The Temptation and Fall of Man

Opening Comments:

Please meet me in your copy of God’s Word this morning in Genesis 3. Today we return to our series through the first eleven chapters of Genesis we’ve entitled “Prologue.” So far, we have covered the first two chapters of Genesis and have seen much about the character of God, the creation of the world, the creation of mankind, and God’s special covenant with man. Man was placed into perfection and given only one prohibition. Yet, as we will see today, mankind's disregard for God and His word plunged the world into chaos.

Normally, at the outset of a sermon, we read our text together and then proceed to break it down verse by verse. Today, we will examine the whole of chapter 3 of Genesis but instead of reading it in its entirety at the outset, we will read it as we go. I’ve titled the message this morning simply “The Fall of Man.”

Introduction:

Many times as believers we get asked questions like:

How do you believe in God when the world is full of so much death and suffering?

How could a loving God condemn innocent people?

Indeed we live in a world full of crime, immorality, substance abuse, murder, violence, disease, famine, war and all kinds of sin and and evil. However, this has not always been the case. This world was created in complete perfection, there was a time when this world was untouched by evil. When man and woman lived in perfection and were untouched by sin. But one cataclysmic event changed all of that. Genesis 3 is the record of that event.

Be Basic (Chapter Five: Perils in Paradise)

“If Genesis 3 were not in the Bible, there would be no Bible as we know it. Why? Because the rest of Scripture documents the sad consequences of Adam’s sin and explains what God in His grace has done to rescue us.”-Warren Wiersbe

It was Adams disobedience of God, that plunged the entirety of the human race into sin and the world under a curse. Genesis 3 isn‘t some sort of fable or fairy tale, it’s history. If the fall of man did not occur the way that it is given to us in Genesis 3, then Christianity is built on lies. From Genesis 3 to Revelation 21 scripture records the conflict between God and “that old serpent” Satan, and calls for sinners to repent and turn to Christ.

What I‘m trying to say is that Genesis 3 is the lynchpin to the entirety of the narrative of scripture.

It records for us:

The Dialogue with Satan. (v.1-5)

The Descent of man into sin. (v.6-7)

The Discussion with God. (v.8-13)

The Denouncement by God. (v.14-20)

The Deliverance from God for Sinful man. (v.21-24)

Let’s dive into the text together this morning.

1.) The Dialogue With Satan. (v.1-5)

Genesis 3:1–5 NKJV

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Allow me to set the stage here just a bit. God has just created the world and mankind and has said that everything was good. Everything was ideal, man was in a literal paradise and could want nothing more. Then out of nowhere, we have this scene. The surprising part of the narrative is that the initiator of this dialogue is a talking snake. Now, we need to understand something, this is not a bad snake. We know this because everything God created was good. This also is not a good snake gone bad. At this point, there was no sin in the world.

Cunning- Does not mean does not imply evil. It has the idea of being cautious or wary. Perhaps even, the snake was not a regular part of the gardens pet population and may also explain why Eve wasn't put off by it talking. She was interested in observing it. Much like a child.

This snake, is simply being used as a tool under the control of Satan. The Bible doesn't give us much explanation for the existence of Satan and evil before the fall of mankind. Apparently, Satans being cast from Heaven happened somewhere before God’s creation and between Genesis 3. We can speculate but we just dont know for sure.

Satan, in the form of a snake, strikes up a conversation with Eve and notice his tactics:

A.) He attacks God’s Word. - “Has God indeed said...” (v.1)

Everything Eve had enjoyed up to this point in her life, God’s word had brought about.

Now, God’s very word was being called into question. In a sense he’s saying

“Did God really say, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden.”

Satan was very subtle. He didn't outright deny God’s word, he just distorted what God had actually said.

When God told Adam he could freely eat of any tree in the garden but one he was being generous. But, Satan twisted God’s word to make it sound like God was being stingy and just didn't want mankind to enjoy everything. In doing this, he sowed a seed of doubt for God’s Word in the woman’s mind mind.

B.) The woman’s ignorance and mishandling of God’s Word. (v.2-3)

The woman had every opportunity to say “No, that’s not what God said.”

But, instead she diminished God’s Word, then added to His Word, and then softened His word.

God had said Adam and Eve could eat of “every tree” but, Eve minimized God’s Word by saying “We may eat the fruit of of the trees of the garden.”

