Bible Study Genesis Part 41-Not a Feel Good Message

The world feels loud, anxious, and relentless, and we keep asking the same question in every generation: why is life so hard? We take that question straight into Genesis 3, where the Bible gives an answer that is as uncomfortable as it is coherent. We look at God’s justice, the meaning of the serpent’s curse, and why Genesis 3:6 is presented as the hinge of human history. If you want a Bible study that treats suffering, sin, and spiritual conflict as real, this one does not dodge the weight of it.

We also sit with Jesus’ words in John 16:33, where He promises tribulation and then tells us to take heart because He has overcome the world. That contrast matters. It challenges the modern idea that faith is meant to insulate us from hardship, and it replaces shallow optimism with grounded hope. Along the way, we talk about Eden as God’s design for provision and protection, why obedience is not a dirty word, and why blaming everyone else cannot explain the misery that follows humanity wherever it goes.

Finally, we confront a common approach to Scripture: treating the Bible as a moral improvement program. Using the Sabbath law as a blunt example, we explain why God’s law is not a gentle checklist but a mirror that shows our limits and our need. If you have ever wondered whether Genesis is still relevant, whether Mankind's Fall explains today’s headlines, or what the Bible is actually for, you will find plenty to wrestle with here. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves big questions, and leave a review.

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.

Going Through The Whole Bible

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All right, as we continue to make our way through the Bible, and yes, our plan is to go all the way through the entire Bible. No matter how long it takes, we're not rushing through it. As those who are joining me know, we're not rushing through the Bible because it's just too important for us to take shortcuts. It's too important for us to feel like we can leave anything out. Everything is important, every word is important, and we're making our way through it as best we can. And we ask that you join us. We ask that you pray for us. We ask that you help us in any way that you can, to include giving, by the way. This is not a this, we don't do this for free. This is, you know, we have to pay bills as well. And also, we've had this conversation on this program before. I won't be long, but giving is a part of your responsibility where you are taught you are to give. So uh, you know, we have some teaching on that. If you go to our websites, you'll be able to see some of the teaching on that, not wasting any more time on that.

Genesis 3 And God’s Justice

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Still in the third chapter of Genesis, we are moving our way through it. We're going to get done relatively soon. Very soon, we'll be getting through to the end. We are still at the early parts of chapter three. Here we go. Last time we left off, when we left last time, God was handing out his justice. By the way, this part of scripture has not made too many favorites lists. So I wouldn't be surprised if most of you have never heard an in-depth message on it. And it actually doesn't really take an in-depth study to get the point of it. God is dealing with sin quickly and efficiently. As I said, not a very popular topic. Nonetheless, God's justice is important to him, and he will not have us ignorant of it because it's one of his most important qualities, and without it, we're all lost. Here in chapter three, he starts with the serpent. We're at verse 15.

