(Genesis 3:1-24)
�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? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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. 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. 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. 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. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife�s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever; Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from when he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.�
In olden days, say forty to fifty years ago, there was a popular part of the worship service called �testimony time.� This was a time when the members of the church would stand and proclaim their faith in God. They would praise God for the goodness He had bestowed upon them. These were good meetings.
I�ve been watching a television sports program where the announcer was talking about the football �training camps.� I�ve never played football; but I�ve a pretty good idea what happens at these camps. I don�t think they collect butterflies make �handicraft� souvenirs to take home to their parents! A football training camp is a time when the players subject their bodies to rigorous exercise programs as they prepare for the coming season.
These testimony meetings were a training camp, of sorts, for the souls of the church membership. It was a time when they could exercise their spiritual muscles in preparation to take the old, old story of Jesus and His love out into the field of spiritual combat among the people of the world.
We don�t see these meetings very often anymore. I guess people are so busy electing the right candidate, passing the correct laws and working to change culture without bothering to win the lost, that they feel they have little to praise God about. Unspoken, but often felt just beneath the surface, is the opinion that God should praise us for all the work we�ve done for Him.
We�ve all too often forgotten that our duty as Christians is to live close to God, to revel in the fact of His love, and to be dutiful soldiers who obey the command of the Great Commission to spread the Gospel unto the ends of the earth.
The call of the Gospel may not change the outward demeanor of a person. But, that Gospel is the only message which can change the destination of a person�s eternal soul. Even if this were not such a pressing reality, we should be so thankful for the work of God upon our own souls that we would be gleefully anxious to do His bidding to spread the word of His love.
Did you ever lose your keys? Of course! When you found them you probably told someone, �They were in the last place I looked.� The old joke goes that of course they were in the last placed you looked; after you found them you stopped looking.
The fact that we have the picture of the seeking God is in obvious relationship to the fact that mankind is lost in his sins. That is why God is seeking - to draw men and women from the snares of sin into the freedom of salvation.
Let�s look at this concept, reality actually, of the sinning man.
In the first verse of the third chapter of Genesis, we find these words: �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?�
In this verse we see a doubt in the Word of God introduced.
We find the same thing today. Except, today the question comes not from the tempter of mankind. The question comes from the conservative preacher. The question comes from the �fundamentalist� Bible College. The question comes from our �trustworthy� theologians. �Yea, hath God said��
We find notes in our Bibles that discredit large portions of the Scriptural record. We are told that the story of the Resurrected Savior as provided in the last portion of the last chapter of Mark is only the work of a �pious redactor.� We are told that the great story of the love of God as pictured in the dealing of Jesus with the woman taken in adultery, from the eighth chapter of John, never really happened. Or, if it did happen it certainly didn�t happen as told. We are told that we can not have a sure record of the originally inspired Word because this has been lost; the best we can hope for is a generally reconstructed telling of the essential story. The Words are lost. �Yea, hath God said��
We are told, by �learned scholars,� that God never really intended that we be allowed to hold His inspired Word in our hands. This was only available on the original manuscripts. �Yea, hath God said��
We are still falling for the same lie of Satan! This is a pathetic situation. Where is our faith in the Goodness and Love of God! If we cannot trust God to preserve His Own message to mankind, then we cannot trust God!
Thanks to the gracious goodness of God, we do have this Word today. We can hold aloft an accurate English translation of this God blessed and God preserved Word even today when we proclaim - from the God honored King James Bible - �Thus saith the Lord!� �Yea, hath God said�� Yes He did. And He continues to say it to men and woman of this day.
Many would question the relevancy of this Word for our day. Folks, there ain�t no need to question the Word of God as an anachronism from the past. People have not changed. Neither has the Word of God. God�s Word speaks to the deepest yearning of a human soul. God created us and knows what it is that makes one �tick.� God has provided the balm for the wounded heart of man.
