The Plan from the Beginning
So This Is Christmas • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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It is December. The Christmas season is in full swing.
Today we’re kicking off a new series we’re calling “So This Is Christmas.”
In this series, we’re going to look at how Christmas is not just a holiday—it’s God’s plan for redemption, set in motion from the very beginning.
This plan didn’t start in Bethlehem.
It didn’t begin with angels or shepherds or a manger.
It began in a garden.
So go with me to Genesis 3, and we’ll start in verse 14.
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
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.”
I’ve titled the message this morning:
The Plan from the Beginning
Pray
There are two kinds of people when it comes to Christmas trees.
And yes—there’s a right kind, and there’s a wrong kind.
Now I’m not talking about real trees vs. fake trees.
That’s another sermon—called “Needles of Regret.”
I’m talking about the real dividing line in Christmas tree theology:
White lights vs. colored lights.
This might be the most important thing I say today.
So if you’re taking notes, go ahead and write this down:
Colored lights on a Christmas tree are wrong.
Some of you just felt that in your soul.
You’re offended. I can see it on your face.
You’re shifting in your seat like,
“Not the multicolor lights! That’s how Christmas is supposed to look!”
But let’s be honest:
Your tree looks like it lost a fight with a pack of Skittles.
It looks like it was decorated by a 3-year-old on a sugar high.
It shouldn’t be out here looking like it’s about to DJ a rave.
Blinking red. Flashing green. Random blue—for no reason.
That’s not festive. That’s stressful.
And don’t even get me started on the ones that change colors.
That’s not Christmas.
That’s demonic.
That’s confusion in LED form.
Now white lights?
White lights are calm.
They’re peaceful.
They say, “All is calm, all is bright.”
They look like something holy might actually happen under that tree.
Now I know what some of you are thinking:
“But the kids love the colored lights…”
Okay. Let me give you a Bible verse:
6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Teach your kids.
They don’t need Skittles on a tree.
They need holiness and order.
Why? Because if you don’t teach them—someone else will.
And that’s actually what went wrong in Genesis 3.
Humanity was created to be led and taught.
Adam had a responsibility to lead and teach Eve…
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
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.’ ”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
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.”
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, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
I want you to take note of a few things here.
At first glance, it might seem like the serpent got Eve alone—that he isolated her and made his move.
Look again at verse 6.
“She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
Adam wasn’t off tending to the garden.
He wasn’t out of earshot.
He was right there.
And he said nothing.
The serpent is twisting truth.
Eve is wrestling with deception.
And Adam—the one who had received the command from God directly—is silent.
Let me be clear:
This isn’t a statement meant to make women sound inferior or incapable.
Eve was deceived, yes—but Adam was responsible.
He was with her.
And he said nothing.
He did nothing.
And I’ll tell you what that is:
Silence isn’t leadership. Silence is failure.
When the enemy speaks and you say nothing, that’s not strength—it’s surrender.
Men, God has entrusted you with influence.
In your home.
In your marriage.
In your family.
In your church.
You are called to speak life, declare truth, and lead with conviction and love.
But hear me:
A silent husband is not covering his wife—he’s exposing her to attack.
A silent father is not protecting his children—he’s leaving them vulnerable to lies.
A man who refuses to lead isn’t just passive—he’s disobedient.
The serpent didn’t overpower the garden.
He just outtalked Adam.
And too many homes are losing not because Satan is strong—
but because the men are silent.
Because when men go silent, serpents start speaking.
Adam’s silence led to Eves’ misunderstanding….
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
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.’ ”
Now watch this:
The serpent twists the command:
“Did God really say you can’t eat from any tree?”
And Eve responds:
“We can eat from the trees… except the one in the middle. And we can’t even touch it, or we’ll die.”
But that’s not what God said.
Let’s look at the original command.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
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.”
No mention of touching it.
That detail was added somewhere along the way.
And here’s what’s important:
When God gave this command, Eve didn’t exist yet.
She hadn’t been formed. She wasn’t there.
Which raises a real question:
Where did that come from?
Did Adam miscommunicate what God said?
Did he add extra rules to protect her?
Did he fail to explain it clearly?
Did Eve hear it secondhand and misunderstand?
We don’t know for sure.
But what we do know is this:
Adam was there.
He was with her.
And he was silent.
And silence always creates space for confusion.
And when truth isn’t clear, the serpent has room to manipulate.
Misunderstanding God’s word leads to deception.
The serpent didn’t mishear God—he knew exactly what God said.
He wasn’t ignorant—he was crafty.
So what does he do?
He doesn’t come with force—he comes with subtle distortion.
He plants a seed of doubt.
And then he waters it with a lie.
And now—Eve is correcting someone she was never supposed to be talking to.
That’s a word for somebody….
