Let's go back to chapter 3. Chapter 3 of Genesis. In Genesis chapters 1 and 2,
we have the story of creation. God said, Let there be light.
And for six days, God created. And when He finished creating,
He saw everything that he had made and it was very good. No sin in creation. No sin in
that which God created. How long that lasted, we don't
know. I don't think it lasted very
long. The chapter three here gives
us the answer for our sinfulness. We have the answer. Science,
sociology and philosophy, they do not have the answer. They're
still looking for it. They're trying to come up with
one. They've got theories. This is not a theory. This is
an absolute. This is what happened. This is
the reason we and this whole human race are so sinful, so
sinful. By one man's disobedience, many,
many whom he represented were made sinners. This is our story. This is our story. There is no
other reason for our sinfulness other than the fall of our Father No other reason. I know that
the evolutionists would have us believe that we have evolved
into something better. If you've got all this better,
you've got a warped sense of better. Look at this world. Look at death. Look at sickness. Look at what goes on every day.
And this is better? No. That's not so. We are what we are because of
Adam's fault, because of what we inherited from him, original
sin and actual sin. Adam was the federal head of
the human race, and when he fell, every last one of us fell in
him. I know this doctrine of representation
is not popular with lost men and women, But what doctrine
is? What doctrine that is true is
popular with men and women, lost men and women? God's people love
it. In Adam all die. In Christ all
is made alive. I see the wisdom of God in it. And you see the wisdom of God
in it. We fell in one and we are raised in another. I like
that. I like that. The only thing popular with man
is free will. That's the only thing that's
popular, free will. Give me my will. Man, like Satan,
wants his own will. Our Lord said this over in the
Gospels. He said, You will not come to me that you might have
life. You've got a will problem. The reason you will not come
to me is you do not have the will to come to me. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power, but no one else will.
No one else will. Man wants to be worshipped. Worshipped
instead of God. He wants to receive all the glory
instead of God. That's the natural man. Loves
popularity. Loves recognition. Loves to walk
into a room and everybody recognizes him. Did you see who came in?
Oh, we're ate up with that, aren't we? By nature, we are. Well,
that's like our father, the devil, if you're lost. If you're lost.
He said, our Lord said, you're like your father, the devil.
Now, God's children are not like that. Our Father, He's gracious
and merciful and kind. And his children are that way.
Now the first thing Satan did was attack the Word of God. He attacked the Word of God.
He came in the form of a serpent. He possessed a serpent. And he
came to Eve, probably wrapped around that tree or something.
I don't know. But he came to Eve and began
to talk to her. And I did a lot of reading from
different men, and I agree with this. I think that they had probably,
without doubt, had talked and conversed with good angels. That
the seraphims and the cherubims and the good angels had come
into that garden and conversed with them at different times.
Because when this happened, she was not afraid. There's absolutely
no fear shown by Eve over this serpent talking to her. And so
he comes in and he possesses this serpent. And he's very subtle. He didn't come in with pitchfork
and horns. No, you'd never know it when
he comes in. He's so slick. So subtle. Crafty. Slip in, slip out. That's Satan. And the first thing he does is
attack the Word of God. Yea, hath God said. Hath God
said. Let's talk about what God said. He called into question God's
Word and God's goodness. That's what he calls into question. Is God withholding something
good from you, Eve? He said you can eat of all this,
but not this one. God's withholding something from
you. She had never thought of God
like that before. She had never thought of her
Creator withholding something good from her before, her and
Adam. As God said, that's what he did. He puts a question mark on what
God said. Then secondly, Satan slightly. This is how error starts
anyway. Little by little. It is so imperceivable
at times. When it very first begins, it's
so slight. It's just a little bitty twist.
And Satan, see, he's subtle. He's not going to come in and
just totally go off the record and bring something out of the
blue. No, he's going to take what God
said and he's going to put a slight twist on it. He's going to put
a slight twist. on the Word of God and change
the whole meaning. It just takes a slight twist.
You know, a slight twist becomes a lie. A slight twist of truth
becomes a lie. God told them not to eat of that
tree of good and evil, and you know why He told them not to
do it? It's for their good. Well, we know that now, and they
found out later. It didn't take them long to find
this out, but God told them not to do this for their good. For
their good. And I believe He's saying, is
God holding something good from you? Well, God let them know. He let them know. He let Adam know
there is such a thing as death and evil. He let him know there is such
a thing, Adam, as death and evil. Don't eat of that tree. Now God
has the sovereign right to put that tree in the garden and tell
Adam, don't eat of it. And Adam has the responsibility
not to eat of it. God said, Adam, don't eat of
it. There is such a thing as evil
and death. They were not robots. They were
not robots. They could make a choice, but
you know with every choice comes a consequence. I thought about
this today. Every choice has a consequence.