When we speak of an inspired Word from God, we speak of an eternal entity. God is of eternity. He transcends the restraints of temporal time. Neither Him, nor His Words are ever subject to decay from the sands and storms of time. God is eternal. The Words of God are eternal. Neither can be lost in the maze of centuries as God is the Master of those centuries. To cast doubt upon the preservation of the Scripture is to cast doubt upon the very nature and existence of God.
But, there was more than just the snare of the tempter. There was also the complicity of the creature. Verse three, of this third chapter tells us that Eve�s answer was: �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.�
I don�t know the reasoning of Eve as she told this lie. God had not said they could not touch the tree; He had said they could not eat of it.
An overzealous person is often one who attempts to do more than is needed. Eve wanted to defend God. So she tried to make His Words a little more forceful.
Have you ever noticed that all of the new translations of Scripture will tell us that they are attempting to make the Words of God more easily understood? At first blush this sounds like a very noble idea. But, is it? Does God really need our assistance? Should we not be interested in putting forth the Words which God gave, rather than our rendition of them?
Actually, when the process is considered, the concept of making the Words of God clearer is the first step in losing those Words. It is only an accurate, word for Word translation which is capable of maintaining a continuity of the Words. If each person, down through the years of time, attempts to manipulate the Words of God to the current cultural situation, those originally inspired Words of God are going to give way to the culturally uninspired words of God.
Besides, who was it who determined that God would need their help to convey His Own message. Is not this the job of the Holy Spirit rather than the prideful, and somewhat faithless, instinctual modern day scribe who inserts his own opinion as to the veracity of just which Words he might decide are capable of winning his vote?
Isn�t it a Scriptural mandate that we trust God rather than man? But, if it is man deciding upon what wording is allowed, how do we know it is in reality Scripture.
The fact of the matter is that Truth is Truth whether or not it is always easy to understand. The old canard of, �God said it. I believe it. That settles it,� is false. If God did indeed say it then it is true whether anyone believes it or not!
God does not need our help. He does demand our faith. This faith is to be settled in Him rather than in prideful mankind.
This doubt suggested by Satan, and doubt acted upon by Eve produced an out and out rejection of the commandment of God.
Look at verse four of this third chapter. �And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die�
When faith in God is replaced by a faith in a �messenger� of religious instruction, sin is the outcome.
In verse three we see that Eve was seduced by the sin of pride. The serpent had told her that she would gain great knowledge and spiritual insight if she would just ignore the Words of God and accept the lie of Satan.
This was also the lure of the Gnostic sect which perverted much of the record of the early Christian church. The Gnostic taught that he could gain special insight into the spiritual realm; he would, thus, become a �super Christian.�
It is instructive to me that most of the modern manuscripts, upon which the modern day English versions are based, came from the sands of Egypt. Egypt was an early �hotbed� of Gnostic influence.
What are we told that we gain from these manuscripts? We are told that we gain a clearer understanding of the original stories of the original parchments. None of these I have seen would claim that we have recovered the original Words. No problem here; God never lost those Words, even if prideful mankind claims He did!
Do you see the subtil lie of Satan in this? We are allowed to claim that we know more even as we must confess that we can trust, or have faith in, less and less.
If you�ll look in verse seven you�ll see that Adam fell, not through trickery or deceit. Adam made a conscious choice to deny the leading of God so that he could gain fellowship with the woman, the creature.
Another thing. Many will tell young theologians that they can not trust the Traditional Text of their King James Bibles. �After all, no one accepts that old version anymore.� The plea is made to extend fellowship with the creature rather than with the Creator.
Adam and Eve then realized the fact of sin; and the effect of sin.
�And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that there were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.� (Genesis 3:7)
Sin had transformed the glory of their bodies into a source of shame. They were ashamed of that which God had provided to them in the creation. Sin brings shame.
Adam and Eve had also lost the innocence of not knowing sin. Yes, the knowledge promised was available. But it was a promise to their own damnation. Satan will make promises. He will keep his promises. But, there is always a �catch.� There is a thorn on every rose from the evil one.
