[0:00] Let's begin from verse 8 through to the end of the chapter. The Word of God is a matter of life and death in terms of how we receive it.
[0:23] So may the Lord help us now to receive his Word and may he encourage us. Let's hear God's words. Chapter 3, verse 8. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the tomb of the day.
[0:40] And they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you? He answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.
[0:56] Then he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman you put here with me, She gave me some of the fruit from the tree and I ate.
[1:14] Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, The snake deceived me and I ate. So the Lord God said to the snake, Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals.
[1:32] You will crawl on your belly and eat, And you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, Between your offspring and her.
[1:43] He will crush your head, And you will strike me to you. To the woman he said, I will make your pain and childbearing very superior.
[1:56] With painful labour, You will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you. To Adam he said, Because you listen to your wife, And date from the tree about which I command you, You must not eat from it.
[2:16] Cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil, You will eat food from you, All the days of your life. It will produce thorns and pittles for you, And you will eat the plants and the fields.
[2:29] By the sweat of your brow, You will eat your food, Until you return to the ground, Since strong as you were taken. For dust you walk, And to dust you will return.
[2:43] Adam made his wife feed, Because she would become the mother of all the living. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, And clothed them.
[2:56] And the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, Knowing who is an evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand, And take also from the tree of life, And live forever.
[3:10] So the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden, To work the ground from which he had hidden. After he drove the man out, He placed on the east side of the garden of Eden, Cherubing him with flashing swords, Flashing back and forth, To guard the way to the tree of life.
[3:31] Well let's keep our Bibles open there, And just really pray together. Father, Your word is good for us, And yet sometimes we recognize that it is hard, Because it reveals truth about us, And who you are.
[3:56] So we pray that you will give us a heart, That will accept your word to us today, And submit to us, That we would be humbled by you, And you would lift us up, As we look only to you, To help us now we pray.
[4:19] Amen. Well it is all so crystal clear, What am I? Look at chapter 2, verse 16, The Lord God's command of the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, Such was God's generosity, In kindness and provision, You can eat anything, But, Verse 17, You must not eat from the tree, In the knowledge of good and evil, For when you eat from it, You will certainly die.
[4:52] A simple command, A test to show love and loyalty to God, But then came the deception, Chapter 3, verse 4, You will not certainly die, A certain said to the woman, For God knows that when you eat from it, Your eyes will be opened, And you will be like God, Knowing good and evil.
[5:17] The prospect of being like God, Was too great, The thought of deciding for themselves, What is good and evil, Was too enticing. And they believed, The life, Questioning God's word, Doubting God's goodness, Desiring God's place, What was meant to be, An expression of trust, In their loving creator, Turned out to be, The first steps of open rebellion, That simple act, That simple act, Of eating the fruit, Means man, Who replaced God with himself, They have pushed God from his throne, And shouted in defiance, I don't need God, Because I am God.
[6:04] But it's alive, But it's alive, Replacing God with ourselves, Is not a simple change in regime, It's hell, It's hell.
[6:21] Four words, Are going to summarize, In our text, This morning, Four words, To summarize, The consequences, Of man's rebellion, Here's the first, Conflict, In the beginning, Everything was good, Man created to reflect God's glory, Enjoying his relationship with God, But when God's word was rejected, And their word was fully replaced, Then conflict came.
[6:54] We see this conflict in a number of ways. First, There's conflict with God. Look at verse 8. 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.
[7:12] The joy and intimacy, Of knowing God, Of walking with God in the garden, Has now been completely reversed. Instead of trust, There is fear.
[7:25] Instead of openness, There is hiding. They neither want God, Nor are they looking for God. They're running and hiding, Covering themselves in lying and sections.
[7:39] Their friendship with God, Their friendship with God, Has turned to envy, Of God. The conflict also came with self.
[7:53] Look at verse 9. The Lord God called from us, Where are you? He answered, I heard you in the garden, And I was afraid, Because I was naked, So I hid.
[8:08] Fear and hiding. All of a sudden, Man has become conscious, That something was not right. He's now wracked by his guilty shame, No longer at peace with himself, Trying to cover over what he doesn't like.
