God, Our SaviorGenesis 3

Adapted from a K. Edward Skidmore sermon

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Last week we started our study of the 3:16s of the Bible’s in 2 Timothy 3:16. The ground work has been laid on the fact that; Every scripture is inspired by

God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person

dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work. 2

Timothy 3:16,17 NET

This being the truth, we now journey back to the very beginning.

Genesis 3:16 NIV To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give

birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over

you.”

I’m sure we all are very aware of why God said these words to Eve. Have you

ever worried you’ll never live up to God’s expectations? We search The Bible to learn what pleases & displeases God.

God’s people, the Israelites, were given just 10 Commandments to direct how

they were to live. The Old Testament is full of stories about just how hard it was

for them to stay on the “straight & narrow.”

Let’s look at God’s expectations of the first humans. Genesis 2:15 NIV Three

DO’S; The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God

commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ONE

DON’T; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

Do you think you could keep the one & only DON’T? How was it they were unable to obey that rule? I think it’s

obvious! They had no idea, no knowledge of good and evil! It’s hard for

me to imagine two functioning adult people working & caring for the greatest

garden ever. Wise Adam had already named all the creatures on earth. And

still they have no clue what right & wrong is.

Can you imagine The Creator God specifically telling you not to do

something & not understanding it’s wrong, evil, to do what you’ve been told

not to do? Adam and Eve were living the kind of life people can only dream about, enjoying

perfect weather, perfect health, the perfect marriage, and everything that

money could buy without even needing a bank account.

I think that’s the kind of dream that makes a show like “Deal or No Deal” so popular. Surely you’ve seen it, there are

26 suitcases up on stage and the Contestant must choose the ONE they think is worth a million dollars. Then there’s all kinds of suspense as they pick from the suitcases one by one to

eliminate them, hoping for the best. Well, Adam and Eve had the “Deal or No Deal”

set up, with a twist.

Picture yourself playing the Garden of Eden Game Show. In The Garden of

Eden Game, ALL the suitcases except one are winners. Not only that, but the Game Show Host calls you aside and gives you inside information. He tells

you, “You can pick ANY of these suitcases and you’ll win it all, but don’t pick number 26 over there. That one will wipe out your winnings and you’ll be out

of the game forever.”

What a set up! Only one wrong suitcase and the Host TELLS you which one it is.

You can’t lose! Right? Well, that’s the way it seemed when God told Adam and Eve: “You can eat from

ANY tree in the Garden, except this one.”

Then, a new Player entered the scene.

Genesis 3:1 NIV Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

The Entrance of Satan

3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or

you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For

God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like

God, knowing good and evil.”

In Genesis 3 we find out the Creator of this beautiful world has an enemy. He is called “the serpent,” and the entrance of

this mysterious creature will change everything.

The great deceiver clothed himself as a serpent, one of God’s good creatures.

He insinuated a falsehood and portrayed rebellion as clever, but essentially

innocent, self-interest.

Therefore “the devil, or Satan,” is later referred to as “that ancient serpent”

(Rev 12:9; 20:2). (NIV Study Bible)The only reason I can come up with as to why God allowed him into the garden in

the first place is because God, at His core, wants mankind to have freewill. He wants humans to make a decision, make

up their own mind, to be near Him, communicate with Him, love Him &

submit willfully to his guidance.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the

woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

We don’t read about Adam and Eve talking to any other animals. Do you

wonder if all the other animals were able to talk as well since there’s no indication

Eve was scared when the serpent talked?

Commentators have various ideas about why this talking serpent didn’t frighten Eve. One idea is Adam & Eve frequently talked with Spirits & Angels that took the

form or inhabited animals. Case & point is Balaam’s donkey. Also

with Abraham, Lot & others angels took the form of another animal, humans.

A visitor to India stayed with a friend at his home. The friend made a point of asking the visitor to wake him if he

needed to visit the outhouse in the night. Well, the host slept so soundly, and the visitor had his own flashlight so he went outside on his own in the night to tend

to things.

The next time he came to visit there, the friend explained to him that he wanted to help him in the night because they had a

cobra living in the wall of their compound that roamed at night, and the

friend wanted to protect him from his serpent night watchman. The visitor was

sure glad he hadn’t encountered this cobra in the former visit.