The sinner then, who had sinned on his own power, tried to cover that sin by works of his own hands. Isn�t this a picture of man without God? This is faithlessness in action. Our pride tells us that we must do that which we do not trust God to accomplish!
Upon the scene of this spiritual devastation came the Seeking God.
In verse eight of this third chapter of Genesis, we see an interesting effect caused by this sin of Adam and Eve. �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.�
It is interesting to see that Man, who had sinned through pride and faithlessness, now attempted to hide himself in the garden from the Creator who had made the garden. To borrow a phrase from a comedian on the �Blue Collar Comedy Tour,� �If you don�t see the irony in that little peace of stupidity, �Here�s your sign!��
Even today we see people trying to hide from God. They may do this through religious observance. They may do this through atheism. They may do this through the �Scarlett O�Hara Syndrome:� �I can�t think about that today. Tomorrow is another day.� To such as these, �Here�s your sign.�
You can�t hide from God.
True, God came searching for these two. But, God knows where man is at all times! Listen to these words of the Psalmist.
�Whiter shall I go from thy spirit? Or, whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.� (Psalm 139:7-12)
One cannot hide from God. That is a very good thing. Romans 3:11 tells us that, �There is none that understand, there is none that seeketh after God.�
While religion is simply trying to hide from the wrath of a just God, true Christianity is looking back at God because He first loved us. We are well aware of this principle when we consider that God made the first move towards us with His loving move on the Cross of Calvary.
In looking at verse ten we see that Adam confessed to his situation of sin. This is interesting from a theological standpoint. Note that Adam intent was to hide from God. But, when God called out to Adam, Adam responded in confession of his sin.
It is the same way in this day. Man will not seek God on his own. He might seek some sort of �religious experience� as a way to shield himself from what is perceived to be a God of Wrath. Then, when the Spirit of God sheds the convicting power of His Word upon that person, the love of God is seen. It is to this that man will respond.
Before the grace of God was manifest in the calling of God, Adam had a fear of God. But, this fear was not the awe of a sinner in the presence of the Great God of love and forgiveness. The fear of Adam had been a fear of retribution. This fear of retribution was replaced by the �fear� of awe, or reverence, that the God of Creation would call the sinner to repentance.
Man was called to realize his condition as a sinner. Most of us are loath to admit that we are sinners. We may own up to mistakes. We may admit to �breaches of proper conduct.� We may even own up to our condition as frail humans. But, for the most part, we are not disposed to admit that we are sinners. The call of God is a call that asks us to face up to the truth: we are sinful creatures.
Adam admitted to himself the obvious; he was hiding from the Just God. When we realize that all of our works and protestations are but hiding places from the fact of our own sin, we may be able to stand in humility before the God Who summons us to His grace.
It is at this point that we are ready to respond to the call of the Cross. It is at this point that we are ready to accept the sacrifice of Jesus as our own cure for the condition of sin.
Still, even under the convicting power, both Adam and Eve attempted to hide their own responsibility by blaming another. This is a natural human emotion. But, God made them coats of skins to cover their own sins.
We are each personally responsible for our own sins and rebellion against the Lawful Ruler of the Universe. God displayed this fact by the sacrifice of the animals whose very life blood was shed so that Adam and Eve could have a covering for their shame. It is the same principle at the Cross of Christ. Jesus, Who knew no sin, Who had no sin of His Own for which to atone, died on the cross to be the cure for our own sin. The Just died for the unjust.
These coats of skins where a prophecy of He Who was to come into the world and die in time so that others might live in eternity.
Still, as we peruse verses 16-19 we see that sin carried a penalty. Even Christians are not exempt form the law that what is sown will be reaped. We sow kernels of corn to raise a crop of corn. When we have sown the kernels of sin, we will reap the harvest, in our human bodies, of that which we have sown.
