Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, January 28, 2018 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Message 2 in Greatest Chapters of The Bible Sermon Series The Fall of Man Genesis 3 Tonight we want to continue with our series of messages on The Great Chapters of The Bible. In last week's message we looked at that wonderful first chapter of GENESIS where God created the heavens and the earth and every living thing, with man himself being the crowning glory of His creation. And when He was finished on the sixth day He pronounced all His creation very good. And on the seventh day God rested from all His labors. I'm not sure we fully appreciate or understand just how perfect life was for Adam, and later Eve, in the Garden of Eden in those early days following creation. It truly was Paradise. There was never a rainy day in the Garden, because according to Genesis 2:6 the garden was watered by a mist coming up out of the ground. There were never any storms in the Garden. The temperature was perfect every day. The humidity was perfect every day. There were no pesky gnats or mosquitoes to contend with because that would have made the conditions less than perfect. In those early days after the creation Adam and Eve never woke up sick...never experienced a headache...or a backache...or sore muscles. They didn't have to worry about germs or bacteria or allergies, because none of those things existed.
Adam and Eve lived a life of blissful innocence. Because they had never sinned...they had no guilt or shame. This was life as God intended for it to be. No human being since has had such a clear heart and conscience, except for the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve enjoyed a perfect relationship with GOD and with each other that was unhindered and untainted by sin. They are the only couple to ever enjoy a perfect marriage. Perfect in the sense that God created Adam and Eve for each other! Perfect in the sense that it was God who united them in marriage. Perfect in the sense that they were truly of one flesh. In the beginning, Adam and Eve never fought or disagreed over anything. They were the ideal couple...they were literally the marriage made in heaven...they were God's blueprint for the perfect marriage. And all of this is recorded in Genesis chapter 2. But our message comes to us tonight from the next chapter, Genesis chapter 3. While most of the chapters we will study in this series are great in a positive way...genesis chapter 3 is great in a negative way. This chapter records that pivotal moment when God's great and wonderful creation became tainted and marred by sin for the first time, changing the course of human history. In this 3 rd Chapter of Genesis we will focus on these five key thoughts: I. The Great SERPENT (v.1a) II. The Great SEDUCTION (vs. 1-5) III. The Great SIN (vs.6-13) III. The Great SUFFERING (vs. 14-19) IV. The Great SALVATION (v. 15)
As this third chapter begins we are introduced to... I. The Great SERPENT (v.1a) v.1a Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. 1. Here for the very first time we meet the arch-enemy of GOD and all of humanity. I want you to notice the serpent just rudely appears on the scene without warning or announcement. 2. Now just what was this serpent? We have always interpreted this to mean Satan appeared to Eve as a talking snake. Actually the Hebrew word that is used here, the word nechesh, is translated the shining one. That certainly lines up with other scriptures in the Bible that describe Satan. II Corinthians 11:14 (NIV) tells us Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Isaiah 14:12 (NKJV) How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! (Isaiah is describing him as a beautiful angel, and angel of light. ) And listen to Ezekiel's description of him in Ezekiel 28:12b-15 (NKJV) You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. continued on NEXT PAGE...
You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 3. Here is the point I am trying to make. When verse 1 says, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field that tells us that whatever form Satan appeared in, he did not have a creepy, scary, or repulsive appearance, but rather he had a shining beauty and attractiveness that would draw Eve to him rather than drive her away from him. 4. This was and still is all part of his cunning allure. He had a way of totally disarming Eve with his beautiful appearance and smooth words. Next let's consider... II. The Great SEDUCTION (vs. 1-5) 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 1. Why did Satan target Eve rather than Adam, the scriptures don't say. Perhaps Satan perceived her to be the weaker or more vulnerable of the two.
2. As you know, Satan's temptation centers around that command that God had given to Adam when He placed him in the Garden of Eden. Here was the commandment: Genesis 2:15-17 (NKJV) 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 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 shall surely die. 3. Satan's strategy in tempting Eve involves slowly dismantling what GOD said in that command piece by piece so as to create doubt in Eve's mind. First of all notice... (A) Satan QUESTIONS God's word. (v.1) v.1 Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree in the garden? Satan is trying to get Eve to question in her own mind if God had really said what she thought He had said. Satan is planting a seed of doubt in Eve's mind that it is possible she misunderstood what God said. He is using the power of suggestion.
