SPEAKER_00: Before a problem can be remedied, it must first be properly identified and faced as difficult as that process can be.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things I generally encourage people, particularly my age, to do is to go for an annual checkup every year.
SPEAKER_00: And I've had, I can't tell you how many, particularly men that say to me, I'm not going to go, you know, because I might find out something that's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I might get some horrible diagnosis.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, okay, but going to the doctor doesn't give you that diagnosis.
SPEAKER_00: And certainly staying away from the doctor doesn't make that diagnosis disappear.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens if you fail to confront health issues, you will risk turning a maybe a small diagnosis or a manageable diagnosis, let's say, into a deadly one.
SPEAKER_00: So go to the doctor.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Many in our culture want to avoid churches who deal with the subject of sin, which is the greatest problem to humanity.
SPEAKER_00: It's humanity's greatest problem.
SPEAKER_00: They don't want to be told that something that they're doing might be sinful.
SPEAKER_00: But I just want to give you fair warning.
SPEAKER_00: You're in a church today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a fire and brimstone preacher, I promise you, but I am not afraid.
SPEAKER_00: We are not afraid, our pastors, to address the subject of sin.
SPEAKER_00: So today we come to Genesis chapter 3, which is a very robust teaching on what we called, uh we call original sin and sin's ensuing consequences.
SPEAKER_00: But we also find here the really good news, the remedy for our sin.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you to listen today because you know, we read the story of uh, you know, Eve taking of the fruit, like most of us, if not all of us, know the story.
SPEAKER_00: And every one of you right now are probably tempted to partake of some forbidden fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And we are reminded in the text of the consequences of doing such.
SPEAKER_00: But I also want you to listen today because many of us carry shame and guilt for our past sin.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to want to remind you today that in Christ there is a covering, a removal of your guilt, a covering of your shame.
SPEAKER_00: Christ bore your shame at Calvary.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to walk out of here in shame and guilt today.
SPEAKER_00: So let's jump in.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the context.
SPEAKER_00: Page two of your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we talked last week where Adam and Eve are placed in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they've got organic food, folks.
SPEAKER_00: They've got safety, they've got the blessing of marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what, husbands?
SPEAKER_00: Their wives were naked all the time, or his wife was naked all the time, and they felt no shame.
SPEAKER_00: This is a cool place.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: They were given they were given jobs, like jobs that gave them purpose, but best of all, you might remember this is the the best gift, this is the best blessing.
SPEAKER_00: This is what made Eden paradise.
SPEAKER_00: Eden was a cosmic temple, a place where heaven and earth overlapped, where Adam and Eve could dwell with God.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, that's paradise.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve get to enjoy this day in and day out.
SPEAKER_00: But page three, that's page two.
SPEAKER_00: But page three, like all of us, it doesn't take us long to mess things up.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: And Eden becomes paradise lost.
SPEAKER_00: Great tragedy with perpetual consequences, let's say.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to begin by looking at verses one through four.
SPEAKER_00: So take your Bibles, go with me.
SPEAKER_00: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
SPEAKER_00: And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die.
SPEAKER_00: But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die.
SPEAKER_00: Now, who is this serpent, or what is this serpent?
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of odd, right?
SPEAKER_00: You have a talking snake.
SPEAKER_00: It's like we don't know what to do with this.
SPEAKER_00: Well, understand in the ancient world, serpents were associated with the spiritual realm.
SPEAKER_00: It's very important.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 3 does not explicitly identify the snake, but throughout the scripture, uh, you know, as you as you read through, particularly the New Testament, that the serpent's identity is revealed most explicitly in Revelation chapter 12, verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read it.
SPEAKER_00: And the great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, or more properly, the Satan.
SPEAKER_00: The deceiver, that's what he did in the garden of the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
SPEAKER_00: So this serpent is the devil.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Now, who knows how this worked, okay?
SPEAKER_00: How this worked.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he and like there's no biblical precedent for the idea that animals spoke pre-fall.
SPEAKER_00: This is an anomaly, but it's weird that Eve doesn't seem weirded out by it at all, taken aback by it, right?
SPEAKER_00: You just imagine you walk out and you know, a rattler just walks up to you, hey man, how's it going?
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: He's pretty nice.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he acts like he has uh Eve's best interest in mind.
SPEAKER_00: But it's likely that if this is a literal snake, that the enemy took possession of it and kind of controlled it, spoke through it, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: But let's not again miss the forest for the trees.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is the devil's aim as he approaches Eve?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he wants Adam and Eve to disobey God, he wants them to sin.
