just seeking to save their relationship, but he was also clearing the way for Adam and Eve to be able to come together in sexual intimacy.

That's how much God values.

This form of intimate physical expression between a husband and a wife. And on top of that, Adam and Eve having sexual relations was actually integral to God's plan of redemption being advanced. If they never came together physically, then there would never be the coming champion. In a future day who would crush the head of the serpent.

Their sexual relationship was integral. To God's gospel plan of redemption. The literal language of verse one is instructive for us as well. In the New American Standard Bible, it says the man had relations with his wife, but the literal Hebrew text says the man knew his wife.

Eve In God's economy, sex is not merely a bodily function. It is the most intimate act of relationality between a husband and a wife. The word knowing. is never used in the Bible to speak of an animal mating with another animal.

The language of knowing with regard to sex is unique to humans. And here the text says the man knew his wife, Eve. In other words, by engaging in sexual relations with Eve, Adam was knowing his wife in the deepest way possible. Adam was not simply seeking physical satisfaction for himself, he was knowing her.

Enjoying sexual relations with her in the context of an intimate and caring relationship with her. And in knowing her, Adam was knowing her as his wife. She wasn't just a warm body to make love to while his mind was elsewhere. He was knowing her as his wife.

In this moment, the woman he had assumed responsibility to care for and to lead. Also in sexually knowing her, Adam was knowing her as Eve. The woman of destiny. Adam here is being sexually intimate with Eve as Eve, the life giver, the woman of destiny according to the gospel proclamation.

Of Genesis 3:15. Literally What we have here is gospel-centered sexual relations. A triumphant moment in Adam and Eve's relationship that has come about because of God's gracious gospel intervention into their relationship. Husbands and wives, I plead with you.

Don't for a minute believe that your sexual relationship has nothing to do with the gospel. It has everything to do with the gospel. One of the many reasons that God speaks the gospel to us. And provides us with atonement that deals with our shame is so that we can then be freed up as husband and wife.

To come together in a sexual relationship. Which is the most intimate. The most transparent and vulnerable thing that a man and a woman could ever do with each other. When married couples have atonement and they're dressed in that atonement.

And when they understand the gospel that God has spoken to them, they stop hiding and withholding themselves from one another. They don't hide. They engage in intimacy, they move toward one another and engage in intimacy. They don't go outside of their marriage to satisfy themselves sexually.

Nor do they look to their own individual selves to satisfy themselves sexually, they move toward. Their spouse And become one with them, seeking to experience pleasure together with their spouse, free of hiding and free of shame. And Adam and Eve are enjoying such a moment in a fallen world as a result of God's gracious gospel intervention. In their relationship.

So far we've seen two things that have happened after God intervened in Adam and Eve's marriage. Adam gives his wife a gospel name and Adam engages in sexual relational intimacy with his wife. There's yet another thing we see them doing after God's gracious intervention in their marriage, and we find it also in Genesis 4:1, and that is Eve credits Jehovah. For helping her to obtain.

A child The text says that Adam knew his wife, Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord. When Eve gives birth to a child, she gives God the credit for helping her, saying, I've gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord. In fact, Eve names her son Kane as a way of memorializing her recognition that she obtained him. With the help of Jehovah.

And there's a word play in the Hebrew between the word Cain and the word gotten. In fact, a good English translation of this text would be she gave birth to God. Saying I have gotten a man-child with the help. Of the Lord.

In her mind, Cain was not something she produced or made. Cain was something she acquired from Jehovah, that she received from Jehovah and with the help of Jehovah. In a recent interview, Beyonce. whom I have never quoted from in a sermon before.

She said, out of everything I've accomplished. My proudest moment hands down was when I gave birth to my daughter. Out of everything I've accomplished. My proudest moment hands down was when I gave birth to my daughter.

I actually think I get a part of what she's trying to say. There's good reason for a woman to be dazzled by the accomplishment of giving birth to a child, and That does rank above anything else that a woman could ever achieve in a career, but something is missing in what Beyonce says. That is not missing. And what Eve says.

