5. Genesis 3.1-24 - First Word on Endings
Notes
Transcript
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I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
And that great theologian Louis Armstrong was right. The world we live in is totally amazing… We’ve seen it time and again in these early chapters of genesis - the God who made the world is good, and kind and generous… in his infinite creativity he has made a world for us to enjoy and govern which is very good.
Some days you really get a sense of that. The pull back the curtains on a bright spring morning… everything smells fresh and new. When you catch the view after a hard climb from SLIDE the top of a mountain.
Here’s a quote from the great walker Wainwright who documented walks on the Great Lakeland fells
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“Quite suddenly, we emerged from the shadows of the trees and were on a bare headland, and, as though a curtain had dramatically been torn aside, beheld a truly magnificent view… This was truth. God was in heaven that day and I a humble worshipper”.
The world around is spectacular and beautiful. And it’ not just the natural world… The wonders of technology… time with really good friends - meaningful relationships. The world is good.
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But more than just human relationships - friendships and family and marriage…. The greatest thing of all - the thing we were made for - is relationship with God himself. That is i good. That’s a relationship that was enjoyed in perfect intimacy by Adam and Eve as they walked side by side with God in the garden in the cool of the day.
The world is good! Except, it isn’t. We still see these glimmers of goodness, to be sure… - beauty in nature, relationships of love… but you and I know that’s not the whole story. `Today the world is a place of unbearable pain, of suffering, loneliness, anxiety. It’s a place of sickness, decay and death. It is a place where there is child sex trafficking, and cancer, and war, bitter division. This is a world of heartbreak, of unemployment, of despair, of anxiety. It’s a world where ft cats get rich and kids go hungry/
And if Genesis is about beginnings, about famous first words… - it’s about understanding the world we live in by understanding where it all came from. And so we should ask - why?
Why is a good world gone so bad? It’s crucial that we know the answer to that question. Like a doctor investigating a disease it’s crucial we look, not merely at the symptoms but at the root cause, at the heart of the problem. Why is a good world gone so bad?
The answer Genesis gives us is this. The heart of the problem is human sin. Maybe you’ve been a Christin a while maybe you’re thinking - yeah yeah I know all this - let me say keep listening - whoever you are… it’s vital we have clarity on what’s wrong with the world - it is astonishing. How quickly people, even Christin people, forget this.
Genesis is a book of beginnings, of origins, so today as we see the tragic origins of human sin…. We’ll see some answers to some fundamental questions - what is sin, where does it come from, what does it do.
Read with me, v1…
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1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman…
HE SAID!
Stop right there…. It’s a talking snake. What’s that all about? Seems bizarre - it’s wrong, it’s unnatural… And that’s just the point…. Into God’s perfect world comes something deeply wrong and unnatural.
Here now are three questions for us to answer, from this passage, if we’re to have clarity on sin… What is sin, Where does it come from, What affects does it have.
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1. What is sin?
1. What is sin?
And so we come to our first question - what is sin? See first of all it’s birthed in lies.
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a) It’s birthed in lies
a) It’s birthed in lies
Thus far in Genesis our attention has been on the WORDS on God (that’s why we’ve called this series FAMOUS FIRST WORDS). God speaks in truth and in power and creation happens.
But now the snake speaks in half truths and deceit…. And destruction happen.
See the snakes deceit (v1 again)
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1 …“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
He casts doubt upon the word of God. ‘Did God really say….?’ ‘He can’t have meant it surely…?’ ‘Surely God wouldn’t say that…?’
And see to start with Eve’s response seems pretty promising…. She corrects the snake... (see, v2)
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2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden…
But sin, remember is always birthed in deceit…. And so now Eve begins to twist the truth herself…
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3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
See what EVE ADDS - ‘You must not touch the tree’ she adds (end of v2). But God never said they weren’t to touch it…
Do you see what’s beginning to happen? God’s word has been questioned… God’s word has been twisted… and now God’s word is going to be flatly denied - v4…
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4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
Sin is always birthed in lies….