SPEAKER_00: He wants them to fall away from the Lord, he he wants them to walk away from God.
SPEAKER_00: And in like, why does he care?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a familiar plot in action movies, all right?
SPEAKER_00: You'll have some protagonist, some hero, right?
SPEAKER_00: And he's all there's always a villain who's out to get the hero.
SPEAKER_00: But often the hero is uber strong and a force to be reckoned with.
SPEAKER_00: And so if the villain or if the antagonist cannot get to the hero, if he can't crush him, what's he do?
SPEAKER_00: He goes for his family.
SPEAKER_00: Satan hates God, but he learned early on that he is no match for God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in the there are many people who think like the pagans, like there is this force of good and evil who are always in battle and it's like suspenseful as to who's gonna win.
SPEAKER_00: There are not two gods.
SPEAKER_00: Satan is not a god.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Satan is a flea compared to our God, and that's an overstatement.
SPEAKER_00: So Satan knows, he learned quickly, that he cannot defeat the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what he wants to do: he wants to go after his prized creation, those created in his image, his family.
SPEAKER_00: This is what he wants to destroy God's kids.
SPEAKER_00: It says, you remember in um Matthew, we read about you know, Jesus telling Peter, He wants to sift you as wheat.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the book of Job.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, Satan wanted Job, this righteous man, to curse God.
SPEAKER_00: You look at Judas, the Bible says that Judas took control of, or Satan took control of Judas's heart.
SPEAKER_00: And then, just in case you think you're immune to this, Peter in his first epistle says this the devil, your adversary, goes about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
SPEAKER_00: That's you, that's me.
SPEAKER_00: Satan cannot crush God.
SPEAKER_00: He can't even come close, so he goes after his kids.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what happens in Genesis 3.
SPEAKER_00: So, what are his tactics?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he wants, he is the great deceiver, right?
SPEAKER_00: The devil?
SPEAKER_00: He's always wanting to deceive God's people, and he does this in Genesis 3 by appealing to Eve's desires and to get her to question God.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy loves it when we question God.
SPEAKER_00: His word, his law, his goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he does first.
SPEAKER_00: Satan calls God's design into question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you notice who Satan approaches in this passage?
SPEAKER_00: Eve.
SPEAKER_00: No, God has clearly, and this is revealed in Genesis and throughout scripture, God has clearly clearly called man to lead his home.
SPEAKER_00: The man is not superior to the woman, but God has called, he holds, let's say, Adam in each man, each husband, responsible to lead his home.
SPEAKER_00: And so what Satan is doing, it's very subtle.
SPEAKER_00: He is calling God's good design into question when he approaches Eve.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, where was Adam?
SPEAKER_00: He was close, right?
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't he stand up and say, devil, you're not messing with her?
SPEAKER_00: You snake are gonna talk to me.
SPEAKER_00: As weird as this is, right?
SPEAKER_00: Then Satan calls God's goodness into question.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse one again.
SPEAKER_00: He said to the woman, Did God actually say, Watch this, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how many trees did God forbid Adam to eat of?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what Satan is doing?
SPEAKER_00: He is exaggerating God's law and saying, Oh, didn't he tell you you can't eat of any trees?
SPEAKER_00: The implication is this Satan wants us to think that God is stingy and selfish and that he is not good.
SPEAKER_00: Then he calls God's warnings into question, right?
SPEAKER_00: What did God say?
SPEAKER_00: You eat of this tree, you will surely die.
SPEAKER_00: The wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_00: But now in verse 4, Satan says, Come on, God's not really gonna kill you.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something, parents.
SPEAKER_00: Don't threaten your kids with a punishment you're not willing to go through with.
SPEAKER_00: Like I've heard some of you say, I'm gonna cut your throat.
SPEAKER_00: That's not good on many levels, but hopefully you're not gonna follow through with that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you on a you know, lighter example would be would be this.
SPEAKER_00: You you say, you know, you're going on vacation and the kids are being bad and you're in the car and they're screaming and yelling, and you say something like this if you don't stop, I'm gonna turn this car around.
SPEAKER_00: No, you're not.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what happens when you threaten your kids with punishments you don't follow through with, they learn, they come to believe that you know what?
SPEAKER_00: These warnings from God, from the cops, from the law, they're not really gonna follow through with those things.
SPEAKER_00: It can be detrimental.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what happens.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, Come on, God's not gonna follow through with this, he's just trying to scare you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't we try to convince ourselves sometimes when we really want to sin?
