Please take your Bibles and open them up this morning to the book of Genesis.
We're in Genesis chapter 3 this morning, and if it's your first time joining us,
or your first time joining us in a while, we've been walking through the book of Genesis.
We've taken sort of a slow walk through the garden,
and now we're concluding Genesis chapter 3 this morning.
And this passage explains a lot about the brokenness in our world.
But even so, I hope you'll notice here that throughout this passage, with all of its judgment,
there are brilliant glimmers of hope and gospel promise here in Genesis chapter 3.
So our passage this morning is Genesis 3, verses 14 through the end of the chapter, verse 24.
And when you found it there in God's Word, let's stand in honor of the reading of God's Word.
Genesis 3, verses 14 through the end of the chapter,
To the woman, he said,
And to Adam, he said,
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you,
you shall not eat of it.
Cursed is the ground because of you.
In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground.
For out of it you were taken,
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
The man called his wife's name Eve,
because she was the mother of all living.
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife
garments of skins and clothed them.
Then the Lord God said,
Behold,
The man has become like one of us,
and knowing good and evil.
Now,
lest he reach out his hand,
and take also of the tree of life,
and eat,
and live forever.
Therefore the Lord God sent him out
from the garden of Eden,
to work the ground from which he was taken.
He drove out the man,
and at the east of the garden of Eden,
he placed the cherubim
and a flaming sword
that turned every way
to guard the way
to the tree of life.
Lord,
we pray once more,
now again,
as we open up this passage.
God,
would you,
would you speak today
through the preaching of your word?
Would you convict us of sin
where there needs to be conviction?
And would you draw each of us
to further faith in Christ?
We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Sometimes in a house with three boys,
and I'm not picking on them,
this is probably true of every family,
it's not unique to them,
I want to be clear,
I'm not trying to pick on them,
but sometimes in a house with three boys,
every now and then,
something goes wrong.
Somebody gets hurt,
something gets broken,
somebody takes something
that they shouldn't,
whatever the issue may be,
sin shows up,
and the parent steps in
and ultimately says,
what are you doing?
What's going on here?
And all at once,
all at the same time,
everybody starts explaining
what happened,
and each person usually explaining
what the other person did wrong,
and everybody's talking at once,
and there's this moment of confusion
and blame shifting
until eventually,
finally,
mom or dad says,
I've heard enough,
and the judgments
start to come down.
You go to your room,
you drop the toys,
you're not playing with those anymore,
you drop and give me 50 push-ups right now.
The judgments start to rain down.
This morning,
we're picking up here
in the middle of a chapter,
and if you remember from last week,
we left Adam and Eve
pointing their fingers at each other,
and at the serpent,
and even ultimately at God.
It's a very tense moment
here in the Garden of Eden.
They have sinned,
they are guilty,
they know that they're guilty,
they're blame shifting,
explaining what everybody else did wrong
besides themselves,
and now,
in our passage this morning,
God finally says,
I have heard enough,
and the judgments
start to come down.
This passage this morning
teaches us a very clear,
but a very unpopular truth,
and it's this.
Our sin earns God's judgment.
Our sin has earned God's judgment,
and yet at the very same time,
as we read through this passage,
hopefully what we'll see is that
this passage,
at the very same time,
gives us incredible hope.
Even in the midst of God
pronouncing judgment for sin,
there is the promise
and the hope of the gospel,
all the way back here
in Genesis chapter 3.
So let's look here
at our passage this morning,
and what we'll see
is five responses of God to sin.
Five responses here of God to sin.
First, here in verses 14 through 15,
response number one
is that God judges the serpent.
God judges the serpent.
Look there to verse 14 with me.
The Lord God said to the serpent,
because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field.
On your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
between your offspring and her offspring.
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.
Now we're gonna put our finger there
in the second half of that verse,
and we're gonna circle back to that at the end,
because that second half of that verse
is the gospel.
And that is the gospel promise,
and we're gonna come back to that towards the end.
One of the most significant verses
in the entire Bible.
But here for now,
let's just notice how God curses the serpent.
For one, he sentences him
to go on the ground, on his belly.
Dust you shall eat.
