The Fall

John Colunga

Genesis • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Genesis 3

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Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, plese turn to Genesis chapter 3

We are continuing a new sermon series called “Genesis” and we will be going through six key accounts in the book of Genesis

Genesis is the first book of the Bible and is the first book of the Pentateuch

(Greek word is - pentateuchos, “five volume [book]”),

These 5 books are often referred to as “the law”

Includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy

The majority of scholars agree that they were written by Moses

Genesis is a narritive, and more than that it is the foundation to which the rest of scripture rests

Last week we started in Genesis chapter 1&2 and read the narrative of God creating the world

And found in it that God’s intent, God’s design, and God’s will, are all good

Because of this everything he had created was good

We talked about God making man in his image and likeness - God gave dominion to man

God wanted to be in relationship with man and to bless man

And so God entered into a covenant with man that

In order for mans will to be in line with God’s will, In order for man to continuously submit to God,

He was to be obedient to God’s good and loving command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

This is called the Covenant of Works - That man was to completely obedient to God

This past week in Community Group we talked through these chapters and I had an insight

Last week I noted that God knew that man was going fail and yet he created man anyway

We briefly talked about the The Covenant of Redemption

That God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit knew that when the time came, God would have to send Jesus, Jesus would have to die, and the Spirit would have to work in man to draw him to God.

And understanding and holding to this, God creates the world and man

That is how much he loves man, loves his creation

But more so than that, in God’s goodness, he also didnt cut corners when creating the world

Many times, if we know the outocme, we are tempted to not care as much about the process

If you know you are leaving a company in two weeks, you will be tempted to not care as much about your work Why? Because what are they going to do, fire you? And so now companies will let you leave on the spot because so many people do skimp on the process towards the outcome

But God did not take a shortcut, he didnt make the world less than, He didn’t say that man is going to mess up anyway so I might as well not care about how its created

That is not in God’s nature because God is good

And we are using this example that often times, that many times in the world today,

God is blamed for evil, God ‘s goodness is called into question

People do not understand that if there is a God, why does he allow bad things to happen?

And we are called to sympathize because we ourselves have trials and have questions

But as believers, we have hope in Jesus and it is Jesus who we need to communicate to others

And as we start today, we must remember that God is good and that he cannot change

And so I ask that all who are able to stand, to please do so now, and follow along for the reading of God’s word

Genesis 3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 3:1–24.

This is the word of our Lord, you may now be seated

Temptation

We are immediately introduced to a serpant

Not an ordinary serpent - but a serpant who is the incarnation of Satan

(Rev. 12:9; 20:2) Speaks of the serpent being Satan

This gives way for us to understand that evil was already in existence

And more so, this is reason as to why Adam was to work the garden and to keep it

To keep it is another way of saying to protect and nurture

So Adam, has a responsibility as the head of the marriage, as the one who is ultimatley accountable to God,

he has the responsibility to fend off anything that would hurt the garden or hurt their unity

And the serpent - being crafty - Attacks at four different times in different but similar ways

The first attack - he undermines the marriage institution and he undermines Adams authority

He goes directly to Eve and he addresses her

And Adam does not step in. Adam does not speak out in this situation.

Adam allows for this interaction to take place

The second attack - is to undermine Gods blessings by emphasizing what God forbids

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Gods command is reduced to a simple question that will focus on what is forbidden

When Eve responds, she ends with what is forbidden

So now the focus, is no longer on God’s goodness and abundance for them

Rather, the focus is on the one thing they cant do

The third attack - the serpent slanders God, minimize God’s punishment, and lies about God’s command

4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The slander is to say that what God said isn’t true - God is decieving you

The minimization is to say that they will not die - God’s punishment isnt as bad as he says

The lie is that they would be like God - That they could somehow be equal to God

The fourth attack - At the same time that Satan slanders God, he gives false comfort and empty promises

Satan does two things. 1st He dissolves fear, which provides false comfort

“they no longer feared the consequences of death for themselves

2nd he promises good things for breaking God’s law, as if God were jealous that they could be him

All of this is made possible because of Adam not stepping up and because of Eves response

I submit to you three ways that Eves response is inadequate

This is what she said “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

In her response there are three subtle changes to what God had said

First, God had said, “You may surely eat” but the woman simply said, “We may eat,” minimizing the privileges (cf. 2:16–17; 3:2–3). Secondly, with her focus on the prohibition she added to it “or even touch it.” Third, and most seriously, she lessened the emphasis on punishment by saying “lest you die” (rather than the stronger expression, “You shall surely die,” which God had used).

