Up to this point, obviously,
Introduction: Setting the Stage
you have the creation account. God created all things out of nothing by the word of his power in the space of six days, and all very good. The Lord God made man in his own image. We see that in chapter 1, verses 26 to 28.
When we get to chapter 20, I'm sorry, chapter 2, we see in the first place the preparation of the garden in verses 8 to 14. When we looked at that, we noted and we've observed how that garden was a temple. It was a sanctuary. It was a place where God and creatures would meet together and would commune with one another.
That theme is replete throughout scripture, God dwelling in the midst of his people. This is the first instance of a temple. And it certainly serves as a pattern or paradigm for what would be the tabernacle and then the temple. And then of course, the new Jerusalem that we see described in Revelation 21.
So we see the preparation of the garden. We see then the probation of the first man, verses 15 to 17 in chapter two. There we saw what's called the covenant of works. put man in a covenant, a covenant of works, and he forbid him to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil upon the pain of death. Adam knew the prescription, Adam knew the prohibition, Adam knew what was indeed required of him.
And then we saw the provision of a wife in verses 18 to 25 in chapter 2. So all of that sort of sets the stage for what we find now in chapter 3 in terms of the temptation and the fall of man. And I want to look at three things. First, the temptation to sin in verses 1 to 5.
Secondly, the fall into sin in verses 6 to 7. And then thirdly, the reckoning with God in verses 8 to 13. Because I don't want to keep us here for a couple of hours, we're going to stop at verse 13. But if you're interested or intrigued in this chapter, I believe the stuff is on Sermon Audio.
You can listen to how the last part of the chapter was treated. But
Temptation to Sin (vv. 1–5)
note first the temptation to sin in verses 1 to 5. We meet, first of all, with the serpent, and we know that this is the devil. Later, Revelation indicates for us that this is, in fact, the devil. His craftiness and his cunning will indeed be observed when it comes to his interactions with Eve.
And notice,
The Serpent's Cunning Assault
the serpent was more cunning than any beast in the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Now, his motivation was really a hatred for God. His motivation to do this was his despising of God, his rebellion against God.
Calvin says that since he was the adversary of God, he attempted to subvert the order established by him, and because he could not drag God from his throne, he assailed man in whom his image shone. He couldn't get to God, he couldn't assault God, so he assaults the image of God, namely Eve in this particular instance. And then note the subtlety of his challenge. Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Now, I think we need to appreciate that. As we move through this section, I want to draw out practical observations on how we ought to resist the cunning and the craftiness of the devil. The devil doesn't always come to us with a full-on suggestion of absolute and utter rebellion and apostasy. No, it's subtle.
He insinuates. He challenges. He whispers. Has God indeed said?
He just introduces this little bit of doubt, and it's from that vantage point that he gains a stronghold, and he's able to have his way ultimately with Eve and ultimately Adam. It is a subtlety. It's not a direct assault, but a subtle insinuation that the Creator's purpose for the creature is not altogether noble. has he indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And as you move through this narrative, you will see how what is always utilized in terms of the identification of God, Lord God, now just becomes God.
The devil is separate from God, and Eve assumes that posture as well. God, Elohim, Creator, Yahweh is covenant Lord. And all throughout Genesis chapters two and three, we see Lord God, we see Elohim Yahweh. And yet when we come to this, the devil sees God as God, not as Yahweh, and he follows suit.
Satan's craftiness, Bruce Waltke says, is seen in his cunning distortion of God's words. With subtle guise, the adversary speaks as a winsome angelic theologian. I think that's a very good observation as well. He challenges him in terms of theology.
Has God indeed said? It's a winsome attack, it's a subtle attack, it's an insinuation, but it's a direct assault ultimately upon who God is. Now,
Eve's Subtle Departures from God's Word
note the woman's response in verses 2 and 3. She certainly knows the prohibition. If you go back to chapter 2 at verse 15, we read, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So the devil challenges at this particular point. Eve obviously has heard this. She knows that the prohibition exists, but we need to understand that she makes some subtle changes in terms of the exact language of chapter 2, verses 15 to 17.
