The Plot Thickens

Introduction

The Steady Pattern of Sin (headline)

So, we read the story of the Garden, and we can’t really relate. It creates a tension in us because we want to believe this is how God has designed thing, but it hasn’t been our experience. Our lives aren’t a Garden, and our world certainly isn’t a paradise. No, we hurt. We worry and fear and dread. And so, we have Genesis three. Genesis three is the thickening of the plot. It’s the acknowledgement of the tension of brokenness that we see in our world and the explanation as to why our world doesn’t much resemble the Garden from the beginning. It’s the explanation of why you hurt so much and struggle so terribly, and yet, as dark as and the chapters that follow are, what we’ll see are flickers of light, rays of hope cutting through the darkness to lift our heads. So, let’s turn there together.

So, we read the story of the Garden, and we can’t really relate. It creates a tension in us because we want to believe this is how God has designed thing, but it hasn’t been our experience. Our lives aren’t a Garden, and our world certainly isn’t a paradise. No, we hurt. We worry and fear and dread. And so, we have Genesis three. Genesis three is the thickening of the plot. It’s the acknowledgement of the tension of brokenness that we see in our world and the explanation as to why our world doesn’t much resemble the Garden from the beginning. It’s the explanation of why you hurt so much and struggle so terribly, and yet, as dark as and the chapters that follow are, what we’ll see are flickers of light, rays of hope cutting through the darkness to lift our heads. So, let’s turn there together.

This morning, we meet the antagonist. When we left Genesis two, there was harmony in every way that there could be harmony. There were no tan lines, no bad hair days, no disappointments, no chronic pain. It’s a world opposite of ours in virtually every way. But no sooner do we turn the page does that harmony come under attack, do things start to look a lot more like what we’re used to. The plot is thickening, the tension is growing, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer why we struggle and suffer as we do. The brilliance of creation is introduced to the brokenness of sin, and we see the beginning of the steady pattern of sin (headline). That is, we see the pattern that sin will take throughout the Big Story in every generation, in our generation. So, here we see not just an explanation of original sin or a pictures of our first parent’s sin, but also a description of our own sin, our own struggle, and our own brokenness. Notice the pattern that we see. It’s the explanation of why you hurt so much and struggle so terribly, and yet, as dark as and the chapters that follow are, what we’ll see are flickers of light, rays of hope cutting through the darkness to lift our heads. So, let’s turn there together.

God’s Word

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The Steady Pattern of Sin (headline)

In Genesis three, we meet the antagonist. When we left Genesis two, there was harmony in every way that there could be harmony. There were no tan lines, no bad hair days, no disappointments, no chronic pain. That is, when we read , we read of a world very different than our own. But no sooner do we turn the page does that harmony come under attack, do things start to look a lot more like what we’re used to. The plot is thickening, the tension is growing, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer why we struggle and suffer as we do. The brilliance of creation is introduced to the brokenness of sin, and we see the beginning of the steady pattern of sin (headline). That is, we see that sin still operates in the same way it has since the beginning. So, here we see not just an explanation of original sin or a pictures of our first parent’s sin, but also a description of our own sin, our own struggle, and our own brokenness. Notice the pattern that we see.

Sin’s “promises” are “exaggerated”.

v. 4b-5 “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” First, you’ll notice that sin’s “promises” are “exaggerated”. Adam and Eve are living in utter paradise. Yet, in the midst of that paradise, the Serpent comes and picks one of threads of their hearts loose, and he keeps pulling on it and pulling on it until the whole thing unraveled. He asks Eve, and Adam is apparently standing right there with her like a knot on a log, “Did God actually say that you couldn’t eat of any of the trees in the garden?” And so, he undermines God’s word and God’s goodness and God’s integrity, and he’s going to undermine it by making some exaggerated promises. This is how sin always works.