God commanded them not to eat, but he did not force them not
to eat. Adam did what he did freely. With his own free will, he did
what he did. This is what he did. He commanded them not to eat
of it, but he didn't force them not to eat. Here's the result
of man's free will. Here's the result of man's free
will, right here. This is the result of it. Now,
here's Eve's first problem. When Satan began to speak to
her through this serpent and put a question mark on God's
Word, she answered him. Michael wouldn't argue with him,
would he? The archangel would not, durst not answer him. He turned him over to God. But
Eve, being deceived, see, he came and at him through her.
Subtle, subtle. Knowing she was the weaker vessel.
He came and at him through her. And she talked to him. She started
to converse with him. She started to talk with Satan.
Boy, that's the first problem. That's the first problem. We can never win a conversation
with darkness. Don't get in a debate with anyone
over the Word of God. If God doesn't open the door
and give you the ability to speak and give His Word, and someone's
standing there wanting to debate, leave it alone. Don't, you can't
debate it. You can't debate with darkness.
And then here's the problem. She added to it and she put a
twist on it. She did. Look here in verse three,
she says, well, verse two, and the woman said unto 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 ye die. We'll go over in verse 16 of
chapter 2. And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest, she said, we can't
even touch it. But he said, here's what God
said. In the day you eat thereof, you shall die. She says here, lest, maybe, probably
will die. No less to it. God said the day
you eat of it, you will die. You will die. And you know what Satan says,
and I think, and I know our magic nations can get carried away
with this, and we have to be careful with this, but he says,
you shall not surely die. And I think he's probably standing
there, or however the serpent was, She's standing there eating
it. I bet he was just taking a bite of it. I'm not dead. There's no poison in this fruit. No poison in this apple. He just
took a bite. I believe he just took a bite.
What did he have to lose? What did he have? Nothing! He
was already a goner. I believe he took a bite of it.
And she's standing there looking at him. And he's talking to her
so kindly, so gently. Satan, what he does here as he
talks to her, and I think he takes a bite of her, he denies,
but here's the problem, he denies the Word of God. He denies the Word of God. This is where he does his work.
Denying the Word of God. You know, it's natural in fallen men and women. It is
just a natural part of depravity to commit adultery, fornication,
drunkenness. That's us naturally. We don't
need Satan for these things. We don't need him for all these
sins of the flesh. But where he does his greatest
work is in religion. It's in twisting the Word of
God. It's in places like morality,
self-righteousness. That's where he does his greatest
evil, is in these things. And he substitutes his lies for
God's truth. It may just be a little twist,
but he substitutes his lies for God's truth. He substitutes his
way instead of God's way. That's what he does. He is our righteousness, self-righteousness,
in the place of God's righteousness. His goal is to keep men and women
from trusting the Lord Jesus Christ completely. Completely,
100 percent, for salvation from Alpha to Omega. And I believe here in verse 5,
God is holding something back here, Eve. For God doth know. See, God's a God of knowledge.
He doth know that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes will
be opened. You'll be as God, knowing good
and evil. God's holding something back.
Keeping something back from you. And Eve began to believe him.
As she listened to him, she began to think along the same line
he's thinking. And then she looked at that tree
as she had never looked at it before. She's seen that tree
many times. It wasn't hid. It was in the
midst of the garden. But now she looks at it. And she thinks, you'll be as
God. You'll know things that are far beyond what you know
now. And when she looked at that tree,
here's what she saw. The tree was good for food. Well, she had a whole garden
full of trees good for food. But she saw there's something
about this one that's good for food, good for nourishment. That's
the lust of the flesh. I want a bite of this one. God
said, I want this one. If they had enough food, why
this one? God said, leave it alone. Solomon said, stolen waters are
sweet. Why is God keeping this good
food from us? Why is He keeping this from us?
Questioning God. There's no poison in it. There's
no poison in it. And then she saw that it was
pleasant to the eyes. Pleasant to the eyes. Lust to
the eyes. She couldn't see anything wrong
with this fruit. Why do you think companies advertise
like they do? Pleasant to the eyes. Lust of
the flesh. They know where to hit us. They
know exactly where to hit us. and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, wise as God. God doth know, look at that tree,
this tree can make me as wise as God. Men and women love to be thought
of as wise, don't we? We do. I know we naturally do. Nobody wants to be thought of
as unintelligent. We want to be thought of as intelligent.
And we like it when it's highly intelligent. Scripture says knowledge puffs
up. Knowledge puffs up. Without grace, it lifts men and
women up. Pride of life, that's what that
is. Now here comes the fall, in verse
6. She took, and when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, there was nothing wrong
with it, no poison in it. As I said, I think he was probably
standing there eating. And that it was pleasant to the
eyes, it was a desire, something to have. You see over in your
margin, it says a desire. It's something to be desired,
to have it. Be nice to have this. It's a
tree to be desired and to make one wise. So she took of the
fruit. She took of the fruit and did
eat and gave also to her husband with her and did eat. She took
of it. Eve ate first. I believe this is probably the
way it happened. I believe she took of it and
ate of it right there. And nothing happened. Then she
took some to her husband, Adam. And I think Adam saw what happened. She took that fruit and she ate
of it. Adam, hear that? I'm not dead. But I think Adam, when he saw
that, knew. He knew he lost her. He knew he lost her. Adam had
a decision to make. God or the creature. His creator
or he. I think he did. And what did he do? He chose to go ahead and eat. And he died. And you know their
eyes were not open Her eyes weren't open when she ate of it. When
she ate of it, nothing happened, did it? Her eyes were not open. She didn't know she was naked.
