Genesis 3

MPS:

The Root of sin, The Fruit of sin, The Boot of sin

Prayer: God thank you for your words. They are sweet. they are true. They are lovely. They are to be desired above all else. satisfy our longing and desire for all things in you, Jesus. You are the word of God. The command of God and the salvation of God. You have done innumerable great and wonderful things for us. Let us love and behold you. Give me peace. Help me to be present. And direct all praise to you. Build your church and your glory on Earth as in heaven.

Intro:

Origin Story.

Origins and Definitions.

[health problems, car problems, marital problems. Whatever doctor you see, what’s the first question they might ask? When did it start?]

analyzing the origin, helps us make sense of the present.

wk 1/ Ch 1 God and the Creation

wk 2/ Ch 1 (end) Humanity- God’s image in creation

Wk 3/ Ch 2 Covenant

Today, wk 4/ ch 3 Sin. What went wrong?

lots of interesting things that are worthy of looking into but we simply cannot commit the time to today. Like,

-the serpent. who is it? where did it come from? why is it talking?

-Today: Sin. What is it? when did it start?

Problem then:

The Israelites understand, just like we do that the world we live in is not so perfect as chapters 1 & 2.

Problem now: we all have a yearning for perfection written on our hearts, we all sense the world could, should and ought to be better.

We want a perfect world. Utopia. We agree that something is wrong with this one, thats easy.

Whats hard is getting anybody to agree on whats wrong with it!

We want an end to poverty

We want a cure to cancer and every sickness

We even want to find ways to download our conscience or memories and try to live forever.

Why is this important?

it tells us that we were made for an undying and perfect world. Why every human yearns for better.

Not so simple to say, that as humans it’s in our nature to want to make things better.

The whole truth is: God made humans for better things. That’s our nature.

This text serves to give the explanation to the questions:

What happened to that perfect place?

what happened to us?

What went wrong?

whats the plan?

Sin

Definition by narrative/origin story.

The Root of Sin (where does it come from?)

The Fruit of Sin (what are it’s effects?)

The Boot of sin (What is God’s plan for sin?)

1: Root of sin (Where does it start?)

[READ vv1-6]

1. Ignorance v2-3

a. lack of understanding/knowledge

b. “Is it true? Did God Actually say…?”

-Satan’s first strategy was to give Eve a true/false question. He tests her knowledge of God’s words first. It’s an exam and a conversation starter.

c. What does this mean for us?

1. Knowledge is certainly power, and Often times the root of sin is ignorance, lack of understanding.

2. We need to know and treasure God’s words. Eve even had them memorized!

-Some people are ignorant of God’s word because they don’t have any access to it and know nothing about it.

-Others are ignorant to God’s word out of laziness to read and meditate on them.

3. this is one of the main reasons we always teach the Bible here at LSDTS.

-My words don’t matter that much or hold any authority, But God’s word does! Forever! and in every situation!

-Eve Passed the 1st test (v2-3)

-Knowing God’s word helped Eve. She even had it memorized! She passed the first test.

-But it doesn’t take her very far does it?

4. knowing the right theological answer is a foundation, but it is not a wall.

-Head knowledge is not enough to keep you from falling into the deceitful hands of Sin.

-what we know with out heads, we must believe with out hearts

2. Doubt [READ v4-5 ]

a crafty lie on multiple levels:

a. deceptive promises

1. Knowing good AND evil.

- Like the most cringy sales commercial, “But wait, there’s more!”

a. Promises of a higher and more enlightened knowledge than what God’s word says!

- relevancy. God’s word is antiquated.

b. promises a new experience

-Not just about evil. Tasting Evil.

God has tasted evil, not because he is evil, but he is familiar with evil.

He has met this serpent, and it was created good. Yet here it is lying. there is another origin story of this serpent that we cannot get to today.

-Man and Woman have not tasted evil yet.

b. Half truths

1. ”become like God.”

a. truth: ruling over themselves and being their own authority. doing what they want.

- God certainly does what he wants.

b. Iie: “become like God.”

- They were already like God! Made in his image!

2. The Biggest lie: “Did God ACTUALLY…”…

a. Lie: God was holding out on them

b. Truth: God was protecting them

Here is why that is such a big deal:

c. Attack on God’s character:

1. okay, you know what the bible says, but can the bible be trusted?

-is the author trustworthy?

-Is God really who he says he is?

-Can you really trust him?

[Application]

1) Think, God takes sin too seriously. I’m just ………… The truth of what our sin says about God; Liar! Fraud! Imposter! Fake!

a. Adam and Eve only took a piece of fruit. At face level, it seems like a small disobedience.

b. shoplifting or something. a misdemeanor. come on, God!