God isn’t good enough to give you the full good. he’s withholding from you what’s best

Sin promises greater “gifts” than God “gives”.

v. 5b “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Sin promises greater “gifts” than God “gives”. The serpent tells Eve that if she will just listen to him, if she will just think for herself for a minute and stop listening to all she’s been told that she ‘will be like God.’ And, that’s interesting, isn’t it? Why? Because she’s already ‘like God.’ When God makes Adam and Eve on the sixth day, He says, “Let us make man in our image, after our LIKENESS.” So, the serpent is promising them something that God has already given to them. And, the point that the serpent is making is that God had been good to them, but not good enough. He stopped short of making them actually like himself because He had forbid them from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And, notice what it says because all sin begins here. She looked at it, and it looked good. She found herself craving it and wanting it and desiring it.

Is God Holding Back?

What she saw and what she felt seemed to confirm what the serpent said. And so, she began to live by her wisdom and her feeling rather than God’s word. Do you see this shift? God has been good to every, single person in this room, and my guess is that, like Adam and Eve, you know it. But, you watch TV or scroll Facebook or talk to your buddies, and Satan is using what you see and what you feel to convince you that God is holding back on you. The other people at school are sleeping around, and based upon what you see and what you feel, you feel excluded from something good. You see the frat parties and watch as others are experimenting, and based upon what you see and what you feel, you feel like God is holding back on you. You see that all of your friends are married or that all of them have kids or that they have greater intimacy in their marriage, and it looks like and feels like God is holding back, and right now, you’re considering rebelling on God in ways that you’ve never considered before. You’re considering trying things that a year ago or five years ago you wouldn’t have imagined, and it’s because sin is promising you a greater gift than you believe that God is willing to give.

Sin promises greater “freedom” than God “allows”.

v. 3b “neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” And, sin promises greater “freedom” than God “allows”. Freedom is front and center in our passage. It’s front and center on Eve’s mind. Here’s how I know. The Serpent asks her whether or not God actually wouldn’t let her have any fruit from any of the trees, and her response appears to be on point until we examine it more closely. It’s hard to see this in the ESV, but if you were to look at verse 16 of chapter two in virtually any other Bible translation, what you’d find is God giving instructions for life in the Garden where He says, “You may FREELY eat of any tree in the Garden.” “You may FREELY enjoy everything you see.” But, guess which word Eve leaves out when she’s responding here. “Freely.” Then, it gets worse. We find out that Eve is actually the very first Pharisee, the very first hypocrite of the Bible. She’s the first person to add to the word of God. She says, “Neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” Did God say they couldn’t touch the tree? Nope. She’s doing what legalists have long done. She’s building laws around the law. She’s building her system of laws around the Law God has given, and then wondering why God is so restrictive, wondering why God is such a cosmic killjoy. She’s placing words in the mouth of God, adding to the Law of God, and then rebelling against the new construction of God that she’s invented.

Sin promises greater “significance” than God “assigns”.

Rebelling Against a Less Glorious God

You see, ultimately, we sin because we want a promotion. Like Adam and Eve, we don’t believe it will kill us to go our on way. We believe it will liberate us. We believe it will finally give us happiness that comes easily and satisfaction that’s always in reach. Ultimately, sin promises greater “significance” than God “assigns”. It promises us meaning and acceptance and laughter and the ability to more fully enjoy the world that we live in. It gives us sovereignty over our own identity because we trust us more than we trust the integrity and sovereignty of God. That’s what Adam and Eve are going for, and that’s promise we’re buying, too.

And, man, that’s the temptation, isn’t it? If you’re going to abandon God and God’s design and God’s will, you’ve got to construct a version of God in your mind that is more restrictive, less generous, less gracious, less glorious than reality. You need God to be an overbearing father rather than the Father of the Prodigal who gives you to and waits for you and then runs to you. I want you to think of the last sin in your life that you’ve found a way to justify. Here’s what I’d bet happened: You found a way to re-interpret something that God said to make it okay. Or, you found a way in your mind to convince yourself that God was too overbearing and unrealistic in that area any way. You've reconstructed God to justify your sin. You either said, “Did God really say?” Or, You said, “God told me I couldn’t touch anything, do anything, go anywhere. I’m out.” Right now, where are you trying to weasel your way, reinvent your way, redesign God’s word so that you can have freedom as you define it? Are you buying the exaggerated promises of Satan that you can have a better, more joyful, more fun, more full, more free life apart from God by ruling yourself?