Note in the first place, she minimizes privilege. Notice what God says. God says, specifically in verses 9 and 16, that you may freely eat. You may freely eat.
Not so with Eve. She says, we may eat. She's already sort of buying into this idea that God isn't altogether for your good. I think this is a most pernicious assault upon God, and this is where it often comes, young people and children.
You need to be aware of this, because the tempter is not going to come and say, God's terrible, he's wretched, he's horrible, just abandon any thought whatsoever. Subtle, subtle insinuation. Is he really out for your good? Does he really have your highest purposes in view?
Is he really about blessing and abundance and grace and mercy? No, he's not. That's what he's implying with these suggestions. And Eve is already on the hook and she's already biting.
She minimizes privilege by saying, we may eat. She minimizes judgment. It's intriguing because the devil uses the language of God. God says in the prohibition on the day that you eat, dying you shall die.
When the devil rehearses this, he says, not dying you shall not die. But with reference to Eve, she minimizes the judgment by saying, lest you die. It was a lot stronger the way that God brings that word to bear. upon Adam. And then notice, Eve maximizes prohibition.
At verse 2, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Well, the original prohibition did not include lest, uh, uh, touch it. Now, we don't know why she adds that, but we do know that she adds that. And that's never a good place for us to assume.
We don't add to the Word, we don't take from the Word, we hold to the Word. Just like we saw there in the prophet Micah. What is it that we can do that will please God? He has shown you, oh man, hold fast to the truth of Holy Scripture.
There's never going to be a problem in your life that holding fast to Holy Scripture isn't going to help you with. is never going to be the case that holding fast to the Word of God is going to prove you wrong. It's always the position, it's the vantage point, it's the orientation that God's people must have. And then
Satan Challenges God's Veracity and Goodness
note the temptation in verses 4 and 5. The serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God. knowing good and evil. The tempter first challenges God's veracity. Veracity is just another word for truthfulness.
He challenges that with reference to God. You will not surely die. Dying, you will not die. He's questioning the truthfulness of God.
If God commands that dying you shall die, the devil ought never to come and suggest that no, you will not die. You see, the direct contradiction, it may be subtle, it may be insinuated, but now it moves up a level in terms of direct assault. He starts with a, has God indeed said, to now this, oh no, that is just not accurate information. One man, Meredith Klein, says, first Satan had challenged the stipulations of covenant law, God's norm for the present.
Now he contradicts its sanctions, God's interpretation of the future. You will not die. It's no big deal. And again, this tactic is used today, isn't it?
Minimizing the judgment of God. Oh, there's no hell, there's no afterlife, there's just this dreamless sleep. Don't you listen to it. The Lord God most high has said there is both death and judgment following that.
You hear it said, at least I heard it said in America, there's only two things that are absolutely inevitable, death and taxes. Whether you hear it or not in Canada, that's true in Canada as well. Death and taxes. You can not pay your taxes.
Now, please do not leave here and say, Butler said we don't have to pay our taxes. Hear what else Butler is going to say. If you don't pay your taxes, you're going to be in jail. But admittedly, you don't have to pay your taxes.
The two inevitabilities are death and judgment. You see, the devil wants to undermine that thought. The devil is probably behind the publishing companies that every few years or so publish a new book on why hell isn't real. Publish a new book on why the soul isn't real.
Publish a new book on why there is no afterlife. It minimizes the very threat of God in terms of judgment to come. And that is precisely what he does. He challenges God's veracity.
Notice as well, he challenges God's goodness. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened. He's challenging God's goodness here. It's a good thing to have your eyes open.
And God knows that when you eat, your eyes will be opened. But because God is not concerned ultimately for your goodness, He doesn't want you to do this. He's a cosmic killjoy. He doesn't want you to be all you can be.
