The Fall

INTRODUCTION

We begin week three of Core 52.

It all starts well; in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

God created humans in His image.

All was good.

Except one thing.

God created Eve because God said it was not good for Adam to be alone.

Adam and Eve in paradise!

Life was good; God gave Adam and Eve freedom and the freedom to choose to obey and love God.

The Garden of Eden was the perfect starting point for humanity.

It was a beautiful and bountiful paradise where Adam and Eve could grow in their relationship with each other and God. From this Garden, they could build humanity into a glorious civilization. (Dan Raymond)

But something went very wrong.

Both the Old and New Testaments point to what happens in Genesis 3 as where we went off course.

Have you ever had a good thing going on in your life, and life was good?

One day, you make a decision that causes everything to change; it forces you to lose it all.

Adam and Eve lived in paradise in the Garden of Eden; life seemed perfect.

But was it?

The change is the subject of our message today.

What happened in the Garden is what we call the fall.

Let’s begin by turning to Genesis 3:1-6.

Genesis 3:1–6 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;

3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’ ”

4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die,

5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

SERMON

The fall and our fall resorts from…

I. Distorted truth.

Adam and Eve had it made in the Garden.

What happened to make them want to throw it away?

When you look from an outside view, it all looks perfect.

Adam and Eve were in a beautiful place; they were close in fellowship with God, so close that God Himself walked in the Garden (Genesis 3:8).

Something happened in the Garden that God hoped but knew would happen: disobedience and sin.

The word “sin” is not in the text of Genesis 3; however, the principal is plain to see.

The word “sin” means to miss the mark.

It is to fall short of who God is, His nature and character.

Remember that we were created in the image of God, so when we sin or fall short of that image, problems are created.

None of us are immune to sin.

Romans 3:23 (NET 2nd ed.)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

How did Adam and Eve fall short of the image they were created in?

When God created Adam, He gave him free reign over all things except one.

God said the following just before He created Eve:

Genesis 2:15–17 (NET 2nd ed.)

15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.

16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard,

17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”

Everything was available for Adam, with one exception.

Adam knew that exception.

From Genesis 3, we also see that Eve knew the exception.

Why did God plant a tree from which Adam and Eve could not eat?

Short answer.

Free will.

For Adam and Eve to truly love God, they had to have the ability to choose to do so.

We have talked a lot about this concept so that I will leave it here today.

All looked good in the Garden.

Adam, Eve, and God spent time together.

Something was happening that would forever change humanity.

As each day passed, we at least knew that Eve was giving the forbidden tree a good, hard look.

Over time, and we do not know how long, the longing for the fruit on the tree becomes increasingly enticing.

Enter the serpent, which, from other passages, we learn is Satan (Revelation 12:9; 20:2) among other passages.

He had to have been watching her for some time, and as we learned about him later, he knew when to strike.

The serpent starts with a simple question, of which, by the way, he knew the answer.

Genesis 3:1 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”

In verse 2, Eve corrects the serpent by telling him we can freely eat fruit from any tree in the Garden.

In verse 3, she then says, except for one!

How did the serpent work Eve?

He used a reliable trick; it is called a half-truth.

Satan did not make up some wild story; he used the half-truth, Eve; it sounds like you cannot eat from ANY of the trees.

Most people do not fall for bald-faced lies.

Half-truths allow us to believe whatever we want to believe.

The serpent tried to distort the truth.

Then, when Eve answers the truth in verse 3, she distorts the truth in another way; she adds to the truth.

When we are looking to disobey God, we will try to make keeping God’s commands sound impossible.

We tell ourselves that God’s commands are too challenging to follow.

Eve said that not only can we not eat from the fruit of the tree, but we cannot even TOUCH IT lest we die!

The serpent further distorts the truth by telling her she would not die if she ate the fruit.

The half-truth was that no, she would not drop dead, but rather, she would begin the process of dying.

He also told her that eating the fruit would make her wise, like God, knowing good from evil in verse 5.

