The Curse Pt. 2

Genesis three is the pivotal chapter in the Bible. In this chapter we are introduced for the first time to the enemy of our faith, Satan, disguised as, or inhabiting the body of a serpent, he comes on the scene and does what he does - he lies. Friends that is all he knows to do is lie. He never speaks the truth, or at least a whole true, he is a liar and does not dwell in the truth. Satan came into the garden and convinced Adam and Eve that God was a liar, that He did not have their best interest in mind. And, guess what, they believed it!!

Last time we looked at the lie which Satan told — Genesis 3:4–5 “4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Do you understand what he said, what he really said? The most important, the most dangerous truth about this lie is this — do what you want, there will be no consequences for your actions. Why do you think the number one issue in this year’s election is abortion? There is a movement in this country that wants to remove any restrictions from abortion. Period. BTW — did you know that abortion is STILL LEGAL in America? It is not an issue of whether or not it is legal, it is an issue of how far we go. The issue with abortion is this — I want to live my life, do what I please, have the type of fun I desire, with no consequences.

My friends, I want you to know today that you cannot escape the consequences of your sinful choices. That is a fact that Adam and Eve learned first hand. Notice the consequences of their sinful choice. First...

They Realized They Had Messed Up v. 7

Genesis 3:7 KJV (WS)

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Let me be clear, they did not “become” naked after eating the fruit, rather they became “aware” of their nakedness. You might say they felt “exposed” by their sin. There was a sense of vulnerability, a sense of wrongness of their actions. Their eyes were opened alright, and they did not like what they saw! Notice that...

What they believed they wanted more than anything, was not what it seemed.

Notice the half-truth

“For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then you eyes shall be opened.

Friends this is where Satan operates, in the realm of half-truths.

He tells you what you want to hear

He convinces you that once you have the one thing you want you will be content, happy, find satisfaction

But what he doesn’t tell you is that your willful disobedience will leave you empty on the inside.

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Hebrews 11:24–25 “24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;”

Someone has rightly said — “If the wages of sin were paid out instantly, it wouldn’t be nearly as attractive.”

Satan still operates in the realm of half-truth today!

“Ye shall not surely die” — How many teenagers in high school, how many college students have fallen to this lie?

Go ahead, drink this beer, smoke this joint, sleep with this person or that. I don’t Think I should, my parents won’t approve. Look around, do you see your parents here? They’ll never know.

I don’t think I should, what if I have a bad reaction? What if it impairs my judgement and I wreck my car? Nothing bad is going to happen!

What if I get pregnant? Don’t worry…there are ways to take care of that if it happens.

Adults we’re not exempt from this!

Go ahead, lie on your taxes! No one will ever find out!

Your on a business trip, miles from your spouse — they’ll never find out.

Do you understand why this lie is so silly? It is because God is omniscient, He knows everything!

You cannot hide from Him

You cannot lie to Him.

Adam and eve were in the process of learning this truth! They realized they messed up, their eyes were opened and for the first time they realized how exposed they were before God! What they wanted more than anything was not what they expected! Next they learned....

What they had lost was now more precious to them than anything they may have gained.

To combat their nakedness they sowed fig leaves together.

The word aprons means literally, loin cloths

They were now grossly aware of their new condition and were ashamed to be seen as such.

This is a picture or a type of works-based salvation

I am a sinner, I must do something about my condition

Acknowledging you are a sinner is a great start, but you must realize you cannot do anything about your situation.

There new condition could not be changed.

Did they really think God would not notice their new outfit?

The point is they realized they’d messed up, “Its my fault. I broke this. I must fix it.”

It is a good thing to take ownership of your mistakes, to admit you were wrong, and to even make things right if you can, but in this one area they were about to learn their sin changed everything. It began when they realized they had messed up, but it didn’t end there. Next...

They Realized They Were Missing Out v. 8-13

Genesis 3:8 KJV (WS)

8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

The original writings indicate that that God would walk every evening with them. No longer would they enjoy their face-to-face fellowship with God! There are three reactions people tend to have when faced with their sin.