SPEAKER_00: That God's punishment or consequences are not going to ensue.
SPEAKER_00: You know, God will give us a warning about whatever it is, but we want it and we try to convince ourselves things aren't gonna be that bad.
SPEAKER_00: But we know that's not the case.
SPEAKER_00: Then Satan calls God's motives in the question.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 for God knows that when you eat of this forbidden fruit, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not that you're gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: He just knows you're gonna be like him.
SPEAKER_00: Your eyes will be opened.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, he doesn't have your best interest in mind.
SPEAKER_00: And what's it mean your eyes will be opened and you will be like God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the temptation is this Adam and Eve were designed like us to sit under God's authority.
SPEAKER_00: We were called to be part of God's family business to rule the world as vice regents, if you were deputies.
SPEAKER_00: We're not called to be kings.
SPEAKER_00: We're to rule under God's authority.
SPEAKER_00: So the temptation here to be like God, to have your eyes opened, is to sit on the throne of your own life.
SPEAKER_00: It's this temptation to say, I'm gonna call the shots.
SPEAKER_00: See, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what's the point of that?
SPEAKER_00: What's what's up with that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Adam and Eve can decide here, are we going to live by God's revealed rules according to his wisdom, or are we going to define good and evil ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that what our culture is doing today?
SPEAKER_00: It's like, where do you get your convictions from?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: Well, our culture says this if you don't like something the Bible says, just live by your own convictions.
SPEAKER_00: Eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So that's what's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: And the essence of sin is this it's disobedience, it's putting yourself in the place of God.
SPEAKER_00: And the devil constantly tries to get us to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Adam and Eve, they're in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: Things are going well, and they take the bait.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
SPEAKER_00: And then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, they risk paradise for their hedonistic desires.
SPEAKER_00: This is something.
SPEAKER_00: Why give in to Satan instead of fleeing?
SPEAKER_00: Like, why do they give in?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why.
SPEAKER_00: It's because these desires to disobey were already in their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Eve is lusting after the fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And she desires deep down to play by her own rules.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing: the devil tempts us, you know, not with things that we're that we don't desire, but he tempts us with sins that are hiding in our heart.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you're not a violent person, he's not going to tempt you to go kill somebody.
SPEAKER_00: But whatever your hidden lust is, let's say, that's what the devil will tempt you with.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read you, James 1.
SPEAKER_00: But each person, this is verse 15, each person is tempted when he is lured and lured and enticed by what?
SPEAKER_00: His own desire.
SPEAKER_00: Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
SPEAKER_00: You know what Satan does in Genesis 3?
SPEAKER_00: He gives Eve permission to follow her heart.
SPEAKER_00: And the heart is deceitful above all things.
SPEAKER_00: That's what our culture wants.
SPEAKER_00: Our culture, it's not enough for us just to live and let live.
SPEAKER_00: What do they want from us?
SPEAKER_00: They want us to affirm their sin.
SPEAKER_00: Because people know deep down that their actions, when they are against God's law, they know they're wrong, but they're waiting.
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to find some preacher, and there's plenty of them today.
SPEAKER_00: Some man or woman, quote unquote, of God, who will affirm them and say, oh, this sin is, you know, this is not really a sin.
SPEAKER_00: If it makes you happy, God wants you to be happy.
SPEAKER_00: Can I give you a news flash?
SPEAKER_00: God does not care as much about your happiness as he does about your holiness.
unknown: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: And I would say he does want you to be happy, but he wants you to be happy in him.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to delight yourself in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So today some of you have hidden lust in your heart, and when you have that, he'll send a seductress or a knight in shining armor.
SPEAKER_00: If you have hidden greed, he will tempt you with shady business deals, and he'll give you opportunity to exploit people for your material gain.
SPEAKER_00: If you have hatred and resentment hidden in your heart, he will give you opportunity to express violence in words or actions.
SPEAKER_00: The point is this.
SPEAKER_00: That's worth thinking about.
SPEAKER_00: We got to cut sin off at the root.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is not just a behavior issue, friends, it is a heart issue.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what happens Adam and Eve sin, and immediately they are overcome with shame.
SPEAKER_00: How many have been there?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Then the eyes of both were open, and they knew that they were naked.
SPEAKER_00: This is a strange verse, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Talking snakes and these kinds of statements.
SPEAKER_00: It's an interesting passage.
SPEAKER_00: Their eyes were open.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, they they weren't walking around with, you know, like just born kittens with their eyes shut before the fall.