This is blatant failure to preserve the exact words of God and it lead to the heart of the temptation which is clear from Satan’s response

Allen Ross and John N. Oswalt, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, vol. 1 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2008), 51.

The temptation then became appealing

The tree looked good for food

The fruit was a delight to the eyes

And the outcome of eating the fruit was desirable

This desire was no longer a desire for God, rather a desire for self fulfillment

She wanted what was forbidden

And both Adam and Eve ate of the tree

Consequences

We now find instant consequences of their actions

It isn’t instant physical death like maybe they would have thought

Rather their eyes were opened and shame set in

Last week we talked about how god created man and woman and both were unashamed

The definition of unashamed is

expressed or acting openly and without guilt or embarrassment.

They were able to live openly and freely without guilt or embarrassment

But now they broken God’s command and they can no longer be unashamed

First, they have a realization that they were naked and so they immediately have shame of indecency

Huldrych Zwingli: They were naked beforehand, too, but nudity was not regarded as nudity, sin was not considered as sin, before the law came; indeed the law is knowledge of sin according to Romans 3 and 5.

The shame they started to bear caused them to sew fig leaves to cover themselves

One of the things theologians debate about is if God allowed for them to sit in their shame for a little bit

The reasoning for this is that the next verse is specific that God was out in the cool of day

So did they sin in the morning and then God came the same day or did they sin the afternoon and waited till the next day

And sure, we can focus on if its the same day, the next day, etc.

Or we can focus on the fact that God wants to be with man and woman

That God knew what has happened but he still wants to be reconciled

And so God, making his presence known, allows for Adam and Eve to hear him

And they hide because they heard God - They flee from God out of shame and fear

But There is no hiding from God, there is no eathly place a person can go where God cannot see

God knows where they are at, but in his goodness, kindness, gentleness,

He calls out to them “where are you”

God is still seeking them though they are ashamed

And it is at this question that Adam fesses up to his shame of nakedness

But it is interesting that Adam is more ashamed of his nakedness than his disobedience

But God, being a good judge and giving Adam a fair hearing - asks a question that gets to the root of the shame and allows Adam to explain how he knows that he is naked

11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Adam in his fear - He plays the blame game “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

God you made her and she messed up - It’s not my fault

God questions woman and woman says “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

No one wants to take responsibility.........

First Application

We as a church need to take responsibility

The first way, is inside the church - I am talking about believers in Jesus Christ

The first attack was against marriage and Adams headship

We do believe that marriage is between one man and one woman

We do believe that man and woman is created equal and are given differing responsibilities

We do believe that a man is to love his wife and woman is to submit to her husband

We do not do this because its what we feel, we do this because it is our good God’s intent, design, and will

Inside the church, men all too often sit quietly to the side rather than taking up the mantle of responsibility

Men do not speak up as they should, they do not take responsibilty for being in charge of thier family, to lead the family both presently and spiritually

All too often the subtle attacks are coming and because it is just a slight sin, or a small bite, the men allow it happen and many times will take part in it

And then, when the consequences hit, when something so mall becomes a big problem, the blame game starts to happen!

But nowhere in scripture, none of God’s commands allow for men to be passive

And so Christian brothers, lets take care of our families, of our church, to stand up and lead

Lets learn from Adam and not let satan undermine Gods design for the family, we must not let satan undermine the scriptures, the attributes of God, and we must not let him twist God’s promises

The second attack - is to undermine Gods blessings by emphasizing what God forbids

And just like Eve had minor, slightly subtle changes to what God had said - ultimately that is what was Satan used to get in the door!