He doesn't want you to reach your full potential. He doesn't want you to achieve the highest places that the creature can attain. He is challenging God's goodness in order to draw Eve into His position so that she will rebel against the Creator. Thirdly, the tempter challenges God's security.
God's security, when He says, and you will be like God. What's the implication? God is petty. God doesn't want fellows.
God doesn't want somebody on His level. God doesn't want you to achieve this God-like status because He wants it all for Himself, you see? If you eat this fruit and you become like God, then that's a threat to the very God who made you. He doesn't want that.
Calvin says, when he says, God doth know, he censures God as being moved by jealousy and as having given the command concerning the tree for the purpose of keeping man in an inferior rank. Now, man will always be in an inferior rank because God is creator and man is creature. There will always be inferiority. There is a great difference between creator and creature.
But God doesn't keep man down because of some intrinsic need in God to not have somebody on his level. And that's what the devil is suggesting here. And then notice the tempter entices the creature with more when he says, and you shall be like God. That's the draw, isn't it?
There's three reasons why she eats the fruit, and we'll look at that in just a moment. But isn't that the rub? You shall be like God. There's more status for you to attain.
There's a higher place for you to assume. There is a more dignified state of being that you can achieve if you just come over to my way of thinking and you eat this piece of fruit that was put under the prohibition by God. Again, Waltke says, Satan smoothly maneuvers Eve. into what may appear as a sincere theological discussion, but he subverts obedience and distorts perspective by emphasizing God's prohibition, not his provision, reducing God's command to a question, doubting his sincerity, defaming his motives, and denying the truthfulness of his threat. Again, I don't know that we read Genesis 3 with that kind of attention, but I think that's precisely how we need to understand it.
This is cosmic treason by the creature toward the Creator, the devil specifically challenging who God is in order to entice the woman to abandon her commitment to the Lord and decide with the devil. Calvin says, hence we infer that God will be seen and adored in His Word, and therefore that all reverence for Him is shaken off when His Word is despised. He's speaking specifically to that reality. It's all about the Word of God.
Has God indeed said, oh, you will not really die? Every step of the way in terms of the temptation, the target is the Word of the living God. The way that we properly relate to God is through the word, and that is what we ought to learn here. Now
The Fall into Sin (vv. 6–7)
notice, secondly, the fall into sin. The allure of the tree is given to us in verse 6. So when the woman saw the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Now, there was a pragmatic sort of concern here.
Notice in verse 6. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, do you realize that up until this point, she never looked at the tree that way? Up until this point, she was able to walk by the tree. Up until this point, she never thought about the tree.
But now, because the devil had inserted these suggestions in her mind and heart, now the tree is good for food. There's no need for that. Verses 9 and 16 in Genesis chapter 2 tell us that it was a tree, a garden that was bountiful. It was plentiful.
The provision is what's capitalized on, not the prohibition. There's one tree that she is to avoid. And isn't this really a lot like us today? If you ever wonder why you're so messed up, Genesis 3 is a sort of a treasure trove of answers for you.
Why do I function like this? Well, we don't blame Adam and Eve, but we certainly see traits and dispositions and characteristics that are consistent with man in this first act of rebellion against the living and true God. But it is intriguing as well in the narrative. Notice in verse 6, For those who have read up until this point in the book of Genesis, you'll know there's only been one who's pronounced, what is good, and that's God.
In the days of creation, God saw what he had made and it was good. And now the woman, the creature, is determining what is good and what isn't. It is never good to deem something good that God has put under the ban. If God prohibits you from a particular tree, it is never right to conclude that that is good for food.
Again, you see the subtleties at work here. Something she passed by, probably on numerous occasions, on the way to other trees that were good for food. She gathered it up, she put it in her basket, she put it in her belly. At that particular time, however, once the devil got a hold of her, now this tree, which was under the ban, has become something that is good for food.
