I want us to turn this morning
to words that we find in the chapter that we read, that solemn
portion in Genesis chapter 3, and to direct your attention
to the words that we find at the beginning of verse 19. Genesis
3, the first part of verse 19, in the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread. Part of that solemn words of
judgment and curse that God pronounces as he speaks unto Adam. And I want us to think of this
sweat, this sad, sorrowful, and bitter sweat I do really want
to also say something with regards to how we can understand it in
some way in a gospel sense. In fact, I was drawn to these
words in reading part of Luther's exposition of Genesis and In
commenting on this particular statement, Luther speaks of a
ministerial sweat. The curse, of course, that is
being spoken of is that that will come upon man as a consequence
of his disobedience and his sin, that now as he comes to partake
of all that is necessary for his sustenance in life. It will be with some cost, there
will be labor, and it will be arduous work, difficult work,
whereby he will sustain his life here upon the earth. And When
Luther speaks of that ministerial sweat he's saying that that curse
isn't just on the man who labors physically in the field but it's
on every aspect of man's work and himself as one who was a
minister of the Word of God he was very conscious of all that
that work cost him. Remember how the apostle speaks
of those who labour in words and in doctrine and the word
that he uses there in 1 Timothy chapter 5 to labour as the idea
of working with great effort and working to the point where
one grows weary in the work and that's the way in which the reformer
understands his own task as one who was to minister in the word
of God. He speaks in of that ministerial
sweat. But can we not make a wider application
still and say that with regards to all the people of God there
will be something of a spiritual sweat, even a gospel sweat. And
that's what I want to come to ultimately. I know the chapter
very solemnly records the fall of our first parents, the entrance
of sin into the world. But as you're aware, even in
the context of this chapter we see something of the Gospel.
We have the first promise of the Gospel in those words that
are spoken to the serpents in verse 15, I will put enmity between
thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall
bruise thy head, and they shall bruise his heel." The commentators speak of that
as the Proto-Evangelium, the first promise of the Gospel. I remember some years ago listening
to a sermon of Professor John Murray on a verse that appears
previously in this chapter. those words that the Lord God
himself speaks unto Adam in verse 9. The Lord God called unto Adam
and said unto him, Where art thou? And Professor Murray says
that that is also a gospel word. Of course, God is that one who
is omnipresent, he's in all places, he's omniscient, he's all-knowing,
he knows exactly what is taking place, he knows just where the
man is. But it is a gracious word when
God says, where art thou? And if I remember correctly,
I think it was a sermon on that particular verse of scripture
that was so instrumental in the conversion of Dr. John Gill. As a young lad of about 14 years
of age, when the preacher preached the gospel from that very text,
where art thou? Where art thou, John Gill? how
he came with such power into his soul and cause that he had
to look to himself and examine himself with regards to his standing
before God. And so even here in Genesis chapter
3 we are to discern something of the grace of God and the goodness
of God in the midst of a chapter that so solemnly speaks to us
of the fall of man and the entrance of sin and so coming to consider the
words that I announced just now as our text in the sweat of thy
face shalt thou eat bread I want to divide what I say into two
parts first of all to say something with regard to the consequence
of man's sin, as we see it spoken of in the context here, and then
in the second place, to consider where the cure for that sin is
to be found. First of all, then, the consequence,
the consequence of sin. And here, of course, we read
very much of God's judgments. The Lord God is speaking in these
verses 17, 18 and 19 in particular to Adam. And to Adam He said,
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it, curse is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Now observe how the
Lord God begins to address the man. And what God says opens
with that word, because. He said unto Adam, because. That's a remarkable word, really.
