Paradise Lost: The Fall of Mankind
CJ Walker
BBBI - OT101.1 - Genesis I • Sermon • Submitted • 1:15:26
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· 496 viewsHave you trusted, personally, God’s remedy for your individual sin? are you covered by the righteousness of Christ, your sinless substitute sacrifice?
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Main Thought: Have you trusted, personally, God’s remedy for your individual sin? are you covered by the righteousness of Christ, your sinless substitute sacrifice?
Sub-intro:
Context leading up to Man’s Fall: - The Test
I. The Test
A. The Conditions of the test
1. A Positive Test: Dress and Keep the Garden; Exercise Dominion Over Creation; Live Together in a Marital, One-Flesh Relationship.
2. A Negative Test: Do Not Eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil (See Gen. 2:17).
B. The Purposes of the test
Man was created in a state of unconfirmed holiness
God wanted to move man to a state of confirmed holiness
Body:
I. The Serpent's Slippery Dialogue ().
I. The Serpent's Slippery Dialogue ().
Notice the Tempter
A. His Incomparable Subtlety ().
A. His Incomparable Subtlety ().
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
1. Subtle means “crafty, shrewd, and sensible”
2. This was how God made the serpent
3. This is not necessarily bad
There be three things which are too wonderful for me,
Yea, four which I know not:
The way of an eagle in the air;
The way of a serpent upon a rock;
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea;
And the way of a man with a maid.
Prov.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat. 10:16
B. His Inquisitive Suggestions ().
B. His Inquisitive Suggestions ().
1. Satan Speaks Through the Serpent
The Serpent, a beautiful part of God’s creation, was used as an instrument of Satan
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
2. His Aim - To Get the Woman to DOUBT God’s Word
3. Satan Comes with an Apparently Innocent Inquiry
4. Satan Is Attacking the Character of God and the Goodness of His Guidelines
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
C. The Tragedy of Misinterpretation ().
C. The Tragedy of Misinterpretation ().
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen. 3:2
1. The Woman Plays Right Into Satan’s Ploy
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
She does not have a solid foundation or grasp of God’s word at this point in time
2. What She Did to God’s Word:
a. She failed to add that man could eat the fruit “freely”
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
b. She failed to name the tree whose fruit was forbidden
c. She added to God’s prohibition (“touch it”)
d. She weakened God’s warning of punishment (“lest ye die” - might)
D. The Truth Manipulated ().
D. The Truth Manipulated ().
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The Temptation was to PRIDE, to be like God Himself. It was a lack of trust in God, as if He were keeping something good from them.
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
1. Now, See His (Satan’s) Flat-Out DENIAL of God’s Word
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
2. Satan’s Denial of Punishment Is Just as Emphatic as God’s Promise of Punishment
3. The First Doctrine To Be Denied Is Judgment
The Temptation was to PRIDE, to be
4. Satan, as always, makes an empty, hollow promise
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
a
This world's good times end in heartache. This world's wells are dry, its clouds without rain, its cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water. All Satan's apples have worms. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" ().
[John R. Rice, The Son of God, A Verse-by-Verse Commentary on the GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN, John R. Rice Commentary Series, n.d., 95.]
II. Sin's Shining Deception ().
II. Sin's Shining Deception ().
Notice the TRAGEDY of this Deception
A. Lust's Conception ().
A. Lust's Conception ().
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
1. The Woman Was Deceived
a. She sought no counsel from neither Adam nor God
b. She followed her impressions instead of her instructions
2. The Temptation Involved Three Areas:
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
a. The Lust of the Flesh - “good for food”
b. The Lust of the Eyes - “pleasant to the eyes”
c. Pride of Life - “make one wise”
3. Adam Ate Also, Knowing Fully and Completely What He Was Doing
As head of his family and head of the human race, Adam bore the full responsibility for the ORIGINAL sin of mankind
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
B. Eyes Wide Shut ().
B. Eyes Wide Shut ().
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Notice the RESULTS of the Fall - On the Entire Human Race - Sense of Guilt
1. On the Entire Human Race - Sense of Guilt
a. Sense of Guilt
1. On the Entire Human Race
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
a. Sense of Guilt
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
b. Separation from God
2. On the Serpent
3. On Women
4. On Men
C. The Greatest Biblical Counselor ().
C. The Greatest Biblical Counselor ().
Notice in these verses the example that Jehovah (Jesus) presents to us as to how to counsel sinners back to the light out of their darkness.