You need to be careful. You need to watch out. You need to pray. As well, note the aesthetic element involved.
She saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes. Again, she'd seen it before. Just think about sin in your own life or a time that you responded to a particular temptation. I don't want to get all, you know, therapy session.
Everybody share. I don't know. Don't do that. But just think about it.
Something that at one time we would have never entertained. Something that at one time was just out there, forbidden. There's no way. And we end up doing it.
How does that happen? Because we're messed up, we're in Adam. Even as believers, we are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love. All of a sudden, this tree that she had bypassed so many other times for all of the other trees in the garden, now it looks great for food and it's really pleasant to the eyes.
Well, the pleasantness of something never ever legitimizes sinfulness against God. But then note the third element of allure with reference to the tree. It was a tree desirable to make one wise. So there's a pragmatic interest.
It's good for food. There's an aesthetic interest. It looks good to the eye, but it's that philosophical interest. It's something that's desirable to make one wise.
She's not content with her status as creature. She's not content with where God had made her. She wants something more. She wants to ascend into the heavens.
She has not embraced fully her position as image bearer. She has not found her sufficiency in that place before God. Now she wants something more. And then notice, she takes of its fruit and ate.
Now, as we continue,
Adam's Rebellion and Federal Headship
she also gave to her husband with her and he ate. The man ate the fruit. Rebellion is ascribed to him. Rebellion straight out.
God had forbidden him. and he took the fruit and he ate it. Not to suggest that Eve is off the hook, but Adam is the federal head. Adam is the covenant head. Adam is the parallel with Christ in Romans chapter 5, 12 and following.
It's an Adam and Christ sort of connection. Again, not minimizing Eve, not justifying what she did, but the posterity is judged based on Adam. Adam rebels against God. When God comes to deal with Adam, in verse 17, He says, "...because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it." That is just vile, outright rebellion against the living and true God.
And then note the consequence of this action in verse 7. It says, then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. Now, when we compare this with verse 22, notice in verse 22, then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil. And now lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.
What does this mean in verse seven? The eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked. And then in verse 22, the sort of same or commentary on that, The man has become like one of us to know good and evil. They've arrived at something they didn't have previously.
Is it good? Is this the knowledge that is experiential? No, because God doesn't have experiential knowledge of evil. It's not a higher knowledge, but a knowledge that was ultimately forbidden of man.
And the knowledge specifically is that knowledge achieved by autonomy. In other words, instead of hearing God, responding to God, listening to God, and receiving from God, we step out from under His authority and we start to function as a God ourself. That's what's in view in terms of them knowing good and evil, in terms of them having their eyes opened. It's not a good thing, it's a bad thing.
And if you'll notice, the devil's subtleties are seen also in the fact that on the one hand, I don't want to say this to legitimize the devil, but it must be said, he's right. The day they ate, their eyes were open. The devil said that, didn't he? But the problem is the devil implied or the devil led them to believe that would be a good thing, but it wasn't a good thing.
This is why we need to be on our guard as the people of God when it comes to temptation. It's not always a simple matter. It may be subtle, it may be hints, it may be questions, But we need to come back to the truth of God and we need to find our sure footing there. We are not to think apart from God, rather we are to think God's thoughts after Him.
We are to be living in terms of His word, His law, His revelation to us. And man and woman stepped out from under the authority of God and they sinned. Now notice, we see these coverings that are made prior to the fall. They were not ashamed.
Now they're ashamed. Now they understand. And
The Reckoning with God (vv. 8–13)
I want to finally look at the reckoning with God in verses 8 to 13. First,
Flight from God and Divine Interrogation
they fly from God, and then secondly, they're questioned by God. Verse 8, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So they had sowed these fig leaves together and made themselves coverings to cover their shame. And then they run and hide from God.
And they do so among the trees that God had made. Now, when you were younger, and maybe even as older folks, you play hide-and-seek. It's kind of a fun game. When we were kids, I mean, we didn't sit and look at phones and Nintendo all day.
