[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:14] All right, take your Bibles of Yulet and go to Genesis chapter 3. I'm excited to share with you man's worst day, but a beautiful day as you see what our great God does.
[0:25] It's Genesis chapter 3, and we're going to read some verses just because I wasn't here, and I just want to go over them a tad with you. And we'll start in chapter 3 and verse 1.
[0:35] And I'm calling this a God of great grace on man's worst day. A God of great grace on man's worst day. You know, this is a chapter about the fall. This is a chapter where man falls from all that God had prepared for him, is cast out of the garden.
[0:51] This is a very dark day. But at the same time, this is probably one of the most exciting days you can imagine. It's the day your God shows what a wonderful and a good God he is.
[1:01] And we'll get to that. I hope you'll get to go home with that tonight and understand that truth. Go with me first to verse 1. And I want to just remind you, Trent, I'm sure covered all this well with you. But I want to just remind you that from the very beginning, Satan's number one way to work in your life is to try to cause you to doubt the Word of God.
[1:19] If you would, in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1, the Bible says, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yeah, sure, sure, yeah.
[1:31] Yea, have God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And I hope you already have it surrounded, marked. Arrows pointed to it. The devil's way is to say, Sure, that's what God said.
[1:43] So the very first time I see the devil and I watch him come at man, his first thing is to say, I don't believe the book. I don't believe what God has to say. I don't believe God. I don't believe God's Word.
[1:54] And in verse 4, the serpent said, verse 4, The serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die. And I can't preach about this tonight, but I just remind you that every one of you are going to, everywhere you turn, people are going to cast doubt on the Word of God.
[2:07] They're going to say, Did God really speak? And you're going to have to know this. That's exactly what the devil's been saying since the first time we see his ugly face in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1.
[2:17] And then I want you to look at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 3. And I want to remind you that what causes the big problem is that we like to add to what God says. And if you'll notice Genesis 3, 3, it says, But of the fruit of the tree, which is the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
[2:37] Now that's a good independent Baptist verse right there. In other words, God said one thing, and we add another thing to it to protect it like God couldn't protect what God had to say. Two or three things are interesting there.
[2:49] You know, if you play with the Word of God and you add to it, you'll fall into error on one side or the other side. If you add to the Bible, you're always going to get in trouble. If you add to the Bible, that's why whatever it says, let's just say that.
[3:00] Some people ask me all the time, What do you believe? I say, Well, in that passage, I believe exactly what that says. Somebody said, Well, that doesn't seem to line up with that one. I say, Hey, when I get that one, I believe exactly what that one says. And you say, Do you understand how they work together?
[3:10] No, I don't all the time. But here's what I know. If he said it, I believe it. It's the Word of God. I'll trust it. Don't add to God's Word. You don't have to defend it. You don't have to come up with a gap theory.
[3:22] You don't have to have a day-age theory. He created the world. He said he created the world. You don't need to add to it. Just take God at his Word. Look at chapter 3, verse 5. Satan and sin always make us think God doesn't treat us fairly.
[3:34] That's another big thing that the devil's doing. Chapter 3, verse 5. For God knows. God doth know that in the day you shall eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
[3:47] Hey, you know what? God doesn't want you to have that tree of knowledge of good and evil because he knows it would be really good for you. You'd have all kind of wisdom. You'd have all kind of knowledge. You'd be really smart, and God's trying to hold out on you.
[3:59] And that's another lie you're constantly hearing. If I serve God, God's holding back on me. If I serve God, things aren't going as well. That's a lie from the devil. You want to be ready to know about that when you see it.
[4:09] The next thing is we exercise our opinion. These are just things I want to say that I didn't get to say. How about that? Look at chapter 3 and verse 6. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food.
[4:22] Doesn't matter what God said. She looked at it, and she said, hey, I like it. It's pleasant to the eyes. It's going to make me wise. She looked at the fruit. She ate of it, and she gave it to her husband, and he did eat.
[4:34] And here's what we'd like to do. Well, you know, I know the Bible might say that, but I kind of think this, and so I'd like to apply this, and I want to do this, and I think that's best.
[4:44] And this is my opinion of what I ought to do. That usually gets us in trouble. Verse 7. Sin brings shame. We need to try to cover it up and hide it and try to hide who we really are.