[8:24] We might think of Adam's fiddlings, And how they've become our man, The things that we present to other people, To cover over our flaws, Our flaws and failures, Desperately trying to fit in and measure up.
[8:44] We're at war with ourselves, We set standards that we cannot meet, We seek desires that never ever fulfill. We are not at peace with ourselves, There's an inner turmoil.
[9:01] But the conflict goes further than himself, And God is seen with each other. We've seen, haven't we, Over the first few chapters, How God designed the bestesties, For male and female, With a beautiful fit.
[9:18] Man working, Woman helping, Together they served the purpose of God, The husband guarding and providing, The wife encouraging and supporting, Equality was nurtured, Difference was celebrated, But now, Look at verse 16, To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe, With painful labour, You will give birth to children, And then notice this, Look at the end of verse 16, Your desire will be for your husband, The desire of the woman, Is the same desire, Is the same desire, That sought to control the king, Have a look, Just jump ahead to Genesis chapter 4, The next chapter on, Genesis chapter 4 verse 7, We're going to come to this next week,
[10:21] But just thinking about where it says, The woman's desire, Will be for our husband, The same thing is repeated here, But look at this, Look at how it's put, Chapter 4 verse 7, If you do what is right, Will you not be accepted?
[10:36] But if you do not do what is right, Sin is crouching at your door, It desires to have you, Sin desires to control you, But you must rule over it, You must be the one that controls sin, Back to Genesis 3, You see, Sin seeks to control, And rule in harmful and negative ways, So the woman's desire for her husband, Is actually a desire to control, To manipulate, To get over her husband, Instead of gentleness, She becomes bossy, And nagging, And pouting, Undermining his lead, By exercising an autonomy, Everything becomes a fight, Within the relationship, As for the husband, Look at the end of verse 16, Chapter 3,
[11:38] It says there, The husband will rule over you, Rather than a rule, Which is serving, And sacrificial, And giving, It's a rule that may become, Domination, And control, Instead of, Nurturing his wife, So that she will flourish, And that she will become, All that God intends, He will crush her, And break her, Such rule is abusive, And harsh, Can you see, How everything is about control, One tries to get over her husband, The other one tries to keep her down, This is the conflict, We see played out in marriages, All around them, And more generally, Between the genders, Between male and female, Instead of team working together, Men and women are in this fight, In this battle, To rule the world, It's destructive,
[12:42] And this is ugly, That, The conflict, Rages on, Not just between each other, But with the world as well, Look at verse 17, To Adam he said, Because he has listened to your wife, And ate fruit from the tree, From which I commanded you, You must not eat fruit from it, Cursed is the ground because of you, Through painful toil, You will eat fruit from it, All the days of your life, In the beginning God had said to the man and the woman, Subdue the world, Rule over it, For your good and blessing, Now those roles have been reversed, It's like the world is now ruling over man, And crushing him, Verse 18, It will produce thorns and pitfalls, Brokenness, Suffering, The world is broken, It's in conflict with man,
[13:46] Floods and famine, Hurricanes and tornadoes, Sickness and disease, Everything is now decaying, It's all distorted, There is another conflict, A conflict with Satan, But we are going to come back to him in a minute, But all these conflicts, Conflicts with God, With self, With each other, With the world, Aren't they all experienced, To some degree or another, In our lives, Every single day?
[14:21] The struggle and the suffering, The conflict rages on, With increasing intensity, And there is only one winner, Who is the winner?
[14:36] Chapter 3, verse 19, By the sweat of your brow, You will eat your food, Until you return to the ground, To the fullness you are taking, For dust you are, And through dust you will return, We continue to fight, We battle on in the conflict, With weapons of pride and greed, But there is only one winner, Death conquers all, We are born fighters, And we die of fighters, The conflict ends in death, For every one of them, For every one of them, So first, Conflict, Second, Corruption, The conflict that we see, And experience all around us, Well it reflects, The deep corruption,
[15:38] That lies within us, This corruption, Is what the Bible calls, Sin, Sin is what happens, When the first man, And the first woman, Ate the fruit in the garden, And they were told not to eat, It wasn't a mistake, Or a misdemeanor, Sin is replacing God, With self, It says, I'm in charge now, I'm the boss, I'm calling the shot, You see, We're born sinners, We're born with Adam's sinful nature, Do you remember how King David put it?
