The Curse and the Covering

Introduction

Well, good morning!

Listen, I hope you’ve been practicing our mission verse. I hope you’ve been challenging each other to put this on your hearts…because remember, this is what Jesus commanded us to do. He commanded us to be a church that cares about the kingdom of God…He commanded us to be a people that cared about those around us…which is exactly why we wanna be a church without walls and why we wanna do everything in our power to deliver, disciple, deploy. We wanna deliver the message of salvation, we wanna disciple those that come to Christ, we wanna deploy each other out to advance to kingdom in all the places He’s called you to. And so, Matthew 28:19 & 20, it’s in these verses that Jesus makes our mission very clear. And so, I’ll get us started, you finish it up.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

[Prayer]

Alright, if you have your Bible’s and I hope that you do, open ‘em up with me to Genesis chapter three…Genesis chapter three. We’re gonna finish up this chapter this morning. If you remember, God created everything out of nothing…He created man in His image…He gave man everything they could’ve possibly of needed or wanted…and then at the start of chapter three, Satan caused them to begin questioning the goodness and the truthfulness of God’s Word…they eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then they fall into sin and disgrace. They feel the guilt of their sin and it causes them to cover themselves with fig leaves and hide from the very presence of God.

But if you remember last week, even though they were guilty sinners…even though God knew everything they had done…He still sought them out…He confronted them…and in the midst of their rebellion, He comforted them by providing them with a way out. He told them that He was gonna send a Redeemer…someone to crush their enemy and someone to take on their punishment. Of course, as we saw last week, that someone was Himself…it was the Son of God…it was Jesus.

And as we approach the rest of chapter three this morning, we’re gonna see God allow Adam and Eve to experience the consequences of their sin but at the same time, provide them with hope in their future redemption.

Listen, imagine for a second that in an act of anger, you murdered your very best friend. You didn’t necessarily mean to but there’s really no denying that you’re the one to blame, right? And so, the police come…they collect all the evidence…they get your admission statement. They literally have everything they need to put you away for the rest of your life. It’s an open and shut case. And so, they arrest you and you face all the immediate consequences of your actions… at least until the day you face the judge at your trial. Listen, when you get there…the judge stands up and he says, “You’re guilty! There’s no doubt you’ve done everything you’re accused of doing…but because I’m a merciful judge…I’m not only gonna let you go free, I’m gonna take on your life sentence for you myself!” And so, he steps down and he trades places with you. I mean, that would be crazy, right? Our country, the people, they would go crazy.

But listen, that’s exactly what God does for Adam and Eve. That’s exactly what we see in these passages this morning. God literally proclaims Adam and Eve guilty and even allows them to face the immediate consequences of their actions…but when it comes to the judgement…He provides them with a way out.

And so listen, if you’re there with me this morning. Let’s stand together as we read starting in verse 16. It says this:

Genesis 3:16–24 (ESV)

To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,

but he shall rule over you.”

And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.”

The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Thank you, you can be seated.

Listen, there’s two main things we’re gonna look at today. First, God allows us to face the consequences of our sin. That’s the curse…we see the consequences for the woman and we see the consequences for the man. And then second, God provides salvation from the consequences of our sin…we see this with Adam’s faith in God’s promise…and then we see it in God’s provision in the midst of their rebellion.

And so, let’s jump into it.

1.) The Curse: God allows us to face the consequences of our sin (vv. 16-19)

Point number one…God allows us to face the consequences of our sin…this is the curse. And what we see is this to be true with both individuals. They both had to face the consequences of their sin separately and individually. Sin immediately attacked the individual roles God had given man and woman. And for that reason, sin immediately attacked the family…which we’ll see play out more next week.

And listen, it’s important to understand that while God deals with the woman and the man in these verses this morning, it’s so much different than how He dealt with the serpent in our verses from last week. God’s not cursing Adam and Eve here. He’s just simply laying out the consequences of their actions. Last week, we looked at how God graciously sought them out, He confronted them, He comforted them…and listen, there’s still grace here and His promise is still intact, which we’ll see in how Adam responds later on. Even though God forgives the ultimate penalty of their sin, He still allows some of the consequences to continue.

