Original Sin – Genesis Ch3v1to7

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It would be really good if you could take a Bible and turn with me to Genesis chapter 3. Book of Genesis and chapter 3, and we’re going to read the first seven verses. 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? The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit 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.

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. 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.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realised they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. This is the Word of God. Now on Thursday of this week, a billionaire named Jared Isaacman became the first non-professional astronaut to walk in space.

Suspended in orbit 435 miles above the earth, as he looked down, he said the following, back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, earth sure looks like a perfect world. And it does, doesn’t it? It does in that picture. Our serene looking planet gives the appearance of picture perfect.

(2:39 – 3:04)

And yet as Isaacman acknowledges, and as every one of us knows, that is not even half the story. When you come back down to earth and you plant your feet on terra firma, there is indeed a lot of work to do. In fact, that might just be a big whopping understatement.

(3:05 – 5:07)

Because in a world full of sunsets, there is such a thing as serial killers. In a world of glistening blue oceans, there is such a thing as neglect and abuse. In a world of towering mountains, there is such a thing as injustice and war.

Oh, there’s a lot of work to do. Even in our own lives, who of us doesn’t carry regrets? Who of us hasn’t done things that we are ashamed of? And the question is, why are we like this? And why is our world like this? So profoundly wonderful, and yet so deeply wicked? Well, as you might expect, the Bible has an answer to the question. It’s found in Genesis 3, where the plain answer is given to us.

The plain answer as to why the world is a beautiful mess, and it’s this. In short, human rebellion. Human rebellion.

What we’re going to see this morning is the original sin when Adam and Eve turned their back on their loving Creator. Yet the Bible records this for us not simply because the consequence of it ripples down the generations of history, but also because this original sin is very much an ongoing sin. To think that we don’t need the One who made us is an ongoing echo in our experience, isn’t it? To have that thought.

(5:09 – 5:57)

Now, before we explore this any further, let me clarify something. I am considering Adam and Eve this morning to be historical figures. And in doing so, I am doing so because I believe the New Testament regards them as such.

In the gospel of Luke, Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam, as if he was a real person. Similarly, Paul the Apostle in Romans chapter 5, he compares the one-man Adam with the one-man Jesus. And there’s no hint that Paul thinks that either Adam or Jesus are fictional.

(5:59 – 6:20)

The Bible teaches a historic Adam, a historic Satan, and a historic fall. Now, little caveat. Christians may debate the details of Genesis 3 and how to interpret some of them.

(6:21 – 7:20)

And a lot depends on what kind of literature you think Genesis 3 is. It’s a little bit like the discussion we had over Genesis 1. What kind of literature is this? And so, some people, for example, see the talking snake as literal. Others see the snake as more symbolic.

They think that it’s more of a translation of what happened rather than a transcription of what happened, told in symbolism. But whichever one of those views you take, I think the core history remains a real Adam, a real fall, and a real Satan who played his devilish part. Now, Paul in 2 Corinthians says at one point to that congregation, in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, he says, we are not unaware of the devil’s schemes.

(7:21 – 8:15)

We know, don’t we, says Paul to this church, we know how Satan operates. We know, don’t we, how he works. The implication is that we should know how he works.

But I wonder if we do. I wonder if we could lay out the tactics of the enemy on a strategy board and show how he functions. Because you see, the devil’s schemes are always the same schemes.

It’s always the same playbook. Jesus said on one occasion that the devil has been a liar from the beginning. Fleetwood Mac, less profound perhaps but catchy, they said, tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.

(8:16 – 9:46)

And we’re going to see in this passage three lies, not so sweet lies, that Satan tells and that he still uses today. Lie number one, lie number one, God didn’t say that. God didn’t say that.

Now, we know from later Scripture that the snake in the grass is Satan. But Genesis 3 itself is not so explicit. However, it gives a huge hint even here when it tells us that the snake, verse 1, is crafty.

The reader is made aware of this. It’s not clear actually that Adam and Eve necessarily are detecting this. But the reader is told so that when we hear these opening words, our radar is turned on for possible manipulation.

The serpent starts with a subtle question. I’m just wondering, slithers the serpent, did God really say? God’s saying things has been a dominant focus of Genesis so far. It was God’s words in chapters 1 and 2 that created the entire cosmos.

(9:47 – 11:32)

And it was through God’s Word that He communicated and commanded and blessed Adam and Eve. God has been ruling and relating through His Word. And now, a creature, a snake in the grass begins to question the Word of God.

Did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden? Now, there’s a progression here. The serpent will later take this up two or three notches. He will shift from mere questioning to downright denial of what God said.

You will not surely die. Using subtle questions and blatant assertions, Satan denies what God has said. The basic fact of what he said is being challenged by the evil one.

Friends, this is still a strategy that Satan is using today. He is always questioning, always denying what God said. There are people in every generation who will tell you that God didn’t really say what it seems that He has said.