[16:18] This is what he said, You can follow on the screen, For I know my transgressions, And my sins always before me, Surely I was sinful at birth, Sinful from the time my mother conceived me, But we don't become sinners, But we don't become sinners, But we don't become sinners, But we don't become sinners, But we don't become sinners, Later on in life, When we get bigger, Sinful at birth, Sinful from the time my mother conceived me, As soon as the egg and the seed, As soon as life is formed, There is a seed of sinful nature there.
[16:59] We're born sinners, In other words, In other words, We sin not just because we do bad things, We sin because we are sinners, That's why we don't have to teach cute little children, Who smile and gurgle at us, To get angry and move their child, We don't have to tell them that, We just do it, You see we're sinners by choice and nature, It's the corruption of our whole being, In fact we are so corrupted, We even resist God's gracious intervention, We are no, not me, Not me, Oh I would never resist God, I would reach out to God.
[17:52] Well look what happened to the man and woman When they first sinned, Look at verse 8 again in chapter 3, The man and wife heard the sound of the Lord God As he was walking in the garden in the coolest day, And they hid from the Lord God Along the trees of the garden, But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you?
[18:14] Now, this is not a game of hiding things, Let's not say that Adam has found the best hiding place in the garden, Or that somehow these fig leaves are camouflaged him, And where is it?
[18:30] No, God knows all, God sees everything, The calling of Adam is an opportunity to repent, To own up, To take responsibility.
[18:42] Verse 10, The answer is, I heard you in the garden, And I was afraid because I was naked, So I did. And God said, Well who told you you were naked?
[18:56] Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? Here comes Adam's opportunity. Can you see him there in the garden?
[19:09] Falling down on his face before God, Yes Lord, I did eat from the tree that you told me not to eat, I disobeyed you, I didn't do what I had commanded, I failed to guard and protect my wife, Forgive me Lord, for I have sinned.
[19:29] I mean that's what we would have done, No, instead of confessing to God, He blamed God very well.
[19:42] The man said to the woman, The woman, This beautiful gift that God gave us, You, you put her here with me, I mean if she got the design better, It would have been better.
[19:58] She gave me some of the fruit from the tree, And I ate it. You see it's never our fault, is it? It's only somebody else or something else.
[20:10] And it's not just the men who do the blaming either. Then the Lord God said to the woman, What do you think he's done?
[20:22] The woman said, The snake, The thief, It's him, And I ate.
[20:33] That's how corruptive we are. We don't like to take responsibility. It's only something or someone else's fault.
[20:44] Pressure at work. That's the reason I have an affair. I mean if pressure wasn't so great, I would have been alright. The car cut in on me.
[20:57] I wouldn't have got angry, But he was a really bad driver. She started. I'm tired. There's something we can learn here.
[21:11] Proverbs puts it like this. Whoever conceals their sin does not prosper, But the one who confesses and renounces things finds mercy.
[21:29] Searching, isn't it? Are we conceiving something? Are we hiding from God today? God came looking for the man and woman.
[21:41] Why? Because he longed to restore. Deal with the opportunity to confess, Not to steal. The problem is we're not deeper.
[21:54] We don't like to confess. We prefer to hide each other. We're corrupt.
[22:07] So there's conflict. There's corruption. And third, there's condemnation. God's response to our corruption may unsettle us.
[22:22] We're held accountable. And we are judged. It means two things. That's the passage certainly points out to us.
[22:33] First, it means separation. Look at verse 22. And the Lord God says, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.
[22:47] He must not be allowed to reach out his hands, And to take also from the tree of light and eat and live forever. In the garden that God had made, man and woman enjoyed life in all its fullness.
[23:02] A life full of goodness and blessing. They were eternally satisfied. Now God comes and says, They must not be allowed to eat from the tree of light.
[23:16] They must not be allowed to live on them. In fact, they were to be cut off from the source of life itself. Verse 23.
[23:27] So the Lord God banished him from the garden. They are banished. Separated from God. You see, God alone gives life.
[23:40] Not just physical life that he sustains us now with the breath that we breathe. But he gives us spiritual life. The life that we were made for. A life with God.