Go eat dust, he says to the snake.
Now I have no idea what the serpent looked like
before this curse, right?
There's speculation.
Some say maybe he had legs of some sort.
Maybe he stood up on his tail.
I have no idea.
That's not really the point here, is it?
The point is God's judgment on the snake.
And you notice he didn't engage with him like Eve did.
There's no conversation.
There's no back and forth.
The serpent doesn't even speak back to the Lord.
Once he speaks, it's quiet.
And God slams down the gavel.
And he says, because you have done this,
because you have led humanity
into this rebellion against the Lord,
you are now sentenced to go on your belly
and eat the dust.
You will be this lowly, slimy,
despised creature, this ugly thing.
Not only this, we see that
there is now a natural dislike
between the serpent and the woman.
The snake won't like her
and she won't like the snake.
Ladies, can I get an amen?
Right?
I know we live in the country
and some of y'all actually like snakes, right?
But you should know that's not natural.
That's not normal.
God has put enmity,
dislike,
division,
war,
tension,
hatred
between the woman
and the snake.
My wife is a very natural example of this.
Okay?
If we even see a snake in the yard,
I got to personally escort her to the car
for like the next two or three weeks.
That's just how it goes.
There's enmity there.
There's beef.
There's conflict.
But of course we know
it goes deeper than this, right?
Because the Lord,
he's not just speaking directly
to the snake, is he?
He's ultimately here
speaking a curse
on Satan himself.
Satan himself here
is judged in the garden.
God says that Satan himself
will be a low-down,
ugly,
despised,
cursed thing.
And there will be enmity,
conflict,
war,
hatred
between the offspring of Satan
and the offspring of the woman.
Of course we should
already be clued in here
that this isn't
physical offspring.
Satan has no physical offspring.
He's a fallen angel.
He can't bear physical children.
But he absolutely has
spiritual offspring.
In fact,
as we look forward
to the Gospel of John,
Jesus tells us
that some of the Pharisees,
he tells them directly
in the Gospel of John,
the reason that they don't receive
his word
is that they are
offspring of their father,
the devil.
Now how's that for an insult?
Right?
The reason you don't receive
my word,
Jesus says,
is because you are
the offspring of that snake
in the garden.
Here we see
this is a pronouncement
of a spiritual conflict,
a spiritual battle
that we'll see
throughout the rest
of Scripture.
A spiritual battle
between the offspring of Satan
and the offspring
of the woman
who we know ultimately
is Christ Jesus
and all who belong to him.
So response number one,
God judges the serpent.
But then we see,
second,
response number two,
God judges the woman.
Here in verse 16.
Look there to verse 16 with me.
And her judgment
is twofold here.
On the one hand,
childbearing will now
be incredibly painful.
Verse 16.
To the woman,
he said,
I will surely multiply
your pain
and childbearing.
In pain,
you shall bring forth children.
And again,
every woman in the room
who's ever birthed a child
can say amen.
Right?
A childbirth is pain.
I've seen this firsthand
with three different children
brought into the world.
It looks hard.
They call it labor
for a reason.
It is painful
for the woman
to bring forth children.
Of course,
there's advancements
in medicine
and every woman's
experience is different.
But as a general statement,
now on this side
of the fall,
childbearing is painful.
But we should know,
again,
this pain goes beyond
just the physical act
of birthing a child,
doesn't it?
Now,
because of sin,
there is pain
and difficulty
with the entire experience
of bearing children.
Now,
don't misunderstand me.
Children are an incredible blessing
from the Lord.
Amen?
Now,
they are an incredible blessing
from the Lord.
But now,
because of sin,
there are all sorts of reasons
why this good thing
is incredibly difficult
and complicated
and even painful.
Now,
on this side of the fall,
because of sin,
now there are issues
of infertility.
Couples who desperately desire
to be fruitful
and multiply
but can't just seem
to make that work.
And now,
because of sin,
on this side of the fall,
sometimes that desire
to get married
and have children
for whatever reason
is frustrated
and a woman stays single
far longer
than she would ever want.
And now,
because of sin,
on this side of the fall,
sometimes children
bring grief
upon their parents.