And listen, for us…as we read these verses together, it’s important to understand that these penalties aren’t just imposed on Adam and Eve…this is something that’s impacted all of mankind since their actions. All sin is the same in how it distorts man…and because we’ve all sinned and all fallen short of God’s glory, we’ve all been impacted in the same way. And listen, remember your sin, it doesn’t just impact you…it impacts those around you and it impacts the generations to come.

A. Consequences for the Woman

And so, with that, look at verse 16 with me again. It says, “16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

Listen, there’s two things God says sin’s gonna impact for the woman…she’s gonna experience increased pain in childbearing, right? And she’s gonna be in a new relationship with her husband where he’s gonna rule over her. That’s how sin impacts the woman.

With regard to the first thing God says, this curse, it means the physical pain of childbirth, it’s gonna be magnified. And listen, the Hebrew word for “pain” here, its the same word that describes Adam’s painful labor in the next verse. This was to be a joyous area of Eve’s life…it was through her that the command to be fruitful and multiply was to be accomplished. God created the woman to be the childbearer. Now, that joyous task, it was to be invaded by pain. And listen, part of the consequences here…it’s that Eve would still desire her husband sexually, and emotionally, and intimately…and that desire it would lead to eventual pain, right? And listen, God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, it still existed. Just because pain was now apart of the process, it didn’t take away woman’s responsibility to bear children. God gave the woman the role of childbearing and it’s through the woman that God’s command is fulfilled and even His promise from last week to bring His people a Savior.

But listen, there’s still grace in the act of childbearing, right? Even though it’s painful, that pain it subsides the moment you see your child for the very first time. It’s one of the most joyful moments of your life, in the midst of the most painful. That’s the grace of God, and it’s because that’s the joy that women were meant to experience from the start. But listen, God says sin brought on pain. And not just with mankind but we see this with all living creatures that procreate, right? Sin impacted all. And it’s sin that brought on pain and disease and sickness and death.

And listen, just a side note here…not that this necessarily matters much to our point this morning…but if childbearing is now painful, it would mean that before the fall, it wasn’t painful…meaning Adam and Eve, they were most likely obedient to the command to be fruitful and multiply…they had most likely had children at this point, right? Which would make a lot more make sense later on in the story when Adam and Eve are exiled from the garden. These accounts also didn’t necessarily happen soon after creation. I personally believe there was a good deal of time since creation and these events of the fall. I believe there would’ve been a large amount of time and many children with them at this point.

But listen, sin also impacted the marriage. God says to the woman, “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

Listen, you guys are familiar with the story of Cain and Abel, right? We’re gonna look at that next week. This “desire” that God’s saying will exist in the woman…it’s the same word used for sin’s desire to master Cain in next week’s passage. In Genesis 4:7, sin couches at the door…it’s desire is for you…that’s what God tells Cain. The woman’s desires, it’s for her to control her husband…but according to God, she’d fail because ultimately God ordained that man should lead. But listen, nevertheless…what God’s saying here…this desire, it would cause strife and conflict in our domestic relationships…it causes conflict in our homes where women refuse to let their husbands lead…it causes conflict in the workplace where women ultimately wanna do the work of a man…it causes conflict in the family of God, in the church…where women desire to do the role of the man.

Listen, I’m gonna say this…it’s probably gonna make some of you mad…but I’m gonna say it anyway because my job’s to teach you Scripture. Paul was very clear when it came to the leadership of the family…leadership in the church…and listen, even teaching in the context of the church when it concerned adults…those positions were always ordained by God for men…not because women are lesser in value or worth…not because they’re not equal to men…listen, women were just given different roles than men. And the moment we got that wrong in our society and in our churches, that’s the moment everything else got out of wack. Remember, we looked at this several weeks ago but it only takes one small mistruth to distort the Word of God…and ladies, you have understand the roles God’s given you in your marriages and in your relationships…it’s one of care…and assistance…and helping…and support…and nurturing. It’s one of submission. Your role, it models the Son of God in the Trinity…whose role is also submission. But the moment you begin acting outside your role, it’s the moment, you distort God’s plan…I mean, just imagine for a moment that Jesus chose to not be submissive…if He chose to be the leader instead of the Father? We’d never have the cross…we’d never have redemption. In the same ways, when women, or men for that matter, act outside of their roles, it ruins the design God set forth.