In Eve's mind, her son is not a personal accomplishment. Eve's child is not something she made, her child is something she got. From Jehovah and with the help of Jehovah just as our children are. Their blessings from the Lord.

And Eve is taking the opportunity to say this out loud. When Eve was in the garden, think of the change that's come over her. When she was in the garden, she tried to obtain the supposed blessings of the forbidden fruit, apart from Jehovah. But now here she is seeking to obtain a legitimate blessing in partnership with Jehovah.

Evidently Eve and Jehovah now do everything together. Including deliver a child. Notice also that Eve refers to God as Lord. which translates the Hebrew word for Jehovah.

When she was being tempted by the serpent in the garden, she only referred to God by the more distant word Elohim. Rather than using the name Jehovah, which is the more relational name of God. But Eve now in Genesis 4, verse 1 is in a different place. She's relating to Jehovah, she's relying on him.

She's seeking to give glory to Him with a thankful heart that chooses to focus on her blessings. She has no doubt in fulfillment of Genesis 6:3:16, experienced multiple labor pains, but rather than taking the opportunity to complain about the pains that she experienced, she is thanking Jehovah for helping her through those pains. And giving her a child. Eve here is recognizing.

That yes, I will experience pain in this life. But Jehovah My Jehovah is with me through those pains. He's not a distant deity, but he's with me, helping me even in my moments of delivering a child. At this point of the story, everything seems great.

But we know the rest of the story, right? And it doesn't turn out so great. Eve does not know that at this point when Cain is born. At this point of the story, Eve probably thought that Cain was the one who would grow up to crush the head of the serpent, or at least he would be the one through whom that champion would eventually come.

And if Eve thought this, she was wrong in her expectation. Also, as the story continues, we see in the following verses that Adam and Eve had a 2nd son, whom they named Abel. The name Abel means futility or emptiness, indicating that perhaps Adam and Eve are being worn down by life in a broken world. As Genesis 4 unfolds, we see that Cain murders his brother Abel, and after that Cain is cursed by God and is left to wander the earth.

As a vagrant What a mess For Adam and Eve, and how their hearts must have been shattered at this point losing two sons in this way. We've had people in our church family. who have experienced the loss of a child. One father in our church lost his 10-year-old son 6 Aprils ago.

This precious son died in his father's arms in a tragic accident. This father would tell you that this wound. That he carries never closes and it never heals and it reopens to a greater degree than ever every April. And that he will never be finished grieving.

This site of glory Another mom associated with our church is right now grieving the loss of her adult son, and she said this past week, and I quote, I feel half crazy most of the time, and I can't explain how I feel to anyone. So imagine how Adam and Eve are feeling at this point as they grieve. A double tragedy. One of their sons.

has been murdered and their other son is the one who murdered him. How does a parent deal with that? However hopeful Adam and Eve would have been when Cain and Abel were born, their hope has been shattered in the cruelest of ways. One of their sons is dead and the other son is a murderer who is now cursed by God and roams the earth as a vagrant and an outcast.

We can imagine what a blow Abel's death and Cain's murderous actions proved to be for Adam and Eve. And we can imagine how Adam and Eve would have no doubt gone back to the day of the fall. And remembered their sins against God. We can imagine how they must have blamed themselves and even been tempted to blame each other.

We can imagine how their faith and the gospel promise of Genesis 3:15. Must have been sorely shaken at this point. And how they would have been questioning God and even beating themselves up at this point. This is double death.

I can imagine Adam trying to comfort his wife and saying, Eve, And as soon as the name Eve. Which means life. Comes out of his mouth that Eve would be offended by the cruel irony of that name. I can just hear Eve saying, don't ever call me life again.

I am not a bringer of life. I am a bringer of death yet again. How desperately Adam and Eve, in their moment of grief and guilt and brokenness would have needed to remember the promise of God in Genesis 3:15 and the atonement that God provided to them and the atoning garb. That he had clothed them with.

