MAN’S RUIN – IT BEGAN AND IT CONTINUES – THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE - GENESIS CHAPTER 3
PART 1 – INNOCENCE DESTROYED
This account of the Fall is not a myth or fairy tale as liberal theologians like to say. It was testified to by the Lord Himself, and by Paul. I covered that in the talks on Liberal Theology. [https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-series/liberal-theology-in-the-churches-sermon-series-from-ron-ferguson-22953?_gl=1*u4e22g*_ga*MTk0MzIxOTEzMy4xNjU2OTg5MTYz*_ga_TRT0ERDR3P*MTY2NjcyOTM2Mi4yODUuMS4xNjY2NzI5Mzc1LjQ3LjAuMA..]
(A) THE FIRST STEP - THE INVASIVE SEED
{{Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made, and he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”}}
The crafty enquiry. The devil comes with a question. Satan did not come with a blanket denial of God’s word or of his standards. He did not brandish the sword immediately, just came to sow a little doubt. All it was, was a question; no more than a question that on face value might have looked innocent.
How should have Eve handled this? Her response should have been direct, precise and conclusive. It wasn’t. Why was the word of God not emblazoned in her heart so it overcame the devil’s advances? Surely God did not leave them defenceless? I do not know why Eve listened.
I feel something needs to be said about the snake. This story is held up to ridicule but there are things we do not know. It seemed before this the snake moved in an upright position and was only brought low afterwards. We do not know how animals were and behaved before the fall because they too suffered under the curse and look forward to their own restoration – Romans 8:19-21 “The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God, Rom 8:20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it - in hope Rom 8:21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”}} However what is clear is that the snake became Satan’s agent, and that was possible.
{{Genesis 3:2-3 And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, Gen. 3:3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’”}}
The woman allowed the devil’s question to enter her heart – she took it on board. She engaged the devil in communication. He did not come along and say he was the devil, the enemy of God. His devices are crafty and evil. She had admitted into her heart the serpent’s enquiry and it was taking root. The seeds are small but they are poisonous seeds indeed. We consider things and departures, and flirting with sin, as being only little things but small acorns develop into large oaks. Discernment and wisdom and closeness to the Lord, MUST prevail.
Not only had Eve admitted the question to take hold, but she went one step further. She added to the word of God. To live fully in the word of God is to meet the challenge of the devil’s temptation with the word directly and effectively. This is what Eve did not do. She added to God’s word. God had said nothing about touching that tree. The command was not to eat from it. ?> {{Genesis 2:17 “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”}}
“If a man is finding his enjoyment in obedience; if it is his meat and drink; if he is living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, then he will be fully acquainted with, and alive to the Word of God.”
A COMPARISON FROM LUKE’S GOSPEL
Contrast the Lord Jesus here in his battle with Satan.
Luke 4:4 “And Jesus answered him, “IT IS WRITTEN, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “IT IS WRITTEN, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
Luke 4:12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “IT IS SAID, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”}}
The word of God was His stay. He could not be indifferent to it. The Lord Jesus in His conflict with Satan, accurately applied the Word because He lived upon it and esteemed it more than His necessary food. He could not misquote nor misapply the word, neither could He be indifferent to it. The word of God dwelt fully with the Word of God, and maybe Eve did not have that for some reason.
It seems Eve was entirely off the ground of total trust in God’s word. She had added her own interpretation. {{Psalm 17:4 “As for the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips I have kept from the paths of the violent.”}} The internal testimony of the Bible is one of implicit trust in the word and deviation from that leads to ruin. It must be “by the word of Your lips.”
Why does God claim obedience from us? Well He made us and has the Maker’s manual for the machine to function correctly. Also he loves us as His creation. God has spoken and obedience becomes the very highest order of intelligent acting. Don’t miss this one either – Obedience is what marked God the Son on earth to His heavenly Father. No less is required from us.