Genesis 3 gives the first introduction to an Evil Being that we call Satan.

A Barna survey reported on April 10, 2009; Four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.”

http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/260-most-american-christians-do-

not-believe-that-satan-or-the-holy-spirit-exis

That is NOT the way the Bible presents Satan. Scripture describes a literal being

who is intelligent, clever, crafty and shrewd. He is able to communicate and to influence us, and his desire is for our

destruction.

Certainly, the serpent of Genesis 3 represented Satan’s interests. He provided the occasion for the first couple to hear an alternate voice

besides the voice of God.

His purpose was to inject doubt into the situation. We only notice two statements

he made to Eve. The first Satan took God's positive command (You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you

must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) and

rephrased it in a negative way: "God won't let you eat of every tree." (Guzik)

The second flatly contradicted God’s words. “You will not surely die,” His

purpose was to drive a wedge between the Creator and His Creation. His

methodology is always predictable. He always tells Lies. In fact, Jesus called Satan “the father of lies.” John 8:44

Satan’s lies are usually cleverly disguised. In this case, he mixed partial

truth with his lies.

Now, for all the bad things we could say about Satan, all he actually did was

introduce a TEMPTATION. He did not hold the proverbial gun to their heads. Eve could have ignored him. She could have run from him. She and Adam could

have “told God on him” later that evening. But instead Eve hung on his every word, the way someone might

listen to a “hot stock tip.”

Genesis 3:6 NIV When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for

food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they

were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for

themselves.

The Entrance of Sin

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was

walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God

among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are

you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I

was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat

from? ” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me

some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman,

“What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,

and I ate.”

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all

the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of

your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and

between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his

heel.”

16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and

ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all

the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the

field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Going back to the “Game Show” illustration. If there’s only ONE wrong choice and the Host tells you which

suitcase not to choose, there is only one reason you would lose, that reason is if

you don’t trust the Host.

And that’s the tragedy of Adam and Eve’s sin. There was nothing special

about the fruit they ate. It wasn’t poisonous, it didn’t hold some magical power. But the act of eating it showed that way down in their deepest hearts,

they did not trust their Creator. How that must have broken God’s heart!

We could say a lot about sin, what causes sin, why people are drawn to sin, how people rationalize their sin. But the bottom line is: Sin means we don’t trust our Creator. Sin proves that we DOUBT

God and that we are willing to act on the doubt. In its essence, sin is always

REBELLION. And rebellion results in inevitable consequences. The first

consequences hit right at the heart and soul of Adam and Eve.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were

naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. It

only took one taste of Rebellion for Adam and Even to go from naked and NOT ashamed to naked and ashamed. Nothing changed about the shape of

their bodies. The only change came in the shape of their minds.

Their darkened minds twisted what was Perfect into something Perverted. The

result was a feeling they had never experienced before: the feeling of

SHAME.

Sin brought on another emotion that is familiar to all of us, but was unknown to Adam and Eve until that moment. God asked Adam why he was hiding among

the trees, and He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Genesis 3:10 NIV

Sin is the author of Shame and Fear. When we sin, the first thing we fear is

“getting caught.” We can even become paranoid, constantly “looking over our shoulder” to see if we’ve been found

out. It’s that kind of fear that usually gets Criminals caught. They draw attention to

themselves by driving away like a maniac or some other guilty behavior.

In the case of Adam and Eve, their fear and shame led them to hide from God. For the first time, they wanted to avoid fellowship with God. Their relationship

with the Creator was broken, just as their relationship with each other was

broken. The same thing happens to all of us when we sin. We find ourselves

wanting to avoid God. And we build up barriers between ourselves and the

people closest to us.

The minute they sinned, Adam and Eve experienced inward death, the death of

innocence and the death of relationships. But other consequences of Sin would follow. The whole world

would now suffer corruption and death. People sometimes ask, “If there really is a God, why is there so much suffering

and pain in the world? Why do we have war sickness and death?” The answer is

found here in Genesis.

Now that Sin had entered the world, God explained there would be PAIN in

childbirth and in our work. You have to wonder what it would have been like if Eve had not sinned before she had her firstborn. Maybe she would have come

up to Adam one day and said, “Well, honey, today I bent down to pick up

something, and, well, here is our new son. I didn’t even know he was coming.”

