Preached in Markham Baptist Church, February 15, 2004.

Genesis 3

CONNECTING WITH GOD AFTER DISCONNECTING WITH GOD

We have seen how the book of Genesis begins. It begins with God speaking into creation light, space, sea and land, sun, moon and stars and all living things. The book of Genesis begins with creation but did you know it ends with a coffin?

It begins with glory but ends with a grave. It begins with the living God and it ends with a dead man. It begins with all the joy and wonder of God’s people walking with God and feeling right at home and it ends with God’s people living in sorrow and far from home. It begins with a crescendo but ends with a cry.

Genesis 1:1 says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 50:26 says “So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.” The book of Genesis begins with a blaze of brightness of heaven but it ends with a box of bones in Egypt.

Something has gone terribly wrong. What is it? Romans 5:12 – “…sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned, for before the law was given sin was in the world.”

The book of Genesis begins with glory but ends with a grave. What went wrong? Sin entered in through one man and that sin nature has been inherited by you and me and by every human being, so that all have sinned.

This is the problem that Genesis 3 puts before us. The reason there is death and decay is because of sin. The reason there is sorrow and loneliness and tears and heartache is because humanity has turned its back on God and said we will not live in dependence upon you. We will not follow in your ways. We will not have you as our God.

This is the problem that Genesis 3 puts before us – there has been a huge disconnect between God who gives us life and joy. So instead of walking with Him and reflecting His image as we were intended we are in a mess and our world is a mess all because of our desire to be independent of God.

But Genesis 3 does more than put the problem before us. We see here in our text the CAUSE of our sin. And the cause of our sin is Satan. He is filled with malice and hatred toward God and all that He has created. He isn’t called Satan in Genesis 3 - he is simply the serpent, but Revelation 12:9 refers to Satan as the serpent who leads the whole world astray. So we know that the serpent in Genesis 3 is Satan.

Well, who is Satan and where did he come from? Let me give you a quick history lesson. Eons ago, long before God created the world and humanity God created angels. They were created to reflect back to God His own glory, that is His own awesomeness and majesty. They were created hierarchically – according to a chain of command (Jude 6). At the top of the chain was the shining one named Lucifer. One day Lucifer passed by a mirror on the wall and said to the mirror, “Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?” Obviously, not giving the mirror time to answer he concluded that he was. And in Ezekiel 28 we read that pride welled up in Lucifer’s heart. On account of his perceived beauty he thought a lot of himself, so much so that he attempts to overthrow God. In Isaiah 14 we read that he says “I will” five times. “I will ascend to heaven” “I will raise my throne above the stars.” I will, I will, 5 times, all culminating with the words “I will make myself like the Most High”. There was only one thing God had that he didn’t have and that was independence. God was the only one in the universe that didn’t have to answer to anyone. That’s what Lucifer wanted.

And so with one-third of the angels following his lead he plans a rebellion – but it is discovered and being found guilty of treason Lucifer and all those who followed him are tossed from heaven (Jude 6; 2 Peter 2:4,5).

And Lucifer got a name change – and as Pastor Ron taught us a couple of weeks ago, whenever God changes your name He is trying to reflect your character. It was changed from Lucifer, "the shining one" to Satan, meaning "the adversary of God".

And Satan being against God is jealous of humanity’s allegiance to God. He can’t stand it that while humanity has been created a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5) that we have been created in the image of God. He hates everything that reflects God. He hates any reminder of God’s sovereignty and power. He hates every reminder of God’s character and you and I have been made in the image of God to show what God is like. Satan hates us because he hates God and is bent on destroying everything God has made.

And so we need to understand, to remember that our battle is not against one another. Our battle is not against fellow believers our battle is not against other people, it is not against a grumpy neighbor or any one else who we think is out to get us. Our battle is “not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12). We are involved in a battle between two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil - the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of the Son of God and the kingdom of Satan. One brings life the other death.

So Satan having hatred for all that reflects the glory of God seeks to bring humanity down. And Satan, being crafty, that is clever in a deceptive way, wonders how he can destroy God’s creation. He knows that he cannot simply snuff out humanity - creation is under God’s watchful eye. No, he must lure humanity to bring destruction on itself. He must cause humanity to throw off their dependence upon God and live for self. Then, Satan knows, we are doomed. And so we have the temptation.

Satan begins by planting the seed of doubt in the woman’s mind. He says, “Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” This is often the way Satan traps people to this day, he plants in their minds the seed of doubt about the authority and reliability of God’s Word. He says, “How do you know it’s God’s Word? You weren’t there when it was written. How do you know it’s not just the word of man? How do you know it can be trusted? After all it’s full of errors and contradictions and myths and legends, how do you know it’s the Word of God? Did God really say that?" He causes her to doubt the Word of God.

He causes her to doubt the love of God. He is saying, “What kind of God could say he loves you and keep something from you? Don’t you see he’s making slaves of you? He’s holding you back to prohibit you and your freedom!"

He uses the same tactic today. When things go wrong is not our first question – O God do you really love me? Or when we desire something that is clearly prohibited by God we say, If God really loves me he wouldn’t keep that which I desire from me. Satan plants the seed of doubt.

Eve responds. She could have fended off Satan’s temptations if she only had known her Bible. (It wasn’t hard for Eve - after all her Bible was only two verses long but she doesn’t know it!) She gives a paraphrase and like all paraphrases she leaves out material that isn’t in the original. She says that if she or Adam eats of the fruit from the tree in the middle of the Garden she will die. That’s not what God said, He said, “You will surely die”. One is a possibility, the other is a surety. Like all paraphrases she puts in material that isn’t in the original. The woman says that God’s says, You must not touch it. God never said any such thing.

