I had a high note about warped
my vocal cords up here. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to Genesis chapter three. Gonna read two verses of scripture.
The title of my message tonight is The Fall, The Fall. Genesis chapter three, verse
six and seven. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her,
and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves aprons. Let us pray. Our Father, we are astounded once again to
read the words that brought humanity under the curse of sin, to be
reminded that when Adam sinned, we all died in him. And our only
hope is that Christ will make us alive by his spirit. We're
thankful, Father, that we can read these records. We can understand
and grasp the severity of sin. Father, we thank you that in
all of this is a picture of Adam as our representative, our federal
head. That his sin was imputed to every
one of us so that the wonder of Christ's
death on Calvary's tree when he was made to be sin for us,
made it so that we be made the righteousness of God in him,
his righteousness imputed to us. We are thankful that we stand
in him tonight. We were born in Adam. We know
that. We feel it. We sense it. We experience
it every day. But we were born again in Christ,
and we bless you for that. If you look at this passage of
scripture, give us understanding and appreciation for your word
that tells us the truth. In Christ's name, amen. Now, I just read a short passage
of scripture tonight because so much is involved in this matter
of the fall that it takes two or three times for us to look
at it. And in this short passage of
scripture, Holy Read is the true and infallible an absolute account,
the genuine report of the origination of the plague of humanity. Here,
sin enters into the world. There was no sin before this,
save for the serpent that was walking around. He had sinned
against God and was cast out of heaven. But sin entered humanity
right here. This is where it all began. And
here paradise is stained and soon the stain will be put out
of paradise because it has no right, no warrant to be there.
A short four word phrase has brought down a curse on this
magnificent universe that God created and it will not be repaired
but in the end it will be destroyed and all things will be made new.
The damage that ensued upon the account of these four words could
not be contained in a million-volume library on criminology. The record
is this, and he did eat. And he did eat. You and I can
never begin to grasp what we, by nature, are in the sight of
God. To honestly see ourselves as we are, unless we know and
understand what happened here in the Garden of Eden at this
moment in time. The perpetrator of this crime
was our federal head, our representative before the thrice holy God. He
was mankind. He was the creation of mankind,
and he did eat the fruit. This is Adam, the first man and
all humanity is in him, in his loins, ready to spring forth
in a world that his acts have ruined, and they come forth as
ruined sinners. Tomes have been written about
this episode, and the depths of it have never been plumbed.
We know something of sin. It embarrasses us, it makes us
ashamed, it makes us grieve, but we don't know the depths
of sin. We can't know until we have some concept of what happened
on Calvary's tree. This scene here has been played
out by artist renderings, by epic poetry. If you ever read
John Milton's Paradise Lost, that was an epic poem about 400
and some pages about the fall of Adam, the temptation of Eve. What took place here has become
proverbial in the world's language. Things like the apple doesn't
fall far from the tree, comes from the reference here. Even
in the law books of this land, certain evidence is called the
fruit of the poisonous tree. So what comes from a poisonous
tree must be poisonous fruit, and what comes from Adam must
be Adamic in nature. But the tree was not poisonous.
The act was poisonous. The tree was not poisonous. It
was a good tree. part of the good creation of
God. It's fruit was pleasant. Fruit could be eaten and enjoyed. Could. It was a fruit that was
said to make one wise. Give them experience and understanding.
Nothing wrong with the tree. Something wrong with the man.
Something wrong with the man. Adam's act was deliberate. And
it was overt. He was not deceived, as was his
wife. There is no evidence that the
serpent spoke to him at all, though the question has often
been raised as to where Adam was during Eve's deception. But
I think that question was raised by those who think that this
entire episode might have been avoided had Adam been there.
No, grace and mercy are attributes yet to be exercised. no need
of grace where there is no sin, no need of mercy where there
is no sin, and those attributes have not been yet exercised.
There must be a center for those graces to be administered. There
is no indication that Adam was not present during Eve's deception,
and since it's not recorded, it really doesn't matter at all.
