Sin Ruins Everything

Introduction

Opening: Do you ever look out at this world and think to yourself, 'What is going on?' In the last few weeks I know I have felt that as I've watched the news. I think Charlie Kirk's murder was a moment that caused me to grieve the brokenness of it all. The image of that innocent Ukrainian refugee still haunts my mind. And of course, there is our own city, and the daily stream of violence, corruption, wickedness among leadership. What's really going on here?

Personal: And the truth is that it's not just the tragedies that happen out there. But we also all know the weight of our own wrongdoings. Each of us have felt the consequences of the weakness of our own flesh, in one degree or another. We carry those scars with us today in this room.

Context: Today, we read the chapter in the Bible that answers that question. This is a foundational text for interpreting our world correctly. And in this text we discover not only the true human condition, but we also discover the only divine answer. Recall that we have spent the last two weeks examining life before sin ever entered the world in Genesis 1-2. We've tasted what it was like for Adam and Eve to walk in Original Righteousness, knowing God, loving God, enjoying creation, enjoying each other, and enjoying their labor. In this chapter all of that becomes corrupted.

Only a divine hope could rescue us from this pit of despair!

Meaning & Application

I THE TWISTED NATURE OF OUR ENEMY

First, I want to look at the twisted nature of our enemy. The Genesis 3 account begins with the presence of a serpent who was “more crafty than any other beast of the field.” This serpent is not any ordinary snake. It appears that the Devil entered the Garden of Eden and inhabited the body of a serpent.

No Background: No background is given in this text regarding where the serpent came from, why he was given permission by God to enter the garden in the first place. For that information we have to go elsewhere in Scripture, specifically Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. These two passages teach us about how the Devil was a created spiritual being in the inner courts of God, more beautiful than any other angelic being God had created. And that in his pride, he desired to be God, and ultimately rebelled against God along with others, being cast down outside of God’s presence. Suffice it to say, God is not surprised at the presence of the enemy in the Garden. God permits it. Perhaps, to see what man will do.

We Face the Same Enemy: In a moment we are going to look at the nature of the enemies attack. But first I want us to understand that we today face this same enemy. And his attacks have not changed much at all. The way he came after Eve is patternistic of the way he will come after you. The Apostle reminds us

Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

What is the Devil’s chief aim? It is to cause some kind of separation between you and God. He wants to get your worship, and in order to do that he has to convince you not to worship God.

Three: In this text we see three primary strategies the devil uses.

1 He Casts Doubt on God’s Word: First, the Devil casts on doubt on God’s word. His very first words to Eve,

Genesis 3:1 “…He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?””

See what the Devil is doing. God has laid down a good and righteous and just law that humanity must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And up until this point, Adam and have not questioned that. Why? Because they had no need to. God was so good. His word was good. His word was sufficient. But along comes the Devil casting doubt on the goodness of God word. “God would not suffer you to punish an eternity in hell apart from him for simple bite of an apple.” How many has Satan lead captive by a such a subtle lie.

O Church, do you not know the whisper of the enemy who comes to you casting doubt on God’s Word? You hear a word somewhere, or you read something that causes you to doubt the veracity of God’s Word. Right now, the Devil is active and busy trying to convince the world that the Bible is not authoritative, that the Bible is not to be read literally, that the Bible is uncompassionate. “Did actually say?” And that begins a downward spiral. That little seed of doubt, left unchecked, slowly becomes a weed in the garden that soaks up all the nutrients around it.

2 He subsititutes his own words for Gods: Second, he substitutes his own words for God’s words. Verse 4,

Genesis 3:4 “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

This is a direct lie. Adam and Eve died, both physically and spiritually as soon as they ate the fruit. And death to spread to all humanity and all of creation because they ate the fruit. We are particularly susceptible to Satan’s lies, because his lies often sound so reasonable. It’s just fruit - it won’t kill you. And if you look down at what happens next in verse 6

Genesis 3:6 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate…”

Do you see how reasonable Satan’s lie is? The fruit looks good, it can’t be that bad. God’s law is clear. On most of the issues that we face today in our personal lives, in our national lives, we can go to God’s Word and get total clarity: Wrong, Right. But what Satan does is he makes the anti-God position seem reasonable. And then we’re tempted to say “Is it really that bad?”