(B) THE SECOND STEP - THE SEED GERMINATES
{{Genesis 3:4-5 And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die! Gen 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL.”}}
YOU SURELY SHALL NOT DIE. Now comes an open opposition of the word of God. Had Satan opened with this contradiction/denial, Eve may not have succumbed. However the rot had started and moved to the inevitable conclusion. The devil contradicted God, and Eve had not the answer. All this shows how dangerous it is to admit near the heart, any doubts about God’s word in the first place. It causes ruin. She suffered God to be contradicted by a creature because God’s word had lost authority in her heart, in her trust, and in her understanding. There is no more stable place to be than to have your feet planted on the bible.
Eve began with listening to the evil one, and from step to step, ended with owning the devil as god and the fountain of truth. Right through human history it is confirmed that God’s word has no place in the heart of an unregenerated man, but the lie of the serpent has. Unsaved men will not entertain God’s convicting word, but they will embrace the devil’s deceit. This is just another reason why man must be born again as taught to Nicodemus.
Also here, this transaction called into question the love of God. If God was love, why would He hide something good from His creation? God was denying the good that was to be gained. God was preventing them from knowing the positive advantage of eating the fruit. Human reasoning infiltrated by the devil, will always win out. The correct response was to rely in the goodness of a loving God. That should have been Eve’s reaction.
Quotation, but the source is lost (I think C H Macintosh):- [[“It is really of the utmost importance to see what stamps man’s character and condition is his ignorance or knowledge of God. This is what marks his character here and fixes his destiny hereafter. He is evil in his thoughts, evil in his words, evil in his actions – it is all the result of his being ignorant of God. The most refined and cultivated moralist, the most devout religionist, the most benevolent philanthropist, if ignorant of God, is far from life and true holiness as the publican and the harlot.”]]
(C) THE THIRD STEP – THE TREE MATURES ? SAW > DELIGHT > DESIRABLE
{{Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”}}
All resistance was gone because Eve had concurred with Satan though she did not think so. That seed of doubt Satan planted, because it was entertained, has brought about action, and that action was away from God. She reached out her hand - (even at that stage it was not too late) – and took and ate – (then it was too late) – sin had become a reality.
LET US EXAMINE THIS
We have a most comprehensive passage of scripture that sits right at the centre of this episode of grief. Look carefully at these verses –
{{1John 2:16-17 “For all that is in the world, THE LUST OF THE FLESH and THE LUST OF THE EYES and THE BOASTFUL PRIDE OF LIFE, is not from the Father, but is from the world, 1John 2:17 and the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.”}}
Right back there with our first two parents, these very three items (capitalised above) which form the basis of all sin, came to the fore. I doubt there is a sin that does not come under one of those three listings. Eve’s downfall certainly did. Here they are –
*** “Good for food” – LUST OF THE FLESH
*** “Delight to the eyes” – LUST OF THE EYES
*** “Desirable to make one wise” – PRIDE OF LIFE
The same three means of attack were used against the Lord Jesus also to take Him out of His dependence on the Father.
(LUST OF THE FLESH)
{{Luke 4:1-4 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil, and He ate nothing during those days. When they had ended, He became hungry, and the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread, ” and Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”}}
(LUST OF THE EYES)
{{Luke 4:5-8 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. “Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours,” and Jesus answered and said to him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”}}
(THE PRIDE OF LIFE)
{{Luke 4:9-12 And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will give His angels charge concerning You to guard You,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”}}
Jesus faced the same three challenges, the same three fronts of Satan, and He conquered through the word of God that resided perfectly in Him.
Eve and Adam ate and their eyes were opened, that is, THEY CAME TO THE REALISATION. The Lord God had so ordered it, that in, and by the fall, man should get what he previously did not have, and that was a conscience, a knowledge of both good and evil. The pair had been in a state of innocence in Eden, which is a state of ignorance of evil. They knew no right or wrong. Before that time there was no conscience (it was not applicable) but man gained a conscience and the first thing a conscience did was produce shame, and then made them cowards as they fled from God.