We see here how the God, in a sense, is explaining himself. There's
a reason for what is going to befall man as a result of his
disobedience. In no way, when God comes to
judge his creatures, in no way is he capricious. There's always a reason, and
a good reason. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? And we see it even here in the
Lord's dealings with this disobedient, this sinful man, how God is pleased
to explain Himself. The prophet Amos tells us, Surely
the Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth His secret unto
His servants, the prophet. He reveals things, He tells us,
He explains. And this is what God is doing
here as he addresses Adam at this time. There were two reasons
for that terrible judgment that came upon the man. First of all,
what had Adam and Eve done? They had reversed the divine
order. Look at what it says, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife. It was the wife, it was Eve who
had taken the lead in this sinful act. And yet we see so clearly
that the woman was created to be a helpmate for the man. Remember the record as we have
it there at the end of chapter 2. Now the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of
his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib
which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, and
brought her unto the man. All she is taken from the man,
and then she is brought to the man, and she is there to be of
help and assistance to the man. Oh, the woman you see is that
one who is the first here in the transgression. That's so
evident in what we read at the beginning of the chapter. It
was the woman who saw that the tree was good for food, that
it was pleasant to the eyes, 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." It's a reversal
of that order that God himself has clearly established in the
very work of creation. And here we see something of
the folly of all that political correctness that we have around
us, all that talk of women's liberation, how it's now penetrated
even into the churches, and the Church of England, the established
church in this country, is increasingly becoming a feminist church, with
women in those places that should be occupied by men. We're all
familiar with the teaching of the Word of God, but now these
things are completely disregarded, even rejected. Think of the language. that we find in the epistles
of the Apostle. You know the words that we have
there in the first epistle to Timothy. At the end of chapter
2, let the woman, he says, learn in silence with all subjection,
but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the
man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then
Eve, And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression, notwithstanding
she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and
charity and holiness with sobriety." Paul sets forth that divine order
and he takes us right back to the beginning in God's work of
creation And then the account of the fallen, now the woman,
is the one who solemnly takes the lead in this matter. It's a reversing then of what
was the divine order. Because, God says to Adam, thou
wast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife. And when the Lord
God Himself speaks to the woman, Look at the language that is
used here in verse 16. I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception. In sorrow there shall bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over them. And what has happened in this
fallen work? Man has abused that headship. There's no disputing
that fact. man himself as a sinner has abused
the position that God gave to him. And we hear of these things
of domestic violence and refuges where beaten wives can find some
help. It's all a part and parcel of
what happened at the beginning. The disobedience, the reversing
of the divine order. But God explains himself. Why
is this judgment? Why have these things come upon
creation? Because thou hast hearkened unto
the voice of thy wife. But then something even more
solemn, there has been a blatant transgression of the commandment
that God had given. How it goes on here, because
Thou hast eaten of the tree of the which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it. O God hath spoken so plainly
when he had set the man there in the midst of paradise, set
him there in the garden of Eden, The Lord God commanded the man,
we're told, in verse 16 of chapter 2, of every tree of 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. How plain it is. What is sin? It's the transgression
of the commandment of God. 1 John 3, 4, Whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law for sin is the transgression
of the law and this is that that had so solemnly occurred now the woman you see is deceived
she says 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 has said you shall not eat of it neither shall
you touch it lest you die And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die. God had said so clearly, In the
day that thou eatest hereof thou shalt surely die. And here is
Satan coming and denying the truth of God's words.
And the woman, in her unbelief, she believes that lie of the
devil. Ye shall not surely die. and she partakes therefore of
that forbidden fruit." Here is the judgment of God. God's judgment. Because they had reversed that
divine order that God himself had established from the beginning,
but also because they had so blatantly transgressed that commandment,
what God had prohibited and forbidden, they had partaken of. Here is
the consequence of sin, the judgment of God, but then also here we
see, more particularly, the curse. And that's what we have really
in the words that we have for our text, these words at the
beginning of verse 19, but it's all part of the whole. Look at
what God is saying from the end of verse 17. Cursed is the ground,
for they say. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Oh, this is that
curse then that God has brought upon Adam and Eve because of
their sin. There is a curse. And how extensive
it is, the curse is upon mankind God says quite specifically to
the woman there in verse 16 I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children
all there is sorrow you see again when the Lord God speaks to the
man, there is also sorrow. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. This is the curse that God in
his wisdom has visited upon his creature, and we're familiar
with it. every time the child is conceived
and the child is born there is all that anguish and that pain
that is experienced by the expectant mother and then when the time
of her confinement comes forth how often it is it's bitter pain
In all of this there is a constant reminder of the sin of our first
parents. David speaks of these things
in Psalm 51. He says, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. He's not
at all suggesting that there was anything sinful in his conception. God intended that there should
be procreation, that children should be born. But as a result
of the sin of Adam and Eve, how that great joy at the birth of
a child is now mixed with so much anguish and so much sorrow. And it's part of this curse.
