Bible Study Genesis Part 39-No Figgin Way

One choice in a garden still explains the tug-of-war in your own heart. We slow down in Genesis 3:6-9 and look hard at what makes Eve’s decision so devastating: she knows God’s command, says it confidently, and then acts on her own perception anyway. That is more than a “mistake” with forbidden fruit. It is the moment we all recognize in ourselves when we treat God’s Word like advice instead of Authority, then live as if our opinion outranks His.

From there, the ripple effects come fast: shame, a sudden awareness of guilt, and the first attempt at self-salvation through fig leaves. We talk about why humans keep repeating this pattern with modern “fig leaf” fixes, including religious systems and personal rituals that promise peace without true confession. We also tackle how to read Genesis with wisdom, recognizing figures of speech without losing confidence in the God of miracles, and why shutting God’s Word out of our lives also shuts out the change we keep begging for.

The emotional center of the study is God’s first question to the sinner: “Where art thou?” It is not asked because God lacks information, but because we do. That question is Grace in action, a God who seeks the guilty and calls for an honest admission that opens the door to recovery rather than more hiding.

If you want a clear, Scripture-first Bible study on sin, repentance, confession, and God’s pursuing mercy, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find this study.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Scripture Matters

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Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel. God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries. We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God. We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day. The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold. And we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture. Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible. It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision. Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us. It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word. We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death. In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death. Never treat what God has said lightly. There's truly nothing more important to you. Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

Why We Linger On One Verse

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We are at it for a while. We are going to try to wrap up verse 6 this time. No promises. Listen, these are really important issues. I don't think that anyone teaches it in the detail that it needs to be taught. Now we sort of have our own little freedom, our own liberty here. We don't have to, you know, keep a you know the building lit, or we don't have to have the parking lot swept by any kind of contractors. It's just us. We're just here. We don't, we can take as much time as we want to. It's just people gathered here that enjoy God's word. So we just take our time. I understand there are pressures in churches and Bible schools and all sorts of things like that. We'll take our time getting through God's word because there's so much to learn. We love to do it, we will continue to do it. So, as I said, we are still in chapter three of Genesis at verse six.

Eve’s Decision To Trust Herself

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Let's read it again. 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. Now we talked about the nature of this sin a few weeks ago, and as promised, I'd like to talk a little bit more about it. Now that may seem like stepping backwards a bit, but this is too important to just let go. Now, in my opinion, what makes Eve's actions so odious is the fact that she knew God's opinion on the matter. She clearly stated his commandment regarding the tree. In fact, she stated it to the serpent, I think you'll agree with me, in a very confident way. But then she chose to disregard God's opinion in order that she could make up her own mind. And what's worse is that she made the conscious decision to act on her own perceptions. She took the gamble that she was right and God was wrong, or perhaps not all that committed to his position. Maybe she was hoping for a wishy-washy God. Not sure why she thought was possible that was possible, but I'm not going to judge because I've made that error many times myself. Now, again, this is not necessarily what caused the downfall. We're all tempted by our own views. We're all enticed to follow our own opinions. It's part of being human, it's part of our nature as cognitive beings. The sin comes in. Well, let's read it. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one why she took of the fruit thereof. She's still safe. She just took the fruit and did eat. Well, that's it. It's over. And give also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

Inventing A God Who Agrees

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When we choose our opinion over gods, is when we get ourselves in trouble. When we decide that we're going to follow some other God, one who's less stringent, less demanding, less condemning, or even one that's more stringent, more demanding, or more condemning. When you invent a God who will agree with you, then you're beginning to match the sin of Eve. When your perception conflicts with God's, that's one thing. But when you act according to your view without deference to his, you immediately place yourself outside of his will. Not only for you, but listen to me, because this is important. Listen to me. When your actions place you outside of God's will for your life, you lay obstacles for everyone else whose life is touched by yours. God's view of that tree was death. Eve's view was pleasantness, deliciousness, and something that was going to give her more than what God gave her. Almost nothing has changed in the human heart. And that's why we're lingering here. I want you to see yourself in Eve. Listen, the tendency for many is to put the whole blame for this on that serpent. Blame the tempter and excuse the tempted. To do so is very dangerous. As you'll soon see, the serpent wasn't the only one cursed here. If the responsibility lay solely with Satan, then you and I would still be walking with God in the cool of the day, but we aren't. Listen, he already wasn't all that welcome around God. He didn't get much more than what he had already been enduring from his past rebellions. What mankind has had to suffer through is impossible to overstate. But getting ahead of myself. Adam and Eve received the brunt of the curses because they were culpable. They were responsible. They chose poorly. What's your point, John? Unless and until we admit that we have a sinful nature passed on to us by our first parents and what they did until we face that, we will fail to see the impact that sin has had on us. Never forget, God is just and he would never have punished an innocent man. Adam and Eve's sin still wiggles around in our hearts. We are still choosing to believe Satan. We are still trying to get something we don't deserve. And we're still trying to find a God that will worship us and not the other way around. 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, you can see she simply and callously brushed aside God's view of the situation. She took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