Well Satan's strategy started working immediately. Listen to Eve's response in verses 2 and 3... 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Eve's response to Satan's question reveals she is already confused about what God had really said. Notice she said, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it,, lest you die. God never told Adam and Eve that if they even touched the tree they would die. He only said, If you eat of it, you will surely die. (B) Satan DENIED God's word. (v. 4) 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. We must remember that Adam and Eve had never seen anything die before...not a plant, or animal, or even an insect. Death was not even a part of their human experience up to this point.
All they had to go on was God's word and if God said, YOU WILL SURELY DIE if you eat the forbidden fruit they had to believe that what GOD said was true. But Satan totally denied God's word. He told Eve, you will NOT surely die. Satan now has Eve backed into a corner where she is going to have to decide whether to trust in God's word or trust in Satan's word. So Satan QUESTIONED God's word...and then he DENIED God's word, now he goes for the kill. (C) Satan substituted A LIE for God's word. (v. 5) 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,, knowing good and evil. Adam and Eve were already created in the image of God. But Satan tempted them to want more! He tempted them to become just like God.
Remember that was Satan's highest ambition when he was the angel Lucifer. He wanted to be praised and worshiped like God. He wanted people to bow down to him like God. He wanted to be as great or even greater than God. (Isaiah 14:12-15) And so Satan is trying to convince Eve that the only reason God doesn't want them to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is because God knows that they will then become like Him. So what was the real reason God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Have you ever thought about that? The real reason God gave that command was to test man's free will. If God had not given Adam and Eve a choice they would simply be like robots doing what they had been programmed to do. But God created man with the free will to choose whether or not to obey Him. That tree in the midst of the Garden was the tree of testing. There was nothing essentially evil about the fruit of the tree itself. Perhaps God could have chosen The Tree of Life...or any of the other trees in the Garden. But He chose that tree... The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as the tree of testing.
Well we have looked at THE GREAT SERPENT and THE GREAT SEDUCTION......thirdly let's look at... III. The Great SIN (vs.6-13) 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? 10 So he said, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? 12 Then the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. 1. Remember up to this point Eve has not sinned. She has been tempted, but she has not yielded. Being tempted is not a sin until one crosses the line into acting upon the temptation. James 1:14,15 (NKJV) But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fullgrown, brings forth death.
2. Listen again to how this process played out in Eve's life that day in the Garden. 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Horatio Bonar summarized it this way: Eve listened... Eve looked...and Eve took. And as if that weren't bad enough, Eve then turned into the temptress and gave Adam some of the forbidden fruit. 3. Now remember, Satan had told Eve that God didn't want them to eat of the forbidden fruit because your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 4. Well Adam and Eve got their eyes opened alright, but they didn't become anything like GOD. -Because of their great sin their eyes were opened to their nakedness. -Because of their great sin they felt such guilt and shame that they hid themselves from GOD.
-Because of their great sin they fell out of sweet fellowship with GOD and they separated themselves from GOD. 5. And when GOD called out, Adam, where are you? He wasn't wanting Adam to identify his geographical position, he was wanting him to acknowledge his fallen position...god wanted Adam to come out and confess his sin. We have looked at THE GREAT SERPENT...and THE GREAT SEDUCTION...and THE GREAT SIN...fourthly, let's look at... IV. The Great SUFFERING (vs. 14-19) 1. GOD had warned Adam and Eve that the consequences for sin would be deadly. Romans 6:23 (NKJV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 2. We certainly see this in God's judgment against all three parties in The Fall. (A) The suffering of THE SERPENT/SATAN (vs. 14,15) 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. God cursed both the serpent and Satan. As an animal, the serpent or snake had no sense of sin or wrong-doing, but it was the tool used by Satan to tempt Eve to sin. It is true that ALL ANIMALS felt the effects of the fall...all animals started aging...and got diseases...and all eventually died. That is still true of the animal kingdom today. But no animal suffered more in the fall than the snake or serpent. Just as GOD casts Lucifer out of heaven down to the earth, He threw the serpent down on the ground so it would have to crawl on its belly in total humiliation. The snake...the serpent is symbolic of Satan himself. Revelation 20:2 even refers to Satan as the dragon, that serpent of old. So every time you and I see a snake crawling on its belly across the ground just remind yourself that is a reminder of the humiliating curse God placed upon Satan. When you see a snake it is a reminder of the degradation and defeat of Satan. I will have more to say about verse 15 in a few moments. For now, let's turn our thoughts towards...