The half-truth is that she would know good from evil; the lie is that she would not be like God.

So how can you resist falling in your life, understand the whole truth, not half of it?

Let’s turn to verses 4-6.

Genesis 3:4–6 (NET 2nd ed.)

4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die,

5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

The fall and our fall resorts from…

II. Distorted desires.

The serpent played on another part of Eve’s (and our) weakness, our desires.

When we have distorted desires, those distorted desires will lead us to a fall.

The serpent knew how to tempt Eve, and she was seduced in three ways.

When you understand where temptation flows from, it makes it easier to be victorious over temptation.

Temptation is not a sin; it is what we do with it.

Eve was not content with all God had given her; she wanted more.

Eve was not happy with herself; she wanted more.

We will hit that point in the last point.

There are three areas from which most, if not all, temptation flows.

I want to bring in 1 John 2:16-17.

1 John 2:16–17 (NET 2nd ed.)

16 because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.

17 And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.

We are driven to give into temptation by the desire for the flesh and pleasure; she saw the tree produce fruit that was good for food.

We are also tempted by the desires of the eyes and possessions, which are attractive to the eyes.

We are also lured into falling for the temptation of the boast arrogance of life, which is desirable to make one wise like God (verse 6).

Instead of desiring to follow the will of God (don’t eat the fruit from that tree), Eve was lured into thinking she was missing out, that God was cheating her out of something.

1 John tells us that those who do the will of God will remain forever.

Think about all the temptations you have succumbed to in life; they fall under these areas.

Jesus was tempted by pleasure, possession, and pride when He was in the wilderness.

How many families and lives have been torn apart by a spouse who says they love their spouse but sees another person, then wants them, then has them, only to see their family destroyed?

This is the path King David took with Bathsheba.

He saw her, he wanted her, he called for her, and he had her.

I believe many of us make our own unhappiness because instead of being content with our blessings, we want the blessings others have.

Eve could have ANY fruit in the Garden but focused on the one she was not supposed to have.

Let’s drill down into verse six so we can see our last distortion.

Genesis 3:6 (NET 2nd ed.)

6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

The fall and our fall resorts from…

III. Distorted perception.

When you consider the tree, the tree is enticing to the eyes and stomach, but that is not what hooked Eve.

Sure, she wanted it, but she could walk by.

The serpent shared something with Eve that pushed her over the top.

This goes back to one of our half-truths: if she ate the fruit, she would be like God!

People today still want the same.

We want to replace God, make the rules, and determine our destiny; I desire to be my own God, accountable to no one else.

The problem is that there is a God in heaven, and it is not us!

We will go down a destructive path when we remove God from His position in our lives.

We are not God, and we were never meant to be God.

We must aim higher than ourselves to reach our highest potential versus sinking to our lowest instincts.

The serpent was half-right right when he said her eyes would be opened and she would know good from evil.

However, she was not like God; she could not be like God because she was not God.

The serpent sought to get Eve not to trust God, that somehow God was holding her back, cheating her out of something.

When the truth was that God wanted Eve to reach her highest potential.

You will only follow and obey God to the level you trust.

CONCLUSION

Adam and Eve had it made.

The serpent went after Eve; he knew her weakness.

The serpent hit her at her base instincts of pleasure, possession, and pride, and it worked.

The enemy seeks to distort the truth, our desires, and our view of ourselves.

One of the things in life I HATE is nutrition labels.

See, if I do not know the numbers on the box of donuts I am going to tear into, they will not cause me to gain weight.

Only if that were true.

When you are amid temptation, the tempter will only tell you the fun you are about to have; your temptation does not come with a warning label.

Nor does it come with a label with the actual cost of the temptation.

Have you ever visited a car lot in Phoenix or Tucson based on an advertisement that says their car is cheaper than what you can get here, only to make the drive and see all the fees not included in the ad?

You will find with temptation that the actual cost of your sin will never be worth the price you pay.

Next week, Jerry will take us into week four as we enter the final week of our Beginnings series with a message on Covenant.