God's Response to Sin

Genesis 3:8–24 NASB95

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. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

INTRO: Have you ever found yourself in a spot where you are waiting on a response? It could be good or it could be bad… Maybe you have sent a message declaring your undying love for your crush and you are waiting to see how she responds. Or, perhaps more likely, you can remember a time when you disobeyed your parents. And you knew it. When I was a kid, I would sometimes get in trouble at church… snickering with my friends or whatever. I knew I was in trouble from the lasers coming from my mom’s eyes that penetrated the back of my head. On rare occasions, I would hear the threat, “You just wait til we get home....” Uh oh!!

In my childhood, I could count on receiving a consequence for my misbehavior. Parents, let me just encourage you here: this was a positive thing in my life, even though I hated it at the time.

Good parents respond to a child’s rebellion and misbehavior because that is what God has modeled for us.

Today, we continue to study the book of Genesis. As I’ve said before, the Bible is a grand narrative of God’s sovereign rule. We’ve looked at Creation already, and last week we eased into the second big theme of Scripture, that is the fall of man. The fall of man shows us the brokenness of humanity and all creation, really. And this points us to the longing we have for redemption, justice, peace, and love.

We saw last week the subtle wiles of Satan that led Adam and Eve to sin. Gen 3:7 left us in that awkward tension of waiting… waiting on God to respond to their rebellion. They knew that they had messed up. They were once naked and unashamed, but now, they were overwhelmed with shame and guilt.

God could have left them. He could have destroyed them… this is what they deserved.

So, this morning, I want us to walk through God’s Response to Sin as laid out in the remaining verses of Gen. 3. My prayer is that we will see that sin is serious, and God treats it as such. But beyond that, I hope to show you how Scripture foreshadows God’s response to my sin and your sin even today. Remember, God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If you picked up a bulletin, I encourage you to make use of the sermon guide on the inside flap. That’s there for your benefit as we walk through our points today, but also for your personal growth as you take time to reflect upon and talk through the discussion questions we’ve provided for you.

With that in mind, let us learn together, God’s Response to Sin.

In Genesis 3:8-11, we see that

God Exposes Sin (8-11)

Let’s read these few verses again (READ)

Now, we know that Adam and Eve were already aware of their sin- God gave them a conscience. You and I often know when we sin because God has written His law on our hearts. So, what do I mean that God exposes sin?

First, Let’s look at man’s posture: He was hiding from God in the garden (8b). This is a bit humorous when you think about it. God is not playing hide and seek- He knows about their sin, He knows where they are… you cannot hide from God!! But, Adam and Eve are afraid… In fact, they are Naked and Afraid! (You just thought that the Discovery Channel invented this idea for a reality show…)

Even in their fear, they were attempting to conceal their sin from God.

I’ve actually seen this a lot. People somehow think that God doesn’t see everything… That impure motive, that gossiping tongue, that manipulative spirit. Do you really believe that God does not know? Look, it does not matter if you use the incognito browser mode on your computer, God knows the types of web pages you visit.

When I say that God exposes sin, I mean that He brings it to light so that we are forced to own it.

God calls to Adam in the garden, “Where are you?” God knows… Adam knows.

God asks, “Why are you hiding?” God knows. Adam replies that he is naked and is afraid to be open before God. He admits that he has something to hide and does not want to be vulnerable. But God knows.

God draws it out, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree that I commanded you not to eat?” This is a rhetorical question… God knew the answer.

Despite Adam and Eve blame-shifting (12-13), sin was exposed and the guilty parties stood vulnerable before God.

This is the status of all humanity even today. Paul writes

Romans 3:23 NASB95

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

All of humanity, whether we acknowledge it or not, is vulnerable and open before Almighty God. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. We need to recognize that we are helpless and unable to save ourselves. If you are listening this morning, let me just emphasize this: there is no one who is free from sin… and it doesn’t matter how good you look on the outside, God knows, and He exposes sin.

Discuss: What sin in your life are attempting to conceal from God? How do you understand 1 John 1:9?

Next, in verses 14-24, we see that

God Confronts Sin (14-24)

God is just and holy. Sin must be confronted and dealt with. If sin is not dealt with, that would make God corrupt.

