Genesis 3

Paradise Lost

Fallen Condition Focus: Why humanity fell (and still do today) and what God will do about it

Introduction:

You ever made a really bad decision that you still regret to this day?

This week I was doing some research for today’s message and I came across a list of some of the worst

business decisions ever made. I wanted to share some of those with you, so here are 5 of the worst

business decisions ever made:

5. Decca Records hears the Beetles before anyone else, has a chance to sign them, but refuses to because

they sound too much like the Shadows (who?)

4. ABC turns down the Cosby Show because “viewers won’t watch such an unrealistic show.”

3. M & M’s says no to being E.T.’s favorite candy in the movie. Reese’s Pieces instead becomes E.T.’s

favorite candy and there sales triple overnight.

2. Schlitz beer decides to cut quality to go for quantity. As the article says, “they went from #1 to done

within a few years.”

1. New Coke (more people switched over to Pepsi as a result of new Coke then anything Pepsi ever did).

The reality is we make bad decisions every day of our lives. Some of them have dire consequences (like

poor Schlitz beer), others of them are just embarrassing. No matter who we are though, we don’t always

get it right. We make bad decisions.

Today we’re going to talk about the worst decision made in human history. A decision with such

disastrous consequences that it literally changed the course of human history forever, Adam and Eve

rebelled against their Creator. They chose to believe a lie, they chose death over life, they chose

themselves over God. Why did humanity fall, and why do we still? There’s a lot in this text to answer

that question:

I. Distortion of God’s Word

 a. The first reason humanity falls into sin is because God’s word is distorted and twisted. This is

always the way the Devil works; he hasn’t changed his tricks ever since. Listen to the words

of Genesis 3:1-3: 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that

the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of

any tree in the garden’?” (Now did God actually say that? No, God actually said nearly the

opposite: You can eat from any tree in the garden except one, that’s it) 2 And the woman said

to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall

not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest

you die.’”

b. Now the woman at first speaks up to defend God it looks like (always a bad idea to engage

Satan by the way), but then quickly falls into the trap the Devil has laid out for her: She adds

to God’s word. Where? Look at the end of verse 3: She says that God said they can’t even

touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” But that’s not what God said. He never

mentions anything about touching the tree in his command to Adam in chapter 2.

c. Satan comes making God’s word sound more restrictive than it actually is. Eve adds to God’s

word. God’s Word is distorted. Sin always finds an easy way in when the word of God is

distorted.

d. ‘Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps’ is commonly thought of as a biblical verse or idea:

it is not, but it will cause you to be a legalist. Or you have those that will endlessly quote

verse like God says, “Do not judge,” and “God is love” when someone confronts them about

sin in their lives. That too is a distortion of God’s word and leads to either the sin of legalism

or the sin of licentiousness. Think of Christians justifying slavery. That comes from distortion

of the word of God. This eventually leads to the second tactic Satan uses to get us to fall into

sin; that is…

II. Denial of God’s Word

 a. Look at vs. 4 with me: But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For

God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,

knowing good and evil.” So first what Satan does is deny the word himself: “You will not

surely die.” Then to get Eve and you to deny the word, He causes you to question the

goodness of God: “God’s holding out on you. He’s lying to you. He just doesn’t want you to

experience all that’s out there in the world.”

b. This argument’s particularly effective when one is in their teenage years, right? Because you

care about their safety, you won’t let them stay out ‘til all hours of the night; they have a

curfew. You want to know where they’re going, and who they’re with; you won’t let your

kids drive, (even though all their friends might drive already). And the devil whispers to your

teenager, “Your parents just don’t want you to have fun with the others. They just don’t want

you to have better experiences than they had when they were your age. They don’t know

what life is like today.”

c. But come on, it’s easy to pick on teenagers. None of us are immune from this Satanic denial

of the word. He says, “You will not surely die.” And then we start listening to our own

reasons for denying God’s word as well. I know the Bible says, “no sex before marriage, but

we love each other.” I know the Bible says “lying is wrong, but if I don’t I could be hurt at

work.” I know God’s word says, “to turn the other cheek, but I’m sorry, if someone smacks

me, I’m smacking back hard.” Whatever the reasons may be for our denial of the word of

God in our lives, the fact is, Satan ends up getting us to follow in his footsteps denying the

word of God.

d. What areas of your life are you willing to deny the word of God? Once that happens, then the

final step in the sin process takes place…

III. Dethroning of God’s word

a. Vs. 6: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to

the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate,
 and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” She saw, she desired,

she took. There it is. It’s just that simple. It starts with just the look at what you know is

forbidden, just allowing yourself that one thought, that one look in the direction. Before you

know it, desire is kindled; the desire begins to takeover and the next thing you know, you’ve

got the fruit in your hand, your talking to that person of the opposite sex at work you know

you should avoid; you’re watching that show you shouldn’t watch; you’re telling that lie you

shouldn’t tell. Boom! And that’s how the worst decision ever in human history was made.

b. The other day I took both my boys with me to Kohl’s to get a couple of pieces of clothing.

