It started out innocently enough, but then again it usually does. They were the first couple and they had everything they could ever want. They lived in a beautiful garden in fellowship with their creator. We don’t know exactly where the Garden of Eden is or was Although some have tried to guess, first of all the Garden was situated in an area called Eden, so the Garden was not all of Eden, just a part of Eden. The garden we are told was filled with tress and not just any trees we are told they were beautiful and they produced delicious fruit, which tells us that God wasn’t just concerned with the practical but also with beauty. And if we pull down a map here, we are also told that the Garden was watered by a river that eventually became four rivers, today we know about the Pishon and the Tigris and the Euphrates, we don’t know where the Gihon may have flowed but with the other three we can guess that Eden may have been about here. However with the changes that would have happened to the geography after the great flood we really don’t know. We’re not even a hundred percent sure what the climate was like, but considering we are told in Gen 2:25 Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame. We have to assume that it wasn’t Nova Scotia weather.
And after God had created them he had given them pretty explicit instructions of what he wanted them to do he said in Genesis 1:28 we read God blessed them and told them, “Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. . .” Which considering they were running around the Garden naked probably wasn’t that much of a stretch.
And God also told them what they weren’t supposed to do Genesis 2:16-17
But the LORD God gave him this warning: “You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die.” So they are supposed to make babies and fill the earth but they aren’t supposed to eat the fruit from just one tree out of all the trees in the garden. Good work if you can find it. I mean that seems like a pretty good gig to me.
But you know what happens then, yeah the devil crashes the party. Adam and Eve are in the process of doing what they supposed to do and not doing what they weren’t supposed to do. And Satan arrives and says “Yo kids, what’s happening?” And they say “Not much we’re just hanging around the garden working at making babies and not eating from that tree.” And Satan says “Excuse me if I’m being nosy but how come you aren’t eating from that tree? That’s a great tree as a matter of fact it’s probably got the best fruit of any tree in the garden.”
“Well” says Eve “God told us not to eat from that tree because he said we would die if we did.” “That’s a crock” replies Satan, “The only reason He won’t let you eat from it is because it’s the best fruit in the garden and he knows that if you eat from it you’ll be just like him. Besides a loving God wouldn’t let you die just because you ate one little tiny piece of fruit, go ahead, Bon Appetit.”
You know the story, Eve took the fruit took a big bite and said “This is delicious Adam, you should really try it.” And he did. And those two bites signalled the end of the world as they knew it. Their innocence was shattered and mankind was steered unto the path of sin. I read once that the trouble wasn’t the apple in the tree it was the pair on the ground. And yes I know that it doesn’t say apple anywhere and the climate probably wasn’t cold enough to grow apples, enough already.
The story of the first man and woman and how they disobeyed God and set the stage for their descendants is found in the book of Genesis the first book in the bible. Tradition attributes the authorship of Genesis to a man named Moses, who we discover more about in the book of Exodus. The book was written around 1500 years before the birth of Christ and since Moses wasn’t a direct witness to the events that he records he was either relying on direct revelation from God or was going back to earlier written or oral records.
Why was it written? The book of Genesis reveals how creation came about, and allows us to see and understand that the God we worship isn’t simply the God of the little nation of Israel but indeed is the creator of all that is. Genesis provides the framework and sets the stage for the rest of the Bible. The characters and stories that are first introduced in this book will appear again and again throughout the Old and New Testaments. While the remaining books of the bible provide us with relatively brief synopsis of human history, sometimes a book records only a few days or years and sometimes it’s as high as several generations of history, the book of Genesis literally spans thousands of years of human existence, from the creation of Adam and Eve to the enslavement of the descendants of Jacob in Egypt. And so while we don’t have a date for creation historically we place Joseph’s life in Egypt around 1800 BC
I know that many of you have questions about creation, how long it took and if we should take the account in Genesis 1 and 2 as a literal account of the creation process or as an allegory. Bad news, you not getting the answers here today. You want to read about it just let me know I have a library full. But here is the reality, God created all that there is and man was a specific intentionally act of creation.
