INTRODUCTION — THE TEST THAT NEVER CHANGED
There are moments in Scripture where the veil lifts, and you suddenly realize you’re not just reading a story — you’re watching the same story repeat across centuries, across covenants, across generations… until it finally reaches its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
This morning is one of those moments.
Because the test given in Eden…
is the same test given on Moriah…
is the same test faced in Gethsemane…
and is finally completed at Calvary.
Four locations.
One storyline.
One question from God to humanity:
>> “Do you trust Me?” <<
Adam failed that test.
Abraham passed it in shadow form.
Jesus fulfilled it completely.
And here’s the revelation that changes everything:
Every temptation you face today is simply the Eden test repeated.
Every sacrifice you’re called to make is the Moriah test renewed.
Every surrender of your will is a Gethsemane moment.
And every victory in your life comes from Calvary’s triumph.
Let’s take the journey step by step.
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I. THE TEST IN EDEN — WHEN TRUST WAS LOST
Genesis 3 is not just the story of the fall — it’s the story of the first test of trust.
Adam and Eve stood in a garden God Himself planted, surrounded by abundance, beauty, relationship, joy, and life. They had never seen death. Never heard a lie. Never felt fear. Never doubted God’s goodness.
But the serpent introduces one poisonous idea:
“You cannot trust what God told you.”
Everything hinges on that question.
And here’s the part we often miss — the Hebrew reveals something stunning:
> “She took of the fruit, and ate, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.”
— Genesis 3:6
Adam was standing right there.
Close enough to hear.
Close enough to intervene.
Close enough to say, “Stop.”
Close enough to remember what God had commanded.
But he said nothing.
He watched the deception.
He heard the lie.
He saw the fruit.
He felt the tension rising in his chest.
And he chose silence.
Eve is deceived.
Adam rebels.
Eve listens to a serpent’s voice.
Adam ignores God’s voice.
Eve is tricked into doubt.
Adam willingly rejects trust.
Adam’s sin was not weakness — it was passivity.
He surrendered leadership to silence and fear.
And when Adam failed, the whole human race fell with him — because Adam stood at the head of humanity as its representative.
In Adam, we all lose the battle.
Death enters.
Fear begins.
Shame appears.
Separation unfolds.
Eden is the birthplace of distrust.
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II. THE TEST BEGINS AGAIN — A NEW MOUNTAIN, SAME QUESTION
Centuries pass. Humanity multiplies, nations rise, covenants form. But the question God asked in Eden is still unanswered:
“Will humanity trust Me?”
So God takes one man — Abraham — and repeats the same test, in a new form.
The echo is unmistakable:
In Eden, there was a tree.
On Moriah, there is wood.
In Eden, Adam stood silently.
On Moriah, Abraham walks silently with a knife.
In Eden, Eve reaches for what was forbidden.
On Moriah, Abraham prepares to offer what was required.
The stories mirror each other so closely, it’s as if God is giving humanity a second attempt — through Abraham — to answer the original question:
“Do you trust Me when obedience makes no sense?”
And this time the test goes deeper.
Because in Eden, the issue was fruit.
On Moriah, the issue is the promised son.
Isaac — the miracle boy.
The covenant child.
The future of Israel.
The promise of Messiah.
The gift Abraham waited for his entire life.
In Eden, Adam grasps.
On Moriah, Abraham opens his hand.
In Eden, Adam takes.
On Moriah, Abraham gives.
In Eden, Adam hides.
On Moriah, Abraham climbs.
And this is the turning point:
What Adam refused to surrender, Abraham is willing to offer.
When Abraham lifts the knife, he is not just passing a personal test —
he is standing where Adam once stood.
The fate of humanity is once again placed on a mountain, beside wood, under the eyes of heaven.
But this time…
a man trusts.
A man obeys.
A man listens.
A man believes God’s goodness over his own logic.
Abraham steps into the test humanity failed — and for the first time since Eden, someone says:
“I trust You, even when I cannot understand You.”
This is where the story pivots.
This is where redemption begins to breathe.
Because Abraham foreshadows Someone greater.
Someone who will face the test Adam failed.
Someone who will go further than Abraham could.
Someone who is coming to do what no human has done:
Obey God perfectly.
Trust God completely.
Surrender wholly.
That Someone is Jesus — the Second Adam.
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III. GETHSEMANE — THE SECOND ADAM ENTERS THE FIRST GARDEN
If Eden is where trust was lost,
Gethsemane is where trust is recovered.
The Bible calls Jesus the Second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45),
not only because He begins a new humanity,
but because He retraces the steps of the first Adam —
and wins where Adam lost.
Look at the parallels:
Adam faced temptation in a garden.
Jesus faces temptation in a garden.
Adam stood beside a tree bringing death.
Jesus prepares to face a tree bringing life.
Adam listened to a serpent’s lie.
Jesus confronts the serpent’s presence again.
Adam chose his will over God’s.
Jesus says, “Not My will, but Thine be done.”
Gethsemane is not a random scene of emotion —
it is the battlefield where the Second Adam enters the first Adam’s garden
and fights the same enemy…
under much harsher circumstances…
and emerges victorious.
Jesus kneels among the olive trees,
in the dark,
under the weight of every sin ever committed,
with the silence of heaven pressing like a stone on His soul.
And the old question returns:
“Do You trust Your Father?”
It’s the same question Adam rejected.