SPEAKER_00: That they could see very well, but this is metaphorical.
SPEAKER_00: Their eyes were opened.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what happens: they are opened to see evil not just as an ideal or a possibility, but they know it now by personal experience and participation.
SPEAKER_00: They feel it, they can see, in some sense, these forces of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And they knew they were naked, it says.
SPEAKER_00: What's that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, in at the end of chapter two, it says again, they're in the garden, they're in paradise, and they're naked, and the Bible says they were not ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: But now, here's what Moses is telling us.
SPEAKER_00: They are naked still after they've sinned, but now they are ashamed, they are more self-conscious, they see and feel their own nakedness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what is this about?
SPEAKER_00: If Adam and Eve are the only ones in the garden, who cares if they're naked?
SPEAKER_00: Husband and wife.
SPEAKER_00: There's something deeper going on here.
SPEAKER_00: There's a common nightmare, right?
SPEAKER_00: Of where you're speaking before a crowd and you look down, and what do you realize?
SPEAKER_00: You're not wearing any clothes.
SPEAKER_00: That's scary.
SPEAKER_00: But that dream is is not just about physical nakedness, but to be sure, that's pretty bad in and of itself.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what experts tell us about that common dream.
SPEAKER_00: They say that there are psychological effects, that there are there are deeper psychological reasons, let's say, that we have those kind of dreams.
SPEAKER_00: And there are fears that go beyond being exposed physically.
SPEAKER_00: Here's one of them there is a fear behind these dreams of being truly.
SPEAKER_00: Scene.
SPEAKER_00: This is worth thinking about our weakness, our guilt, our insecurities had become visible.
SPEAKER_00: You talk about a scary thought.
SPEAKER_00: Because don't we wear masks?
SPEAKER_00: Don't we want people to see us as strong and holy and resilient and close to God?
SPEAKER_00: We don't want people to see our weaknesses, our fears, our insecurities.
SPEAKER_00: To be naked is to be absolutely vulnerable.
SPEAKER_00: Then there's another fear behind this dream.
SPEAKER_00: It's the fear of judgment and rejection.
SPEAKER_00: See, if people see you for who you truly are and you know this, if if they know my the malevolence that's in my heart, they will not want anything to do with me.
SPEAKER_00: And so we hide.
SPEAKER_00: We're ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what happens.
SPEAKER_00: They're aware of their nakedness.
SPEAKER_00: See, before the fall, Adam and Eve are pure in the Lord, and they have nothing to hide.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what sin does: it brings shame and guilt and makes us want to hide.
SPEAKER_00: So how do they respond to the shame?
SPEAKER_00: This is this is really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7, um, the the second part, they sold, sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
SPEAKER_00: You've seen the posters, right?
SPEAKER_00: What are they doing here?
SPEAKER_00: They're attempting by their own means to cover their shame.
SPEAKER_00: You know, don't we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Don't we try to cover our shame and deal with it ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: How do we do it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the primary way the world is doing this is through good works.
SPEAKER_00: We we think if people can just see it, or if I can just do more good works than I have evil deeds, and it's like, good luck with that, then my shame will be removed, I'll be forgiven, I won't have to carry the sin.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is that even your good works, apart from Christ, are bad works.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you do them so that you can feel good about yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that you don't care about people at any level, but ultimately you're doing this to please God or to please yourself, to make yourself feel better about your own sin.
SPEAKER_00: Then how else do we try to cover our shame?
SPEAKER_00: By comparison.
SPEAKER_00: Like you know you're a pretty bad person, but when you get in trouble, you're like, at least I'm not Hitler.
SPEAKER_00: And fair enough, hopefully you're not.
SPEAKER_00: But you ought to compare yourself to Jesus if you want to see if you're good or not.
SPEAKER_00: Gulp, right?
SPEAKER_00: Then we attempt to cover our shame through achievement.
SPEAKER_00: If I can just get enough education, enough degrees on my wall, if I can just make enough money, then I won't feel this sense of shame because I've accomplished so much.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, how do we deal with shame?
SPEAKER_00: Through pleasure and distraction.
SPEAKER_00: We turn to substance abuse.
SPEAKER_00: Or we we we spend our lives chasing hedonistic desires that make us happy for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: And we we do that time after time after time in an attempt to remove our guilt.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know sold fig leaves don't make good clothes?
SPEAKER_00: It will not cover you.
SPEAKER_00: Like thanks for not wearing sold fig leaves to church this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: We can't, this is the point.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot cover our shame.