They didn’t have any carts available, so they had to walk next to me in the store. So,

naturally a couple times they ran away from my leg, or were grabbing things off shelves. My

goal is to get them out of there alive and without breaking stuff. So later on I go to get Jude

out of his car seat and when I lift him up out of the seat, underneath him is a gift card to

‘Chili’s restaurant for $50. So I say, “Jude where did this come from?” He looks at me with

this big smile and says, “I stoled it from Kohls.” Now he saw, he desired, he took. There was

that moment where he was sort of proud of himself. Then I looked back at him and said,

“Well, I guess we’re going to have to take you to jail then.” And suddenly my poor boys eyes

were opened.

c. What happened here was far more serious than stealing a gift card; what we are reading about

in this text is literally cosmic treason. Eve was deceived the Scriptures tell us, and so we

might be inclined to cut her a break. But Adam, has a different story altogether. He was just

standing there!!! What was man’s greatest sin: nothing. He did nothing. He did not speak up

to Satan, but let his wife take the fall. He did not lead with the word, but he willfully took of

the fruit he knew God had said not to. And in the process he committed spiritual adultery,

idolatry; Adam essentially said, “I wanna make the rules, I wanna do what I want when I

want. I don’t want your authority God. I will rule.”

d. What was it like for Adam and Eve once they had taken that first bite?
IV. Consequences of sin

a. Eyes are opened- It’s the alcoholic who had been clean but takes his first drink in years; it’s

the young couple who finally decided to have sex together for the first time. The Bible

describes with just these words: And there eyes were opened. No, no, no, no. You ever seen

something disturbing that no matter what you try and do, you can’t get out of your head?

That’s what’s being described here. They’ve seen now and that sight is forever imprinted in

their minds.

b. Fear of God- Immediately we’re told that their relationship with God is altered dramatically.

At the end of chapter 2 we read that man and woman are naked, eating fruit and hanging out

with God; the good life. Now, God is no longer seen as Daddy, but as Dictator, Judge, the

Cosmic Eye in the sky.

i. A number of years ago, Woody Allen made a remarkable film called ‘Crimes and

Misdemeanors’ dealing with this very issue. In the story the main character, Judah

Rosenthal finds himself in a morally horrid situation. From all outside perspectives he

seems to be an upstanding man, a doctor, and philanthropist. But on the inside he is

anything but that. He is having an affair and using funds from his foundation illegally.

Eventually, the woman he is having an affair with can’t deal with his false promises

that one day he will leave his wife for her, so she threatens to out him and his

“unusual” business practices. Rosenthal can’t have this; it will ruin him. And so

through a series of events, eventually he ends up murdering his lover. And from that

point on in the film he is overwhelmed with this incredible guilt. Memories of his

father speaking to him as a boy come rushing back to him: “The eyes of god are

always on us, Judah.” He cannot escape it; he begins to feel that this great cosmic,

accusing eye is watching him everywhere he goes. God sees, he knows.

ii. And so Adam and Eve to escape this Cosmic searching Eye, seek to hide from God,

from man, from themselves sewing fig leaves to cover their nakedness.
c. Hiding from man and God due to shame- I have to say I love this picture of just how brilliant

man in sin is. The text tells us they hear God (the infinite Creator of the universe coming),

and Adam says, “Go hide behind that tree. Maybe He won’t find us.” Any of you who has

kids knows what this kind of hiding looks like. For example, just about every night after I tell

my kids to go to bed, they will try and sneak out of their rooms to play with each other. Now

I can hear them from downstairs, because they don’t what it means to do things quietly. So

eventually, I start walking up the stairs. What happens as soon as they hear me coming up

those stairs? They immediately run into their separate rooms, sometimes even screaming

when they do it. They can’t really hide from me, but they think they can. You ever fooled

yourself into thinking you can hide from God?

i. Adam and Eve hide because they are now filled with shame and disgust. There is no

one they can have contact with without a covering on. What are you hiding today?

d. (Inability to take responsibility) Everyone blames everyone else for the problems in the

world. We think that this sort of victim culture that we live in today is new, but the fact is, it’s

as old as our first parents. Sinners always find a way to make themselves the victims, rather

than the one responsible. So God comes to man and says, “Who told you that you were

naked? Have you eaten from the tree I told you not to?

i. Notice God calls to man first, because he is responsible for the well being of his

family (which is still true today); Man blames God and woman

ii. Woman blames snake

e. And to there is complete family breakdown. Woman will have pain in childbirth whereas

before it would have been a pleasant and beautiful experience. As a result of sin entering the

world, she will desire to rule over her husband, but cannot. Or in other words, she will

naturally resent being under his authority, and will try and take over his role of leader. But

she will find it to be a curse, because the more she tries, the more she’ll find out the

impossibility of it.
 i. Man will work slavishly hard to provide

f. Slavery to sin/death/eternal death- But by far the worst consequence of the Fall was how it

completely broke our relationship with God. From this moment on, man’s free will to choose,

became a will that would only choose sin; men would be slaves to sin, bound to death (as

God had promised), and destined to live eternally in hellfire.

g. But our story’s not done: As much as we’re told about the dreadful consequences of the Fall,

we’re also told what our hero, God, is going to do about it.

