You Need God

You Need God

Gen 3:14-21

LaFayette Baptist Church

12/01/2024

By: Jacob Winters

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.[d] He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. 16 He said to the woman:I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. 17 And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor[e] all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 You will eat bread[f] by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.” 20 The man named his wife Eve[g] because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.

Context

Today, we are beginning our annual Advent sermon series. Advent itself, is a time of focused attention being given to coming of the Lord Jesus to the world, specifically, a time where we remind ourselves of Jesus’ coming to the earth as a child, a child that would one day save us from our sins. To help is remind ourselves about Jesus this season, as a church we are coming together to read this book that has a devotional a day, along with a daily scripture to read and a prayer to pray. Today’s sermon, is the first in that book, dated December the 1st.

Here we start at the beginning, or at least very near the beginning of the creation, at the most terrible thing that had ever happened before in the universe, and the most terrible thing that will ever happen ever to mankind. This was our choice of sin, which is rebellion against God and His perfect design for us, by taking of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil that God had specifically told Adam and Eve our oldest ancestors not to take from. This action of rebellion, had disastrous consequences for all of mankind, as before we had lived as a species and the entire world at that, in a state of Joy, Peace, and Togetherness with God. Now, we live in a world of sorrow, war, and separation from God. Today’s text get’s right at the consequences for all that were involved, as well as a great hope to look forward for all of mankind, a hope that has been fulfilled through the coming and sacrifice of Jesus of Jesus Christ the perfect and righteous. One who never sinned, yet took on the penalty (death) for everyone’s sin. What I want you to understand from this text is that From your own sin, you need God to make it right because you are helpless on your own. So, let’s jump in and From the text and as you continue through your advent devotional, I want you to remember and see that You need God.

Message

The first point I want you to see and remember is that: God defeats the serpent 14-15

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.[d] He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

Make no mistake, the serpent that is being referred to here is no common snake. This serpent was a manifestation of Satan the deceiver, who had just tricked our earliest mother and father into taking the forbidden fruit. Now, their eyes were opened to this information that did not concern them, and now they new shame, hurt, guilt, anger, sadness; which would have never been known, because all they had to know before was absolute splendor and joy because they were living both in God’s presence and His delight as the fulfilled God’s commands and will for them. God curses Satan, proclaiming one the most powerful and beautiful angel, to a forever lowness in order. Now, he will eat dust for eternity, meaning you will know nothing but defeat and disaster, so much so that dust will be available to you food. Furthermore, you Satan, as the head of all that this evil, wicked, and unholy, will be at war with Eve’s offspring (mankind, ie you person). One day, that will come (and has come for us) you will try to kill out the hope of mankind (Jesus) but he will trample and defeat you.

Now, don’t let this get lost on you. Have you ever in life before looked at dirt before and thought, yep, that’s what I want for dinner. Now granted, i’m sure we all as children made our own share of mud pies, but if you were anything like me, as a joke you tried to eat one, and quickly found that it was worse than you thought. This is the kind of total defeat that God proclaimed upon Satan, you defeat will be so often, frequent, and complete, that the common idea of anything edible being for you, will be well beyond your reach or ability. You will know nothing but defeat because of your defiance. So complete will be your defeat, that these two here, who you tried to turn against Me (God) from their offspring will come your destruction.

God defeats the serpent, he didn’t stand a chance. He didn’t stand a chance from the moment he decided that he didn’t like what God was doing and was going to do something different. This is just like us, we don’t stand a chance against God. We don’t stand a chance from any sin, any rebellion against God, no matter how big or small or even if it was only once or many times. From your own sin, you need God to make it right because you are helpless on your own. That is why even from back at this first sin, God redirected the entire world’s timetable, all the events of history, to lead up to Christ’s coming the earth, God the Son Coming to the Earth, so that He would be the payment for our sin against God. God defeats the serpent, you cannot, so You need God.

The next point I want you to see and remember is that: Sin separates you from God. 16-19

16 He said to the woman:I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. 17 And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor[e] all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 You will eat bread[f] by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”

Here, God addresses the man and woman. To put it simple, they had really messed up. Up to this point, God had given them a few simple assignments. One was that Adam was to name every living thing. Two was that they were work and tend the garden (which was easy and a delight to do). 3rd was that they were to “be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth with sons and daughters and rule over it. Under the original perfect sinless design of God, this would have been an enjoyable, fulfilling, easy, and exciting thing to do. Now, they were cursed from their actions. No longer would bearing and rearing children be easy, but difficult and painful. No longer would the weeds stay at bay, the holes be dug easily, and planting in all seasons occur, now work became hard and grueling, just stay alive you have to do hard work, until the day you die and return to the dust from which you were made.

