The Promise of Christmas: In the Beginning

Genesis 3:1–15 HCSB

1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit 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 knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 11 Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 Then the man replied, “The woman You gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.” 13 So the Lord God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “It was the serpent. He deceived me, and I ate.” 14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. 15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

Intro:

We are into a holiday series called the Promise of Christmas now as we close out the year. Today we are gonna talk about the beginning of that very promise. Now I want us to think for a moment about the word promise. Promises are commitments to another person on accomplishing a particular task. So that could be as simple as saying, I promise I’ll take you to that clothes store you want to go to when I get home from work, a parent to a child. Here’s the thing though, the word promise has lost so much of its significance over time because people have used it so loosely to promise things that often they can’t fulfill. Mom or dad ends up working late and the store is closed, well now they can’t fulfill that promise, or some people use the word promise to seem sincere, when they never tend to keep the promises they make. So in a man to man transaction, promise has lost some of its appeal as a word and guarantee. This of course depends on the individual in question, some one who is serious about keeping promises does everything they can to keep them, but even for a person of great integrity to their word, some things can be out of their control causing them to break a promise they didn’t intend to break.

God’s Promises however, are starkly different. God does what he Promises to do

Baker Encyclopedia:

Types of Promise. In biblical usage there are scattered examples of promises which men give either to their fellow man (e.g., Nm 22:17; Est 4:7) or to God (e.g., Neh 5:12), but far more significant are the promises which God gives to man. These divine promises are absolutely trustworthy because the One who gives them is “not man, that he should lie” (Nm 23:19; Ti 1:2; Heb 10:23; 11:11), and he is totally able to perform that which he has promised (Rom 4:21).

So let’s dive in! Slide 2

Genesis 3:1–7 HCSB

1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit 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 knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

So our setting is The Garden of Eden: Slide 3

Temptation and Fall

Here we have the account of the temptation and fall that leaves us in the place we are to this day.

Holman Bible Handbook Sin, Its Consequences, and God’s Saving Grace (Gen 3:1–10:32)

The pattern of sin and its consequences set in the garden is replayed throughout Genesis in the accounts of Cain, the generation of the flood, and the men of Sodom. The fall means that we humans are predisposed to sin. Though God punishes sin, sin does not thwart God’s ultimate, gracious purpose for His human creation. Embedded in the curse was the gleam of a promise that the offspring of the woman would someday lead the human race to triumph (3:15).

Now the serpent is said to be cunning, or crafty, he shows it here. You see, he starts off by causing subtle doubt in Eve, he does this by questioning what God “really” said. But notice something else, the serpent doesn’t call Him the Lord God, but instead God, he avoids the covenant name Lord, which has been part of the entire narrative up tot his point, and this gets Eve to file suit. She speaks of God in the same way. The serpent is tricky, he’s sneaky.

You see, even Satan and his demons believe in God, but like an unbeliever, God has no place in their life. There is a difference in believing in God, and God being Lord of your life. On one end, like Satan you recognize His existence, but on the other hand, He doesn’t rule in your life. Lord God is of significance isn’t it?

So Eve recites what God commanded of her, she even elaborates a little more God says in Gen 2:17 not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She says not to eat or even touch it. why that is, is not for sure known, though the serpent was seeking to deceive her, her reasoning for that added command not to touch it i can’t say why. Perhaps she recognized God’s command so severely that she felt you shouldn’t even touch it! Right, don’t even play around with the idea of sin.

Illustration: A man who struggled with alcoholism for years, had finally been sober for 2 years. He was proud of his accomplishment and was then invited out by co-workers for a drink. He thought he had control over the temptation, but he should have never touched the stuff.

The fall leaves us all at this place where sin rules.

Romans 3:23 (HCSB)

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

There is not one righteous, no not one, we fall under that word “all” every one of us.

It’s a common question of unbelievers or those kinda seeking, if God is love, why do bad things happen in the world. Well this passage of Genesis answers that friends, because God loves us enough to give us freedom to choose. God gave Adam and Eve clear direction, He gave them His Word to live by, they played around with sin and got caught in the fire of it. We have an entire book written with God’s Direction for our lives, some play around with the meaning of it to lessen things like homosexuality as not sin, though it’s clearly stated in the bible, or pro choice as if God doesn’t form life in the womb! We all played around with the idea of sin, which then leads to:

Slide: 4

Consequence of Sin

Genesis 3:8–14 HCSB

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 11 Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 Then the man replied, “The woman You gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.” 13 So the Lord God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “It was the serpent. He deceived me, and I ate.” 14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.

Adam and Eve were busted! Caught red handed, hand in the cookie jar, and God’s Warning that they ignored became punishment upon them.

Sin has multiple consequences, it has the consequence of death, it can have eternal consequences for the unregenerate in Jesus Christ, but it also has consequences in this life. The here and now. Adam and Eve died because they sinned, but they had consequences in life also:

Romans 6:23 HCSB

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The alcoholic man story I shared with you shows some of the here and now consequences for playing with sin. He was on the verge of joblessness, he was losing his family and gonna be alone. I have watched people against wise direction play with sin, and lose in that deadly game. It destroy everything friend. All it took was one sin in the Garden to bring death to everything!

Genesis 3:16–19 HCSB

16 He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. 17 And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor 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 You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”

Pain, sweat, work, hardship, they had the sweet life in the Garden of Eden, then they gave into sin and paid the price. Friends, Sin in your life will breed destructive consequences.

many have a sweet life before they mess it all up with sin.

The Promise

Genesis 3:15 HCSB

15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

Thankfully though it doesn’t end at the curse this is the part of the message we are all looking for, the part that speaks hope for the sinners, rescue for condemned. The promise in this passage is that there is one that will come “the seed” the seed will be against the seed of the serpent, and He will crush the serpents head.

Galatians 4:4–5 HCSB

4 When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

The promise my friends was the child born of the Virgin Marry, the one named Jesus. Called to redeem all who receive Him.

Three things to take away from this text today:

The great problem of this world is Sin

Sin has consequences

God provided an answer to our depraved state, Jesus.

This holiday season my friends, let us hold onto the promises of God, and especially to a promise fulfilled by Him, to send His only begotten son to redeem us all and to breath new life into our nostrils, and hope for our futures.