It’s no different for you and I today.
When we give in and gossip we believe the lie that Gods command not to gossip isn’t good… that it’s just a little fun… and we’re not harming anyone. All sin is birthed in lies.
When we give in to anger and rage we believe the lie that God’s command to self control isn’t good, and isn’t for out good. We believe the lie that we ought to be in control, and we deserve not to have things go our way, and we ought not to be inconvenienced. All sin is birthed in lies.
When we give in to lust and sexual sin we buy the lie the God’s word on the subject isn’t good, and that we’re not really harming anyone, and that my body belongs to me to do with as I like…. The words of deceit come to us…. Did God really say sex was for marriage? And that marriage was the union of one and one woman - Did God really say that? A
ll sin is birthed in lies.
Sin is also, always a battle for Lordship.
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b) It’s a battle for lordship
b) It’s a battle for lordship
Sin is not just about breaking rules… more fundamentally it’s about who gets to do the MAKING of rules. Who gets to decide what’s right and wrong.
Cast your eyes down the page to v22 This is after they eat the fruit…
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22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.
In eating the fruit the man is trying to become like God - knowing good and evil… that is he is trying to usurp God and be the one who decides what’s good and evil (that, I think, is the meanign of the word KNOWING here).
And so yes, in one sense sin is about breaking God’s rules…. In a wider way it’s about wanting to make the rules. Push off God… I’ll take the gifts you’ve given me but I want my life, my way, my rules. I’ll be Lord not you.
It’s no different for us today.
God has said we are to love him and love others…. But when we are selfish with our time and money we’re saying push off God - I’ll be Lord, not you.
God has said blessed are the humble…. But when we are proud and arrogant we’re saying - Push off God. I’ll be Lord, not you.
Sin is always birthed in lies, it’s always. Battle for Lordship. And it lays brings great loss.
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c) It brings great loss
c) It brings great loss
That’s the tragedy of our sin. We are deceived to believe it will bring us life and freedom… but it only ever brings us death, and curse and bondage. It brings great loss…. More of that later.
For now… we may well ask (secondly) - ‘where does sin come from?’.
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2. Where does Sin Come From?
2. Where does Sin Come From?
That is a deep and profound question. But the answer Genesis gives is straightforward. It comes from us - from mankind - in this case Adam and Eve, our first parents.
To be sure the snake deceives them…. But nobody makes them do it. Eve seems fully in charge of her faculties v6 -
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6 …the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The decision was theirs, they were alone when they made it - no coercion, no gun to the head. Where does sin come from? Genesis says - it comes from Adam - and we might lay particular responsibility at the feet of Adam - after all God gave the instructions to HIM (to Adam), not to eat the fruit of this tree.
We may have all kinds of other questions about the origins of evil…. Why did God make the snake? Why did God allow this to happen? Since he’s the sovereign God we might even say why did God cause this to happen.
But Genesis is silent on those questions. What’s clear is that sin comes from Adam. Mankind is responsible.
Listen to this quote from the Westminster Confession of faith… it sums it up with balance and wisdom…
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God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass (Rom 9:15, 18; 11:33; Eph 1:11; Heb 6:17); yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin (James 1:13, 17; 1 John 1:5), nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH
I wish we had an hour to pick that apart, sadly we don’t. The point is simply this…. Where does sin come from? From Adam… and from his descendants.
What is sin… where does it come from… next…
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3. What does sin do?
3. What does sin do?
In short is brings devastating disruption…
Firstly…
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a) Devastating disruption to creation...
a) Devastating disruption to creation...
See the consequences, v16 for the woman…
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16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Women everywhere feel that pain. I’ve been at five births, I too can testify.
And yet Remember what God had said… Ch1.28 "
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28…“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.
the very process that was supposed to fill the earth with God’s blessing - the command to fill the creation will people will now come with great pain.