It began with God asking the questions, but we must come to the place where we are the ones asking God the questions about which way we must walk to find His life.
1. The Invitation to Counsel ().
1. The Invitation to Counsel ().
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Notice the separation from God
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
b. The man & the woman hid from God
2. Fearful Shame ().
2. Fearful Shame ().
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
a. The man & the woman died spiritually, that is, they were separated from God
b. The man & the woman hid from God
3. Investigating the Source Cause ().
3. Investigating the Source Cause ().
a. The Conviction of Conscience ().
And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
a. Sense of Guilt
b. Separation from God
2. On the Serpent
3. On Women
4. On Men
b. The Commands of Scripture ().
c. The Tendency of Casting of Blame to Escape Accountability ().
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
1) Misplacing Blame in the Metaphysical Realm (i.e. God and the Devil) ( & 13a).
2) Admission of Guilt in the Physical Realm ( & 13b).
3) Man rationalizes sin by placing the blame on others. A great part of spiritual maturity involves the personal acceptance of your individual responsibility
4) The Root of Sin Is Self-Will:
a) They gained a new (fallen) perspective (their eyes were opened, they lost their innocence
b) They knew God’s will, but they could not do it
c) They knew evil, but could not resist it
4. Dealing with the Consequences ().
4. Dealing with the Consequences ().
a. The Serpent Cursed ().
a. The Serpent Cursed ().
And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Notice the Curse on the Serpent
a. The Serpent cursed above all other animals
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
b. The Serpent’s mobility was changed
b. God’s Plan & Promise of Redemption ().
b. God’s Plan & Promise of Redemption ().
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
1. This Is the Protevangelium - the First Mention of the Good News of the Gospel
God in His mercy presents the cure for sin before He discusses the penalty thereof!
2. There Would Be Enmity Between the Serpent & the Woman
Satan was not a friend but a deadly enemy
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
3. There Would Be Two Seeds & Conflict Between Them
a. The See of the Woman - It started with Seth and culminated in Jesus
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
b. The Seed of the Serpent - it started with Cain and will culminate in the Antichrist
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
Acts 13:
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph. 2:
4. It Would Bruise Satan’s Head
The Representative Seed of the Woman (Jesus Christ) would crush the head of Satan and deal him a death-blow (at Calvary)
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
5. Satan Would Bruise His Heel
In crushing Satan’s head at Calvary, Christ suffered a horrible, agonizing, painful death
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:
The chastisement of our peace was upon him;
And with his stripes we are healed.
c. The Woman Cursed & Her Emotional Consequences ().
c. The Woman Cursed & Her Emotional Consequences ().
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Notice the Curse upon Women
a. They will suffer in childbirth
b. They will suffer in relation to their husbands
Enforced Submission - “thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
d. The Man Cursed & His Physical Consequences ().
d. The Man Cursed & His Physical Consequences ().
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Notice the Curse upon Men
a. His agricultural life will be frustrated with thorns and thistles
b. His work will now become TOIL
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom.
i.e. “Murphy’s Law” - if it can go wrong, it will go wrong
Note the interconnection of Intellect, Emotion & Will
Note the play on words (dust, Eve, etc.)
a. Sense of Guilt
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen. 3:7
b.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
a
a. The Serpent cursed above all other animals
Three kinds of disorder, covering the greater part of human suffering, make their germinal appearance in this chapter.
b. The Serpent’s mobility was changed
3.
In personal relations there are the first signs of mutual estrangement (7) and the brutalizing of sexual love (16b). Here in embryo are the mistrusts and passions which will ravage society. In the spiritual realm man has become, in his self-contradiction, simultaneously in flight (and banishment) from God (8, 24) and in battle with evil (15). On the physical plane, his life is to be a painful struggle to renew (16) and sustain (19) its basic processes, which are in some degree disturbed.
4. On Men
[Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 1, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1967), 77–78.]
III. The Fall Summarized ().
III. The Fall Summarized ().
Notice the RESPONSES to the Promise
A. The Woman's Privilege of Motherhood Introduced ().
A. The Woman's Privilege of Motherhood Introduced ().
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Adam renamed his wife - this is an act of faith on Adam’s part, as they do not yet have any children
Adam named his wife “Eve,” indicating he understood that as the “mother of all living” she would be the instrument (her seed) through which God’s salvation would come
Humor - was Adam trying to make up for throwing his wife under the bus?
