Paradise Given; Paradise Lost

Psalm 91:9–16 NIV

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, 10 no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Deuteronomy 32:28–39 NIV

28 They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. 29 If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be! 30 How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up? 31 For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede. 32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness. 33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras. 34 “Have I not kept this in reserve and sealed it in my vaults? 35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” 36 The Lord will vindicate his people and relent concerning his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. 37 He will say: “Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in, 38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you! Let them give you shelter! 39 “See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.

2 Corinthians 11:1–6 NIV

1 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5 I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” 6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

Paradise Given; Paradise Lost

Three weeks ago, we looked at the creation of all things by God. When God looked back over all He had created, including man and woman, He declared it good. And so it was! However, it did not take long for that to change. Why? Because God had an enemy and he is determined to own or destroy all God’s creation.

James Packer, author of Your Father Loves You, wrote the following about Satan and sin.

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Evil, problem of

Evil, problem of

The Source of Sin

God is not the source of sin; he neither commits nor wills nor prompts it (James 1:13). God made rational creatures who were capable of loving him freely and by choice and that meant they could freely choose not to love him—which is what some angels and all our race have done. How such disobedience is possible, while God is Lord of this world, we cannot conceive; that it is possible, however, is undeniable, for it has happened.

How did sin enter the cosmos? Scripture tells us that Satan and his angels rebelled against the Creator before man was made (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6), so that when the first human beings appeared “that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan” (Rev. 20:2) was there to trip them up (Gen. 3). And “the tempter,” the “ruler” and “god of this world” (1 Thess. 3:5; John 14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4) still marauds with serpentine cunning and lion-like savagery. It is right to trace moral evil back to Satan as its patron, promoter, producer, director, and instigatory cause.

Where do the inclinations to evil which I find in myself, and so often yield to, come from? The Bible says their source is my own heart (James 1:13–15; Mark 7:21–23). Just as a cripple’s twisted leg makes him walk lame, so the motivational twist of my fallen heart—anti-god, anti-other, self-absorbed—constantly induces wrong attitudes and actions.

Your Father Loves You by James Packer, (Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986), page for February 24

This morning we are going to look at the event that cost us paradise.

Genesis 3:1–7 NIV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some 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 realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God.

Prayer

Adam and Eve had it all. Beautiful paradise was theirs to rule over. They had all the food they needed within easy reach. They had a peace and freedom in their relation with each other and with God, the Creator.

They had a special relationship with all the animals and the animals did not fear them, but allowed Adam and Eve to look after them.

In the coolness of the day, God would walk with them in fellowship. Talking, laughing, communing with them.

But one day all that changed. One moment of disobedience caused a cascade of consequences that they could never change and it has affected every person born since that day. Today we will look at that event as well as the promise of its return one day in the future.

I. Paradise Lost

The description of the creation event ends with a beautiful description of the relationship between man and woman.

Genesis 2:25 NIV

25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

They were unified in mind and spirit. Kent Hughes in his book Beginning and Blessing, puts it well.

Genesis—Beginning and Blessing Chapter 7: Paradise Lost: The Fall

Their one-flesh relationship reflected the eternal intimacy and order of the Holy Trinity and foreshadowed the intimacy and order of Christ and his bride, the church (cf. Ephesians 5:31, 32). Their intimacy was a substantial glory to God as a reflection of what always was and a glimpse of what was to come.

Creation provides for us an authority structure by order of creation. This is important to notice since we will find this disrupted shortly.

Genesis—Beginning and Blessing Chapter 7: Paradise Lost: The Fall

1) Adam was created first, a fact that Paul makes central in his argument for maintaining creation order in 1 Timothy 2:13—“For Adam was formed first, then Eve.” 2) Eve was taken out of man, which Paul likewise notes in a similar argument in 1 Corinthians 11:8, 9—“For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.” 3) Eve was designated Adam’s “helper” (2:18), whereas this could not be said of Adam. And 4) the authority structure of Genesis 2–3 rests on the careful order of God, the man, the woman, and the animal (serpent).