[23:51] But sin has broken in and has crushed and destroyed that relationship. That's the judgment we now face. We are banished. Shut out.
[24:03] Denied. At that. And that's what every human being is born into. A life without a relationship with God. It's not that we start out in a relationship with God and somehow make it bad.
[24:18] We are born into a life without God. A life that is unfulfilled and never satisfied as we go searching and striving.
[24:29] Instead of joy and peace, because of our corruption, we live under the judgment of God. Separated from the one who alone gives what we truly need.
[24:43] Now we might think, I mean, what's the big deal? I mean, it was just a little thing, wasn't it really?
[24:58] Isn't it just a bit over the top? Surely God, of all people, could put up with a few lives in the odd times. I mean, why bring it to attention?
[25:14] Why can't God just overlook what's going on and just ignore it? It would be so much easier. But here's the note.
[25:27] God loves us too much. He loves us too much. You see, to ignore sin or to overlook sin is to deny God his justice.
[25:40] Imagine if God were just a turn of blind eyes. The fruit is taken. Oh, I didn't see that really. You know, you can have access to the tree of life.
[25:51] It's all right. Do you know what that would mean? It would mean we can live as we please without any consequences. Nobody is so detangible.
[26:03] Nobody is punished. No wrong is ever close right. It's chaos and disorder. He loves us too much.
[26:16] Justice must be done. You see, God's banishment is just and fair. It's right and good. Verse 24. After he throws the man out, he plays on the east side of the garden of Eden, a cherubim that's like angels with a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the waves of the tree of life.
[26:38] To let man have access and to eat from the tree of life is to pretend that sin doesn't matter. It does.
[26:50] We are denied access to the life we so desperately need. Now, I don't find this easy. It's certainly not very wide of wants to write the story.
[27:05] And if we find this unacceptable, it means we do not really see ourselves as we should, and we don't see God as we should. You see, God in all his duties cannot have rebellious people in his presence.
[27:22] God is pure and good. God cannot tolerate evil. Sin disgusts sin. We might tolerate each other's behaviour.
[27:34] We can make excuses for one another. Oh, it's just their personality. It's just their character. It's just the way they are. We might even think that God is overreacting.
[27:45] But God's banishing man from his presence reveals just how serious it all is. Here's a quote I came across during the week.
[27:58] In the blindness of our sin, we are ignorant of our true condition, and we distort who God is. We are ignorant of our sin. This means we grossly underestimate the depth of our sin before God.
[28:13] Like fools who think ourselves wise, we vainly try to resent God in our own image. God must take action.
[28:25] And in verse 24, he takes action. He cries the man out. This isn't just getting what we choose. This is getting what we desire.
[28:39] Condemnation may unsettle us, but it's God's right response to the corruption in our own lives.
[28:50] The corruption. As God condemns and judges, God also makes a promise.
[29:09] You see, in the darkness of this chapter, in Genesis 3, there is a beam of glorious light. And it comes to us in verses 14 and 15.
[29:23] Have a look at verse 14. The Lord God has said to the serpent, Because you have done this, because of your deception, Cursed for you above all livestock and all wild animals.
[29:37] You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life. Satan is cursed. Whatever he was before, he is now humiliated, brought low by the Creator God.
[29:52] The one who thought himself crafty and clever, is now put into place. But there is something more. Verse 15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her.
[30:09] He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. Now there is a strange verse. What does that mean?
[30:20] Well, first there is the promise. There will be enmity. There will be conflict. We talk about conflict with God, with ourselves, with each other, with the world.
[30:34] There will be conflict between Satan and the human race. That will go on. He may be cursed and humiliated, but he has not given up his deception.
[30:45] People are still believing his lies. You can be like God. But God is not done. A victorious chanting has been promised.
[30:59] Look at what is said at the end of verse 15. He will crush your head. So God is talking to Satan. He will crush your head, Satan. And you will strike his heel.
[31:13] He. Who is the he? Well, it is a seed from the woman. One of her offspring is going to come. The woman's seed would be just like the first man, Adam.
[31:28] A son of a woman. But unlike Adam, he's going to love God. And he's going to be loyal to God.