ILL: Imagine that there was a judge in Transylvania county who was hearing a case of a man accused of especially heinous crimes- kidnapping, rape, trafficking, and homicide. Multiple witnesses confirmed what the forensic and physical evidence showed. But imagine that this judge decided to dismiss the case and let the man go free because, well, it seemed kind of harsh to send him to jail. Would that be just?

Obviously no. And while this is true in major cases, it’s also true in minor ones. Justice is always just. Therefore, God must confront sin because His character demands it.

In the garden of Eden, God pronounces judgment; Consequences for this sin. These consequences can be broken into two categories: Temporal and Eternal.

Temporal consequences are those that take place in this life and are not always in place.

Let’s look at some of these as outline here in chapter 3:

Enmity between man and serpent (15)

There is a reason most people don’t like snakes… they don’t like you either, BTW.

Great pain in childbirth (16a)

Ladies, childbirth was not intended painful- at least not as painful. This is a consequence of sin

Marital Strain (16b)

This describes a sort of power struggle and I think that this verse expresses that which makes it challenging to accept the role of helper (remember that a couple weeks ago?) It’s no surprise that ladies sometimes find it difficult to submit to their husbands… that is a consequence of sin.

Cursed ground/ toiling.

Work is good. But, because of sin, work becomes toil. Weeds, thorns, poison ivy, killer insects- probably mosquitoes and gnats… these are consequences of sin.

No longer would the ground easily yield it’s fruit! Man has to work harder and longer in order to survive.

There are implied consequences here as well- The ground is cursed and thus creation groans. We can see, especially as we explore other passages of Scripture, that natural disasters- hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. are a consequence of sin.

Just as a criminal faces a sentencing, - even if he’s really sorry - these are temporary consequences.

Eternal consequences are pronounced as well. These consequences are revealed in death and banishment from the garden.

Death was not the original design, but rather the consequence of sin. As Paul reminds is in

Romans 6:23 NASB95

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

Discuss: What are some temporal consequences of your sin that you are living with? Do you struggle with God’s justice?

Death meant separation from the communion and presence of God. It meant unending suffering and brokenness.

This is the harsh reality that faces humanity. God not only exposes sin, but He confronts it with proper consequences.

Thankfully, even in Genesis 3, we see it foreshadowed that

God Remedies Sin (15,21)

There are 2 areas here that we can see a foreshadowing of redemption.

The first is found in v. 15b -(READ)

While we already saw the enmity between man and serpent, we can understand this to point to a time of ultimate victory over sin and Satan.

Through the seed of woman, one would come who would redeem mankind. This is anticipated by Eve, as we see her exclamation at the birth of Cain (Gen. 4:1), but we know- though we don’t have time to trace all the Scriptures this morning, we know that this was an indicator of a redeemer would be fully human. Moses speaks of him as a prophet that would be like Moses, but greater. Isaiah prophesies of the Messiah born of a virgin. Verse 15 alludes to this coming one who would bruise or crush the head of the serpent.

Secondly, we see in v.21 the foreshadowing of substitutionary atonement. (READ)

Some animal that didn’t deserve death gave its life in order to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve.

This points us directly to the sacrifices made throughout the OT in the days of the tabernacle and temple and even further to the One who, because of God’s love and mercy, would take upon Himself our sins and endure the full wrath of God.

Paul wrote

Romans 5:8 NASB95

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Perhaps a clearer picture is painted as we look at the book of Revelation:

Revelation 12:9–11 NASB95

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Friends, we are all sinners, but I thank God that He didn’t leave us that way!

God’s response to sin is just and righteous, but it’s also loving and merciful.

And let me tell you, this redemption- this remedy and victory is not automatic. Scripture tells us that we must repent of our sins, and surrender our lives to Christ, confessing Him alone as Lord and Redeemer. Just as Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3,

You were born broken and sinful. That is why you must be born again in Christ!

Whatever sin you are wrestling with, I pray that God will bring it to light this morning, and you will repent and be born again! You do not have to live a life that is doomed for eternity.

Discuss: How has God remedied sin for you? Who do you know that needs to hear this message of hope?