Jesus offers us spiritual salvation at the Cross. But the physical impact of sin remains. We will die. We will suffer from time to time. But, our immortal souls are saved from the impact of sin even as sin has permeated the physical earth. Salvation, eternal bliss, a reconnection of the ability to speak with God, has been restored in the spiritual.
The unconverted person will die in his sins. He will suffer the effects of the sin of Adam in this life. All of the natural disasters are the result of the sin of Adam affecting the physical world of time. Without the salvation offered through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, this sin will drag a person down into a Christless grave. Hell is the only future awaiting those who do not accept the salvation offered in Jesus Christ.
What about this salvation which was delivered?
First of all, in verse twenty-one, we see the need of a blood sacrifice. A fair question is, �Why a blood sacrifice?�
I believe that the answer to this question is two-fold. First, a blood sacrifice is a complete sacrifice. The entirety of the organism is placed before the Lord in a state of atonement for sin which causes the destruction of the entire person. The cure, in effect, is then equal to the cause.
Second, the fact of a blood sacrifice means that it is a complete sacrifice. This is not a �half way� measure. This is not a �plaster over,� or cosmetic, attempt. Sin is being seen as hidden as was the error of Adam. Sin is being shown as eradicated, removed from the sinner through a complete dedication toward that removal.
But, the problem is that this is not possible from the one who is the sinner. The fact of his sin has separated him from the God to Whom the sacrifice is to be offered. The sinner is left with nothing good within himself to offer to God. For the sinner to offer himself, or another sinner, as an offering is to offer a tainted offering. This would be a further affront to the Holy God.
Only a perfect sacrifice could be effectual. The sacrifice of the animals was only a picture, a prophecy, of the effectual sacrifice which would come in the perfect Person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The fact of sin meant that man had become a moral entity. This doesn�t sound like much of a problem until we realize that God had so created man that man would not have to make a choice between right and wrong. The perfect creation of mankind was that man would always chose the right path.
This situation could have continued except for the love of God. God did not wish to make man a being without choice. God did not desire an unthinking slave. God desired fellowship with a creature who would voluntarily love Him. Any dog can be put on a leash and forced to follow his master. A trained dog will follow because he has been taught to do so. But, a dog who is the companion of his master will follow because he desires to be with his master.
God gave man the opportunity to follow out of love rather than out of responsibility. Don�t misunderstand. I do believe that we have a responsibility to follow God. But, we should follow Him out of love. This is a love that responds to the fact that He first loved us at Calvary.
Adam and Eve misused the freedom they had been given. They choose to sin. Adam, especially, was neither cajoled nor deceived. He made a moral choice. That choice was to give himself over to sin.
This put Adam in a situation of being in opposition to God. Just as a North point of a compass will reject, fly away from, the North point of another compass, so did Adam - as a free moral agent, repulse God. As a free moral agent, Adam who was created in the spiritual image of God, pushed against the morality of the just God when he (Adam) had chosen the path of sin rather than righteousness.
This meant, simply, that Adam was not capable of approaching God for the forgiveness which he so desperately needed.
This isn�t a perfect example. There are many holes in my analogy. But, it does give an easily understandable picture of the dilemma in which Adam found himself. Adam needed to ask forgiveness of the One he could not approach because his sin had cast him from the presence of God.
Even had Adam been able to approach the presence of God, he had nothing to offer which would be acceptable as an atonement for his sin. Neither could Adam gain anything which would have been acceptable.
God solved the problem, Himself. God called Adam, who had no right to approach God, to Himself. God offered the sin bearer of which Adam was in need. God even provided the sacrifice for Adam
The great love of God is beyond our comprehension.
Sin had caused man to be driven from the Garden. The Garden was symbolic of the presence of God. But, here was God calling man back to Himself.
He does this same thing for us in this day. God calls us to Himself with the sacrifice He has provided on the Cross of Calvary. Jesus, the Just, has offered Himself as the atonement for us, the unjust who would have no way to approach God were He not to have done this for us.
Even now the Holy Spirit calls you to accept the sacrifice of Jesus.
Accept Him as your Savior.
Do it today!