It's just a theological question that sometimes people ask. The
question often arises is why Adam took the fruit and did eat. That question has plagued mankind
for years. In Roman chapter five it says
that Adam was a figure, a figure of him who was to come, speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the last Adam. That great chapter
has to do with representative imputation. If you want to look
there just for a moment in Romans chapter five in verse 18, it says this, Therefore, as by the
offense of one, that is Adam, judgment came upon all men to
condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. Now that speaks of the two people
that God judges men in. You're either judged in Adam
or you're judged in Christ, one or the other. They were our representative
and their sin and their righteousness was imputed to us respectively. That great chapter is representative
of what's being spoken of in Romans chapter five. Now some
have said that this means Adam was a type of Christ, which says
in verse 14 of the same chapter, he was a figure of him that was
to come. They say that Adam was a type of Christ and this act
of Adam was an act of love. that he did this for love since
she had sinned they say he willingly did the same willing to be a
sinner rather than cause a difference between him and his wife or to
be like his wife that's the general idea to a degree this type does
apply Christ's bride was a sinner remember he was pictured as Hosea
which also means savior And Jose was told to take a wife of whoredoms
and he married a harlot. It's a picture of what we are
and who Christ is. And because Christ loved his
bride eternally, he would willingly was made sin for her that she
might be made the righteousness of God in him. So maybe there's
some sense of truth to that. And I don't discount that possibility.
A lot of my friends believe that and I don't disbelieve it. But some things bother me about
that concept. Eve did not exhibit shame until
Adam ate the fruit. There's no indication of that.
Since Eve did not fall when she disobeyed God, because she did
not, could Adam have noted a change in her that did not yet exist?
What did Adam know about sin? What did Adam know about shame?
Nothing, but his wife had no shame until he ate the fruit. You could also look at her and
know the commandment of God. She just ate that fruit and did
not die. She did not die. Did this give Adam pause to doubt
the word of God as he looked at his wife and she ate this
fruit and she didn't die? God says in the day you eat that
fruit, you're going to die. But she didn't die. She didn't
die then. Did this give Adam reason for
doubt because of what the Lord had said? What the Lord said
in chapter 2 and verse 25, heavenly still held true until Adam took
the fruit or did not hold what we think is the fall until Adam
ate that fruit. Only after he did eat. And this
is important to understand. only after he did eat were they
both aware of their negatives. This is what they said, the eyes
of both of them were open when he ate the fruit. Adam acted with a willful understanding
and he disobeyed God willingly. We know that. He was not deceived.
For whatever reason he did it. He did it because he wanted to.
He was tempted by the serpent. Adam was tempted by whatever
was in him. Whatever was inside. You remember what the Lord said
of Satan's temptation? He said, Satan found nothing
in me. Well, there was something in
Eve, wasn't there? Satan found something in her,
and there was something in Adam, because he did eat of that fruit.
What this comes down to is all sin is willful sin. All sin is
willful sin. Nobody's holding a gun to your
head and making you sin. They don't have to. You're a
sinner. Thankfully, you're saved by grace, but you're a sinner
still, and when you sin, it ain't because you're pushed into it,
the devil made you do it, or any of that. You do it because
you're willful. Though Adam would later blame
Eve for his sins. We'll get to that later in the
study. He played victim, but that didn't work. And in that
instant, he certainly didn't claim to do it out of love. Couldn't
say that was love when he said, that woman you gave me, she made
me do it. There wasn't much love involved
in that statement, was there? The statement is simply this.
The sad, calamitous statement. And he did eat. And he did eat. And the fall is briefly described
with the description of two things. First, when Adam did eat, the
eyes of both of them were open. Eve did not fall till Adam fell. She fell in Adam. Adam was her
federal representative. She fell in Adam. To what were
their eyes open? It simply says that their eyes
were open to no good and evil. That's what the serpent had promised,
what God had forbidden. Serpent says, the Lord knows
you eat this and you'll know good and evil and you'll be like
God yourself. The Lord said, don't eat of this fruit of the
knowledge of good and evil, of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, or in that day you shall die. The eyes of both
of them were open. When? When Adam ate the fruit. Note that the language assures
us that prior to Adam eating the fruit, when Eve ate the fruit,
her eyes were not opened. she ate the fruit but it does
not say her eyes were open her eyes were open along with Adams
when he ate the fruit sin entered the world and entered Eve when
Adam willfully disobeyed God Eve fell when Adam fell secondly
the concept of shame entered the world another first here
the concept of shame I think we pretty much lost that concept
today I was uh... I'm amazed when somebody actually
shows shame. We used to get embarrassed about
things. We used to be ashamed of stuff. I mean, sometimes our
parents would just look at us and we'd turn red-faced. We knew
we'd done something wrong. But the concept of shame entered
right here. They were ashamed. They were ashamed. The knowledge
of good and evil was the knowledge that they were naked. they were
naked exposed and disclosed how could they know unless somehow
they were accused however how could you know you're naked unless
somehow you were accused of being naked now we have no record of
god saying you're naked and when we use the word naked we're not
talking about without clothing we're talking about being exposed
or disclosed for what you really are The knowledge of good and evil
brought in a new thing, another new thing. Not only did it bring
in shame, it bring in what caused shame. Brought in something we
call the conscience. That's a product of the thought.
