God says that when the foundations
are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Well, the righteous in the Lord
Jesus Christ will cling to him in faith and they'll go back
and they'll redraw the foundations again. So I just wanted, as we
did last week, to spend a few minutes before we have the Lord's
Supper just looking at Genesis chapter 3. It's such an extraordinary passage
of scripture, these opening chapters of Genesis. I have been looking
at Genesis chapter 3 in various ways for the last 20 odd years
and every time It seems I go to it, I find that there's something
in it that I hadn't seen before. Such is the power of God's Word,
and such is the promise of God that His Word is living and active,
that there is always something new in it, there's something
extraordinarily special in it, and there is something that is
foundational here, and the story of Genesis 3 is the story that
gives us the picture of everything that's happening in this world.
right now and throughout this time. This is the story and the
picture of man and his fall, and it's the story and picture
of man redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ by a sovereign act. And if we don't know the foundations
and we don't know this passage of Scripture well, then we will
not understand the rest of the Gospel with the clarity that
I believe this helps us to have. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
creator of this universe. He's the one that spoke it into
existence as Colossians 1 and John 1 says, all things were
created by him and all things are created for him. And so this
is his creation. I want us to look at the creation
of man. You might know that they were created on the sixth day,
but I want us to look in chapter 2 just briefly at the creation
of man. It's so significant that we know
what we are. In chapter 2 verse 7, the Lord God formed the man. of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became
a living soul." All the animals were created and they had breath
in them, but none of them have the breath that God's children
have got, the people made, the humans of this world. I was going
to say that they're made in the image of God, they're made in
his likeness, but the reality is, if you just turn with me
to Genesis chapter 5, there's something really significant
that we understand. People want to say that we're
all God's children, but according to the scriptures, we're not
all God's children. We are God's creation. But Adam fell in Genesis chapter
3, and we'll look at that story in a minute. Chapter five begins, this is
the book of the generations of Adam in the day that God created
man. In the likeness of God, he made
him Adam. Male and female, he created them
and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day when they
were created. And Adam lived 130 years and
begat a son in his own likeness and after his image and called
his name Seth. I want us to see what that verse
3 says, isn't it? Adam begat a son in his likeness. This is the likeness of Adam
fallen. So let's go back to Genesis chapter
2. God created man. Men are spiritual beings. We have an everlasting soul. But God, in verse 15, the Lord
God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress
it and to keep it. And the Lord commanded the man,
saying, of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. He didn't say if you eat it,
he says when you eat it. It wasn't as if the fall of man
took God by surprise. And the Lord God in verse 18
said, it's not good that man should be alone. I will make
him a help meet for him, a help suitable for him, one that matches
him perfectly. And out of the ground, the Lord
God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air
and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them and
whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the
name thereof, and Adam gave names to all the cattle and the fowl
of the air and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there
was not found a help meet for him. And this is a glorious picture,
it's a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church,
but it's a glorious picture of the creation of women. And the
Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept
and he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh Instead thereof,
and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made a
woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called
woman because she was taken out of man. It's remarkable, isn't
it? I was talking to Rob last week
and the rib bone is the one bone in the human body that regrows.
And if you take a rib bone out of a man and you replace it with
some plastic now, within six months you can't tell if the
rib was ever taken out at all. If you give the means for the
bone to grow back, isn't it remarkable? It's remarkable, isn't it? Anyway,
you can look it up on the internet. I did. I wasn't doubting Rob,
I just wanted to know what, excuse me, how that happened to be. So here are the man and the woman
in this garden. in a place of God's perfect provision
in every way, and they were naked. Therefore a man shall leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they
shall be one flesh And they were both naked, the man and his wife,
and were not ashamed. There was no need for shame.
There was no need for covering because there was no sin. They
could stand before each other and stand before God in perfect
peace. God's creation, Eden means pleasure. Isn't that remarkable? that God
had provided and everything was there. Everything was there for
them. They were naked and had no shame. So let's read some of chapter 3
and we'll see. This is the root cause
of all of the sin and the evil that has ever taken place. If
you want to know where sin came from, if you want to know the
genesis of sin, if you want to know the beginnings of all of
the evil that we see, and I should, I trust, be horrified by, here
it all is. This is it. This is the foundation
that God laid before us. Now, chapter three, verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle,
was more crafty, more deceitful than any beast of the fear which
the Lord God had made. I haven't a whole lot of scriptural
warrant for it except the fact that when God cursed the serpent,
He made him to crawl on his belly. In verse 14, he says, you are
cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon
thy belly thou shalt go and dust thou shalt beat all the days
of thy life. If you read Ezekiel chapter 28
and Isaiah chapter 14, you'll get remarkable pictures of the
glory of this fallen angel. before his fall and when evil
was found. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter
14 in verse 12. Excuse me. Verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, Lucifer's fall didn't require
any action. Thou hast said in thine heart
at this stage, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mountain
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the cloud. I will be like the Most High."