We would love it If there was something in scripture that gives us some indication of how Adam and Eve fared through all of this and how they came through it all. We've seen Adam giving his wife a gospel name, we've seen them engaging in sexual relations. We've seen Eve giving Jehovah credit for helping her to obtain a son, but then tragedy strikes, double tragedy strikes and their hearts are broken and their faith is tested. Yet, there is a text at the end of chapter 4 that lets us know that amazingly their faith survived the onslaught.

This brings us to the last thing we see. Adam and Eve doing on this side of God's gracious intervention in their marriage, and that is that Adam and Eve persist in believing God's gospel promise. Says and Adam had relations, in verse 25, Adam had relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him. You see, the wound is still raw, right?

But there's hope and there's faith. We know that Adam and Eve were 130 years old when they had Seth. We don't know if they had other sons and daughters between Abel and Seth. Perhaps they did.

The first century historian Josephus refers to an ancient tradition still circulating in his day 2000 years ago that Adam and Eve had 33 sons and 23 daughters. So 56 children. In all, we don't know if that's true or not, but that was the ancient tradition. But regardless, even if Eve had other sons between Abel and Seth, she never believed that any of those children were replacements for Abel.

Until the events of Genesis 4:25 happen. In verse 25 we're told that Adam knew his wife again. Here we see them engaging in physical intimacy in the context of relationship. Father and mother to a murdered son, father and mother to a murdering son.

And yet amazingly, they're coming together again in an act of love for each other and in persistent hope and the truth of the promise that God made in Genesis 3:15. And Eve conceives as a result, and she gives birth to a son, and somehow we're not told how, but Eve knows with the help of God, she knows that this is not just any son. She very specifically names her son, Seth, and then explains her reason. Because God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.

Notice that Eve uses the word offspring, which is the Hebrew word for seed. The same word that is used back in Genesis 3:15. Eve is saying, God has given me another seed. In place of Abel.

This clearly shows that Eve has the gospel promise of God in Genesis 3:15 still on her brain. After all these years and after all their heartache, Eve still has God's gospel promise in her heart and on her mind. And based on what Eve says here, it seems that Eve is now at this point of her life of the opinion that Abel was the child. Of promise.

That Abel was the child through which the messianic champion would come, who would crush the head of the serpent, yet in her opinion, in her understanding, The serpent succeeded in having Abel killed. And in all the years since, Eve has been thinking that God's plan has been thwarted. But then she has this particular son. And in a decent translation of the passage, cause there's again a wordplay, we could translate it this way, she named him Set.

For she said God has set Another seed in place of Abel. Clearly Eve views Seth as a divinely given substitute for Abel as the one through whom the coming champion. would come, who would crush the head of the serpent. Yes, the serpent succeeded in orchestrating the killing of Abel, but Eve is now saying that God has just made a counter move.

As one writer says, the first round is won by the serpent and the murder of righteous Abel, but the gift of Seth ensures that the promise will stay alive through Eve, and Eve is giving voice to this very fact in verse 25. What's really fascinating to me is that Here in Genesis 4:25, it's Eve who is naming her son Seth and explaining why. Yet in chapter 5 verse 3, it's Adam who is naming. Seth And I'm, I'm glad that the text does this because it thereby gives us a picture of Adam and Eve united in agreement about the fact that God had provided Seth as the seed through which the champion of Genesis 3:15 would come.

A belief that is validated as God's plan of redemption unfolds through the rest of scripture. Jesus was a descendant. Of Seth. This is actually the last glimpse that we have of Adam and Eve in Scripture.

And this last glimpse shows them both with a forward gaze with baby in hand, in mutual agreement over what God is doing in his plan of redemption. We see them united in their belief that God's promise of a coming savior will be fulfilled. Yes, they had sinned on the day of the fall. Yes, they had two sons, one of whom murdered the other.

Yes, they have wept and mourned and experienced broken hearts. And been bloodied by life's awful thorns and thistles. Yet here they stand with faith in their hearts. That God's plan of redemption.