We went outside and hid and sought. That was the way we were. And you'd just play until the streetlights came on, and your mom screamed at you to come in. And then you'd, oh, come on, mom, 15 more minutes.
I mean, the thought of spending the day doing this, it just wasn't in the wheelhouse at least a little bit of a generation ago. But Hide and Seek is a good game. you never, ever are truly hidden. Somebody always finds you, right? I guess there's the olly olly auction, you know, free, free, free.
But in this situation, they can't hide from the Creator. They can't run to the woods. God made the woods. They can't find shelter or cover from the omniscience of God.
The eyes of Yahweh are in every place. They behold the good and the evil. And this is a clear-cut incidence of this. They run from the God who made the world.
And notice we're back to using Yahweh God. While Eve interacts with the devil, it's only Elohim. When we're back now to not only Elohim, but Elohim Yahweh, and Wenham makes this observation by reverting to the term the Lord God from verse 8, the narrator hints that God can still be man's covenant partner as well as his creator and judge. I like that.
There's a time when it looked jeopardized in terms of the devil and his use, and he's following suit. God says, Lord God, we're back to that place where we may rejoin that blessed fellowship. But the tendency of man ever since this fall is to do the very same thing. It may not be trees, but it may be some other thing.
We try to hide from God. We try to evade God. We try to escape from God. We're sinful.
We have done evil. What does the proverb say? Whoever covers his transgression will not prosper, but whoever he who confesses and forsakes it will find mercy. This is a clear-cut incidence of that.
They are running from the Lord. The folly involved in attempting to hide from God. Meredith Klein again says, as though the guilty could find refuge from God in the sanctuary of God. If this is in fact a temple, which I think clearly it is, how are you going to hide from God in his sanctuary?
How are you going to hide from God when it's his house? You certainly can't do that. And Wenham says, a more complete transformation could not be imagined. The trust of innocence is replaced by the fear of guilt.
The trees that God created for man to look at, 2.9, are now his hiding place to prevent God from seeing him. It's been this great juxtaposition in terms of the created order by the introduction of sin. And it's a terrible and horrible situation. And then notice, finally, interrogation by God.
God asks three questions. Where? Verse 9. Who?
Verse 11. And what? In verse 13. He doesn't ask these questions because he's fishing for information.
God is omniscient. God knows the answer. God asks the questions for man's benefit, just like he'll do with Cain in Genesis chapter 4. He's not seeking information.
It's like the illustration I used this morning with reference to the kid who's covered in chocolate, the cookie jar. His lid's off, and it's covered with chocolate. When you ask the kid, did you get into the cookie jar? You know he got into the cookie jar.
You're saying it for him to come clean. You're hoping that he's going to say, yeah, I got into the cookie jar. Please forgive me. I'll go out and buy more cookies and replace it.
All right, that's the goal, that's the emphasis, that's the purpose. When God asks these three questions, it's not because he doesn't know what's happening on his watch. No, he's asking this for the benefit of man. John Gill said, the Lord knew he had, but he puts this question to bring him to a confession of it as well as to aggravate his crime.
And then note verse 10. So he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Again, this is something that just shows the evasiveness of sinful man. And I think it's something we still have in our DNA.
We certainly see it with reference to Cain. When Cain is dealt with by God severely, Cain cries, Cain whines, Cain laments his punishment. He doesn't lament the fact that he bashed his brother's head in. He doesn't lament the fact that he's a murderer.
He doesn't lament the fact that he has grieved God most high in a most heinous and vile way, but he whines and grumbles and complains because of his punishment. Know what Cain does here in verse 10. When God says, where are you? He said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.
Yeah, you are naked, and yeah, you have hidden yourself, but why are you naked, or why do you know that you're naked, and why have you hidden yourself? Because I sinned against you, God. There is the evasiveness. It is much better to pony up and confess your sin to God.