I mean,
you talk about pain
and childbearing.
Now,
because of sin,
there's this experience
of grieving,
wayward children.
Disobedient children
bring grief
upon their parents.
All of this
is because of sin
in the world.
Now,
because of sin,
there's brokenness
in this area
of childbearing.
And I'd be willing
to bet
that every woman
who's born a child
has some experience
and can relate to this.
in some way.
And one of Eve's
primary tasks
in the garden
was to be,
as Adam names her here,
the mother of all living.
Fill the earth
and subdue it.
Fill the earth
with the image of God.
Be fruitful
and multiply.
But now,
that task
is made so much harder
by the presence
of sin
in the world.
The pain,
it doesn't just stop
at childbearing,
does it?
There's a whole
other aspect here.
The second part
of this judgment
on the woman
is that now,
because of sin,
her relationship
with her spouse
will be broken.
Eve was made,
remember,
to be Adam's helper
in the garden.
But now,
this is also
made difficult
by the presence
of sin.
God says here,
your desire
shall be
for your husband
and he shall
rule over you.
Now,
at first glance,
that sounds like
it's not so bad,
does it?
Your desire
shall be
for your husband.
We ought to
want our spouse
to desire us,
right?
Amen?
You can say yes,
that's okay.
We ought to want that,
but not like this.
If you look
just a few paragraphs
later,
it might be
on the next page
or just down
a few paragraphs
here in your Bible.
Genesis 4,
verse 7.
Genesis 4,
verse 7.
We see this exact
same combination
of words here
and it clues us
in to what's meant
back here in chapter 3.
Here in Genesis 4,
God is speaking
to Cain.
You remember this story?
Right before Cain
is about to commit
the very first murder
in human history.
What does God say
to Cain?
It's the exact
same language.
Listen to this.
Sin is crouching
at the door.
Its desire
is for you,
but you must
rule over it.
Of course,
we know what
happens next.
But here's the thing.
Sin doesn't
desire you
in a good way.
Sin doesn't
want you
in a good way.
It doesn't want
to cuddle up
with you
and love you.
Sin wants
to overcome
you.
Sin wants
to destroy
you.
And God
is saying here,
you must
rule over it.
Now,
because of sin,
on this side
of the fall,
the wife
will desire
to rule
over her husband.
Now,
because of sin,
a God-honoring
marriage
where the husband
loves and leads
well and the wife
respects and submits
well,
that is hard
to come by.
And now,
because of sin,
the wife,
she won't like
those old-fashioned
words like
submission
or helper.
She'll want
to overcome
her husband
and rule
over him
and that desire
on this side
of the fall
will often
be frustrated
by an authoritarian
husband who
will rule
over her.
We should know
again that
all of this
is a result
of sin.
And everywhere
you see
broken marriages
and broken
families,
broken households,
tensions
and power
struggles
and arguments
and fights,
all of this
can be traced
back here
to the garden.
The result
of sin
in the world.
But ladies,
he's not just
singling you out.
And now,
third,
we see God's
judgment
on the man.
Look there
to verses 17
through 19.
Here we see
God's judgment
on the man.
He says
in verse 17,
because you
have listened
to the voice
of your wife.
Now stop there
just a minute.
I mean,
this is a test,
okay?
If you're sitting
next to your wife,
you better answer
this very carefully,
okay?
I'm going to ask
you a question.
Should you listen
to the voice
of your wife?
You can answer.
Yeah?
It's not a trick
question.
The answer is
yes.
Yes.
You should listen
to the voice
of your wife.
I'll be the first
to tell you,
man.
I try.
I try to listen
to the voice
of my wife,
and she can tell you
depending on the day,
the week,
how good of a job
I'm doing.
Husbands ought
to listen
to the voice
of their wives.
They have a good,
different perspective,
offer different gifting,
different wisdom.
It's a complimentary
relationship.
Men ought to listen
to their wives.
Pastors ought
to listen
to wise women
in their congregation.
Simply listening
isn't the issue
here,
is it?
The issue
is that
leader Adam,
head Adam,
leader Adam,
listened to the voice
of his wife
as she led him
into sin.
That's the issue.