Shame Leads To Covering And Hiding

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And the eyes of them both were open, 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 again amongst the trees of the garden. Now I know we've been beating these verses to death, but I have a couple more things to say. I know I should move on, but I'm not quite ready yet. It's not hyperbole to state that this is the most critical moment in the history of mankind, right up to the death of Christ on the cross. And I could park here, it says in my notes for a month. I know we've been doing this probably for two months, so scratch that out of my notes. Adam and Eve ate the fruit. They immediately know they have sinned since they now have a knowledge of good and evil. That's the first thing they experienced. I'm a sinner, I'm evil. Now I know good and evil. First thing I know is I'm evil. They are aware that eating that fruit was an act of disobedience. And this is something you don't hear in your church pulpits anymore. Disobedience is a sin and therefore evil. And the eyes, verse 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.

Figurative Words And Real Miracles

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Now, although it says that their eyes were opened, which of course is a figure of speech, there are lots of figures of speech in these first few chapters of Genesis. And by the way, there's a lot in Revelation as well, the first and last books of the Bible. Now, the trick is to know what's literal and what isn't. And that's only listen to me. We talked before we started recording how important it is for us to believe in miracles. Believe that miracles are possible. And it's only possible for us to understand the difference between the figurative and the literal if we're reading this with our hearts open to the Holy Spirit. It takes a miracle for us to understand God's word. It takes a miracle for us to take what's in Genesis chapter 3 and apply it to our lives and be able to live through, live a life that God wants us to live. That's a complete miracle. If we shut God's word out of our lives, we're shutting miracles out of our lives. If I was praying for granny to be cured of cancer, and I said, no, forget it. I don't believe in miracles, I'm gonna stop praying. Everybody in your family, what do you mean we gotta pray for granny? This is the same thing. You've got to study God's word, and you gotta believe that the Holy Spirit's gonna tell you about it, side trip. Now, the phrase and the eyes of them both were opened is a figure of speech that meant that now their senses of right and wrong were activated. Now, although their figurative eyes were opened, it would appear that they weren't completely open because they continued to behave rather ignorantly. Now, yes, they correctly determined that they were sinners, but they did not seem to know what to do about being sinners. Now I know this because they they actually do the opposite of what a sinner should do. If their eyes had been opened completely, if their eyes were wide open, if they had received all wisdom like the serpent said they would, if they had received all wisdom, they would have realized that the way to deal with an angry God is not to act as if he's too stupid to know you're a sinner. We have a lot to learn from these two, don't we? In their initial arrogance, some say it was panic. Well, I think it was arrogance and panic. Because even though they knew that they were sinners, they didn't think God would know they were sinners. That is the mistake we all make, isn't it? We somehow convince ourselves that the lies we're living are okay because my body says it's okay. You can do whatever you want to. God is a good God. He loves you. He's not going to hurt you. Oh, I like that. I like that. Then just don't open God's book because it says something completely different. We somehow believe that we're the only ones who know our failings. In fact, we believe that we're so smart that we can keep our sins a sacred. Our arrogance in sinning spills over into our attempts to make up for our sins. John, why do you keep talking about sins today? You're hurting my feelings.

Why Sin Keeps The World Broken

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We have a broken world. We have a world where there's a lot of injustice. And we think all we need to do is try harder to squash the social injustice. The only way justice will return to this earth is if every heart is turned to Christ. If we realize we're a sinner, every one of us, the ones who we say are oppressed, and the ones we say who are the oppressors, we all have the same foolish, failing heart. And if we don't face that, if we don't face that we're all sinners, we're going to keep trying and trying and trying to change the world, and it will never change. In fact, it's going to get worse. The only way this world will get fixed is if we're manly enough, forgive the term, manly enough to accept we're sinners. We have to come to the conclusion that we're all sinners. Without Christ, this world will stay broken. We keep trying to tell ourselves that they're sinners and we're not. At least I hope they know about it. Clearly, the fig leaf aprons didn't do a thing to

