Genesis 3: The Fall

Intro

When you come to church on Christmas Day, you expect and hope to hear a good news sermon, a cheerful one.

You’re probably used to hearing a sermon on the nativity scene, the three wise men and their gifts, Isaiah 7, or Isaiah 9.. one of those traditional Christmas texts.

You probably don’t expect to come to church on Christmas day and hear a sermon about the original sin of Adam and the Fall of mankind.

Genesis 3 , I concede, is not a traditional Christmas text.

But then, when you think about it, why shouldn’t Genesis 3 be a Christmas text?

Christmas, after all, is the celebration of the birth of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in Genesis 3 is found the very first promise of His coming.

Christmas, then, is the celebration of the beginning of the fulfillment of Genesis 3.

Furthermore, Genesis 3 tells us WHY His coming was promised in the first place, why His coming was necessary.

So that is why I decided to preach Genesis 3 this morning.

Because unless we understand why Jesus’ birth was promised in the first place, and why His coming was necessary, we will not be able to fully understand and appreciate the meaning of Christmas.

So that, to my mind, makes Genesis 3 a Christmas text.

The other reason of course that I decided to preach Genesis 3 is because it is the next chapter in my series on Genesis.

So for context, I’d like to just give a quick recap of chapter 2 because that really sets the scene for what is about to happen in the garden in chapter 3.

Now we know from chapter 1 that God created Adam in His image, and gave him dominion over all of His creation.

God made man the steward over His creation, and gave him the authority and responsibility to rule over His creation.

This is what is called man’s “Dominion Mandate” - the responsibility to work and to nurture God’s creation, and guard it and help it to prosper, for the glory of its Creator.

But not only was Adam commanded to work and be fruitful, but to do so in submission to God’s authority and in obedience to His will.

That is seen in God’s first recorded commandment given to man in:

Genesis 2:15–17 ESV

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

This commandment given by God to Adam is also referred to as “The Covenant of Works” between God and man -

a covenant being a contract of mutual agreement between two parties,

with promised benefits for keeping the conditions of the covenant,

and consequences for breaking the covenant

In the Covenant of Works, the promise to Adam is that if he completes his work in obedience to God’s command, then like God, he will enter into his eternal Sabbath rest.

The consequence of breaking this covenant, and eating from the forbidden tree, says God, is death.

Would Adam be able to keep his end of this Covenant? God already knew that he wouldn’t.

We know that, because the very next thing God did after making this covenant with Adam, was to institute another covenant - this one between Adam and his wife.

The covenant of marriage.

And this covenant of marriage, this special relationship between man and wife, was to point forward to another - the special covenant relationship between Jesus and the Church.

I won’t go too much into that now - if you’d like to know more you can listen to last week’s sermon.

But this sets the scene then for the events of chapter 3 which changed the world forever.

And we will pick it up from verse 1, looking at:

Satan’s Lie

Mankind’s Fall

God’s Promise

1. Satan’s Lie

Genesis 3:1 ESV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Satan appears to Eve in the garden as a serpent (or a snake), which is described as “more crafty (or wise) than any other creature God made”

How do we know this was Satan?

The Bible is its own interpreter

And Revelation 12:9 refers to the serpent as the devil and Satan:

Rev 12:9 “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

And what is Satan’s approach?

He lies, he deceives, he twists God’s word.

This is exactly how Jesus describes Satan in John 8:44

He says: “...He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

So Satan’s approach to Eve is to lie, but Satan is crafty and wise.

His always tries to veil his lies, to deceive, to twist the truth

Satan doesn’t attack us in obvious ways that make us go “Oh, that’s obviously Satan. I’d better ignore him.”

He and his agents don’t appear as wolves, but as sheep. They cover themselves in sheep’s clothing.

He appears, as Paul describes in 2 Cor 11:14, not as a hideous demon with a sign around the neck saying “follow me to hell”, but as an angel of light.

He is a deceiver. He deceives by going under cover; by appearing as though he is on our side.

He appeals to our fleshly desires, tells us what we want to hear, makes us doubt God’s word.