Relentlessly advances, and they stand ready to raise this new son with that vision in mind. And so it should not surprise us then that Seth grows up and he has a son whom he names Enosh, and when Enosh is born, then men began to call on the name of Jehovah. And what blessed grandparents. Adam and Eve had to have been.

This morning, we have seen 4 glimpses of Adam and Eve after God's gracious intervention in their marriage. We see Adam crowning his wife with the gospel name. We see them being sexually intimate with each other. We see Eve depending on Jehovah and giving him the glory for helping her to give birth.

And lastly, we see both Adam and Eve persisting in faith in the gospel promises of God. If you came to Eve. At this point of their marriage and said, what, tell me what made the difference. In your marriage.

After all you've been through, you both are together, you're in agreement, and you're Full of hope and promise. What's made the difference in your marriage? They would have said, oh, you should have seen us on the day of the fall. We were a mess.

We were hiding from one another and from God and from our own eyes. We were blaming God and Satan and each other for our failures, but God intervened. He drew us out of our hiding and he got us to confess our sin, and then he provided us atonement, and then he moved towards us. And he dressed us in atoning garb.

He told us in advance the troubles that we would face in a broken world. He promised us that salvation would come through a champion who descends from us. And we. Husband and wife have chosen to believe God.

We believe he's up to something great in the world, and we believe that our marriage has a role to play in that. Yes, that has made our marriage a target. Yes, our hearts have been broken and we have wept 1000 tears and suffered tragic defeats and losses along the way. But we are honored that God has enlisted our marriage in his cause and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Just as we close, guys, if you learned nothing else today, learn this. God loves to chase down really bad marriages. And bring transformation and healing. And then Through the gospel, enlisting those marriages in his unfolding drama of redemption.

And he wants to do that. In your marriage. Yes, that makes you a target. Yes It's gonna be a slug fast and you will suffer heartaches and defeats along the way, but through all the mess and through all the tears and the brokenness, God will do his sovereign mysterious work and further his saving cause in you and through you.

In the meantime, Along the way, just keep crowning your spouse with hope. Keep loving one another, being intimate with each other, keep clinging to the help of God and all that you do and give him glory for his help. And never stop believing in the good news of the gospel. Never stop believing in how God can use you in spite of your brokenness.

And let your marriage get caught up in the larger story of what God is doing in the world. And real quick, you may be here today and you're like, man, I don't even have a marriage anymore. My marriage has ended, it's broken, it's over. what?

You still are a major player in God's plan of redemption if you believe in Christ. Amen. how I know that? John 4.

Jesus picks. He wants to reach the city of Samaria, so he picks a woman. Who had 5 failed marriages, and he says that's the one I wanna use. I'm gonna start with her.

I'm gonna save her and then she's gonna be the one who spreads the word, she'll be the primary one I use to reach the city of Samaria. God loves to use broken people. God would love to salvage your marriage. And enlisted in his cause.

But even if your marriage is broken, God. Delights to enlist you. To, to make you a major power player. In his unfolding plan of redemption.

Isn't God good? Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for the grace and for the hope and the love that we find. In these verses.

We pray again for an outpouring of grace upon the marriages here. Lord, that we would drink deeply of your grace that would draw us out of hiding. May we be overwhelmed by the goodness, the grace of the gospel. And if there's repenting and if there's sin in our lives, Lord, May it be your grace that draws us out.

And brings us to confession. And then on the other side of that, we get to experience wave after wave of your grace, and we'll be asking, what was I delaying for? What was I hiding from? I was hiding from this grace.

Adam and Eve had to have been thinking, and we ran from this God when he showed up in the garden in the cool of the day. We ran from him when he had all of this goodness in his heart towards us. Oh God, melt our hearts with your love, your grace, and may our hearts be filled with hope, and may we, boldly take our place. As enlisted soldiers in your plan of redemption.

And get caught up in the larger story of what you're doing in the world. We thank you for this opportunity to give our offerings to you, Lord. Receive these funds, do much with every penny that is given for the glory of Jesus. In whose name we pray, and all God's people said,