SPEAKER_00: And they find this out because what do they do next?
SPEAKER_00: How do they deal with it?
SPEAKER_00: They try to hide from God.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: They heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: How'd that work out?
SPEAKER_00: God says, Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: And it's not that he has divine amnesia.
SPEAKER_00: He knows where they are.
SPEAKER_00: It's like when you play hide and seek with your kids and their feet are sticking out, you know, three feet under the bed, and you're like, Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're just messing with them.
SPEAKER_00: God just wants them to admit to admit, see their sin and say, we've messed up.
SPEAKER_00: This is actually an act of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: God is giving them a chance to repent.
SPEAKER_00: Don't we sometimes think we can hide from God?
SPEAKER_00: We we don't pray when we're in sin or something like because I don't want God to know what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00: He knows.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to tell him, you don't have to confess it.
SPEAKER_00: He knows.
SPEAKER_00: You can sin in the darkest alley where nobody's looking, but the Lord sees.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot hide from God.
SPEAKER_00: Their shame is not dealt with by hiding.
SPEAKER_00: And then here's what they do.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Um, they they try to deal with their sin and shame by blame shifting.
SPEAKER_00: This is so good.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord called to the man and said, Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Who told you you were naked?
SPEAKER_00: Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?
SPEAKER_00: He wants him to admit it.
SPEAKER_00: But Adam doesn't watch this.
SPEAKER_00: This is so good.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13 Then the Lord, or excuse me, the man said, verse 12, the woman whom you gave me, she gave me the fruit of the tree of life, and I ate.
SPEAKER_00: What's he do?
SPEAKER_00: God approaches Adam.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, this is significant.
SPEAKER_00: Who did the enemy talk to?
SPEAKER_00: Eve, who took of the fruit first?
SPEAKER_00: Eve, who does God approach?
SPEAKER_00: Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Because his job was to protect the home to lead his wife, and he failed.
SPEAKER_00: So he comes to Adam, he says, Hey, dude.
SPEAKER_00: God probably didn't say dude, but um anybody know the Hebrew word, Jack, for dude?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, fair enough.
SPEAKER_00: Um, listen, he comes to Adam, he says, Adam, did you eat the fruit?
SPEAKER_00: And Adam says, Well, the wife you gave me.
SPEAKER_00: He throws his wife under the bus, she gave it to me.
SPEAKER_00: Men, I do not recommend this.
SPEAKER_00: But so he blames his wife, but not only does he blame his wife, did you see who else he blames here?
SPEAKER_00: Did you catch it?
SPEAKER_00: The woman you gave me.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, that is a temptation.
SPEAKER_00: God, if you didn't give me this upbringing, if you didn't put these people in my life, I wouldn't have sinned.
SPEAKER_00: Boy.
SPEAKER_00: Adam goes to the extreme to deny or justify his sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so then, watch this.
SPEAKER_00: Um, he goes to Eve and he says, Then the Lord said to the woman, What is this you've done?
SPEAKER_00: And the woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate.
SPEAKER_00: She blames the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Don't we do this?
SPEAKER_00: The devil made me do it.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't there songs about this?
SPEAKER_00: So Adam babys Eve and God.
SPEAKER_00: Eve then passes the blame.
SPEAKER_00: The devil made me do it.
SPEAKER_00: The serpent has nobody else, right?
SPEAKER_00: None of these tactics work.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, when we sin and we do, we need to own it.
SPEAKER_00: There are so many people in our culture, even within the church, and they want to be, they want to blame everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: They want to hold everybody else responsible for their sin and their attitude, their neurotic behavior, they're and they're always a victim.
SPEAKER_00: It's everybody else's fault.
SPEAKER_00: But what would happen?
SPEAKER_00: That will not remove any of your lack of success or your shame or your guilt or your frustrations.
SPEAKER_00: You know what you've got to do?
SPEAKER_00: Look at yourself in the mirror and say, Oh, I ate the fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Take responsibility for your life.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a woman, a friend, um, some weeks ago, and just shared her story with me.
SPEAKER_00: And it's she went through more trauma in a day than I've gone through in all my lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: And this was day after day after day.
SPEAKER_00: But but when we stopped talking and she went her way, here's what I thought about.
SPEAKER_00: I thought, you know, she told me all of this, but she never once said she was a victim.
SPEAKER_00: And she is quite successful in life and loves God because she hasn't blamed everybody else for the problems in her life or the sins that she's committed.
