Genesis 3B (2011) We last saw Woman at a pivotal moment in human history. She encountered evil in the form of a snake

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1 Genesis 3B (2011) We last saw Wman at a pivtal mment in human histry She encuntered evil in the frm f a snake The snake was indwelled by Satan And he brught Wman a challenge Did Gd really say that they culdn t eat frm any tree in the Garden? Last time we said we were ging t study this interactin carefully t nte the way sin wrks in ur life First, we nted that the enemy is the Father f Lies Ntice here that his pening statement is a lie Hw apprpriate that Satan s first recrded wrds was a lie Secndly, we nted that Satan s attack is directed at Gd s wrd The enemy knws where the pwer f Gd resides in His creatin It s with His wrd S Satan attacks at that pint He causes us t questin and dubt Gd s wrd r becme cnfused r distracted In tday s wrld, Satan seems determined t undermine Gd s wrd in all these ways The Bible is attacked frm all sides in the wrld And in the church, it s als under attack And that attack is neglect Third, we nticed that Satan s charge was that Gd is hlding Wman back frm jy and freedm 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 Genesis 3B! 2 In v.1 he suggests that Gd has restricted every tree frm Wman Even if that had been true, it wuldn t be cause t dubt r impugn Gd But Satan is appealing t pride here He wants Wman t imagine hw much better things culd be if she went her wn way rather than remain within Gd s law As we remember, Wman didn t fall fr the bait, at least nt yet She respnds by crrecting the snake and agreeing with Gd s wrd, but she desn t get the stry quite right She added smethings and frgt ther things The sum effect f her answer was t leave an pening fr Satan t pry pen Furthermre, her wn uncertainty cncerning Gd s wrd left her vulnerable t Satan s guile S nw Satan ges in fr the kill Gen. 3:4 The serpent said t the wman, Yu surely will nt die! Gen. 3:5 Fr Gd knws that in the day yu eat frm it yur eyes will be pened, and yu will be like Gd, knwing gd and evil. Satan directly challenges the truth f Gd s wrd In Step 1, Satan set frth a prpsitin that was a lie and used it t attack Gd s wrd In Step 2 the wman lacked the knwledge and cnfidence in Gd s wrd t refute the enemy s scheme Nw in Step 3, the enemy prpses an alternative path that he suggests will arrive at a greater benefit than Gd s way He says yu surely will nt die This is a direct cntradictin f Gd s wrd and ffers n cmprmise 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 Genesis 3B! 3 Wman is presented with a clear alternative t accepting Gd s wrd in faith Satan ges n t explain that the effect f eating will be having eyes pened And this new awareness will make Wman like Gd Himself She will knw gd and evil Satan is implying that there is mre t her existence that Gd has prvided In ther wrds, Gd and His wrd are nt sufficient If she ges utside Gd s instructins, she can have an even greater existence One that rivals Gd s Like mst lies, it invlves a partial truth If she eats f the tree, her eyes will be pened She will be mre like Gd, in that she will nw better understand what it means t be gd The lie is that she will als be less like Gd in that she will nw knw evil Thugh Gd knws abut evil, as He knws everything, He has n first-hand experience in evil Satan s is prpsing that sin has n cnsequences And even mre, that disbeying Gd s wrd will bring a great, better experience That when we chse ur wn desires ver Gd s cmmands, we will nt suffer lss, but rather experience gain This is the first and greatest lie Let s step back fr a mment and cnsider sin s pattern Sin is a disregard f Gd s will and His wrd and a reliance n ur wn ways and desires 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 Genesis 3B! 4 Sin is facilitated by a weak knwledge f Gd s wrd and can be easily twisted by the Enemy t ensure we arrive at a distrted understanding (i.e., a lie) Examples are easy t find: Mney is the rt f all evil Gd helps thse wh help themselves Prsperity Gspel All rads lead t Heaven As unbelievers, we were cmpletely captive t the enemy s lies and knew nthing else But even as Christians we can naively fllw the enemy s half truths when we allw this pattern t repeat When we live in a state f ignrance cncerning Gd s wrd And when we cme t believe that making ur wn rules will arrive at a better result than the nes Gd has given us We cme t believe that sin has n cnsequences and can be better than bedience In time, the lie will be seen fr what it is, but at what persnal cst? If wait t cease sinning until we finally see the negative cnsequences f ur sin it will be t late Wman s cst is abut t be paid... We will have incurred even greater penalty Like the persn wh ignres the warnings f smking nly t discver ne day that they have lung cancer Gen. 3:6 When the wman saw that the tree was gd fr fd, and that it was a delight t the eyes, and that the tree was desirable t make ne wise, she tk frm its fruit and ate; and she gave als t her husband with her, and he ate. With the Enemy pulling her strings, Wman s prideful spirit begins t pull her tward sin 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 Genesis 3B! 5 And the prcess