And it's upon all of mankind. There are no exceptions with
regards to the children of men. And it's not just It's not just
the experience of the woman. Man will also experience anguish
and pain in his work. Isn't that what's being spoken
of here? The ground is cursed, thorns
also, and thistle shall it bring forth to thee, thou shalt eat
the herb of the field in the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread. There is that that is associated
with work that is not pleasant. Now, we know quite clearly that
work itself is not part of the curse and we need to be exact
here. There's nothing wrong with work.
Man was created to work. Even when God sets Adam in the
Garden of Eden, when He places him there, in the midst of Paradise,
there is work to be done. Verse 15 of Chapter 2, the Lord
God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress
it and to keep it. Managed to work. We know that
here, when we come to Scripture, We have this book which is really
a revelation of God. God reveals himself in his works. We know that all creation has
a voice. The heavens declare his glory.
It says the psalmist affirmament showeth his handiwork, but we
recognize that it is the Bible that is a special revelation
of God. And what is the first thing that
we discover with regards to God? In the very opening chapters,
in the very first verse of this book of Genesis, we see that
God is a working God. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. We see God as one who is active. There's a work. Now God is all-powerful
and he is able to create all things out of nothing merely
by the word of his mouth. But it is a work that God is
accomplishing when he comes to create this earth and all the
heavens. And then God creates man and
he makes man in his own image. These are things that we're all
together familiar with. There, at the end of Genesis
chapter 1, God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of
God created him, male and female created them and God blessed
them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish
the earth we see quite clearly you see that to procreate there
has to be children but man is very much in the image of God
and as God is revealed to us as a creator, a working God so
it is right and proper that man should work If a man doesn't work, neither
shall he eat, says the Apostle Paul. Work itself is not in any
sense a curse. What forms the curse here is
that sorrow, that pain, that anguish that is going to be associated
with work. cursed is the ground for thy
sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life
thorns also and thistle shall it bring forth to thee and thou
shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread and then ultimately after all the anguish of life
man He's going to die. He's going to return to the dust. Till thou return unto the ground,
says God, for out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and
unto dust thou shalt return. Lord, He's appointed unto men
once to die, and after that the judgments. The spirits returning
to God and the body to the earth as it was. This is the curse. There's a curse sent upon all
of mankind. Not just this mention of the
judgment of God, but all that comes together with that judgment. But not only do we read here
of the consequence of sin in terms of what has come upon mankind,
but we see also quite clearly that the very ground itself is
cursed. Cursed is the ground, God says. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake. Now, hadn't man been made out
of that very ground? wasn't that the way in which
God had formed the body of the man? There in verse 7 of chapter
2 the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living
soul. And so as the ground is cursed
we see it's due to this association between the earth and the very
body of man Himself. Oh, there is a curse upon all
of creation as a result of Adam and Eve's sin. Oh, thou hideous
monster sin, what a curse hast thou brought in all creation
grown through thee, pregnant cause of misery. Misery, sorrow,
anguish, grief, all of these things It's interesting, there's
a verse that we find in the Psalms, in Psalm 107, verse 34, and what
does it say? It speaks of a fruitful land
into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. The
earth, you see, was so fruitful. The Garden of Eden, what a paradise
it was! And yes, that fruitful land brought
into barrenness. And why? because of the wickedness
of those that dwelt therein, because of the sin of Adam and
Eve. And yet in all of this, in all
of this there is hope. We think of the language there
in Romans chapter 8, where Paul is speaking of creation, You'll remember the words that
we find, Romans 8 and verse 19, and the following verses. It says, The earnest expectation
of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. What is he speaking
of here? He's speaking of how, in spite
of man's sin, there will be a glorious restoration, new heavens and
a new earth. There is hope, you see. None
of these things have taken God by surprise. Oh, there's a mystery here. That creation that God had made
and pronounced to be very good, that it should be despoiled in
this fashion because of man's sin. And yet, it's all part and
parcel of that great purpose of God. that glorious work of
redemption in and through him who is spoken of as the last
Adam even the Lord Jesus Christ himself there is hope there is
hope and so in the second place having said something with regards
to the consequence of this sin the judgment of God and yet even
in that judgment God so graciously explaining himself because, or
there's a reason for the judgment. And that curse that he's bound
up with the judgment that has come upon man and upon all of
creation. But as I say, turning in the
second place to see something of the cure. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, it says, till thou return unto the ground.
