Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD, USA
www.mycrossway.org
View this and other messages at: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/channels/8118
I want to start this morning by reflecting on a few things happening in our world. As I thought about it, they are all closely tied to where we are in our study of Genesis. In this reflection, let me remind you that we are in the shadow of our Thanksgiving meals and the approach of the celebration of our Lord’s birth.
Adam and Eve had much to be thankful for, but little understanding of the blessings that were around them in the Garden and in their relationship with the Lord God. It wasn’t until they sold their birthright to the serpent for a bite of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that they began to see to realize what was lost.
Thanksgiving was instituted as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln, on October 3, 1863, to remind us of the tremendous blessings that were given to our nation by God. Those original settlers and pilgrims fled from the religious oppression. It was here they found liberty in the midst of their struggle to survive. A. Of the most interesting quotes Lincoln gave about thanksgiving is this, “The shepherd drives the wolves from the sheep, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.”
Lincoln would be perplexed by where we are as a country. Quite frankly, I think many of us are perplexed and would never dream where we are even 5 years ago. As I have reflected on things I believer we are approaching a point as a country where we will realize how much we had to be thankful for in our lives and the shocking realization of all that has been taken from us.
To put it quite plainly, we are being lied to by those in authority. That’s been the case for a long time, but never more ominously than recent history. When shutdowns happened last year, we almost universally shared the responsibility to help based on the information that was presented. When it became clear that information was deception, we changed direction. The church is the hope of the world and how the church responds in the future will be critical. Our greatest threat today is not racism, it is not global warming, or the “unvaccinated.” Our greatest threat is an ungodly government.
The Bible tells us that the role of government is to restrain evil against its citizenry. It is not to restrain its citizens against evil. When that happens, Isaiah 5:20 tells us there are serious spiritual implications. We live in a day when criminals feels unstrained to conduct evil and police and law abiding citizens are restrained to oppose evil. We live in a day that those who uphold their liberty of medical decisions are being persecuted. Threats of jobs, medical care, travel, the ability to buy and sell, and basic liberty are all being leveraged against a population. We live in an age where pastors are being arrested and placed in jail for speaking out against this. We live in an age where the full truth of this virus and their jab is being suppressed.
I want you to know without a doubt that all of this is supernatural, not political, and these events are the actions of demonic forces. Satan is the father of lies and there has never been more deception than the days that we are living today. Yet we have so much to be thankful for to our Lord and Savior. These things may shake our liberties, but they will not sway our faith or the strength of the Lord.
At any point in the history of redemption, believing the Word of God meant believing everything God had said up to that time. We believe the whole of Scripture because we live when Scripture is complete. The Bible does not go from error to truth, but it does go from incompleteness to completeness. People who lived in the time of Genesis couldn’t believe things that hadn’t been written and hadn’t been revealed, but faith was believing whatever it was that God had said. Whatever the body of divine revelation was, faith was accepting and believing that, having trust in the Word of God, having trust in the promise of God that whatever God says is true. As we are going to see this week and the following and final message of Genesis Chapter 3, we are living in an age that is the result of sin and rebellion against God, but we also live with tremendous hope. Adam and Eve were facing God’s judgement for their sin, but even in His judgement, God displays His Grace, His Mercy, and His Love. Let’s read together verses 16-19
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.” (Genesis 3:16–19)
There are a number of repercussions instituted by God as a result of the fall. Most movements in our culture today are opposition to this curse. What we fail to understand as a society is the masterful weaving of grace in the curse. God imposed these to be more than some kind of punitive result of sin. Rather, even in His judgement, God was empowering man and woman to live and function in a fallen world. If God was interested in imposing the full justice of their sin, He would have condemned them to hell on the spot.
For the wages of sin is death, (Romans 6:23)
But that’s not what happens, is it? That’s God’s grace in action before judgement is even imposed! This is the hope that Adam and Eve and all generations since have held in faith to God’s Word. This was the hope of the first advent of Christ and now we live in the completion of that hope as we await in faith our eternal and heavenly home.
The Curse of the Woman
Now, from the curse of the Serpent, God turns to the Woman and in His pronouncement God tells the woman her life will be radically changed in two areas: bearing children and the relationship with her husband. Whereas Eve’s life should have been fulfilled as a mother, she will experience pain in motherhood. And whereas there should be fulfillment in partnership with her husband, now she will struggle to rule over him instead of enjoying his headship. Ladies how many of you have experienced pain -physical, emotional, and spiritual pain - in motherhood? How many of you have struggled as a woman under the headship of a sinful husband? Would you label those as the top two painful aspects of your life?
1 Tim 2:15 “15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” That is to say, the life of a godly woman is marked by faith in and sincere love for the Lord, by purity of life, and self-control who will produce godly children. Now this is wonderful as a promise to women and the honor of bringing the Lord’s Christ into this world was given to a woman alone.
Now the second area of the curse is in her desire for her husband. What does this mean? In her sin, Eve took the lead and independently of her husband, subverting his authority. In doing so, she lost, permanently, the hope of a godly husband. Instead of a godly and loving leader, she now has a partner that she desperately desires while at the same time desperately tries to dominate.