The product of the original birth, not the new birth. The conscience,
the conscience of man. Teresa Brewer sang a song back
in the fifties, I think, Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide.
You remember that? Ed remembers. Now, in the Old Testament, from
Genesis all the way to Malachi, you'll not find the word conscience. It's all over the New Testament.
but it's not anywhere in the old testament now there's a reason
for that there's no cure for the conscience in the old testament
there's no cure for the conscience under the old covenant there's
no cure for it but it's there there's no doubt about that they were they knew they were
naked because the conscience always accuses and calls for
a covering or a self-justification. That's what your conscience will
do. Now your conscience will point out your ills. It'll point
out your sin. But the problem with it is that
it entails you something to do to undo that. And that drives
you further into the flesh. The conscience operates under
the principle of the law. What did they fall under? The
law. They fell under the law. And it'll always tell you to
do something to undo your situation. And then it'll tell you something
really neat. After you've done what your conscience tell you
to do, it'll tell you it's not enough. It'll always do that. So remember that. If your conscience
is bothering you, somewhere in your psyche and in your life,
you are doing something, you are doing something to make yourself
righteous before God. You're doing something to try
to keep the law. That's where conscience operates.
That's where conscience operates. According to the word of God
in the epistle of Roman, the Lord wrote that there was a law
within ourselves. Paul said this. A law within ourselves. In Romans
chapter 2 he said that everybody has this law. And that law, Paul
later called the law of sin and death, but that law is the conscience. And our Lord said, their conscience
also bearing witness and their thoughts demean while accusing
or excusing one another. What happened immediately after
God looked Adam up in the garden? Adam hid himself, heard the voice
of God walking in the garden. What'd he do? He hid. He hid. And then God called him. What
have you done? What have you done? conscience excuses or accuses. What did he do? He accused Eve. That's what he did. That's the
conscience in operation. This is the definition of Adam
and Eve when confronted with their evil, they excuse themselves
and accuse the other. Adam, when he said it's his fault,
he's saying it's not my fault. Eve, when she said it's the serpent's
fault, she's saying it's not my fault. and there you have
the beginnings of what is so common today that is almost proverbial. You have victimization. Nothing
is anybody's fault. Conscience will never make you
come clean. It'll always make you hide. It'll always make you
cover yourself. They're naked, it says. I see
it had a little to do with the absence of garbage and everything
to do with the newfound banshee wailing in their bosoms. this
thing called conscience. They felt accused. And so they
thought, well, you know, we're naked. Let's cover ourselves. They felt accused when God, they
heard the voice of God in the garden. We don't want him around.
Let's run and hide. He don't want him in this mess.
Shakespeare said, conscious makes cowards of us all. Polybius said,
there is no witness so dreadful, no accuser so terrible as the
conscience that dwells in the heart of every man. Paul, I think, refers to this
in Romans 7, when he calls it the law of sin and death, because
when he would do good, evil is with him. Conscience accuses
us, and we know we're exposed. Our nakedness disclosed, but
conscience will never make us cry for mercy. Nothing from the
fall, earned in the fall, experienced in the fall, nothing that came
with the fall of man will ever bring us closer to God. It'll
always drive us to justify ourselves, to somehow proclaim some righteousness
when we have none at all. Adam fell. Scott Richardson said
he fell so far that he couldn't get back. that's how far he failed. He failed so far that he couldn't
get back. The Holy Spirit will never convict the conscience
of a man. Now, if you read theologians,
they tell you that the Holy Spirit works through the conscience.
He does not. Holy Spirit only works on men
whom he's made spiritual. Only that way. And the only thing
he ever convicts them of is sin, the sin of unbelief, of righteousness
because Christ has gone to his Father, and of judgment because
God has judged the prince of this world. Read John 16. That's how the Holy Spirit operates.