begins with ne simple wrd Saw Wman saw the tree was gd fr fd But Gd already had declared it t be bad...nt fd And this fact desn t change anything We knw the tree was a fruit tree, s taking ntice that the tree had gd fd didn t add any new infrmatin fr Wman Lking at the language a little mre clsely Wman saw that the fd was a delight This is the Hebrew wrd taavah intense lnging And desirable t make ne wise (gain insight) Chamad cvet Wman is giving us a pwerful example f hw sin wrks in all f us Almst invariably, it begins with the eye, what we see We see smething that leads t a lnging and cveting and desire Luke 11:34 The eye is the lamp f yur bdy; when yur eye is clear, yur whle bdy als is full f light; but when it is bad, yur bdy als is full f darkness. Matt. 5:27 Yu have heard that it was said, YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY ; Matt. 5:28 but I say t yu that everyne wh lks at a wman with lust fr her has already cmmitted adultery with her in his heart. Nt every sin is cnnected t the eye r what we see - but I challenge yu t think f ne If we include the things we can see in ur mind s eye, then the it get very hard t think f a sin that desn t invlve seeing and the desire it brings Wman is falling prey t this trap 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 Genesis 3B! 6 She is letting her sight and her lusts direct her rather than Gd s wrd Seeing leads t temptatin, and temptatin leads t desire and lust which precedes and leads t sin James 1:14 But each ne is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his wn lust. James 1:15 Then when lust has cnceived, it gives birth t sin; and when sin is accmplished, it brings frth death. Temptatin is nt sin (Jesus was tempted in all things) But giving int temptatin is sin In Wman s case, her lust is fr the suggestin Satan planted int her mind She ntices that the tree was desirable t make ne wise Hw wuld she cme t the cnclusin that this fruit wuld make her wise? Only that she accepted the enemy s stry This tree wuld make her knw what Gd knew, r s Satan said The next step in the chain began Once lust was cnceived, it grew like a child in this wmb And that grwing will almst inevitably lead t a birth And the birthing prcess begins with tuching Wman grabs the fruit I wnder if she paused befre she ate? Remember, she had remembered that Gd tld her nt t tuch the fruit r she wuld die That wasn t an accurate qute, but nw that she has tuched and nt died, I wnder if she began t dubt Gd s wrd even mre? Wman s pr memry f Gd s wrd is actually an accmplice nw in drawing her clser t sin 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 Genesis 3B! 7 By errneusly inserting tuch int Gd s instructins, Wman has nw given herself cause t trust Gd s wrd After all, if tuching didn t result in death, why wuld eating, she might have wndered? I see this pattern very frequently tday I ften encunter Christians wh are trubled by cntradictins in Gd s wrd They have misunderstd a verse r passage f Scripture, and as a result they have cme t believe it cntradicts anther passage in Scripture In reality, the tw passages are nt cntradictry, but because their understanding is incmplete, they see the prblem with Gd s wrd rather than with themselves As a result, they begin t lse cnfidence in the literal truth f all that Gd s wrd says The enemy is nly t willing t blige in this prcess, feeding the dubt and ffering alternatives truths Finally, Wman sins by eating frm the tree f the knwledge f Gd and Evil Gd said she wuld die, but bviusly Wman was still breathing She didn t die at this mment, at least nt physically Adam will physically fr 930 years after eating! And yet we knw she died at that very mment in the sense f dying spiritually She ceased t be hly and inncent and pure She lst the ability t fellwship with Gd But frm her limited perspective, nthing much has changed Nw she must truly feel that Gd s wrd is untrustwrthy Gd said that eating f the tree wuld result in death, but she sensed n change 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 Genesis 3B! 8 Gd was nt present in the Garden at this mment, s Wman has nt experienced the cnvictin that cmes with Gd s hliness That will happen shrtly But fr nw, she senses n change in herself as a result f eating the fruit Except fr ne... She ntices that after she ate frm the fruit, she felt less cnnectin with Adam Suddenly, she feels ddly distanced frm him And instinctively, she feels the urge t share the fruit with him In fact, it s the very next thing she wants t d When we live in sin, we will seek ut thers t share that sin with us Misery lves cmpany, and s des sin When we live in sin, we are a bad influence, and nt just because we set a bad example The very nature f sin is that it spreads Rm. 5:12 Therefre, just as thrugh ne man sin entered int the wrld, and death thrugh sin, and s death spread t all men, because all sinned It s a disease that mves frm hst t hst, and when we indulge in sin, we will ften feel like sharing it with thers If smene clse t us hasn t made the same mistake, we will want them t jin us t minimize ur wn cnvictin And t validate ur chices, t affirm we are right t d what we d In Wman s case, she wuld have felt an immediate distancing frm Adam wh was nt yet a sinner