It is never good to try and hide it, to evade it, and to bemoan the particulars involved with it, but not own the sin. I was naked and I hid myself. Yeah, but there's a more fundamental problem, Adam, that you are not fessing up. That is, you rebelled against God by taking from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
That is what's going on. John Gill says he conceals the true cause, which was sin, that made the nakedness of his body shameful, and it stripped his soul of its native clothing, purity, and holiness. And then the
Blame-Shifting and the Indictment
indictment in verses 11 to 13. God asks another question, verse 11, who told you that you were naked, have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? And then, of course, this is another tactic that we are oftentimes guilty of. Adam shifts the blame, and Eve shifts the blame.
Now, this is not good. It's just not. I don't know why we think this is a legitimate tactic. You know, you did this.
It wasn't my fault. It was them. I mentioned not me this morning. Every household had a not me in the family.
Who did it? Not me. Not me. Well, where's not me?
Oh, he's up in the room. Go get him. Not me is the culprit. He's the guilty one.
You ask your kids, who did it? Not me. Not me. Not me.
Evasiveness is always bad. And blame shifting is always bad. And that's precisely what Adam does. The woman whom you gave me.
Now, I know I've rehearsed this many a time. But I think it bears repetition. Adam blames God. It's a bad place for us to be.
He blames God, the woman whom you gave me. Rather, there's an old saying, it's an old proverb, it's not in Solomon's, but it's certainly a valid one. And that old proverb says, when you're in a hole, stop digging. Just stop, okay?
Don't keep making it worse. by actually indicting God. What's the logic? God, if you hadn't put her here, I would have been fine. I would have been holy, harmless, upright, and undefiled.
I would have never eaten from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I would have stayed. I would have bidden. I would have obeyed that prohibition.
I would have been fine had you not given me that. It's a terrible thing, isn't it? I mean, even when we sin against each other as husband and wife, it's just so wonderful to be married. Why would we do that?
Why would we throw each other under the bus? Why would we violate that blessed covenant that we have by actually engaging in that sort of thing? Adam shifts the blame to God and then to Eve. It's her fault!
If she hadn't have done this, then we'd be fine. Wenham again says, Here the divisive effects of sin, setting man against his dearest companion and alienating him from his all-caring Creator, are splendidly portrayed. Again, it's in short compass. There is a lot going on in Genesis chapter 3 that is communicated in a very tightly woven place.
I mean, it's not like, you know, chapter after chapter after chapter. It is short, it is succinct, but it is... packed with meaning in terms of our ethical rebellion against the Lord God. And then, of course, Eve follows suit and she blames the serpent. Verse 13, the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done?
The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. So you see this tendency to blame shift. It's not unique to just men. It's not unique to just women.
It's something that we as sinners typically tend to do. Well, there's some exposition.
Application: Theology of the Fall
I want to just close out with a couple of observations. First, we ought to appreciate the theology of the fall. the theology of the fall. There are those who suggest that, you know, God didn't really know what was going to happen when he made Adam and Eve. I mean, what if Adam wouldn't have fallen?
What if he did obey? What if he never did sin against God? Brethren, God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass. We need to understand that.
We need to realize that God's not up in his high heaven wondering what Adam and Eve are going to do. God is sovereign. He is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases.
Our confession of faith speaks of it this way, which God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purpose, to order it to His own glory. I think this is a very helpful thing. When people ask you, well, why in the world did God allow Adam and Eve to sin and the introduction of all the curse and all the disease and all the problems and all the issues of this world? Well, the answer that should always satisfy at least the believer is this, for his own glory.
I realize pagans don't like that answer. I mean, that just makes them even madder. Why does God do what he does for his own glory? Ah, they can't stand that.