[4:55] Chapter 3, verse 7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
[5:06] I could spend a long time on that. Isn't that amazing? All the time they were in the garden, they were already naked, and they just didn't know they were naked. God had covered them with his glory.
[5:17] God had covered them in such a way they weren't ashamed, and they weren't embarrassed. But the second they disobeyed God, embarrassment and shame, hiding comes into play. Verse 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.
[5:35] Well, he'd been naked all along. But something changed, and he heard his voice, and he was afraid. And there's a whole lot of things I would like to say to you. I'll try to say it a little bit later.
[5:47] But do you notice this? Adam does wrong. Eve do wrong. And they're going to be cast out of the garden before the end of this chapter is over. But you know, it wasn't them that came looking for God. It was God that came looking for them.
[5:57] It wasn't them that said, I need to work out a way to make things right with God. They tried in their own flesh and their own ability. But our good God went looking for them.
[6:08] And that's the whole story. Often missed when you read that. God comes down, and God seeks for man. Chapter 3, verse 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden.
[6:19] In the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God amongst the trees of the garden. I just like real quick, did you notice who did the hiding? You know, somehow you get the feeling I sin and God hides from me.
[6:32] No, you sin and you hide from God. Isn't that an amazing part of the story right there? They sin and they hid themselves. You've even been led to believe that God just wants to walk away from you.
[6:44] But the God of great grace on man's worst day comes looking for man and showing his love to him. It was their conscience that condemned them, not our God. Look at verse 11.
[6:55] Who told you you were naked? Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree where have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Who told you? Now Adam and Eve handled sin just like we always do.
[7:08] They shifted the blame. Never my fault. Adam's going to say it's not my fault. It's Eve's going to say it's not my fault. It's the serpent's. And of course the serpent's going to say it's the devil's fault. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 12.
[7:20] And the man said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat. Now I wish you'd underline in verse 12 if you got your Bible open there.
[7:31] You know he's really not blaming the woman as much as he's blaming. He said, God it's the woman you gave me. And if you hadn't have given me that woman, then things wouldn't have gone wrong. You messed up.
[7:42] In all honesty before it's over, we tend to like to blame God. In verse 13, the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that thou hast done to the woman? He said, well the serpent beguiled me. And I did eat.
[7:53] Verse 15. The first great promise of salvation. And that verse ought to be circled in your Bible. Arrows ought to point to it. It's the first time. And God gives a great promise of salvation.
[8:05] He says, and I will put enmity between thee and thy woman and between thy seed and her seed. And it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. That's a great promise. Woman, you messed up, but I'm going to let you be the gateway to bring the child of God himself to this earth.
[8:21] Who will die on a cross and your seed, Jesus, will die on a cross. And Satan, he will stomp Satan's head. He will crush Satan's head. His heel will be injured, but he will crush Satan.
[8:32] A great promise of salvation. Father, I pray now that you would help us as we look at the passage of scripture that's before us. And I pray you'd help us to see how great a God you are. What great grace you have on our worst day.
[8:45] How wonderful you were to us. And I pray, God, that you would be magnified and glorified in the hearts of every person in this room. I pray, God, that our hearts would lift in praise as we think about how you created the world.
[8:56] Made everything right and good. And you saw that it was good and you were pleased with what you'd done. And I'd like to ask you, Lord, to help your people to see tonight that on the day we messed up, you were there just like always.
[9:07] And salvation starts with you and you come to us. And it's you doing it. And we can praise you and worship you. And that's why we sing to you. I pray, God, you make this real to us tonight. And I'll give you praise for it all in Jesus' name.
[9:18] Amen. Maybe you could write down a few of the words. Number one, the curse. Look, if you would, in verse 14. Chapter 2, verse 14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed.
[9:31] Thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. And upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And in verse 17, he said unto Adam, because thou hearken to the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake.
[9:49] So just real quickly, you know, when we hear the word curse or God's put a curse or there's a curse, we probably don't pay attention or think about what that means. But God's removing his blessing.
[9:59] God's placing the opposite of a blessing on them. He's causing humiliation. The serpent loses his dignity. He slithers on his stomach. The earth that was going to produce abundantly now brings forth weeds and thistles.
[10:13] The snake, it appears, walked upright. Now he slithers. The serpent was cursed. The Lord said the serpent was cursed. The ground was cursed. And I'm, because I want to cover all this chapter.