Genesis 3:15 And Lost Happy Endings

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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. You know, when I was little, I loved fairy tales. I know that doesn't sound very manly. What can I say? My best friends were my six sisters. Anyhow, there was just something about those sweet stories that gave me joy. Of course, Walt Disney helped that along. Back in the days when they cared about the good things in life, they would take those ancient tales and make them come alive in the most beautiful way. Reading fairy tales was one thing, but watching them on the movie screen, that was magic. But what always stuck with me and sticks with me even now is the closing line of all of the good ones. You know what I mean? And they lived happily ever after. Oh, that used to make me smile. Just the thought of all those beloved characters spending the rest of their lives in happiness was just so dreamy. And you know, I believed it. When you're little, those tales aren't fantasy, they're real. You believed that there was a Cinderella. You believed in talking crickets, and it didn't seem unusual at all that they wore top hats. You believed there were seven dwarfs somewhere, and you wanted them all to be your friends too. And it made me happy knowing that these far-off friends were happy. But then you grow up, don't you? Now, it's not my intention to bring anyone down tonight, but I do want to make sure we're talking about reality. Now, when you're five and six and seven years old, even if you've already lived a life that others might call unfortunate, you never think of it that way. You never think life is bad. It's just life. But as you grow older and start to accumulate a few setbacks, a few heartbreaks, the things that happened before you knew what heartbreak was start to catch up to you. The fairy tale life starts to seem further and further out of reach. Then you hear this term escapism. And those fairy tales, though you know they're less and less real, they start to take on a significance because now you realize why someone spent the time to write and they lived happily ever after. They wrote that you realize, because living happily ever after is rare. It's not that you're depressed all the time or sullen or angry or in a constant state of disappointment. It's just that as your eyesight improves, you start to see life as it is for all of us, even Walt Disney. You know, it doesn't matter what source you get your news from, there is consensus. Yes, there actually is consensus among the different news sources. On this, Fox agrees with the MSNBC. On this, the New York Post sees eye to eye with the Washington Post. Tucker Carlson would shake hands with Joy Behar when discussing this conclusion. You want to know what we all agree on? We all agree that times are tough. Things don't look good. We're in a bind. Something bad always seems to be just over the horizon. All the headlines are saying the same thing. Again, doesn't matter what source you reach. Famine, unrest, war, high prices, low productivity, shootings, knife attacks. Now you may be tempted to think that I'm just talking about modern times. If you get the chance, head down to your local library and look over the newspaper archives they have on file. And it doesn't matter how far back you go, the headlines of that day will look like the headlines of today. Of course, the names are different, the locations aren't the same, but there's just as much there as there is here. Misery isn't a modern problem, it's a human problem. As long as there have been people, these headlines have been floating about with very little variance. If you had your own news division right there in your home covering literally domestic issues, if we all created a family newspaper, I suspect the headlines of these homegrown and home-focused papers would be just as similar to one another as our more famous outlets. Almost every household will report some or all of the following: unexpected divorce, unexpected sickness, untimely death, family infighting, unfair treatment, malicious gossip, bad jobs, bad paychecks, bad spouses, addicted siblings. No matter where you go, unhappiness is there to greet you. Listen, I didn't say it was all unhappiness, but it sure seems like unhappiness stands out. And by the way, the bad times spare no one. There's no such thing as a privileged class or race. The rich aren't immune, presidents aren't pain-free. Even the King of England doesn't go a day without problems. And although you won't hear this too many times in too many churches, just because you've turned your life over to Christ doesn't mean all the negative circumstances now skip right over you. And with this, I'm making my point. If you're a human being, life has its share of misery. And if you disagree with me on that point, then you're either not paying attention or you're in denial. Now, I never said it was unbearable. I didn't say death was our only release. I'm not saying the only way to go through your day is with your head down and a problem-proof vest wrapped around your midsection. I'm just stating a fact. Hey, that doesn't sound very Christ-like. Jesus would never bring me down like this. He was full of positivity. Is that right?

Jesus Promises Tribulation

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One time while teaching his disciples, he paused and said this, John 16, 33. These things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation. Now that word tribulation is translating the Greek word thlipsis. Flipsis is the noun form of the verb flebo, which means to crush, squeeze, compress, to break. This is what Jesus said we were going to have. Don't let anyone fool you. This whole promise you a rose garden. Well, Jesus never promised you a rose garden. He didn't himself get it, and he was the king of the world. He was the king of the universe. He was the very son of God, and he got kicked up and down 33 years. The English word tribulation comes from the Latin tribulare, which was used by early Latin-speaking Christians to describe oppression, affliction, or trouble. Jesus told his closest friends that out in the world there will be difficulty, which is what I've been saying for the last couple of minutes. And if your pastors are not telling you that, you should sue them for malpractice. In the world, Jesus says, ye shall have tribulation. Now he ended that statement by saying, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Sounds like the description of an unpleasant place, by and large, right? I mean, he used the word overcome. No one has to overcome, no one wants to overcome the sweet life. Nothing good has to be overcome. Hey, congratulations on receiving the Nobel Prize. Yeah, thanks. I plan to overcome that later. Susie, I'd like to offer you a promotion with a 20% raise. Oh, thank you. My greatest desire now is to overcome that. Nonsense. When Jesus mentioned overcoming the world, you get the distinct impression that it means it's quite hostile. And if you don't see it that way, then you're not paying attention. The Bible tells us of dismay, anxieties, cares, poverty, hatred, suffering, and perishing. Listen, don't let the marketing experts in the pulpits of our modern churches fool you. Life on planet Earth is decidedly difficult. But why? Why so much trouble? Why so much tribulation? Well, obviously, God didn't make it that way, right?