The word desire is an interesting word. It comes from an Arabic root, meaning to seek control. Literally it could read, “You shall seek to have control over your husband.” You will desire to take charge, to be in control, to master. And that desire shows up in various women in various ways. In some of them it’s a quiet, silent desire that smolders, with others it is a shouting desire that isn’t much of a secret to anybody. And the more godless women are, very often the more hostile they are toward men.
What you need to know are that the roles of the woman didn’t change and haven’t changed today. But now these roles are conflated. This is life in a world ruled by sin and sin’s god. It is in opposition to the Lord God’s design and thereby life is now a struggle. Have you ever wondered why abortion and feminism remain so prevelent, even more-so in modern and liberal societies?
Modern feminism disregard even the need husbands and even men whom they label as abusers, oppressors, and inhibitors to enjoying life. They disdain marriage. They celebrate childlessness and champion infanticide. But in spite of such efforts, it’s amazing that women continue to be naturally drawn and necessarily drawn to husbands and to children as the source of their fulfillment and their joy.
There is grace in all of this in what should be the most reward aspect of the woman’s life. Perfect peace is not the lot for the woman in this world. This world is not our home. The same will be seen in the man’s striving for satisfaction. These punishments remind us that we are not to be comfortable here. Something better awaits those who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Curse of the Man
Now let us turn to God curse upon the man: 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.” (Genesis 3:17–19)
As I said before, God’s judgement on human rebellion is a reversal of the blessing of paradise. Our struggle and the curse of this world is continued rebellion over that curse. We want to be independent of God and God’s judgement to Adam was explicit:
‘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 …’ ” (v. 17a). God cursed the ground because Adam obeyed his wife. (Here “listened to” is an idiom meaning “obey.”) Thus the curse fell because Adam abdicated his headship as he, in passive self-interest, observed the tempting of his wife and her eating without even voicing an objection. He was not fooled as she was but knowingly and willfully hearkened to her voice and partook (cf. 1 Timothy 2:14). That is why God cursed the earth and judged Adam.
17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.(Romans 5:17–19)
Now, notice that the curse that it isn’t particularly on the man personally but it’s on the sphere of the man, as in the case of the woman. The curse was in her relationship with her children and her husband and so it is with the man. Man, who was given dominion over the earth, becomes subordinate to the dirt. There is a permanent disruption in man’s ability to find satisfaction in life. Instead our satisfaction is continually shaken by an unease where we can never find satisfaction. The curse on man was sweat, labor, work, toil. And this, for men, defines life.
Can you identify with that? You work all day, you go home and you can’t go to sleep because you’ve got a problem at work, there are issues, relationships, pressures that need to resolved. There’s the desire to be promoted, the need to earn just a little more, find a good pension and retirement. There is little contentment, even when there are great rewards in work. Work, work, work.
And then there are the effects of that labor. How many of us have permanent physical struggles because of our lifetime of labor. Back pain, joint pain, joint replacements, and the effects of stress, just to name a few. We work hard to find a few weeks of R&R throughout the year and then we hope to find a season of rest in our retirement.
A study of Shell Oil employees shows that people who retire at age 55 and live to be at least 65 die sooner than people who retire at 65. After age 65, the early retirees have a 37% higher risk of death than counterparts that retired at 65. That's not all. People who retire at 55 are 89% more likely to die in the 10 years after retirement than those who retire at 65. A large percentage of men have a major illness within 5 years of retirement.
9 What gain has the worker from his toil? (Ecclesiastes 3:9)
There is grace in all of this too. For it is possible for us to find satisfaction in our labors, but the source is not in our pay or the fruits of our labors, but in the redemption of Christ. Even in our salvation we find restoration and fulfillment in our relationship with God
23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, (Colossians 3:23)
Our reward and fulfillment in life is not found in the labors of life any more. Now we find fulfillment in serving God has His servant. If you drive a truck, you teach school, you dig ditches, you put in plumbing, you’re a construction worker, you sell insurance, whatever, you are now working for God. Col 3:24 “24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Now all of a sudden, it’s completely different. I’m adorning the doctrine of God for the sake of witness, I’m doing my very best, and I’m offering it to the Lord as an act of worship. And I’m actually laying up eternal reward, which the Lord will give to me when my inheritance is presented.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
In spite of the curses, when marriage works, by that I mean that it is ruled in accordance to God’s plan and the led by the Holy Spirit, it is still one of the most beautiful images of God’s love and Christ’s love for the church. Patience, forgiveness, sacrifice, kindness, longsuffering and so much more are displayed in some of the most wonderful ways. Where I see it in some of the most powerful ways are in the elderly couple who have toiled through life together and now in the tenderness of the winter of their lives they love each other through their infirmities.
And in spite of the curse, God promises us hope. This world is not our home. Today both creation and God’s children groan with birthing pangs for the return of our Lord. Our fulfillment is not here - there are great rewards - but our greatest reward is in heaven. To those who put their faith in Jesus and persevere till he comes we find rest and fulfillment. That is the hope of God’s children.
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19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Romans 8:19–22)
