WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:02.000 Good morning, Church. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:04.879 And a reading from the book of Genesis. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:08.320 And the man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:12.880 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:17.920 He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:28.960 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 is in the midst of the garden, neither you shall touch it lest you die. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:37.759 But the serpent said to the woman, You will surely not die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:51.200 So when the woman saw the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired for making one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:58.079 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:07.680 And then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife uh hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.040 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:16.959 And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:19.040 He said, Who told you that you were naked? 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:22.319 Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat? 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:28.000 The man said, The woman who you gave with to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate. 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:31.519 Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:34.640 The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:36.000 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:37.200 Please be seated. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:39.920 Good morning. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:42.079 Whoop, I'll put my mic on. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:43.519 Good morning. 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:45.200 You guys probably hear that though, I bet. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:48.719 Welcome to church this morning. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:53.599 Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.560 Um we're we are thankful for mothers. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:02.319 Um they uh, you know they're why we're they're why we're all here in a very fundamental sense. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:09.439 So we're uh yeah, it's wonderful to gather together and consider celebrating mothers. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:14.639 Um my name is James Rathman, I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.400 I'm the one who's responsible for laying out what we'll be preaching and when. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:20.960 And so I'm the one to blame. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.919 Who for Mother's Day. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:27.280 Um, welcome all the mothers and people who brought your mothers to join us. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:32.159 Uh, we're talking about the fall of marriage today on Mother's Day. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:37.520 This is our second week in our uh sermon series on marriage. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:49.599 And uh during this first part of the marriage series, we are looking at uh the whole story, the narrative structure of marriage throughout the scriptures. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:58.240 And so this is the way that we're going to be able to understand what marriage is fundamentally, not just by a definition, but by our participation with it. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:10.560 Because we see throughout scripture that marriage follows the same pattern as the rest of uh scripture does, which is this pattern of creation, fall, redemption, and then glory. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:17.759 This is an outline which captures the whole of the scriptures: creation, and then the fall, and then redemption, and then glory. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:22.400 So, this, our second week, looking at marriage through this lens, is the fall of marriage. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:23.840 As last week we looked at creation. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:31.199 But before that, let's pray, give God thanks for our mothers on this Mother's Day, and then we'll move through our text. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:36.479 Holy Father, we praise you. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:47.840 In your loving kindness, Lord, you ushered us into the world, and we have great gratitude that the means that you use to do that is is our mothers. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.800 Lord, we praise you for the hidden work that they do. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:00.479 Lord, for the labor of love that uh actually loves us into existence. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:10.960 Lord, it is a pattern of creation like your own, where you love us into your into existence and and mothers participate and model this very same thing. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:15.280 Father, we thank you for the loving kindness that we've received from our mothers. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:19.680 Pray that they would be honored and that motherhood would be held in honor, Father. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:28.079 And Lord, today as we look through the fall of marriage, Lord, I pray that by your spirit you would draw close to our hearts. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:32.079 Lord, this is a difficult text to move through. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:41.519 And it is a uh a heavy text that is uh sad and a close examination of brokenness. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:58.560 But Lord, I pray that as we look at the shape of brokenness that comes into humanity by sin entering into humanity, Lord, I pray that as we see that shape, we would begin to see glimmers of the shape of your redemption. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:01.279 Because it is a perfect fit. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.879 Lord, and I pray that our hearts would be open to see those things. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:28.000 As our own hearts are exposed before you today, Lord, we pray that you would care for us with your tenderness, that you would help us to draw close to you, not with a uh uh uh guilt or shame or fear that turns us in on ourselves, Lord, but that leads us to repentance and trust in you. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:30.079 Father, we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:30.959 Amen. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:36.800 So, second sermon in marriage series, fall of marriage. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:38.399 That's what we're going to be looking at today. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:44.639 So, of course, the fall of marriage is the same as the fall in general. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:55.120 But the what's interesting is when we look at this story is that the the fall, uh, which is the entrance of sin into the world, it takes place within a marriage. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:59.519 That it's it's it's a part of a marriage story between Adam and Eve. 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:04.879 It's not just a gener it's not just a generic story with, you know, just Adam. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:08.160 It takes place within the confines of the marriage. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:13.519 So looking at it through this lens of marriage, I think we'll be able to glean a lot from it this morning. 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:19.600 But in order to understand the fall, we have to see where things began. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:26.079 And that's just the last verse of the creation of marriage, which we looked at last week. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:27.759 Genesis 2.25. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:31.680 This is the station of marriage before the fall. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:39.439 Says in Genesis 2.25, and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:42.399 That's the station of marriage before the fall. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:49.120 The glory of Adam and Eve standing together, naked and unashamed. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:52.079 Now you know what that means. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:59.519 Not perhaps because you've fully experienced it, but because you know that longing. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.319 This is the longing of the human heart. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:14.879 To be able to stand in community, fully known, and exposed in a way that does not lead to shame, but that leads to glory. 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:24.079 You know, when I you can tell that sin is in the world because when I say the word exposed, we don't think good news is coming. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:26.639 I've exposed some information about you. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:27.519 Yeah. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:33.199 But this was a time before the fall where to be exposed meant glory. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:45.199 And so we can understand this station of Adam and Eve before sin entered the world, no shame between one another and no shame between them in the Lord. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:50.720 This is the position, the first position of marriage before the entrance of sin. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:54.000 It is a glorious, glorious image. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:08:00.000 I think that there are three attributes that I want us to look at that they have in this position. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:06.000 Those three attributes are righteousness, glory, and security. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:10.720 Righteousness, because they are perfectly right before the Lord. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:13.120 There is no sin in them. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:20.160 Glory, because their exposure means just more glory. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.120 There's nothing that they could be ashamed of. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:32.000 And security, because they have everything that they need from the Lord, directly from the hand of God. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:42.559 Now that we understand that position, what we'll see in the fall is that this relationship perfectly inverts. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:56.399 In fact, what I'm going to try and hope you do help us to see is that when you think fall, and you think the fall of man, you should think the inversion, and we'll look at that later on. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:05.440 But what that means is that these qualities of righteousness, glory, and security for all of humanity become their perfect opposites. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:10.000 And so when sin enters the world, their righteousness turns to guilt. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:13.919 And so now we live in a state of guilt. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:18.080 Their glory turns to shame. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:22.480 That's why we have the connotation of exposure. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:28.799 I'm writing an expose of great stuff. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:32.559 And your editor says, get it off my desk. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:37.519 I need a thousand words on I don't know how editors work, something like that. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:38.080 I just know J. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:39.919 Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:41.440 That's what I picture everything. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:46.559 Security turns to fear. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:54.399 Righteousness to guilt, glory to shame, security to fear. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:05.279 That's what we'll see take place in the fall of man, in the inversion of the structure of marriage and the structure of man's relationship with God. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:08.320 Alright, so let's look at this story. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:09.759 Let's see how this unfolds. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:11.519 Genesis 3, verse 1. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:20.879 Now the serpent, this is right after the naked and unashamed, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:27.600 He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:34.720 Now, we don't have an introduction of the serpent in scriptures, in the scriptures. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:38.799 And I think that that's because it would be like trying to explain absurdity. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:43.200 You know, if you have an explanation for absurdity, then you've rendered it not absurd. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:44.799 You've integrated it into the story. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:46.480 Satan cannot be integrated. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:51.039 In fact, God will not later show how he integrates him into the story, he will crush him. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:52.639 That's the end of Satan. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:54.080 This is the end of sin. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:01.440 But the serpent is no less there, which means that marriage, fundamentally, from the very beginning, is under attack. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:03.519 This is before the fall. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:08.240 Sin marriage is under attack from the outside. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:09.200 This is true. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:10.960 That's the state of marriage. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:12.879 And so it needs to be defended. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:17.759 But the point of attack from the serpent is not generic. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:26.960 He doesn't come up to Eve and say, I do like a serpent dance and then say, Wasn't that wonderful? 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:28.720 You should worship me. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:31.200 That's not the point of attack. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:39.840 He frames it around the restrictions of the covenant that God has established with man. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.120 That's the framing of the conversation. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:49.600 Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:51.279 This is what we're framing it around. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:53.200 So what's the conversation about? 00:11:53.519 --> 00:12:02.000 It's about eating from the trees in the garden and which ones you're allowed to eat from and which ones you're not allowed to eat from. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:07.519 So the point of his attack is the covenant made with Adam. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:11.679 Now that is not happenstance, it is, of course, strategy. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:21.279 Because he is seeking to attack the very relationship that God has established and made explicit with mankind. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:50.320 And that relationship, once he attacks that, then he will be able to, rather than have humans render their obedience to God and then be able to live in righteousness and glory and security before him, they would instead render their obedience to the serpent, to Satan, and in their rendering their obedience to him, he becomes Lord over them. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:55.279 Because that which you obey becomes Lord over you. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:12:59.200 Now, what is this covenant with Adam? 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:10.879 In Genesis 2, 16 and 17, so this is before the creation of Eve, right after the creation of Adam, God enters into a covenant with Adam. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:12.320 And it sounds like this. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:24.559 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:29.919 Now, what is the shape of this covenant with Adam that God makes? 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:35.039 It is a garden full of yeses. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:38.320 The garden is overflowing with yeses. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:47.840 You may surely eat of every tree that is in the garden, surrounded by provision with one prohibition. 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:54.480 And the one prohibition is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. 00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:58.879 For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:11.120 So the one prohibition is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it's this sort of mysterious thing that it transforms in its meaning throughout the scriptures. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:15.759 It grows in its meaning throughout the scriptures, even in this book, Genesis. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:22.960 But it's something like the right to name what is good and what is evil. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:27.279 And God is saying, For now, I am the judge. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:33.279 You are not able to reach up and grasp this station that only belongs to me. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:39.519 And so this tree, which would you allow you to, by eating from it, you embody it. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:41.840 And this is a this is sacramental language. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:47.440 We say when we eat this meal this morning, we are saying we are embodying these realities. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:49.279 It's that same pattern. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:52.559 But he's saying, do not eat from this one. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:15:00.799 Do not reach up and grab from below an authority which I have not given to you from above. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:12.559 But the nature of God giving, this, of God making this covenant with Adam is that Adam becomes the covenantal head of humanity. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:19.200 He is the one who stands like a high priest before all of humanity. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:46.080 And his responsibility as the covenant head of humanity, remember, he's the only one there, his responsibility as the covenant head of humanity is to communicate the word of God to all who are under him, are under his authority, and then to enforce and administer the word of God for them. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:55.519 God is giving to Adam this responsibility when he gives him this promise of life or curse of death based upon his works. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:07.759 He is saying, This is true for all mankind, because all mankind will come from you, and you stand as the representative head of all mankind. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:11.120 It is his covenant. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:21.919 So we can tell, because right after the serpent asked this question, you shall did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree that is in the garden? 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:32.720 Well, Eve, who did not exist when that instruction was given to Adam, knows precisely what to say. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:37.279 Which means Adam had taught it to her. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:44.720 Adam had taken this responsibility that he has and he had shared it rightly with his wife, with Eve. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:48.080 He'd said, Hey, um some things you should know about being human. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:52.240 I know, I just got here too, but I've been told some things. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:54.559 And one of them is, see all the trees. 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:57.360 Yes, I've in I've liked the trees so far. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.519 That was a nice surprise. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:01.759 You can eat from any of them. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.720 Any of the trees. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:03.840 Wow, that's a lot. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:05.119 Except for one. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:08.160 There's one tree that you can't eat from. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:10.640 That's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:14.880 Okay, but he said we couldn't eat from any of the trees we could eat from any of the trees. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:16.240 Why just this one? 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:29.680 You know, I just found that it's best to take what's good from him and receive it with joy, and the things that he withholds for now, I I trust that they'll that therefore are good as well. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:31.519 Okay, that sounds great. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.160 And then it so here's Eve's response. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:35.200 She says. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:40.880 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, she says. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:49.839 But God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:56.799 And I think that she adds this, neither shall you touch it, because she's improving upon the wisdom of Adam. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:07.839 Adam had given her this initial, uh, this, there's like a call and response nature to Adam and Eve, to the masculine and the feminine throughout scripture. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:15.119 You can hear it in the Psalms where there's a there's a verse, and then the the verse, the same thing is said in a bit of a different way right afterwards. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:24.160 And that's like what's happening here, where it's given to Eve, and she says, you know, if we shouldn't eat from that fruit of that tree, we probably shouldn't even touch it. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:26.960 And I think that's I think that's just right. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:36.000 Because when you look at the cleanliness laws throughout Leviticus, the things that you don't eat, because if you eat them, they make you unclean, you also don't touch. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.400 So I think she was on to something there. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:42.240 Neither shall you touch it lest you die. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:48.240 Right now, so far in the story, everything has gone just right. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:19:05.440 And we can see that the unity between God and mankind and within the marriage is held together because they have honored the structure that they've been placed in. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:29.599 Now, here's what I want us to see, and this is deeply important to recognize the structure so far is that God has authority over Adam, Adam has authority over Eve, and Eve and Adam together have authority over the serpent. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:32.559 They are the ones who communicate this. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:39.440 And so this is what I want us to recognize, because this is the part where we're start- we're talking about hierarchies now. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:45.440 And when we talk about hierarchies, all of us moderns want to just squirm out of our skin. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:53.759 Because most of what we've been taught is that hierarchy is a threat to true unity, but it is not. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:20:01.680 As we see in the scriptures, hierarchy is the shape of unity. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:04.240 This is what I want us to see. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:08.960 Hierarchy is the very shape of unity. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:11.920 Now we understand this. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:23.839 I think that there's a uh order at ordinary levels we we understand this, especially in things that are that feel non-moral or or not uh in in our culture, things that feel not gender specific. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:26.559 It's it's particularly easy to understand. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:32.480 But think of a uh think of a basketball team. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:34.720 You guys know about basketball teams? 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:47.920 So the way that they are able to cohere as a unit is first of all, that they're organized under a principle. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:52.400 And the principle is the rules of the game of basketball. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:21:02.960 And so by each of them submitting to this principle of the rules of the game of basketball, then they are able to maintain the unity of themselves as a basketball team. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:04.960 They all submit to that. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:08.960 But we know that that team doesn't get very far because what do they what does the team need? 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:11.279 They need something above them to organize it. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:12.720 The team needs a coach. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:19.680 And what the coach does is serves as this hierarchy that's over the team. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:27.279 And because that hierarchy is in place, we understand that the team is able to maintain their unity. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:31.119 Hierarchy is the shape of unity. 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:33.519 It is the shape of unity. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:41.200 We can see this, we can see this pattern in in all kinds of ways. 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:46.799 Hierarchy is the shape of unity. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.920 So this pattern is perfectly shown to us here. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:59.359 In Eve's submission and trust of Adam, in Adam's submission and trust of the Lord, they are united. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.039 In their marriage. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:02.799 They're united in it. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:06.400 This is how they hold together. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.880 Righteous, secure, glorious. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:25.039 Now the serpents' intentions are to destroy their unity by inverting the hierarchy. 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:34.559 And I think that's part of why it's the form of a serpent, because it's a very low creature, you know, serpents. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:41.039 In fact, it'll be explained later in the text that the lowness of the serpent will have a curse placed upon it. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:45.519 You know, it's one of those, it's in in the dust, it'll be eating the dust of the ground. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:51.519 That's very different from God, who is very high above things. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:55.599 So there's an inversion of the hierarchy. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:06.960 So here's what the serpent says to the woman, because now a lie comes in, and it's a precise lie told to the woman, which is meant to invert the structure which supports their unity. 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:20.960 In Genesis 3, 4 through 5, it says, But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:27.359 Okay, so we look at this lie. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:32.960 Sometimes it's strange because it's almost jarring, because it's just an outright contradiction of God. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:41.039 The outright contradiction where God had said, if you eat of it, you will die. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:42.960 That's one side above. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.559 Do we believe this and submit ourselves to this, the word of God? 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:58.799 And then we have this other counterfactual from the serpent down here, which says, You won't die if you eat of it. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:01.359 Now I'm a man with two watches. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:05.200 Because a man with one watch always knows what time it is. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:08.240 But a man with two watches is never quite sure. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:10.079 Familiar with the expression? 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:13.839 It's one of those laughs you get because you're a preacher. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:17.039 But if I were a normal human, it would just be groans. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:19.920 It's a perk of the job. 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:22.079 I'm gonna take advantage of it. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:30.559 And the lie is you will not surely die. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:32.720 So this is the contradiction of the Lord. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:45.839 But then there's this there's this promise nested within it, which is God knows when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:51.519 You see, the lie shows us that this is actually an inversion. 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:58.319 Rather than submitting yourself to God, you will submit yourself to Satan, but he hides it. 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:03.759 You see, he smuggles the inversion in under the guise of equality. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:13.680 An equality which is gained by grasping from below that which has not been given to you from above. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:16.559 This is the sin of the garden. 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:24.160 Grasping an equality with God from below, which has not been given from above. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:26.799 That grasping is sin. 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:29.359 It is rebellion. 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:36.319 So the sin is seizing from below what has not been granted from above. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:41.599 This is the shape of rebellion, and therefore disunity. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:45.759 And that is precisely what the serpent is seeking to call humanity into. 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:48.880 Do you see the shrewdness of this? 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:51.599 It is not arbitrary what he is attacking. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:26:03.200 He is attacking the very structure of our relationship with God and the very res then the very structure of our relationship with one another. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.599 Now here's the wild part, Genesis 3, 6. 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:24.240 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:38.480 Okay, so the wild part of that, and I know these are familiar texts, so it can it's hard to recognize what's strange in them, but it's like the camera pans out, and Adam was standing there the whole time. 00:26:39.519 --> 00:27:02.480 Adam, who is the one who heard directly from God, do not eat from that tree, is the one who's standing there, while his bride, his wife, the one who he has been given covenantal responsibility over, is being deceived by the serpent. 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:16.240 And Adam says nothing, he makes no intervention, he doesn't seek to contradict the serpent in any way, he just stands there and just he doesn't do anything. 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:29.680 And then once Eve, who has been deceived by the serpent, takes and eats from the fruit, and then she turns to Adam and says, Take and eat from from this tree, Adam just falls right with her. 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:33.359 And so, do you see the shape of this fall? 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:37.200 Do you see the the shape is the perfect inversion? 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:43.119 Because the woman doesn't listen to Adam, she listens to the serpent. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:48.079 And Adam doesn't listen to God, he listens to the woman. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:57.680 And so the ordering of the structure which promoted their unity has been perfectly inverted. 00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:01.200 What will be the results of this? 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:06.400 Shame, guilt, and fear. 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:25.359 Now that the structure had been flipped on its head, that they have dishonored the order of the hierarchy that they've been placed in, the unity will dissolve. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:28.319 Now watch them get pushed apart from each other. