Genesis 1:26 - 3:6

The crown of God's creation was a man and a woman.  He created them to be like Him, and He provided for their every need.  That's why we can believe that God loves us, and wants the best for us, because He's been caring for us from the start of His creation.

Transcript

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search. This creates user Some day, the piecing on rev. Lies hanging string weakness. Finding is in size. No, the it is some for one mole on can come hair with the were of life eternal, with its pre situation rare with the word of life eternal with its precepts Croatian rare. Well, allow everyone we continue ah, that today with our study in the Book of Genesis with the creation of the first man and woman. Now, in our first study, on days one through six, God created the planets, the sun, moon and stars, the land and the sea and all the plant life on earth, the fish and the birds and the land animals. There's a day is the day we answered the question, Where do I come from? And do I have any worth? And what is God's design for relationships? And the answer that you're gonna get is different than the ones that many world philosophies give you. In particular, the evolutionary theory extends to you the notion that you were made over millions of years. You evolved from a smaller creature to a greater creature. The evolutionary theory teaches that mankind descended from an original pile of microorganisms. On the other hand, Scripture tells us that you are descended from two original, perfectly created individuals. Evolutionary theory teaches that you're worth comes from your contribution to the whole Scripture teaches that your value come from being created in the image and likeness of God. In evolution, you are an advanced animal. In Scripture, you are created an eternal spirit, and the creation of man is the high point of God's creation. It is more important than the creation of the animals and the solar system, or even the Earth itself. The reason the creation of mankind is most important is because we were created as spiritually beings meant for eternal fellowship with God. And that is the hint for the answer to the question. What is God's designed for relationships? But we'll get to that later. So let's dive into the text at verse 26 of Chapter one, and God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have Dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth on over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Now let's note a couple of things here first noticed that it says, Let us make man in our image. I noted last time that the word of God in the word of God Elohim is in the plural. It is sometimes translated gods in other contexts, but here it is translated God. And we talked about how God is revealed in Scripture as a trinity three and one God is father, son and spirit. So when it says here, let us make man it is God converse ing. Within the trinity, the father, son and spirit are deliberating about the creation of the height of their creation mankind. The second note that we need to make concerns what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God. If I say, for example, that a child is the spitting image of their parents, it could mean a couple of things. It might mean that that child bears a strong physical resemblance to the parent where it might mean that they resembled them in personality. So what does it mean? That the first man and woman were created in God's image? Does this refer to some kind of physical resemblance. Put it this way. The question is not Do we somehow look like God? But rather, does God in his appearance look like a man? And of course, the answer is no. Well, how can I say that? Because Jesus said in John 4 24 God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And John also said in his first epistle in first John 15 this is a message which we have heard from him and announce to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. What John is telling us in both those passages is that God is not bound by a physical body. He is revealed in Scripture as spirit and light. He is not bounded by the physicality that limits us. He is eternal and present in all places at once. So he doesn't have a body like a man, so he doesn't look like a man. Now he has chosen to come to us in a body, and that's Jesus Christ. But by nature he is spirit. And that is the answer to the question our we created in the image of God. Well, we are spirits. Just as God is spirit, we are created for eternity, just as God is eternal. To put it frankly, the rest of creation is temporary. The rest of creation is dying and going to die. There's only two entities now, three really that enter into eternity. That is God, mankind and the angelic beings. The rest of creation have a temporal life span. Now, I know this upset some people, but I'm sorry animals don't go to heaven. People do so. We are in God's image as spiritual beings, and we're also in God's image in other ways as well. God is creative. So is mankind. God is relational and mankind is made for relationships with others. God is intelligent, and so his man, God is love and mankind is built with the capacity to love and God is sovereign. He gave humankind Dominion over creation. Mankind is the steward in charge of managing creation. So just as God is king over everything, he made a man and woman king over this creation. Now some environmentalists take issue with two things here they take issue with man being the crowning creation of God, the only creature made in God's image. And they take issue with man being given rule over the animals. They kind of picture Christians as riding a train across the prairies and slaughtering buffalo just for sport or wiping out species just because we can and justifying it by quoting this Scripture. Well, that's not what ruling and subduing animals was all about. Adam and Eve didn't even eat meat. What this is is the management and care of