Eden Was The Design

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At the beginning, he placed men in a garden. He made sure you knew, that's why he put it down in his word, that he put us in a garden. A garden that contained everything we'd ever need. He set things up in a way that ensured that all living beings could go about, all living living beings, all living beings could go about in complete peace and total harmony. I will tell you my theory. That is God's ideal. That was God's intention that all living beings work in lit and live in harmony. So what happened? Because we see none of that now, do we? That's why there's a fence between you and the lion in the zoo. That's why we have bug spray. That's why we have to constantly get inoculated. Because there is something trying to kill us all the time. And I'm not trying to make it depressed. I'm trying to tell you that something happened. Well, what happened? Genesis chapter 3 happened. If you want to be specific, here you

The Fall Explains The World

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go. 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. Back to verse six. Yes, briefly, of course, but this is the most significant moment in history. Without verse six, there is no Bible. There's no sense, there's no reason for the Bible without verse six. The entire Bible is showing how God is going to undo verse six. We wouldn't even have cared about Genesis chapters one and two and chapter three up to verse five had it not been for verse six. There would have been no reason for us to have the Bible because God would have been in our presence telling us everything. I cannot emphasize it any more strongly. Without verse six, we would be happy. No war, no pain. Verse six is when sin entered into God's creation. Sin spoiled everything and its effects are still being felt. Why have I never heard this before? Why are you the only guy doing this? Because we want to deny the fact that we're the ones responsible for the way the world is. Well, you're thinking about how could that be? A little fruit snack caused all this? When listen closely. When Adam sinned, we could no longer count on the care, custody, and control of God. Catherine would be very proud of me for using that expression. It comes from the data privacy world, but it fits us perfectly. Listen closely. God's promise was that if Adam did as he was told, God would provide for his entire family's ever, every need. And Adam and all of his ancestors were invited to stay right there in the garden literally forever. And by the way, in the Bible, whenever a garden is spoken of, it invokes an image of a walled in protection. I'm sure I've pointed that out before. The one who builds a garden intends to use it as a place of special attentive care for the life he's planted in it. That was what God wanted for Adam. To keep his companion and all of his companions' ancestors, that's you and me, to keep Adam and all of mankind in that place of protection and provision for all of eternity.