Before the choice of sin, Adam and Eve had everything they needed to fulfill those 3 jobs and any other commands that God would have given them with ease. They had it easy, so easy that we can’t even imagine because the world we live in has been cursed by the fall. Despite all this good and ease, it just goes to show that our own hearts are greedy and long for more, as the whole reason Eve and Adam ate of the forbidden fruit is because they believed a lie that God was holding out on them. Well, we can see and know today that He was not, He was protecting them, and creating a place that they could flourish and enjoy just simply being and getting to fellowship with God. Now, can they fulfill those 3 commands of God? Yes, but it’s not going to be easy, and will require God’s intervention to overcome.

It’s so interesting, when you reflect back on Adam and Eve and ourselves, how believing one lie, how doing one single sin, how choosing not to trust God, can have such a big effect. Here, the greatest tragedy ever in the world happened. So terrible was this, that we live in the aftermath, and look forward to the day that Christ will return and make all of this right once and for all. Just like with Adam and Eve, your sin also separates you from God. Yes, it is true that you are forgiven when you trust in Jesus. But, when you continue in sin, any believer knows that continuing in any sin robs you of a closeness with God, so, we remove/repent of it, knowing that an even closer relationship with God is just around the corner we do so. What’s so interesting with this, is that it is impossible to get out of any sin on your own. You can’t, you have to turn to God, and ask Him not only for forgiveness for your chosen separation from Him, but also for His help to change your life so you don’t do it again. Ask, and you will receive with those one child of God.From your own sin, you need God to make it right because you are helpless on your own. Sin separates you from God, so you need Him to come close to Him.

Another point to see and remember is God’s sacrifice to cover you. 20-21

20 The man named his wife Eve[g] because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.

Then, in our text we see the final act of naming that Adam did, naming his wife, who taken from his rib bone and he had before been filled with joy saying, “This one at last is like me, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” God gave Adam a wife, because he loved Adam so much, and saw that he was lonely, because their was nothing and noone else like him in all creation, so he made the woman from Adam, and told them to fill the earth with children. Adam names his wife Eve, which in the Hebrew language also loosly means “living,” meaning all of mankind will come from her. In the end, we still see God at work protecting His favorite of all creation, mankind, despite our rebellion. God provided a serious thing for Adam and Eve before removing them from the paradise of the garden, because now it was a dangerous place to be for them, as the tree of life was their as well, and God did not desire them to live forever in this newly cursed world forever. God provided for them in a way that had never been done before, and seems heinous to us because it is and was never a part of God’s perfect design. God had to kill animals, to provide clothes for them, to cover their shame that they now had, a shame that they had never felt before when they were following God’s plan and will for them. Yes, blood had to be spilled to cover their shame, their guilt, their sin; blood would one day have to be spilt by God the Son Himself, to cover the guilt of all who would ask for forgiveness from God because of our sin.

In just two verses, their is a lot to unpack here. So much, that i’m sure large books could easily be written about the meaning, implications, and consequences of these two verses. What’s important to take away thought is this, You need God. Why? Because our sin so bad, so terrible, so horrific that creates a separation from where we should be and where we are so big, that never without God Himself intervening, we will never be able to get back to what we were made to do. Which is to bring honor, glory, and joy to our creator God. When we aren’t in and doing these, a person will be miserable and empty, because these are what we are made and wired to do. You want joy? I mean lasting peace? Eternal contentment? Never will you find that with anything this world has to offer you. Only Jesus Christ the Righteous through His death on the cross can pay the penalty for the sin debt that you have. You can try, try all you want, give it your best go. But, as the bible tells us, the best we can offer is only dirty rags when compared to beauty, glory, and splendor of God.

I mean just look at it, their was nothing bad in the world until sin entered the world. No death, no pain, no hurt, no difficulty. But then, sin entered and in very short order, not only did the first animals die, but the ground was cursed, and having children would be difficult. You to sin, as the bible tells us, all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. From your own sin, you need God to make it right because you are helpless on your own. This at first glance seems bleak, but fortunately for you, God loves you and desires a relationship with you so badly, that He would die for you so that you can be restored to Him once again. God’s sacrifice covers you. You need God.

Conclusion

Beloved, as you continue through your devotional this week. Sometimes, what happens in the story can seem bleak , but remember these truths that God defeats the serpent 14-15, Sin separates you from God. 16-19, and God’s sacrifice to cover you. 20-21. Don’t just remember them, but think on them long and hard, and what they mean in your life right now, past, present, and future, as well as everyone else you. Take what God shows you through that time, and share it with others, so that God can be lifted up and glorified through you.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.