the animal and plant life on the earth. And now that we do eat me, it means raising and harvesting those animals in a humane and responsible manner. Just like God, Man is sovereign God. Man has creativity. Man is moral, is spiritually eternal. He is self reflective. He has free will. He's not driven entirely by instinct, as animals are so in all those ways God and man are alike, or man is like God. Man is created in God's image. So Verse 27 goes on. So God created man in his own image in the image of God created, He him male and female created he them So notice man is created in God's image, male and female, he created them. They are made male and female, and in the image of God is not that the man was made in God's image and that woman was kind of an afterthought. Well, let's make somebody else to to kind of walk around with Adam and keep him in line. Both are made in God's image. Both have those same attributes of God, of being spiritually and creative and sovereign and and all those things that we described as being God's image, he goes on to say in verse 28. And God bless them, God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have Dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you. It shall be for meat and to every beast of the earth and every fowl of the air and everything that creeps on the earth where in there is life. I have given every girl green herb for meat, and it was so notice that at the start, all of God's creatures are vegetarian. And the Bible says that at the return of Jesus, that 1000 year reign on Earth animals will return to that eyes. A 11 6 says the wolf will also dwell with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fat link together. A little child shall lead them. Isaiah, 65 25 says. The lamp and the wolf will feed together, and the line shall eat straw like the bullock and dust shall be the serpents meat they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. Well, here in Genesis that we return to Verse 31 it says, and God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good in the evening. In the morning were the six day. At this point, we move on to Chapter two. 1st 1 says Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which we had made. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Now that opens up in interesting question. Why does God need to rest? I mean, the scripture says that God is almighty God. As described in Genesis 17 1 it tells us throughout Scripture. That he is omnipotent is a word. It indicates he is all powerful. He has all the power and he is not limited in his power. So we don't imagine God taking arrest or or going to sleep. Isaiah 40 28 describes it further by saying about God. Have you not known? Have you not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the Earth, does not faint? Nor does he get weary and tired. There's no searching of his understanding. So what does it mean? That God took a rest on Day seven of creation? Well, I understand that you have to understand the word rest in this passage. The Hebrew word used here is translated in other places to cease. Let me give you an example. In Joshua chapter five Verse 12 It says. When the people of Israel left the wilderness and crossed into the promised land, the manna ceased. The daily provision of bread from heaven ceased. All it means is it stopped coming This the second they injured in the Promise land. It simply means when we talk about God here on the seventh day that he ceased his creation. It wasn't that he was tired or out of ideas. In fact, he could have continued to create new things every day into eternity. Future. But he chose to stop at this point to cease. And so the seventh day was the day of that ceasing verse three says, And God bless the seventh day and sanctified it or set it apart because that in it he had rested or ceased from all his work, which he had created in made Well, we'll come back later to the seventh day. The verse four goes on by saying these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the heavens and the earth and every plant of the field before it was in the earth and every herb of the field before it grew for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, God a dot cause it to rain. Now some have purported myself included in previous years that this verse indicates that there had been no rain on the earth up to this point, that is the sixth day and that there was no rain on the earth after that until the flood came. And so, with that idea in mind, we had to come up with an explanation concerning how the plants were watered from the creation of the world until the flood. And there was an old creationist theory about a water canopy and that the plants were watered by the mist that came up out of the ground. And it was kind of hydrological cycle that took place, um, with mist coming up out of the Earth. But I just recently read from an article in Answers in Genesis by Ken Ham that we don't necessarily have to read this as though there were no rain on the earth until the flood, but rather that there wasn't rain on the earth until the six day In other words, while the creation week progress, it didn't rain, which makes sense to me because God didn't create the sun until the fourth day, and the sun is integral to the hydrologic cycle. So that would mean that this verse is simply saying that there were plants that God created on the third day, but he hadn't made it rain yet. It also says that there was no man to till the ground. So all that saying is nobody was tending the plants and it hadn't rained it. So one might respond. Know how? How in the world can that be? How could the plants keep growing? How are they getting watered? Well, it tells us in verse six, But there went up a mist from the earth and water the whole face of the ground. So all it's doing is providing an explanation for the care of the plants. Plants are created before the sun and the rain. You say, Well, that's scientifically