Obedience And Our Shared Responsibility

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Truly a place where lack could not enter. No need would go unmet. No fear, no strife, no death. God's only condition is obedience. But we've demonized that word now, haven't we? The world bristles at the word obedience, doesn't it? And they'll tell you that you shouldn't like it either. They say all it speaks of is authoritarianism and servitude and lack of freedom. How's that working out for you? But the truth is, listen closely. God is not arbitrary. He insisted on obedience because he didn't give us a mind or a body or a constitution capable of taking care of itself. We weren't equipped with what's necessary to defend ourselves against the cares of the outside world. If mankind had remained obedient, then there would have been nothing to give birth to trouble. If man was kept under, and this is why I'm bringing this up, I want you to understand what you've done. God said to Eve, do you know what you've done? If man would have remained obedient, there would be nothing to fret about. I tell you flat out, everything that threatens us now is of our own making. There would be no food shortages without greed, there would be no disease without careless use of the world's resources. Obviously, there'd be no war. We are the only living beings on earth capable of hate, and we got it down to a science. So if we would have remained obedient, we would have never conjured up all the things that now fill our lives with misery. Misery, danger, and fear. I'm sure almost none of you agree with me on this. The other thing we've got down to a science is blaming everyone else but ourselves when things don't go our way. When you're sitting there miserable without a job and you're eating your last can of beans, it's that SOB that fired you. Or that immigrant that came and took your job. Or the union boss who didn't fight hard enough for your raises. You're a sinner, and I'm a sinner. And the world is in the shape it is because of that. But not just because someone bit into a piece of fruit. It's not the action, it's the result. And I'm hoping can make my point. You see, God is holy, He can only be in the presence of holiness. And because of that freaking tree, now mankind is not holy. God can no longer protect us the way He had intended from the beginning. He no longer has exclusive control over us. When sin entered, we fell under its control. I remember when Samantha was little, we lived in Brooklyn, New York. She couldn't have been more than six years old. She had a little friend that just lived a couple of blocks away. She had never walked two blocks by herself in New York City ever. And she insisted she wanted to go visit her friend. Catherine and I talked it over, talked it over, talked it over. We were terrified. Because she, in our mind, wasn't ready. You aren't born with the ability to look both ways. Just to finish the story off, we let her go, but I was hiding behind all the cars all the way back just to make sure she did look both ways. God can't control us in the way he wants to now because we're not holy. We have been excluded from his presence functionally. It's not that he's angry with us, he is, but he cannot interact with us because we're not holy until there's something that covers our unholiness. That's Jesus. We're not talking about that right now. I'm just trying to tell you that things are bad because of one reason only: sin.

Dominion Handed Over To Satan

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And not only that, the world is a horrible place because when Adam sinned, dominion was given to Satan. It was supposed to be ours. The Bible tells us we covered this. Adam sat down and named all of the animals. Not one of them bared their fangs or tried to swipe at him with their claws. They all moved up to him, took their name, probably let them pet, and they moved on. He dominated the earth. It was his earth. It would have been ours. But when he sinned, the domination could no longer be in our hands because we aren't equipped to do it without God. God had intended us to have dominion over the earth as he was supervising us. He could no longer supervise us, so we no longer were able to protect the creation, to keep it going. We would have destroyed it on day three. By verse 7 of chapter 3, the world would have been gone. So we had to give it to Satan. And that's why it's a horrible place for humans. Remember, there's enmity. Remember the enmity? Our enmity is against the landlord. You ever had a bad landlord? That's what we're all sitting in right now. Our landlord is a horrible guy, making our lives miserable. And that's why life on this earth sucks. There's nowhere you can go to escape that truth because everything has been handed over to the devil. Go to the highest mountain, he's still in charge of your surroundings. Go to the deepest ocean, the devil is right there controlling everything around you. And listen, it's not just you, it's everyone. That is because Genesis chapter 3 happened. Now hang on a minute, dude. Don't tell me that you think all of this happened because some fictional serpent charmed a fairy tale princess and her equally gullible prince. What century do you live in, man? Haven't you heard that science debunked all that Adam and Eve stuff? Yeah, I've heard their claims, but I haven't seen any evidence. And by the way, what we're discussing at the moment has nothing to do with science. And by the way, those statements don't just come from the heathen and the unholy. Those sorts of statements are made all of the time by people who attend church every Sunday. They sit right in the pew right next to you. They sing how great thou art with as much gusto as you do, but they don't believe it. Almost everyone you know in your church will answer the following question in nearly the same