Sin’s “penalty” is “unbearable”.

v. 7 “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” You see, in light of all that sin promised, in light of all the freedom and fun and significance that it promised, the reality is quite different. It doesn’t go anything like what Adam and Eve expected when they ate of the fruit. They’re expecting in an instant to experience the power and ecstasy of being god. Expecting to be exalted, they are instead ashamed. In an instant, they go from being worry free, pain free, sadness free, stress free, tan-line free to feeling shame for the very first time. That’s what’s meant by them recognizing their nakedness. They were ashamed. Their conscience was blemished for the first time. Its condemning voice crushed their souls for the first time. Reaching for greater gifts, they took hold of a curse. Seeking greater freedom, they found themselves in bondage. Leaping for greater significance, they lost their meaning. Trying to be like God they forfeited the full glory of being human. Sin’s promises always fall flat. They overpromise and underdeliver. In reality, what they discovered was that sin’s “penalty” is “unbearable”. God had breathed the very life into their bones, and, now, they were hiding from him under bushes like three year olds in the closest who just colored on the walls.

Sin Promises No Consequences

v. 15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman.” The serpent had promised Eve that there would be no consequences. He’d swore, “You will not surely die.” And, he’s promising you the same thing, no doubt. But, one bite deep, she knew better. It had been the integrity of God that they had put to the test. God had said that the wages of sin were death, but they had decided that He was just threatening, grandstanding, an insecure god using scare tactics to get his way. But, God is holy and just and righteous, and He cannot call evil good. He cannot call rebellion righteousness. He cannot reject his word when those made in his image have rejected him. So, sin’s penalty comes crashing down upon the creation. Mankind had only known intimacy with God and spiritual perfection before God. But, now, they will experience spiritual oppression and spiritual darkness, enmity between them and the snake. Sources of “blessings” are now also sources of “pain”. They were intended to be blessed through children, and a blessing it will still be, but it will come through an experience of pain. Marriage was to be a delight alone, but now it will be filled with sorrow and brokenness and conflict, too. Sources of “joy” are now also sources of “misery”. It was a joy to rule over the garden and to eat from its trees, but now it will be misery and toilsome to till the ground with all its thorns and weeds. In the middle of the Garden was the tree of life. Mankind was made to eat from it and enjoy God without the interruption of death. But now, they have been driven by God from the Garden away from the tree of life. Now, they will die and rot into the ground until they are dust.

This is the first time we read the word we’re so familiar with -- ‘pain’. There is a fracture between God and what He has made to be because those He designed to represent him and reflect him have rejected him. In , Paul said, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” And, that’s what chapters 4-6 bear out. Because our first parents “sinned”, we are all born “sinners.” We have inherited their penalty. In chapter 4, Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Able. Eve must’ve believed that when she had her sons that it was a chance for a fresh start. When she has Cain, she says, “I have created a man just as the Lord did!” It’s a fresh start. There are new people. There is a new son. Mankind has another shot. She didn’t understand the scope and magnitude of her own sin. Humans never do. She had committed cosmic treason. She had set herself, and Adam with her, against God. Their nature was flawed, fallen, and dying. So, she gives birth to what she would’ve believed was fresh hope, but instead, her firstborn, Cain, murders her younger son Able in a fit of jealousy. Just as Adam and Eve had attempted to become like God by eating of the fruit, now, Cain acts as God by murdering one of God’s image bearers. We weren’t easing into sin; we were jumping with both feet. By the time we get to , it says, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that had made man on the earth.” Adam and Eve were supposed to spread the glory of God to the ends of the earth, but they spread shame to his name instead. The problem of sin is “pervasive” and “universal”. So, God brings judgement upon the earth that is just as pervasive and just as universal. The earth needed to be washed clean. And so, the rain fell and the waters rose until the birds had no place to perch their feet and rest their wings. Babies were crying and mothers were screaming and men were shaking as the water rose above their heads.