Genesis 3 may not be anyone’s favorite part of the Bible. It seems like a real

downer. But even in this tragic passage, we find a thread of hope. With God, even

the Curse holds hidden Blessing. As unwelcome as it is, we understand that pain actually protects us. A person who

cannot feel pain will probably not survive long. It turns out that pain is actually a blessing that allows us to

survive in this fallen world.

Even the ultimate consequence of sin, DEATH itself holds an element of

blessing. Without death we could never escape the confines of this tainted

world. God has another place in mind for us, a place where we can live forever.

The place He is preparing for us has no pain, no corruption, and no death.

At the end of Genesis 3, God, the great Creator and Provider of Genesis 1 and 2

would take on a new role. Because of our sin, God reached down in Mercy and

became our Savior.

The Entrance of the Savior

In verse 15 God said to Satan: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” From the very beginning, God knew that one day he would put on flesh

and come to the earth as the seed of woman to save the people He created

from the penalty of sin.

Genesis 3:20 NIV Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. God did one

more thing for Adam and Eve before he sent them out of the Garden. 21 The

LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

This action may seem incidental until you stop to realize that the only way to

provide animal skin, was for an animal to die. This is the first time physical death

is recorded. Adam and Eve must have known that

animal died because of their sin.

This was the beginning of the sacrificial system that would eventually become

part of the Jewish law. It was a picture of God’s plan to save us from our sins. In

the same way that God provided the animal skins, He would one day provide his beloved Son as the sacrificial Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.

That is the amazing offer of Salvation that God offers you and me. Do you

realize God will still clothe us with the sacrificial Lamb? Galatians 3:27 NET For all of you who were baptized into Christ

have clothed yourselves with Christ.

22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to

reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground

from which he had been taken.

24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the

tree of life.This is interesting to me. They were free

to eat from the tree of life. It was not forbidden! They could eat, and live

forever! Evidently they had not ate from it yet or they had to continually eat from

it to live forever.

Q. Why did God prevent Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of life

anymore?A: There are three aspects to this.

Discipline: This would show to Adam and Eve, and to us, the seriousness of disobeying God. Judicial punishment:

God promised them that the day they ate the forbidden fruit they would die.

They died spiritually that day, and access to the tree of life was taken away

from them so that they would die physically.

Mercy and blessing: If they could still eat of the tree of life, they would carry

around the guilt and curse of their sin forever. So be allowed to die, and start

everything off, culminating in Christ coming and bringing salvation for all

was a mercy. (Bible Query)

We still have the opportunity to eat & live forever.

John 6:53 NET Jesus said to them, "I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the

flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54

The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise

him up on the last day.

55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in

me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the

Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me. 58 This is the

bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread your ancestors ate, but then later died. The one who eats

this bread will live forever."

Yes, there is still an opportunity to eat from the Tree of Life. We get a glimpse

of it in Heaven.Revelation 22:1 NET Then the angel

showed me the river of the water of life — water as clear as crystal — pouring out from the throne of God and of the

Lamb, 2 flowing down the middle of the city's main street.

On each side of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit,

yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the

nations.Revelation 22:14 NET Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access to the tree of life and can enter

into the city by the gates.

In the first 3 chapters of the Bible, we find a brief account of Creation and The

Fall that is so simple a child can understand it. But it’s so profound that

we could spend a lifetime studying it. We would never run out of things to learn

about our God, our Creator, our Provider and our Savior.

2 Timothy 3:16 NET Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching,

for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the

person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

Having established this, it is because of what we’ve read in Genesis 3 we can

understand why the Scriptures, God’s Word, is necessary.

Humans now, knowing good and evil, need God’s plan of redemption to bring us back to him through the sacrificial

Lamb, God The Son, Jesus. John 14:6 NET Jesus replied, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one

comes to the Father except through me.

It’s very possible that some of us here today are actually trying to hide from God. Maybe there is a “hidden” sin in your life that makes you want to avoid

fellowship with God. Well, you may be able to hide your sins from the people around you, but, take it from Adam and Eve, you can’t hide from

God.

God is calling your name like he did to Adam in the Garden. God has already provided a covering for your sin. Will

you answer His call today?