And some of them have PhDs. And some of them can read Greek and Hebrew. And all they’re doing is asking questions that we need to think about.

(11:34 – 12:40)

They’re just trying to open up your mind to what the text might really say, even though the consensus of church history would stand entirely against them. One of the worst examples around at the moment—maybe you’ve heard of this—is what I would call the trajectory interpretation of the Bible. What do I mean by that? Well, the trajectory interpretation is kind of like this.

It kind of says, the Bible is a bit unsophisticated in the Old Testament, but it gets better in the New Testament. But even in the New Testament, it really hasn’t got everything quite right. But if we follow the trajectory of where the Bible is going, if we follow the gradual improvement to today, we will discover that God is in a different place now, that He’s not actually saying quite the same thing as He once seemed to say.

(12:42 – 13:28)

He no longer demands repentance. And now He’s much too loving to judge. God has kind of evolved.

Oh, this lie is alive and well. I wonder if you’ve heard it. I wonder if you’ve been tempted by it.

This is not the same thing, incidentally, as asking genuine questions from the perspective of a heart of faith, where we’re trying to understand what the text really means. That’s not the same thing. But we’re talking here questions that come from a heart of unbelief, where we’re seeking to twist the Word of God to say something it never said.

(13:29 – 14:45)

So, here’s lie number two. Because you see, sometimes lie number one doesn’t work, and so the devil tries another tact. Lie number two is God isn’t good.

God isn’t good. Look at how the serpent weaves this in. Did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden? Now, is that what God said? Did God say, you can’t eat from any of the trees in the garden? No, God didn’t say that.

And the devil knows that, but the devil is sowing a seed. And the seed he is sowing is that God is highly restrictive. He’s holding back the good stuff.

I’ve been hearing that God’s been holding back the good stuff from you. Eve, who’s having this chat with the serpent, she corrects him initially, but she also makes a mistake in her correction. See if you can spot the mistake.

(14:47 – 15:40)

She says, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. Well, that’s correct. She’s put him right there.

But God did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. Well, that’s also correct. God did forbid them to eat from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And you must not touch it or you will surely die. Did God say that? Well, he said that if they ate from the tree, they would surely die. But he didn’t say that they shouldn’t touch the tree, did he? He said they shouldn’t eat from it, not that they shouldn’t touch it.

(15:43 – 16:57)

Eve is slipping into the error of painting God as a little more restrictive than he is. The devil’s starting to influence her thinking. And having softened up the ground, the serpent now goes for the jugular in verse 5 by insisting that God doesn’t have Adam and Eve’s interests at heart.

You can almost hear the sneer, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing goods and evil. God’s this petty, insecure, divine being who is holding back something good from you. That’s what this devil is bluntly asserting.

And the underlying message is you can’t trust God. He may be great, but he isn’t good. I wondered if you’ve heard that whisper in your own ear.

(16:59 – 19:08)

Has the devil ever whispered something like that? Even if you do believe in God, can you really trust him? I mean, you’re a sophisticated person living in the 21st century. Do you really need to trust in the goodness of God? Can’t you work it out for yourself? What’s right and wrong and good for you? Can’t you draw the moral line in your own life? And if you do, the evil one says, if you do draw that line, you will discover that this God figure sometimes falls on the wrong side of your line. Reminds me of one of C.S. Lewis’s books, God in the Dock, God in the Dock.

God no longer seated in the judge’s chair. No, we’ve unseated him and switched places with him, and now he is in the seat of the prosecuted. We will be the arbiter of right and wrong.

And you see, I think this is really what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I think this is what it’s actually about. Adam and Eve may have expected that they would gain more knowledge and wisdom from the tree when they ate it. But really, what this tree was about was making a decision to determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong.

It was really a grasping for God’s godhood. One writer says, what they were reaching for was autonomy. And we grasp for that autonomy in our lives when we believe the lie that God is not as good as He says He is, and that His way is not as good as He promises it is.

(19:11 – 20:25)

Friends, if the evil one cannot get you to doubt what God says, He will get you to doubt the goodness of the God who says it. This came to my mind this week. You know, as a younger preacher, I recall a few occasions where I think I fell into the foolish trap of virtually apologising for something in the Bible.

Now, we understand, we realise, don’t we, we need to have an awareness that some things in Scripture are hard for people to accept. We do need to acknowledge that, that people find certain topics difficult. But I think there was a few occasions where I virtually went over the line into apologising that God seemed to be like this or like that, or that God said this or God said that.

And I kind of wish He hadn’t said that, but He did say that. Or He did this or He did that. And I’m not so sure.

(20:27 – 20:42)

If you want evidence that God is merciful, I’m still here. And the ground didn’t swallow me up. And the elders didn’t hook me from the stage, although they probably should have done that.

