In a moment, we will be looking
at the third chapter of the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 3. In just a moment, if you want
to follow along. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was
dealing with some religious leaders one day, some self-professed
Bible teachers or Bible scholars, and He said to them, He said,
You do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. He said, You do err. You are
wrong because you don't know the Scriptures. nor the power
of God. Now, the same can be said of
most religious leaders today. They err or are wrong on all
points of doctrine because they don't know the Scriptures. Oh, they may know the letter,
they may be able to quote some, but they don't know the spirit,
the essence, the truth of God's Word. Because these things are
revealed. They're revealed. Most have some
pet verses, some particular verses that they have memorized, and
they build all their theology on these verses, particularly
one verse, John 3, 16. Most have these pet verses which
they build all of their theology on, verses taken out of context,
They neither know the verses before them, preceding them,
nor after them, following them. And most practically ignore the
whole Old Testament. Why, many call that the Old Bible
today, as if it is separate from the New, as if it has no part. I remind you, that's the only
Bible, the Old Testament is the only Bible the apostles preached
from. It's the only Bible which the
Lord Jesus Christ himself referred to when he spoke of the Scripture. Our Lord said, they don't know
the Scriptures nor the power of God. They are ignorant of
God's Word and they don't know the power of God himself. Don't understand, do not believe
the sovereign rule, control, the sovereign will, the sovereign
purpose of God Almighty, that God Almighty does indeed rule
over all. Now, all error, all doctrinal
error, all religious error starts where everything started, in
the beginning. Genesis 3, in the Garden of Eden. Let me ask you, what happened
back then? What happened in the Garden?
What happened to mankind? Was that just an allegory? Or
was it a true story? Did it actually take place? Well, it actually took place.
Just as Genesis 1 and 2 are the accounts of God's creation of
the heaven and earth, chapter 3 is an actual story of the first
man and his wife on planet earth and how that sin and death entered
into this world, and entered into the being of man. The fall of mankind is chapter
3 of Genesis. Now, this shows us clearly, here
in chapter 3, what happened in the garden, shows us clearly
why man is the way he is now, and the reason this world is
destined for destruction. An old preacher years ago named
Charles Spurgeon once said this, if you are wrong on the fall,
you'll be wrong on it all. If you don't know what happened
in the garden, you'll not have a clue as to the rest of God's
purpose and God's Word. Chapter 3, verse 1 says, Now
the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. Made by God? God made the devil? He sure did. Listen to Colossians
1, verse 16. By him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. In Job chapter 1, if you want
to turn there, it tells us what Satan can and cannot do. Satan
can only do what God Almighty allows him to do. In Job chapter
1, Satan had to come to God to ask him what he could or could
not do with Job. You see, God Almighty is God.
He's the sovereign creator, sovereign ruler, the sovereign controller,
the sovereign sustainer and judge of heaven and earth. God is God,
not Satan, and certainly not man. Man and Satan are under
the control of God Almighty. They can only do what God allows
them to do in his purpose. Now, I cannot answer every question. God's ways, Scripture says, are
past finding out. We cannot answer every question. In the book of Job, it says,
Canst thou by searching find out God unto perfection? Perfectly
know the mind, the will, the way of God? No. Why? Because he's God, that's why.
He's not a man that we can fully understand. Neither are his ways. All right? But most is clear
from the Scripture. Most is clear from the Scripture. Sin, Satan's rebellion, the fall
of man were in God's purpose. They were all in God's purpose
without making God the author of sin. It does not make God
the author of sin. One old Puritan, Thomas Watson,
made this wise statement. He said, and listen carefully,
and I'll repeat it, God hath a hand in the action where the
sin is, but no hand in the sin of the action. Let me repeat. God hath a hand in the action
or the result where the sin is. but hath no hand in the sin,
the motive of the action." Alright, here's the fall of man in Genesis
chapter 3, verse 1. It begins with a subtle serpent,
and he said to the woman, that's significant, she should not have
been talking to him. She should have consulted her
mate, her husband, her head. Well, he said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the
garden?" Now this is Satan's constant ploy. This is what he
did then in the beginning and this is what he does now. He
puts a question mark on God's Word. He brings up a question
in the minds of the creatures, human beings. Even as I speak
there are many raising questions. I'm just reading God's word.
