2-24-19 Sermon Notes
“Origins – The Fall The Choice” – Genesis 3
Introduction
Last week, we discovered the importance of God establishing the Sabbath. This week we finish the series by looking at man’s fall.
Read Genesis 3
Genesis 3 New International Version (NIV)
The Fall
3 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Message
Verse 1 – “The serpent” – The “serpent” is later identified with Satan, or the devil. (Revelation 12:9; 20:2). Satan evidently took control of the serpent and used it as an instrument of temptation (2 Corinthians 11:3, 14 and Revelation 20:2). The serpent attacked God through God’s creation. He raised questions about God’s motives and the truth of His Word (verses 3 and 4).
Adam and Eve believed Satan’s lie and acted upon it. As a result, the curse of sin came upon humanity and God pronounced severe consequences on His creation, including the human race.
Verse 4 – “You will not surely die”…. God expects obedience to Him and acceptance of His Word as absolute truth. Satan knew this and tried to destroy the woman’s faith in God and His word by raising doubts about His motives and instructions. Satan suggested that God did not really mean what He said (Genesis 2:16-17). Here we have the first lie Satan proposed to a human being: denial of the judgement of death for sin.
Verse 5 – “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan has always tempted individuals to believe that they can be like God and decide for themselves what is good and evil, what is right and what is wrong.
Verse 6 – “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Notice that Adam was by Eve’s side when she took a bite. Wasn’t it his responsibility to protect her? Hmmm!
When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, moral and spiritual death came immediately. Physical death came later because God said, “when you eat of it you will surely die.” Morally, God’s life died in them and their nature became sinful. They became morally corrupt and impure in contrast to God’s perfect and pure nature. Spiritually, their former relationship with God was destroyed. Their former innocence was replaced by guilt and fear of judgement. Since then, every person born comes into the world with a sinful nature. This corruption of human nature involves innate (inborn) desire and strong pull toward choosing the way that seeks satisfaction for self without concern for God or others.
The Bible does not teach that all sinned when Adam sinned or that his personal guilt was placed on the whole human race. It does teach that Adam introduced the law of sin and death to the whole human race and since then, every person has chosen to get his or her own way.
Verse 7 – “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” When Adam and Eve lived in moral innocence, before their rebellion, nakedness was not wrong or shameful. So, here we are centuries later reaping the consequences of their rebellion in this area because of the evil and immorality that nakedness and temptation have caused. Perhaps there is a deeper meaning here – not that Adam and Eve were not physically naked, after all fig leaves are probably not the best ‘clothes’ in the world, but that they considered themselves morally and spiritually naked.
Verse 8 – “…they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” The awareness and guilt of sin caused Adam and Eve to avoid God. They were now afraid and uncomfortable in His presence. They realized that they had displeased God by defying His will. This sinful condition robbed them of the confidence to be close to God. In our sinful condition, we too are like Adam and Eve with one exception – Jesus Christ – who provides us with a way to renew our relationship with God.
Verses 9-12 – “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Why did God ask Adam, “Where are you?” Was it because God didn’t know where he was? Or was it perhaps, a way of asking Adam where he was in his relationship with God? Remember, God is all-knowing!
The rest of these verses speak for themselves, although it is interesting to note that Adam shifted the blame on to Eve. How often do we try to shift the blame on to someone else or circumstances when we are disobedient?
Verses 13-14 – 13 “Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.”
Satan used deception to cause the downfall of the human race. This is one of the main methods for leading people away from God and the truth. The Bible teaches that Satan deceives and blinds the minds of those who do not believe God so that they may not understand the gospel, which is the true message about Christ. Satan also deceives some people within the church who think they can live immoral lives and still maintain their relationship with God. They are spiritually blind in thinking that they still have a part in God’s kingdom. Satan is committed to destroying our personal lives, marriages, families, schools, and churches.
Verse 15 – “And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
This verse is the first hope of God’s plan to defeat evil and restore His relationship with people. It predicts a full a full victory of God over Satan. It is a prophecy of a spiritual conflict between the woman’s offspring (i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ) and Satan’s evil forces. God promised that Christ would be born of a woman (Isaiah 7:14) and would be ‘struck’ by the unjust death on the cross. Yet, He would rise from the dead to completely “crush” Satan, sin and death in order to save the human race.
Verses 16-19 – “To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe…” The punishment placed on man and woman (verses 16-19), as well as sin’s effect on nature, were meant to remind us of the terrible costs resulting from sin and cause us to trust, obey and rely upon God. The consequences God declared on man were meant to lead us back to dependence on Him.
Note: Women seem to be the only ones to experience severe pain during childbirth. You don’t find this to be true of most animals giving birth. I personally have never heard a cow bellowing when giving birth when I lived on a farm.
Verse 20 – 20 “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.” This verse speaks for itself.
Verses 21-24 – 21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Adam and Eve had attempted to act and think as an equal with God. They tried to set their own standards for life. To some extent, they did become independent of God and were able to decide what was good or evil. This was never God’s will because He intended for us to know only good as we depended on Him and His Word. We rely on God’s Word to determine what is good, right and true. A moral compass has been restored.
Adam lost his perfect relationship with God and was banished from the Garden. He would now have to depend on God to help him through a life of difficulties. In addition, Satan did gain a degree of power over the world through Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God. The New Testament describes Satan as the “the prince of this world.” John 14:30; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19.
Concluding Remarks and Application
The story of man’s fall, in chapter 3, seems to focus more on Adam and Eve than on God. Stop and think about how God felt (yes, I do believe that God has emotions/feelings) when the intimate connection He had with His prized creation was damaged. The following link is to a song by Don Francisco called “Adam, Where are You?” that captures God’s perspective regarding the “fall.”
Note: You can skip the ad after five seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZhLY8jN_Kk
Next Week – The beginning of a new series “Unbreakable.”
Week 7 Study Notes – 2-24-19
The Fall And Its Implications
Read Genesis 3.
What animal was used to tempt Eve, and how is that animal described?
What question did this animal ask Eve, and how did Eve respond? (Think: Could Eve’s sin be excused on the basis of ignorance?)
What did the serpent say would and would not happen if Eve ate the fruit? (Think: Why would this appeal to a human?)
In what three ways did the fruit appeal to Eve?
What did Adam and Eve realize when they had eaten the fruit?
What did they do?
What does the Bible teach about nakedness and inadequate clothing? Use other Bible references in your answer. (Think: What can we learn from the fact that the people were still “naked” when wearing the fig leaf coverings?)
What did Adam say when God asked him about his sin, and what did the woman say when God asked her? (Think: What lessons can we learn from this about blame shifting?)
What punishment did God bring on the serpent? Explain.
Describe the punishments the woman received as a result of her sin.
Have you ever been there when your cat, dog, horse, or cow gave birth? Do they seem to experience the same level of pain as women do during their labor?
Describe the punishments the man would receive. What else was cursed besides the man, the woman, and the serpent?
How did God clothe the man and woman? What does this teach about God’s attitude toward adequate clothing – reference verse 7? What does this tell us about the use of animals?
Read Romans Romans 5:12-14, 18-21.
Does the Apostle Paul treat Adam as a real physical person?
What happens to the Gospel message if we try to treat the Genesis story as an allegory?