Milk And Honey Series

Listen to the sermon: http://www.wayneamydutoit.com/Wayne/316s-part-1/

Genesis 3:16 - The Curse

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring

forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.”(Genesis 3:16

ESV)

Our very first 3:16 is Genesis 3:16 and we find ourselves right in the middle of the curse being handed

out to our first parents. It is like a movie that starts with a fight scene, you don’t know what is going

on and you don’t know who’s side you should be on.

Our first parents have sinned, they didn’t believe the word of God, they doubted God and His

character. They thought He was withholding something from them and they ate the forbidden fruit.

It’s interesting that just saying forbidden fruit is appealing in some way, because forbidden conjurers

up images of hidden things, things that are being withheld from us, things that we feel we should

have even though we know that there is a reason it is forbidden. giving in to the forbidden is to give in

to the self will and sin.

What we find here in the curse is that God is setting out the consequences of the defect they have

introduced into the human race and what impact that would have on all people. There is so much

more to cover on the topic of the first or original sin I will have to do a sermon solely on that. The

lesson is our actions have wider implications than we think and there are consequences for our

actions, these don’t have to be negative but they often are. We are better at spotting the negative

consequence of our actions because they usually hurt more or have negative consequences.

Even in this fallen state, after being punished God provides a way that it doesn’t have to last. God

doesn’t want us in that state forever so Adam and Eve are removed from the garden and they will

someday die, just as God said they would if they ate the forbidden fruit.

We don’t normally see sickness and death as a blessing, but for the believer they are a blessing as it is

how we are able to enter into the courts of God. There is a reprieve for the believer.

I hear a saying, not sure who the author is

If you are a believer then life on earth is as bad as it gets.

If you are not then this life is as good as it gets.

There is also freedom and liberation in this life, lets continue:

Exodus 3:16 - Liberation

So we jump a number of generation,

God speaks,

God destroys,

God promises,

God provides

The nation promised to Abraham has been birthed, Abraham never saw the promise of God fulfilled in

his lifetime but as Hebrews 12:1 states Abraham and the other saints that have gone before us form a

“great cloud of witnesses” observe our progress.

So the nation promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that bears Jacobs’ name given by God, Israel.

Israel is numerous and poised to become the nation it was destined to be but that is not what it looks

like in Exodus 3:16 here the nation is oppressed and enslaved and through the providence of God

Moses is going to lead them out of Egypt.

16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your

fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have

observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you

up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the

Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ (Exodus

3:16-17 ESV)

God tells Moses to go to the people and tell them that He remembers them and that He is going to

orchestrate their release.

It is interesting to note that it was God (in Genesis 46:2-4) who spoke to Israel/Jacob and told him to

go to Egypt in the first place, and told him that He would be with him, even though God knew they

would be oppressed and enslaved.

Why? I think, they needed a land to grow in and become a nation, protected by egypt, then enslaved

but kept from other enemies by egypt, until God knew they were ready to be “the people” he had

promised Abraham they would be.

So God has not forgotten His promises, even if we don’t see that he is working, He is.

Even if we feel we have messed up, and you probably have

But God is still working