Genesis 3

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Good morning church, welcome to Formed For Christ!

Psalm 118:24 NASB95

This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

We are so glad that you have chosen to gather here today and worship God with us.

And if you are new to Wisdom Well, welcome to our shop as well.

Welcome Cards

We have placed Welcome cards on your seats, along with a card that includes my information and a QR code to access not only our Church website but Wisdom Well’s too in case you are interested to know more about who we are.

On the Welcome card, please fill it out with the details you would like to share, along with prayer requests that you might have. You can drop them off in the small white bucket placed atop the Bagel display or the small wall behind you.

Facebook Livestream

I am excited to share with with you, that since last week, we have improved upon our technology and have done so for today.

We are streaming live on Facebook again and we look forward to the feedback for both video and sound.

For those of you joining us live, please share your praises and prayer requests in the comments area, and if you would like to connect with us, please go to our website at formedforchrist.com and fill out the subscribe and/or contact forms at the bottom of any page.

And to help us go live on our Formed For Christ Facebook page, please like and follow us there so that we can transition to this page for livestreaming.

Handout

On your seats, you should have received a two-page handout that will help you follow along with the order of worship this morning.

For those online, we have included the handout as a PDF on our website at the top left of the home page where it says to “Join Us Sunday Morning” and below the FB icon to join the live stream, click on “Download PDF.”

OPENING PRAYER

Now, before we sing praise to our God together this morning, please bow your heads with me in prayer:

Heavenly Father, let the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

PRAISE SONG

Please rise and let us prepare our hearts and praise our God this morning.

Our song this morning is titled “The God We Love” by CityAlight and with Matt Redman.

Scripture

This morning, I would like to encourage you in our worship of God with a Scripture reading, which comes from the New Testament, in:

PREPARE YOUR HEARTS

You may be seated or remain standing for this next song. We are going to listen to an instrumental version of the Hymn, “Jesus Paid It All.”

This is a time for you to turn everything over to God, anything that might be distracting you from praising, honoring, and glorifying God and hearing His Word this morning.

Speak to him from the depths of your hearts and ask him to open your eyes and your ears to see and hear His Word and to guide You through Worship this morning.

Maybe you need to ask forgiveness of Him for sins that need to be confessed and repented of; maybe your holding on to something, that you need to let go of and give to Him, forgiving someone else.

Take the time to confess and give it to God this morning. Do it now over the next few minutes.

TRANSITION

Law Issue for Today:

Another law issue that gets brought forward into the our modern churches is Tithing. Please hear me on this, it is not a sin if you don’t tithe 10% and no one should make you feel guilty for not doing so. Or persuade you to believe you will directly, with guarantee, receive an abundant financial reward in return.

However, with this said, we must and should give to the local church and ministries that are operating to fulfill Christ's mission for the church.

If you like the idea and it works for you to tithe 10%, fine, do so. But for all of us, it is about our hearts and cheer in giving. And it does not always have to be money, it can be time, talents, and treasures, maybe you have resources the church can use.

And don’t give to get. Many church leaders exploit and abuse their congregations through a tithe requirement, making millions for self-gain from believers. We constantly hear, sow your money and you will reap an abundance of wealth in return, etc as I briefly mentioned.

God does bless a giver and we don’t always know in what way or when, many of the blessing have been given to us...Jesus Christ, the Bible and His promises, eternal life...Amen! Many more will come to us when we we leave this earth. Giving is a form of worship, we honor God in our giving not anyone else.

Not for works and personal and selfish gain, but out of worship from the depths of our hearts and the daily renewal of our minds, which comes from the Word of God and reading it and hearing it, and it transforms us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I know I took a little more time on this than I probably should have, but this is foundational to building a local church and gathering for worship. And speaking truth and not false teachings, as many are doing today as it pertains to enforcing OT laws that are no longer required in the New Covenant.

Praise Jesus! We could never measure up to them anyways. Nor should we desire to either.