(20:44 – 21:08)

However much we wrestle with certain things, we must always be aware of the underlying fact that all of God’s ways are perfect, and all of His ways are just. They are. And whenever I can’t see that to be the case, I can assume it’s my blindness that’s the problem.

(21:09 – 21:42)

I should assume that my understanding of the Bible is not perfect, and my heart towards God is not perfect, and that if my morality was perfectly in tune with God’s morality, I would love everything the Bible affirms about God. I would say that the Creator of everything good is incapable of being morally bad. If Satan can’t convince you that God’s Word is wrong, he will convince you that God is wrong.

(21:45 – 22:30)

Are some of you struggling with that temptation right now? I would think so, because I think this is very common as a strategy of the evil one. Now, to seal the deal, and you notice here Satan’s using multiple strategies. He’s compounding a number of strategies.

But to seal the deal, Satan has one more lie, and it’s this. Thirdly, God won’t judge. God won’t judge.

Now, there’s a kind of progression here, isn’t there? We could say that there’s a progression of three Ds in this passage. The first is there’s doubt. The devil casts a question that causes doubt on God’s Word.

(22:31 – 23:14)

Then, secondly, notice there is distortion. Distortion. He starts to twist what God’s Word is saying, and Eve herself, in fact, distorts God’s Word.

So, there’s doubt, then there’s distortion, but then finally we come to the third D, we come to denial. That’s where it all ends. At last, we get the barefaced contradiction of God’s clear Word.

You will not surely die. One commentator says, the first doctrine that is denied in the Bible is the doctrine of judgement. This whole death thing, you guys need to chill out about it, says the serpent.

(23:15 – 23:34)

There’s nothing to worry about. In fact, the devil reassures them. He says that the eating of the fruit won’t only not be a path to death, but it will actually be the door to life enhancement.

(23:36 – 23:50)

It’s the new best thing. Their eyes will be opened in a good way. They will be able to live above and beyond what God has laid out for them.

(23:52 – 25:01)

And again, we’ve heard this one, haven’t we? We hear it, we hear it all the time. Be you. Do you.

Be your own moral compass. Follow your own heart. And that will take you to the next level of being human.

It’s very much the tone of what people now term deconstruction. You’ve heard of deconstruction? Deconstruction is where people who once believed in Jesus and they kind of stood on the solid construction of His gospel, well, they’re now deconstructing all of that. They’re like removing the foundation under their own feet.

Or to change the image, there’s this kind of bursting out of the shackles of the gospel and making our own way in the world with our own truth. And of course, always along with that, funnily enough, is almost always a new truth about our morality, where we can live without any moral consequences. And you can see the appeal of it.

(25:03 – 27:52)

I mean, it would be appealing, wouldn’t it, if you said to a young child, would you like to live in a house without any parents? Without any parents to stop you from just taking whatever you want from the fridge anytime you want. Put your hand in any socket. Turn on that flame thing on the cooker.

You’d love it, wouldn’t you? You’d love it if you went to school as a child and there were no teachers who didn’t have any boundaries or rules. You’d love it. And yet we see, don’t we? We know from experience where all of that lack of boundaries goes.

We see the bad fruit of it in people’s lives as adults. And yet so many people live their lives believing the lie that a world without boundaries and a world without judgement would be a better place. It’s funny, isn’t it? Or not funny, but I was just reflecting that in popular culture, there is still quite a widely believed belief in heaven.

That’s interesting, isn’t it? That is there. So many people, when they lose a loved one, they don’t go to church, they don’t believe in much, but they’ll talk about their loved ones up there somewhere. And I’m going to see them again one day.

There’s a kind of skewed and shaky belief, but it’s there. That is not equally represented in people believing in a coming judgement after death. Virtually nobody believes in that.

And if they do, their view of hell, when you actually listen to it, is kind of like a new take on heaven or a different take on heaven. It’s really not like hell as the Bible describes it at all, which is not something you would want to endure. And so we live in this kind of fantasy of a world where there’s no judgement, there’s no consequences.

And even actually as Christians sometimes, if you are a Christian, you know, we can sometimes walk the fine line where we teeter on the edge of believing in fantasy, where we can forget that though there are not the eternal consequences of our sin, there can be temporal consequences of sin. Think of the writer of Hebrews, you know, who said that if you think you stand, be careful lest you fall. Now, why does he say that? He says that because there can become a casualness that comes into our thinking about sin, a casualness.

(27:57 – 28:34)

We know we shouldn’t say that cutting remark. We know we shouldn’t start that fire. We know we shouldn’t do that sinful thing.

But part of our brain thinks, well, there won’t be any great consequence. The Bible is maybe not as serious as it seems to be about the deadly destructive impact of sin. You will not surely die.

In fact, seeing that thing, sinning in that way might be the path to your freedom. It’s a lie. It’s a huge big lie.