He will convict me in concerning Christ. So I say to you as believers,
as those who are the elect of God, if your conscience is bothering
you, it ain't the Holy Spirit that's doing it. That's so natural
to you that it came with you with birth. The Holy Spirit ain't
gonna convict your conscience. It's gonna convict your soul
about Christ. The only cure for conscience,
let me be very clear, and I've been saying this for years, I
think I preached the first message on conscience about 25 years
ago. The only cure for a conscience
is to make it so that it has no ground upon which it can accuse
you. That's the only cure for conscience. You must be in a state where
your conscience cannot accuse you. How in the world can that
ever be? Only if a perfect sacrifice has
been offered on your behalf, the conscience will have no grounds
to accuse you. Because if a perfect sacrifice,
the perfect sacrifice has been offered on your behalf, what
does God say that Jesus Christ did with your sin? put them away. What does God say about remembering
your sin? I will remember your sin no more. What does God say about his elect?
No accusation can be laid or charged to God's
elect because God, it's God that justifies. There is no condemnation
because Christ is died but there's no accusation can be laid. How
can that be? I know because my conscience, it gives me a fit. You know why? Because I'm not
looking to Christ. It's that simple. And when it tells me
I'm guilty, it's right. Because I'm not looking to Christ.
But when I look to Christ, I know I'm not guilty. And my conscience
got to lay down and shut up. Can't talk to me no more. Can't
accuse me of anything because there's no grounds. But he says,
my conscience might want to say, well, he's a sinner. I'm looking
to Christ. No, I'm not. Not before God, I'm not. because
my conscience might want to say, well you did this or you did
that, accuse me of something. God says, where's the sin? Show
me. Show me where it's at. It's gone. It's gone. But this is where
the shame began. This is where men's eyes were
opened to good and evil. This is where the conscience
began. And it's plagued us ever since. But remember, if you're
a child of God, there is no more conscience of sin. That didn't say consciousness.
Turn over there, Hebrews chapter 10. We'll finish up with this. Hebrews chapter 10. Now Paul, using the law, talks
about conscience. He talks about it a great deal
in chapter nine. He said the blood of Christ actually
purges your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
and it also says in chapter nine you can't come to God and you
can't come to God as perfect if your conscience is defiled
the comers there must be made perfect according to conscience
that's what it says over in Hebrews I mean Hebrews chapter nine the
comers thereto must be made perfect according to conscience now here's
what he says for it so operating under the realm of the law which
conscience does it says for the law having a shadow of good things
to come and not the very image of things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year to year continually make
the comers thereunto perfect. For then, if they had been made
perfect, would they not have ceased to be offered? No, during
the old covenant there were millions of beasts slain and no sin was
ever omitted. They would have been, if they
were perfect, they would have ceased to be offered because
that the worshipers once purged should have no more what? Conscience
of sins. Now it doesn't say consciousness.
This is about the conscience itself. If your sins are purged,
looking to Christ, you have no conscience of sins. Conscience of sins. Those sacrifices
offered daily never took away sin. But then we look over, so
the issue is, that for a person to approach unto God, must be
perfect. as pertaining to conscience he
must be perfect in order for him to come he had no conscience
of sins well how can that be? well we know the law had a shadow
of good things to come but they were not the real things and
they didn't take away sin none of the sacrifices offered so
how can we come to Christ how can the comers be perfect as
pertaining to conscience look over verse fourteen same chapter
for by one offering christ has perfected has perfected
forever them that are sanctified perfected forever verse twelve
but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever
sat down on the right hand of god for by one offering if indeed
he made the people perfect as comers as pertaining to consciousness
standing before god if he made them perfect we just read in
verse two that there would be no more need of a sacrifice if
they were made perfect, well what does verse eighteen say?
now where remission of these is there is no more sacrifice
for sin conscience is quieted can't open its mouth because
there's no ground upon which conscience can truly accuse you
and if it does it ain't the Holy Spirit, it's you you've done
something wrong and that old flesh is saying we can fix this,
we can fix this, we can fix this. And the spirit says Christ has
fixed it. Christ has fixed it. This is
the fall. This is where we are by nature.
And only by grace are we ever any different. Only by grace. Father bless us to understand
you, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Alright.