3 He questions God’s motives: Third, he then questions God’s motives.

Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

The Devil has the audacity to say “God is holidng out on you.” He is questioning the very goodness of God. And so what he is saying to Eve is, “If you will only believe my lie, and distrust God’s claim, then you’ll be happy. Then you’ll have the life that is truly life.” Is this not the signal call of the ideologies of our current culture. Our current culture celebrates and elevates above all else, a person being true to their most inner conception of themselves. This is the great lie facing us today, that our truest identity is found by searching within, not by searching for God.

Nature Wrap Up: In this first observation we are looking the nature of the enemy’s schemes. And in studying the nature of Satan’s schemes, we arrive at the solution to standing against the enemy. So long as you retain the simplicity of God’s word, unwaveringly, you take every bit of ground Satan could possibly use against you. Your job, is to take God at his word. Do not bend. Do not break. Stand on it. Build your life on it. And as you do so, you rob Satan of any chance he has of overcoming you.

II THE TOTAL WEAKNESS OF OUR FLESH

Second observation from this text, I want us to see the weakness of our flesh. What I mean here is that in this story we see a pattern of behavior in Adam and Eve that is often repeated in our own lives.

1 Eve heeded the tempter’s voice: First, Eve heeded the tempter’s voice. Instead of saying “Get me behind me Satan,” Eve engaged in discussion. She tried to reason with the Devil and converse with the temptation. We have to see the lunacy of the conversation she is having in verses 1-5, she’s dialoging with the Devil. What should Adam and Eve done to counter these tempations. Well they should have been like Christ in the wilderness. When he was tempted by the Devil, he countered the Devils temptations with unwavering resolve in God’s Word. “Thus sayeth the Lord.” When you feel the temptation to entertain anti-God philosophy, you destroy that temptation.

2 Corinthians 10:5 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

Church, do not play with temptation. Do not engage in dialogue with the great deceiver. He is the Father of Lies, and he’ll spin a web of deceit so thick that you get stuck in it like a fly in spiderweb.

2 Eve tampered with God’s word: Secondly, changed God’s word. She altared what God had originally said. She altared in two ways actually. First, she added to the word of God in verse 3

Genesis 3:3 “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ””

God never said you can’t touch it. Eve added that rule, and spoke on behalf of God something God had not said. This is eerilie familiar to what the Pharisees were doing in the days of Jesus. They were adding man-made rules to what God actually said.

Proverbs 30:6 “Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.”

But then she also blunted the harshness of God’s word. She says the to the devil that God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in teh midst of the garden neither shall you touch, lest you die.’ This might seem trivial, but follow this. What God actually said was in Genesis 2:17,

Genesis 2:17 “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.””

The way Eve says it, it has the sense that there is a “maybe” in there. It has a sense like a mother telling her son not to play on the roof because he might fall and die. Well, he also might not fall and die. What God actually said was, “on the day you of it you will surely die.”

We cannot blunt God’s Word. God’s word is like a lion. We do not need to defend it by putting it in a cage. That word is perfectly capable of defending himself outside of the cage. Just let the Word free. We don’t need to water it down, pretending like the fierceness of God’s law and God’s justice are not real.

3 Adam stood by passively: Third, in all of this Adam stood passively by. Remember, Adam was placed in the garden to serve and keep it. That word keep, as we last week, means to “guard and protect.” The serpent comes in through a back door and attacks Adam’s wife. He enters into dialogue with her. He causes her to eat of the fruit.

Genesis 3:6 “…and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

Adam stood by passively. What should Adam have done. He should have picked up the biggest rock he could find and thrown it down on the serpent’s head, and crushed the serpent right then and there. Adam was called to lead, and when good men fail to lead, then evil slowly creeps in.

Weakness Wrapup: I want you to look upon your hearts for a moment. This pattern that is revealed in Genesis is prototypical of the human story. It’s prototypical of your story, and my story. Where is the Devil subtly laying his tempting snares in your life? Where is he sowing small seeds of doubt in your relationship with God, in your clinging to his promises, in your zeal for godliness? Remember the Apostle Paul’s words

1 Corinthians 5:6 “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”

Cleanse out the old leaven through repentance now, before it is too late. Remember Uzzah and the ark. The ark of the covenant was sitting in his home for month and month and months, until he became overly familiar with it. Then in a moment of weakness, he reached out his hand and broke God’s law by touching the ark of the covenant, and as a consequence he died on the spot. So it is when we play with Satan’s temptations. We keep them nearby, and we become overly familiar with them, until one day in a moment of weakness we fall prey.