Stop arguing with that person you’re not even supposed to be talking to.
Eve is dialoguing with a deceiver.
Trying to out-argue the enemy when she was supposed to be under Adam’s covering,
and Adam was supposed to be speaking up.
And look what Satan does with just a little bit of confusion:
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
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.”
Just like that—he denies God’s word outright.
Why?
Because confusion always softens the soil for rebellion.
If the enemy can get you to question God’s word, he can get you to reject God’s authority.
But look at how he does it.
“You will not surely die…”
“God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened…”
“You will be like God, knowing good and evil…” (Genesis 3:4–5)
Sounds reasonable, right?
And here’s the craziest part…
The serpent doesn’t lie—at least not directly.
That’s what makes it so dangerous.
Their eyes were opened (v.7).
They did come to know good and evil (v.22).
They did become more like God—in a way.
But here’s the catch:
He told the truth… without telling all of it.
Yes, their eyes were opened—but what they saw was shame.
Yes, they came to know good and evil—but not by wisdom—by wound.
Yes, they became “like God”— but in the most painful, broken, God-dishonoring way possible.
The serpent told just enough truth to make the lie believable.
And just enough lie to make the truth deadly.
That’s still how he works today.
He wraps sin in something that looks wise.
He offers you what seems like freedom, but it leads to slavery.
Understand this:
Satan will always tell you what is true, but he will never tell you the truth.
There’s a big difference.
If he told an outright lie, you’d see it coming.
But if he gives you a version of the truth—just twisted enough you’ll buy into it without realizing what it’s costing you.
And that’s exactly what happens to Eve.
She doesn’t believe a total lie.
She believes a distorted truth.
She embraces a version of truth that feels right in the moment but leads straight into disobedience.
So to recap what we’ve walked through so far:
Adam was silent when he should’ve spoken.
Eve misunderstood the command God gave.
The serpent twisted the truth—he told her what was technically true, but left out the whole truth.
And Eve bought into it.
She believed something that sounded spiritual, looked wise, and felt right.
So they eat the fruit…
And suddenly, their eyes are opened.
They look at each other and say,
“We’re naked.”
And for the first time, they feel shame.
Now listen— Adam and Eve had been naked from the beginning.
They were created that way.
Genesis 2:25 says,
“They were both naked and were not ashamed.”
It had never been a problem until now.
So this isn’t really about nudity.
It’s about something deeper.
It’s about something that every person in this room knows all too well.
I’m talking about the “they know” moment.
That moment when you feel exposed.
Vulnerable. Guilty. Known.
It’s that moment when you think:
“They know.”
“They know what I did.”
“They know how I messed up.”
“They know how broken I am.”
That’s what sin does.
Let’s look at it in the text:
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
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.
Not only did they cover themselves—They hid from God.
And that’s what sin still does.
Sin makes you hide from the very place where God wants to meet with you.
I want you to take note of something here…
The serpent leads them to the tree.
He encourages them to take the fruit.
He makes the promise:
“You’ll be like God… Your eyes will be opened…”
But once they eat?
He does what Adam did….
He goes silent.
He doesn’t guide them through the shame.
He doesn’t help them with the guilt.
He doesn’t explain what just happened.
He doesn’t stay to clean up the mess.
That’s his specialty:
“Let me get you behind the wheel…
Just take the step… Just send the message… Just take one bite…
Then you’ll have everything you’ve ever wanted.”
But the moment you fall,
the voice that promised you freedom
goes silent as you sit in regret.
He doesn’t disappear from the story—but he offers no comfort, no answers, no redemption.
Because the serpent doesn’t care what happens after.
His only goal was to separate you from God in the moment.
He doesn’t disciple you.
He doesn’t cover you.
He doesn’t walk with you in the fallout.
He sets the trap—and leaves you to bleed in it.
And then—here comes God…
Walking through the garden.
Looking for His friends.
And if we’re honest, this is where we brace for impact.
This is where we assume the hammer is about to drop.
He finds them.
Realizes what they’ve done.
And immediately punishes them. Condemns them.
Kicks them out of the garden in a fit of rage…
Or at least—that’s what we think God will do to us.
Because that’s what shame tells us to expect.
That’s what sin whispers in our ears:
“He’s done with you.”
“He doesn’t want to see you.”
“You better hide. You better cover it up. You better run.”
But that’s not what happens.
The first question out of God’s mouth is not:
“What have you done?”
It’s: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)
He doesn’t come stomping in with rage—He comes looking for relationship.
Even though they sinned.
Even though they hid.
Even though they broke the one thing He asked of them…
God already knew.
He’s God. He wasn’t surprised.
He wasn’t confused.
He didn’t need information.
But He still came looking.
Not to crush them.
Not to shame them.
But to call them out of hiding.