You have to understand the roles assigned to you…and that’s where you’ll experience the joy intended for you. There are things you were created for that no man can do…and listen, it’s the same the other way around…there’s roles that men were designed for that no woman can do. You understand? And we have to get these right. We have to stop placing ourselves in situations were our flesh gives into the temptations of sin.

Guys, I’ll say this…feminism and this movement to place women on this pedestal in our society, over a man…it’s sinful and it’s the exact consequence that God says’ll take place in the heart of a woman. Women and men are equal in status but different in their roles.

Listen, I love my wife…I know she’s not perfect…but listen, she lets me lead in every aspect of our marriage. Even when she knows better or maybe she’s even better equipped in certain situations, she just lets me lead, right? She doesn’t place herself in a position where she’ll desire the role of a man…because ultimately, she understands if she does, she’ll give into that. It’s why she’ll never agree to teach an adult class in church. She doesn’t wanna give into that desire that sin plants in each woman.

B. Consequences for the Man

Which leads straight into the consequences for the man. Men, you can’t be passive in your responsibility. Part of the reason our women feel like they have to lead is because we’re lazy…and that’s true in our marriages and in our churches. That’s the consequences of our sin.

Look at verse 17 with me again: “17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18  thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Listen, Adam’s sin, it didn’t start with him eating the fruit…it started by allowing his wife to have dominion over him. That’s why God says, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife.”

And listen, let me be clear, men…there are absolutely times where listening to your wife, its the wisest thing you can do…but when it contradicts God’s Word, its wrong! You understand? Adam was passive here…He handed his leadership over to the woman, his headship…and he did this deliberately disobeying God by setting his wife above God.

Listen, just as we saw last week, as God approached Adam and Eve, God always holds the man accountable for the direction of a family. It’s his responsibility to lead and to guide them. That’s what he was created to do. Man was created to lead and reflect the image of God by demonstrating the role of the Father in the Trinity.

Guys, listen to me…every single time we hand our leadership responsibility over to our wives, it causes her to fall and it’s the gateway to sin. Men, in the church, when we hand our leadership responsibilities over to our women, it causes us to distort God’s design and again, it displays just how unhealthy we are as a body of believers. Men were and are created to lead in all areas of creation, in all areas of the family, in all areas of the church.

And listen, here’s our problem as men today…we’re just like Adam, we’re passive with our families…we’re passive with our churches. We take zero responsibility to train our kids. We throw all those things on our wives, “It’s their job, right? They carried ‘em for 9 months!” We focus on our jobs and we leave everything related to the home and our family to them. And so, what happens…when problems come our way…we’re just like Adam…we blame her. Listen, there’s nothing wrong with delegating and balancing responsibilities…but there’s a big difference between delegating and just dumping things on your wife. She was created to be your helper…not the slave and certainly not the leader. When you just dump things on her…you’re ultimately handing her over your responsibilities and you’re telling God you don’t care what He’s commanded you to do and you’re telling your wife you ultimately take zero responsibility for her soul. And then some of you guys have the nerve to complain about other things in your marriage like intimacy. Listen, start leading in a godly way, and you’ll be amazed at how everything else just kind of falls into place. And listen, we’re the same in our churches…we dump everything on our women and we wonder why more and more churches are closing their doors every single year…its because men were created to lead and teach…and our women, they’re doing everything in their power to keep us on life support.