The same question Abraham wrestled with.
The same question every human must answer.
But this time,
this Man…
this Adam…
answers with a sentence that changes the destiny of the world:
>> “Not My will, but Thine.”
With that one sentence,
Jesus restores what Adam destroyed.
He does what Abraham foreshadowed.
He becomes the faithfulness humanity never produced.
Gethsemane is the reverse-Eden —
the moment where obedience replaces rebellion,
trust replaces doubt,
and surrender replaces grasping.
Before the cross saved us,
Gethsemane conquered for us.
This is where the Second Adam wins the first battle humanity ever lost.
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IV. CALVARY — THE TEST COMPLETED, THE LAMB PROVIDED
Now the story moves to the mountain.
Not Eden’s garden.
Not Moriah’s slope.
But Calvary’s hill.
This is the climax of the test.
The parallels converge like rivers into the sea:
Eden
A tree brings death.
A man falls.
Humanity is cursed.
Moriah
Wood is carried up a mountain.
A father raises a knife.
A ram is provided.
A son is spared.
Calvary
Wood is carried up a mountain.
The Father gives His Son.
The Son is not spared.
The Lamb is provided once for all.
What God stopped Abraham from doing,
He Himself completes.
Abraham raises the knife —
God says, “Stop.”
The Father raises the knife —
the heavens are silent.
Abraham offers a ram.
God offers the Lamb.
Abraham walks down the mountain with his son.
God walks away from the cross having given His Son for the world.
This is where every story meets:
Adam’s failure
Abraham’s obedience
Isaac’s submission
The Lamb’s sacrifice
All find their fulfillment in Jesus —
the Seed of the woman,
the Son of promise,
the Second Adam,
the true Isaac,
the Lamb of God.
And at Calvary, the test that began in Eden ends forever.
Because Jesus isn’t just the Second Adam —
He is the Perfect Adam,
the Faithful Adam,
the Obedient Adam,
the Victorious Adam,
the Life-Giving Adam.
And through His death,
He births a new humanity —
a redeemed family
born not of flesh,
not of Adam’s lineage,
but of the Spirit.
Calvary isn’t the rescue plan.
It’s the reboot.
The restart of the human race under a new Representative.
In Adam, all die.
In Christ, all are made alive.
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V. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US
The story is not ancient —
it is happening in your life every day.
Because the test that Adam failed,
the test Abraham walked,
the test Jesus completed…
…is the test you and I face right now.
Every temptation is the Eden test:
Will you trust God’s goodness?
Every sacrifice is the Moriah test:
Will you trust God’s promise?
Every surrender is the Gethsemane test:
Will you trust God’s will?
Every victory is the Calvary gift:
Will you trust the Second Adam who has already won?
Your whole Christian life can be summed up in one sentence:
Trust the God who has already passed the test for you.
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VI. THE PERSONAL CALL — YOUR TEST, YOUR TRUST, YOUR TURN
Now we come to where the message meets your life…
because every one of us is standing somewhere in this story.
Some of you are in Eden,
facing the pull of temptation,
listening to a whisper that says,
“You cannot trust God’s goodness.”
Some of you are on Moriah,
holding something precious in your hands,
hearing God ask for what you never imagined letting go.
Some of you are living in Gethsemane,
struggling with a decision that breaks your heart,
and the only prayer you can muster is,
“Father… if it be possible…”
Some of you are standing beneath Calvary,
feeling unworthy,
feeling broken,
feeling defeated,
wondering if God could ever accept someone like you.
But here is the gospel truth:
Jesus has already stood in every place you stand.
He faced every test you face.
He battled every lie you hear.
He walked every path you walk.
And He passed every test you fail.
You don’t fight FOR victory —
you fight FROM victory.
You don’t obey to earn God’s love —
you obey because love has already carried the cross for you.
You don’t trust God blindly —
you trust Him because Calvary proves He is trustworthy.
Jesus didn’t just save you from the consequences of Adam.
He saved you from the condition of Adam.
He isn’t simply the sacrifice you accept.
He is the new humanity you join.
And tonight, the same question God asked in Eden,
the same question He asked on Moriah,
the same question Jesus answered in Gethsemane…
…is the question He asks you:
“Do you trust Me?”
Trust Me with your fear.
Trust Me with your future.
Trust Me with your relationships.
Trust Me with your unanswered prayers.
Trust Me with your Isaac.
Trust Me with your Gethsemane.
Trust Me with your life.
Because the First Adam made you broken —
but the Second Adam makes you whole.
The First Adam left you fallen —
but the Second Adam lifts you up.
The First Adam gave you death —
but the Second Adam gives you life.
Tonight, choose the Second Adam.
Choose the One who passed the test for you.
Choose the One who climbed the mountain,
carried the wood,
wore the thorns,
and wrote a new story for the human race.
Choose the Jesus who says,
“I have overcome the world.”
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APPEAL
Lord, tonight we stand between two Adams.
Between the man who failed and the Man who prevailed.
Between the garden where we fell and the garden where You surrendered.
Between the mountain of fear and the mountain of sacrifice.
Between the tree that brought death and the tree that brings life.
And tonight, we choose the Second Adam.
We choose trust.
We choose surrender.
We choose obedience.
We choose the Lamb.
Write Your victory into our story.
Make us children of the new humanity.
And let Your triumph at Calvary be the triumph of our lives.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