The thought of God doing what God does for his own glory, certainly no unbeliever is going to say, oh, I see the wisdom in all of this. But for the believer, brethren, we may not be able to answer every particular issue, every particular question. We may not be able to give a full explanation in terms of of God and evil, or what men have called theodicy, a defense of God in light of prevailing evil, we may not be able to sufficiently answer all those things to the satisfaction of the unbeliever. But this much we do know, when it is for his own glory that settles it for the people of God.
Why does God do what he does? For his own glory. Isn't this Paul's showstopper in Romans chapter 11? After discoursing in terms of the sovereignty of God, the place of national Israel, place of sovereign election and predestination and grace and all that.
How does Paul end? He ends with, for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. You see, for Paul, that was everything. For us, that must be everything.
Why does God do what He does? For His own glory. And then in terms of the doctrine of original sin, you see, this, Genesis chapter 3, is intensely practical for each and every one of us. I mean, all of us can trace ourselves back to this garden.
Our confession again, speaking of Adam and Eve, they being the root and by God's appointment, standing in the room instead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin and nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free. from this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions." You want to know what the problem out there is and right in here? It's this. It's sin. I mentioned today at the hospital ministry, so I just want to say that because the brothers already heard this, the brothers that were there, that, you know, they tell us it's politics, they tell us it's economics, they tell us it's foreign relationships, they tell us all this stuff.
It's the Chinese, it's the Russians, it's Trump, it's Trudeau. I get all those things are involved in, you know, a whole host of different things. Sin. It's the answer to the 6 o'clock news.
Why does this world look the way this world does? Because in Adam, all died. Because from this vantage point, this orientation, this imputation of original sin, do proceed all actual transgressions. See, you'll never hear that on the evening news.
Well, here was a great instance of sin, and hopefully this sinner will find redemption in and through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not gonna happen, but that's the problem. Why do people do horrific things? It's because they're in Adam, And it's from that vantage point that precede all actual transgressions.
And of course, we ought to compare Genesis 2 and 3 to Romans 5 to see the Adam-Christ parallel. Adam is the first Adam. Jesus is the last Adam. What Adam fails in the garden to do, Jesus successfully completes on behalf of his people.
It's a beautiful thing. And then secondly,
Application: Lessons on Temptation
the practical teaching concerning of the passage, the teaching concerning temptation. Now, this one, I don't want to scare any of us, this first practical application, but we ought to take note. The power of temptation is seen in its success here in paradise. Everything was good, right?
Everything was great. From every tree you may freely eat. Just go hog wild. Enjoy.
Except for that one. So if the attempt to resist temptation was an impossibility, even in paradise, what about us? when we're not in paradise. In fact, one man has said, since we read that a fall so dreadful took place in paradise, what shall we do on the dunghill? Now, it is intriguing to just sort of follow up again with that Adam-Jesus sort of parallel.
You have Adam in a paradise, tempted by the devil and falling like a house of cards. Jesus is driven out into the wilderness. And there, 40 days, 40 nights plagued by the devil. He doesn't fall like a house of cards.
He stands up. He bears up. He resists that temptation. And because of that, at least in part, we have everlasting life.
So Christ bore up where Adam failed. As well, the subtlety of temptation is seen in the devil's tactics. He goes for the theology. Be careful on all these Facebook debates, brethren.
It's theological where oftentimes temptation comes. We need to be careful. We need to understand. We do good theology according to the Bible, according to good statements of faith and whatnot, but the devil is a theologian and he is a bad one at it.
The devil quotes scripture going back to the wilderness where Jesus is tempted by the devil. The devil quotes scripture, doesn't he? He cites the Psalter as the reason to substantiate the design of the devil that Jesus throw himself off the high place. It's not just citing Scripture, it's interpreting Scripture.
Just because someone quotes the Bible doesn't mean they've got the Bible right. You see, the early church understood this when it came to theological debate. There were those who said, oh, you can't construct creeds and confessions using words that aren't found in the Bible. But all the good theologians say, we need to use words that aren't found in the Bible to protect the words that are found in the Bible.