impossible, My friends, I believe God created the world. I believe there is scientific evidence that bears that out. And since I believe that I believe that God can keep the plants alive for a few days without a son or without rain. In fact, I believe God could keep them alive for eternity without the sun and without rain. Now, that's the question somebody might ask is if you think there was rain before the flood. Do you believe there was a rainbow before the end of the flood? Well, you're gonna have to wait on that answer until Genesis Chapter nine going on with the text, though Verse seven says, and the Lord God formed a man of the dust of the ground. This is why we say at funerals, dust to dust, ashes to ashes. And it says he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul or living being the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. Now the name Eden means pleasure or delight. So God planted a garden of delight and pleasure. And there he put the man whom he had formed. You know, it always fascinates me. The care that God took of Adam and Eve. I mean, he had just created a perfect world. The whole world was perfect. Everything in it was new and beautiful. And now he brings mankind in and he says, Where we're gonna put mankind, we're really anywhere on earth would do The whole place was a greenhouse. The whole earth was paradise. But no, God said no. We need an extra extra special place for man. We need a paradise in paradise. We need a place of pleasure in this place of pleasure. And so he planned to the garden. What that indicates is a place where all the fruit trees would be together. A huge vegetable area, wheat and corn available beans, everything at man's fingertips. And it says he provided a water source right there in the garden, Verse 10 says, and a river went out of Eden toe water the garden, and from there parted and became into four heads. The name of the first was Paice, on which Compass is the land of have alot, where there's gold and the gold of that land is good. There's bid Elion and Onyx Stone, the name of the second Rivers guy on the same. That compass is the whole land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is hit. Aquel that is that which goes toward the east of the Syria and the Fourth Rivers, Euphrates. So what you have here is God creating not only this garden button, abundant water supply, and those rivers were also a source of gold and jewels and precious stones that indicates is that God provided for mankind. He provided for them a wonderful place to live. And he provided for them a job to do God created jobs. Note here before sin came and the curse came. We often think about work as one of the arduous tasks that we have to do. We somehow think that it would be a blessing if we didn't have to do anything. I think most of us have changed our mind on that opinion in the last months since we've been in this locked down one of the curses that came out of sin and the garden was working by the sweat of the brow. I mean, work can become miserable. But before the curse, work was a blessing from God. God placed man in the garden and said, I want you to tend it and keep it 1st 15 he says. I want you to dress it and keep it. What that says to me is that God is good. He gave them everything they needed, not only providing for their physical needs, but also their spiritual and emotional and and the need toe have a purpose and a meaning in their lives. Now we need to go back to verse nine to pay special attention. 22 trees that God caused to grow 1st 9 says, and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Tree of life also in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So there were all these trees. I mean all kinds of trees, regular trees like apples and pears and every kind of fruit tree. And then there were two special trees. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, two very special trees that God placed in the garden. Let's talk about them for a moment. First, the tree of life. What is the tree of life? Well, we don't get a notion of the nature of this tree until after Adam and Eve's sin. By eating from the other tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 1st 22 when God was cursing Adam and Eve because they chose to disobey, he said, Behold, the man has become one of us to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, then God sent mankind out of the garden to prevent them from eating of the tree of life. Now what did he just say? He said that if they ate of the tree of life, they would live forever. So what this means is that there was a tree in the garden that, if eaten, would impart immortality and get this God on. Lee told them not to eat of one tree and it wasn't that tree. He told them they couldn't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He never said they couldn't eat of the tree of life. What that means is that mankind could have chosen to eat of the tree of life and to live forever. But instead mankind chose knowledge, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil over immortality Or more importantly, they chose disobedience over life. Now, that's just more evidence of the great care that God took to provide for the first man and woman. You see, my friends, you are of great value to God. He provided all of this world for your sustenance and for your enjoyment and to keep you active and to keep you working. He provided originally for immortality for mankind. But man chose knowledge over immortality for 16. Here's the command that God gave about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said You may eat of any tree of the garden freely but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You shall not eat of it for in the day you eat of it, you will surely die. Some people ask the question. Well, did they die on the very day that they ate of the tree? Well, we're gonna address that later. Verse 18 goes on to say, and the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a