“The Fall” (Genesis 3:1-13)
Today is a difficult day as we cover what is undoubtedly the most important and saddest part of the Old Testament. Today we learn what went wrong, and we learn of our biggest need as human beings. Today we find out why Jesus had to come and how the process of salvation began the very day of the first sin. It is only by understanding and believing Genesis 3 that we can understand salvation and accept Jesus Christ as our saviour.
We will also learn who we are and how we got where we are. We are going to see how easily we are deceived, and how necessary the Word of God is.
The first thing we learn is that Satan is real. Who is he? Is he the red funny looking creature with horns that we see in pictures? No, he is one of the most dazzling and magnificent creatures in all of God’s creation. He is the highest of all God’s angels called Lucifer or “day star”. Clearly, we see in the Bible that demonic spirits are capable of inhabiting both people and animals, and we don’t really know why he chose a snake here. But we find out that:
I. Satan Speaks (vv 1a, 4-5)
Could Satan really speak out loud or did he speak to Eve the way he seems speaks to us through our thoughts? We don’t know, but if I was to give my theory for what it is worth, I think the snake may have been able to kind of mesmerize Eve and in a sense converse with her silently in a kind of hypnotic trance. First:
A. Satan Questions to Create Doubt (v. 1b)
This is Satan’s age old method of questioning God’s word and/or His goodness. It has been working very effectively since the beginning of humanity. It is the deception he used on himself in the first place causing his own fall. He really isn’t that creative, he found something that worked and has just stuck with it. If we would clue in and not even consider his questions, Satan would lose much of his power. He tried with Jesus early on, but it didn’t take long for Satan to give up and go back to other people. Satan doesn’t have much perseverance, but at the root of all sin you will find these doubt provoking questions.
“Did God actually say?” Notice that this is also the way gossip starts. Gossip is not necessarily false yet, but it usually doesn’t take long to become a rumor or slander, which by definition has no facts backing it up. We don’t consult, or confront the source and just talk to everyone else about the person.
B. Satan Lies Subtly (v. 4b-5)
After setting Eve up with the doubt, Satan moves in for the kill. He is not completely refuting what God said but is saying that what God says is really just a threat, that he just wants to keep you down. He is questioning God’s motives.
Satan is the first Bible interpreter, and like many today he interpreted what God said for his own purposes. After all, they didn’t die after taking the bite, and their eyes were opened, and they were more like God in terms of knowledge, but they were not gods. However, as his title the “deceiver” insinuates, Satan is calling God a liar, and his interpretation of what God said was apparently too much of a temptation for Eve to resist.
Ephesians 6:16 tells us how to avoid this temptation, and it’s the same way Jesus did it “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.”
Today we’re still fascinated with the “experiential” knowledge of evil. You just have to look at popular TV and Movies. I am reminded of Matthew 10:16 which says: “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep amoung the wolves, so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves.” In other words be wise as Satan in terms of discernment, but don’t go looking for evil, it will find you easy enough.
If we quickly look at verses 4, 5 and 6 we see a common negative communication pattern that most churches are all too familiar with. Verse 4 is where opinions begin to fly “You will not surely die.” Verse 5 has the beginning of slander or attributing negative motive to another’s words or behavior. Satan is implying that God’s motive is selfish and power mongering, which is far from the truth, but could certainly be perceived that way if we chose to.
Then in verse 6, the spreading of the rumor - slander or sin takes place. And notice there is no mention of Adam even questioning Eve, he just bought it lock, stock and barrel.
We don’t need to look for evil, it will find us, and we need to be prepared as Jesus was. And the more we move toward God, the harder Satan will try until he finally gives up and moves on to an easier target for the time being anyway. That is why, if we don’t give in to the temptation, it will eventually dissipate. But we must always be alert for the one who “lurks like a lion, waiting to pounce”.
How do we know when it is Satan speaking to us? Two ways I believe: 1. Our conscience. We will get an uneasy feeling inside thanks to the Holy Spirit in us. 2. Perhaps more reliably, by really knowing and believing what God said, and of course this means spending lots of time in the whole Bible.
II. People are Vulnerable (vv 2,3,6)
A. We Distort the truth (v. 2-3)
Eve both added to and subtracted from God’s word when she responded to the serpent. This is always dangerous and shows that Satan’s questions had already had a deadly effect on Eve.
This kind of distortion is rampant today with the cults who tend to add to the word while claiming to use the Bible, and the extreme liberals who tend to omit what doesn’t suit their view.
Proverbs 30 verses 5-6 “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.”
Revelation 22:18-19 “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
In other words add or subtract from the word of God, and you are dead. Don’t mess around with this. But if we are not in it and don’t know it well, what are we likely to do? Make it up, fill in the blanks, miss important things. We are better not saying anything than distorting the word.
This is how rumors start. As a story moves around it gets more and more distorted because we are inaccurate in our reporting of what was actually said, and we tend to be too lazy or afraid to properly research the facts for ourselves. So be prepared and consider the sources.
