Adam & Eve had A Great Fall

Humpty Dumpty. Sad on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put Humpty together again. Say, wait a second John, I didn't come to church to hear a children's rhyme and a nursery rhyme. I didn't come to church for that and I recognized that you didn't. But I thought that might form as a fitting backdrop to a rhyme that I want to share with you that does fit our story today in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve, in Eden had it all, but in a tragic rebellion. They had a great fall. It took the kings love and death on a cross to save them and us from this terrible loss. And that indeed is a rhyme which summarizes what we find today in Genesis chapter 3. We're doing a series on Sunday morning of messages on foundational truths, the beginnings from Genesis chapters 1 through 11. And we're finding that in these 11 chapters are found all of the root, all of the foundations of what we believe in the Bible. And also all of the foundational truths that are being attacked in our culture today. And so it is good for us. It is, I would say necessary for us occasionally to go back to those foundations to go back to those truths that form the bedrock of our faith. We saw in Genesis 1, the beginning of the universe, the beginning of all things in creation. We saw in Genesis chapter 2, the beginning of mankind and the creation of Adam and Eve. And now we come to Genesis chapter 3, the story of the fall of Adam and Eve. It is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. I cannot say that with enough emphasis. Certainly it's one of the most tragic chapters in the Bible because the story that we read here plunges the whole human race into sin. It is also one of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible because there is, along with that plunge into sin, a promise, a promise of the remedy for our sin, a promise of a redeemer, a savior, one who would die for us. Certainly this chapter is one of the most crucial chapters to understand in all of the Bible. The rest of the Bible makes no sense unless you understand Genesis 3 because God's great intricate plan of redemption that will be fulfilled in the giving of His Son Christ. That whole story is meaningless if you fail to grasp what happens here in Genesis chapter 3. So this is a very basic foundational important story. It is not a fable, it is not a fairy tale, it is a true story of what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden. Genesis 3 gives us the beginning of sin and it includes with that many instructive lessons for us about how sin comes to us, about how temptation works, about how the evil one approaches us and what happens when we take the bait. So let's look at this incredible, tragic, wonderful, crucial story and find what we can learn from it about ourselves. The story begins by introducing us to the source of sin. Where did it come from? Where did it start? What is the source of sin in this world? Verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden? Now in this passage as you begin this story you've got to deal with the serpent and Satan. What's going on here in verse 1? Who is really speaking? What's happening? Well there are two people, two beings I should say in this introduction to our story. One is a real literal serpent. I believe there was a literal snake in the garden and the Bible indicates that this snake was more crafty than any of the wild animals that God had created. So he is very subtle, he is shrewd, he is clever. Does that have to do with his appearance? Does it have to do with his movement? We're not sure. But whatever it means, certainly it means that he was a fitting instrument for the deceiver. The one who is the father of all eyes, the one whom the Bible describes as that serpent, the devil, Satan in Revelation chapter 12. He becomes a fitting instrument, a very clever crafty instrument through whom Satan will tempt Adam and Eve. And so you do have a real literal serpent, a literal snake, but you've got Satan using this clever animal as a disguise for his approach to Eve in the garden. So you've got certain serpent, yes, but you've also got Satan who is identified in the Bible as though serpent, the devil, Satan. He was not satisfied with what God created him to be. He rebelled against his creator and unable to overthrow his creator, he now attacks the creature. Adam and Eve in the garden. So you have the serpent and you have Satan. But what's really strategic and important for us to see in this passage is the subtle attack that he makes on Eve. Because I tell you, this is representative of all of the attacks of Satan on us today. He has not changed his methodology at all. He attacks in the same way that he did in the beginning. And that's why it's so crucial for us to go back and see this so that we can recognize how he attacks us. Notice the subtle attack. He tempts Eve twice. Two ways here. First of all, he tempts her to doubt God's goodness. Notice how he does that in verse two. The woman said, or excuse me, in the middle of verse one, he said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? You notice the subtle hint there? Did God really say this? Think about it. Turn it over in your mind. What did God really say? What did he really mean? He carefully couches the temptation. Just a little hint of surprise here. It's not a full blown attack yet. It is just planting a seed of doubt in Eve's mind. There is a subtle hint with this question, not a categorical statement, not a categorical denial of anything, just a question, plant an inner mind. Did God really say that? And there is a subtle hint in that question that God is not being completely fair with you. God may be holding something back from you. God may be hiding something from you. And there is also a very subtle hint in this question that God's word, God's