A New Life Series

Back when I was just getting started in ministry in St. Louis, I got out of my car to head into the ministry center where I lived and worked. A young man pulled up in his car, rolled the window down, and asked me if I could break a $10 because the laundry mat only takes singles. I knew I had the money on me, so I pulled out the wallet, counted out 10 ones, and traded for the folded up 10 he offered me. As he drove off, I unfolded the 10 to put it in my wallet and discovered that I was holding a gospel tract of no fiscal value whatsoever.

As we look at the events involving the fall of man today, I want us to keep this in mind- sin is often dressed up to look appealing, but in the end, we’re left holding on to something that is useless, even detrimental to our well-being. So it was with Adam and Eve on the day they fell from God’s grace. Let’s begin by looking at the factors that led to their choice to sin.

First of all, there was the craftiness of the serpent. Satan often uses partial truth to draw people into sin (read 2 Corinthians 11:14). As you saw in the slide, Satan may dress himself up like an angel of light, but underneath it all, he’s still a snake.

Satan speaks to Eve, saying, “Did God ACTUALLY say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Of course, the answer is no, but I think Satan used that to plant a seed of doubt. Eve was able to answer correctly about only one forbidden tree, but she wasn’t present when God gave the order, maybe she begins to wonder if she got it right. I saw a meme this week that declared, “Satan didn’t tempt Adam & Eve to murder, steal, or even tell a lie. He tempted them to question the word of God. Just know his tactics haven’t changed.”

Then Satan continues, telling Eve that she won’t surely die. He was partly right- she didn’t take a bite and immediately drop to the ground dead, but the dying process was put into motion at this moment. Satan isn’t finished spinning the truth- God knows that if you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you’ll be just like Him, knowing good and evil. God forbade eating from this tree because He’s trying to hold you back. God’s “the man” trying to hold you down. The serpent was crafty, playing fast and loose with the truth.

Another factor in the decision to sin was the appeal of the tree. After the serpent spoke to Eve, bending the truth to deceive her into eating, she takes another look at the tree. It intrigues me that the description at this point appears to line up with the description John gives of temptation in his first letter (read 1 John 2:16). The desires of the flesh- she saw that the tree was good for food. The desires of the eyes- she saw that it was a delight to the eye. The pride of life- she realized that eating from the tree would make one wise. In that moment, Eve faced every temptation known to man and gave in at the point of decision.

There are a lot of jokes out there about whose fault it is that sin exists. But if we’re honest about it, there’s plenty of blame to go around. When writing to Timothy, Paul gives correction as he writes of Eve’s responsibility for the fall (read 1 Timothy 2:13-14). When he writes to the Romans, he tells of Adam’s responsibility for the fall (read Romans 5:12). So we see that both are responsible. While the passage begins by saying the serpent was speaking to the woman, he uses the plural form of you throughout the conversation. Then we’re told that Adam was there with her when she offered him the fruit. He could have told Eve not to eat, but he didn’t. She could have chosen not to listen to the serpent, but she didn’t. They both chose to give in and sin.

Let’s take a look at the consequences of their sin. The first thing we’ll see is that sin destroys relationships (read Genesis 3:7-8). On the human level, people stopped trusting each other. The author tells us that their eyes were opened (just like Satan said would happen), they realized they were naked, and they immediately sought to cover up from each other. We see this lack of trust today in the form of broken marriages, families being torn apart, friendships lost.

Sin also breaks our relationship with God. When Adam & Eve heard the sound of God walking in the garden, they tried to hide from Him among the trees of the garden. How often have you done something you know you shouldn’t have and then wished there was a way to keep your sin hidden from God?