But listen, there’s two main things that impact the man here in this text. First, the ground’s cursed…which sounds kind of strange at first but you have to remember where it is man came from, right? Listen, when God laid out the consequences for the woman, it attacks the very heart of who she was as a mother…it’s her deepest root. The man’s deepest root strikes at the innermost nerve of his life…remember only man technically came from the ground, right? And it was the ground that gave him his work and his activity and his provision. And the word “pain” used here in verse 17, it’s ironic because it’s this very ground that had been such a source of joy for Adam when he was tasked with caring for the garden…it now becomes the source of his ongoing pain. Again, childbearing was the source of joy for the woman…and the ground, the garden was the source of joy for the man. Sin attacked both sources of joy and distorted it. Both became like enemies to ‘em…that’s just what sin does. It takes what’s made good in God’s sight, and distorts it and twists it.

And just a side note…pay attention to this…work itself’s not cursed. Again, work’s still a gift from God…the curse, it only applies to the ground. The man was gonna have to battle to provide for his family…he was gonna have to experience weariness and fatigue. We’re made for work but because of sin, we all experience the painful toil of work. The gift of work might be good, but it’s covered in thorns now. And listen, because the whole of creation was subject to sinful man, it was all impacted by his sin…which caused everything to now rebel against their fallen lord. It’s why we have so much pain and suffering in our world today. Just as we rebelled against our Creator, creation rebels against its lord because we’ve allowed sin to seep in. And so, everything in creation, its now opposed to man…everything from mosquitoes to viruses to natural disasters…it all stems from the fall.

Which leads to the second consequence of man’s sin…death. As this passage states, because Adam listened to the voice of his wife and allowed her to lead…which ultimately led to sin…our physical bodies, they’ll return to the very place they were made from…they’re gonna return to dust. Since the fall of man, death has been the enemy of every person to walk the face of this earth. We can spend our lives working toward certain goals…we can accomplish great human feats…we can accumulate everything our heart desires…but eventually, every one of us, we’re gonna face death. Death isn’t bias…it doesn’t play favorites…it comes after all of us. It comes after the young…it comes after the old…it comes after the poor and the rich…the healthy and the sick…we all face it. That’s the consequences of man’s sin.

But listen, the reality of death…it forces us to come to terms with God and eternity…and there’s grace in that.

2.) The Covering: God provides salvation from the consequences of our sin (vv. 20-24)

Which leads us straight into the last point…God provides salvation from the consequences of our sin.

A. Salvation through faith

Look at verse 20 and 21 with me again. At first glance, it kind feels like its out of context, right? But when you blend it in with the verses from last week…you see it fits in perfectly here.

It says, “20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”

Listen, after everything that’s played out…after the consequences God lays out for Adam in verse 19…you’d expect something like, “Now Adam called his wife’s name the Grim Reaper, because she was the mother of all the dying.” Right? I mean, that would fit perfectly into the context here…but listen, instead he calls her “Eve,” which literally means “life-giver.”

Here he is literally given a death sentence, a death sentence that Eve ultimately brought on…and he gives her the name “life-giver!”

And so, what’s this mean? How’s this fit into context of everything going on? Listen because this is important…how Adam responses here by naming the woman “Eve,” it’s a response of faith to God’s promise to send a Savior through the seed of the woman back in Genesis 3:15. Adam heard the consequences of his sin…he accepted the fact that he was gonna experience death now…that work was gonna be hard…but he also believed God’s promise that there would someone to come and crush the head of the serpent. And so…by faith…Adam named the woman “Eve,” the mother of all living.

And listen, what this shows us, its that salvation’s always been by faith. Even before Jesus humbled Himself by becoming like a servant…even before He came into this world, a person’s faith…a faith that looked forward to the promised Savior…it was that faith that saved them. And through faith, God always granted that promised salvation. That’s His response to faith. That’s His response to taking Him at His Word. Listen, it’s never been on keeping the commandments…it’s never been on doing good works…it’s always been about faith in Christ Jesus. And in this account, Adam took God at His Word. He realized he screwed up, and he trusted God was gonna fix it.

B. Salvation through provision

And listen, God responded to Adam’s faith by providing a graphic object lesson of salvation.