B. The LORD's Provision for Atonement ().
B. The LORD's Provision for Atonement ().
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
God made coats of skins for Adam & Eve
These coverings are more permanent that the fig leave of v. 7
They are both covered from one animal
Note - “skins” is a singular noun (morph. - Noun, Common, Singular, Absolute)
SUGGESTION - God instructed Adam & Eve on how to kill the animals and how to make the coverings
God shows them the wickedness of their sin and the requirement of blood
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
This is a preview of the sacrificial system God would institute
The blood of an innocent animal was shed
Christ is the innocent Lamb of God
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
Rev. 5:6
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The principle of SUBSTITUTION is established (the innocent for the guilty)
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
C. The LORD's Protection for the Way of the Tree of Life ().
C. The LORD's Protection for the Way of the Tree of Life ().
1. The Divine Ellipsis ().
1. The Divine Ellipsis ().
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
a
Here the omission of the conclusion conveys the speed of God’s action. He had hardly finished speaking before they were sent out of the garden.
[Gordon J. Wenham, , vol. 1, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 85.]
And God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us—not spoken in irony as is generally supposed, but in deep compassion. The words should be rendered, “Behold, what has become [by sin] of the man who was as one of us”! Formed, at first, in our image to know good and evil—how sad his condition now.
and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life—This tree being a pledge of that immortal life with which obedience should be rewarded, man lost, on his fall, all claim to this tree; and therefore, that he might not eat of it or delude himself with the idea that eating of it would restore what he had forfeited, the Lord sent him forth from the garden.
[Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 20.]
Finally, the conclusion is reached as God enforces the threatened punishment. Banishment from the garden and cutting off access to the tree of life are the means by which the death penalty is carried out. Without the antidote to aging, death is inevitable.
[John H. Walton, Genesis, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), 230.]
2. The Driving of Man from the Garden of Eden ().
2. The Driving of Man from the Garden of Eden ().
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
a
Now, I am no Hebraist, and I have no issue to make with those who are really Hebrew scholars, but I will cite three distinguished Hebraists who give a somewhat different rendering to this passage. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, in their commentary on Genesis, make that read this way: "And he [i.e., God] dwelt at the east of the garden of Eden between the Cherubim, and a Shekinah [a fire-tongue, or fire-sword] to keep open the way to the tree of life." The same thought is presented more clearly in the Jerusalem Targum, or Jewish commentary on the Old Testament. Dr. Gill, the great Baptist Hebraist of England, presents the same thought. Whatever may be the grammatical construction of this passage in the Hebrew, it means this: that having expelled man from the garden, God established a throne of grace and furnished the means to recover from the death which had been pronounced. There was the mercy scat and there were the Cherubim, and there was the symbol of divine presence in that fire-tongue or sword, and whoever worshiped God after man sinned must come to the mercy seat to worship and he must approach God through a sacrifice. In no other way than through an atonement could one attain to the tree of life. All passages that refer to the Cherubim connect them with grace and the mercy seat, not as ministers of divine vengeance, but as symbols of divine mercy. Moses, in , constructs the ark of the tabernacle exactly like the one here used in the garden of Eden. He has a covering or mercy seat, with two Cherubim with a flame between the Cherubim. That was the throne of grace, or mercy seat, and sinners came to that through the blood of a sacrifice. So we may be certain that Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, and the Jerusalem Targum, and Dr. Gill have given the spiritual interpretation of this passage. It is true that the object was to bar out man except through the intervention of the mercy seat, and it is true that the purpose of the mercy seat was to keep open the way to the tree of life. "Blessed are they who have washed their robes that they may have a right to the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."
[B. H. Carroll, An Interpretation of the English Bible - Genesis, vol. 1, An Interpretation of the English Bible (Baker Book House, 1948), 133–134.]
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
a
God does not wait for Adam to find his own way back, but hastens in search of him. “Where art thou” is rendered in one version, Alas for thee. Jesus met the Tempter not in a garden, but in the wilderness. He suffered being tempted, but has become to all who obey him a Life-giving Spirit, and the Author of Eternal Salvation. Read , and . The penalty is gone, borne by him in his own body on the Cross.
[F. B. Meyer, Through the Bible Day by Day: A Devotional Commentary, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1914–1918), 15.]