We Have the Good News of a Savior Who Covers Our Sin based on Genesis 3:1-13, 21

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I received an interesting phone call at St. Peter Lutheran Church on Friday afternoon. Steve Harvey, the celebrity host of Family Feud on TV, said that I was the big winner of $13 million, a new truck, and $5000 a month for the rest of my life, courtesy of Publisher’s Clearing House. I was given a special code and a phone number to call to claim my prize. There were a couple of problems. I never said what my name was during the phone call. I simply answered, “Hello.” I never sent in anything to the Publisher’s Clearing House either. If I called the phone number I was given, then I am sure there would have been some kind of scam to get me to send in money to claim my so-called prize.

Deception and lies are nothing new. The sermon text from Genesis 3 is all about deception and lies. The season of Lent is a time to think about our times when we have deceived others by telling them lies. The serpent in the garden knew about the power of telling lies. The serpent started to work on Eve, the first woman, by asking an innocent-sounding question. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” (Gen. 3:1). The serpent tried to twist the words of God to make God look like the bad guy. The exact words of God to Adam were, according to Genesis 2:16–17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.’” Instead of saying that no fruit from any of the trees in the garden could be eaten, God had commanded that the fruit of every tree in the garden could be eaten, except for one tree’s fruit. The lying serpent did not stop at one lie. The serpent told another lie to Eve in Genesis 3:4–5 “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”

Eve either did not hear Adam correctly or she added her own words when she answered the serpent. She said that they could eat from every tree, except one, but they were not supposed to touch that fruit. I remember one of the topics of conversation in my dorm at the seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, over 35 years ago. We debated when the first sin against a command of God took place. Was the first sin when Eve touched the fruit or when Eve ate the forbidden fruit? I guess we had some time on our hands that night and we talked about that first sin. The exact moment of the first sin in the garden of Eden is not all that important. The important thing is that Eve disobeyed God’s command and ate the forbidden fruit and then gave some to Adam and he also ate.

On the weekends in Lent this year we will be looking at the Gospel Good News of God’s mercy and love as shown in the Old Testament Book of Genesis. Genesis 3 reminds us that words make a big difference. Still today words can deceive others when we tell lies. Still today we can hurt others who are close to us by words that are spoken in anger. Still today people tell lies to others and lies are told to them.

What did Adam and Eve do after they failed to obey God’s command and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree? They tried to hide from God in the garden. They even made clothes from fig leaves to cover up parts of their bodies. Trying to hide from the God who created everything is not something that worked out too well for them.

But we try to hide things as well. When we know we have done something to get in trouble with a family member, then we might try to hide by not answering our phone even though we can see on our caller ID that that family member is trying to call us. When we do something wrong, rather than be honest about our mistake we try to blame someone else.

That is nothing new either. When God found Adam and Eve in their hiding place in the garden, then they both tried to blame someone else. Adam tried to blame God, because the woman He had given to Adam had offered Adam the fruit. Eve blamed the serpent for deceiving her. People still like to blame someone or something else for their problems today.

We have all tried to come up with our own ways of covering up our sins and wrongs. We might think if we only work harder at doing good things that will cover our sins and wrongs. We might think if we come up with a really good excuse, then that will somehow cover our bad life choices. We might think we can hide from God like Adam and Eve. But like Adam and Eve found out, we also find out that we cannot hide from God. God is all-knowing.

Adam and Eve could not outsmart God. They were driven out of the garden of Eden. Angels and a flaming sword guarded the way back to the tree of life. Before they were driven out of the garden to live a life of struggle and pain, God did something unexpected. We are told in Genesis 3:21, “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” What was that all about? God had to sacrifice an animal to make garments of skins to clothe Adam and Eve. That loving action points us to the Gospel Good News in Genesis 3. Just as a sacrifice was needed to make garments of skins to clothe Adam and his wife, God would in the future send His Son to make a sacrifice. The sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus, on the cross was not a matter of clothing. The sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus, on the cross was to cover over the sins and wrongs of Adam and Eve and every person since that time. The sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus, on the cross brought us forgiveness and mercy from God. We deserve to die, like Adam and Eve deserved to die, because of our many sins and wrongs and deceptions and lies. Instead, God placed all of those sins and wrongs on Jesus and He covered them over by the blood shed by Jesus on the cross for us. That is very good news indeed. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.