[31:40] And he's not going to sin. Instead, he's going to inflict a blow that will ultimately crush Satan's head. The seed of the woman will be victorious and defeat Satan.
[31:56] He will destroy his hold over humanity. Although the woman's seed would suffer, Satan will strike his heel.
[32:07] It's not going to be faithful. He's going to live and be victorious. So who is his promise seed? Well, the promise seed is a serpent crusher.
[32:22] Have a look with me to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2.
[32:34] Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2.
[32:49] Hebrews chapter 2. As we lead through from Genesis towards the New Testament, we meet those whom God has raised us.
[33:01] Seed of the woman, offspring from the woman, whom God uses to crush his enemies and trample on the head of the wicked.
[33:13] But the problem is, everyone that comes is equally wicked. None of them deliver that once and for all fatal blow.
[33:24] That is, until we meet Jesus. Chapter 2. Chapter 2. It is speaking about Jesus.
[33:35] Since the children, that is, humanity, since they have flesh and blood, he, Jesus, shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those whom all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
[34:03] Satan promised life. Death is what came. Instead of being like God, we have been separated from God. But here is one who has come and who has delivered the fatal blow, Jesus, the serpent-crushed.
[34:21] And how did he win the victory? Look again at verse 14. By his death he breaks the power of him who holds the power of death.
[34:34] You see, Satan comes as the prosecutor, pointing out all our sins. Look at him. He's failed. She's failed. What do they deserve? They deserve death and separation.
[34:45] Shut out. That's what they get. And Jesus comes. He says, No, I've died.
[34:56] Their death was end. Jesus comes to us in the person of himself. A human being just like Adam, except he loved God and was loyal to God.
[35:09] Look at verse 17. For this reason he had to be made like him, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful, faithful high priest in the service of God.
[35:22] That he might make atone for the sins of the people. You see, the condemnation that we deserve fell in Jesus.
[35:34] Jesus was treated as sinful and corrupt for me. He died my death and was banished and separated from the Father so that I might be welcomed in.
[35:45] Through Jesus we now have access to true life. A relationship with God, reflecting his glory and enjoying his presence.
[35:58] Yes, Satan did strike Jesus at the field. Jesus was crucified and died. But that's fatal. But that strike was not fatal. Because three days later Christ rose again from the grave, proving his victory over Satan and death.
[36:17] In Jesus we have the life of fallen. How can this life be mine? How can this life be yours?
[36:30] Well, it comes through trust. It comes through faith in God's promise. Just go back quickly to Genesis chapter 3.
[36:43] Genesis chapter 3. The announcement of the serpent crusher was made to Adam.
[36:55] God had said that a seed would come from the woman who would crush Satan's head. And as God pronounced his judgment, he also promised salvation.
[37:08] God's promise was so clear. And so in Acts of Faith, look at chapter 3 verse 20. Adam named his wife Eve.
[37:20] Eve means living. Because she would become the mother of all the living. You see, remember what God had said to Adam and Eve, you'll die.
[37:34] From dusty cave to dusty witcher, you'll die. But not yet. Adam and Eve would live on a bit more, and they would have a family, they would have children.
[37:45] One of their offspring would come to crush Satan's head. And so by faith, Adam called his wife Eve.
[37:58] The one who would give birth to all. The one who would give life. And so as they look forward in faith to the one who is to come, we look back in faith to the one who has come.
[38:13] To Jesus, the serpent crusher, who has dealt that faithful blow once and for all, so that we might live forever. No more condemnation.
[38:24] No more separation. But enjoying life with him forever. Let's pray together.
[38:37] Father, we stand back and see the mess that sin has caused.
[38:58] All we can thus bear with us to know the mess. Theクلي comfort, the crux of your immune system … William, complete … … … The one who has dealt that final blow once and first so that we might have life today.
[39:34] Thank you for what you have done. Thank you that we can now have access to God. We can live in his presence without fear, without hiding, without worry.
[39:48] For you will never ever turn us away. You will welcome us with open arms. And when we sing, you will forgive us. And you will go on changing us to be more like your son.
[40:07] Thank you for this gift of salvation. Thank you for what you have done. Amen. So we are going to sing, in Christ alone my truth is banned.
[40:23] These are on me. The only one.