2. This is the real turning point in this scene.

-Severed trust = Severed relationship.

a. as soon as you begin to question the character of God, you'll quit running to Him

3. This is the turning point in our own lives. When we have conversations that resemble this one.

-our knowledge can only serve as a foundation, faith, belief is a wall.

a. We know what the bible says. Do we believe in He who says it?

i. Is God actually good? or should i make my own plans for my life?

ii. Is God actually in control right now? Or perhaps I should give him advice or do things my way.

iii. Is God actually everywhere and aware of everything? Or should i trust in a politician more?

iv. Is God actually loving and merciful? does he actually accept me for who I am Or do i need to prove I’m better than the people around me?

a. When God Isn’t attractive, sin is [READ V6a]

3. Desire

- “delight” desire, longing, covetousness

a. “Good for food”

-no, it wasn’t God called everything else good for food except this one tree!

b. delight to the eyes.

-suddenly attractive.

c. desirable for wisdom

-seems like the best path, the obvious choice.

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

4. Defiance [READ v6b]

a. wrong desire leads to defiance

b. Adam and Eve followed the suggestions of Satan rather than the commands of God.

c. They determined God was against them

5. Sin has a long root

6. Sin is not merely breaking a rule. It is DEFYING and DENYING GOD

2: Fruit of sin

[READ vv7-13]

1. Sin produces SHAME

-nakedness

-fear

-Hiding

a. Each other: Hiding with leaves (v7)

b. God: Hiding from God’s presence. “Where are you?” (v9)

i. Doesn’t this happen in our own lives? Our sin causes us to hide and to lie and it grows and spreads.

ii. [ILLUSTRATION: Like in STRANGER THINGS. finds Demaggorgon. Dartanian. feeds it 3 musketeers in secret. hides it in the dark. and then 1 day it eats his cat. the next it goes for him!]

iii. What we need to do is go to the light.

-Confess to God and one another.

God’s questions were designed to elicit confessions, not information; he knew perfectly well what they had done

-Hiding sin is the beginning of separation

2. Sin produces SEPARATION

a. From each other

i. Consider How each of them must have felt.

-“He wasn’t there for me.”

-“She’s not content with the fruit i provide!” (JK)

-there was suspicion and reason to feel they each needed to hide and protect themselves.

ii. The throw others under the bus. [READ vv12-13]

-Adam blames his wife and God. (12)

-Eve blames God and the serpent. (13)

iii. this is what sin does. Sin Separates.

3. Sin produces SUFFERING

[READ vv14-19]

a. Work/Worship went from DELIGHT TO DUTY

i. Life is cursed. Labor is cursed.

1. women

-painful labor.

i. Having babies or not, it is painful what your bodies do.

-Delight to duty

2. Men

- painful labor.

i. Earning that monthly paycheck.

ii. Thorns thistles and weeds. things going bad

4. Sin produces DEATH

a. Physical death (bodies),

b. Relational death (mistrust),

c. Emotional death (shame),

d. vocational death (work the monthly paycheck and grind, women- the monthly pains of bearing or not bearing children)

The root of sin is long and strangling.

The fruit of sin is bitter and rotten

The Boot of sin, is God’s plan of what to do about the problem of sin. And God’s boot is glorious!

3: The Boot to sin

[READ 22-23]

Explain: “To get the boot”

1.God gives the boot to humans

sin separates us.

Sin is us choosing to separate ourselves from God.

“We get what we ask for”

God is good and all good things are from him. including life.

2. God gives the boot to sin itself

[READ v15] “15  I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.” Ge 3:15.

The first Gospel promise in the whole bible.

God’s mysterious plan from the beginning

1) God’s boot would come from the offspring of woman.

Mt 1:21. “21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

2) to crush the head of the serpent and his ways while taking a blow himself.

a. Jesus Christ was born of woman, He is God’s promised offspring to wage war against sin, satan and death.

Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

b. He disarmed Satan by swallowing up death on the cross, the consequences for sin, he absorbed.

i. a lawyer without a case

ii. his own weapon, death and sin and cunning was used against him.

c. It did not come without a cost.

Jesus took the blow of death

But yet he rose from the dead.

He swallowed up death and rose as conquerer over sin

How is this possible?

1. Jesus cuts the root of sin when he overcomes fierce temptation in the wilderness.

Did God really say?

Is God really who he says he is?

Jesus stayed faithful, cutting the root of sin.

2. Jesus Eats the fruit of our sins- the shame, the separation from God, the death

We are forgiven and accepted and wanted fully by God in Jesus Christ.

We are united to God and one another in Christ.

We are clothed by christ. shame gone.

Undoes the curse of suffering. No longer is our work meaningless toil, but God himself is with us in ur work.

3. the future boot of all sin. Eternal paradise, the perfect world we were created for. We are redeemed and clothed for in Christ.