This is why the most dangerous place for a Christian to be is inside a Christian bookshop.

Because it is inside those bookstores and on Christian TV networks like TBN and Faith TV that Satan does his best work.

Its the perfect cover for the deceiver to work undercover as a sheep, and many are deceived there and led astray by the likes of Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers, Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, John Hagee, Bill Johnson, Chris Vallotton, etc.

I can hear some of you say, “But how can you say that about those people? I have been reading their books for years and they have done so much to help me. You’re being judgmental.”

But you see, my concern for you is the same that Paul felt for the deceived and messed up church in Corinth, which he expresses in 2 Cor 11

2 Cor 11:1-4 “I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.”

That is exactly what is going on today. Christian bookstores are full of books proclaiming a different Jesus, presenting a different spirit, offering a different gospel from what is revealed in Scripture.

And millions of people put up with it and accept it readily.

We have the very same weakness that Eve displayed in the garden - we are not discerning enough, and too readily fall into deception.

Satan began his deception with a sly yet seemingly innocent question which was designed to deceive:

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Eve’s response showed that she understood well enough the conditions of the covenant and the commandment God gave to Adam:

Gen 3:2-3 “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

And then the deceiver attacks God’s word:

Gen 3:4-5 “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Here Satan directly contradicts what God said, accusing God of being the liar

So there are a few things I want us to see in this opening exchange in the garden and learn from them.

Satan deceives by appearing as something else; as an angel of light or a wolf in sheep’s clothing

He is a liar and a deceiver.

The easiest way to deceive someone is to appear as someone you can trust

That’s why Satan has the greatest success appearing as a preacher or Christian author

When you walk into a Christian bookshop, you think you’re safe and let your guard down.

In fact, you should be on highest alert.

Satan deceives by exploiting our lack of knowledge of God’s word

He tests our knowledge of God’s word - “Did God actually say that you can’t do this?”

This is why a diet of Christian books alone is exactly what leads so many millions of Christians into deception.

They do not know God’s word and therefore fall easily into deception.

Satan deceives by attacking the very word of God

He will try to get us to doubt God’s word, or he will twist God’s word

And he does this by offering us something tempting in its place

He told Eve, “God just doesn’t want you to know what he knows”

“God doesn’t want you to be like him”

With these words, Satan tempted Eve with the desire to be like God.

And she took the bait.

Satan is still at work doing the same thing today, deceiving people by denying the gospel and offering a false gospel in its place.

And because people desire to be like God and to live like God and to have wealth and power, they swallow up the false prosperity gospel like hungry pigs.

Satan is a liar.

Beware the craftiness of the deceiver

2. Mankind’s Fall

Genesis 3:6–7 ESV

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

There are a few things going on here that I wish to point out.

Adam had already failed in his stewardship before he took a bite of the fruit.

Men like to point out that it was Eve who was deceived and Eve who took the first bite - and she was

But where was Adam?

He was with Eve.

Why didn’t he stop her?

It was Adam’s responsibility to protect his wife, and he failed.

It was Adam’s responsibility to rebuke the serpent, and he failed.

It was Adam’s responsibility to reject the offer of the forbidden fruit and forbid his wife to take it, and he failed to do either of those things.

Eve was made from Adam’s rib. He named her. As Paul explains in Ephesians 5, Adam is head of the marriage relationship, and as head, he is accountable to God to love his wife, lead his wife and protect his wife.

Men, whatever it is that is causing problems in your marriage or in your home, you are responsible.

You need to own that.

The majority of problems develop over time and fester into huge issues because the man is absent, not showing any interest, and shirking his responsibilities onto his wife.

Most of the time, when women try to take the lead, it is because there is a leadership void that has been left by a lazy husband.

Eve was the first to bite into the fruit, but Adam is responsible because he was being negligent as her husband.

Adam rejected what was GOOD in pursuit of a lie that he thought was better

The lie of Satan and the world is that God is trying to stop you from having a good time

Satan has deceived the world into thinking God is just a killjoy, who wants to stop all your fun and make your life a boring misery.

