Paradise Lost - Genesis 3

OUTLINE

When I look at how evil our world has become and consider the temptations that people are faced with, I am tempted to say that Satan has changed. I’m tempted to say that the nature of sin has changed.

Sometimes it appears that our ancestors had an easier life because it seems that they weren’t faced with many of the problems that we see today.

• After all, Moses didn’t have to deal with pornography on the Internet.

• Isaiah wasn’t tempted to sniff glue or smoke crack.

• David didn’t have to face the temptation of cheating on his taxes.

• And surely Paul wasn’t tempted to drive too fast.

But when I read my Bible, I realize that Satan is no different today than he has ever been, the nature of temptation and sin is really no different, and the nature of the human race certainly remains the same.

I. THE DANGEROUS CONVERSATION 3:1-5

• Eve got into a lot of trouble when she entered into a dangerous conversation with the devil.

• The devil is the tempter and the very best thing you can ever say to Satan is exactly what the Lord Jesus said to him when he was tempted “Get thee behind me, Satan!”

1. The tempter

• The word serpent in Hebrew is the word nachash, which means “shining one beautiful one.”

• the word serpent at this time described a beautiful, shining creature, in fact, the most beautiful of all the shining creatures.

• Another name for Satan is Lucifer, meaning “bearer of light.”

• We know at one time, Lucifer was a powerful angel. That’s who is personified in the serpent.

What does the devil want to do to you?

• He wants to try to cause you to turn from God.

• He wants you to miss God’s best for your life so he is a liar, as Jesus said.

• He is the father of all lies.

• and the Bible also says he is a murderer.

• He wants to kill you.

• He wants to kill your joy.

• He wants to kill your purity.

• He wants to kill your purpose in life.

• He has it in for you!

• He hates you!

• As much as God loves you Satan hates you.

The Bible says the devil disguises himself as an angel of light.

• So when the devil comes whispering in your ear, don’t look for some hideous-looking demon. He’s always very beautiful and appealing.

2. The target

 who was the target of his temptation? Eve.

 Eve had been created from Adam and in this situation the devil waited until Eve was all alone.

 Whenever you tend to isolate yourself, that’s when you become an easy target for the devil.

3. The tactic

• The third thing I want you to notice is the tactic the devil uses on Eve, because it’s the same tactic he uses on us.

• In the last part of 3:1, the first recorded words of the devil in the Bible are, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

• The devil tries to put a question mark where God has put a period. The devil tries to make us think we’re missing out on a lot of great things in life by following God’s plan.

• When the Bible speaks, God speaks and when the devil comes along putting a question mark there, he is doing the same thing he did with Eve.

• He was saying to her, “Eve there’s more to life! You’re not getting everything out of life there is!

II. THE DESTRUCTIVE CHOICE Genesis 3:6-7

• Now where did we ever get the idea this was an apple? It wasn’t an apple.

• It was some kind of fruit we are not familiar with. It was some kind of fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

• This was the lost innocence, the loss of purity. What that means to me and to you thousands of years later is Adam and Eve–the father and mother of the human race–chose to sin.

• They planted in each one of us a seed, a tendency that when we are born, we all sin.

• Nobody had to teach you to sin. Nobody had to teach me to sin. It is part of our makeup.

• When they sinned, sin entered the human race.

A. What happens when you give in to sin:

“When the woman SAW the fruit of the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eye, and also for gaining wisdom.” Then, “she TOOK some and ATE it. She also GAVE some to her husband.”

1. Thought becomes temptation

Billy Graham: “You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”

2. Temptation becomes an act

• She handled it-she was playing with temptation…

• When Eve took it, she still hadn’t sinned. When you think something and it becomes a temptation and you handle it it’s still not a sin yet.

3. Act becomes sin

• Then the third step she ate it. It became a part of her. She consumed it.

3. Sinner becomes seducer

She also GAVE some to her husband.”

III. THE DIVINE CONFRONTATION Genesis 3:8-13

• They weren’t playing hide-and-seek. God knew where they were. He wanted them to admit it.

• Have you ever noticed how much we shift blame? It’s never our fault. It’s always somebody else’s fault.

• But God comes looking for them. Isn’t that a beautiful picture of our God?

• He’s a God who comes looking for us. Here’s the question that I want you to answer.

Question: “What are you hiding behind?”

• They’re hiding behind some little trees!

• trees of self-righteousness. “I’m a pretty good person.

• the tree of religion

• The tree of worldly success and business.

IV. THE DETAILED CONDEMNATION Genesis 3:14-15.

1. Satan: You will become a snake

• When Jesus Christ hung on the cross and said, “It is finished,” He was crushing the head of the devil!

• Romans 16:20 says, “And the God of Peace will soon crush the head of Satan under your heel.”

• That means because Jesus did it on the cross, you and I get to stomp on Satan all we want to!

2. Woman: Painful childbirth and submission to your Husband

Teshuga!

Don’t Blame God. Blame Eve!

3. Man: Hard work

• The third thing he said to Adam. “The environment is going to be hostile. There are going to be thorns, and brambles, and bushes.

• You’re going to have to work and through blood, sweat and tears you’re going to have to earn a living by the sweat of your brow.

• No longer can you just go out and pick fruit from the trees. You’re going to have to work to support yourself and your family.” Guys, that’s just part of what happened because of sin.

Genesis 3:20-21

• The Bible doesn’t say it, but I will not be a bit surprised when I get to heaven if we find out it was a lamb, a lamb God killed to cover Adam and Eve,

• because all throughout the Bible there was a lamb whose blood was shed to cover the shame and the sin of the human race. When Jesus died on the cross, he was our lamb whose blood covers us and forgives us of our sins.