SPEAKER_00: She's taken responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: And oh, I would encourage you to do that today.
SPEAKER_00: So the the Times, the London Times asked several prominent writers back in the mid-20th century, what's wrong with the world?
SPEAKER_00: And uh the author and journalist G.K.
SPEAKER_00: Chesterton supposedly sent this remarkably brief reply, right?
SPEAKER_00: Here's here's his answer.
SPEAKER_00: What's wrong with the world?
SPEAKER_00: Dear sirs, I am yours sincerely, G.K.
SPEAKER_00: Chesterton.
SPEAKER_00: When when you're asked what's wrong, when you think about what's wrong with the world, if you're Republican, you bring, you blame Democrats.
SPEAKER_00: If you're Democrat, you bl you blame Trumpers, right?
SPEAKER_00: The MAGA people, we all blame somebody.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the problem with that if it's everybody else's fault, what's wrong in your life, what's wrong with the world, then you're hopeless because you can't fix everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: But if you contribute to the problems in your life of the world, you have great hope because you can do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's worth considering.
SPEAKER_00: So that's their response to sin.
SPEAKER_00: They try to hide it, try to cover themselves, try to blame.
SPEAKER_00: But what is God doesn't work, but what's God's response?
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, God responds with judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, well, wow, this seems harsh as you read the rest of these verses.
SPEAKER_00: Why would God just not turn a blind eye?
SPEAKER_00: What why was this a big deal?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me ask you, do you really want the God who is not just, who does not bring judgment?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to turn a blind eye to somebody like Hitler?
SPEAKER_00: When you read in the paper every day to to um men and women who exploit children, do you not say, I see the comments, do you not want them to pay?
SPEAKER_00: We serve a God of justice.
SPEAKER_00: He's a God of his word.
SPEAKER_00: When he says the wages of sin is death, the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's what we see: sin has consequences on two levels.
SPEAKER_00: One, Adam and Eve's sin.
SPEAKER_00: This is called original sin.
SPEAKER_00: We have all inherited this original sin, and their sin has had perpetual consequences for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, can you imagine every time they walked by a grave and thought, this is my fault?
SPEAKER_00: Their son Abel's grave, this is my fault.
SPEAKER_00: But then I want to talk about this on a, I want us to think about it on an individual level.
SPEAKER_00: Your sin, when you take of the forbidden fruit, it has consequences.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what happens: the original sin opens us up to the powers of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: God begins by addressing the serpent, and he talks about you're gonna eat dust and all of this.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a that's a sign, an ancient or a biblical metaphor for humiliation.
SPEAKER_00: I will put verse 15, then he says to the serpent, I'll put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what's happened.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve's willingness to give in to Satan's temptation has resulted in perpetual conflict between man and the forces of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens when we sin.
SPEAKER_00: We open ourselves up to the devil.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Ephesians 5 says, Paul writes this, he says, or five, I think it's chapter five.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Do not let the sun go down on your anger.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, don't let resentment take over.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what, and then he says this give no place to the devil.
SPEAKER_00: When you and I go against the word of God, we open ourselves up for the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't just impact us, we welcome those dark forces into our homes.
SPEAKER_00: You with me?
SPEAKER_00: Then original sin opened the world to anguish.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, I won't read, take time to read all these, but God talks to Eve and he says, Oh, by the way, um your labor pains are going to increase.
SPEAKER_00: I remember when both my children were born, I think Nikki uh cursed Eve, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Um then, so so you're this is weird, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Of all the punishments, like Eve, um, here's what's gonna happen to you.
SPEAKER_00: Childbirth is gonna be really painful.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says to Adam, you know, I gave you this job and it was really good.
SPEAKER_00: There were no thorns or thistles or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you're still gonna work, but it's gonna be backbreaking.
SPEAKER_00: Thorns and thistles will grow.
SPEAKER_00: So every time you're in your garden and the weeds, you know, you can't.
SPEAKER_00: I cannot grow flowers, but I'm really good at war at uh growing weeds and thistles, right?
SPEAKER_00: What's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: These are strange, aren't they, punishments?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, both child, childbearing and work were designed to be two of life's greatest blessings, right?
SPEAKER_00: A job gives us purpose.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the the very first command to Adam and Eve is multiply and fill the earth.
SPEAKER_00: These are great joys and blessings in life, but watch this.
SPEAKER_00: Because of sin, life, life's joys are mixed with incredible anguish.
SPEAKER_00: You know this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus talks about, you remember the whole world being in labor pains.