[10:25] I just want you to see something. It never said Adam was cursed. And it never said Eve was cursed. They will bear the sins of their, or the consequence of their sin. But the curse was on the ground and the curse was on the snake.
[10:37] And the curse wasn't on Adam and Eve. How about that one? Go read your chapter. Genesis chapter 3. That's all the, all the, all the missionaries and students will go check me out. He didn't curse them. He cursed the ground.
[10:48] He cursed the snake. But the second word you ought to write down is there are always consequences for sin. There are always consequences for sin. Look if you would in chapter 2 and verse 16.
[10:59] He says to the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and not conception. In sorrow you'll bring forth your children and your desire shall be to your husband. And he shall rule over you.
[11:11] And unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife and hast eaten the tree of the tree, which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. And sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
[11:23] Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field. And the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return of the ground. For out of it wast thou taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
[11:37] And Adam called, and Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was a mother of all living. Notice if you would, and this is the touchy part. And you might not like this part.
[11:47] So just hang on right here. The first thing, the woman bears a consequence in the story. Notice what God does to her. Childbirth is going to become painful for her.
[11:59] Now she's going to have children before. Don't forget in Genesis 2, in Genesis 2 and in Genesis 1, she was told to go forth and have children. And now he says, now I'm going to see to it there'll be pain with your childbirth.
[12:12] And then he says, there's also going to be pain as you raise your children. They're going to break your heart. Go back up to verse 16. Under the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception.
[12:24] And in sorrow, again, another sorrow, shall you bring forth your children. You know, it's like, it's like it's hard to get them here. And it's hard to keep them. And if you've been a mother raising children, you know, the fear of seeing your child get hurt or the fear of a parent in a school as people with a gun go in and shoot somebody or a tornado goes through another city.
[12:44] You know, the heartache and all of that that would go on. But here comes some hard, here's the hard stuff. In our society today, the lady always wants to rule over her husband.
[12:55] And if you would go back to verse 16, he said, under the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. And sorrow shalt thou bring forth thy children.
[13:06] And thy desire shall be to thy husband. And he shall rule over you. There's all kinds of opinions about it. So I'm going to give you an opinion. And if you come up with a different opinion, that'll be fine.
[13:18] And the woman no longer will willingly submit to her husband as his helper. Just a few verses before there in the garden, she was made to be a helper. Did you know she never had a name except her job?
[13:30] She was called a helpmate. She's a helper. She's there with him. God doesn't really name her until he names her in chapter 5. He's going to call her Adam. He's going to call both of them Adam because they're one flesh.
[13:42] And Adam's the one who will end up naming her Eve. And she was made to be a helper. She knew she was made to be a helper. She was told she was made to be a helper. But all of a sudden, she no longer will willingly submit to her husband.
[13:53] Now there's going to be open conflict in their marriage relationship. And the woman won't think it's fair. And she's going to say, you're ruling over me. Well, wait just a minute. God made him and made you as a helpmate.
[14:04] God made you to work with him. God made that relationship. But now you can't handle it. The woman is already a helper. She was already submissive before now. But sin interrupts the happiness of that position.
[14:18] Woman will desire to be his mother. Fix him and lead him. Can I just say, ladies, and probably won't enjoy this, in our society in 2013.
[14:31] But there are still roles in the family. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 1 through 3, you're going to find out that the head of, that God's the head of Christ.
[14:41] Christ is the head of man, and man's the head of his wife or the woman. And that's God's relationship. And that's the way God built it. And that's the way God wanted it from the very beginning. And our heart is always to rebel against whatever God has placed in our lives.
[14:54] And so all of a sudden, there's so many problems in our marriages. This very week, I dealt with it out of state. Not here. Not a missionary. But I dealt with it this very week about a family where a lady is doing everything in her power to control and fix her husband.
[15:08] And so they're on the verge of a divorce. And I'll start telephone counseling and discipleship with them about their marriage. But it came down to this. I don't want to be ruled over.
[15:20] I don't want to be ruled over. It's probably not a very popular thing for you to hear, ladies. But God made you to be a helpmate. God made you to respect and honor your husband. You say, I don't think that's what the Bible says.
[15:32] Well, go to Ephesians chapter 5. And before he ever talked to the man, he told the woman to submit to her husband. And three times in the same passage, he says, woman, submit to your husband. And by the way, the man ought not rule over his wife.