Fig Leaves And Religious Fixes

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help. And yet the church has continued to try and convince us that personal fig leaf apron manufacturing is the way to go. You know, the Catholic Church has actually formalized the fig apron business and created what they call the sacrament of reconciliation. If you're not familiar with it, the sacrament of reconciliation was adopted by the church whose activity, whose aim is to, well, it's in the name, to reconcile you to God. The purpose of the sacrament of reconciliation is to make up for sin. It's just a formalized, ritualized fig leaf apron making. The church says, perform this sacrament, do what the priest tells you to do, and then you're free from the consequences of your failures. No sense to go, no sense in running off into the woods to hide from God. You're good now. You sold yourself an apron. And they created this sacrament, knowing how ineffective those first fig leaf aprons were. John, how come you're so tough on the Catholic Church? Because that's all I know for the most part. But by the way, that isn't the only group of people I'm hard on. I'm just as tough on evangelicals and fundamentals, fundamentalists, and I happen to be one of them. Anyhow, the Catholic Church must have known how the fig leaf apron making turned out for Adam and Eve. Verse 7 again. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And you know why they sewed fig leaves together? Because they thought they were sinning. For some reason, they thought they were sinning. Aha, here's what we're gonna do. Eve, we're gonna sin, we're gonna sew some fig leaves together. That'll please God. Verse 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. This is after they've made the fig leaf aprons. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Here is the ironic thing about human beings, and really one of the most damning indictments on our own abilities to deal with sin. Now, listen to me. These humans have finally arrived. Listen to me, and there's only one reason we get this story. One reason only. So you and I can see in Adam and Eve what's in us. How do you know that, John? You know, the Bible tells us that Adam lived for 900 years. And yes, I do believe he lived for 900 years. And in 900 years of life, this is literally all we get. Once God curses Adam, the only time he's ever mentioned again is either in reference to this sin or in reference to his children. The only things we know about Adam was that he sinned and made sons. Now, do you really think Adam did nothing else for 900 years? I mean, I'd argue that Adam was probably quite busy for the rest of his life. Somebody had to set the stage for human civilization. That doesn't happen by accident. Societies and cities and cultures, they don't just come around randomly. There's always a force behind them. And Adam was the first man, and it had to be somehow through his effort that humanity developed. We but we aren't told any of that. We can only assume he was the one responsible, or at least largely responsible for all that. Because, well, if not him, who? We do find out later in Genesis about some of the sons of Adam and the things that they did. Who do you think taught him how to do those things? Nonetheless, whatever else he did, we don't know.

What Adam’s Silence Teaches Us

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Now, why do you think that is? Why is the Bible nearly silent on those 900 years? Well, I really hope you know the answer by now. We don't know those facts because we don't need to know those facts. What we need to know is how deeply rooted rebellion is in our natures. And by the way, this is why people don't teach Genesis 3. No one's gonna sit around and listen to this. Not a one of my friends have left here. They could easily click off the Zoom call that we're connected to in YouTube. No one's left here. They've accepted that they're sinners. They want to hear more, they want to know how to fix that. Doesn't happen in the outside church world. The story of Adam is here so that we can see how deeply rooted, I know I'm repeating myself, deeply rooted rebellion is in our natures and how far back it goes. If you want to know the facts, the entire history of the human race is rebellion, sin, and murder. The entire history. We've done nothing else. What we've been told about the life of Adam is there so that we can see it as a warning. And to see that all humans are defenseless against sin. Adam and Eve, as I've always told you, were the best of us. They were the closest to the source. In fact, they were the source. They were pure humans. And the closest we've ever been to the most holy, and they were helpless and hopeless against sin. Miserably so. No contest, in fact. Now we always make the mistake of thinking how much smarter we are than they are, how much we've improved since then. That is a ridiculous notion, as ridiculous as it could be. The human race is not improving, it's been declining since the garden. And to deny that means you're not paying attention. If those two, as perfect as any human could be, if they couldn't stand against sin, all that should tell us is that such a thing is not a part of the design. Every car coming out of the factory sinks when driven into a lake because they're not engineered to be waterproof. Waiting and hoping for Maia to gain the ability to swim only leads to soggy carpets. Humans are not built for sin. Verse