What's the repetitive word there? I will. I will. I will. I will. To not leave you in any
doubt, the great sin, the great evil is the evil of free will. Let's get back to Genesis chapter
3. That's Paul's fear, isn't it?
Paul's fear for the Corinthians was, that I fear lest by any
means as a serpent beguile Eve through his subtlety. So your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ,
the singleness that's in Christ. If anyone preaches another Jesus
whom we have not preached or you receive another spirit which
you've not received or another gospel which you have not accepted,
You might well bear with them. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. Whose righteousness? Your righteousness. as ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works. Satan was subtle
in his attack on Eve. If you recall our story in John
chapter 4 about the nobleman, then you'll see in the salvation
and in saving faith that comes to God's children, there is a
reversal of what Satan said. Listen to what the first words
of Satan are in the garden. He said, hath God said. Isn't it remarkable, the beginning,
the beginning, the genesis of all the evil that's in the hearts
of every child of Adam in this world and the expression of it
in the things that we see that horrify us in so many parts of
the world, the beginning of it all, is hath God said? Did God really say? Did God really say? How much evil? Satan's fall began
with a thought. Satan's deceit of humanity began
with a question. In fact, what he's saying to
Eve is let's have a discussion about God's words, about God's
command, about God's provision, God's character. What did he
say to the woman? Yea, hath God said you shall
not eat of every tree in the garden? Are you sure, he said,
not every tree in the garden? But at the heart of the question
is an attack on the character of God. some good from you by this restriction
on your freedom. And he's saying to her, freedom
from God's word of command is liberating and fulfilling. Please remember that when Satan
comes today to harass and disturb the children of God, he's not
ever going to need to change. If this is what caused unfallen
Adam and Eve to fall, then the same will be effective with us
who are fallen. 2 And the woman said to the serpent,
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, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die. So she understood both God's
provision and his command regarding the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. But here we see the beginning
of the corruption, the corruption from the simplicity that's in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what she says. You
shall not touch it. Did God say anything about touching
the tree? He said absolutely nothing about touching the tree.
He made no mention of it. The question is, when is it ever
safe to add to God's word? Adding to God's word is as dangerous
as taking away from God's word. And she is led further, isn't
she? Listen to what he said, what
she said. You shall not eat of it, neither
shall you touch it, lest you die. She's added to what God
says, and now she's minimizing what God says. That word, lest,
means just in case you might die. What did God say? God says,
in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. You see, her
fall had already began, the fall had already began. She minimized
God's word, his first command. So listen to what Satan is now
galvanized and strengthened because he has her doubting the word
of God, changing the word of God, minimizing the word of God,
doubting the character of God. Just in the short space of time
that the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die. She's saying, he's saying to
her, God didn't mean what he said. You shall not surely die. We saw in John chapter 4 that
it's the grace gift of God for us to take God's word as it is
and not doubt it and question it. People say, well, there are
many different interpretations. There are many points of view.
My opinion is as valid as yours. How dare you tell me the scriptures
disagree with my interpretation? We say you can't be so dogmatic.
So what begins with us expressing what is seemingly wise now becomes
an open denial of God's word of promise. The serpent said,
you shall not surely die. And he has a reason. He wants
to continue the discussion. For God does know in the day
you eat thereof that your eyes shall be open and you should
be as God's, knowing good and evil. And Satan said to the woman,
Effectively you're just a puppet in the hands of the sovereign
God. God knows good and evil. He planted the tree of good and
evil and God always chooses good over the evil. God makes a choice. That's what it's like to be like
God. You make a choice. You exercise your free will and
you can choose good over evil. Effectively what Satan was saying
in some ways was that there is no moral virtue in your doing
good. You're just obeying your unfallen
nature. You're not being godlike. Let's
reason this out together. Verse 6, and when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one not wise, she took of the
fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with
her, and he did eat. The fall began with a look of
desire. And salvation comes through the
eyes of faith. The Lord Jesus says, look unto
me and be saved. Come and see. She saw that the
tree was good for food. that it was pleasant to the eyes
and a tree that was to be desired to make one wise." John picks
up this in his first letter in 1 John 2. He says, Verse 15, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is
in the world, this is what's in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. of the eyes, more concerned about
what men sees than God sees, seeking to impress the flesh,
to have your flesh gratified. The pride of life is self-righteousness
and power. Be seen to be wise. See Eve saw
all three in the fruit. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. You think of all the evil
that's going on in this world today, and if you wanted to give
a label to it all, those labels are perfectly fine, aren't they?