[15:43] That ought never be the attitude. She ought to have the attitude. He ought to have the attitude that Christ had. Because in the same passage, three times, the man's told to love his wife like Christ loves the church. Sin brought consequences.
[15:56] The hurt with children and the hurt in marriage. Sin brought consequences. The hurt with children and the hurt with marriage. I don't want that. I want to honor God. I want to avoid all that I can. I want, because I want to do the right thing because I'm, can be a spirit-filled man and I can have a spirit-filled wife.
[16:11] Look at number 17, verse 17. Here's the consequences for the man. By the way, these are consequences. He didn't curse them. And in case you wonder what's happening that day, can I remind you that though the end of this chapter, he will put them out of the garden and he'll put an angel to guard the entrance with a sword so they can't get back in.
[16:29] But even that was a loving thing that he was doing for them. He wanted them to know they had sinned. He wanted them to know they couldn't fix themselves. He wanted them to know they couldn't get back into the tree of life to help them live forever. He wanted them to know he had a plan.
[16:41] But there are consequences. And there's the ladies. The consequence of the man, verse 17. Cursed is the ground. Cursed is the ground. I think it's exciting. Our interesting man, you know, she was wrong to try to usurp authority over him.
[16:57] But could you look at verse 17, men, and realize this? Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree to which I commanded you, said, thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake.
[17:08] And sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of your life. You know where he went wrong? He heard from God. He knew what was right. I don't personally think God ever spoke to Eve.
[17:19] I think Genesis chapter 2 lets it be pretty clear that God gave instruction to Adam. And Adam was supposed to disciple and lead and guide his home. But Adam was just like, we're just like our father.
[17:31] He's our dad. We're just like him. And we don't take our position very seriously. We're not the spiritual leader of our home. We don't tell him. And so our wife comes away with some off-the-wall theology.
[17:41] Don't touch the fruit. Don't touch it. Don't even touch that tree. She comes out of that maybe because he looked at her and said, Now look, God's going to kill us. So stay away from the stinking tree. You hear me? You touch it, we're all dead.
[17:51] Maybe that's how it happened. I'm not sure. That's probably where she messed up. But you know what? This man wasn't a spiritual leader. He didn't lead his home. He hearkened to his wife and he did what he knew that God didn't want him to do.
[18:05] And now he'll have to work a cursed earth. And his work will be painful. And he will have lost all the pleasure. Can I remind you that he was going to work in the garden?
[18:16] You remember that? He was going to work in the garden. He was going to take over the garden. He was going to manage the garden. But you know, there's a lot of difference. There wasn't going to be thorns and thistles. There weren't going to be just rocks popping up all over the place.
[18:27] There wasn't going to be like the sweat of his brow. It was going to be a just an exciting, desirable thing to do to take care of all that God had given him. But all of a sudden it had become painful.
[18:39] Job 7.1. And it says, is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hireling, a guy that just gets a job? As a servant desires the shadows. Man, I can't wait for evening to get here.
[18:50] As a hireling says, pay me for what I've done. Looks for the reward of his work. His work will be toil. Just listen to this now. You know, biblically, work is dignity again for us as born-again believers.
[19:04] Because we no longer work for another man. We work for Jesus. We don't work as men pleasers or eye service. We don't do it because somebody's watching us. No matter where our job is, no matter what we're doing, we're doing it from a heart because we're doing it as to the Lord.
[19:19] And the Lord Jesus returns dignity to work for us. The next consequence is found in verse 19. It was a consequence to the human race. He said, in the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread.
[19:32] You'll return to the ground. For out of it were you taken. And for dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. So God says, you're going to die. I made you out of dirt, and I'm going to make you go back to the dirt.
[19:44] And every day while you scratch the dirt to get ready to get enough to eat, you'll remember this. I took you out of dirt, and you're going back to the dirt. We're reminded of that every time we go to a graveyard, and every time we bury somebody.
[19:57] Probably one of the most horrendous sounds that most families hear is when the dirt's thrown on the casket, sitting down in the hole that I've gotten in America. We've gotten real good at hiding that. Not so easy sometimes overseas.
[20:09] In the middle of all of that, Adam figured out, boy, God's good. In the middle of the consequences of his sin, in the middle of getting called on the carpet, in the middle of all that, Adam says, man, I figured it out.