(D) THE MATURE TREE PRODUCES FRUIT
{{Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”}}
Satan was so correct in saying that they would know good and evil, but he omitted the material part, which was that they would know good without the power to do it; and they would know evil without the power to avoid it. They were naked and wretched and blind and poor and miserable. That is the sad fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Conscience will not bring a person to God. It will make a coward of him. Conscience causes a man to hide from God like cockroaches in the night. Now for the remainder of their lives they will have to battle conscience.
Man’s attempt at a remedy was to sew fig leaves together. It is the human attempt to attain godliness and acceptance by God. Physical nakedness was not wrong. There was nothing wrong with their physical nakedness, BUT the exposure and the awareness was the exposure of sin, and in trying to cover that up, they took the fig leaves. All men’s efforts at religion are fig leaves. All that a true Christian does is because he is clothed – perfectly clothed (in the righteousness of Christ). All that a mere religionist does, is in order that he may be clothed.
(D) THE FOURTH STEP - THE BLAME GAME
Adam and Eve in their fallen state exhibited fear. Perfect love casts out fear so we conclude love for God was absent. Faithfulness had been destroyed; fear and dread take over. Not even the fig leaves could satisfy their new conscience. I think the word “dread” is appropriate because all these sin feelings were new like a dam bursting over them.
{{Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”}}
As God did, He was there for fellowship with the two people but there was no desire for fellowship because they had sinned, and sin drives one away from fellowship. We all sin but it must be recognised and confessed. Fellowship then continues. There are some who do not fellowship here because they are in sin. Sin drives one from fellowship because sin leaves one exposed. Adam and Eve fled from God and hid. God knew – stupid rationalism and liberalism says God did not know until He came to the garden and found out.
God came down to create in the first instance. Now after the serpent meddled in God’s work, God came down to save.
{{Genesis 3:9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”}}
God’s question proves two things – that man was lost, and that God seeks. It proved man’s sin, and God’s grace. Jesus said, “I have come to seek and to save that which was lost”. Here God knew what had happened, but man was compelled to confess the deed. God was calling man from out of his fear and misery into a place of God’s provision and confidence. That has continued all through human history but most stay hidden among the trees in the garden of sin and won’t come to answer God’s call.
{{Genesis 3:11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Gen 3:12 And the man said, “The woman whom YOU gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”}}
Blame and responsibility. Adam had reasoned it out. The woman was to blame, and the logical conclusion, God was at fault for giving him the woman. Adam could not front his own responsibility and that is so typical. We don’t admit to sin and the natural man justifies himself in every circumstance and blames others or blames circumstances. The convicted man will admit his sin and loss, but the converted man knows his sin and forgiveness. There is a reprehensible move in law courts today in Australia to lessen the sentence (greatly, some times) because it was deemed the crime was committed under the influence of drugs.
(Quotation). “Here was man’s terrible position. He had lost all his dominion, his dignity, his happiness, his innocence, his purity, his peace – all was gone from him, and what was still worse, he accused God of being the cause of it. There he stood, a lost, guilty, ruined, and God-accusing sinner.”
{{Genesis 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”}}
The woman blamed the serpent. She too does not admit responsibility. All is a denial of the true position. [[“There is a point where God and man must meet, in this life or in the next, whether in grace or judgment, and that point is where both are revealed as they are! The moment a man is brought to know his real state, he can find no rest until he has found God in forgiveness (now in the cross) and then he rests in God Himself.”]] C H Macintosh.
SERPENTINE JUDGEMENT PRONOUNCED
{{Genesis 3:14-15 And the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field. On your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life, Gen 3:15 and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”}}
God now addresses Satan and Satan’s agent. The serpent was the agent and receives the judgment due to it. The snake will live with the dirt of earth. There will be strife between two seeds and we enter here into the prophetic area for God speaks beyond the snake to Satan himself and promises a bruising to two parties. That is a whole new message.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