There was no need for clothing as there was no shame. There was no need for disciplined devotion as all of life was devotion to God. There was no effort needed to worship because the heart was full of worship naturally.

Then things changed. It is what we refer to as...

A. The Fall (vv 1-7)

Genesis history records that the serpent was shrewd. This was not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, we are told all creation was good. Even Jesus in Matthew 10:16 encouraged His disciples to be shrewd as snakes. However this snake was being manipulated by Satan. We find this recorded in Revelation 12:9.

Revelation 12:9 NIV

9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Now this conversation may seem odd to us. People are usually shy of snakes, however, remember that there was complete harmony between all creation and creatures in the garden. The woman had no past experiences to make her fearful of a snake.

Now here is where we see the craftiness of the serpent. He did not directly deny God’s word, but he introduced the idea that it was subject to our judgment. In other words, it had never before occurred to Eve to question God and God’s instructions.

It is also important to note the way the serpent addressed God. During the creation narrative, God had always been referred to as Elohim or Creator God. With the creation of creatures and man it changed to Yahweh-Elohim which is a Covenant-Redeemer name. In other words, Yahweh-Elohim suggests a loving, personal God more so than just creator. The serpent conveniently moves back to the less personal name of Creator God.

Eve could have quickly helped this conversation to take a better direction if she had used the more personal name, however, we find her following the serpents lead by also referring to God as Elohim, Creator God.

Satan then purposely misquotes God making Him sound stingy, like He would withhold something good from Eve.

Genesis 3:1 NIV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

In so doing, the serpent was planting the idea in Eve’s mind that perhaps God was not necessarily acting in Eve’s best interest. That God was holding something good back from her. Eve once again follows suit by misquoting God. She discounts God’s generous “every tree” to just “trees” and adds that now they are not to even touch the other tree which is a definite misquote. This misquote made god seem very strict and over dramatic.

This is common even today. When we do not like a warning or a prohibition, we magnify the way it was said to make it look unjust and ourselves victimized by the rule.

I had a co-worker that had a worn-out t-shirt he used to wear to the office. Our boss told him that it really was not appropriate office wear and he should consider wearing something else during office hours. This employee quickly went out and complained to co-workers that the boss had complained his attire was inadequate and he should buy some new clothes. This essentially is what Eve is doing. She is being lead by the serpent to feel discontentment and that her personal rights are being violated.

Sound familiar? It is a common complaint these days. It is so important that we be careful of the voices we choose to listen to. We cannot choose our co-workers, but we can choose our closest friends and it behooves us to make wise choices in who those are. I am not saying you cannot have friends that are not Christian. If we completely cut ourselves off from non-Christians, we could never fulfill our prime directive to share Christ with others. But the bulk of your time and the people you seek counsel from should be people of faith who you admire for their faith choices.

Eve could have defended God and stood up by stating how generous God was and the fact that He withheld one tree was for her best welfare, but Eve did not do that. She listened and allowed the serpent to lead her down a path doubt.

However, she is not alone. Remember Adam? Where is he while all this is going on? Re-read the event and you find he is standing right there listening to this whole conversation. He could have stepped in and said, “Eve, do not listen to this hogwash. God has been good to us and given us no reason to doubt him. Turn away from this serpent.” BUT, he didn’t. He listened, he watched, and when Eve didn’t drop dead and then offered it to him, he took it.

Scripture tells us that Eve was deceived but Adam was not (1 Tim 2:14). Adam as the authority for the woman was the one responsible because he did not step in and stop what was happening and even participated in the act. Therefore, the sin was attributed to him and death comes to us all through his sin. (1 Cor 15:21-22)

1 Corinthians 15:21–22 NIV

21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Well, it was only a matter of time before they would have to confront God. Remember, they had a practice of walking with Him daily in the garden. Why is it we always think we can run away from God when we have done wrong? But that is exactly what Adam and Eve did. They ran and hid from God.