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life. And she took of the fruit. What a simple story and what
an extraordinary profound result. She took of the fruit and did
eat. And what happened? Nothing. Nothing happened. She didn't die. In fact, she could have said
to Adam, who may well have just turned up at this time, Satan
was right. We can eat and not die. Adam was told not to die, and
in Adam, so the scriptures all die. He is the federal head of
the human race, and he is the seminal head of the human race.
You read it in Genesis chapter 5. 100% of humanity is here now
in the garden. 100% of humanity. While Adam
didn't eat, Eve was secure. Adam now comes up and she gave
Eve hands him the fruit. She gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat. Take and eat. Isn't it remarkable that those
verbs, take and eat, will be used by the Lord Jesus
Christ at the Last Supper. You take and eat, the Lord Jesus
Christ will have to suffer the awful punishment of all this
sin and all the accumulated sin of all of his people before these
verbs, take and eat, become words of blessing and salvation. And
just briefly, let's just look at the effect of it. Lord willing,
we might come back and look at this again next week. But what
happened? Verse 7, the eyes of them both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked. And their first response, isn't
it, they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. Just as Satan said, the eyes
of both of them were opened. Look at what happens when their
eyes are opened. See, Adam sinned with knowledge. Eve was deceived,
but Adam wasn't. His sin was a willful rebellion
against God, and 100% of humanity was plunged into spiritual death. And what was the result of their
eyes being opened? They knew they were naked. They
were naked beforehand, and they felt no shame. They had no sin,
they had nothing to be ashamed of. They went from being sinless,
knowing only good, to being sinful, knowing only evil. They sewed fig leaves together,
and the very first activity of fallen man is to hide from God
and start working. Working to cover his own shame. Once they loved the presence
of God, and now they want to hide from him. They want to hide
from him in works religion. Once they loved God's presence,
and now they're running. And this is the condemnation,
says John in John 3.19, that light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God amongst the
trees of the garden. There's no doubt that this is
the Lord Jesus Christ comes to them, and he comes with a voice. They hear God and they hide. Now his presence and his fellowship
which was once delightful. What a lovely picture. God walking
in the garden in the cool of the day. How often would they
have delighted in that walk. In the very garden that God has
planted, they think they can hide from God who created them. God who sees in their walls,
and they hide in his trees. It's a great picture, isn't it?
Of sin, the sin of unbelief, the sin of works righteousness. demeaning to men made in God's
image. So they now see God's character
through the lens of their own depravity. He's out to get us. He's our enemy. Their harsh judgmental
attitude, they immediately become God's judge and consider Him
their enemy. God comes. Verse 9, and we'll finish here.
God comes. Our God comes, doesn't he? The Lord God called unto Adam,
and he says, where are you? What a great question. I pray
the Lord asks each of us that question. Where are you? Where
are you? You've been hiding from God,
going about to establish your own righteousness. Where are
you? So the fall began with a question and an opinion, and salvation's
beginning come with this question, God coming to his own. Let's
pray. May God come to us. Heavenly
Father, we do pray that in our fallenness, And in our desire
to make a covering for our shame, you might be the one who comes
to us, comes to rescue us, comes with a voice from on high and
asks the question, where art thou? Oh, our Heavenly Father,
we pray that you would cause us to be aware of the wonders
of the Lord Jesus Christ in his redeeming love. As we contemplate
the depths of our fall and the horror of rebellion against God,
that you might be merciful to us, Heavenly Father, and that
you would come and that we would hear your voice and you would
call to us and call us back to yourself, call us and cause us
to stand before you as we really are. And know, Heavenly Father,
that in grace and mercy you cover the sins of all of your people
and you robe your people with the very robe of the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. O our Father, we pray that you
would be merciful to us. that you would cause us again
and again and again to see something of the depth of our fall and
something of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ into coming
to where we were and where we are and bearing our sins in his
own body to raise us up to be seated with him in heavenly places.
Make his blood precious to us, Heavenly Father. Make his broken
body May it be a cause for us to come
again and again with thankfulness and gratitude and praying that
you'd have mercy and be gracious to us. Pray these things in Jesus'
name and for his glory, our Father.