Leading up to the Fall - Genesis Chapter 2
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
Last Sunday, we discussed the first part of Genesis chapter 2, looking at:
Verses 1-7, and the fact that …
God rested on the 7th day (and a reminder that He knew we would need rest as well),
The historical restatement of creation (a “replay” of chapter 1, if you will),
And we also talked about what the pre-flood Garden of Eden world might have looked like, and briefly touched on some creationist scientists ideas about that.
This morning, we are going to finish out chapter 2, with a sermon titled “Leading Up to the Fall,” as we are leading up to man’s first sin in chapter 3.
But before we get there, we are going to notice a couple other very important main points here in chapter two.
First let’s notice …
The Formation of Man, and Free Will along with Him:
The Formation of Man, and Free Will along with Him:
Gen. 2:7-10
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush.
The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
We’re not going to get bogged down with the geographic location of these 4 rivers and the location of the garden of Eden.
That’s something pretty fascinating to wonder about, but not what we really want to focus on.
For what I want to focus on here, we need to look back at verse 7 and verses 15-17:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
For that last part, the KJV says, “man became a living soul.”
Man is differentiated from the animals in that man has a soul that will go on in eternity, while animals do not.
Notice also that man was formed from the dust of the ground …
Looking forward to the consequence of sin in our next chapter, as is the case that we are from the dust of the ground, so it will be that when we die, our bodies will return to the dust of the ground — But our spirits will return to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 - “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.”
Ecclesiastes 3:20–21 - “All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?”
James 2:26 says that “the body without the spirit is dead” …
And Psa. 146:4 says that when a man dies “his spirit departs, he returns to his earth .. (and) in that very day, his plans perish” with him.
Psalm 90:12 teaches us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom!
All of this is predicated on the fact that man has a SOUL that will be judged by an almighty God!
We’re alluding to the consequences for sin that we are going to study about next week in chapter 3.
Look again at verses 15-17:
Genesis 2:15–17 -
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Two things here:
Number 1 - Notice, that man was given a job to do — To tend and keep the garden!
From the beginning, man is given purpose and meaning!
What if God had just made mankind to exist but to have no real purpose? Where would there be meaning in that?
God DID give man a purpose though — to tend and keep the garden - A CARETAKER, if you will, of God’s creation, thus glorifying GOD his Creator in his work!
Number 2 - Notice that God gives man FREE WILL here in these verses — something that has TREMENDOUS theological application!
I believe that this is the sole purpose of God placing the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden!
What does a tree of knowledge of good and evil, which is OFF LIMITS for man, provide for man?
It provides man with the OPPORTUNITY to CHOOSE whether he will do right or wrong.
God did not desire to create robots who were pre-programmed to always obey their creator.
Rather, He designed mankind with an ability to choose to do right.
And when you think about it, doing right only because one is FORCED to do right like some robot is NOT really doing right in the truest sense of the definition of righteousness.
But choosing to do right even when one has the capacity to do wrong (free will!) can result in one TRULY living righteously!
And when you think about it, it only makes sense that an ALL-righteous God would desire for His creation to serve Him in righteousness, having fully CHOSEN to do so!
Sometimes the accusation is leveled at God - “How can an all-good God allow evil to exist in the world?”
And the answer is — God allows FREE WILL CHOICE, and it is entirely in His nature to do that!
(Again, because He desires for us to CHOOSE to do good in lives of service to Him!)
By the way, an important theological side note here:
What does Calvinism (or Augustinism) do to the concept of free will?
(It ultimately casts free will aside, doesn’t it?)
TULIP:
Total Hereditary Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, and Perseverence of the Saints.
All false, and all hinging on a misunderstaning of human free will!
Next, let’s look at our other main point we want to look at for this lesson, and that is …
God Instituted the First Marriage:
God Instituted the First Marriage:
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
There’s a lot here, but I think first and foremost here it is important for us to acknowledge that:
God is the originator of marriage, and thus …
God makes the rules for marriage.
(Flip back to first slide in this section) Notice the first words of this section are - “And the Lord God said, ‘It is NOT good that man should be alone.’”
After creating everything described 6x as “good” and then another time “very good” in chapter 1 ...
Here in chapter 2 we find the first thing that was “not good” and it was that man would be alone.
Thus, God creates a “HELP MEET” (or a “HELPER COMPARABLE,” NKJV) (or “helper suitable,” NASB).
Thus, God made someone perfectly suited to complement the man!
From the very beginning, God had in mind specific roles for man, and for woman.
For marriage, for fatherhood, for motherhood.
And we see the beginnings of this right here!
After all, Genesis is … a book of BEGINNINGS.
“Out of the ground the Lord formed ...”
We already talked about out of the ground God formed man, and dust to dust.
Notice also that Adam is essentially the world’s first biologist, zoologist, and taxonomist as he names all these animals.
But he cannot find a suitable helper among them.
Have you ever wondered why God parades all these animals before Adam in relation to the problem that it’s not good that man should be alone?
Could it be that God is letting Adam know just how much he needs a help meet?
Could it be that God is setting Adam up to really appreciate his wife?
Well, next, the Lord causes Adam to fall into a deep sleep … (Next slide)
And we have the first surgery. :)
God brings the woman to the man.
And you wonder the look that Adam must have had as he wakes up and has a look at Eve for the first time!
Thus, he says: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.”
This is the one flesh union that is characteristic of man and woman as husband and wife.
(Next slide) — “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Jesus quotes this directly in Matt. 19:5).
And the one flesh union also has reference to the marriage bed, which is undefiled (Heb. 13:4).
Any “bed” (in this sense of the word) other than the marriage bed IS defiled and is sinful and should not be encouraged, celebrated, or overlooked.
We live in a society that turns a blind eye to fornication and sinful cohabitation outside of marriage, but the Christian must not do so.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
We’ve looked at the importance of marriage this morning, and God’s foundation for it and His rules for it.
And we’ve also looked at God forming man, as well as the animals, but giving man a living soul that differentiates him from the animals.
And we’ve looked at the fact that, specifically, God gave man FREE WILL, which has huge theological implications for the rest of God’s Word.
That’s a good place for us to stop and think about the invitation this morning.
Have you responded in a good answer to the free will choice God gave you, to serve Him or not?
Hopefully you have responded in obeidence to the Gospel, committing to serve Him for life when you were baptized into Christ, having repented of your sins and confessed faith in His name.
Maybe you’ve done that, maybe you haven’t.
The choice is yours.
But remember - You will face the consequences for the choices you make on the last day which is the day of Judgment, wherein the Lord will return with His angels in fiery condemnation of those who know not God and who have not obeyed His gospel.