Sin Leaves Out the Gory Details

‘Pain’ indeed had come. When the serpent convinced Adam that God had lied and they wouldn’t die, he left this part out. He had exaggerated his promises, eliminated their consequences. Adam couldn’t have imagined that one of his sons would kill the other. He couldn’t have conceived that eventually everything over which he had been given responsibility would eventually drown in the judgement of his sin. The fruit looked good. It felt right. But, it was just because they couldn’t see reality. They couldn’t see the next day. They couldn’t see the shame. They couldn’t feel what they were going to feel at Able’s funeral. They couldn’t feel what those mothers felt as they lifted their babies above the waterline of the flood. Sin’s penalty is unbearable. Satan will try to manipulate you and minimize its pain, but he won’t be there to comfort you when the consequences come. He leaves out the gory details. He leaves you drowning in your regret and your rebellion until it suffocates you. He always leaves that part out.

Sin’s “power” is “temporary”.

v. 15b “he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel” So far, this passage appears grim, doesn’t it? But, we’re not finished yet. are as much about the love of God and the grace of God as they are about the judgement of God. Sin’s promises are exaggerated and sin’s penalty is unbearable and sin’s pain is paralyzing and sin’s problem is pervasive, but sin’s “power” is “temporary”.It’s reign will end.

God Loves, Sin Loses

The message of Genesis is the message of the whole Bible. It’s the Big Story: God deals “severely” with sin but “graciously” with sinners. Genesis three intends to build a tension into the heart of the reader. How does God respond? Let me ask you: How would you respond? What’s reasonable? What’s sensible? How do you expect this story to go? When the child defies his Father or the servant rebels against his Master or the subject tries to overthrow his King, what’s to happen? But, how does this God respond? He loves them. He loves them! He love you! They’re hiding in the bushes, covering with fig leaves as if they can escape the presence of God’s holiness. And, in their rebellion, He pursues them. Like a shepherd who leaves the 99 in search of the one. Like a Father who runs to his prodigal son. Like a King pursues his Bride. God still calls out to the very ones that betrayed him. And, when He speaks to him, in the midst of pain, in the midst of shame, in the midst of tears and trembling, in the midst of consequences, He assures them. Like a father who just picked up his son from jail and doesn’t go to bed without telling him that he loves him. He shares with them the Good News, the Gospel. For the very first time, sinners a comforted by the promise of redemption. “The serpent will bruise your heel, but I will raise a Son through you that will crush his head. I will save you in spite of you. I will redeem you though you appear broken beyond redemption. I will use you through your sin to advance my glory anyway.” Sin is going to lose. Sin’s power is temporary! My goodness, do you see the love? Do you see the grace? Do you see the gospel? He seeks them and assures them, and He covers them. They try to sew together some fig leaves to cover their shame, but manmade coverings are always insufficient. There is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood, you see. And so, we have bloodshed for the first time when God sacrifices the animal to cover them in the skin. Their shame, their humiliation, their guilt is covered by what God provides through the shedding of blood. Do you see the gospel? But, God doesn’t just cover. He blesses them. The woman gets a new name. Her new name should have been “Guilty” or “Traitor” or “Condemned”, but her new name is “Eve — Mother of all the Living”, because it God wasn’t finished with her. She would mother every nation. She would mother every king. In fact, she would mother his Son, the King who would save every Nation from the sin their parents introduced. Cain kills Able, but God spares Cain and protects Cain and defends Cain, just as God spares sinners today. The whole earth, meant for God’s glory, is filled with all that God hates. Every thought, every intention, every motive is wicked all the time. But, as God’s judgement comes, as his wrath dumps upon the earth, God saves a remnant. God pours out his grace in the midst of pouring out his judgement. And, He establishes a new covenant, not of works, but of grace, where He hangs his bow in the sky as a promise that His salvation is not temporary.