help. Meet for him. Help meet a helper. This is a description of the creation of woman. On the sixth day, you say, Hold on a second. We already saw the creation of woman in a previous account. And because this revisits that creation, some people want to cast doubt on the truth of Scripture. They want to make a big deal out of the fact that Chapters one and two both described the creation of woman. And what they'll say is that these two accounts are different, contradictory accounts of creation that were kind of hodgepodge together centuries later, when the Old Testament was being written down. I'm gonna tell you that these air, not contradictory accounts all Chapter two does is returned to the six day and give more detail about how God created man and woman says in verse 19 Out of the ground, The Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them and whatever Adam called every living creature. That was the name thereof. So Adam named every animal now he named them in his language. But this is evidence that Adam was no intellectual slouch. Adam was no Neanderthal man or primitive man. He was created perfect. Physically, emotionally, intellectually. He had no environmental or genetic defects that impacted his brain capacity. He didn't have the generations of sin and disease clouding his higher thinking. He came up with all the names for all the animals. Now this brings us to a question. What language did Adam speak? Well, in my opinion, and that's all. This really is about this and you can take it. For what it's worth, I think Adam and Eve spoken early Semitic or Hebrew language. I think they spoken early form of the same language that Abraham, David and Jesus spoke Hebrew. Why don't I believe that? Well, here's another incidence where you're gonna tow Wait until we talk about the Tower of Babel. But God brings Adam each animal and every one of them is docile, tame. They're herbivores. Any names them 1st 1 he says. And Adam gave names to all cattle into the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helpmate for him. Hold on a minute. Do you mean to tell me that God and Adam we're looking for a companion or helpmate among the animals. Yes. Say, Well, why didn't I mean, we can excuse Adam because he's brand new at this. But didn't God, no, that there was gonna be nothing in the animal kingdom that sufficed as a companion for Adam? Of course he did. God knows all, and God knew that there would be nothing there that would be comparable to Adam. But I think that's the entire reason why God did this s so that Adam would appreciate more that which God created in the woman whenever he finally did create her. Oh, by the way, some of you who are animal lovers, some of you have chosen to have pets over mates, and there's nothing wrong with that entirely. Um, in fact, the New Testament says that being single is a gift for some people. But God showed us from the beginning that animals cannot fill the place of human interaction. God made us for human discourse. I mean, it is a rare person who can live apart from society and human interaction. No matter how many pets you have. The verse 21 goes on to say on the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs or his side and closed up the flesh instead thereof. By the way, ladies, I heard something from a preacher about this passage that you may think helps explain men. You see, the verse says that God put man into a deep sleep in order to do this kind of surgery on him. But notice it never says that a woke man up. And so now when wives tell their husbands something, all of the men kind of wake up out of a slumber and Santa, would you say an explanation for why that is just a joke, guys, Just a joke. Verse 22 and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from men made he a woman and brought her to the man. So God made a woman for the first man. Now, those of you who know me no. What I'm about to say God made a woman for the first man. And even if you don't know me, you can probably guess God made a woman for the first man. You see one of the questions that I said is answered in this passage is what is God's design for intimate relationships, It's been said somewhat facetiously, God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. This is God's perfect created order. He made one man and one woman. He did not make two men or two women. He did not make two women and one man or two men and one woman. He didn't just leave man with animals. And God does what he does for a reason and whether we understand it or not. This is how he did it. And later on in Scripture, he makes his will even more clear by condemning any intimate relationship outside of a monogamous one man, one woman relationship. Now, when sin comes into the world, men and women will desire all kinds of different intimate relationships. But listen to me closely. That desire does not make that relationship God's will. Desire does not make them anything mawr than disobedience or sin. The example of that a married man can desire a woman that's not his wife, but that doesn't make it any less a sin. If he acts on that desire, desire does not make something right now, these last words really show the height of God's glorious creation, not just creating mankind in all his intellectual prowess and ingenuity, but in his capacity for deep life, long love relationship. And I think you can see the glory of God's creation best in marriages of Christian people now, not all of them. Frankly, I've seen my share of failed Christian marriages. But when you see a man and a woman who have stayed together through thick and thin, who fail each other and then forgive each other who make each other better, who love God and love Jesus Christ first, who sacrifice who grow old together you are seeing the crown of God's creation first. Corinthians 13 describes it well when it describes love. It says love is patient and is kind. It doesn't envy, brag or isn't proud. It doesn't behave inappropriately or seek. It's own way. It's not provoked, takes no account of evil. It doesn't rejoice and in righteousness, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures. All things love never fails, you're saying as God created. This relationship is the ultimate example of God's love, and I think this little passage that's here in Genesis is Justus beautiful as the one in first Corinthians where it says and Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She should be called woman because she was taken out of man. She is me and I am her. We complete each other's sentences. Verse 24. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother in Cleave to his wife and the two shall be one flesh. Now, this is no longer Adam speaking. But God, Adam had no human father and mother to leave to go to Eve. But God is saying that this marriage relationship between a man and wife is so beautiful the height of his creation, that the loyalty that a man has to his wife will even break the loyalty a man has to his parents. And he will cleave to his wife. He'll hold on to her, not give up on her. This is not a passive relationship of convenience, you know. That's why it's always bothered me when a couple doesn't get married because leaving and cleaving here represents an official breaking away from the old and a commitment to the new and that official leaving and cleaving has been done differently in different cultures through time. But it all comes down to a public commitment to this individual for life. But some people will say, Well, what's the big deal that the state or the church declares us married? Let me ask you, what's the big deal If it's not a big deal, if you're going to be committed to this person for your whole life, regardless of the official paperwork, then what's the big deal in doing it? What I suspect is that most people who don't want to get married I don't want to because they are not committed to this person for life. They want an easy way out if they decide at some future point that they don't like this person. Men and women, you're supposed to clean to that person and take a life long marriage vow. And that is the greatest clinging that you conduce. So do it. And so he says, he will cleave to his wife and the two shall be one flesh. 1st 25 goes on to describe that intimacy by saying, and they were both naked, the man and his wife. And we're not a shame. Now this speaks to a beautiful thing in the next chapter, man and woman sin, and they figure out that their naked and hide from God and from each other, we all live in relationship. But when we enter into God's holy union, a man in a wife, we can in at least one sense return to that state of Eden, where we are naked and unashamed. We can be totally exposed to another person, even in this fallen world of sin today and be unashamed when we're with each other. Now, with the time we have remaining, we're going on into Chapter three. And you know, as I think about this study in Genesis, we haven't really mentioned an outline for the Book of Genesis yet, because early I like for things to happen naturally, as the story of the book unfolds. Well, Genesis has been called the Book of Beginnings, but that doesn't really tell us a theme. Besides, it's not just a compilation of first things you know, like the first Earth, the first son, first people, animals, first flood nation cities, etcetera. There is a direction to the book, and Chapter three is the first clue to that direction. Chapter three describes for us the first sin of humanity, which will then lead to God's punishment for sin and to God's plan of redemption. And that's really the theme. The theme is Sin and God's plan for dealing with it. But before we get to that, here's another first, the first sin and is a very interesting story. A lot of people say it sounds mythological. We're going to read the whole thing and deal with particular issues regarding it. Chapter three begins by saying now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made, he said to the woman, Yea has God said You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. So we have a snake come out and began speaking to the woman and a woman says to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat of it. Neither shall you touch it. Lest you die, the serpent said to the woman. You shall not surely die for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you'll be like God's knowing good and evil. Well, that was enticing to the woman, it says. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 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 gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat in the eyes of them. Both were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden, and the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you now? I said a moment ago. They kind of sounds like mythologies were like, you know, Greek mythology. You've probably read before talking animals, mystical, magical trees And that's really why so many outside of the Christian world and in the Christian world have relegated this story to the ambiguous classifications of myth. They call it a myth. Now, what is a myth in on the streets? As I grew up, myth meant something that wasn't true. Well, that's a myth. Well, in academic circles, when you're talking about stories from the Bible, they'll say, No, no, no, we're not saying it's not true. It's just a myth and myth is a traditional story, one that derives from the early history of the people. That explains some natural or social phenomenon typically involves supernatural beings or events, so they won't say that it's not true. But what they'll say is that a myth is something that was developed to give a lesson, an important lesson or two impart information about the beginnings of the people. In reality, when they say myth, they mean they don't believe it's true. But let me tell you, the lessons in this story are as important as the truth of the story, because this story in particular, is that the start of the whole Bible it is referred to as true throughout Scripture. So if you're going to choose to not believe this story, then there are a whole lot of other Scriptures you have to cast doubt on. May give the example first, Timothy, to 13 through 15 says, for Adam was first formed and then Eve. So Paul writes to Timothy and says, I believe in the creation of Adam and Eve in This is in verse 14 and Adam was not deceived. But the woman being deceived was in the transgression. So Paul not only believes in the story of Adam and Eve, but he also believes that they were tempted or that the woman was tempted and that she was deceived literally by a serpent. Romans Chapter five, Verse 14 says. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the Sim militated of Adam's transgression. Who is the figure of him that was to come? So Paul again treats Adam as a historic figure as historic as Moses Waas. First, Corinthians, 15 22 says, for as in Adam, all die. Even so in Christ all are made alive, he's saying, is that Adam brought death to everyone and in Christ life is brought to everyone. So if you're not gonna believe in a literal Adam, then will you not also be casting doubt on belief in a literal Christ? Now what I'm saying is, if this story is not true, what you have is a Bible that's full of myths or lies or liars, or at best they are people who are ignorant, primitive and naive. Now I'm not saying that there aren't things which are difficult to comprehend here, but even if I don't fully understand, I take them on faith. So Chapter three says the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, he said to the woman, Let's stop there. We are talking about a talking snake, all right? Yes. So my immediate question is, if I didn't already know the Bible. Ah, did all animals talk to Adam and Eve? Or maybe Adam and Eve had some special abilities. Maybe Eve was a parcel tongue from the Harry Potter movies. No animals did not normally speak, and IV did not have some special ability. So how in the world does this happen? Well, you need to look at the rest of Scripture for the answer. Believe it or not, the serpent here is not the only talking animal in the Bible. In numbers. Chapter 22 a donkey speaks, but here's the key in that passage. It says that the Lord opened the donkeys mouth. In other words, it wasn't a donkey talking as much as it was God speaking from the mouth of a donkey. Well, the same holds true with the serpent. It's not so much a serpent talking as it is a supernatural being speaking through the serpent was supernatural. Being are referring to. We're talking about Satan say, Well, how do you know that last, what Scripture tells us? Revelation, Chapter 12 Verse nine says. And the Great Dragon was cast out that old serpent look. Here's the serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world, and he's cast out of the earth and his angels were cast out with him. So this was Satan speaking through this animal. So a serpent comes up to Eve and she starts talking to it. Well, why in the world that Ive talked to the serpent, You know, if I had a snake come up to me and start talking, I'd run, and even if I did somehow talk to it, I don't think I'd be taking advice from it. But you have to remember that Adam and Eve are brand new creations. Everything to them is brand new. They're like babies in their naivete. I don't know if you can imagine any three or four year old child. I mean, they'll talk to anyone. If the family dog came up and started talking to him, they'd probably hold a pro long conversation with it. So you've starts talking to the serpent. So what did Satan or the serpents say? He says, Yea, hath God said, You shall not eat of every tree as a garden. Now here's a classic example of satanic deception. Step one is question God's word. Half God said their words, he's saying. Did he really say that? Now? What's step two? Step two is make God's commands seem oppressive and extreme. Look at what he says. Hath God said that you can't eat of any tree in the garden. He didn't begin by saying, Hey, I heard that out of all the thousands of trees in the garden. There's just one which you are commanded not to eat. No, If he said that he'd be speaking the complete truth. There were thousands of trees that they could eat from an Onley, one that God said you can't eat from but Satan majors in holding back parts of the truth to make it appear that God is overly demanding God's holding out on you first, to the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, Goddess said, You shall not eat of it. Neither shall you touch it lest you die. Well, she got that right. She correctly stated what God's word said, but she overstated to command. It never says in Scripture that Adam and Eve were forbidden and even touching the tree and its fruit. In fact, Scripture tells us that God gave the command toe. Adam were never told that God commanded ive not eat of the tree. I think that was the beginning of God, relegating spiritually leadership in the home to the husband. God gives the command about the tree toe, Adam. And then Adam is to pass it on to Eve. And I can imagine the conversation between them. Adam says Oh, ive nice to meet you. You've met God. This is the Garden of Eden, the home God made for us. He's revived it all these fruits and vegetables for us to eat. Oh, but let me show you this tree here, we're not supposed to eat its fruit. If you do, you'll die. God said so. So don't eat it. Ah, well, in fact, don't even touch it. It would be better that way. So I think that's how ive ended up with a command, not even to touch it. So I think. And as for her part, she gets the command right. And as far as she knows, she knows you're not supposed to eat of the fruit of that tree. In that way, she is far better than many people. Some people fail, even at that point they fail it, even knowing what the word of God says. And this