(B) The suffering of WOMAN (v. 16) 16 To the woman He said: I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. For her part in the fall of man, Eve brought suffering upon herself and all of womanhood in two key ways. First, the woman would experience increased sorrow and pain in childbirth. You ladies who have birthed children know that giving birth was perhaps the most painful thing you have ever experienced. In fact, many women from Eve to this day have even died in childbirth. Ladies, I don't know if you have ever thought about this, but did it ever occur to you that the physical pain you felt to bring forth physical children was a sobering reminder of the intense pain GOD would experience to bring forth spiritual children? The other aspect of the curse upon women had to do with her relationship with her husband. Eve had usurped authority over Adam. She over-stepped her bounds. And as a result of the fall, women were placed in a position of subjection and submission to their husbands. (C) The suffering of MAN (vs. 17-19) 17 Then to Adam He said, Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it : Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. The curse upon Adam and all manhood was two-fold: The first aspect of man's curse had to do with the ground. Whereas man's work prior to the fall was not difficult or burdensome, man would now have to work very hard because the earth would now produce thorns and thistles and weeds of all kinds. Man would now have to work by the sweat of his brow...he would grow tired...and his joints and muscles would ache from his labors. And the second aspect of man's curse was that he would die. Remember, Satan had lied to Eve. He told her you will NOT surely die! But GOD'S WORD WAS TRUE! Sin and disobedience brought death upon humanity. Except for two men, Enoch and Elijah, every man since Adam has died. In fact, we live our lives with the possibility of death coming upon us on any given day at any given age. We can work towards goals...we can make plans and dream big dreams...but death can bring an abrupt halt to everything. There is always just one step between us and death. We have looked at THE GREAT SERPENT...THE GREAT SEDUCTION... THE GREAT SIN...AND THE GREAT SUFFERING... Finally let's consider...
V. The Great SALVATION (v. 15) Let's go back to verse 15... 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel. Here is our very first glimpse of God's great salvation! Here is our very first glimpse of the Gospel and Satan's ultimate demise. Satan had brought down humanity. He thought he had won. But here God is warning Satan, don't gloat over your victory because I am going to raise up a Seed through woman who is going to crush you and defeat you and destroy you. Of course the Seed is referring to Jesus Christ who would be born of the virgin Mary, and shed His very own blood and sacrifice His very own life on the cross to cover man's sins and make it possible for man to be reconciled to GOD and live eternally. C O N C L U S I O N What do we learn from The Fall? Let me briefly make three quick points of application: The first lesson we must learn is this: ALWAYS TRUST GOD'S WORD! ALWAYS TRUST GOD'S WORD! God's word is the source and the standard of truth. In every temptation Satan wants you to doubt God's word...and to deny God's word...and ultimately to defy God's word! LET GOD'S WORD BE TRUE IN YOUR LIFE EVERY DAY!
The second lesson we must learn is this: SIN ALWAYS BRINGS SUFFERING...SIN ALWAYS BRINGS SUFFERING! Remember Satan lied to Eve. He told her that if she partook of the forbidden fruit she would NOT surely die; in other words Go ahead and do it Eve, it won't hurt you! But it did hurt didn't it? Sin brought terrible suffering upon Eve...and upon all of humanity since the day she did it. Don't be fooled if the consequences of sin are not evident immediately. The suffering and consequences will come! Numbers 32:23 You may be sure your sins will find you out. And the third lesson we must learn is this: JESUS CHRIST IS ALWAYS THE SOLUTION! JESUS CHRIST IS ALWAYS THE SOLUTION! When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden it made a mess out of God's creation that has continually grown worse to this day. There is only one way for us to escape the terrible consequences of our sins and that is JESUS. Jesus said to him, I am the WAY...the TRUTH...and the LIFE. No one comes to Father except through Him. (John 14:6 NKJV)