command, is subject to our debate. Did God really say, let's go back and reinterpret it. Rethink it. Did God really say this? Satan always begins with subtle attacks on what God has said to plant in our hearts doubt about his goodness, whether or not he's being fair with us, whether or not he's really on our side, whether or not he's withholding something from us. And Eve is starting to waver. You can tell it by her response. Look at verse two. The woman said to the serpent, we may eat from the trees in the garden, but God did say you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you must not touch it. Or you will die. Now if you carefully compare that statement with God's statement in chapter two verse 16, you'll find she made four changes in it. Four changes. She's already beginning to question what God has said. She says in verse two, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. That's not quite the way God said it. God told them in chapter two verse 16, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden. You may freely eat, emphasizing the magnanimous gesture of God. Look at all that you have. She leaves out that freely, that evidence of God's grace already. She's beginning to doubt the goodness of God. And then she goes on to say, but God did say you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. Notice God called it by name, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She leaves that out. She doesn't call it by that name. That may not be significant, but the next is she goes on to say, and you must not touch it. God never even said that, never even hinted at that. But what you see here is a suspicion of maybe God's really more strict, and I thought he was. Maybe God is not as good as what I thought he was. Maybe he's more strict. I'm not supposed to eat it. I'm not even supposed to touch that tree. God never said that, but there's already a doubt in her mind of his goodness. And if I've strict, maybe unkind, he is. And then she says, problem is, if we do that is you will die. God made it more certain than that. He said, you will surely die. You will certainly die. And by leaving out that item of certainty, of surety, there's a little bit of doubt creeping into her mind. Satan is effective in causing her to waver and doubt based upon doubting God's word, doubting God's goodness. And so now that she's on shaky ground and she's wavering a little bit, Satan moves in for the kill. Notice what he does next. Not only does he tempt her to doubt God's goodness, he tempts her to deny God's word. This is note, this is not subtle anymore. This is a direct frontal assault. Verse four, you will not certainly die. The serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. He'd God told you that you would die, right? That you would surely die. You will not. I'm here to tell you, God is wrong. You will not die. The attack is bolder. It's interesting to me that the first truth, Satan denies in the Bible is the truth of God's judgment. And that is still under attack today. God promises the consequences of sin. He promises there will be judgment. God promises in his word there will be a day when we stand before him. There will be a day of judgment when we give an account to him. And he promises that for those who have not had their sins washed in the blood of Christ and come to Jesus as their Savior, that judgment will result in eternal damnation in hell in the lake of fire, eternal judgment in a place of torment. That is under attack today. Always has been and always will be. There are people who do not want to hear that God will judge. And so the attack today goes something like this. You know, if God really is a God of love, how could he ever send people to a place like hell? And you hear that attack today. It's no less than the attack of Satan. Maybe clothed a little differently, couched in different terms, but it is the same attack on God's judgment. God promises judgment because of sin. And Satan boldly says, God is wrong. You will not die. Certainly a good God would not do that. And so what he once saw as a good God is now painted as a God who's hiding something from her, a God who's really not on her side anyway, who is now seen as a rival, who is seen as against her. Do you understand what's happened? I hear many believers, many people who know Jesus as their Savior and confident they know Christ, when they hit a tough spot in their lives, they begin to think, why is God against me? Why is God removed himself from me? Why is God my rival, my enemy now? Why is he doing this to me? That is the lie of the devil being planted in your mind. It is the lie of the devil, my friend. Satan wants to get you to think of God as an adversary, one who has forgotten about you, one who does not love you, one who is now a rival, one who's against you. Why is God against me? That's what Satan wants you to see. Notice the subtlety of the attack. It begins with just a hint of suspicion about God's goodness. Is he really the good God you've been taught that he is? And once you begin to waver on that, he moves in with a denial of God's judgment and a denial that you will answer to him and a picture, a portrait of God is one who is now against you. Satan has not changed his tactics. The source of sin is still the same. Same subtle attacks today. He will cause you to doubt his word, doubt his goodness. And then before long you will find yourself thinking God has against you and you will begin to deny basic truths of the Bible. It's how he works. A few years ago, a man by the name of Jim Bamford wrote a book called The Puzzle Palace. It's a book about the NSA, the National Security Agency. And he talks about how foreign governments will recruit spies from American citizens. And he says, first of all, they look for someone who is in financial need and is looking for a quick