You may want to believe that you evolved from plasma but that’s not the way it happened. And if you think it requires a lot of faith to believe that mankind was created by God then take an actual look at what evolutionists are asking you to believe. They want you to believe that suddenly a something became a living creation and that one celled whatever eventually, by chance and by golly evolved into you. A living breathing miracle that has the capability to turn food into energy, to get rid of the waste that we don’t need, to reproduce and to come up with complex convoluted theories like evolution. You ever wonder how long did it take in the evolutionary process in order for reproduction to work? And shouldn’t that have stopped everything if it didn’t happen right away. But we aren’t going to talk about that today.
When you read through the book you will want to see how Genesis focuses on the relationship that God has with mankind. A relationship that began in the Garden of Eden and was shattered when the first couple choice to deliberately disobey God’s commandments. And then for the remainder of the book we see how that relationship was restored through covenants and sacrifices and broken through man’s continual disobedience.
So where were we in the story? Oh yes, Eve has been tempted by the devil to disobey God and she in turn tempts Adam and it is literally the bite that changes the world. With that bite their eyes were indeed open and they were overcome with shame and tried to cover their nakedness. Up to that point there had been no shame, no sense of right and wrong. I don’t know if there was any magical power in the tree of knowledge of Good and evil or if it was the simple act of disobedience that made them realize the difference between doing what they should do and what they shouldn’t do. Regardless of what caused it to happen their innocence was no more.
1) They were in the Wrong. The directions that God gave were very simple, don’t eat from that tree, you see that tree over there? Don’t eat from it, get it? And I’m sure that they nodded and said “Got it.” It wasn’t rocket science; there was no ambiguity about the command. “Did he mean we shouldn’t eat from it on Saturday or we shouldn’t eat from it on Sunday?” “Did he mean we shouldn’t eat from it at all or that we could eat from it as long as we didn’t eat from it to excess?” or “Maybe he meant that we could eat the fruit that was rated ‘g” but not the fruit that was rated ‘AA’ or ‘R’ and we’d have to exercise our own judgment on the fruit that was rated ‘PG 14’.”
God has given us a book that tells us what he wants us to do as well as what he doesn’t want us to do. In it’s simplest form it is the Ten Commandment but there is more then that, throughout the book you discover verses like Galatians 5:19-21 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
It’s not like God has a whole list of unwritten rules that he is expecting us to follow listen to what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.
And so regardless of what some people want you to think there are things that are right and things that are wrong in this life.
2) They knew it was Wrong. When Satan showed up and began his temptation he asked Eve “Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?” and listen to what Eve said “Of course we may eat it, it’s only the fruit from the tree at the centre of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it,” It would appear that she had a pretty firm grip on what they weren’t supposed to do, now notice what else she adds “or even touch it or we will die.” God hadn’t commanded them not to touch it, he just told them not to eat the fruit. For that matter they could have cut the tree down chopped it up and used it for firewood and been done with temptation.
In our lives how much of the wrong that we do is done in ignorance? How often can we honestly say “I didn’t know that was wrong.”? “You mean I shouldn’t have cheated on my wife, stole from my employer and lied to my parents.” “Who would have thought that was wrong?” Duh. You.
Parents did you ever have a situation where one of your children did something they knew was wrong and then they hid from you? Because they knew that they had done wrong. I’m not sure if they thought they could hide forever or just until you got over being mad. That’s what happened with Adam and Eve.
God came looking for them and they hid, broke fellowship with God. Up to this point Adam and Eve enjoyed being in the presence of God but all of a sudden his Holiness revealed their disobedience. But why did they hide? Because they were afraid. But afraid of what? Genesis 3:9-10 The Lord God called to Adam, “Where are you?”
He replied, “I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” Was it being physically naked that made Adam afraid, it would appear so because the first thing they did was to cover themselves. But these two had been walking around buck naked since day one and it hadn’t bothered them, why now? I think that Adam and Eve were overcome with shame and they covered themselves physically because they couldn’t cover themselves spiritually.