What if Adam would have spoken up right then and there and corrected the narrative

No - God in his goodness and love and abundance for us has let us eat freely from all that he has created but from this we must not eat or we shall surely die! He knows what is good for us and we trust Him, lets go Eve.......

Ladies, you should want a man that would do this

That would stand up for what is true and what is right

Rather, Adam allowed the subtle changes to God’s word

Brothers and Sisters in Christ - we must not ever compromise the scripture! We need to read it and study it in context and in truth

This, this is what prepares us for the third attack

The third attack - the serpent slanders God, minimize God’s punishment, and lies about God’s command

We must take God’s word for what he says and obey and listen to him

I admit that I need to be better at memorizing scripture

But we need to memorize it, and heed it deep in our hearts

Because when temptation comes we can quote exactly what God says

We wont downplay his word or make it any less than what it is

This is where we need to be clear as a church

That we will uphold and teach the God’s word from beginning to end

We will have a high view of who God in his fullness -

We will not back down that there is a punishment for our sins

And we believe God when he gives promises and commands

And that will help us with the fourth attack

The fourth attack - At the same time that Satan slanders God, he gives false comfort and empty promises

The ways of this world may seem loving

The ways of the world seem desirable

The ways of the world seem fulfilling

But ultimately the ways of this world is vanity

The ways of this world is useless unless you have a hope and promise for something better

And this is what God does when he gives his judgement

Hope of Jesus

In Gods judgement he gives a promise to Adam and Eve

He curses the serpent but at the end of the curse is the promise

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The promise here is that from Eve, somewhere down the line will be an offspring

And the offspring will bruise bruise the head and the offsprings heel will be bruised

This offspring is Jesus

Jesus will be born, live perfectly, and yet will be sentenced to death

He will take on the sins of His people and will suffer - his heel will be bruised

However, three days later he will rise triumphantly from the grave and thus he will bruise the head

This is the first time that the promise of redemption was revealed

This is necessary because men and women are sinful

God then hands down punishment to Adam and Eve

I love the way the commentary in my Bible puts it

The woman is frustrated in her natural relationships within the home: painful labor in bearing children and subordination toward her husband. The man is frustrated in his activity to provide food. Each experiences pain by these reversals.

R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015), 19.

These punishments would not just to pertain to Adam and Eve but all of their decendants

Every son and daughter born after them will be born into darkness

You see, God’s punishment of sure death wasnt a physical one - it was a spiritual one

And that is why God had to reveal the promise of a Savior

So that Adam and Eve would know that there is hope beyond the garden

In their sin, there is forgiveness

Although they are kicked out of the garden, look at how God takes care of them

21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

God takes away shame

We sin, we fail God everyday.

And through Jesus, he takes away our sin and shame

He brings us forgiveness

You see, we are no longer under the covenant of works

But are under the covenant of grace

By God’s standard there is none that are good

1 Corinthians 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

God brings us out of spiritual darkness by Jesus’ death and resurrection

And all it takes is faith and trust in Jesus alone may be made alive

And that is why we submit to God’s goodness here on earth while we look forward to and hope in

the day that we will be united with him Either by our physical death, or his second comming

And wheneve Jesus comes again, that will be the fulfillment of the covenant of redemption

That even before we were created God loved us

How easy it is to blame God, but how foolish it is to blame God

We are to blame for our own foolishness

Bad things happen because we live in an imperfect world

And when someone says well why doesnt God just eliminate evil?

Your response should be, he already has.

Evil has no power or dominion over him

There is hope that one day we will be perfected because of him

Application 2

Brothers and sisters - continue to cling to Jesus

Continue to grow in scripture and hold it as truth

Do not compromise Gods commands or belittle his judgements

Have a high view of who he is

Submit to him and make him your Lord and Savior

He wants to take away your shame and make you new

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Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”