way to get some money. To pay off a debt, cover something that they need to cover. They'll look for folks like that first. And then he says this, once you've sold one secret you're hooked. They don't start by asking you to get a top secret document. They usually ask for something innocuous like a telephone directory. Once a person starts, they're hooked at that point. So someone who is in danger, someone who is in need is appealed to with an enticing proposition. If you just do this one thing for us, we'll help you out with your financial need. And it's something very innocent. You're not denying your patriotism. You're not turning your back on your country by providing a phone book for somebody. But that one step then leads to another and then another and for long your hook. That's the way Satan works. The subtlety of temptation, the source of sin is that he begins to attack with subtle hints and then he reels you in and he's got you the nine gods word. That's the source of sin, Satan himself. But verse six, the story takes a very ugly turn. And in verse six, what we find is what actually happened in the fall, what we have described for us in quite some detail is the sequence of sin. In other words, this is the steps that you will fall into when you take the bait and you get the hook of Satan's temptation. This is what happens. Notice first of all the appeal in verse six. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. You know, the Bible teaches us that Satan has a particular plan that he operates by. It is a well-devised plan. It's very basic. It has three major sources of temptation. And every temptation we face falls under one of these three categories. I know that because the Bible says that. Look at this verse on the screen. First John 2, 16. For everything in the world, the less to the flesh, the less to the eyes and the pride of life, comes not from the Father but from the world. Now, remind you that when John talks about the world, he's talking about an organized system of thought, approach to life, a worldview, the way you look at life, the way you live life, it's an organized system of thought and living life. And there is someone behind that organized system. He is called in the Bible the Prince of the world, the Prince of this world. It's another name for Satan. So Satan is the one behind this world system, behind this way of thinking and living, and the way he gets to us is through three avenues and three alone. These are three basic broad categories and every temptation falls under one of these three. They're described for us here, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. The lust of the flesh is the desire to have what our sinful nature wants, to have my fleshly appetites satisfied, to find all the pleasure I can in life that will satisfy my fleshly appetites. That is one of the ways Satan appeals to us. Second way is through the lust of the eyes, the desire to have what the eyes see, whatever I see, I want, whatever my neighbor has, whatever the person across the street has, whatever another church has, whatever whatever, whatever I see on television, whatever I see in a magazine, I want, whatever I see that is enticing and alluring to me I want, that's the lust of the eyes. And then the pride of life, the desire to be someone, the desire to be popular, the desire to be famous, the desire to be number one and do anything it takes to get there, the desire to make a name of yourself, that kind of pride that manifests itself in wanting to be the center of attention, wanting everybody to look at you, wanting everybody to recognize you. That's the system that Satan uses to entice us to draw us in with temptation. It's always one of those three things. I submit again, every temptation can fall under one of those three categories because the Bible says that's everything that Satan has. That's everything in this world system. It's all he's got, but it is a powerful arsenal. If you go back to Genesis 3 and verse 6, you'll find that he threw every weapon in his arsenal at Eve in that initial temptation. Everyone of them, look, verse 6, she saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food. This will satisfy my appetites. The lust of the flesh, the desire to have a physical appetite satisfied, not all physical appetites are wrong, but the desire to have them satisfied outside of God's will is what Satan appeals to us to do. That's the lust of the flesh. And then notice, she saw that it was pleasing to the eye and it looks good. It looks good, so I want it. That's the lust of the eyes. What we see, we desire. And then it was also desirable for gaining wisdom. Man, I can be on the inside of things. I can promote myself and be a step ahead of even my husband. I can know, I can be like God. I can ascend to that level. I can really be somebody. I can really be smart. That's the pride of life. Satan hit her with everything he had in his arsenal and he does the same with us. It's very deceptive because it's very alluring. But that is the appeal of sin. The appeal of sin is that Satan appeals to the lust of our normal physical appetites to be satisfied outside the will of God. He appeals to what we see, we want possessions or whatever. Pleasure, possessions, and then pride or position in life, he appeals to our desire for that. It's the same way. It's the same subtle appeal. It looks good. It looks enticing. It looks pleasurable. It looks fulfilling. That's the way Satan reels us in. There is a plant in the outback of Australia. It's called the Sun-Due Plant. It has a slender stem tiny round leaves that are fringed with hairs that glisten with bright drops of a liquid that shine like the dew in the morning. It looks so enticing, so beautiful. It has beautiful blossoms on it, red, white paint blossoms, beautiful plant, but low to the insect that gets too