SPEAKER_00: There is still great beauty post-fall.
SPEAKER_00: There are the the earth is has many great things for us to enjoy.
SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful, it's magnificent.
SPEAKER_00: And life brings many joys.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know those joys are mixed with pain?
SPEAKER_00: That the joy and the blessing of marriage is filled also with anguish.
SPEAKER_00: It's difficult.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first amen I got.
SPEAKER_00: Your children, great blessings.
SPEAKER_00: You love them, you'd take a bullet for them.
SPEAKER_00: But we just had VBS, they're crazy.
SPEAKER_00: So sin has opened the world up and our lives up to anguish.
SPEAKER_00: Um, thirdly, sin has tainted our relationships.
SPEAKER_00: He he tells Adam and Eve, he says, You're to Eve, your desire shall be your for your husband, and he shall rule over you.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, God made Eve as a helpmeet, a helpmeet for her or for him, right?
SPEAKER_00: He made Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: Eve was supposed to compliment Adam and to be a helpmeet.
SPEAKER_00: So Adam was to be a spiritual leader in the home.
SPEAKER_00: But in here's what the Lord is saying: because of sin, your husband will take his job as a servant leader, and he will turn it into tyranny.
SPEAKER_00: He will want to rule over you.
SPEAKER_00: And she says, Your desire will be for your husband.
SPEAKER_00: A woman will look to her husband as savior, and there will be this constant battle of who's gonna rule the home.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we see.
SPEAKER_00: Original sin has tainted our relationships, and then most tragically, original sin has separated us from God.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 23 and 24.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the Lord sent him out of him Adam from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
SPEAKER_00: He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden, he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
SPEAKER_00: Here's death, right?
SPEAKER_00: Here's death.
SPEAKER_00: And before Adam will die and return to the dust, he and Eve are kicked out of paradise.
SPEAKER_00: Paradise lost.
SPEAKER_00: And the greatest tragedy of that is not the gardens and the beauty, it's that's the cosmic temple.
SPEAKER_00: They are kicked out of the temple, excommunicated.
SPEAKER_00: It's the place where heaven and earth overlaps.
SPEAKER_00: They no longer dwell with God in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: And God responds to Adam and Eve with judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And let me just tell you original sin, the cost of original sin, and the cost of sin in your life.
SPEAKER_00: It is the road away from paradise, and it is a road to metaphorical and perhaps literal hell.
SPEAKER_00: It will destroy you.
SPEAKER_00: God responds with judgment, but here's my final point: God also responds with mercy.
SPEAKER_00: This is so good.
SPEAKER_00: This is powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Check back in if you tuned out.
SPEAKER_00: If you're thinking about bangers and mash, come back.
SPEAKER_00: He says first that the serpent's influence is gonna come to an end.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, I will put hostility between you.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling Eve and, or telling the serpent, between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, He There's one man who will strike your head and you will strike his heel.
SPEAKER_00: God promises that the offspring of the woman would eventually crush the serpent's head, the great deceiver's head.
SPEAKER_00: God says it's going to be a single male uh male who will one day deal Satan a final blow.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just read you Hebrews 2.14.
SPEAKER_00: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who is the power of death, that is the devil.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 3:8, whoever makes the practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: Millennial before Jesus came to earth and took on flesh, there was a promise that Satan, your head, will be crushed.
SPEAKER_00: That offspring of Eve has come in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, Satan struck his heel.
SPEAKER_00: That's a prophecy about Calvary.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, Jesus died, he gave his life when he faced the forces of evil.
SPEAKER_00: See, Satan thought, well, Satan's followers thought, the Pharisees thought, everybody thought, this is the final blow, the Messiah is dead.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know that's not the end of the story?
SPEAKER_00: It turns out it's just a venomous bite on the hill.
SPEAKER_00: But God on the third day raised him from the dead, and in his death and resurrection, Jesus dealt Satan, our great adversary, a deadly blow.
SPEAKER_00: And I love it.
SPEAKER_00: So amazing.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first presentation of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Genesis chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: God planned for Christ to give his life before the foundations of the world.
SPEAKER_00: This was not plan B.
SPEAKER_00: You might argue, well, doesn't Satan still have power, influence, and influence today?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: But he was decidedly defeated at the cross, and God's kingdom broke into earth again.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what will happen in the end Jesus will come back.
SPEAKER_00: And he will deliver the final blow.
SPEAKER_00: And Satan and all of hell, all forces of evil will be thrown into the lake of fire.
unknown: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: So God will bring the serpent's influence to the end.