The weakness of the flesh.

III THE MISERABLE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SIN

Third observation from this text, I want us to see the full consequences of sin. The consequences for Adam and Eve’s sin are both physical and spiritual. Death has both physical and spiritual aspects to it. In a physical sense we all die one day. We weren’t made to die. Death is a foreign enemy that was let loose on creation only after sin. But spiritually, every person ever born is now born spiritually dead, cut off from God. That spiritual death is just as important for us to understand as the physical death.

Physically: The consequences of sin is death. Adam and Eve, had they never sinned, would never have died. But by the end of this chapter, they cast out of the Garden of Eden, and on a slow trajectory that will ultimately lead to their death. Further, their sin had other physical consequences. Adam’s curse in 17-19 is that his work will now be filled with “thorns and thistles.” His work will be exhausting, society will be difficult. Eve will have pain in childbearing, and will push back against her husband’s authority.

Spiritual: Let’s first examine the spiritual death we see this in this text. As soon as they eat of the fruit of the garden, everything changes. In chapter 2, Adam and Eve are walking with God, enjoying God, entering into marriage, working to the glory of God. Breaking God’s law ruins all of that.

1 Conscience Was Awakened: First, their coscience was awakened

Genesis 3:7 “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…

Suddenly, things change. The pure delight of Genesis 2 is lost, and there is an awareness of their vulnerability. What is happening here? Adam and Eve, for the first time, are deeply aware that something is off in their heart. They have sinned. They have broken God’s law. And the first reaction they have after breaking his law, is an awareness in their heart, that something’s not right. They feel a shame they had never felt before.

The consequence of sin is a heavy conscience before God. Have you ever tried to keep a secret before of something wrong you have done. It weighs on you. It keeps you up at night. You think about. That heavy conscience, is a tool that God has placed in mankind, to awaken a sense that all is not right, that help is needed. But note here, that a conscience is only ever awakened as a result of sin. This feeling of vulnerability was not God’s original design, it’s only a part of spiritual death.

2 Effort to Conceal Sin: Second, they make an effort to conceal their sin

Genesis 3:7 “… And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

This is ridiculous. Their behavior is ludicrous. What should they have done. They should have run to God in confession. “Oh God, we have broken your law. We were tempted. I was passive. We plead for your mercy.” None of that. Instead they conceal. They fashion for themselves loincloths to try to hide their guilty conscience.

This is the natural way of mankind. When we feel our conscience, the first thing we try to do is bury it in a smile and good works. Coming to church can be your loin cloth, if its just a mask to make you feel a bit better about the sin inside. Good works and charity and can just be loin cloths that we put on ourselves to make ourselves feel a little better about our guilty conscience.

The problem is that the loincloths we sew may deceive each other, but they do not deceive God. For on our judgment we will stand before God in total vulnerability. There will be no loin cloth to hide our shame. And God will not be decieved about our works. The root of the problem is their sin, and until that sin is paid for, every loin cloth we ever make simply a mask hiding the the truth that we have spiritually died. They’re already experiencing the horror of spiritual death.

3 Hide From God: Third, they hide from God.

Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

God, the true God, who once was their great delight, now is a horror who must be hidden from. It was only one chapter ago that Adam walked with God in the cool of the garden, and now spiritual death has settled in, and we find Adam hiding from God. Again, we must say, how ridiculous this scene is. You can’t hide from God. He’s God. Remember the prophet, who tried to hide from God by catching a boat as far away from Israel as he could get. God knew right where he was. And God knew right where Adam was, and he knew the foolish loin cloths they were wearing. Notice carefully, this first move of grace on God’s behalf. It was not Adam that sought out God. Adam was hiding from God. God came to Adam and sought him “Adam where are you.” It is always God who first moves towards sinners, because he is a pursuing God, even in our sin.

You can’t hide from God. The main way that most people today try to hide from God, is simply not thinking about it. They busy themselves with everything but God. But there is no such thing as a life without God, there is only a life hiding from God, ridiculously pretending like God is not real and that there is no higher law than ourselves to which we are accountable. A secular life, lived in hiding in the bushes, is no life at all.