And she wuld have needed t share her sin with Adam t draw him t her side 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 Genesis 3B! 9 We need t recgnize the danger in ur sin isn t limited t urselves Finally, in ne f the strangest and mst disturbing lines in the entire Bible, we re tld that she gave it t her husband with her and he ate Adam was with her, and when he was ffered the fruit, he ate N discussin, n debate He just cmplied Sme debate whether Adam was present r nt I think the text makes that clear He was with her There seems little reasn t include that detail unless it was intended t explain where Adam was at the time In truth, it desn t matter Whether he was there thrughut the cnversatin r shwed up nly after Satan left, the Bible makes clear what rle he played Adam chse t eat withut any deceptin 1Tim. 2:14 And it was nt Adam wh was deceived, but the wman being deceived, fell int transgressin. Adam can t use the serpent s deceptin as an excuse, n matter where he was at the time Scripture says his reasn fr eating had nthing t d with the serpent s arguments What s mre, Adam didn t prtest like Wman did He desn t try t qute Gd s wrd He seems cmpletely willing t disbey But wh s credited with the fall? We night assume it wuld be Wman, since she ate first 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 Genesis 3B! 10 But Scripture desn t seem t place any imprtance n the rder Instead, it lays the sin f mankind at the feet f Adam 1Cr. 15:21 Fr since by a man came death, by a man als came the resurrectin f the dead. 1Cr. 15:22 Fr as in Adam all die, s als in Christ all will be made alive. Or Rmans 5:12 which we quted abve Adam (ne man) brught abut the fall Lk at the next verse Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes f bth f them were pened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves tgether and made themselves lin cverings. Only after Adam ate were bth their eyes pened His eating prduced the sin that brught dwn mankind Why wasn t Wman credited with the fall? Accrding t the verse we read, deceptin was a legitimate defense She was deceived by Satan int eating the fruit Her wn lust and sinful desire was the ultimate mechanism t bring her t sin, but the entire prcess was instigated by Satan Had Satan nt played his crucial rle, we can fairly assume Wman wuldn t have sinned Why was deceptin a legitimate defense? Wman was inncent She didn t knw evil, she was an inncent Wman COULD be deceived in the full sense f that wrd She culd be led t think she was acting in an apprpriate way Can we use Satan s deceptin as a legitimate defense as well? N After the fall, we have n defense because we are brn int sin 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

11 Genesis 3B! 11 We are nt inncent We dn t live a single day withut sin, s we stand cndemned regardless f what we d Only by faith can we be rescued S if the fall f mankind must happen thrugh Adam, why did Satan begin with Wman rather than ging t Man frm the beginning? We might assume that Satan attacked the easy target? But in reality, he attacked the harder target Wman believed Gd s wrd and tried t defend it Satan had t use deceptin t get her t act against Gd s wrd But Adam was ready and willing t eat that fruit It s as if Satan knew that Adam was ging t be the easy ne, but he had t wrk n Wman If this is Adam s fault, why was Wman put utside the Garden t? It sunds like her actin was nt a sin, but rather the result f deceptin Desn t that mean she gets a free pass? Perhaps, but since Adam ate t, it didn t matter Wman was guilty f sin because Adam ate His sin brught sin t Wman as well (her eyes were pened after he ate) Hw des Adam s sin pen Wman s eyes? Well, here we see Gd s wisdm in creating Wman in such an unique way Wman was created frm Adam s flesh rather than frm the grund S nw as Adam sinned, he brught sin t his flesh And Wman being f ne flesh with Adam experienced that sin with him 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

12 Genesis 3B! 12 His eating brught bth f them dwn We can nw lk back at Gd s decisin t create Wman in this unique way as a frm f grace knwing where events were leading He knws that ne day Adam will sin, and He desn t want ne persn inside the garden and anther utside S He creates in a way that will ensure that bth g tgether There is ne final utcme frm the eating f the fruit Then they knew they were naked and made effrt t clth themselves First, what des it mean that they knew they were naked? We talked abut nakedness meaning vulnerability and shame Nw we see mre clearly that with sin cmes a sense f expsure, r vulnerability Of the need t cver up and cnceal urselves The feeling is s strng, they feel the need t create clthing Nt fr weather prtectin r because f civil standards It s inherently a reactin t ur sinful nature befre Gd It s a visible evidence that Gd has implanted in us a cnscius We instinctively recgnize ur unhliness befre Gd And their sin als meant they lst their transparency between ne anther All the cmmunicatin prblems and difficulties talking in a marriage trace back t sin Wn t it be wnderful t have relatinships in ur new bdies that dn t suffer frm sin and the lack f transparency? 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.