Look at verse 21. It says, “21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

This verse goes beyond man’s practical need for clothing. Listen, just as we’ve seen already…man’s nakedness…it demonstrates disgrace and shame…this nakedness, it points to the nakedness of the soul because of sin. And so, God’s provision of clothing here, to cover their physical nakedness…it goes beyond the need for physical garments. Moses is giving us a vivid illustration here of what God does through Jesus to provide us with salvation for all that approach him with faith…for all that stand naked before Him. And listen, there’s four things that we see here.

First, man needs a covering for his sin, right? I mean, just the thought of standing there with our sin exposed before the holiness of God, it should be intolerable…We have to recognize we need a covering. We need something to remove the guilt and the shame that drives us into hiding.

Second, this passage shows us that we can’t cover ourselves. Anything we do in an attempt to deal with our sin, it’s always gonna be inadequate. It’s like the feeble fig leaves that Adam and Eve covered themselves up with. We can’t provide a permanent and lasting covering for ourselves.

Third, only God can provide the covering man actually needs. I mean, here He is in this passage…stripping them of their fig leaves and clothing them appropriately with animal skins. Adam and Eve, they didn’t do anything. God did it all. We can’t receive God’s salvation as long as we offer Him our fig leaves. We have to let Him provide us with everything…it’s humbling ourselves and recognizing that it’s through Jesus alone that all that’s possible.

Fourth, the covering God provides for our sin, it always requires the death of an innocent substitute. Do you realize, in order for there to be animal skins, there had to be a death? And this is the first death recorded in all of Scripture. It probably would’ve shocked them as they witnessed the slaughter of these animals that they had tended to. They learned very quickly that without the shedding of blood, there is no adequate covering for sin....Listen, because sin’s price is death, something has to die in order to pay the penalty of our sin. But because man was so much more important, God would accept the death of an acceptable substitute. Of course, as we continue in the Bible, we know the blood of animals couldn’t permanently take away our sin, and so He would eventually send the seed of the woman…Jesus Christ…who’s blood would cover us for all eternality. At least for those of us that would turn to Him in faith and repentance.

Closing

And listen, as we close…some of you might be sitting there thinking, “Yea, but why do I really need all of this? Why’s this so important?” Verse 22, “22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Listen, we need the covering of Christ because without Him, we’ll experience the ultimate consequence of sin…separation. Salvation removes that consequence and through faith alone in Christ alone…the relationship we were ultimately created to find rest in…it’s restored. We search our whole lives for joy and peace and happiness…only to find nothing this world offers can provide any of that for us. What Scripture shows us, its that it can only be found in the person and work of Jesus. And so listen…this morning…as you reflect on this passage…there’s two kinds of people here today…there’s one that’s placed their faith in Christ…they know the goodness of God…but you need to seek Him today to continue purging the sin from your life. You need to continually repent, trusting in the promise of God that He’ll perfect the work He started in you. Or....there’s those that have never turned to Christ…and what you need to do this morning…it’s repent and believe.

Every head bowed and every eye closed.

Listen, I’m gonna keep this short…what do you need to do to find yourself in the presence of God? Some of you…you need to stop hiding…and you need to lay whatever’s holding you back at the feet of Jesus. You need to identify your sin and your stubbornness and you need to just let Jesus confront you in that so that He can remove the guilt and the shame and grow you.

But listen, there’s others here this morning that need to finally turn to Jesus. You need to repent and believe. You need to turn from yourself and turn to Jesus. You need to place your faith in the Savior…the One who’s blood can cover you. Guys, if that’s you this morning…would you come down front? Would you come talk to me? Give your life to Christ today. Let Him change it…let Him give you hope…let Him take away all the pain you feel. Would you come?

Listen, I’m gonna be down front…I’m here for you. If you need me to pray…to talk to you…to comfort you…to answer your questions…you wanna be saved…you wanna be baptized…you wanna join the church…whatever it is, I’m here for you. And so, this is your time…you come as Wendy plays?

[Prayer]