See the consequences v17 for the man…
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17…“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
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 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
But do you remember what God HAD said…
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28 …Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
This means our God given work and labour - the task of ruling and governing, WORKING… meant to be full of joy and purpose will now be painful, frustrating, difficult, slow…. And workers everywhere feel that pain.
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17…“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
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 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
But there’s more… the natural world itself is now disrupted - cursed is the GROUND because of you 9God says to Adam). Human sinfulness, says Genesis disrupts, the whole created order. And so the earth is now a place of famine and earthquake and flood.
Devastating disruption to creation….. but also (next)
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b) Devastating disruption to human relationships
b) Devastating disruption to human relationships
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6 … [Eve] took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Beofre this catastrophic incident.. When the man and the woman were naked they felt no shame… they were content, to be utterly exposed and vulnerable before one another. But not any more.
Where once there was unity… now theres a separation between them and and the woman…. Now they begin to feel shame and vulnerability… the other person is now a threat to hide yourself from.
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16 To the woman he said,
…Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
HUSBANDS THINK - GREAT! (but no…)
Desire here is not a good thing… God is saying human relationships, even the best of human relationships - even marriage relationships are now marred by a power struggle as each desires to dominate the other.
And as the chapters of Genesis progress you see the discord in human relationships grow… from Genesis 3 to the present day there runs of hostility shame and violence in human relationships.
Sin has done that.
Along with all that conflict goes the blame game… Have you noticed this in human nature? The blame game? We’ve just come through election week… and politicians have filled our screens with the blame game (if in doubt, remember, everything is always the fault of the other party).
But it’s not just the politicians - get real! We are all deeply reluctant to accept responsibility for our sins and flaws… Eve won’t do it - she blames the snake (look v13).
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13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Adam won’t do it either — he won’t accept responsibility..
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12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
he names and blames the Eve…. And he even blames God - v12 "The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit” it’s your fault God - it’s her fault God… it’s not my fault God.
See too that sin turns relationships upside down…. It ruins God’s good order. Do you remember over all creation that God is King… he’s the maker… but he gives responsibility to people to rule and govern (under his authority)…. People are to govern the created natural world - you see that in the fact that Adam is charged with naming the animals - he exerts his authority over them.
Notice too that, within their relationship Adam is given a special responsibility to teach and lead his wife. Back in Ch2 the instruction not to eat form the tree is given to Adam, not Eve (she hasn’t been made yet!)… Adam, therefore, has a role to teach his wife what God has told him. And the rest of the Bible is clear that men and women, though utterly equal in value, have different roles in the church and in the family - men are to exercise a loving leadership.
So do you see - God’s loving, good created order - a pattern of life in which we can flourish - God rules over, people, who rule over creation.
But do you see the tragedy of sin? Sin ruins human relationships by turning this pattern on it’s head - here we have an animal the snake… telling the woman what to do, who in turn leads her husband to do the same - and they together disobey God. Do you see? Sin turns the good created order entirely on its head.
And so today we live, in a world marred by sin - where human relationships are devastatingly disrupted - war and conflict rages around the world - even the closest of relationships are hard work.
But even more tragic - what does sin do - thirdly it brings…
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c) Devastating disruption to relationship with God…
c) Devastating disruption to relationship with God…
Look at v8
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8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Do you see the tragedy… God is walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam is notable by his absence… in other words he would normally have been there, with God walking in perfect fellowship. The creator with his creator, this living being with the source of all life… do you see what’s been lost?
And now we see Satan’s lies for what they really are… ‘go on he said, eat the fruit, you will certainly not die….’ Desperate tragedy of sin is that it cuts us living beings off from God - the source of all life…. And so now death enters the world. Separated from God we will fail and decay and die.
It couldn’t be clearer that sin disrupts - breaks - our relationship with God… v23
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23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Cut off from God…. Cut off from the wonderful life and blessing of being in his place and in his presence.
And we suffer the same fate… yes because we too sin… but more than that because we are born into Adam’s line we inherit this fallen, broken nature. Just turn on to 5.3 to see that…
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3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
Humans, made in God’s image are now born in Adam’s image. Born in sin - says Psalm 51. We inherit this sinful, broken, corrupted nature.