SCRIPTURE READING

GENESIS 3: 1-24

I will ask you to remain seated as I will be reading all of Chapter 2, please follow along as I read.

PRAYER

Let’s bow in prayer.  Father, as we come now to the study of the Word of God, we pray that the Spirit of God might give us illumination into the truth that we might see and hear and understand, that we might respond with obedient hearts, in service to and in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

STARTNG POINT SERMON: GENESIS 3

3:1 the serpent. The word means “snake.” The apostle John identified this creature as Satan in:

Revelation 12:9 NASB95

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 20:2 NASB95

And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

As did Paul in:

2 Corinthians 11:3 NASB95

But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

The serpent, a manifestation of Satan, appears for the first time before the Fall of man. The rebellion of Satan, therefore, had occurred sometime after verse 31 in Chapter 1.

0 (when everything in creation was good), but before verse 1. Cf. Ezekiel 28:11–15 for a possible description of Satan’s dazzling beauty and Isaiah 14:13, 14 for Satan’s motivation to challenge God’s authority (cf. 1 John 3:8). Satan, being a fallen archangel and, thus, a supernatural spirit, had possessed the body of a snake in its pre-Fall form (cf. v. 14 for post-Fall form). more cunning. Deceitful; cf. Matthew 10:16. to the woman. She was the object of his attack, being the weaker one and needing the protection of her husband. He found her alone and unfortified by Adam’s experience and counsel. Cf. 2 Timothy 3:6. Though sinless, she was temptable and seducible. Has God … said? In effect Satan said, “Is it true that He has restricted you from the delights of this place? This is not like one who is truly good and kind. There must be some mistake.” He insinuated doubt as to her understanding of God’s will, appearing as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) to lead her to the supposed true interpretation. She received him without fear or surprise, but as some credible messenger from heaven with the true understanding, because of his cunning.

3:2–3 In her answer, Eve extolled the great liberty that they had; with only one exception, they could eat all the fruit.

3:3 nor shall you touch it. This appears to be an addition to the original prohibition as recorded (cf. Gen. 2:17). Adam may have so instructed her for her protection. It could also mean that Eve, apparently beginning to feel God’s restriction was too harsh, added to the harshness of it.

3:4–5 not … die. Satan, emboldened by Eve’s openness to him, spoke this direct lie. This lie actually led her and Adam to spiritual death (separation from God). So Satan is called a liar and murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). His lies always promise great benefits (cf. v. 5). Eve experienced this result—she and Adam did know good and evil; but by personal corruption, they did not know as God knows in perfect holiness.

3:6 good … pleasant … desirable. Eve’s deception took three forms. That the tree was good for food appealed to her physical appetite—an illicit appetite provoked by a selfish discontent and a distrust of God. That it was pleasant to the eyes excited her emotional appetite—as covetousness grew in her heart, the forbidden fruit looked better and better. And that the fruit was desirable to make one wise provoked her intellectual appetite—she desired knowledge and was tempted by the false promise that it would make her like God. She decided that Satan was telling the truth and she had misunderstood God, but she didn’t know what she was doing. It was not overt rebellion against God, but seduction and deception to make her believe her act was the right thing to do (cf. v. 13). The NT confirms that Eve was deceived (2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14; Rev. 12:9). he ate. A direct transgression without deception (see note on 1 Tim. 2:13, 14).

3:7 opened … knew … sewed. The innocence noted in 2:25 had been replaced by guilt and shame (vv. 8–10) and, from then on, they had to rely on their conscience to distinguish between good and their newly acquired capacity to see and know evil. The serpent had promised them enlightenment—what they received was a hideously twisted caricature. It opened their eyes to the meaning of guilt, but it made them want to hide their eyes in shame. Sin instantly destroyed their innocence. Even the holy gift of their physical relationship was polluted with a sense of shame. Gone was the purity of it. Now present were wicked and impure thoughts they had never known before. Sewing fig leaves together as a covering was a noble effort to cover their sin and mask their shame. Ever since, clothing has been a universal expression of human modesty.