close, that is drawn in by how good it looks. Because those little drops of liquid on those leaves are not due. They're not water. They're a sticky substance that if any insect lights on the leaf of that plant, they're trapped and they can't get away. As they wriggle to try to get free, the leaf actually closes up. It is a literal insect eating plant. It looks beautiful. It looks alluring. It's enticing. It appeals, but it is deadly. And that's exactly the way Satan works. He appeals to that which is pleasurable, fulfilled the desires, the appetites of the flesh. He appeals to that which our eyes see and want were attracted to. And he appeals to our desire, the pride that we all have inside us to make something of ourselves, to be something, to be recognized, to be the center of attention. He appeals to all of that. And it looks so alluring. It looks so pleasing. It looks so enticing. But once we are drawn in with that, the plant begins to close around us and we are trapped. Because the appeal is followed by the act of disobedience. Notice the act in verse 6. When she saw all this, fruit of tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, desirable for gaining wisdom. She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her. He ate it. Was Adam with her all the time? Verse 6 seems to indicate that. Verse 17 seems to indicate that part of the judgment on Adam was the fact that he did not exercise proper leadership to respond to the temptation. He followed the advice of his wife when she was being led the wrong way. He did not exercise the proper leadership. So maybe he was with her the whole time. You know, I know lots of folks present this story as the serpent called Eve all alone. Because he felt she was more vulnerable. I think that we're both there the whole time. I mean, she sees it. She takes it. He's there with her. But first Timothy 2 does say that Eve was deceived. Adam was in transgression, not deceived. Adam sinned, rebelled against God with his eyes wide open. There was no deception at all in his mind. He decided to disobey God. And that's the reason Adam is held responsible for our fall into sin. But the action happens in a moment of time. And you know when you think about it, it could have gone something like this. Eve takes the fruit, eats it, nothing happens. Did God really say you'll die? Well, let's find out. She eats. I'm not dying. What she didn't know is all three forms of death in the Bible had already started kicking in. The moment she took that fruit, even though she felt no difference, she started to die physically. The moment she took that fruit, she was separated from God. That's the second kind of death in the Bible. Spiritual death. And spiritual death, if it is left untreated with no remedy, leads to eternal death, the third kind of death in the Bible. She was already on that path. So even though she didn't feel anything, even though the consequences did not become immediately apparent, she's dying. And that's how subtle sin is. You can take the bait. You can take the enticing, alluring temptation. And look around and say, well, that wasn't too bad. That felt pretty good. And that will embolden you to go further. And you don't realize that Satan already has these hooks in you, that you are already entrapped and you are going down a path that will lead to your destruction. That is the way sin works. And when you act on that temptation, you're caught, you're trapped, even though you may not see it at the time. She saw, she desired, she took. And when you take, you're done. You're done. That's the sequence of sin. Would to God, we would realize that? Would to God that we would wake up and see when temptation comes, that we have a moment, an opportunity in time to say no, to resist the temptation, to take what Paul calls in 1 Corinthians 10-13, the way of escape, to stay on the path of obedience and not listen to the tempter's voice of how appealing this looks, because the act will only lead to more and more and more and more sin and distance from God. That's the way it works, my friend. The sequence of sin is devastating and they found it out. The next stage in this story has to do with the shame of sin. This is tragic. This is awful. But what they realize next is the shame that sin brings. For several things in verses 7-13 that are described as a part of the shame of sin, the first is shame of sin begins with a sense of guilt. This is the result of sin. And this is where it always leads. It begins with guilt, verse 7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked so they sowed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. A lot of ink spilled on that verse and exactly what that means, what was involved in them realizing they were naked, why did they seek to cover themselves, what was going on there. Was it the fact that they realized the very fountain head of the race was now corrupted by their disobedience, their children would be born contaminated by sin, and so the feelings of guilt center on their procreative organs and they try to cover those, was that it? Or was it that they were they were already covered by God with a glorious light, a reflection of his very presence, and when they sinned they lost that, they realized they were naked and stripped of that protective covering. I don't know exactly what all is entailed in this, but I do know this much that along with this sin there is a growing awareness in their minds of shame and they try to cover this sense of guilt. Satan had promised their eyes would be opened and they were but not like Satan promised. Satan promised their eyes would be open to worlds, new worlds of discovery and adventure and they would know more and they would be like God and they would be amazing creatures and they wait for that to happen, but it doesn't. They wait for the promise of Satan to come