Hath God said? He asked. And the woman said
unto the serpent, verse 2 and 3, 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 hath said, You shall not
eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. God Almighty
made that one forbiddance of man, one thing forbidden to man
as a symbol of his authority. Nothing was withheld from man
but this one thing, that tree in the midst of the garden of
the knowledge of good and evil. Isn't that our nature now, to
always want what is forbidden? Well, verse 4, the serpent, after
hearing the woman say what they could not touch or eat, the serpent
said unto the woman, verse 4, you shall not surely die. Now the woman said what God said. God said, in the day you eat
thereof, thou shalt surely die. Alright? But Satan, first he
questioned God's word. Now he flat out denies it. He says in verse 4, you shall
not die. You shall not surely Even though
God said that, Satan denied it. And this is what Satan continues
to say to men and women today. First he puts a question mark
on God's word, to where men and women actually begin to wonder
if it is God's word indeed, if he did truly say that. And then
he comes right out and flat out denies it. You shall not die. Satan and his ministers, his
false preachers, tell men and women today, you are not dead
in trespasses and sin. I know it says that in Ephesians
2 and Colossians 1, but you're not dead in trespasses and sin.
Why, you have a free will. You have your rights. You're
as little gods. That's what he said in verse
5. God doth know that in the day you eat thereof your eyes
shall be opened. You'll be as gods, knowing good
and evil. Well, God Almighty now said,
the day you eat you shall surely die. Did Adam and Eve die that
day? Not physically. They lived 900
and some years after that. But they did die, just as God
said they would. They died spiritually. We are
going to see what that means in a moment. Verse 6, when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, lust
of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, lust for
pleasure, covetousness, wanting what you don't have or cannot
have, and pride, the pride of life, self-righteousness, desire
to be what you're not, It says, She took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he
did eat. Now, the woman was deceived in
the transgression. She was tricked by Satan himself. That's what Paul said. The woman
being deceived was in the transgression. Adam was not. Adam willingly
partook of that fruit, knowing the consequences. taking it in
rebellion and sin, taking it willfully. Man had a free will
in the garden. Man willfully chose evil over good in the garden.
But now, man does not have a free will. Man cannot choose good. He will only choose evil. That's the result. of the fall. Man could choose between good
and evil then. He was good then, but he chose
evil. Now, what makes you and I think
that since we now are born in trespasses and sin, dead in trespasses
and sin, that we would choose good over evil? That we would
choose God over Satan? No, the Scriptures plainly said
we are dead in trespasses and sin. We come forth from the womb speaking
lies, David said. We are born in sin, the scripture
said, and we are captives of Satan. We will not choose. Christ himself said, you will
not come unto me that you might have life. No man can, he said,
come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
Well, after the man and the woman partook of the fruit, their eyes
were opened and they knew they were naked. They felt shame,
and the man started blaming the woman. He said, the woman that
God gave me, ultimately blaming God. It's your fault that we
sinned, he said. The woman you gave me, then the
woman blamed a serpent. The man hid from God. The man
didn't want to be in the presence of God. He hid from Him. He sewed
fig leaves together to try to cover his Nakedness, that's a
picture of man's attempt to try to cover his sin, his guilt,
before God with his own turning over a new leaf, so to speak.
Well, what happened to man in the garden? Man fell. Man lost eternal life. Man lost spiritual life. He lost his understanding. He lost his desire for God. Innocence. He lost his understanding. He lost his free will. He lost
all that. Now he's dead in trespasses and
sin. What's his hope? Only God. That if God will do something
for him. Man is a dead, hopeless, helpless
creature. And his only hope is in God.
That God will choose him and call him and give him the new
birth from above, create a new creature created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, predestined to be holy like that only holy
man, Jesus Christ. What happened in the garden?
A man lost his life. Now he's dead. And God, who is
life, alone can restore that life. Well, until next Sunday,
may God open his Word to your understanding. Amen. you