3:8 God appeared, as before, in tones of goodness and kindness, walking in some visible form (perhaps Shekinah light as He later appeared in Ex. 33:18–23; 34:5–8, 29; 40:34–38). He came not in fury, but in the same condescending way He had walked with Adam and Eve before.

3:9 “Where are you?” The question was God’s way of bringing man to explain why he was hiding, rather than expressing ignorance about man’s location. Shame, remorse, confusion, guilt, and fear all led to their clandestine behavior. There was no place to hide. See Psalm 139:1–12.

3:10 Your voice. The sound in verse 8 probably was God calling for Adam and Eve. Adam responded with the language of fear and sorrow, but not confession.

3:11 Adam’s sin was evidenced by his new knowledge of the evil of nakedness, but God still waited for Adam to confess to what God knew they had done. The basic reluctance of sinful people to admit their iniquity is here established. Repentance is still the issue. When sinners refuse to repent, they suffer judgment; when they do repent, they receive forgiveness.

3:12 The woman whom You gave. Adam pitifully attempted to put the responsibility on God for giving him Eve. That only magnified the tragedy in that Adam had knowingly transgressed God’s prohibition, but still would not be open and confess his sin, taking full responsibility for his action, which was not made under deception (1 Tim. 2:14).

3:13 The serpent deceived me. The woman’s desperate effort to pass the blame to the serpent, which was partially true (1 Tim. 2:14), did not absolve her of the responsibility for her distrust and disobedience toward God.

3:14 to the serpent. The cattle and all the rest of creation were cursed (see Rom. 8:20–23; cf. Jer. 12:4) as a result of Adam’s and Eve’s eating, but the serpent was uniquely cursed by being made to slither on its belly. It probably had legs before this curse. Now, snakes represent all that is odious, disgusting, and low. They are branded with infamy and avoided with fear. Cf. Isaiah 65:25; Micah 7:17.

3:15 After cursing the physical serpent, God turned to the spiritual serpent, the lying seducer, Satan, and cursed him. bruise your head … bruise His heel. This “first gospel” is prophetic of the struggle and its outcome between “your seed” (Satan and unbelievers, who are called the devil’s children in John 8:44) and her seed (Christ, a descendant of Eve, and those in Him), which began in the garden. In the midst of the curse passage, a message of hope shone forth—the woman’s offspring called “He” is Christ, who will one day defeat the serpent. Satan could only “bruise” Christ’s heel (cause Him to suffer), while Christ will bruise Satan’s head (destroy him with a fatal blow). Paul, in a passage strongly reminiscent of chapter 3, encouraged the believers in Rome, “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20). Believers should recognize that they participate in the crushing of Satan because, along with the Savior and because of His finished work on the cross, they also are of the woman’s seed. For more on the destruction of Satan, see Hebrews 2:14, 15; Revelation 20:10.

3:16 conception … pain. This is a constant reminder that a woman gave birth to sin in the human race and genetically passes it on to all her children. She can be delivered from this curse by raising godly children, as indicated in 1 Timothy 2:15 (see notes there). Your desire … he shall rule. Just as the woman and her seed will engage in a war with the serpent, i.e., Satan and his seed (v. 15), because of sin and the curse, the man and the woman will face struggles in their own relationship. Sin has turned the harmonious system of God-ordained roles into distasteful struggles of self-will. Lifelong companions, husbands and wives, will need God’s help in getting along as a result. The woman’s desire will be to lord it over her husband, but the husband will rule by divine design (Eph. 5:22–25). This interpretation of the curse is based upon the identical Hebrew words and grammar being used in 4:7 (see note there) to show the conflict man will have with sin as it seeks to rule him.