Bottom line, if we don’t know with 100 percent certainty that we are sharing a fact, we best not say anything, because when we qualify our words with “this is what I heard” or “I am not sure of this but”, it will tend to get taken as truth anyway.
B. We are Selfish (v. 6)
1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” This is perfectly parallel to verse six in our text today; “it was good for food (lust of the flesh, or our physical desires), it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes, or our emotional desires), and it was desired to make one wise (the pride of life, or our mental and spiritual desires)”. Once again we see the full recipe for sin. Does not every sin come from one of these three desires? Notice it is all about our desires.
I want to show you another subtle lie that I was held captive by in my teens. It is the doctrine of suffering from Buddhism, one of the three biggest religions in the world. It says that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, (sounds pretty good so far doesn’t it) and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth. Whoops! It is half true, but if you follow the second part, you are doomed.
Trust me, it doesn’t work. Every religion I have studied says that self desire is bad, but only one gives us the real solution through repentance, love for others, and surrendering our own desires to follow Christ.
Note also that humans don’t like to “go down alone”. Part of selfishness, is to bring others down with us, we don’t like to suffer alone. This is also true of gossip, once we have some juicy information, even if we don’t know whether it is true or not, we just can’t contain the temptation to share it with others. Did Eve convince Adam, did she seduce him now that she had a sin nature, did Adam partake with her out of love and didn’t want to see her “go down” alone?
1 Timothy 2:14 says “Adam was not deceived”, we like to use this phrase to prove that it was Eve’s fault, not Adam’s, but really the implication here is that Eve was deceived by Satan, but Adam deliberately chose to sin. The Bible doesn’t say sin came into the world through Eve, but through Adam. It was Adam’s responsibility as the leader of his family and appointed head of the human race to keep sin from entering his family.
III. People are Guilty (vv 7-11)
A. We Know Good from Evil (vv 7-8)
Remember the definitions of good and evil. Good in God’s eyes is anything according to his will, evil is anything that is against his will.
I believe two things happened here. First Adam and Eve became aware of their new sin nature and were suddenly ashamed and felt the separation from God. Secondly, lust entered the picture. Not just sexual lust but the lust that caused Eve to pick the fruit in the first place, the desire to please oneself.
Why did they cover themselves? Because they looked at each other and said yuk as our skit showed? No, more likely it was because they suddenly realized that they were to procreate and fill the earth, and they knew that now they would be passing this seed of rebellion on through their reproductive organs to all their children. They were exposed.
Is there a worse feeling than shame? This was completely foreign to them as it was for our Lord Jesus. I wonder if what Adam and Eve experienced would have been similar on a much smaller scale, to what Jesus experienced when all sin was put upon him. The first realization of separation from God through shame. To be ashamed to stand before the Father. Can you imagine how alone you would feel, after only knowing communion with Him?
Of course nothing could cover this shame, not fig leaves, or filthy rags of our own self-made righteousness, from Isaiah 64. Only the “garments of salvation” and the “robes of righteousness” with which only God can clothe us. Nothing we fashion will save us. Next week we are going to see that God indeed does clothe them, and we are also going to see that Jesus is again represented in Genesis by what God clothes them with.
Salvation began immediately after they sinned. Their guilt at least provided hope for their salvation, those who sin with no guilt or shame are destined only for judgment.
The difference between believers and non-believers, is not that one sins and the other doesn’t, but it is the way they feel about their sin that hopefully distinguishes us.
B. We are Afraid of Getting Caught (vv 9-11)
We stick to covering our lies and mistakes even when we know it is wrong because of fear, shame, and pride. When we do this we end up putting so much energy into maintaining our lies. One of the main aspects of addiction is lying, and I have seen people stick to their story when even a three year wouldn’t believe it. Eventually we get caught anyway, so isn’t much easier to just admit it and move on?
The Lord calls to Adam as if He didn’t know where Adam was hiding. Adam knew he did something wrong but isn’t it funny how he and Eve thought they could hide from God.
We also make ridiculous excuses when we are found out. Adam shoots himself in the foot saying he is hiding because he was naked. Wasn’t he naked the many other times God visited them in the garden. I am sure after Adam blurted out this excuse, he said what Homer Simpson made famous … DOH! Caught in the lie. Didn’t we all try this with our parents. Just be honest and admit we screwed up, that is all God wants.
IV. Thankfully, God Wants a Relationship with People (v. 8-9)
Our separation from God was not God’s decision and according to the Bible he will never desire this. That is why he has gone to such ends to have a relationship with us. When we feel that God has abandoned us, I think we oughta look at ourselves, are we hiding from Him, because he has never, and promises to never hide from us. In fact:
A. He Searches for Us (v. 8)
Apparently God made regular visits to the garden, this was nothing new to Adam and Eve. Yo Adam, Eve, where are you, you are not where I usually meet with you. Now how did they hear the Lord God walking and talking in the garden. He is spirit, so was it like a wind, well, wind doesn’t walk or talk. They could obviously see him when He came, so He couldn’t have been in His glory, because no person could gaze Upon His glory and live. Jesus said in John 6:46 that no one has seen the Father except he who is from God - Jesus. And in John 12:45 “Whoever sees me sees him who sent me.” Moses wasn’t even permitted to see God, and throughout the Old Testament it was always an angel of the Lord that appeared to people.