B. The Confrontation (vv 8-13)

Genesis 3:8–13 NIV

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Gone is the harmony and companionship between humankind and God. Now, man and woman stand in shame before their Creator/their companion ruler. In fact, they do not stand at all. They run and hide. The state of their nakedness is no longer natural but is shameful and no one wants to take responsibility. Adam blames Eve. Eve blames the serpent. But look a little closer. Adam does not blame Eve alone. Adam is pointing a finger at God. “The woman you put here with me!” Adam is making a charge against God and so that viscous cycle has continued to spiral ever since. Men and women always blaming God for the consequences they suffer. No one willing to take responsibility for the wrongs they have done. Always pointing fingers at others and ultimately at God. This finger pointing is at an all time high in our nation these days!

God’s arrival is contrary to the picture the serpent and Eve had painted of Him in their discussion. They made Him sound like a selfish-scrooge, miserly and harsh in His punishment.

Now, God arrives on the scene (Lord God/Yahweh Elohim). He is fully aware of what has transpired. Yet He gives them a chance to come forth and take responsibility for their wrong only to be assailed with blame shifting.

God could have sent a messenger to cast them out and pronounce judgement. Or He could have come shouting and pointing a finger in their direction, but He didn’t. He came softly, quietly as any other day. Like a parent who knows their child has done wrong and feels the strings of trust broken, God now comes to them. The very fact that they are hiding shows the shift in their relationship with Yahweh Elohim.

God then pronounces...

C. The Curse & Judgement (vv 14-16)

Then God, like any parent who has found their disobedient child, sets down the consequences for their actions.

God begins with the instigator serpent. The serpent is a lower creature than man. The serpent (Satan) has set out with premeditation to harm man and woman and their relationship with God. Remember, man and woman were created in God’s likeness. To harm man is to insult God. It is a direct attack upon God and God always pronounces harsh judgement in such cases. This is later seen when the laws are given in Exodus and any animal that harms people is required to be put to death. In fact, the laws of God requires the death penalty in cases of murder. I know many are hesitant to support death penalties, but it is a grave sin to murder a man or a woman as all are created in God’s image.

This tragedy began with the serpent, so God begins with the serpent.

Genesis 3:14–15 NIV

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

God pronounces a curse upon the serpent. He will slither, eat dust and be despised all his day. There is no remedy for his curse. It is a judgement that will stand eternally. Even more, now directing Himself to Satan, God pronounces that a man will be born from a descendent of the woman Eve and this man will crush Satan forevermore. That man was Jesus Christ, and when Jesus resurrected from the dead, He efficiently crushed Satan’s head, but far worse is yet to come to Satan at the end of time.

Revelation 20:10 NIV

10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

There were only two places in the Bible where God verbalized a curse. This is the first and the second was when He pronounced judgement against Cain for the murder of his brother Abel.

After speaking to the serpent, God turned next to the woman who was deceived.

Genesis 3:16 NIV

16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Not only did their sin harm their relationship with God, but it also damaged their relationship with each other. Before they worked in perfect harmony; Adam leading and Eve helping. Now, however, woman would always battle man for control. Why are women mistreated culturally by men and need to fight to have normal rights? Why do other women abuse this and take it to the other extreme? This is why! It all began here! Adam and Eve had worked side-by-side in perfect harmony and contentment. But now all that was gone!

Childbirth was to help fill the earth and it was meant to be a delight, but now it would be hard and painful. However, God’s grace will be at work even in this aspect. Satan targeted the woman, but God would vindicate the woman by using her child to defeat Satan!

But now, is where we see sin come in. Remember what I mentioned earlier. The gospels indicate that Eve was deceived but Adam was not. Adam willingly and knowingly violated God’s command bringing into the world...

D. Judgement & Sin (vv 17-24)

Adam was not an innocent bystander. He would have God believe him a victim, but he was not. He used the helper God gave him to test God. Adam knew but Adam did not intervene. He watched to see what would happen to Eve and when he saw she was not stricken dead, he too took and ate. Ultimately, the sin was his and it has been passed down generationally. Look at Gen 3:17-19,22-24.

Genesis 3:17–19 NIV

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it 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 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Genesis 3:22–24 NIV

22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Food was abundantly available in the garden, but now man would have to work hard to make it grow. Weeds would ever plague man making growing food difficult. It would be hot, sweaty work and boy don’t we know it! Many of us here are or have been rancher/farmers and totally identify with this picture.

