Eve Part 3. Prayer Focus. Genesis 3 Make notes on the following (how have they changed since the first 2 chapters?): Her character

Transcription

1 Eve Part 3 Genesis 3 Make notes on the following (how have they changed since the first 2 chapters?): Her character Her sorrow/heartache Her joy/redemption Write a summary of her story Prayer Focus From our study, we see many opportunities for Eve (and Adam) to run to God but they chose not to. We have the same opportunities to run to our Heavenly Father and we should at the first sign of trouble. If we are honest with ourselves, though, we know that this is often not the case. We run away from God. We turn to our sin. We hide in shame. We make excuses. But all He wants us to do is turn to Him for forgiveness and healing. He longs for us to trust in Him. Let s start doing that today. And if we are standing by watching our spouse, friend, or child turn to sin, let s gather the courage to take their hand and help them run to Jesus. Sometimes we just need someone to help us along. Let s be that person for someone else. Pray that you will always run to Him...at the first sing of trouble or even at the last sign - at any point - He will accept us. Pray for courage to be that friend, that person who won t simply stand by an watch sin and deception unfold. Notes:

2 Let s continue on with our study of Eve. Last week, we saw how Satan got Eve to enter into a conversation with him, which is never a good idea for us. This week, we will see the story unfold and how sin entered the world. We will also see how gracious, full of mercy, and loving God is toward us. I think we often focus on the punishment and gravity of sin with this story, as we should. But we also miss the steadfast love of our Heavenly Father at the same time. We miss out on understanding His sovereignty and His mercy. Read Genesis 3: What does Eve do in verse 6? What should she have done at this point, if not before? Eve should have called out to God. Really, she should have called out to Him long before this point. But this was her last chance before falling head first into sin. Have you seen anything similar played out in your life? Your last opportunity to cry out to God before temptation got the best of you? I know it has happened to me before. Sometimes I resist and cry out to Him. Sometimes I disregard that nudge to call to Him and I succumb to sin. 2. Read 1 Timothy 2:14 - who was deceived and who wasn t? _ Eve was deceived because she truly thought she was doing something good for herself. I don t think things have changed all that much for us. How often have we thought that thing that tempted us was good for us? I wonder if this is the result of having conversed with Satan about the fruit, the temptation. _ 3. Who took the fruit? _ While Satan was able to tempt Eve, whisper lies into her heart, he could not force her to take and eat the fruit. She was fully responsible for her choice. No one else. We do like to push the responsibility and blame of our choices on to others, don t we? How have you done

3 that? Or how has someone done that to you? What was the outcome? _ Read 1 Corinthians 10:13 and summarize it. What is our promise from God here? _ Where was Adam while this was happening? You might want to refer back to 1 Timothy 2:14 as well. _ Adam was with Eve the entire time! Adam bore the responsibility here for the fall of the human race because he was not deceived. He knew full well what he was doing. 4. What do Eve and Adam do once they realized they were naked? _ Really, they tried to cover up their sin. They tried to hide it from God. Have you ever done that? When we keep parts of our hearts and lives closed off from God, we are hiding our sin from Him. They also tried to fix their sin. This was another mistake they made. Again, they should have run to God so that He could deal with their sin. But God calls out to them. He is so gracious with us. He calls out to us, pursues us when we fall into sin. But still, Adam and Eve hide in their shame. How often do we do this when we have fallen into sin? We run away from God instead of running to Him. We hide from Him instead of hiding in His arms. Let s repent of this today and work toward running to Him as soon as possible. Even after we sin, let s run into His arms. 5. Skip down to verse 14 & 15. What is this passage about? Summarize it.

4 Do you notice that as soon as sin was brought into the world, God already had a plan for redemption? This is our Heavenly Father. This is what He does. Regardless of all of our attempts to escape and run away from Him. Our attempts to hide and fix ourselves. He continues to pursue us and He keeps providing a way back to Him. This is love. 6. Verse 15 gives a prophecy for us. What is that prophecy? _ 7. What is Eve s curse? How does it apply to us today? There will be great pain in childbirth. While this is very true specifically to childbirth, this curse is much more general to the life of a woman. Not every woman gives birth - does she escape the curse? Or is there more to this? We can view this as great sorrow for simply being a woman. Consider how women are viewed in certain countries. While it was probably wise to not even touch the fruit, it is very wrong to pass off man s rules as God s laws. How have you seen this done by the church today? How do you know the difference between man s rules and God s laws? 8. Skip down to verse 21. What does God do for Adam and Eve? God gave them tunics made out of skin. In order for Him to do this, He had to kill an animal. He had to make a sacrifice. An animal had to die. Read Hebrews 9:22 and relate it to this situation. The death of the animal was the very first death in history. There was no death before this. 9. What does God do in verses 23 and 24?

5 God, in His mercy, removed Adam and Eve out of the garden so they would not eat of the tree of life and be separated from Him forever. He did not want them to be tempted by the other tree, the one that would give them life forever on earth. _ 10. What does the presence of the Cherubim mean? Throughout Scripture, we see the Cherubim in direct relation to the meeting place of God (see info about the tabernacle). It is likely that Adam and Eve could go to the garden entrance to meet with God. The angel also stopped Satan from destroying our access to the altar of God. Record any final thoughts, questions, insights:

6 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Zephaniah 3:17 Revelation 21:3 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. there! Psalm 139:7-8 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9 Romans 8:28 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ s, then you are Abraham s offspring, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:26-29