The issue
is that Adam
allowed the voice
of his wife
to steer the ship,
and she steered
the whole thing
right into an iceberg.
This is God
addressing passive Adam.
Men,
husbands,
do not be passive Adam.
Take up your call
to love
and to lead your wife,
to love your wife
as Christ loved the church,
gave himself up for her.
Because you have listened
to the voice
of your wife
and have eaten
of the tree
of which I command you,
you shall not eat of it.
Cursed is the ground
because of you.
In pain
you shall eat of it
all the days
of your life.
Thorns and thistles
it shall bring forth
for you,
and you shall eat
the plants
of the field.
By the sweat
of your face
you shall eat bread
till you return
to the ground,
for out of it
you were taken,
for you are dust,
and to dust
you shall return.
Now,
because of sin,
Adam's task
to rule over the world
and to guard
and to keep the garden,
to rule
and subdue the earth,
now that task
is made
much more difficult.
Now because of sin
on this side
of the fall,
instead of only
bearing fruit,
now his work
bears thorns
and thistles.
In other words,
now because of sin
on this side
of the fall,
work is really,
really hard.
Amen?
Fellas,
I know you understand
what I'm saying.
Work is hard.
I hear some of y'all
talk about your work.
I get tired
just listening to you
talk about your work.
You get up early,
you grind yourself
to the bone
all day long,
you come back home,
you eat,
you sleep,
you go do it all
again the next day.
On this side
of the fall,
work is still good.
Work is still good
but it bears thorns
and thistles.
And these thorns
can take a lot
of different shapes,
can't they?
It can come in the form
of a job
you don't even like doing.
Do you know
you just have to do something
to make ends meet
so that you can eat
the bread of the ground?
It can come in the form
of labor
that just seems meaningless
or unfulfilling.
You don't even know
why you're doing
what you're doing.
You just know
you have to have a job.
You have to do something
with your life.
And maybe
you have a hard time
seeing how your work
fits in
with the grand plan
of God
for you
and the world
and you don't see
how your labor
means anything
ultimately
with God
and His glory.
It could be
your work environment,
your boss,
your co-workers
can be thorns
in your side.
Amen?
Right?
We've all experienced
this in our time
at work.
Whatever it may be
now on this side
of the fall,
work is hard.
This is the result
of sin.
And I'll tell you
the worst job
I ever had
was for one summer,
praise God,
just one summer.
I was a landscape architect
in Daytona Beach,
Florida
at a golf course.
And if you know
anything about me,
I do not do yard work.
I'm not skilled
in that way.
It was blazing hot.
There were gators
on just about
every single hole.
The course itself
was going bankrupt.
So they didn't even
have money
to provide
the right tools
and really ultimately
they just didn't
even care.
Every time I showed up,
there's a new leak
on a new hole
that I had to go fix
every single morning
for a summer.
I'd clock in
and they would hand me
a bucket,
a shovel,
and a clamp.
And they'd tell me
go fix the hole.
Go fix the leak
on hole 13,
whatever it was.
The clamp was for the leak
once I found it.
But the problem was
wherever you see water
coming up out of the ground
isn't necessarily
where the leak is.
You know,
water runs.
The pipes were about
five feet under the ground.
That's what the shovel
was for.
And by the time I found
where the water
was coming from,
they didn't even bother
to turn off the water.
That's what the bucket
was for.
Every day
for an entire summer,
I did meaningless,
repetitive,
frustrating,
difficult work,
and I felt it
more than ever.
Thorns and thistles.
By the sweat
of your brow.
Adam's work here
is made incredibly
difficult.
But church,
that's not even
the worst part,
is it?
Look there
with me
verses 22-24.
The worst effect
of all
falls on both of them.
Here in verses 22-24
and here we see
forth
God's judgment
on all
people.
Then the Lord God
said,
Behold,
the man has become
like one of us
in knowing good
and evil.
Now lest he
reach out his hand
and take also
of the tree of life
and eat
and live forever.
Therefore,
the Lord God
sent him out
of the Garden of Eden
to work the ground
from which he was taken.
He drove out the man
and at the east
of the Garden of Eden
he placed the chair of him
and the flaming sword
that turned every way
to guard the way
to the tree of life.