Her inexact and unenthusiastic account of God’s Word discounted his divine generosity.

Then, she added to God’s word “nor shall you touch it.”

God never said this, by adding to God’s Word, she was saying that God was not only not generous but he was so strict, unkind and vindictive that even an inadvertent touch would bring death.

Next she softened God’s Word by saying “lest you die.”

God had said “surely.” By leaving out this word, she removed the certainty of death.

Her revision of God’s Word, put her square in the way of harm and every time we diminish, add to and soften God’s word we do the same thing to ourselves.

C.) Satans Contradiction of God and His goodness(v.4-5)

“You will not surely die...”

The Hebrew literally says “Not that you shall surely die.”

Satan sets up His word vs. God’s Word by declaring God’s Word cant be trusted and is wrong.

He goes right for the doctrine of God’s divine judgement. It’s no coincidence that this is the first to be denied. He’s attacked God’s divine judgement since the very beginning and modern culture continues to do the same thing today.

Satan doesn't stop at just contradicting God, but he declares that God isn't good. In fact, He’s the opposite, He’s nothing more than a selfish ogre. Satan is painting God as repressive and jealous not wanting man to achieve all that mankind could.

Eve bought Satans lie hook, line and sinker. The idea that she could become equal to God, that she could be her own God, that she could become divine appealed to her in unimaginable ways and all she had to do was take a bit of that forbidden fruit.

2.) The descent of man into sin. (v.6-7)

In the narrative of Genesis 3, when we come to verses 6-7 the serpent disappears from view and were left with Eve and her thoughts.

Genesis 3:6 NKJV

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Eve fell for the same sin that entices us today.

The tree was physically appealing. (Good for food)- Lust of flesh

Aesthetically appealing. (Pleasant to the eyes)-Lust of the eyes.

Mentally appealing. (desirable to make one wise.) - Pride of life

1 John 2:15–16 NKJV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

After weighing all that Satan had said to her and her own thoughts, Eve took the fruit and ate it. But, notice then, she gave to Adam and he ate it too.

Adam was a part of this scene the entire time. Eve didn't run off and find Adam. Adam didn't weigh how much he loved Eve and couldn't be without her and so ate it. NO! He was a part of the conversation all along standing side by side with Eve, the text tells us he was “with her.”

Adam stood there and passively watched everything unfold. Satan wasn’t just talking to Eve, he was talking to Adam also.

While Eve may have been deceived, Adam was not.

Adam was supremely intelligent and discerning. Remember, he had observed and named all the animals. Adam sinned willfully and without hesitation. He was not deceived, he made a conscious decision.

1 Timothy 2:14 NKJV

14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

He willfully disobeyed God, because he assumed there would be no consequence for his disobedience.

In a moment, Adam and Eve went from being sinless and innocent to being sinful and full of guilt and shame.

Genesis 3:7 NKJV

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Satan had fed them a half truth. They did not instantly die, as they thought they might. But, in taking the fruit Adam and Eve began the slow descent to the grave. Their eyes were opened, they got the knowledge they sought, and saw themselves for what they truly were. Naked and in desperate need of covering their shame and guilt and unable to do it alone.

How effective do you think fig leaf loincloths are?

3.) The discussion with God. (v.8-13)

Genesis 3:8–13 NKJV

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

A.) They hide (v.8)

When Adam and Eve heard the rustle of the footsteps of God, they didn't run to meet him and walk with him as they had before. No, they run away from Him and hide.

Why would they hide from God?

They didn't want to face the consequences of their sin. Mankind still tries to run away and hide from God today but know one can escape the gaze of God. Every man and woman will one day stand before their creator just as Adam and Eve had too.

Proverbs 15:3 NKJV

3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.

Jeremiah 23:24 NKJV

24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

B.) God seeks and finds. (v.9-10)

When God asked “Where are you?” It was rhetorical, God knew exactly where they were and what they had done. God drew Adam from hiding and unto himself. God didn't accuse Adam but gently called out to Adam nudging him to confession and repentance.

But notice, Adam doesn't confess he just expresses his fear and shame before God.

C.) Blame shifting abounds. (v.11-13)

When God asks Adam, “who told you that you were naked?” Adam doesn't take responsibility, he shifts the blame onto Eve and ultimately onto God himself.