Then God removed them from the garden and placed a cherubim to protect it. Cherubim are divine angels of a high order that attend God and are His guardians of divine places. The tabernacle later had images portrayed around the Holy of Holies as did the later Temple in Jerusalem. They are large angels with the face of a man and wings like an eagle. Very imposing to look at I am sure!

God not only pronounced judgement upon Eve and Adam, but He also promised that one day they would be restored. There would be no restoration for Satan, but there would be for humankind, or at least those who seek to be restored. Those who repent and seek God, will one day be returned to paradise. And that brings me to our final note. The...

II. Promise of Paradise Restored (Gen 3:15)

God is not a selfish conniving dictator as Satan would have us to believe. God’s grace is evident throughout this event and the future events of the Bible.

God makes a promise in Genesis 3:15 to restore paradise. A man will come forth from the woman to defeat the enemy and restore God’s people. I have already spoken of this and we will continue to do so for as long as we live. Every time we preach Jesus crucified and resurrected, we are speaking of the fulfillment of this promise in Gen 3:15.

Look at God’s grace in Gen 3:20-21.

Genesis 3:20–21 NIV

20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Eve was given the distinction of giving life to all the living. We women, through our bodies keep the bloodline alive. Eve means “life” or “lifegiver.” This in itself is a victory over death. Life continues to move forward.

Next, we find Adam and Eve had constructed wholly inadequate clothing for themselves. However, God made them garments of skin. Not only did their sin affect them, but now even the animals they loved had to suffer to provide means to cover their shame. Animals are precious to God, but not as precious as the people He created in His image. Man would never achieve to fully support himself without God’s help.

Conclusion

Adam and Eve were created in God’s likeness, but they allowed a serpent to influence them to want more. They had the desire to be equal with God so they could be fully autonomous. They achieved this in some form.

Genesis 3:22 NIV

22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Genesis—Beginning and Blessing Exile and Grace (vv. 22–24)

What Satan had promised Eve had become partially true. Man had become like God. But the couple’s likeness to God was not glorious, as they had supposed, but ignominious.

They had sought moral autonomy, the power to decide what was right and wrong apart from God and his word. And all humanity has done this ever since.

Has this autonomy brought happiness, harmony, and success? If you are not sure how to answer, turn on the news and you will find the answer. It has not. We have suffered ever since.

Allow me to close with this video about the “Tree of Life.” I feel it lends itself well to understanding the events of Genesis 3 and provide a nice closing for our service.

Bible Project (4:52)

“Tree of Life” video

We still live in the world of the curse. The serpent continues to speak to any who will listen. Paul addressed it to his congregation in Corinth as read earlier. False teachers always speaking to appeal to people’s desires. They are rampant on the television, on YouTube, and on FB. The only way we can protect ourselves is to know God’s Word. We need to protect ourselves from misquotes and twisted ideas that would bend God’s Word to our will. It is God’s will we are to follow. It was in the garden and it was the same after the fall. Adam and Eve failed, but they did not desert God, nor did God desert them. They suffered the consequences of their actions. This meant removal from the garden. It dealt a blow to their relationship with God, but they did not entirely lose God. They ran from Him, but He came seeking them even though they had done a hurtful thing to Him. They had not trusted Him, but He continues to prove Himself worthy of our trust.

God has promised us a life in a new garden later on, but that does not mean that we have to live without God’s provision today. Like Adam and Eve, we suffer the consequences. Not just of Adam’s sin but of our own as well. However, it is never too late to ask for God’s forgiveness and put our trust back on Him. To place ourselves under the wing of His dependence. We do not have to wait for Him to provide for us in eternity. He is fully capable of providing for all our needs and problems today. Just like he provided the clothing for Adam and Eve then. Just as He helped Eve give birth to her first child. Just as He gave wisdom to Adam to cultivate a harsh land. When we allow Him to provide for us here and now, we become a beacon of hope to all those around us. We just need to remember to give credit where credit is due when people ask us how we came to be so blessed!

Please bow your heads with me.

Pray