Now,
because of sin,
on this side
of the fall,
Adam and Eve
and all mankind
with them
are now driven
out of the Garden.
They are now
driven away
from the presence
of God.
They are banished
from the Garden of Eden
with no way
back in,
no way back
to purity,
no way back
to innocence,
no way back
to God.
And this angel
stands there
with a flaming sword
to make certain
there is no way
they could possibly
come back
even if they tried.
now that sin
has entered in,
childbearing
is difficult,
marriage is difficult,
work is difficult,
life is difficult,
but we ought to recognize
the worst part
of all of it
is that now
on this side
of the fall,
our relationship
with God
is difficult.
Not just difficult,
but for sinners
our relationship
with God
is impossible
so long
as sin
remains.
You know,
we are often
so aware
of all of these
other effects
of sin,
aren't we?
We all live
on this side
of the garden,
we all live
on this side
of the fall,
outside of the
Garden of Eden,
we know the effects
of sin in the world
firsthand.
It's no secret
that childbirth
is painful,
it's no secret
that work is hard,
that marriage
is often hard,
that we have
tensions and difficulties
and problems
in every sphere
of life,
we realize
that things
aren't quite right
and we complain
about it,
but this judgment
is the worst
of them all
and so many people
go through life
without giving it
a single thought.
We should realize
that the worst
possible effect
of sin
isn't our broken
relationship
with our spouse,
it isn't our
broken relationship
with our children,
it's not our
terrible jobs
or poor health,
it isn't even
death itself.
The worst effect
of sin
is that we
are by nature
banished from
the presence
of God
and under
His wrath.
We see it here
in the garden,
don't we?
Sinful people
cannot safely
dwell in the
presence of a
holy God.
We are separated
from God
because of
our sin.
I told you
this was an
unpopular truth.
This is
hard pill
to swallow,
isn't it?
Sinners
like me,
like you,
by nature
and by choice
are separated
from a holy God,
but we praise
God
that because
of His
great mercy
and grace
to sinners
like us,
it doesn't
have to be
that way.
Here,
even in this
passage filled
with judgment,
we get glimmers
of hope,
don't we?
We're going to
walk back through
and see these
glimmers of hope
that maybe
somehow,
someway,
God is going
to do something
to make all
of this right.
God is going
to step in
and do something
to fix what's
been broken.
God is going
to do something
to bring sinners
like us
back into
His presence
and this
was His
plan
all along.
So,
fifth,
let's look
back through
and see
God responds
to sin
with mercy
and with hope.
You know
what mercy
is.
Mercy
is God
withholding
what we
deserve
for our
sin.
That's what
mercy is.
He's holding
back what we
deserve in this
passage.
Again,
although it's
full of
judgment,
it is
absolutely
bursting
with mercy.
Where do I
see that?
Look back
at the text
with me.
For one
thing,
Adam and
Eve don't
drop dead
the minute
they sin,
do they?
The wages
of sin
is what?
It's death.
What did
God tell
them?
When you
eat of the
fruit of
the tree,
you will
surely die
and yet here
we see
they're
alive.
Sinners,
rebels with
breath in
their lungs,
sinners who
get to enjoy
so many of
the good
gifts of
God.
Even on
this side
of the
fall,
there's a
glimmer of
hope here.
Even in
the way
Adam names
his wife,
she's the
mother of
the living.
There's a
glimmer of
hope here
that even
though they're
banished from
the garden,
even though
they now
live in
the sin
cursed
world,
even though
they've
blown it
and they
know they
deserve
judgment,
yet God
is merciful
to sinners.
I see his
mercy there
in verse
22.
The Lord
himself prevents
Adam and
Eve from
eating of
the tree
of life.
God himself
takes measures
to make
certain that
Adam and
Eve aren't
stuck in
this state
of sin for
the rest of
eternity.
There's a
possibility here,
even with
death looming in
the background,
maybe God
will make
another way.
All over this
passage, even in
judgment, God is
showing mercy
to sinners.
Yes, we
believe God
is just.
Yes, we
believe God
is full of
wrath against
sin, but we
also believe God
is merciful to
sinners.
