The Fall Of Man

March 16, 2014

The Fall of Man

Genesis 3:1-8

Introduction

A conscientious Bible teacher was trying to teach his class of small children about the nature of sin.

He hit a snag when he started telling them that we are all born in sin.

One little girl gave him a puzzled look, and then said very seriously, “I wasn’t born in sin. I was born in November.”

Well, we know that this little girl’s understanding of sin is probably incomplete.

But, all we need to know about sin is found in the Bible.

At the beginning of the Bible, we find the first sin and the fall of man.

Satan was behind it.

Because he hated God, he wanted to destroy His creation.

Satan made his attack on our first parents, while they were in the Garden of Eden.

It began with an attack on the Word of God.

The Word, at that time, consisted only of what God had said in person to Adam and Eve.

They were innocent; in fact, they didn’t even know what sin is.

We know that Satan hates God, and in this case he was jealous of what God had created.

That’s why he made a plan to destroy it.

First, he disguised himself by taking the form of a serpent.

Then he talked to Eve, using his genius and cunning, and he made certain insinuations against the LORD.

Her only defense was God’s Word, to which she could have added, “Thus Saith the LORD.”

In the final analysis the temptation hinged upon the matter of belief.

Would Eve believe God or would she believe the serpent?

Our text is Genesis 3:1-8, and I will read the verses to you.

Text

3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

I wonder what God’s plans were for humankind, if sin never entered the picture.

We’ll never know, because this passage describes the first sin, and it was that one sin that caused the FALL OF MAN.

Right off the bat we hear Satan tempting Eve by questioning what God had told the couple.

Verse 1 tells us several things; it says: Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Satan is able to overcome us since he is a fallen angel who is brilliant, cunning and malicious.

Now, nobody can be fuller of malice against humanity than Satan is, and he proves it every day; and that malice sharpens his inborn wisdom, so that he has become exceedingly subtle.

He attacks Eve, when she was alone.

That placed her at the greatest disadvantage.

He knew that “two are better than one”; and that what one might yield to, two could resist.

It’s highly probable that he assaulted her at a moment when she was near the tree, so that there would be no time for her to reflect and deliberate on his question; “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

He wants to create doubt in her mind about whether God really meant what He said.

Satan doesn’t dangle the fascinations of the forbidden fruit before Eve, but an apparently innocent doubt is passed into her ear.