The Fall Series

INTRODUCTION

• We begin week three of Core 52.

• It all starts well; in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

• God created humans in His image.

• All was good.

• Except one thing.

• God created Eve because God said it was not good for Adam to be alone.

• Adam and Eve in paradise!

• Life was good; God gave Adam and Eve freedom and the freedom to choose to obey and love God.

• The Garden of Eden was the perfect starting point for humanity.

• It was a beautiful and bountiful paradise where Adam and Eve could grow in their relationship with each other and God. From this Garden, they could build humanity into a glorious civilization. (Dan Raymond)

• But something went very wrong.

• Both the Old and New Testaments point to what happens in Genesis 3 as where we went off course.

• Have you ever had a good thing going on in your life, and life was good?

• One day, you make a decision that causes everything to change; it forces you to lose it all.

• Adam and Eve lived in paradise in the Garden of Eden; life seemed perfect.

• But was it?

• The change is the subject of our message today.

• What happened in the Garden is what we call the fall.

• Let’s begin by turning to Genesis 3:1-6.

Genesis 3:1–6 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;

3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’ ”

4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die,

5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

SERMON

The fall and our fall resorts from…

I. Distorted truth.

• Adam and Eve had it made in the Garden.

• What happened to make them want to throw it away?

• When you look from an outside view, it all looks perfect.

• Adam and Eve were in a beautiful place; they were close in fellowship with God, so close that God Himself walked in the Garden (Genesis 3:8).

• Something happened in the Garden that God hoped but knew would happen: disobedience and sin.

• The word “sin” is not in the text of Genesis 3; however, the principle is plain to see.

• The word “sin” means to miss the mark.

• It is to fall short of who God is, His nature and character.

• Remember that we were created in the image of God, so when we sin or fall short of that image, problems are created.

• None of us are immune to sin.

Romans 3:23 (NET 2nd ed.)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

• How did Adam and Eve fall short of the image they were created in?

• When God created Adam, He gave him free reign over all things except one.

• God said the following just before He created Eve:

Genesis 2:15–17 (NET 2nd ed.)

15 The LORD God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.

16 Then the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard,

17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”

• Everything was available for Adam, with one exception.

• Adam knew that exception.

• From Genesis 3, we also see that Eve knew the exception.

• Why did God plant a tree from which Adam and Eve could not eat?

• Short answer.

• Free will.

• For Adam and Eve to truly love God, they had to have the ability to choose to do so.

• We have talked a lot about this concept, so I will leave it here today.