Satan, and the Fall of Man

Intro: We left Adam and Eve in the garden, in the last lesson. They were in this perfect area. They were given the task of tending the garden. They had communication with God. They were such new humans, that they were not ready to venture into the whole world yet. They had the opportunity to obey God and grow in their knowledge. They didn’t know good and bad yet. They had not experienced anything bad at this point in time. Everything God had made was good, including these two humans. We talked about they were one flesh, (the one man and one woman), and when Jesus was asked whether or not someone could divorce and marry someone else, he directed them back to the way it was in the beginning.

The previous chapter says God placed “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food”. Then we have 2 more trees that are different from all the rest: The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Then we have this bad guy, the Serpent.

I. The Serpent, Read 3:1-5

A. Where did he come from?

i. We aren’t told here.

ii. Isaiah 14:12-15. Fallen from heaven.

iii. 18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

The New King James Version. (1982). (Lk 10:18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

iv. 7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 12:7–9). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

B. Satan questions God. Why would He do such a thing?

C. The woman tells Satan what they can actually do.

D. A little bit more on Satan.

i. Is he real in this present world?

ii. Satan is a deceiver, a liar. John 8:42-44 (NKJV)

iii. What is Satan doing in the world?

Story of Job. Satan brought much suffering.

2. 1 Chronicles 21:1 (NKJV) Satan moved David to sin.

The Census of Israel and Judah

21 Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

3. Is Satan still doing these types of things?

4. Sometimes I think, what does Satan want to happen here?

a. Satan always wants division among believers.

b. He wants us to be proud, so he can disable us from being effective.

c. He wants to cause harm, wars and fightings.

d. He wreaks havoc on things that are good. Sex, marriage, families.

E. Satan did this bold-faced lie.

You will not die.

He accused God of holding back info that would be desirable to them.

II. The Fall

A. Eve Deceived

i. Eve saw 3 things.

The tree was good for food.

pleasant to the eyes.

desirable to make one wise.

1 John 2:15–17 NKJV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Why was this tree there? Wasn’t this an unnecessary temptation?

Remember, God had probably not planned for them to be in the garden forever.

The work they had to do would have extended out past that.

Think of like a 1 or 2 year old child, then maybe like a 12 yr. old.

What is different. Life experiences etc.

Also, this was like a test to see if they would choose God.

When they walk by they have to see if they will choose God.

Will they sacrifice their own desires or not?

Same with us.

Will we choose God’s way, or our own human wisdom.

B. Adam goes the easy route.

Isn’t this what we are tempted to do.

What’s the bid deal?

She is doing it.

For many of us this is the battle we face.

C. Innocence Destroyed.

i. Adam and Eve now knew good and bad in some way.

They knew they were naked.

Innocence removed.

Fear of God.

The man blamed the woman, the woman blamed the serpent.

We all know it right!

III. The Results.

A. The curse on the serpent

i. Crawl on his belly.

ii. Vs. 15 Enmity between you and the woman and your seed and her Seed. (Offspring).

Notice it is the woman’s Seed, not the man and the woman.

Jesus’ mother Mary was a virgin, so he was not conceived of man’s seed.

Explore more later.

B. The curse on the woman.

i. Vs. 16. Pain in bringing forth children.

ii. Trouble in relationship with her husband.

Desire shall be for, or contrary to your husband.

C. The curse on man. Vs. 17-19

Man will face trouble in basic survival.

No longer just tending the garden, where everything worked well.

Toil is introduced. Survival will not come easy.

We have droughts, floods, weeds, disease, theft, things break. It rains on our concrete.

Once we had a footer almost ready to pour and a rain storm came up.

We ended up pushing it shut and re-digging it.

Even in these things we realize how small we are.

D. Expulsion from the Garden

Apparently they had to eat from the Tree of Life to live forever.

This Tree was a means of God giving His life to them.

They were mortal. They needed something outside for eternal life.

God in His kindness drove them out from the Garden.

So they would not live in this state forever.

E. This is not the end, though.

i. This is not the last word!

Lets go back to vs. 15.

God was not going to leave His people in this state.

The New King James Version Chapter 2

15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

God was intent on providing a way back.

A way back to the Tree of Life.

I John 3:1-12 This is why Jesus was manifested, or “made known”.

Hebrews 2:14–18 NKJV

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

John 15:1-10 Jesus presents himself as the vine and we are even the branches.

We can attach ourselves to Him and be changed.

But we must go through death in the same way Jesus did.

We must die to our old selves, and way of doing things.

In this way we have the opportunity of being changed and becoming new people.

Conclusion: When we see Satan, and the first man and woman, I think we can still see the same traits in our lives. We have temptations, we have trials and struggles as men and women. The good news is that God loves His creation enough to continue to offer The Tree of Life. God doesn’t force anyone. He is a gentlemen.