We often call these manifestations of God on earth “Christophonies” or appearances of Christ, not unlike after Christ had been crucified and made a couple appearances to people afterwards, not as a ghost, but as a transformed physical being. And I am quite convinced that Jesus has always been the physical manifestation of God on earth even before his physical birth. Though I can’t be dogmatic about it, I believe that Jesus that walked in the garden with Adam and Eve was Christ.
B. He Calls to Us (v. 9)
What’s more he gives us an opportunity, time and time again, to confess and repent of our sin. That is what all God’s questions are. He didn’t need information from Adam and Eve, He knew what they did and where they were. Sure they were sorry they got caught and worried about the consequences, but there was no real repentance. God was giving them chances to truly repent but apparently they didn’t, and we don’t know if this would have lessened the sentence, but because God is Holy he had no choice but to implement punishment.
Rather than confess and repent, we too often justify ourselves and isn’t it true that when someone gets caught doing something sinful:
V. People Blame (vv 12-13)
A. We Blame God (v. 12a)
Adam says it is that woman YOU gave me. So he is blaming both God and Eve, but mostly God for giving him the woman. Oh how many times I have heard people blame God for what people have done to them in their lives. They say, “I don’t believe there is a God because of the abuse He allowed when I was young”. “I don’t believe because the church is full of hypocrites”. Are these God’s fault?
What do we do with kids, we usually blame the parents when the children go astray, there are times when this is relevant, but for every person there comes a time when we have to take responsibility for our own actions, and as a human race it is no different. God didn’t make this mess, we did, but we can’t expect God to just bail us out with no consequences. Parents who do this breed even more rebellion and misbehaviour in their children. This is called enabling.
C. We Also Blame Each Other (vv 12b-13)
So Adam blames the woman, and Eve blames the serpent. Satan can’t even be blamed, sure he is the tempter, but he doesn’t force us to sin. We so easily pass the buck. Jesus could have given in and blamed Satan too, but he didn’t because he knew the Word, and he knew that if he didn’t fulfill his purpose, we were all doomed. Thank the Lord that he did.
What do we take out of all this? We know how Satan operates, we need to accurately use the Word of God to withstand him, we are selfish beings, we choose to disobey and are guilty, we lie, we blame others and God, and God wants a relationship with us anyway, and has made it possible forever through the death of Christ on the cross.
Adam and Eve’s biggest mistake was not that they disobeyed, and neither is ours. God has always made room for our mistakes, and is willing to forgive us when we fall prey to Satan and our own nature. Their biggest mistake and often ours, was that they did not confess and repent in spite of being given several opportunities to do so. God is not the stubborn one here. Look through the history of God’s people in the OT, God never punished anyone without giving them plenty of opportunity to repent. This is strongly implied in Genesis, and it is blatantly obvious in Jesus’ message to us. Luke 13:5 “I tell you unless you repent, you also likewise will perish”, also through the book of Acts. Repent.
Folks what we read today is bad news, and the world wants us all to believe the lie that we are inherently good, and indeed that is how God created us, and Satan for that matter. But by the choice that Adam and Eve made to disobey God from their own selfish purposes, every human since, has been born into the curse of sin, and nothing we can do, including trying to be good, wearing clothes, or baptizing our babies, can change this. We are fallen, and it is only by believing this and believing that Jesus Christ is the only way we can again have communion with God, that we are saved from the curse of eternal separation from God. That is the good news.
We saw today that we fell because of dysfunctional communication, having our own agendas, and doubting God’s word and sovereignty. Unfortunately we still do. Adam and Eve did not have faith in God’s love and goodness, do we, and do other people have faith in ours? Do people trust us?
I have enclosed an insert on your bulletin about dealing with offense and preventing rumors. Let me close with a couple suggestions for dealing with gossip and rumors that hurt everybody.
Look for evidence and talk directly with the source before spreading information to anyone else.
Even if you find out the information is true, allow for confession and be willing to forgive right away. Remember forgiving is not the same as tolerating. All people make mistakes and if they know that you are safe to make mistakes around, they will not feel so much pressure and hide so much. Adam and Eve didn’t believe God was safe.
If someone lies to you or offends you, don’t immediately attribute negative intent, but look beyond to see what else might have been behind their offending behavior or remark. It is usually fear based on pride. Unless you know without a doubt that their conscious intent was to hurt you, give them the benefit of the doubt and love the part of them that is hurting so much that they need to hurt others. Look for their heart and pray for them, as Jesus does. And give them an opportunity to repent as God always does.