4 Make God Their Enemy: Fourth and finally, their spiritual death is in their lack of ownership. God confronts Adam

Genesis 3:12–13 “The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””

There are so many things wrong with this. Adam blames his precious wife. The wife blames the serpent. Nobody wants to take ownership. But you know what most stands out here. It’s Adam’s words. “The woman who you gave me…” Who is Adam’s finger pointed at? God! Adam has established himself as an enemy of God. You’re the fault. You’re the enemy. At the end of the day, you are to blame.

That’s the ultimate consequence of sin. Sin doesn’t just bring disfunction and disorder into our life. Sin makes us an enemy of God. What sinners, in their guilt try to do, is soften the reality. They tell themselves a lie that they are not enemies of God. God is all loving. He doesn’t have any enemies. And if he did, it certainly isn’t me. No! Our sin has separated us from God, and has made us enemies of God. We are guilty before a holy God.

Wrap Up: We are examining the "miserable consequences of sin." And you and I know them all to well. We have inherited Adam's guilt. We are all born into the condition of spiritual death. Adam corrupted the seed of humanity, in such a full way, that every son born after him, inherited his sinful nature. And the consequences for us, are as deep as the consequences were for Adam. Death. Outside of some kind of some kind of miraculous provision of grace, we are guilty before God. Like Adam, we have become enemies of God. In our foolishness, like Adam, we believe ourselves to be righteous when our very self-righteousness is the evidence that we are God's enemies. This is your condition, if you are outside of Christ.

IV THE GRACIOUS PROVISION OF OUR GOD

But fourth and finally, I want you to see God’s offer of grace in the midst of our rebellion. There are two things that happen before this passage is over that function like great glimmers of hope.

ProtoEvangelium: The first is in verse 15. God pronounces on a curse on the serpent, and in the end of his curse he says,

Genesis 3:15 “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.””

This is the first seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ ever spoken in Scripture. It comes to us in two parts.

Enmity: First God says he will put enmity between the serpent and the woman. This is an ordination by God declaring that the humanity’s future will be at constant war with the enemy.

Why did Joseph’s brother sell him into human slavery? Because of the war beween Satan and the woman

Why did Pharaoh kill all the newborn Hebrew children? Because of the war between Satan and the woman.

Why did Haman try to annihilate the Hebrews in the book of Esther, because of the enmity between Satan and the woman.

Why was Charlie Kirk killed, and a sweet young Ukrainian refugee killed, and sixty shootings in our own city over Labor Day Weekend a few weeks ago? Because of the emity between Satan and the woman.

We can only make sense of this world, if we understand the very real war that exists between that old serpent and God’s people.

Bruising: But look at the second half of the verse “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heal.” Here, the prophecy spoken to Adam speaks of one particular offspring of Eve, and the text says that the serpent will bruise his heel. This is a foreshadowing of Christ the messiah, whom the Devil would conspire to pin to a cross. Indeed we are told in the New Testaent that the Devil was in and behind all of the events surrounding the crucifixion.

Luke 22:3 “Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.”

The devil tried to kill the Christ, but he only bruised his heel. Christ though fulfills this prophecy, for through Christ’s death and resurrection he has bruised and crushed the serpent’s head. God, here, in beginning of where everything went wrong, states unequivically, that the offspring of the woman, the messiah, will ultimately triumph over the devil.

Garments of Skin: Then look at the very next thing God does after pronouncing the curses,

Genesis 3:21 “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

God, sacrfices an animal, to cover the shame of their sin. Up until this point no animal had ever been sacrificed. God himself is the first to ever sacrifice an animal. A life was slain to cover the fall and ruin of man. And noticed God clothed them. God did it all. He made the sacrifice, then he applied the sacrifice to them. This is a prophecy, and a taste of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, who not only sheds his blood to forgive our sin, but then applies his shed blood into our hearts, while we were still enemies. Adam may not have fully understood that it would it mean for Christ to die for his sin. But this much he knew as he was cast out of Eden,”I have chosen sin, and I am getting the just penalty I deserve. But one is coming who claim the final victory.”

Conclusion

I began this sermon by saying that immersing myself in this text this week ministered to me. Let me tell you why. This text explains the reality of the fallen world we live in. It anchors my vision of the world in something solid. It reveals to me, when my heart hurts over the deep deep sins and crimes of this world, how it went all wrong. And that alone shapes my stability in uncertain times. But more than that, it anchors me the clarity of my hope in Christ, the serpent crusher, who defeated my sin on the cross, and who is in the process now of defeating everything that dares to stand against him. In time he will come again, and restore things. Until then, I follow him, and I trust his perfect plan.