true, but it doesn't. This sense of discovery and of new worlds and adventures being open to them is not what they feel, it's not what they sense. What they sense is this creeping, growing shame and guilt because of their disobedience. They're waiting for those supernatural results, but it's not there. They look around and realize they have sinned, they've disobeyed God and they're ashamed and guilt in that and that's exactly what happens when we swallow Satan's lie in temptation. When you decide that you will disobey God's word and you will follow after the pleasures of sin, the appeal to the appetites of your flesh, you will follow after that with your eyes see and you want and you covet so bad and you will go after with all the gusto you have making a name for yourself regardless of what it means to you and cutting ethical moral corners or what it means to the people you step over to get there. When you make that decision, when you decide to go that route and you think this is going to be great, it's going to be fun, it's going to be exciting, it's going to open new worlds to me, you'll wake up in the morning with an empty feeling of guilt and shame that is inevitably the way sin works. A sense of guilt, but the shame of sin also includes separation from God. Immediately they were separated from God and because of that we are all born into this world with a sin nature that causes us to be separated from God. Now notice how it works in their case in verse 8, then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Did God come down in the cool of the day in the evening time every day and walk with them? Could he make his presence known in a visible fashion? That seems to be implied by this. They seem to have expected him because they hid from him. They seem to know he was coming and so evidently God made himself known in some kind of visible presence and fellowship with them, a commune with them in the garden. But on this day, on the day that they have disobeyed him, they do not want to be with him. Now fear has taken the place of faith and anticipation of his presence. Hiding has taken the place of free and open fellowship with God. So they're afraid and they hide and that has because of their fall become the natural inclination of every sinful human heart. It is our natural inclination to flee from God, to hide from God. That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 3 and verse 11, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. None of us given our natural bent, given our natural inclination turns toward God. That's only possible in the Holy Spirit's at work to draw you back to the Lord. But none of us in our natural inclination goes toward God. We naturally go away from God. We naturally try to hide from him. We naturally try to cover up and run from God. That's our natural inclination. It may be what you're doing today. It may be in your life, you are ensnared and sinned and you don't want anything to do with God. You want to leave you alone. You just seem to be out of his presence. You're running from him as fast as you can. I am so thankful. The story doesn't stop with verse 8. I'm so thankful that God and His love and grace didn't say, okay, I know what you've done. Forget you. I'm going to start a new planet with a new couple. No, no, look at verse 9. But the Lord God called to the man, where are you? Friend, that is not a call to drive them out of hiding. It is a call of love and grace to draw them out of hiding. I'm so thankful for the love and grace of God that reaches out to us in our sin and rebellion. We're not for that. None of us would have any hope of heaven. God could let us alone and let us go our own way. But God does not give up the pursuit. God reaches out to us and pursues us in His love and His grace and it is a penetrating question. Where are you? Is not designed to give God information. It's not like God was looking under the bushes. Where are you anyway? I don't know where you are. Oh God knows all things. The question was designed to penetrate the heart of Adam and Eve and make them wake up and realize, yes, where are we? Look at us. We're hiding from the one who created us, the one we fellowshiped and what's wrong with us? What has happened to us? That's the purpose of the question. To get them to realize they have walked away from God. It is their fault. They are guilty. God pursues them. I'm so thankful He does. But this shame of sin not only begins with a sense of guilt. Not only does it include separation from God. By the way, when God pursues you, I've got to say this, when God pursues you in His love and grace and causes you to realize that you are far from Him. But He reminds you that He sent His Son Jesus to die for you. And you turn to Him in faith. Then the Bible says, once you come to Christ in faith, you can never be separated from the love of God. You're always His child. And you're sin, even as a Christian, we still sin. Your sin will not separate you from His love. You'll never be separated from Him again. It'll cause some family friction and you need to get that right by confessing it and making it right with the Lord. But you'll never be separated from Him. Read Romans 8 on that sometime. You'll never be separated from the love of God. But here they are separated from Him because this is the first sin, the initial sin that drags them away from God. But it also leads to the shifting of blame. Look at verse 11. And he said, this is God speaking again. Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? Notice Adam's response, verse 12. The man said, the woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree. And I ate it. Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. Notice the shifting of blame. God says to Adam, what have you done? This woman, this woman, man have been blaming women ever since. This woman, but you notice what he said, this woman you gave me ultimately is blaming God. And anytime you blame your life circumstances for what's happened to you and where you are and what you've done, you're blaming God. So the shifting of blame goes to Eve, ultimately to God, but then he turns to Eve, what is this you've done? The serpent, sorry, his fault, his fault. And what we find is what sin does not only to them, but what it does to all of us, it leads to a shifting of blame. Now granted, there is a touch of truth to what they're saying. What they're saying is true to some degree. Eve was responsible. The serpent was the initiator. Yes, there's a grain of truth here, but that does not absolve them of their responsibility. And anytime we shift blame away from ourselves, we're trying to remove our responsibility for our own actions. We live in a culture, though, that tells us that's where you need to put the blame. You need to put the blame for who you are, what you've done on something or someone else. Well, it's just my makeup, it's how I'm made, it's my personality. I can't help blowing up with people and chopping her heads off. It's just me. Deal with it. No, no. We're talking today that you've got to blame your genes. I can't help it. It's my genetic structure. Well, I'm no scientist. I do believe there are genetic predispositions to certain tendencies that may make you more susceptible to certain things. If you choose those paths, you're still responsible for that choice. We're taught today that you can blame your parents or your environment or the way you were brought up. My dad was never there for me. My mom did this. My dad did this. And so we blame our parents. Now, granted, there may be a grain of truth to that. You may have been failed and scarred in many ways, but you, my friend, are still responsible for your choices and your reactions to what's been done to you. Anytime you try to absolve yourself of your personal responsibility and shift the blame to someone else or something else, you know what's going to happen? You will wallow in self-pity the rest of your life. And you will never find any healing forgiveness, salvation. You will never find any freedom from the pain, from the hurt, from the bondage, because you continue to shift blamed others. It is only when you take full responsibility for your own actions that you will begin on the path of healing and forgiveness and wholeness again only when you take responsibility for your own actions. The shame of sin is an awful thing and what it does to us is an awful thing. The guilt, separation from God, the shifting of blame, all of that is a part of the shame of sin. But notice with me, if you will, quickly the suffering because of sin. There are consequences. There are suffering because of sin. And we just have time to mention these. First of all, the suffering of the serpent in verse 14. The snake itself will crawl on its belly. Does that mean a change in movement? Not sure. That's a little unclear, but at least the idea is that he will be judged and will eat the dust of the earth, the rest of his life. He becomes, the snake itself becomes a symbol of the curse of judgment on all of nature. Because we'll see as the passage goes on that other parts of nature are included as well. So the serpent suffers. Then the woman suffers in verse 16. In a couple of ways, the suffering of the woman is first of all that she will have pain in childbearing. And it will be very severe, the text says. It's part of the curse. It's part of the judgment upon Eve and her descendants. But there's another part of the judgment upon the woman. The end of verse 16, her, your desire will be for your husband. He will rule over you. A lot of debate about what that means. A lot of writing on that. Let me just give you what I believe the text supports. The word desires only use three times in the Old Testament. It's used one more time in chapter 4 of sin crouching at the door and desiring to have a mastery over cane. Given that this is the same author within the same context, I believe that he means the same thing. I think a woman's desire here is not an affection or an attraction to her husband. I think it's the desire to gain the upper hand of mastery over him to rule over him. And in creation, that's not the way God made us. First Timothy 2 makes that clear. That God had a certain order of headship and submission in the family that was instituted at creation, not the fall, but in creation. So I think it means that she will desire to have the upper hand and mastery. And then he says, he, the husband will rule over you and rule is a harsh term. So I believe it means that that the man will tend to misuse his leadership role by harsh treatment of his wife, which tends to degrade her. It's all a result of the fall. What was designed to be a loving relationship now becomes a combative one. Love and cherish becomes dominate and rule. That's never the way God intended it to be. Even the most the closest relationship on earth between a husband and wife is now poisoned by the sinful tendency in our nature to want to do for ourselves and get our own way. And so we want to rule and harshly rule and master over each other. That's not the way God intended it. That's the suffering of the woman. And then suffering of the man, his labor will be more difficult versus 17 to 19. Everybody who plants a garden, everybody who's ever farmed knows this. It's going to take sweat to get a living out of the ground anymore because of thorns, weeds, thistles, so forth. And you're going to die. You're going to go back to dust. And because of that versus 22 to 24, you need to be kicked out of the garden. Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, not allowed to go back in because you see the tree of life was still there. And evidently there was something about the fruit of that tree that kept them energized and contributed to their living forever. And now that they are dying in a slowly decaying body to live forever in that state, really it's God's mercy to send them out of the garden. So they're expelled from the garden. All sin brings suffering. Even if you deny that, even if you can't see it because either number one, the temptation looks so appealing and alluring and enticing, and will open up new worlds for you. If you can't see the suffering, you need to read this whole story and recognize sin always leads to suffering. Or if it's because you did sin, you have taken the fruit. And you didn't feel any different. You haven't seen any consequences yet. Everything seems to be going fine. Sin always has the consequence of suffering. Ultimately, eventually, suffering will come. Your life will be destroyed. But I can't end the chapter without what's really intended, I believe, in this chapter. And that is the sacrifice for sin. There is a picture of sacrifice in verse 21. God made provision for Adam and Eve. He's already reached out to them in His love and grace. Made them aware of their sin. Now in verse 21, the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and His wife and clothed them. Now in order to make a garment of skin, an animal had to be killed. An innocent victim whose life is taken so that its coat can become the garment to clothes, the shame, and guilt of this sinful pair. What a picture! What a picture of sacrifice! An innocent victim sheds its blood and order for them to be clothed. A picture of our salvation! An innocent victim, God's own son, not guilty of any sin. Sheds his own blood, gives his own life so that our sin can be clothed and covered in his righteousness. What a beautiful picture of the sacrifice of Christ for our sin. Did Adam and Eve watch this happen? I think they did. We're not told that, but by chapter 4, they are already instructing their children that the proper approach to God is through an animal sacrifice and that's the way Abel comes. But I think they recognize the meaning of this. I think they understood to some degree at least what God was showing them that an innocent victim must take their place for them to be clothed. That's the way you approach God. A picture of sacrifice, but there is also in this passage a beautiful prophecy of sacrifice in verse 15, where God is still speaking to the serpent. He says this, and I will put enmity between you, the serpent, and the woman, between your offspring and hers, your seed and hers. So he's speaking to the actual snake, but remember the snake is just used as a tool for Satan to tempt. So really, he's speaking here to Satan, and we know that from the end of the verse. He, the woman's offspring, which by the way is singular, not all of her descendants, one particular descendant, will crush your head and you will strike his heel. What appears to me to be an obvious prophecy of the coming of Christ, of the Messiah, the seed of the woman, Galatians will tell us that the seed is Christ, and so Christ is the one who will come from the woman. The hope of salvation, the prophecy that a Savior will come, and in this great conflict between Satan and Christ, Satan will crush, or Christ will crush Satan's head, while Satan will strike a temporary blow at his heel. Striking of the heel is not a mortal blow. It is a blow that can be recovered from, but the crushing of the head is a mortal blow. I believe what's talked about here is the cross, where Satan inflicts a temporary blow on Christ from which he will recover in three days, and yet in that very act of the crucifixion and the resurrection, Satan himself by Christ is dealt a mortal crush to where Jesus would say on the eve of the cross the prince of this world is judged. He is condemned. His judgment is sure. So you see my friend, it is Jesus' death on the cross that defeats Satan and his whole program, and all that comes with that, the temptation, the act of sin, the sense of guilt, separation from God, all of that is taken care of in the death of Christ. He becomes our perfect substitute, our sacrifice, the one who died for you and who died for me. He is the one who fulfills this prophecy to the full, and so this is what the whole passage is leading to. Christ is the only remedy for our sin. Christ is the only remedy for our sin. He is the answer, my friend. If you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, if you've never placed your confidence and hope of eternal life of a home in heaven someday, of a birding the judgment of God, if you've never placed your confidence in Christ for all of that, then you are still separated from God as good a moral person as you may be, as religious as you may be, as many churches you may have been a member of, many times you may have been baptized. None of that matters, my friend, not when it comes to how you get to heaven. Because the only way to heaven is through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and if you've never trusted Him, you need Him today, you need Jesus as your Savior. Would you be willing to trust Him? Place your faith in Him as your Savior today. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this foundational story that still speaks to us today. A story of fact, not a fiction, but a story that really happened, and causes all of us to come into this world apart from you, separated from you. But thank you, Father, that you sent your Son Jesus to shed His blood for us so that we might be covered with His righteousness. Or would I pray for anyone who's never trusted Jesus today that they would recognize their need of the Savior and come to Christ? I pray that they would quit blaming others or their life circumstances, take responsibility for their own sin, and realize they need a Savior. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.