A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: If you see a marriage that is strong, it's because they're working on their marriage. They're not taking their hand off the wheel.

Guest (Male): To have and to hold. We've all heard those words in a wedding, right? Pastor Greg Laurie says if you want to have, you have to hold tightly. To have a successful marriage, the couple must cleave. Think of yourself climbing up the face of a mountain. You're holding on for dear life. That's how a husband and wife are to be holding onto each other.

Many products have labels noting where they were made, maybe Made in China, Japan, Mexico, or Made in the USA. Metaphorically, if we were to look at our label, the label of man himself, it would say, "Made in the Garden of Eden by God." You and I were handcrafted by our heavenly Father.

Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out not only were man and woman handmade by God, the institution of marriage was as well. Today, we'll get the full story.

Greg Laurie: Why don't we all grab our Bibles and hang a hard left and go all the way to the book of Genesis? The title of my message is "Trouble in Paradise." We've looked at the creation of all things. Now we're looking at the story of Adam and Eve's sin against God in the Garden of Eden.

We're reading about the creation of men and women. In Genesis 2, Moses zooms in from the cosmos to the Garden of Eden. This new section of Genesis deals with the relationship between God and man. Here's an interesting little point. The name that God has used of himself up to this point is Elohim, but it shifts in chapter two to Yahweh.

We might see the name of God Elohim would be the name describing him as majestic creator, and Yahweh is dealing more in a personal way with us. For instance, my son calls me Dad. My grandchildren call me Papa. It's a different terminology. You call me Greg or Pastor Greg. I'll answer to almost anything, but the difference is relationship.

When Jesus taught us to pray, he did not say, "After this manner therefore pray, 'Our Creator who art in heaven,'" though he is that. He said, "After this manner therefore pray, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'" That's a privilege. That's access. That's relationship. We all have that access to God. I wanted to point that out, that he changes the use of his name from Elohim to Yahweh.

Let's read together Genesis 2, verse seven: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

If you're taking notes, here's point number one: God created man and breathed life into him. This word "breathed" is interesting in verse seven. It's warmly personal. God was face-to-face with man, and with the intimacy of a kiss or a little puff of air, God brings man to life.

Now drop down to verse 15: "Then the Lord took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.'"

Eden, the Garden of Eden. The word Eden means delight. The very name Eden is used synonymously with names and phrases like Camelot, Atlantis, Utopia, or Shangri-La. We might think of Eden as a fictitious place, but it was a real place that God placed Adam in, in this garden of absolute delight. It was a paradise beyond anything you could imagine.

Think of the most beautiful places you've ever been to in this world, San Bernardino or a tropical paradise or some incredible island. Maybe something you've seen in a movie or on television that looks like paradise or the Garden of Eden. Eden was that and much more, handmade by God himself, untouched by sin. It was literally perfect.

Adam had the coolest job of all time. He was the gardener in the Garden of Eden. His job was to discover what the Lord had made, to enjoy what God had created, and to tend to this garden. Someone might walk up to him, although there wasn't anyone to walk up to him at this point, but later. "Hey man, what's your job?" "I'm the gardener in the Garden of Eden." Pretty great opportunity the Lord gave.

He had carte blanche. "Enjoy everything in the garden, Adam. There's just one tree I want you to avoid, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was the one thing to stay away from." Now Adam is given the task of naming the animals. Look at verse 20: "Adam gave names to all cattle, birds, and so forth." He must have run out of names after a while.

He's looking at these incredible creatures. "Whoa, look at this thing. Elephant." "Oh, look at this stubby little dude with a big mouth, a hippo." "What's going on with this horse? I've never seen a horse like that. I'm going to call him a zebra." "This bird, that's a peacock for sure." After the hundred-thousandth animal, he's just getting tired of naming them and he's just making up stuff.

When he came to this fish, "This fish, I'm sick of naming animals. I'm going to call him the humuhumunukunukuapua'a." That is the official state fish of Hawaii. That's actually the name of the fish. Something was missing in Adam's life. More specifically, it wasn't a "something," it was a "someone." Adam didn't know that yet because he had not yet met the someone, but here she comes.

Genesis 2, verse 18: "The Lord God said, 'It's not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper comparable to him.'" Drop down to verse 21: "And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and as he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man.

Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.' Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and the wife, and they were not ashamed."

My next point: God created woman and brought her to the man. It's worth noting at this point in Genesis, after God created each successive thing, he said, "It was good. It is good. This is good." Then he looks at the aloneness of Adam, and he says, "This is not good. This is not good. I'm going to make a helper comparable to him."