3:17 Because you have heeded. The reason given for the curse on the ground and human death is that man turned his back on the voice of God, to follow his wife in eating that from which God had ordered him to abstain. The woman sinned because she acted independently of her husband, disdaining his leadership, counsel, and protection. The man sinned because he abandoned his leadership and followed the wishes of his wife. In both cases, God’s intended roles were reversed.

3:17–18 Cursed is the ground for your sake. God cursed the object of man’s labor and made it reluctantly, yet richly, yield his food through hard work. Weeds and thorns would henceforth infest the ground. Pain, weariness, and sweat would make life difficult. Adam was thus condemned to a life of labor, tilling the cursed earth.

3:19 return to the ground. I.e., to die (cf. 2:7). Man, by sin, became mortal. Although he did not physically die the moment he ate (by God’s mercy), he was changed immediately and became subject to all the sufferings and miseries of life, to death, and to the pains of hell forever. Adam lived 930 years (5:5).

3:21 tunics of skin. It is appropriate that those bearing the guilt of sin should cover themselves. God Himself demonstrated this when He killed animals to use their skins as a covering for the fallen couple. This was a graphic object lesson showing that only God can provide a suitable covering for sin, and that the shedding of blood is a necessary part of the process (Heb. 9:22). The first physical deaths should have been the man and his wife, but it was an animal—a shadow of the reality that God would someday kill a substitute to redeem sinners.

3:22 like one of Us. See note on 1:26. This was spoken out of compassion for the man and woman, who only in limited ways were like the Trinity, knowing good and evil—not by holy omniscience, but by personal experience (cf. Is. 6:3; Hab. 1:13; Rev. 4:8).

3:22–23 and live forever. See note on 2:9. God told man that he would surely die if he ate of the forbidden tree. But God’s concern may also have been that man not live forever in his pitifully cursed condition. Taken in the broader context of Scripture, driving the man and his wife out of the garden was an act of merciful grace to prevent them from being sustained forever by the tree of life.

3:24 cherubim. Later in Israel’s history, two cherubim or angelic figures guarded the ark of the covenant and the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle (Ex. 25:18–22), where God communed with His people. flaming sword. An unexplainable phenomenon, perhaps associated directly with the cherubim or the flaming, fiery Shekinah presence of God Himself.

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word, your historical narrative of Creation and truth of our beginnings all the way back to Adam and Eve, by which we all have been born into this world.

But, because we have been saved, not by our works, but by Your unending love, mercy, and grace for Your children, each and every one of us who has been saved by Grace, through faith, and in Christ alone is a new creation and no longer of this world.

We are spiritually reborn and belong to you, at peace, and will live with You eternally.

May we honor and glorify You in our thoughts, words, and actions. And when we don’t, because we still live in the world and have our sinful nature within us, quickly convict us and help us to repent of our sins and restore our relationship with You continuously.

And if there is anyone here today or online that has not committed or needs to recommit their belief and trust in You, may they do so.

Help us to remember that as the body of Christ, Your Church, we are unified in Spirit. Guide us in the renewal of or minds through Your Word and help us to be obedient in our daily walk with You and the building up of one another in service to You.

Thank You Lord, Jesus. In Your Name we pray. Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bible Study

We would like to invite you to join us during our weekly Bible study on Wednesdays at 7:00pm which we will begin broadcasting live as well but if you are in the area, we always encourage you to come in-person to not only the Bible study, but especially our Worship service on Sundays.

Offering

If you have any offerings or would like to drop of your welcome cards, please don’t forget to drop them off in the white buckets.

Additionally, if you would like to give, you can do so today or on our website and if you are interested in serving, please speak with Melissa or me at the end of the service or sometime in the near future.

Lord’s Supper

Also, we will be partaking in the Lord’s Supper starting on the first Sunday of February, which will be a monthly recurring observance.

Thank you for joining us in worship today.

As new creatures in Christ, it is Christ Who lives in us. May we shine the light of Christ so that others can identify Christ in and through us. Not for our honor and glory, but all to Him.

Have a good week everybody.