Satan wants you to think God’s laws are too strict, unfair, too restrictive

That’s what is behind Satan’s lie to Eve - “God doesn’t want you to be like Him”

God is just trying to keep all these good things from you. He’s just being mean.

But in reality, what did Adam and Eve have?

Literally every good thing

Gen 2:9 “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food...”

Gen 2:16 “… “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,”

They lived in a garden paradise for goodness sake

Was God being too restrictive?

You can have all these good things, just don’t eat from this one tree. One rule.

Are God’s laws restrictive?

Which ones do you find restrictive?

The one to not steal?

The one to not lie?

The one to not murder?

The one to not commit adultery?

Which one is cramping your style?

The problem here is not God’s laws. The problem is the human heart.

God’s laws are good, but the human heart is bad.

The heart desires things that are not good, and hates God because He says they are forbidden.

The human heart hates what is good and desires what is evil.

Adam’s ultimate failure was lack of faith in God.

He took the fruit because he did not trust God, and he did not believe what God said.

If he had trusted God, he would have rejected the forbidden fruit and trusted that God had good reason for him to stay away from that tree.

He would have then completed his work in obedience to God, and his reward would have been to enter into his Sabbath rest.

But he did not trust God, and did not believe God’s warning that he would die when he ate that fruit.

It is the same with all sin - all sin is a failure of faith.

All sin is a failure to believe God; a failure to trust God and to believe what He has said.

Hosea 6:7 “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.”

Adam did not trust God enough to obey Him. And He did not believe God’s warning.

Instead of trusting God, he fell for Satan’s lie.

This is exactly what we are doing when we sin.

Our sin is born out of a lack of faith in God.

We sin because we don’t trust God and are not believing Him.

We are showing that we are not satisfied with God, and are looking for satisfaction from something else - which always lets us down.

Adam, rather than being satisfied with the goodness of God, tried to get around God and go for a shortcut.

He and Eve believed the lie Satan sold them, and thought they could be like God, they they wouldn’t need God.

How wrong they were.

Genesis 3:8 ESV

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

They hid away. The result of their sin was that they could no longer look forward to sweet communion with God, but felt shame at their sin and hid away

First from each other - by a pathetic attempt to cover their nakedness with some fig leaves

But ultimately, they tried to hide from God because of their shame

Is that a familiar feeling to you?

Most people spend their whole lives hiding from God or running away from him because of their shame

They know they’ve sinned and that makes them even run from talking to Him in prayer.

That’s why they avoid church like the plague or talking about religion.

Their shame is too much to bear.

Genesis 3:9–13 ESV

9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The first thing we do is blame others for our sin.

The very last thing we want to do is to humble ourselves and take responsibility for what we have done

Sin hardens our hearts with pride, and out of pride we blame our circumstances, or our upbringing, our financial situation, our work, etc etc etc

The human heart is too prideful and stubborn to confess.

But confession or no confession, the bottom line is that God is holy.

Satan is a liar, but God is holy and good

And being holy, God hates sin and evil and does not allow it to go unpunished.

What is the number one thing that frustrates every South African?

We hate to see the evil crime taking place in our country - the murder, the rape, the corruption - and we hate to see it go unpunished.

We are angrily calling on our government to do the right thing and bring those who commit such terrible crimes to justice.

I can promise you this: God is a perfect and holy Judge who hates evil, and He will see to it that justice is done for every single crime.

Adam and Eve have just committed the most heinous crime imaginable - treason against the most High God.

And their sin does not go unpunished.

Genesis 3:16–19 ESV

16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

God lists the consequences of their sin:

For the women:

Childbirth will be incredibly painful

Men will rule over women, but that is not the punishment - that was God’s design from the beginning.

The consequence of her sin though, would be that women will resist their husband’s headship and leadership, and will strive to take the lead themselves

For men:

I pointed out last week that work is not a product of the Fall, but of creation,

But because of the Fall, work is now difficult. In pain and hardship we will have labour for our food.

But the most serious consequence of all is the reality of separation from God and from the covenant realtionship with Him, and the reality of death.