“Where Art Thou?” God Seeks Us

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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. This makes me giggle. Not even the guy who sewed the fig leaves together had the slightest shred of confidence that it would do the job. I mean, if Adam had thought he had come up with a good antidote for his sin, why didn't he just stroll up to God all figged up and proud and say, what's up? He didn't. He hid. Immediately upon hearing God's voice, he hid. There is just something in us that tells us that our sins are much bigger than we are. We feel abandoned and at the mercy of sin. Because we're defenseless. There is something within us that should tell us there's something wrong with us. Adam, God said, Where art thou? That's the first question in the Bible. The first question in the Bible is, Where art thou? I love what E. W. Bullinger says. The first question in the Old Testament, where art thou? comes from God to the sinner. Compare the first question in the New Testament of the seeking sinner, where is he? Matthew 2, 2. Perhaps nothing highlights the difference between the two covenants than that observation. Nonetheless, God calls unto Adam and says, We're out there. Where art thou? Now you must understand this is not a question being asked from a position of ignorance. It's not like me asking, What is physics? I literally have no clue as to what that answer is going to be. God didn't ask, Where art thou? because he himself didn't know. God knew where Adam was and what he had done. And in the light of that truth, let me say, we must all thank God that he asked this question. Why do you say that, John? The question proves that God had a covenant up his sleeve. The Cambridge Bible says of this verse, and I absolutely love this quote: God does not abandon, he seeks the guilty. If that doesn't comfort your heart, I don't know what will. Under the circumstances, listen to me. God had every right to condemn Adam to die right there on the spot, without a word, without a trial. Forget trial. God is the judge. There's no jury, he is the judge. God could have condemned him, found him guilty right there. Adam broke God's covenant. He only had one and he broke it. Now don't judge. You would have done the same thing, and so would I. Adam sinned, and that could have been the end of him immediately. That should have been the end of him immediately. But instead of condemning, as was his right, instead of destroying Adam, he asked him a simple question. Listen to how Matthew Henry put it. Quote, this inquiry after Adam may be looked upon as a gracious pursuit in kindness to him and in order to his recovery. If God had not called to him to reclaim him, his condition would have been as desperate as that of fallen angels. This lost sheep would have wandered endlessly if the good shepherd had not sought after him to bring him back. And in order to that, remind him where he was, where he should not be, where he could not be either happy or easy. God has been doing that for all of us since the beginning. You know, the Christianity gets a bad rap in the world. Read them something like that. Remind them that God called Adam the very first sinner. As far as we know, the only thing Adam ever did wrong, nonetheless, it could have condemned him to death. Don't let those literal haters tell you that our God is vengeful. He's not at all vengeful. If he was vengeful, Adam would have been dust in us too. Now, this is going to require you to think, but let me say again: God's question was not to inform himself, but inform Adam. The person to whom the question was directed was the one who needed the answer. Adam needed to face his guilt. God sought an honest confession. Verse 9. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and he said unto him, Where art thou? Now let me just say, the way I see it, the fate, this is you're gonna you're gonna say, John, you're being dramatic. I want you to think about this. The fate of the entire race of mankind rested on how Adam was going to answer this question. Let me repeat, God was seeking an honest confession. That's all he's asking from you, too, by the way. He already knows the answers to these questions. He already knows the answers to the questions he's asking you. He knew the answer to the question he asked Adam, but he wanted to know if Adam knew the answer to the question. What do you think of God? What is your assessment of his greatness? Do you have respect for the wisdom and power of the Almighty? Do you recognize his lordship over your life? Well, I'm gonna tell you, Adam sure does, and it saved his life and ours too. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art

Honest Confession And Final Exhortation

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thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. You know, it's taken me a long time to be this honest. My first sin didn't go this well. I wasn't as truthful with God as this man was. Adam gets a bad rap deservedly for this sin. But when we take the time to look at him, his character almost always shines through, almost. Nonetheless, Adam, unlike me, doesn't disrespect God in his responses about failure. Adam didn't say, oh, uh, oh, God, hi. I was just uh, I was over there tending to the garden, and oh yeah, I guess I have a fig leaf shrub on me. I I this is what happened. I was running through the garden, and this fig bush just handed me a coat. Isn't that nice, nice of him? He gave one to Eve, too. What do you think? Looks pretty good, doesn't it? That's how I would have answered that. Thank God Adam didn't. Thank God Adam had more strength of character than I did. He didn't hesitate to confess the truth. And I'll say it again: it is my belief that the human race has survived because of it. Don't lie to God. I'm talking to you, John Tomasi. God knows everything you've done and all listen, God knows everything you've done, and all He's looking for is some indication that you care that you've offended him. Love means regretting the pain we've caused. Probably a good place to stop for tonight. Much more next time. See you then.

Where To Find More And Give

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We hope this study has blessed you. God's word is a great treasure, and it's our belief that a thorough, purposeful study of it will bring all of God's children to an understanding of his eternal plan of redemption. It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners. Please join us again soon. New content is being added all the time, so make sure you check back often. For more information on Chapel Ministries, including our YouTube channel and podcasts, please visit www.chapelontheweb.com. And if God has laid it upon your heart to share materially with us, we encourage you to follow the links to our secure giving page. Please note, Chapel Ministries is not an IRS registered nonprofit organization, and your donations to this program are not tax deductible. It's our hope that you do not rely on taxing authorities to decide for you who is worthy of your generosity.