(28:36 – 34:16)

You know, one of the most important things that we do as Christians and that we do in most of our services, I think, is that it’s…Nigel did it this morning. At some point, we acknowledge our sin before God and we seek His grace. Now, some people might say that’s a little bit morbid and depressing.

You know, shouldn’t we just sort of skip that part and jump on to the grace bit? Sinclair Ferguson, who was a minister formerly at the Tron Church, I just so happened, I wasn’t looking for this, but I came across, he was being interviewed, and he talked about when he was at the Tron, this is maybe a couple of decades ago, he was in the church for a period of time, and although he was the minister, he didn’t have complete control of the rest of the service. His elders would lead parts of the service. And he noted over a period of time that, and this is quoting his own words, confession of sin in the prayers in the service was hit and miss, right? Some weeks it was there, some weeks it wasn’t there.

And eventually, he plucked up the courage to speak to his fellow elders and say, I think this is a bad thing when we go through a service and at no point do we acknowledge anywhere that we are sinners in need of grace. He said, number one, it’s theologically deficient because it’s biblically true, but he said, number two, it’s actually psychologically deficient because actually a healthy person will understandably have a sensitivity to sin when they gather with God’s people and become aware that we are worshipping the holy and perfect and good God that we’ve been singing about this morning. It’s normal to feel a sense of unworthiness.

And so, we actually need to start there with the recognition of our sin and then proceed from there. Not camp on our sinfulness, but not circumnavigating it, going around it and bypassing it. If we do, we will become indifferent about sin and we will leave people in the seats who are feeling they have no right to be there.

We need to be reminded that we are as sinful as our first parents and yet we are as loved as we’re going to see that they will be as we move to the end of chapter 3 next week. Now, time is running away. They both take the fruits.

He took it and she took it as we see in verse 7, and then both of their eyes were opened, but not in the way they hoped for. They didn’t sort of open their eyes and realise, ah, we’re like God, right? We’re now ruling the universe. That didn’t happen.

Instead, their eyes are opened in terms of realising they are now a rebellious creature facing God’s judgement. How does this help us? How does this section help us? There’s going to be more next week as we look then at the consequences, but how do these first seven verses help us? I think in two main ways as we finish. For one thing, it’s a warning and reminder of the schemes the devil uses when he tempts us to sin.

God’s people Israel, who I think were the first recipients of Genesis, would soon be entering the promised land and they would face many temptations. The temptation to deny God’s Word, to doubt God’s goodness, and the temptation to turn away from God’s Word and follow their own schemes. And they needed to be reminded that the evil one would be there to tempt them.

And it’s clear from the New Testament, isn’t it, that we’re not meant to simply lie down and consider ourselves defeated when we face temptations. Sometimes we wrongly imagine that we are powerless to resist temptation. You know, only Jesus resisted temptation.

What hope do we have? Even as God’s children, what hope do we have? But that’s not the emphasis of the author of Hebrews, who says in chapter 10 that, “‘No temptation has seized you except that which is common to man.'” It’s not his emphasis when he says that God will provide you with a way of escape so that you can come out of the temptation and not succumb to it. Yes, it’s possible, in the power of the Spirit, with the help of the Word of God, it is possible to be Christlike in this way, to, in the language of Ephesians 6, put on the full armour of God, wearing the belt of truth, wielding the sword of God’s Word, and fighting the devil’s lies. We can do that, but we will never do it perfectly because we’re not Jesus.

(34:19 – 35:01)

And in those moments, and there will be many of those moments, the wonder of the gospel is that we do not need to fear the eternal consequences of succumbing to temptation, because if you are a believer, you are shielded from God’s wrath by the one who resisted every one of the devil’s lies. You know, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, there were three lies that were thrown his way. Three times God’s Word was distorted and twisted and challenged.

(35:02 – 35:36)

Three times the devil promised Jesus all the blessings of the world if he would only bow down to him, the snake. You see there, don’t you? It’s the same with Adam and Eve. That would have been the complete subversion of God’s order.

What a snake ruling over a man. How ridiculous. Instead, Jesus, the Son of Adam and the Son of God, crushed the devil and his lies underfoot.

(35:37 – 36:14)

And because he crushed the head of the serpent in that temptation and in every temptation, I can now come to God without fear, because his righteousness has been credited to me in the great exchange of the cross. And so, I rest in that, and I fight the fight of faith, confident that he has already won the victory for me. I wonder if you’re confident in that this morning.

(36:14 – 36:35)

I wonder if you’re resting in the one who resisted every lie. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for your victory over sin and the devil.

(36:38 – 36:58)

Strengthen us by your Spirit to stand firm in moments of temptation. Remind us of your grace when we fall, and lift us up to the joy of sins forgiven. In your mighty name.

Amen.

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