It’s reign will end. The message here is that God deals “severely” with sin but “graciously” with sinners. In the Garden, God had formed mankind to live in harmony with him. He’d entered into a covenant of works, saying to them, “I’ll be your God, and you’ll be my people. Enjoy the Garden. Enjoy each other. Enjoy me. Just avoid the Tree.” But, the covenant of works had ended in disaster. In the face of God’s kindness and in response to God’s generosity and in exchange for God’s goodness, man responded by saying, “I’ll be my God, and you will be my servant. I’ll do what I want. I’ll live how I want. I’ll eat what I want. And, you’ll bless me.” And, how does God respond? Let me ask you: How would you respond? What’s reasonable? What’s sensible? How do you expect this story to go? When the child defies his Father or the servant rebels against his Master or the subject tries to overthrow his King, what’s to happen? How does God respond? He loves them. They’re hiding in the bushes, covering with fig leaves as if they can escape the presence of God’s holiness. And, in their rebellion, God pursues them. Like a shepherd who leaves the 99 in search of the one. Like a Father who runs to his prodigal son. Like a King pursues his Bride. God still calls out to the very ones that betrayed him. And, when He speaks to him, in the midst of pain, in the midst of shame, in the midst of tears and trembling, in the midst of consequences, He assures them. Like a father who just picked up his son from jail and doesn’t go to bed without telling him that he loves him. He shares with them the Good News, the Gospel. For the very first time, sinners a comforted by the promise of redemption. “The serpent will bruise your heel, but I will raise a Son through you that will crush his head. I will save you in spite of you. I will redeem you though appear broken beyond redemption. I will use you through your sin to advance my glory anyway.” Sin is going to lose. Sin’s power is temporary! My goodness, do you see the love? Do you see the grace? Do you see the gospel? He seeks them and assures them, and He covers them. They try to sew together some fig leaves to cover their shame, but manmade coverings are always insufficient. There is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood, you see. And so, we have bloodshed for the first time when God sacrifices the animal to cover them in the skin. Their shame, their humiliation, their guilt is covered by what God provides through the shedding of blood. Do you see the gospel? But, God doesn’t just cover. God blesses. The woman gets a new name. Her new name should have been “Guilty” or “Traitor” or “Condemned”, but her new name is “Eve — Mother of all the Living”, because it God wasn’t finished with her. She would mother every nation. She would mother every king. In fact, she would mother his Son, the King who would save every Nation from the sin their parents introduced. Cain kills Able, but God spares Cain and protects Cain and defends Cain. The whole earth, meant for God’s glory, is filled with all that God hates. Every thought, every intention, every motive is wicked all the time. But, as God’s judgement comes, as his wrath dumps upon the earth, God saves a remnant. God pours out his grace in the midst of pouring out his judgement. And, He establishes a new covenant, not of works, but of grace, where He hangs his bow in the sky as a promise that His salvation is not temporary.

“and, you will be like God” Sin promises greater “significance” than God “assigns”. God had made Adam and Eve as the high point of all that had been made, and the serpent still wanted them to feel as though their dignity had been kept from them. Essentially, he’s saying to them, “You rule some animals and a cute little, Garden, but don’t you still answer to God? Do you really want to answer to anyone? Don’t you want to be the greatest?” They were looking for a promotion. They wanted to be the center of the universe. They wanted to be the ultimate decision makers. They wanted to be appreciated and glorified and exalted.

The Second Adam and Abounding Grace

And, in every glimpse of God’s love and every expression of God’s grace, we are being called to look beyond the Adam that condemned us to the second Adam that will save us. The first Adam was born into paradise, but sinned and excluded us. The second Adam will be born into corruption, and by his righteousness bring us into paradise. The first Adam “brings” the Curse, and the second Adam “becomes” the Curse. Through the first we inherit death, and through the second we inherit life. Because, you see, it is the Second Adam who will be bruised by Serpent and placed upon the cross. He’ll be buried in the ground, and the Serpent will slither above believing he won. But, on the third day, the stone will role away, and the Heel that was bruised will crush the head of the Serpent so that Paul might write: “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” So, when you look at the Garden and when you look at the curse, look at it through the cross. For God deals severely with sin but graciously with sinners. And, when you look at your sin, see it the very same way. You can’t out-sin God’s grace for “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”

Questions

Why do we sin? What are some examples of the exaggerated promises that Satan often makes to us about sin? How does sin typically look and feel?

How does sin offer freedom? Why are we so susceptible to promises of freedom? How are sin’s promises of freedom exaggerated?

Are we born sinners, or do we become sinners?

What does Satan promise us about sin’s consequences? Why are we tempted to believe him? What does he leave out? What has your experience been?

Why must God deal severely with sin? How can God deal severely with sin and still deal graciously with sinners?

In what ways is Jesus the Second Adam? can provide insight.