And Satan says, “I’ve got this woman, she doesn’t even know her Bible.” Having planted the seed of doubt about God’s word and his love Satan sprinkles that seed with the water of denial. Verse 4 – “you will not surely die” it was an outright contradiction of what God said.

The seed of doubt is planted, watered with denial, Satan then feeds it with delusion. Verse 5 – “For God knows you will be like God!” he puts into the woman’s mind the same ungodly thought that controls his heart and desires – "You shall be like God."

He assures her of positive consequences. "Sure God has said you will die but really he doesn’t want you to be like him. He’s restricting your freedom! He’s repressive! Do this thing and you’ll be greater than you are now!"

And doesn’t Satan assure us of this yet today? Telling us it’s okay to live in opposition to God’s Word. For instance he lures people to believe that it’s okay not to believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. He says, “God will forgive everyone in the end. I know he says that those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell but that’s not what will really happen – no, God will change His mind in the end and you’ll forever in heaven like everyone else.”

The woman sees the fruit – sees that it is good for food, pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining wisdom (See I John 2:16 – lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life)

Eve eats the fruit and Adam eats it. Do you know in the New Testament in Romans 5:19 it says that Adam wasn’t deceived but Eve was. That doesn’t mean that Adam was better than Eve. If anything it means that Adam was worse! He disobeyed God knowing full well what he was doing! He wasn’t tricked – he was disobeying God willfully – that’s why the Bible traces sin through Adam and not Eve.

This whole chapter then, is seeking to warn us. Watch out for temptation. Live in dependence upon God! It is seeking to make us stop and consider if we are doubting God’s Word or God’s love. Are we being lured to deny the reality of God when all around us testifies to his goodness? Are we being deluded about the consequences of sin? Are we thinking, God will not really judge me? I can escape it. Are we being lured by appetites and desires and pride?

Beware, says the text.

Then look at the result of sin. They are made aware of good and evil. Before they disobeyed all they could see was the good – when they looked at each other they saw what God was like and they felt no shame. But now their eyes are opened and they see evil – they see the disobedience, they see their willful desire to be independent of God. And they see the evil in the other. Now they are ashamed of themselves and each other and seek to cover up that shame by sewing fig leaves together and hiding from God.

And then comes the denial. This is really a hoot! Adam blames God! – It was the woman YOU put here with me”. Then he blames the woman – she gave me the fruit.

And the woman blames the serpent, he tricked me.

No one takes responsibility for their own act of disobedience, for turning away from God!

And it’s the same today, we try to cover up our imperfections. We deny that we have done anything wrong. “We’re not as bad as the next guy,” we say. And we seek to cover our sin – say anything except, “I did it, I blew it, I’m responsible.”

Earlier I said that the cause of our sin is Satan. That’s true, but we have to be careful and realize that Satan does not cause us to disobey God. You and I choose to disobey God. Every sin we commit is because we want to! We have a choice and you do not need to give into temptation, we have all disobeyed God, we have all failed to reflect his image and we are in a mess.

That’s not very good news is it? But don’t miss the rest of chapter 3. It really is great news. For we have here not only the problem – not only are we shown the cause – not only do we see the result – but we are also given the solution to our disobedience.

God says, I will put an end to Satan and I will do it through the woman. She will give birth to one who, God says in verse 15, will crush your head. He will put an end to your deceitful ways.

You know Satan never counted on the fact that God would come down here in the person of Jesus Christ and set things right. He never saw that God would come to set people free from his lies and bring life out of death. He never conceived that God would actually give himself for the sake of these little creatures. He never imagined that the great God of the universe would come in humility and poverty and servanthood to lay down his life for us. He never believed that God himself would do such a thing for HE would never do such a thing!

And can you see Adam’s faith? Do you see his step of faith? In verse 20. he finally names the woman – up to this point she is simply called the woman – but in verse 20 she is called Eve. Why? Because says Adam, she will be the mother of all the living!”. Not the mother of all the dead, not the mother of all that brings decay and corruption and death, no she would be called Eve because she would be the mother of all the living. He has heard God’s promise – that Satan’s head would be crushed by the woman’s offspring – and he calls her Eve – that’s faith.

Then look at God’s action – he clothes them, he makes garments of skin for them. And isn’t that the way God still responds to us who believe he takes away our old clothes of disobedience and selfishness, and he puts new clothes on us, he clothes us with goodness and holiness and purity.

My friends we battle temptation every day. There are some here who are wrestling with the temptation of pornography, sex is flaunted in our faces every day. There are some who are faced with the temptation of stealing – we rationalize that we need more money and we know the way that we can get it, but it’s illegal. Others are dealing with the temptation of self-promotion, all we have to do is discredit the other guy at work and we know that we will receive the praise that we deserve. Others are dealing with the temptation of self-reliance. We don’t need to spend time with God, we don’t need to read his word, we don’t need to live in obedience to it, I can get along just fine without Him.

Genesis 3 says "Beware!" These temptations will bring shame, they will bring death. Instead of reflecting the image of God you will mar the image of what you were created to be. But it also says, “You don’t have to give in, God has provided a Saviour for you. Satan’s head has been crushed and now we are called to stand firm in the victory that Jesus has won.”

And finally to those of you have given in to temptation. Genesis 3 says that God can bring life to your dead spirit. If you will but admit your act of disobedience to him in faith he will clothe you with garments of forgiveness, and holiness and uprightness. He will take away your sin and create in you a pure heart.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - February 2004