SPEAKER_00: He has defeated us.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, no, no, he hasn't.
SPEAKER_00: He has uh defeated Satan and brought us out of Satan's kingdom into the kingdom of light.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: But then watch this.
SPEAKER_00: There's one more thing I want you to see.
SPEAKER_00: He also covers our shame.
SPEAKER_00: There's a promise.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 20, or verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord God, remember, Adam and Eve are wearing these little figs trying to cover themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord God made Adam for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothe them.
SPEAKER_00: It's worth thinking about.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve could not cover their shame and guilt.
SPEAKER_00: But God, before sending them out of the garden into the broken world, what's he do?
SPEAKER_00: He covers them with skins.
SPEAKER_00: What had to happen?
SPEAKER_00: These are animal skins.
SPEAKER_00: What had to happen?
SPEAKER_00: An animal had to die to be sacrificed for Adam and Eve to be covered.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a pointing forward to the perfect Lamb of God who would be slain.
SPEAKER_00: And he would take away the sins of the world.
SPEAKER_00: He would cover us.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the idea of Genesis in Genesis 3 is that Adam and Eve realized they were naked.
SPEAKER_00: That's a vulnerable place to be.
SPEAKER_00: It's a humiliating state to be in.
SPEAKER_00: But watch this.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus was on his way to Calvary, he was stripped down.
SPEAKER_00: Voluntarily, he could have stopped all this at any time, but he was made naked so that you and I could be clothed in his righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Does this not blow your mind?
SPEAKER_00: Does this not make you grateful?
SPEAKER_00: Beyond words.
SPEAKER_00: Sin has caused paradise to be lost.
SPEAKER_00: It opened up the road to hell, but Jesus came to satisfy God's judgment, to take hell upon himself and to bring us back to God.
SPEAKER_00: He has freed us from the bondage of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And watch this.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus returns, we don't talk about this enough.
SPEAKER_00: It's my soapbox.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been here, you know it.
SPEAKER_00: The end of the story in the Bible is not about going to heaven, it's about heaven coming to earth.
SPEAKER_00: You know what the final story talks about in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: It talks about when Jesus returns, he's going to make a new and better Eden.
SPEAKER_00: Heaven and earth will overlap again.
SPEAKER_00: And we who are in Christ will forever dwell with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: If you are here today, if you're here today and you do not know the Lord Jesus, you're trying to cover your own shame through religion and church attendance.
SPEAKER_00: Let me be honest with you, it will not work.
SPEAKER_00: And it will not bring you forgiveness, it will not bring you salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But there's one who will.
SPEAKER_00: You can take your shame, your guilt, your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and fall at his feet and say, Lord, I can't deal with this myself, but I believe you came and at the cross you bore my pain, the wrath that was owed to me, and you satisfy God's wrath.
SPEAKER_00: And so I come to you in faith.
SPEAKER_00: I lay my life at your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Save me, O Lord, and I give my life to you.
SPEAKER_00: Repent of your sin and just come to Him today.
SPEAKER_00: You say you don't know what I've done.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you didn't mess up the whole world like Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: Probably.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness is for you.
SPEAKER_00: Life is for you.
SPEAKER_00: And then if you're here and you're a believer, you're no longer under the bondage of sin, but we know you and I are tempted to sin every day.
SPEAKER_00: And we give into that from time to time.
SPEAKER_00: And I, as I was praying about how to close this out just in my office just a while ago, here's what I feel like I need to say.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are looking at the forbidden fruit right now.
SPEAKER_00: You're looking like Eve, and you're going, oh, it looks delicious.
SPEAKER_00: There is some sin that Satan is tempting you with right now, and you are contemplating it in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Cut the tree down.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the root, cast it out of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Don't entertain the thought, even the thought of sinning.
SPEAKER_00: Because I believe this is what I believe the Lord said to me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you, you like Eve are falling for the deception that it's not going to cost you much.
SPEAKER_00: That the benefits of the pleasure of that sin will outweigh the cost.
SPEAKER_00: But that we we know that's never the case.
SPEAKER_00: Sin takes you further than you want to go and will cost you more than you want to pay.
SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you today, repent today.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, this is why Jesus said, if you lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery.
SPEAKER_00: If you have hatred in your heart, you're guilty of murder because sin is a hard issue first.
SPEAKER_00: And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
SPEAKER_00: Repent today.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be like Eve.
SPEAKER_00: Take in the strength of the Lord, turn from sin.