“… for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen 3:19)

“… in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:17)

“For the wages of sin is death…” (Rom 6:23)

This curse extends not only to Adam, but to all of Adam’s offspring, which includes you and I.

Adam’s sin brought a curse on all mankind.

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 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—

You and I will all die because of Adam’s sin.

There is corruption and suffering and death in this world because Adam sinned and God is holy.

That’s a fact. That’s a reality.

The question that must be answered is, will we forever be separated from God without any means of redemption and salvation?

3. God’s Promise

By God’s grace, there is hope.

And that, after all, is why we are here this morning, and why we celebrate Christmas every year.

We celebrate God’s grace in providing a Saviour. And that Saviour is promised right here in Genesis 3

Genesis 3:14–15 ESV

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Right there in verse 15, God announced the sealed fate of Satan, and the hope of mankind.

The seed of the women, her offspring, will be at war with Satan. Satan will bruise his heal, but he will crush Satan’s head.

And do you know what the rest of the Bible is about?

It is about revealing with more and more clarity who this offspring is, and how this promise will be fulfilled.

Its absolutely everywhere in every single book in the Bible.

It’s in the flood.

Its in the story of Abraham & Isaac

It’s in the story of Joseph.

Its in the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt

It’s in your favourite OT Christmas texts in Isaiah

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6 ESV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Its in the most clear Old Testament description of the gospel in Isaiah 53

In fact, what we will see even as we go through Genesis is that the entire line and genealogy from Eve to the promised one is traced, and we will follow the development of that line.

That line is traced in the opening chapter of Matthew, from Abraham to Isaac and so on, through to David and then all the way to “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ” - Saviour.

And that’s where we now see that angel appear to Joseph in a dream saying: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt 1:20-21)

How was Satan to bruise Jesus’ heal?

By seeing Him crucified on a cross, put to death as an innocent man by evil men.

How was Jesus to crush Satan’s head?

By offering himself up to die as a sin offering to the Father, paying the price of Adam’s sin and the sin of the world, and lifting the curse.

And by being raised from the dead, conquering once and for all death and Satan,

and assuring all who believe in Him that we too will be raised from the dead and be with him,

our sin atoned for and our souls justified once and for all.

GRACE

This is amazing grace!

That God Himself would come down to us as a baby, and as a man would take our guilt and shame upon Himself

And suffer and die in our place to set us free

God’s amazing grace is seen in this chapter!

Not only does He delay the death that he told Adam and Eve would come as a result of their sin, but he covers their shame

Genesis 3:21 ESV

21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Adam and Eve’s attempt to cover their shame was pathetic - some fig leaves for goodness sake.

All of our attempts to cover our shame are futile and pathetic.

But God, in tender grace, makes animal skins for them and clothes them, covering their shame.

This is a beautiful display of God’s grace and a wonderful picture of the gospel.

For God to have made those skins, an animal had to die

This is the first hint that the price of taking away their shame would be the death of another.

Lev 17:11 and Heb 9:22 - there is no forgiveness and no atonement for sin without the shedding of blood.

What Adam and Eve could not yet see but we now can…

...is that the Saviour Jesus Christ would shed his blood once and for all for the forgiveness of their sin and all who believe in Him

And that His blood would not just cover our shame, but take it away completely and forever.

Matthew 1:21 ESV

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

We celebrate Christmas because God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 has been fulfilled.

"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

What does this mean for us today? For you and for me?

It means that peace with God is offered through the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross.

Don’t hide from God in shame.

Don’t try to cover your shame with good works or trying to live a good life

All such efforts are futile.

We are raised with the story of Santa Claus and told that if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you will be rewarded

We carry that same mentality into our thinking about salvation, and it couldn’t be more wrong

Adam’s sin wasn’t that his bad deeds outnumbered his good deeds - one sin was enough to condemn all of humanity

his sin was unbelief, failure to trust God

Now the price of his unbelief and ours has been settled on the cross.

Turn now from your sin and believe in Jesus Christ.

Confess your sin and trust in Him.

Don’t rely on or trust in your works, but on the finished work of Jesus.

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:13 ESV

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”