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:34.880 In Genesis 3, 7, then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:38.480 Now, okay, the eyes of both are open. 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:39.519 They know that they are naked. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:41.039 Is this is this so bad? 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:45.920 You know, what's the and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:50.480 Their immediate reaction is to cover themselves from one another. 00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:57.519 Because now their nakedness is not a revelation of glory, their nakedness is a point of shame. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:10.240 And it's not just gener, it's not just decoration and clothes, they're covering particular areas, their loincloths, which means that they're covering the areas of their difference. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:29.200 This difference and distinction, which when it was rightly ordered, was a cause for Adam to finally burst out in praise and song at the seeing of Eve, to say, finally, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. 00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:30.640 We looked at that last week. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:34.559 Esh shall be called Isha because she was taken out of Esh. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:36.480 He names himself when he says it. 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:38.319 He names them both fire. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:39.119 Fire. 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:43.200 I did this last week, fireman and firewoman. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:46.319 That keeps happening whenever I run into that part. 00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:59.680 But they are this overflow of glory at their likeness and their distinction now becomes a point of shame which must be covered. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:02.880 They are hidden from one another. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:10.240 And of course, their hiddenness from one another is not just amongst themselves. 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:20.720 Because you could see how the marriage relationship, the relationship of humanity, was tied directly to the covenantal relationship with God. 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:23.039 It was laid out in the same pattern. 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:36.079 Just as God would be over Adam, and there would be in this smaller version of that, Adam would be over Eve, and the glory of this relationship will be demonstrated within humanity. 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:44.640 Well, if that relationship is broken, then we can see plainly that the relationship with God will be broken. 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:53.759 And so the shame that they have from one another is it just flows up into a shame before God, or their shame before God, of course, flows down into their shame before one another. 00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:58.079 And so they hide themselves from God. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:04.079 In Genesis 3, 9 and 10, it says, But the Lord God to the man God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:12.160 And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:14.960 He's not just hiding from the woman. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:22.880 The woman's not just hiding from the man, they're both hiding from God now that they have sinned against him. 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:32.880 And you can hear what is the hiding in the in the language itself, you hear he recognizes that he is naked, he is ashamed, he understands his guilt before the Lord. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:43.839 So now, whereas the word of God coming down to Adam was an experience only of joy and security and righteousness and glory, now it is fear. 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:54.960 When the Lord comes in, I am afraid of him, because he has no good news for me, because I am the type of thing that he will burn up and destroy. 00:31:57.359 --> 00:32:00.480 I am the one who has rebelled against him. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:02.799 He knows this in his heart. 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:09.599 And so I cannot be in union in union with the one that I have rebelled against. 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:12.880 This is very simple. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:26.480 And then this glory to shame, this security to fear, the Lord uh it addresses Adam, and we see that the fall just continues. 00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:29.519 And he says, Who told you that you were naked? 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:33.759 Have you eaten from the tree that I told you not to eat from? 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:36.960 And here's what the man says in Genesis 3:12. 00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:45.200 The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. 00:32:46.960 --> 00:33:11.680 Not only does Adam not defend Eve against the lies of the serpent, but here, when he is called out for his own sin by the Lord, rather than taking responsibility, the responsibility which had been given to him for Eve, he scapegoats her. 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:20.079 He uses her as a mechanism for alleviating his own responsibility. 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:38.799 He takes the authority that was given to him, and because he rebelled against the Lord in that authority and deserves punishment because of that authority, he tries to place that authority on the woman so that she will be punished instead of him. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:42.160 This is bad. 00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.119 Bad husbanding. 00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:55.279 But my first piece of advice, if you're doing it like that, don't do it like that. 00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:00.400 If you're scapegoating your wife, you should not be doing it like that. 00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:06.799 And then in Genesis 3.13, then the Lord God said, Oh, gosh, it gets worse. 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:11.039 Though look at what he says. 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:17.679 It's not just um the woman she ate and gave it to me, it's the woman you gave me. 00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:20.880 He blames God. 00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:23.840 The woman you gave me. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:28.239 And God is so generous because he could have been like, I remember giving her to you. 00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:30.320 You seem to like it. 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:36.000 You know, some things he could have said, but he doesn't. 00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:46.159 So the scapegoating of the woman, the blaming of God, Adam is denying. 00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:52.239 He's stepping out of his role as completely as he can as covenant head. 00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:54.400 That's the way to understand this. 00:34:55.039 --> 00:34:57.760 He's like the high priest of humanity. 00:34:58.079 --> 00:34:59.760 And so what is their role? 00:34:59.920 --> 00:35:07.280 It's to offer the sacrifice so that there can be peace brought between the woman and God. 00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:13.760 And instead, he is blaming God and scapegoating the woman. 00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:21.440 Do you see how it's a perfect removal of the role and station that he had been given by God as a denial of it? 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:27.920 Genesis 3 13, the woman's response, and then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? 00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:32.400 And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:34.639 And she's exactly right. 00:35:35.199 --> 00:35:38.639 This is what's described in the New Testament scriptures as well. 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:41.360 Eve is deceived by the serpent. 00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:49.280 But don't you see how they both fall, the totality of the falls, that they both fall at these points of their distinct glory. 00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:54.559 Adam falls at the point of the role that he had been given. 00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:56.159 What is the role that he had been given? 00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:57.599 You've been given the word. 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:00.719 Mediate the word of God to Eve. 00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:03.920 And then this will be a blessing for all of you. 00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:06.239 This is your responsibility, Adam. 00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:07.760 Take it, it is yours. 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:10.000 Uphold it, it will be your glory. 00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:18.559 Adam shirks this whole responsibility as he removes this office that he had been given, he denies it. 00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:24.880 And he tries to deny it by placing it on the woman so that she would bear the wrath of God. 00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:38.400 The woman, if you think of what she is made to do, she is made to be this compliment and this to Adam, this helper to Adam, like we looked at last week. 00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:44.159 So this means that she is designed to trust Adam. 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:46.719 She's made to trust him. 00:36:46.800 --> 00:36:49.679 She has this disposition of trust. 00:36:50.400 --> 00:37:04.320 But this disposition of trust is taken by the serpent and it is turned into a trust of the serpent, which is the same as a distrust of Adam and therefore a distrust of God. 00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:16.639 And so, right at the point of glory, where there was a covenantal holding fast to one another, that's where the attack on Eve comes. 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:21.360 This is the shrewdness and the wickedness of the serpent. 00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:24.159 He's seeking to turn the whole structure. 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:26.800 And now who is Lord of them? 00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:34.000 It is the serpent, because the woman obeyed the serpent, and the man obeyed the woman who obeyed the serpent. 00:37:34.239 --> 00:37:36.639 And so now the whole structure is turned. 00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:41.119 The head who was God is cut off from man. 00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:50.159 Now here's the next description that we get of marriage in the following text. 00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:55.440 It's a it's uh it during it's hard to call them the curses because they're stranger than that. 00:37:55.599 --> 00:37:59.360 Everything in the Bible, you try and label it, and then it's like, yeah, but it's a little stranger. 00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:05.519 But we'll go with curses, because you know what I mean when I'm saying God's curse after the fall. 00:38:05.760 --> 00:38:06.960 So we'll go with that. 00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:21.119 Well, in the midst of that, when he's describing his address to the woman, Genesis 3.16, the second half of that verse says, Your desire shall be towards your husband, but he shall rule over you. 00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:26.000 This is now the this is now what marriage is like under sin. 00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:34.320 This is what marriage is like when the governing agents are driven by guilt, shame, and fear. 00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:39.280 Your desire shall be towards your husband, but he shall rule over you. 00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:42.559 Now you may hear that and think, oh, that doesn't sound so bad at first glance. 00:38:46.320 --> 00:39:06.400 Now this word towards, your desire shall be towards, is a word that comes up only two other times in the scriptures, but the next time that it comes up is in the description of sin's desire to devour Cain. 00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:13.119 God gives Cain a warning and he says, Sin's desire is toward you. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:18.320 You must master it, or it will devour you. 00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:23.679 Now that is an adversarial relationship. 00:39:25.760 --> 00:39:37.039 And so what we see in this relationship which was this glorious unity, now there is strife within the marriage relationship. 00:39:39.679 --> 00:39:45.840 What we're understanding when we understand the marriage in the fall is we're understanding the place where our marriages take place. 00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:48.400 This is where our marriages happen. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:55.039 So what you can expect for your marriage is that it is under attack from the outside. 00:39:56.719 --> 00:39:59.360 And that there is strife within it. 00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:04.239 And so marriages must be maintained. 00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:12.480 Marriage takes effort to war against these tendencies. 00:40:13.840 --> 00:40:19.760