Have you ever noticed that little children have no qualms about running around starkers, indeed they seem to enjoy it. But there comes a time when their innocence disappears and they feel compelled to cover up. You say that’s cultural Denn, well to a certain degree yes. But even in cultures in much warmer climates where in the past they wore considerably less then would be considered acceptable by western standards most still wore something.
As a believer have you ever been ashamed to be in the presence of God because of disobedience in your life? Perhaps it was during your own quiet time, or during a worship service or maybe during communion. They knew that what they did was wrong and it caused a tear in their relationship.
3) They wouldn’t admit it. Even though they did what was wrong, and they knew it was wrong they refused to accept responsibility for what they had done. Thus the name of today’s message “The Blame Game” Genesis 3:11-12 “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
“Yes,” Adam admitted, “but . . .” Boy does that sound familiar. How often when confronted with doing something they shouldn’t be doing have you heard your kids say in response “Yes but.”? As a matter of fact how often when confronted with doing something that you shouldn’t be doing have you heard yourself say “Yes but.”?
Adam was frantically looking for a way out. Someone said If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.
A) They Blamed Others Lady Nancy Astor said “In passing, also, I would like to say that the first time Adam had a chance he laid the blame on a woman.” Nancy Astor was the first American to hold a seat in the Parliament in England but you probably know her as the lady who said “Mr. Churchill if I was your wife I’d put ground glass in your tea” to which the Prime Minister responded “Madam if you were my wife I’d drink it.” Let’s go back to Genesis 3:11-12 “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
“Yes,” Adam admitted, “but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it.”
How often in our lives do we seek to blame others for our behaviour and our failures on others? It was because of my parents or my teachers or my friends. They led me astray. Motivational speaker Dr. Robert Anthony claims “When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” And so you don’t need to change if it was someone else’s fault that you sinned. Very seldom do you hear someone say “I sinned, it was my choice, nobody forced me tempted me or enticed me, I did it because I wanted to.”
B) They Blamed The Devil And what was Eve’s response to Adam’s charge? Genesis 3:13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “How could you do such a thing?”
“The serpent tricked me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” It was the classic “The Devil made me do it.” Defence and the poor Devil didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Yes the Devil will tempt us to do wrong, yes he wants you to fail as a Christian. But you don’t have to. One of the greatest promises in the bible is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13 But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
The bible never says that we won’t be tempted, but it does say we don’t have to give in to temptation. There isn’t anything that you will be tempted to do that somebody else hasn’t already been tempted to do and yes some did give in to that temptation, but many didn’t.
All Adam and Eve had to do was whistle and God would have been there and turfed the Devil out on his ear. But no they were enjoying the conversation. And you know and I know that when we are being tempted that if we actually stopped and prayed about the situation things would probably go in a different direction, but then again maybe that’s what we are afraid of. It was English writer Margaret Oliphant who said “Temptations come, as a general rule, when they are sought.”
But you know the story could have had a different ending because 4) There Was Another Answer If we went back to Genesis 3:11-12 “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
“Yes,” Adam admitted, and then if instead of trying to shift the blame I wonder what would have happened if he had of said “I was wrong and we are so sorry, next time we will call out to you and we’ll resist temptation.” Do you think God would have forgive Adam and Eve? I do. And while that might be a hypothetical question what happens when we sin isn’t, the word of God promises us in 1 John 1:8-9 If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.
So where are you at? Let’s see if we have all of the story straight. In the beginning God created Man and Woman and they lived in fellowship with him and when sin came into the world it separated us from God. And it continues to separate us from God. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. And ever since that first sin we have tried to bridge the gap with our own efforts, with religion, giving, good deeds but they are never enough. The consequences for Adam and Eve was spiritual death, and that holds true today, Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
The gap can only be bridged with the cross of Christ, and that’s why we are told in Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his special favour when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
So where are you?
If you’ve never experienced that forgiveness if you are still on the other side of the separation then today would be a great time to move across. It’s as simple as asking, here’s a suggested prayer.
Hope you enjoyed the message, PowerPoint may be available contact me at denn@bccnet.ca
If you could build a church for a dollar. . .
Would you?