For out of it was thou taken, for thus thou art, and unto thus
thou shalt return. What is the cure? Well, first
of all, observe here that physical death, physical death was not
immediate. What had God said if there was disobedience? Chapter 217, Thou shalt not eat
of it, said God, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die. Thou shalt surely die, but that
doesn't mean immediate because as the margin indicates the Hebrew
literally says dying Thou shalt die. The translators have rightly
emphasized the idea of the certainty of it. There will be sure and
certain death. But the Hebrew is speaking of
not that that is immediate. Dying. Thou shalt die. Now, there was an immediate death. There was an immediate death.
There was spiritual death. They're in the soul of Adam in
the soul of Eve. And that spiritual death is indicated
by the fact that there's a separation. They're separated from God. When
God appears in the garden, as was his womb, how they seek to
hide themselves. Verse 8, 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 the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden. Oh, they're in a state
now of alienation, they're at enmity with God. And then of
course, right at the end of the chapter, we see how God drives
the man out of paradise. He drove out the man and placed
at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming
sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of
Life. The separation is complete. This is a consequence of man's
sin. There is a spiritual death. that comes immediately into their
soul. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sin has hid his face from
you. Oh, it is a fearful condition. But man has not died immediately
in a physical sense. In fact, instead of death, physical
death, there is still the promise of procreation. That's the amazing
thing. There's a promise of seed. There's
a promise of children. Look at what the Lord God is saying here.
as he speaks to the serpent, as he speaks to the woman. I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy heads, thou
shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman, he said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou
shalt bring forth children. They had been commanded to procreate,
but there'd been no birth of children yet. In fact, some suggest
that Adam and Eve transgressed on the very first day of life. Sad thought, really, that the
fall should come so quickly, the very first day of life. I was trying to think, there's
a verse in one of the Psalms and I can't remember whether
it's 146 or 146. There's a verse in one of the Psalms
here that some of the commentators interpret in terms of Adam and
Eve transgressing the commandments of God on the very first day
after their creation it was so it was so soon that it came just bear with me for a minute
I'll see if I can locate that verse I've not made a note of
it but I did want I did just want to give you the particular
reference it's that word I think it runs
like this man being in honour man being in honour abide us
not but I can't find the actual the
actual verse at the moment but it's clear that when Adam and
Eve sinned they not had the joy of any children. Cain and Abel,
of course, are born after the fall. And when the child is born,
that child partakes of the fallen nature of its parents. Adam bears a son after his own
image. a sinful child. But the great thing here, the
point that I want to make is the fact that death isn't, physical death isn't
immediate, but rather there's still the promise of children,
and children are subsequently born, and we know the names of
at least three of them, Cain, Abel, Seth, there were doubtless
other children that were also born who were not named in scripture. But then also here of course
we have specific reference made to the seed of the woman. In the words of God speaks to
the serpent. He speaks of enmity between the
serpent's seed and the seed of the woman it shall bruise thy
head and thou shalt bruise his heel and that is the promise
really of the Lord Jesus Christ he is that seed of the woman
that true seed of the woman when the fullness of the time was
come God sent forth his son made of a woman He's the seed of the woman. He
has no human father. He has a human mother, but he
was conceived, as we know, conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb
of the Virgin Mary. He is clearly the seed of the
woman. We have that hymn that we often
sing concerning the the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who
is the last or the second Adam. But lo, the second Adam came,
the serpent's subtle head to bruise, he cancels his malicious
claim and disappoints his devilish views, ransoms poor prisoners
with his blood and brings the sinner back to God. that's the
Lord Jesus Christ the seed of the woman but not only the seed
of the woman subsequently we see him very much as that one
who is the seed of Abraham he's the seed of Abraham to Abram
and his seed, where the promise is made, he saith not, and to
seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ."