[20:25] We're not going to die. Look, if you would, at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 20. God's going to give us a second chance. God's going to give us an opportunity. Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
[20:38] In the middle of death, hey, the day you eat of it, and that day you'll die. They're going to die. And in the middle of that, Adam's listening to the story. He's heard verse 15 already. And Adam says, hey, Eve, you're going to be the mother of all living.
[20:52] And he's basing that probably on verse 15, because in verse 15 he said, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, and his seed shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
[21:05] There was a first mention of the gospel. God declares war on the devil, and God tells that woman who messed up, who just lost all of her dignity, you get to get your dignity back. You get to get your dignity back.
[21:16] From now on, every time, in fact, in Genesis chapter 4, when they first get a baby, the first thing Eve thinks is, I got the man. I got the man. He said, I get a man. He said, my seed would crush the head of the devil.
[21:29] And it didn't turn out to be that way, and it won't be that way for years. But every little Jewish girl, and every girl that knew the Bible knew, any day now, God may let me be the mother of his seed. And God may restore unto me, the dignity unto the ladies, and let us be the mother, even of the Lord Jesus as he comes.
[21:46] In Romans 16, 20, the Bible says, and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. We will crush his nasty head because we're in Christ.
[21:56] And the Lord Jesus died on a cross, it was buried and rose again, and he crushes the head of the devil, and we are in him. And for you ladies, 1 Timothy 2, 13 through 15, she shall be saved in childbearing.
[22:09] Boy, she gets rescued. This lady who messed up, and this lady who caused the sin to come into the earth also was allowed to bring the Savior into the earth. Now go with me to Genesis 3, 21.
[22:22] I want you to see a God of great grace on man's worst day. Look at verse 21. Look at the covering of sin and shame. In verse 21, the Bible says, unto Adam also and to his wife did God make coats of skins, and he clothed them.
[22:38] I want you to look at the chapter with me. I want you to go back and read this chapter. God did not embarrass man. He knew he had sinned, and he knew he was shamed, but God didn't embarrass man. God didn't come after man and curse man or anything else.
[22:51] Man had sinned against God, and he knew he'd sinned against God, and he figured out he was naked. And man tries to cover his insecurity and his nakedness with what he could do. It's amazing.
[23:01] In the garden, they were true, open intimacy. Nothing was hidden. Sin comes in, and everything is shame and embarrassment. The intimacy is gone. The openness is gone.
[23:13] It's gone. Now Adam and Eve, who just a few days before were enjoying all God made for them and now making coats of skins, of leaves, and hiding in the leaves, embarrassed and ashamed.
[23:24] Shamed in front of God and ashamed in front of each other because that's what sin does. Did you know almost every marriage problem you have could be fixed with one thing? Your spiritual life.
[23:34] It is not a matter of your husband being a better man or you being a better woman. If you get right with God, if both of you got right with God, you'd fix the problem. You want the truth? Families problems are sin problems.
[23:46] Family problems are wives doing their own thing and men doing their own thing. There are only two religions and they're found in the chapter. There's a religion of leaves and there's a religion of skin.
[23:59] There's a religion of work and there's a religion of grace. The skin means an animal died. You don't usually give up your skin.
[24:10] And I know what kind of animal that was. I know what kind of animal that was because I've read the rest of the story. In Genesis chapter 3, you wouldn't know what animal died that covered their sin. You wouldn't understand maybe because you'd read that and you say, man, he got a skin.
[24:22] I wonder where he got the skin. I wonder who gave the skin. I wonder what animal got the skin. Did he kill the snake and make a covering for him? Where did he get it? But all through the Bible, it's told. Look at John 1 29 and you know the verse.
[24:33] Maybe you ought to write it down right here in the margin of your Bible. The Bible says, the next day, John sees Jesus coming unto him and he said, behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.
[24:44] He said, hey, here comes the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8, the Bible says, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
[24:59] Did you know before man ever sinned, God knew he was going to sin. And before man ever sinned, God already had a plan. And when man messed up and man was hiding, God came down and said, I've got a plan to save you.
[25:10] I made the plan before you ever got here. I'm not fixing up something I messed up. I'm fixing up something you messed up. I have a plan. The Lamb slain. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, the Bible says, him, Jesus, capital H, being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken him by wicked hands and have crucified and slain.
[25:30] The Jews thought they killed Jesus. The Romans may have thought they killed Jesus. But the writer of Acts, Luke, he says, hey, he was delivered by the determinant counsel of God.