In the Hebrew, that could be translated to "someone who assists another to reach fulfillment." Another way you can translate it is "someone who comes to rescue another." Eve would provide what was missing in Adam's life. Adam would provide what was missing in Eve's life. By the way, this word "helper," "God will create a helper," in no way does it imply that Eve was somehow inferior to Adam. In fact, it's the same word God uses to describe himself as a helper to his people.

He's bringing them together. This just reminds us we are built for relationship with one another. We're not meant to do life alone. Adam is put into a deep sleep, and Eve is produced from his side. Adam's enthusiastic response is verse 23: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, she was taken out of man." It comes from the Hebrew word "stoked-ito." We get our English word "stoked" from it. I made that all up.

But the idea is implied here that Adam was astonished. He was blown away. He was thrilled. In fact, in a way, Adam is waxing eloquent in the way he makes this statement. There's a poetic quality to it. The five lines employ the standard techniques of Hebrew poetry. "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man."

He probably said it with an English accent. "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." I sound more like Cary Grant. There's something about the English accent that makes things sound more eloquent. If he said it like he was from the South, "Y'all bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. You're called woman." Or East Coast, "Yo, you're bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Forget about it. You want some coffee?"

Or California, "Dude, you're bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. So awesome." Sort of an exaggeration of California. I don't actually know anyone in California that talks that way, but since everyone thinks we do, I'll just roll with it. "Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. You're woman, you're taken out of man."

There's a little-known story that happened after this. Adam said to God, "Lord, why did you make Eve so beautiful?" The Lord said, "So you would love her." "Why did you make her so soft?" The Lord said, "So you would love her." Then Adam asked God, "Why did you make her so stupid?" God said, "So she would love you." That never happened. That's just a dumb joke.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a minute.

Guest (Male): Hearing about listeners who find Jesus because of Harvest Ministries is so encouraging.

Guest (Male): Almost 20 years ago, a friend invited me to a Bible study. A month later, I was invited to attend a Harvest Crusade in New York City. There, Greg Laurie gave an invitation to anyone who wanted to accept Christ. I went forward and prayed the prayer to give my life to Jesus. At that time, I didn't even know who Pastor Greg was, but during his message at the Harvest Crusade, Pastor Greg said it would be the best thing I would ever do for myself. And you know what? He was right.

Guest (Male): If you've had your life changed because of Harvest Ministries, would you let Pastor Greg know? Just drop him an email, greg@harvest.org. Again, that's greg@harvest.org.

Well, we're digging into the Lord's design for marriage today in Pastor Greg's message called "Trouble in Paradise." Let's continue.

Greg Laurie: So God is now establishing the family. Long before there was a government or there were schools or any other social structure, God establishes the family and a home. This is God's order, a man and a woman together in marriage. Not a man and a man, not a woman and a woman, not a man who wants to become a woman or a woman who wants to become a man. A man and a woman. This is the only order that God will bless.

We have strayed from God's order, and we're reaping the consequences of it in our nation today. Almost every social ill that is happening in America today can be directly traced to the breakdown of the family and specifically the absence of fathers. I could speak for 45 minutes just giving you stats to prove what I just said. It's an undeniable fact.

We've tampered with this. We want to eliminate the family. We want to redefine the family. As we've done this, it's like we're striking at the very foundation of our nation. It's been said a family can survive without a nation, but a nation cannot survive without the family. So God establishes the family.

Now we're also given some secrets to a successful marriage. How many of you are married? Raise your hand. Good. How many of you are single? Raise your hand up. How many of you are single and want to be married? Raise your hand up. How many of you who are married wish you were single still? Don't. How many of you are happily married? Raise your hand up. Good.

Here's some secrets to a happy marriage because people think that marriage will not be happy. It's been said marriage is like a three-ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can have a very happy and fulfilling marriage. How do you do it? To have a successful marriage, you must leave other relationships.

Again, look at verse 24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Marriage begins with the leaving of other relationships. The closest relationship outside of marriage is specified here, that of a child to the parent, implying that if it's necessary to leave your father and mother, certainly all lesser ties must be broken, changed, or left behind.

The primary commitment of a man to a woman, of a husband to a wife, and of a wife to a husband must be to them. You're still to honor your parent. You're still a child to your parent, but a new family has begun. Now your primary responsibility is to your spouse above other relationships. This does not happen in some marriages. They don't engage in the leaving. They don't understand the priority of marriage and how they should treat their spouse.

I think it's so important to have intimacy and closeness and friendship in this marriage that you cultivate and keep alive forever. It doesn't happen by default. If you see a marriage that is strong, it's because they're working on their marriage. They're not taking their hand off the wheel. Your wife, husbands, should be your best friend. Your husband, wives, should be your best friend, leaving other relationships and being joined to them.