Do You Believe The Bible

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way. If you sidled up to one of the members of the church board while she's dumping creamora into her free coffee at the 10:30 service and asked her, casually, of course, do you believe the Bible? And I didn't say believe in the Bible. Do you believe the Bible? Two different questions. Then you asked a few others before you headed out to the parking lot the exact same question. I almost guarantee you that you'd hear nearly the same answer from all those faithful church-going folks, faithful going to church, but probably not much more than that. And listen, I'm not just picking on your church. I don't even know what church you go to. I don't need to know what church you attend to stand by what I'm about to say, because this is the problem with Christianity in the so-called first world. By the way, if you want to get some joy, listen to some of the stories coming out of Africa or China. The new Christians there have the zeal that the early church did. It's wonderful and beautiful. Not here. But the answer you'll consistently get when asking the question, do you believe the Bible? is the following. Almost everyone will say, well, they'll say one of two things, depending on who's around to hear their answer. They'll either tell you that they believe some of the Bible, or if the pastor is sitting nearby, they'll say they believe most of the Bible. Almost no one will answer a simple yes to the question, do you believe the Bible? And likewise, no one, including those who said they believed most of the Bible, even they will disagree that the problem with the unhappiness of this world has its origin in Genesis chapter three. And that's why my job is so hard. Now, my intention is not to insult anyone or make anyone mad at me, but I'm fairly certain that this believing, this disbelieving attitude toward Genesis chapter three is shared by many of you. Those that listen to this program, and I have no one specific in my mind, believe me, I don't need to because I'm that confident in what I'm about to say. Even among those who listen to and watch this program and share with us in this ministry on a regular basis, even among them, there are those who will categorically deny any suggestion that what happened in the Bible has any relevance to what's happening today. As I said, I'm not thinking of anyone, I'm not pointing anyone out, I'm just stating what I know to be true. Okay, if you didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, why would you say such a thing? Because if you don't recognize what sin has done to this earth, what it's done to the universe, you and everyone else in it, then close your Bible. It has no meaning whatsoever for you, at least not the meaning God had in mind when he wrote it. And if you're reading the Bible under your own idea of things, it will make no sense. The only way you're going to understand what the word is telling you is that if you believe that Genesis chapter 3, verse 6 is the start of our problem and the reason the Bible is here.

The Law Exposes Our Need

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Now, some may say, but wait, wait a second. What if I just want to study the Bible so I can learn how to be a better person? I really love the things the Bible says about right and wrong. I feel like studying the Bible will make me good. I'll learn what the Bible says and then I'll do it. All right, tell me, what does the Bible say about the Sabbath? Oh, I know it says we aren't supposed to work on the Sabbath. And don't try to trick me because I know that the real Sabbath is Saturday and not Sunday. Good. You're right. God said no work is to be done on Saturday. You know that. Well, what did you do last Saturday? Oh, listen, I was good. All I did was drive to my son's soccer tournament in Cankad, Massachusetts. So as far as you're concerned, that aligns with the whole Sabbath thing. Follow-up question. Do you know what the Bible says if you don't honor the Sabbath? Don't worry, I'll read it to you. Exodus 35, 2. If you have a seatbelt, you better click it because you're gonna be blown away by this. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day, which is Saturday, there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein shall be spanked, shall be put in a corner, time out, shall be put to death. Was that ride to Concord? Rest or work? I know at least portion of it. You went up 95, and that's never rest. For some reason, well, I know the reason, people forget that there are two parts to the law of God. This is why God said, be very careful about saying you're gonna follow the law, because if you follow one law, you have to follow all of them. And part of the law says, here's what you do, and here's what you get if you don't do it. That's every law. There's the description of the requirement, and then there's the description of the violation. Listen, if you're gonna study the Bible just for the moral law, my friend, there are other codes of morality found in this world that might be less costly for you than the ones you found here. In fact, make up your own. Drop a few rules and then enforce them as you see fit. I mean, it's your law, you can do with it what you want. But let me suggest, if all you want from God's word is a way to make you a better person, well, I think I made my point. The reality is the only reason God gave us the Bible, including the law, God gave you the law so that you could see, and I could see, and the Jewish people could see, that you can't follow it. Paul called it a schoolmaster. God didn't give us the Bible to make us better people, he gave us the Bible to prove to us we're the worst kind of people. God gave us the Bible so that we could discover that we are under the terrifying, dictatorial, unrelenting power of sin and what to do about it. If you don't think the Bible has any relevance to the 21st century, then you must not watch the news. I know I don't do this very often. I'm preaching today, but it's difficult not to when we get to these critical junctures in Scripture. Well, we're not done yet. But this might be enough for tonight.

Closing And How To Stay Connected

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We'll pick it up right there next time.

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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.