[25:42] God already had it planned. God already knew what was going to happen. You just carried out God's plan. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, one of my favorite verses of the Bible.
[25:55] The Bible said, the Lord makes them coach the skins, right? Look what it says. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Can you imagine all they have seen so far has been a beautiful garden?
[26:09] Everything's alive and everything is vibrant. All the animals are happy. There aren't any sick animals. There's nothing deteriorating and nothing bad in the garden. And all of a sudden, for them to be covered, an animal dies and blood is shed.
[26:23] And it was a picture of exactly what happens for me and exactly what happened for you on the cross of Calvary when God took all of my sin and all of my failure.
[26:34] I mean, we're in the book of Romans. What a horrible part of the Bible we're reading right now when every verse says, you sinned, you sinned, you sinned, you sinned, you sinned. All I got to say is you sinned.
[26:44] I went in the office and the guys came in and said, man, it's like we're terrible. Yeah, we're terrible. And Jesus died. Jesus died to pay that sin debt.
[26:58] Could I remind you? He did that on his own accord and of his own will. It wasn't theirs. And they didn't ask him and they didn't pay. They just accepted a free gift.
[27:11] Not one mention, as I've said there, where Adam said, God, is there any way you can make a way? Is there any way you can fix things? God, I know he's messed up and I know I messed up and I wish there was a way you could fix things.
[27:22] I wish there was a way. No, that's not what Adam said. Adam said, oh boy, we're in trouble. We're going to die and we're naked. Get some fig leaves. Let's start sowing. Let's see if we can't fix ourselves. As they try all the self-help they can try and it doesn't work.
[27:35] But Jesus, on the day they mess up, steps forward and says, I have a plan. And that plan is that your sin will be placed on another and another will die in your place and you can be saved.
[27:47] And Jesus died for them, died for us. I don't know. Somehow I wish I could get you to see the chapter. Perfect, beautiful, wonderful creation.
[28:03] Wonderful relationship with God. I believe that there's time has passed and we don't have any idea whether it's a few days, a few weeks or years. I have no idea how long it's passed but the Lord's been coming down and walking with them and one day all of a sudden Eve is tempted and Eve eats the fruit and Adam eats the fruit and they fall.
[28:21] And that's what you ought to write about. Verse chapter 3 is the fall of man. And everywhere you're going to study you're going to know that's where the fall took place. That's where man fell out of the garden, fell out of the presence of God.
[28:32] But you know it was man who was hiding himself. It was man who was embarrassed. It was man who was ashamed. It was man that wanted to just run and hide. And that's exactly what happened when you got saved.
[28:43] One more point and I'll quit but I just want you to know what happened. I want you to understand this. It was a wonderful, fantastic God who loved you and came and sought you out and found you in your sin and showed you your sin and showed you your need.
[28:56] You knew in your heart you'd sinned against God. He's going to write the Bible to show us we sin. He put it in our conscience. You can look at the creation. You know you sin. We sinned. We figured it out. We never even had a plan.
[29:08] We never had a way out. We never thought of anything. All we were trying to think of was how we could hide our embarrassment and our shame. How we could hide from God but God came that day. Adam, where are you buddy?
[29:22] We're hiding. We're embarrassed. We're naked. We don't want you to see us. He said, how do you know you're naked Adam? Who told you? I didn't tell you he was naked.
[29:33] I never called that to your attention. I never embarrassed you. I never shamed you. Don't you dare blame God. God. Our God was a wonderful God the day he created us. Our God was a wonderful God the day he put Adam and Eve in the garden.
[29:44] Our God was a wonderful God all the way through. When man turned his back on God it was our wonderful God who came down and found man. The harshest verses probably in the Bible are found in Genesis chapter 3 verses 22 through 24 because sin separates from God.
[30:00] Sin separates from God. The Bible says in verse 22 and the Lord God said behold the man has become as one of us to know good and evil and now lest he put forth his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever.
[30:13] Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.
[30:27] You know you realize there was only one instruction of a tree that they weren't to eat. That was a tree of knowledge of good and evil. You realize inside that garden was a tree of life. They could have eaten a tree of life and lived forever. They didn't choose to eat the tree of life.
[30:38] They chose to do what God told them not to do. Isn't that what we do? Everybody sitting in this room every one of us have chosen and here's our decision. Our decision is what do I want to do? I don't care what God really wants.