Galatians 3.16. Well Christ is that one, the
seed of the woman, the seed of Abram, the seed of David. He
is David's greater son. So even here in this third chapter of Genesis that
gives us this sad and solemn account of sin we are to discern
something of the Lord Jesus Christ and when we think of the sweat
in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread word spoken to
the first Adam but how These words in some way are also fulfilled
in him who is the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
When we see him as he comes to do a great work, a work far greater
than the work of creation, that blessed work of redemption. And
as he enters into the garden of Gethsemane and begins there
to wrestle with his father in prayer, Oh, what agonies in his
soul! You know the language that we
have there in Luke 22, being in an agony. He pried more earnestly
and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Oh, what a bloody sweat the Lord
Jesus Christ knew. As I said at the beginning, Luther
speaks of a ministerial sweat, how he livens how he did labor
at the time of the reformation, laboring in word, laboring in
doctrine. But all that laboring of the
Lord Jesus, his was the bloodiest sweat of all. His sorrows were
the greatest sorrows of all sorrows, as he comes to reverse that that
came as a consequence of Adam and Eve's sin. Isaac Watts says
in the hymn concerning Christ in him the sons of Adam boasts
more blessings than their father lost but all that sweat and as
Christ knew something of a bloody sweat so Christians must also
know something of spiritual sweat The Lord Jesus is that One who
is set before us as the Bread of Life. Those I Am statements
that we find scattered throughout John's Gospel, and Christ declares
Himself to be the Bread of Life. I am the Bread of Life, He says.
You know the passages there in that sixth chapter of John. Christ repeatedly sets before
the Jews the truth of His divinity, His deity. He is that One who
is the Great I Am. He is Jehovah, He is the Lord
God. And what does He say there in
verse 35 of John 6? I am the bread of life, he that
cometh to me shall never hunger, he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Then again, verse 53, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whosoever
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.
and I will raise him up at the last day, for my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me." Oh, the Lord Jesus is
that one then who is the bread of life, and the believer is
to eat that bread, to drink that blood, and what is What is it? It's not cannibalism? Of course
it's not. It's a spiritual union. As we
come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's a blessed, vital
union with him. I am the bread of life, he says.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on
me shall never thirst. The coming, the believing, that's
one and the same thing. But look at what else he says
here. in verse 27, labor not for the meat which perisheth,
but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which
the Son of Man shall give unto you. Oh, there is to be a laboring
for that meat. There is to be a laboring. It's
costly. There is then that that we can
only describe as a spiritual sweat. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, even this bread. How we have to cry and call,
how we have to seek and pray, how we have to press forward.
That's what it means to be those who are truly coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not easy believism. At times we feel it's so much
the impossibility of faith. It's that work of God in the
soul, that God makes his people so earnest. Strive to enter in
at the straight gate, says the Lord Jesus. There's a striving
to enter in. Many shall seek to enter in there
and shall not be able. The kingdom of heaven, he says,
suffereth violence. and the violent take it by force
or there is then even here in a sweat that is associated with
the the judgment of God and the curse of God there is that that
we can understand also in a gospel sense
if we would partake of him who is the bread of life well we
must persevere Now we must be constantly looking to Him and
always calling upon Him. In the sweat of thy face thou
shalt eat bread. Oh, the Lord be pleased to grant
us that blessed determination, that persevering spirit that
we see even in Jacob. He would not let the Lord go.
except he bless him. And the Lord grant that we might
know such a spirit as that. Amen. We conclude our worship this
morning as we sing the hymn 154 to the tune St. George 516 Much we talk of Jesus' blood,
but how little is understood of His suffering so intense.
Angels have no perfect sense, who can rightly comprehend their
beginning or their end. It is to God and God alone that
their weight is fully known." The Hymn 154.