He's slow to
anger, abounding
in steadfast love
and faithfulness.
He is patient
towards sinners,
not willing that
any should perish,
but that all
should reach
repentance.
If you are not
a believer, you
should recognize
that you are
absolutely swimming
in an ocean of
God's mercy, even
this very minute.
But please don't
presume upon it.
This judgment
here is delayed.
We don't know
for how long, but
the time of
judgment will
come.
And this delay
between our sin
and His judgment,
that delay is
meant to call
you to repentance.
repentance.
He's not done,
is He?
Look there, look
there, what else
God does for
sinners here.
In the midst of
judgment, verse 21,
we also, we see
hints of atonement.
The Lord God
made for Adam
and his wife
garments of
skins and
clothed them.
You remember how
they responded
earlier in the
chapter?
When they sinned
against the Lord
and they realized
they were naked,
what did they do?
They went
grabbing for
anything they
could find to
cover up their
sin.
They grabbed some
fig leaves and
they sewed them
together to try
and cover up
their shame.
They tried to
cover up their
own sin and
shame by their
own feeble
efforts.
But here, God
says, that's not
going to cut it.
You can't cover up
your own shame.
You can't do
anything to cover
up your sin and
hide your sin from
me.
You can't cover
yourself, but I
I can cover
you.
And how does
he do it?
He covers up
their shame here
by sacrifice.
Garments of
skins.
And don't you
see here an echo
of the gospel?
It's as if God
is telling them
and us, in
order for your
sin to be
covered, it's
going to require
sacrifice and I
have to be the
one to do it.
the same echo
will continue
through the
sacrifice of
bulls and
goats in the
temple and
these sacrifices
that cover the
sins and remove
the shame of the
people temporarily
until Christ
Jesus, the
lamb who was
slain from
before the
foundation of
the world,
comes and
gives his life
as a perfect
sacrifice to
bear our shame
and to atone
for our sin.
Do you see
God's mercy
in this
passage?
There's an
even clearer
picture of
his mercy
and his hope
here.
Circle back
with me to
verse 15
here as we
close.
Verse 15
is as I
said here
we see the
clearest display
of God's
mercy towards
sinners in
this promise
of the gospel.
Look at
verse 15.
I will put
enmity between
you and the
woman,
between your
offspring and
her offspring.
He shall
bruise your
head and
you shall
bruise his
heel.
This verse
is the promise
of the gospel.
God promises
that all of
this pain
that you and
I feel on
this side of
the fall,
out here,
out of the
garden,
all of the
brokenness that
you and I
experience,
all of the
difficulties of
life,
all of the
tragedies and
the griefs and
the toil and
the labor,
all of it will
be done away
for good because
I will send
someone born of
the woman who
will crush the
head of the
serpent.
We rejoice
that despite
Satan's best
efforts to keep
this promise from
coming to pass,
God has done
exactly what
he promised.
Jesus Christ
is the
promised
offspring of
the woman.
Jesus Christ,
the serpent
struck his
heel at the
cross,
but Jesus
crushed the
serpent's head
by rising from
the grave,
never to die
again,
so that now
sinners like you
and I can be
counted as sons
and daughters of
God by faith in
him.
This promised
seed of the
woman,
he wore a
crown of
thorns upon
his brow.
He bore
our curse
so that now
he stands to
say to
banished sinners
like us,
all that the
Father gives
to me will
come to me
and whoever
comes to me
I will never
cast out.
Friend,
the bad news
is our sin
has earned
God's judgment.
But the
good news of
the gospel
is that God
is merciful
to sinners.
His mercy
and his love
and his grace
towards sinners
like me and
like you is
seen and
found only
in the
promised seed
of the woman,
Jesus Christ.
Lord, we
praise you for
this promise of
the gospel.
We praise you
that Christ has
come, that he
has crushed
the head
of the serpent.
And Lord, we
praise you that
he will come
again to finish
what he started.
And Lord, we
ask now as we
engage in this
spiritual battle
as sons and
daughters of God,
Lord, we ask
for your strength
and we ask that
we would walk
in the victory
that Christ has
won for us
at the cross.
We pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.