Works - we have seen this in their attempt to sew aprons from fig leaves. We don’t have to stretch our imagination to determine how futile this was.

The difficulty of sewing leaves together alone is proof the impossibility

The itchiness of the leaves, infestations of mites etc. would prove this method was flowed

The fact that the leaves would dry up and rot is proof that if we could work for our salvation the task would never end. The next approach is to...

Hide — They heard the voice of God in the garden and they hid themselves among the trees!

This apporach says, “If I can just keep my sin a secret, no one will know.”

Friend, God is, first, omniscient - knowing everything, and secondly, omnipresent - everywhere present at once.

Just look at these verses…Genesis 3:9–11 “9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”

God did not ask a single question to learn anything!

God was giving Adam and his wife a chance to confess their sin, and to repent. However, they refused to do what God demanded.

They reached the conclusion — if works cannot save us, if hiding will not protect us, then the only thing left to do is...

Deny — this is the approach of so many today. They deny their sin, deny its consequences, and even deny the existence of God, or at least the just punishment that God demands for their sin. Genesis 3:12–13 “12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” Notice...

Adam first blames Eve — The Woman!

It wasn’t me! it was her!

She gave me the fruit and I ate it.

Here is the sad truth, no one ever made me do anything that I didn’t want to do. Next...

Adam blames God!

Read the rest of his statement — “The woman whom THOU GAVEST TO BE WITH ME…”

God, if you hadn’t given me this woman, I would not have sinned. This is really your fault, not mine. Therefore any judgment you place on me is unfair, unjust, and uncalled for.

God is not the author of sin!

Yes, He made the tree.

Yes, in His omniscience He knew they would eat the fruit

Yes, His judgment of death was true, and it was also fair.

However, neither His creation of the tree, nor his foreknowledge they would eat the fruit, and his delivering of the death sentence were unfair, unjust or uncalled for.

God gave them a choice, He knew they would fail, but God already knew what He would do in response.

Notice Eve’s response...

“I was beguiled (lied to)”

That is the first true statement made so far, but upon further investigation, we determine what she is really saying:

“The devil made me do it.”

Its not my fault!

I wouldn’t even look at the tree, let alone touch the fruit.

It wasn’t until the serpent told me all these lies that I gave into the temptation and ate the fruit.

How many people today want to blame everyone else for their problems? Why is it that no one wants to take the blame, own their mistakes, and face the consequences?

Friends it is because of the lies the devil has told. He convinced Adam and Eve there would be no consequences for their actions, and he has this world convinced of the same truth today. Adam and Eve had to realize that they had messed up, that now they would miss out on fellowship with God, but there was one more consequence they needed to learn. Finally...

They Realized They Had Made a Decision That Affected Everyone

Genesis 3:16–19 KJV 1900

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Church, there is no such thing as an isolated sin. Just like Adam’s sin affected the entire human race, your sin affects everyone around you. Sin changes you from the inside, it eats away at you and will destroy you. But here is the best part....there is hope for your Sin.

God didn’t just curse Adam, Eve, and the world, He cursed the serpent as well…Genesis 3:14 “14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:”

Because the serpent leant its body to Satan, no longer would it move upright, it would now crawl on the earth, not literally eating dirt, but rather living among the dirt and ingesting by the means of the way it eats to live. But God didn’t stop there, he cursed Satan as well…Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 KJV 1900

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Church, right here we have the very first promise of the Savior! Jesus Christ would have his heel bruised on Calvary, but that same bruising would be the death stroke to the power of Satan! Only through Jesus Christ can the consequences of eternal death be removed from you.

Conclusion: Let me explain…God told Adam that the day he ate of the forbidden fruit, he would die. That physical death did not come immediately is only by the mercy of God, because mercy is when we do not receive what we truly deserve. However, Adam and his wife BEGAN the process of physical death that day, but their spiritual death was instant.

Come back next week, and we will look at God’s plan to rescue humanity from the power of sin, but before we do that I wonder if you are here today under the power of sin still?