Then God turns to Eve and she says “It’s not my fault, it was the serpents fault.”

Adam and Eve did the same thing we do today, they failed to take responsibility for their own actions and sinfulness and shifted the blame everywhere else but onto themselves.

Adam and Eve weren't responsible people they were just merely victims of someone else's design.

Scripture tells us that know one, not even Adam can place the blame on anyone but themsleves for their own sin.

James 1:13–15 NKJV

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

We can’t blame God or anyone else for our sinfulness. It is our choice to sin just as it was Adams choice in the garden.

4.) The denouncement by God. (v.14-20)

There were consequences to the sin of Adam and Eve and for the actions of Satan and his tool the serpent. Just as their are consequences for the sin of every person on this earth ever since.

A.) The curse on the serpent and Satan. (v.14-15)

Genesis 3:14–15 NKJV

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Apparently, up to this point, the serpent was a legged creature because God pronounces a curse on the serpent in v.14 that it would crawl on its belly in the dust from this point forward. It would go from a figure of beauty to a thing of repulsion.

But more importanly than the serpent being cursed, Satan himself was cursed.

Genesis 3:15 NKJV

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

This is the first mention of the Gospel in scripture. God’s pronouncement of a curse upon the serpent and Satan turned into an announcement of grace for the world. This is a prophecy of the cross when Satan would strike the heel of Christ (the suffering on the cross), but Christ would strike a death blow to Satans head (through the resurrection and payment of the sins of mankind.)

B.) The curse on mankind. (v.16-20)

Genesis 3:15–20 NKJV

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” 16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

1.) To the woman

To the woman God pronounced a curse that because of her sin she would endure pain in child birth. She would have a constant desire to rule over her husband and yet God would have him lead the home. Adam and Eve went from a perfect marriage to one plagued with bouts for control.

2.) To the man.

The man was condemned to live in a cursed world where he would struggle for survival and for food until ultimately he would die and return to dust.

5.) The deliverance by God for sinful man. (v.21-24)

We need to understand that while God is just and was well within His divine right to place a curse upon the man and woman for their sinful disobedience of his command, God is also merciful and kind and we see this on full display in verses 20-24.

A.) Grace filled coverings (v.21)

Genesis 3:21 NKJV

21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

Up to this point, God’s creation had never tasted of the sting of death. Yet, in one foul swoop Adam and Eve have brought the curse of death into the world by their sinful actions. Their self made attempts to cover their sin with fig leaves had failed miserably. So now, for the first time, the world feels the sting of death as God slaughters an animal to make tunics of skin to cover the sinfulness of the man and the woman.

God had showed Adam and Eve his divine wrath yes, but now he shows Adam and Eve his divine grace in covering their guilt and shame. This is foreshadowing of the precious lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ who would one day come to give his life as a ransom for the sin of mankind on the cross of calvary.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Romans 3:25 NKJV

25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,

B.) God’s grace filled removal of man from the garden. (v.22-24)

Genesis 3:22–24 NKJV

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden of Eden, never again to live in its’ splendor. Two Angels, Cherubims, were stationed at the entrance to the Garden with a flaming sword to guard mankind from ever reentering. Yes, while the loss of their home was terrible, it was also a grace of God.

Adam and Eve, while living in the Garden had gazed on God’s presence as they walked face to face with God, but now because of their sin, this was impossible. Never again would they live face to face with God.

How is that grace you ask? Adam was given another 930 years of life on this earth, more than adequate time for Adam to once again seek God and rightfully proclaim His word. Adam would one day be given the opportunity after tasting death to once again live in the presence of God because of God’s wonderful grace.

Conclusion:

The Bible is the story of God’s unfolding grace upon sinful mankind. Genesis three contains the answer for all of the worlds problems.

The world is a mess because of the sinful condition of mankind. We live under a curse of death. A curse that can only be cured by the grace of God.

He freely extended grace to Adam and Eve in the garden when he shed innocent blood and he freely extends grace to all mankind the the innocent shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who would come to deal the death blow to Satan on calvary through his death, burial and resurrection.

Romans 5:12–21 NKJV

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Will you believe the gospel today? Will you live in the light of God’s grace today? Will you commit to share his grace with others today?