Then to have a successful marriage, the couple must cleave. Cleave. You leave and you cleave. The word cleave means to glue or to cling. When we come to the New Testament use of the word, it means to cement together or stick like glue or to be welded together so the two cannot be separated without serious damage to both.

When I was a kid, I used to build little model airplanes. I was never very good at it. I was very sloppy with the glue. The glue got everywhere. Then they invented super glue, and I was so excited. I would put super glue. It's almost like it wasn't really working, all of a sudden, it sticks. They'd warn you, "Don't get it on your skin." I got it on my skin. I glued my finger to my thumb. For the rest of the day, "Hey, everything's okay."

But that's the idea, like super glue. It's not like glued as in stuck together, "I'm stuck with this person." It's glued as in, "I'm holding onto you." Think of yourself climbing up the face of a mountain. You're holding on for dear life. That's how a husband and wife are to be holding onto each other.

In fact, marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. The Bible says husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and the wife is to submit to the husband as unto the Lord. It's almost as if God is saying, "Hey lost world, I want you to look at this Christian family right here. Look at the way this Christian husband loves his Christian wife. That's how I love my people. Hey people that don't believe yet, I want you to look at this woman here married to this Christian man, the way she lovingly submits to his servant leadership and how she respects him. That's how my church loves me."

That's how you can see when a Christian marriage falls apart how devastating it can be. We need to be an example for people to see. There are times that I understand divorce happens. There are grounds in the Bible for divorce. Unfaithfulness is one. Desertion is another. But I've never read the phrase "irreconcilable differences" in the Bible.

I've been married for 50 years, and I've had 50 years of irreconcilable differences with my wife. You can work these things out. In fact, I've been married, I don't know if I've ever told you this before, I've been married to seven different women, all interestingly with the same name of Kathy and spelled the same way. What are you talking about?

The Kathy I married at age 18 is not the Kathy I'm married to today. And the Greg she married back then is not the Greg I am today. When she married me, I had long hair, a long beard, the ugliest tuxedo ever made. She could see underneath all of that hair was a bald man. But let me say also, our love has grown stronger, not weaker, because we have followed God's principles.

This is so important. I don't mean to imply if you're single, you're missing out on God's plan because God allows or calls some people to a life of singleness. The fact of the matter is when you're unattached, when you're unmarried, you have a certain mobility a married person just does not have. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7: "An unmarried man or a single person can spend their time doing the Lord's work and thinking of how to please the Lord. But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife."

That's not a criticism of a married man. It's just saying when you're married, you have responsibilities. You can't just make decisions without consulting with your wife. As a wife, you can't just go and do whatever you want without factoring in your husband. But when you're single, you do have a freedom that a married person does not have. You have to find God's will for you, but our greatest needs are not fulfilled in marriage. Our greatest needs are fulfilled in Jesus, right? That's the key. Because marriage is a picture of our relationship with Christ.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie today offering some great biblical insight on God's plan for marriage and the family. There's much more to come as this study continues here on A New Beginning.

Pastor Greg just mentioned that marriage is a picture of our relationship with the Lord. He'll develop that further next time. But do you mind us asking, do you have a relationship with Christ? Have you ever bowed your head and asked Jesus to be your savior and your Lord? Pastor Greg, someone can come to the Lord today and have their life changed, can't they?

Greg Laurie: That's right. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Think of it this way. Maybe you're out in a riptide in the ocean and you can't get your footing and you're in trouble, and you see a lifeguard. Call out for help, and the lifeguard will rescue you. The same is true spiritually. You're drowning in your sin. You need help. Jesus will save you. He will rescue you, but you must call out to him.

You know how you do that? You do it in prayer. Let me just lead you in a simple prayer, and you can pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you'd like. This is where you are calling out to Jesus to save you. Just pray this:

Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, and I know you are the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now, Lord, I turn from my sin and I put my faith in you. Be my savior, my Lord, be my God and my friend. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that Christ himself has come to live inside of you. I have a resource I want to send you. It's called the New Believer's Bible. The New Believer's Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ. There's some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believer's Growth Pack, but let me get this New Believer's Bible into your hands as quickly as possible.

Guest (Male): Yeah, we'll be glad to send it all your way free of any charge if you prayed along with Pastor Greg today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can reach us anytime, 24/7, at 1-800-821-3300, or go online to harvest.org and click "Know God."

Then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially, those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We are definitely a listener-supported ministry. It's the generosity of listeners that helps us be here with these programs. If you've partnered with us, thank you. If you have yet to partner with us, I hope you'll get in touch today and let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives.

Thank you for partnering with us. You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514, or call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300.

Next time, more insight on what happened with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Important counsel for our walk with the Lord today. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.