V. How God, the Hero, will fix it (God’s amazing grace):

a. He still calls them: After the creation has sinned, God could have (and would have been

completely just in doing so) just ended it. Another big bang and the world is done; game

over. Instead, God tenderly calls out, “Where are you?” Some theologians refer to this as a

redemptive call; I agree with them. This is a rescue call; think of how you might call out for

your son or daughter if they were lost in the woods. He knows exactly where they are, and

He knows exactly where you are, but He wants them to come out of their hiding and

fellowship with them. I believe that God still makes this redemptive call today: “Where are

you?” and every once in a while when there is finally no background noise, no rowdy friends,

no entertainment to distract you, the sound of that voice hits you: “Where are you?” God still

calls because for some reason, God still loves his treasonous creation. God’s rescue begins

with a call, it continues with a promise.

b. Genesis 3:15 is one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture because it shows me from the

very beginning that God had a plan to fix this mess. God says to Satan, “I will put enmity

between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise

your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The verse is known as the “protevangelium” or in

English, the first gospel. Why? Because even as their punishments are being pronounced for

their sin, God makes a promise to them that someday One will come that will crush the head

of the serpent. Oh sure, the snake will bruise his heel as He suffers and bleeds on the cross,
 but through that action, Jesus Christ, will crush the head of the snake. He will have victory as

He rises from the dead. Satan will not win! This promised offspring, this Seed is really what

will hold the rest of this story together. The whole rest of this book is in someway or another

following this offspring that will one day bring salvation for all. We will follow this line

closely as we continue.

c. And finally, God will cover them so that they might still have relationship with Him and one

another. They had sewn pathetic fig leaves together to try and hide themselves, but it didn’t

work. So what does God graciously do for them? He sacrifices an animal, takes it skin and

covers them with that. God condescends to where they are at and covers their shame and

humiliation. But this covering is not easy. Something must die, in order to provide the

covering. The animal here, Christ there. He will die to cover their shame and humiliation, our

offenses against God.

d. You’ve probably heard of the movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” but chances are you

haven’t heard the whole story. It’s a true story set in Thailand during World War II. A large

P.O.W. camp, filled with westerners from Britain and the United States, is headed up by the

Japanese. Their job: to build a railway track in the middle of the Thailand jungle. The

conditions are absolutely horrendous. The prisoners have little to no food, they are working

in 120 degree heat and their captors are merciless. As a result, 80,000 prisoners died. Ernest

Gordon, a British officer, tells us that the prisoners had learned to live in a sort of savage, kill

or be killed way themselves. Stealing from one another, hating each other, they desperately

fended for themselves. Until one day, something dramatic happened that changed the whole

atmosphere. Philip Yancey picks up the story:

Japanese guards carefully counted tools at the end of a day’s work, and one day the guard

shouted that a shovel was missing. He walked up and down the ranks demanding to know

who had stolen it. When no one confessed, he screamed “All die! All die!” and raised his rifle
 to fire at the first man in the line. At that instant an enlisted man stepped forward, stood at

attention, and said, “I did it.”

The guard fell on him in a fury, kicking and beating the prisoner, who despite the blows still

managed to stand at attention. Enraged, the guard lifted his weapon high in the air and

brought the rifle butt down on the soldier’s skull.” The man fell to the ground and was gone.

“That evening when tools were inventoried again, the work crew discovered a mistake had

been made: no shovel was missing.”

The innocent soldier had given his life to save, to cover his friends.

Jesus, in order to rescue us, stands up and takes credit for our sin saying in essence, “I did it,”

as He hangs upon the cross. To rescue us, He takes the blows, the kicks, the thorns, the nails,

the rejection, the death that we have earned. But there is one dramatic difference between

what the soldier did and what Christ did. You see in this story, we really did take the shovel.

The Bible says that because of the Fall into sin, we declared ourselves God’s enemies, but the

book of Romans tells us: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.”

Today God would call out to you and give you the news that indeed the snake’s head has been

crushed. Jesus has paid for humanity’s sin and now provides the covering you need to stand

before Him boldly, closely, restored, paradise awaiting you.