Because just citing scripture doesn't necessarily mean that you're right. I've told you before at the thrift store, the books that are the most scary to me is what the Bible says about this, that are written by people that aren't good theologians. I don't want to know what you think the Bible might say about that. I mean, Betty Hinn on How to Live a Happier Life or Joel Osteen, I don't believe he understands the Bible when it comes to that.
I don't care how much he tells me, he does. You see, it's not just citing scripture, but it's actually understanding what it means. That passage today in Matthew chapter 9. What does Jesus say to the Pharisees?
Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Have you ever considered Jesus' words there in Matthew 9? He's talking to the Pharisees.
You don't think they knew Hosea 6? Of course they knew Hosea 6. They probably had Hosea 6 written on one of those little papers and put it in a little box that they wore on their forehead, they wore on their arm. Of course they knew Hosea 6.
When Jesus says, go and learn what this means, they may have cited it, they may have taught it, they may have rehearsed it, they may have kept it close to their forehead and their forearm, but they didn't understand the text. They didn't get it. They missed it by a long shot. And so the devil is cunning.
The devil is crafty. And if you don't know your Bible and, dare I say, your theology, you're going to be led astray every single time. And then, obviously, the use of deception in temptation. 1 Timothy 2.14, the apostle says, but the woman being deceived fell into temptation. It was a deception.
It was that subtlety and cunning that was the means by which she went down this rabbit hole. And then
Application: Owning and Confessing Sin
finally, with reference to our evasiveness, just to summarize, the attempt to cover our own sin. Verse 7, fig leaves. Now, you may not make fig leaves today, but there's probably something in your life that is fig leaf-like, a means by which you try to cover your own sin. You try to hide from God.
Verse 8, another evasive tactic. Is that happening? If it is, brethren, repent, resist that, forsake it, and seek to live honestly and faithfully before the Lord God Most High. It's easy to get in ruts.
It's easy to sort of live far from God. It's easy to not hunger and thirst after righteousness. James tells us we need to resist that. We need to fly to God.
We need to humble ourselves under His mighty hand. And then as well, the failure to own our sin, verse 10, and the attempt to shift blame for our sin. If any of these things are true of us, we need to repent by the grace of God and seek to be men. Seek to be women and not to be little boys and little girls.
It's good to be a little boy and a little girl if you're a little boy and you're a little girl. But if you're a man, don't be a little boy. If you're a girl, a woman, don't be a little girl. Man up and own your sin.
God knows what you've done. Has it ever entered? Why would I try to hide this from God? You see, I think this is where the rationale is seen in terms of David being a man after God's own heart and David having done the things that he did.
How do you close that gap? A man after God's own heart, you wouldn't think whatever, commit adultery and murder. Murder to cover the adultery. How do we reconcile that?
Because David sided with God when it came to indicting David. Psalm 51 is a beautiful expression of a man's sin, not in the sense that Oh, wow, that's great. We should, you know, sin so that we could do that. But he's not hiding from God.
He's not holding back from God. He gets up with God and he looks down at himself and says, you are a wretch. And he owns it. He forsakes it.
He confesses it. And he finds mercy with God. Brethren, do thou likewise. And we ought to appreciate the gospel promise of Genesis 3.15.
We know the narrative doesn't stop at verse 13. But there is the announcement in verse 15 of the skull-crushing seed of the woman. That is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that brings redemption.
He is the one that brings healing. He is the one that brings salvation to those inheritors of Adam's sin. Well, let us close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Thank you, Father, for your Word, and thank you, Father, for giving us this account, showing us the truth, giving us the grace to appreciate these things and to see as well the connection between Adam the first and Jesus Christ. How we thank you that Christ did what Adam failed and Israel failed to do. We thank you for the redemption that we have in him, and we thank you for his decisive victory over the devil on the cross. We ask that you would go with us now.
We pray that you would protect us and keep us and cause your face to shine on us in this coming week. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed.