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Up to this point, obviously, 
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 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 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, 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 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 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, 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 I want 
to finally look at the reckoning with God in verses 8 to 13. First, 
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 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. 
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, 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 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. 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.