[30:49] I don't really care what God's plan is. I care about what my plan is and what works for me and what I think works for me is this and we go do our own thing and they did. Now they've sinned and their relationship is separated from God.
[31:03] They're no longer going to be in the garden. He told them they would die. They have died because they're separated. Death is separation. When you die, when you die, you won't be dead like dead.
[31:14] You know that. In Spanish, the word to die, if you look it up in the dictionary, it says to quit existing. That's completely not true. When you die, you don't quit existing. None of us ever quit existing.
[31:25] We're just separated from our body into another place. We go somewhere else. We no longer live in this body and what happened on that day is they were separated from God. They no longer have that openness. They no longer have that intimacy with God.
[31:36] They're separated from God. Sin has caused division. Now they're not in the presence of God. They're hiding from the presence of God because they got their own will and their own way. They're going to do it and God says, I'm going to put them out of the garden so they can't get back in and live forever in this horrible state that they're in.
[31:53] Eating of the tree of life would have had man living forever in his sinful state and that would have been horrible. Sin has run its course. Man is now out of the garden and he's not allowed back.
[32:05] Man will work and then he will die. The beauty is that there's still a tree of life and Jesus provides the way to that tree.
[32:17] Man has sinned but God has made a way of escape, a plan to bring man back into his fellowship. A tree of death for Christ will bring man back to the tree of life. A tree of death for Christ will bring man back to the tree of life.
[32:33] They were out of the garden. They couldn't get back into the garden. They couldn't get back to the tree of life. They had no access to the tree of life. He put them out and he kept them out because they needed to come to a place that they would trust Jesus and of course he saves them but the human race has now fallen.
[32:47] He has a whole plan. He's going to work out and all through the Bible he's going to scream to us in every chapter and every story he's going to say to us you sinned, you failed. The man in every possible operation that man's ever had from the time he was innocent to the time he was under human government to every place he's ever been man always messes up.
[33:06] Man is a complete failure. You are a failure. I am a failure. We can't make it. We need him. And Jesus died on a cross and Jesus took their sins and Jesus paid so they could be saved and they will come to him and they'll be saved.
[33:24] Two or three things and I close. I really wish I could talk to you from a heart of love. Some of our families have problems. Some of the people listening to this and some of you we have problems and our problems in our marriage are based on the fact that sin got in.
[33:39] And sin got in in Adam and Eve's lives and we do bear the consequences of what Adam and Eve did and we sinned just like them. Sin and death entered by Adam but we sinned because we wanted to. But can I remind you that you are still sinning and you're still doing wrong because you choose?
[33:55] Because as a born again believer if you're a born again believer you know what God wants you to do. You have a book written there and you have the Holy Spirit who empowers you to really be able to live out what our God said.
[34:05] He put the Holy Spirit in you. He put the Word of God in you. He is working in your life and you could live up to that potential but you won't because you tell God no. Ladies, say to God I will live out who you made me to be because you made me to be and I love you and I respect you.
[34:21] Men, say I will love you and I'll respect you and I'll live out who you made me to be. We can fix our family problems. Our family problem is not a problem with our mate. Our family problem is a problem with our maker.
[34:32] Our family problem is not a problem with my wife or my husband. My family problem is I'm not right with God and when I get right with God I can fix my family. You wouldn't like to hear that simply put but from the very beginning there wasn't a marriage problem until there was sin and even now you and I both know that.
[34:48] Ephesians chapter 5 God tells us how to have a happy home as he talks about the relationship of Christ and the church and you can do that. Second, I would like to say this. I said this on our little vision night thing but we ought to be people of the book.
[35:00] In Genesis chapter 3 the devil attacks the book. Eve casts out on the book. Everybody's doubting the word of God. We ought to know we are people of the book. We ought to be reading our Bibles. We ought to be in discipleship. We ought to be doing everything we can to learn more about the word of God and to put it into practice in our lives.
[35:15] And I would just like to I want you to understand how great your God is. I want you to understand that somehow the world pictures God as some big bad mean God who kicked them out of the garden.
[35:26] That's not the story at all if you read the Bible. That's not the story at all. On purpose they did what they knew they weren't supposed to do. Then they went out and then they hid. And they covered up their stuff and tried their best to hide from God.
[35:39] And it was God who came. You know there's a song they sang that says I couldn't go to him and he came to me. And that's exactly what happened when we got saved. You need to know that in the very beginning it was God who sought them out.
[35:52] And you need to know that if you're saved today it wasn't you. It's not your church membership. It's not your baptism. It's not your good works. It is that God came and God did a work in you. And you're just thankful for God.
[36:04] Could I just say this one before I quit? It all started with God. Sin started with man but God started salvation. Man brought death. Man brought sin.
[36:15] And man did wrong but God brought salvation. And you have a wonderful great God. You ought to leave you're always praising him. Don't you dare let people put in your heads any other picture of our God.
[36:26] Adam where are you buddy? Adam where are you? Well we're hiding. Adam well what's going on Adam? We're naked. How you know you're naked?
[36:37] Did you eat of the tree I told you not to eat of? Yeah I did. What happened? Well hey that woman you gave me? That's what happened. That woman you gave me.
[36:48] That wasn't me. It's that serpent. That serpent you created? That's what got me in trouble. And everybody's shifting the blame and no one's admitting this. I sinned and I failed.
[37:00] And you know what's wrong in our church? You know what's wrong in our family? You know what's wrong in our personal life? You know what's wrong in our walk with God? I always want to blame somebody else. But the truth is I need to fall on my face before God and say I am an utter failure without Jesus.
[37:17] I have failed a holy God. I can't. I'm not. There's nothing good about me. I deserve death but Jesus took my death. Jesus took what I deserve.
[37:27] Father in heaven I pray you'd help your people tonight to love you and to honor you. God you're a God of great grace on our day of greatest shame and failure. God somehow I would ask you to help the people of vision to see a picture of how beautiful you are and to get a vision of what a wonderful God you are.
[37:46] I pray God you'd help us to leave here tonight saying boy God it's been good to us from the very beginning. God please do a work in our lives. Magnify yourself with your heads bowed and your eyes closed.
[37:58] There might be somebody here tonight that's not saved and I'm not going to just let it slide. I really want you to know that you can be saved. I want you to know Jesus Christ. I want you to have eternal life. Is there anybody that say I know I've sinned against the holy God and I know I need to be saved?
[38:11] Would you hold your hand up and just say hey man I tonight trust Jesus and what he did on the cross. Is there anybody like that? Would there be anybody here tonight that would say boy in my marriage if I'm honest I know that it's my relationship with the Lord.
[38:24] I let my walk with God get cold and that's affected my marriage. I let sin creep in and as a wife I don't accept my position as a husband I don't accept my position and I'm not doing right but the Holy Spirit of God shows me tonight he's showing me tonight that I have been wrong and I want to get that right.
[38:38] Would there be anybody like that? Would you just hold your hand up and let me pray for you? Thank you sir. Anybody else? Yes ma'am. Thank you. Anybody else? Would there be anybody in this room that would say boy I've doubted God's word maybe I haven't doubted it but I don't read it and I don't spend time in it and the Holy Spirit of God show me tonight that I'll be a Bible reading Bible believing Christian.
[38:55] Would there be anybody like that tonight? Just hold your hand up. Father God in heaven would you magnify yourself? Would you bring great honor and great glory to yourself?
[39:06] And I will praise you for all that you do. I thank you for what a wonderful God you are and I give you praise. In Jesus name. Amen. Thank you very much. We're not going to sing. It won't be 39 books until you get good news.
[39:25] It won't be an Old Testament full of laws and rules that make God a dark, mean God that shows His vengeance. It won't be it. Man will sin and immediately God is on the scene.
[39:38] That's the God you serve. You ought to go home and say when I serve a good God. On the very day man messes up our God's there. He's not there in judgment and condemnation.
[39:49] You condemned yourself. I condemned myself. I bore the consequences for what I did. It's Jesus who paid my sin debt and I hope you know that. I hope you go home and believe in that. And I would just like to honestly say to you I know that when my marriage is where it ought to be it's when I honestly am trying to walk with God and do what I ought to do.
[40:07] And I know that when spiritual problems are in my life that's when there will be more strife in my family. So I challenge you. And then I would challenge you that from the very beginning Satan has attacked the Bible.
[40:20] And what's a crying shame is how many times church members they'll say we believe the Bible. But no you don't. You don't read it. You don't memorize it. You don't spend time in it. Anybody can have a good luck charm to lay on the dash of their car.
[40:33] Get in the book. You have been listening to Austin Gardner Pastor of Vision Baptist Church. For contact information location service times or more audio and video recordings log on to