is the point at which Satan starts. He questions God's word. Then he tests the water to see if you even know what God's word says, And most people don't know God's word. So Satan has an easy job. People misquote or misinterpret the word of God and is frustrating. I hear over and over arguments, for example, against capital punishment. People will say, you know, the Bible says Thou shalt not kill. The fact is they don't know the word. If they did know the word, they would know that just one chapter after God says, Thou shalt not kill, he says. But if a man come presumptuously on his neighbor to slay him with guile, you shall take him to my alter. And there he shall die. In other words, just one chapter after God says Thou shalt not kill God gives provision for capital punishment, he says in verse 15 of that same chapter, Exodus, Chapter 21. He that hits his father and mother shall be put to death. He that kidnaps a man and sells him shall be put to death. He that curses his father and mother shall be put to death. If you read the Old Testament, you know there are a number of laws whose punishment is death, and so it's obvious that the commandment didn't mean to not kill anyone for any reason. In fact, God sends Israel out later toe war to destroy their enemies. So the word kill in that commandment really is better translated murder. And what it means is there are incidents when if you go and take someone's life, if you do so for your own purposes and outside of the purview of what God allows for a person's like to be taken than that is committing murder. But it allows for capital punishment. It allows for war. It allows for policing. It allows for self defense. There are all kinds of biblical exceptions which are not considered murder by God. But you see, that's what Satan does. He deceives by perverting what little word of God that people know. But you see, here Ive passed the test. She knew the word. So now what Satan does is he directly contradicts God's word. It says. The serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die for God knows that in the day you eat of that tree, your eyes will be open and you will be God's knowing good and evil. What he's saying to Eve is God's lying to you. God's holding out on you, and Satan uses that tactic with this as well. God or those who represent God just don't want you to have fun. And Satan points out the one thing that God forbids. Adam and Eve have Ah whole garden of every imaginable fruit tree and only one kind of fruit that they couldn't eat. But suddenly that's the fruit that ive wants 1st 6 when the woman saw that the tree was good for fruit food and it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise those are the three ways in which we're drawn and descend there described the New Testament as the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. She took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat. Now, at this point in the story, I have heard two different interpretations about Adam. The question is asked, Where was Adam while Yves was being tempted? Well, some say she went and found him, told him she had taken the fruit, gave him some and he ate it. Others say no. Adam saw the whole conversation go down. He was right there. All she had to do was hand him the fruit after she took a bite. But we don't know for sure. It is a curious question because it goes to motive. Why did he eat it? Why would he stand by and say nothing while she ate it? And his motives have been described as everything from loving. That is, if he just got the fruit and she brought it to him and he says, Oh, my goodness, She took of the fruit. She's gonna die, and I I can't live without her. So I'm gonna eat a fruit to and die with her. Some have said that was his motive. Others has said he was standing right there while she's being tempted, and he was tempted to eat of the fruit as well. But he thought, Well, I don't want to eat it and die, So I'm just gonna watch her. E didn't see what happens. And if she doesn't fall down dead, well, then I'll eat it too. Which of those is true? We don't know, really. The passage can imply, either. I don't know that we can know his motives, but the Bible holds Adam responsible for sin, coming to humanity first, Timothy to 14 says, and Adam was not deceived. But the woman being deceived was in the transgression. What that's really saying is it's holding Adam responsible, even though he didn't initiate the sin she send because she was fooled by Satan. Adam wasn't fooled. He send willfully job 31 33 says, If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, holds Adam responsible. Romans 5 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam Moses, even over them, that have not sinned after the similar tude of Adam's transgression. And first Corinthians 15 22 4 As in Adam, All Die, Even so in Christ shall All be made alive. It holds Adam responsible. But why does it hold him responsible? He was the one that originally took the fruit. Well, as I said before, he's the head of the household. She was deceived, but he was not. He just chose to do it well, that leads us to the end of our study for today. Next time, we're gonna look at the results of choosing sin. And we have been living with the misery of that choice since that brief moment of bliss in the Garden of Eden. Let's pray, Heavenly Father, We know that we're just like Adam and Eve. You have given us so much. You have provided so much and your commandments are a small thing compared to the privileges we have as the crown of your creation. But we strain at any limitation put on us. We are a rebellious people. So we sin. If Adam and Eve Hatton Sin Jane enable would have if they hadn't, we all would have sinned. But we thank you for the grace of salvation offered to us in Jesus Christ. We thank you for the offering of covering for our sin even as you offered covering for Adam and Eve's sin. And we pray this and we thank you for this in Jesus name. Amen.