Do you see what we’ve lost?
Do you see…? are you persuaded... that our greatest problem in life is not lack of education, not war, not family breakdown, not climate change, not even global poverty…. These are all the symptoms of the deeper problem and that problem is the sin that cuts us off from God.
So as Christian people yes we must be concerned about the needs of the poor, and about climate change, and about reconciliation in human relationships…. Yes as a church we are concerned about the hungry, we want to fight injustice… but we would be insane to care only about the symptoms and not the root sickness.
Can you see that if there is a solution to problem of our sin… then THAT is what our desperate world needs more than anything else.
Have you ever watched the magical duo - Pen and Teller, they’re american magicians and comedians - brilliant.
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Penn Jillette is an avowed atheist. However, he said this.
“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me along and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? Penn Jillette -
Do you see if this is true and sin is real then sin is the greatest problem in the world and if Christ has offered us a tonic for this turmoil…. a healing for this ill… salvation from our sin - THAT is the most significant important thing in all the world.
PAUSE - HANG - BREAK OFF
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
D’you know the Bible could have been much shorter. The story could quite reasonably have ended at Genesis 3… we would have everything we needed to know who we are… and who God is.. and why the world is the way it is.
We could all be heading to hell in a hand cart… and getting quite fairly what we deserve.
But the story doesn’t end there… and there are glorious, wonderful hint of that right here in this chapter.
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4. What can be done?
4. What can be done?
Even here in Genesis. 3, at the heart of the tragedy… are the seeds of hope.
God curses satan V15.. saying…
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15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Great evil has come into the world, Satan the liar lies behind it… but someone is coming. Note the word offspring there is actually the word seed and it is in the singular - this is not a group of rescuers - it’s not as iff mankind itself can rise up and get rid of the evil in the world - no a saviour is coming. A Savour who will battle to defeat evil and he will win.
He will crush the head of Satan. He will powerfully expel the forces of evil…
And as Jesus sets foot on earth… who are the first to recognise him? The demons were - Satan’s minions, the forces of evil.
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24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!”
That’s the first miracle in Mark’s gospel….
And then, says Paul this is from Colossians 2 SLIDE
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
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a) The Saviour’s Battle Defeats Evil.
a) The Saviour’s Battle Defeats Evil.
But more wonderful still….
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b) The Saviour’s Sacrifice Covers our Shame
b) The Saviour’s Sacrifice Covers our Shame
Even as the people are expelled from the garden… there is a tiny detail of extraordinary grace. Adam and Eve are naked…. They are guilty and ashamed.
Then this… v21
Gen 3.21
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21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Garments of skin. An animal died to cover their nakedness… That is a sacrifice was made to COVER THEIR SHAME.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities (of evil), Jesus made a public spectacle of them, (HOW) triumphing over them by the cross.”….
He didn’t save his own skin he gave it up for you!
On the cross Jesus was the sacrifice to cover your shame.
His blood for your freedom… his death for your life…. Your sins taken in his body on the tree to wash you clean…. To cover the shame of your sin and guilt.
And so now the saviour’s sons have a new heritage. See - you were in the line of Adam - he was your heritage…. His shame was your shame - his sin was your sin - his pattern was your pattern. But now there is a new Adam - a better Adam… JESUS!
Not one who, in sin, ate the fruit of the tree… but one in righteousness who hung on a tree - so you could be adopted into his family line. His right standing before God is now your right standing before God…. His pattern of life is now your pattern of life. Isn’t it good?!
In Jesus everything is transformed!
Even those words - those dreadful words in the Bible - the words that mark the moment of sin - "Eve took the fruit and ate"…. In Jesus even those words of darkest tragedy are turned upside down…. As the night before he was betrayed Jesus took bread and broken it… and he gave it to his disciples SAYING…. Take and eat…. This is my body given for you.
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Let’s pray.