And this—this is where the story starts pointing to something so much bigger.
Because several thousand years later…
God would come looking again.
But this time, He wouldn’t walk through a garden in the cool of the day.
He’d step into a broken world wrapped in swaddling cloth.
He wouldn’t say, “Where are you?”
He’d say, “I have come to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
In Eden, God came searching for the ones who broke the world.
In Bethlehem, God came to be the One who would redeem it.
In the garden, Adam and Eve brought on shame.
But years later, Jesus would take on shame.
They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves.
Jesus would be stripped of His covering and hung on a cross.
They hid among the trees in guilt. Jesus would be nailed to a tree in glory.
Adam and Eve sinned and ran from God.
Jesus, the second Adam, ran toward sinners.
And here’s the beauty of it:
The same God who came looking for Adam in the garden— came looking for all of us in a manger.
Now I want to return to the Garden of Eden one more time—
because there’s something here I don’t want you to miss.
Shame has entered the story.
It’s real now.
The innocence is gone.
Sin has fractured everything.
And because of that—judgment has to happen.
God is holy. He can’t overlook sin.
There are consequences.
But even in that judgment…
God is setting something incredibly important up.
Watch what happens:
God gets to Adam, He confesses:
God’s like “What happened?”
Adam blames Eve.
God turns to Eve:
“What have you done?” Eve blames the serpent.
It’s real easy for us to make excuses for our own sin isn’t it?
but you know what they did right God?
But God does’t play with sin watch what he does
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
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.”
Adam and Eve?
They get consequences—yes.
But not a curse.
That matters.
Because this passage isn’t just about judgment—It’s about redemption in motion.
Verse 15 is prophetic—it’s pointing to Jesus,
the One who would be born of a woman,
the One whose heel would be bruised,
but who would crush the enemy’s head.
Now let’s keep reading, because this is where it gets even better—and it’s a part most people miss.
16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
So they receive their consequences.
But I want you to notice the order in how God does this.
Remember—when God enters the garden,
He comes looking for Adam first.
“Where are you?”
Then Adam blames Eve.
Eve blames the serpent.
Now watch how God responds—He goes in reverse order.
He starts with the serpent: no questions, no dialogue—just a curse.
Then He turns to the woman: speaks to her pain and her relationships.
Then finally, He addresses Adam, the one He called first.
Why is this important?
Because even in judgment,
God is re-establishing order.
Adam tried to shift the blame—God brings the responsibility back to him.
Because at the end of the day,
Adam was the one given the command.
Adam was the one who stayed silent.
Adam was the one who stood by and did nothing.
God holds him accountable—last—because he was responsible first.
And that’s not just punishment.
That’s leadership.
That’s structure.
That’s God saying, “You still have a role. You still matter. You’re not abandoned—you’re being corrected.”
Now here’s the part that absolutely blows my mind…
Fast forward all the way from the garden in Genesis
to Jesus—God in the flesh.
In Matthew 4, He goes toe-to-toe with Satan in the wilderness… and wins.
Then at the cross—and ultimately in the grave—He finishes what He started.
And now, we’re entering a new garden.
But this one isn’t lush and green with life.
It’s full of sorrow.
It’s full of regret.
It’s a garden outside of a tomb.
Watch this.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
this time, in this garden—the woman isn’t deceived by a serpent.
She is redeemed by the Savior.
The first to fall in the garden…
was a woman.
And the first to witness the risen Christ?
Also a woman.
That’s not just poetry.
That’s redemption.
So don’t you ever buy into the lie
that God or the Bible treats women as less than.
God doesn’t suppress women.
He restores them.
He elevates them.
He entrusts them with the message of resurrection.
The only figure in the story who is cast down, silenced, and stripped of power—is Satan.
Jesus crushes the head of the serpent—
and then restores the dignity of the woman.
Then—and only then—He appears to the disciples.
It’s the same order He used in the Garden.
Because He’s not just redeeming people…
He’s restoring order.
Ladies and gentlemen—THIS is Christmas.
Not lights.
Not wrapping paper.
Not warm feelings.
Christmas is the moment the promise from the beginning was fulfilled.
The seed of the woman crushed the head of the serpent.
And God’s redemptive plan was made visible—in flesh.
So as we step into this Christmas season,
let’s remember:
Christmas is not sentimental nostalgia—it is cosmic fulfillment.
Long before shepherds watched their flocks by night,
long before Mary heard from an angel,
long before Joseph dreamed,
long before the manger…
There was a promise.
Genesis 3:15 is the first glimpse of the Messiah.
A Redeemer.
A Serpent-crusher.
A Savior.
The cross was planned before the manger.
And the manger was planned before the Fall.
The coming of Jesus was never reactive.
It was always redemptive.
From the very beginning.