Not a thing is said about that until Adam, the one to whom the
command was given, the one who's the head, the one who's the representative,
when he did it, their eyes were open. And that's when the fall
happened. That's when the fall happened.
Adam saw that he had lost her and he had a decision to make
here, God or my wife, he. We saw this last Sunday in Matthew
11. He that loves mother, father,
sister, brother, son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me." Adam loved Eve more than he loved
God. I believe that's why he took
of it and ruined the whole human race. Ruined the whole human
race. Instead of resisting the devil
as our Lord did when he was tempted, they gave in. They gave in. You know, when our Lord was tempted
in the wilderness, He was tempted with the same things they were
tempted with. Same thing. The devil said, take
these stones and turn them into bread. Feed yourself. You're
hungry. Take care of your flesh. Take
care of your body. Jump off this temple. God will
keep you from dying. God will keep you. Worship me
and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Worship me. But
the Lord Jesus Christ resisted him with what? The Word of God. Correctly. Correctly. He used it correctly. But when
Adam ate of that fruit, the fall happened. The fall happened. Adam knew what he was doing.
The Scripture says Eve was deceived, but not Adam. He knew exactly
what he was doing. He knew exactly what was going
to happen. He knew exactly. Adam, it says over in 1 Timothy
2.12, Adam was in the transgression. Adam was. Adam loved the creature
more than the Creator. And then the eyes of them, he
said, both were open. It was a tree, he said, to make
one wise. And God knows that your eyes
will be open. Well, their eyes were open. Not these physical eyes, but
their eyes were open to sin. It was open to sin and guilt
and distress. What they saw, they would rather
have not seen. You ever see something and say,
I wish I hadn't seen that? Wish I hadn't seen that. What
they saw, they would rather not see. But it was too late. Can't
reverse it. You can never reverse disobedience.
You can only ask for mercy and forgiveness. You can never reverse
it. Their eyes were open when Adam ate, and they died. Here's what they knew. Here's what they knew. That they
were naked. Now, I don't believe that's talking
about so much their flesh. That they didn't have any clothes
on. I really believe this has to do with their soul. Their
souls were naked now before God. Here's what I, in a nutshell,
Here's what it is. They became and felt guilt. They never knew guilt before
that. They never knew what guilt was. They never knew the guilt
of sin. They never knew the guilt of
disobedience. They never knew the guilt of lust. They never
knew that. They lost their innocence. They lost it. And when you lose it, you can't
get it back. Not by yourself. Not by yourself. And this is
what they saw. Their souls became naked before
God. Soul nakedness is the worst type
of nakedness. Guilt. Is there anything worse
than guilt? Oh, I think guilt is at the very
root of all the emotional problems we have. It's probably at the root of
all the emotional problems we have is this thing of guilt.
Deep-rooted, sealed guilt. But here's their response. They're
guilty. They're sinful now. Our parents,
these are our parents, who were innocent. are now guilty, wretched. This is our parents. I'm talking
about our parents here. But what do they do? What do
they do? Do they cry for mercy? Do they
seek the Lord? Say, we have sinned, we messed
up. I ate of the tree. I should not have done that.
I wish I hadn't have done it. No. No, he says, and the eyes
of them both were open in verse seven, and they knew they were
naked and they sowed fig leaves. How ignorant. Adam was a genius. Eve was a genius. She was a genius,
just as well as Adam was a genius. And what is the first thing they
do? They go get some fig leaves and
start sowing them up, not to hide from each other, They're
not trying to hide their nakedness from each other. It's from God. They know He's going to come
into the garden. He's come into the garden before. They know He's going to come
and they sow these fig leaves on. What is that? That's nothing
but self-righteousness. We try to, by nature, we try
to cover ourselves with self-righteousness and come before God. Because
our conscience cries out guilty. So we try to do something to
quiet that conscience. We become moral, we quit doing
this, quit doing that, start doing this, start doing that. That's what they did. This genius
became a fool. Tried to sow these fig leaves
on, tried to hide, and they tried to hide from God. We'll see this. Well, they didn't cry for mercy,
they hid themselves. We always try to hide first,
don't we? This is just a normal response. Even when God calls,
usually men become religious. God may call a man and he may
go to church and start making a profession and do all this
before he finally realizes the gospel and realizes the truth,
before he realizes and finds Christ. God has to run us out of all
our refuges before we finally find Him as a refuge. Self-righteousness. When they
heard the voice of God, it said, walking in the cool of the day,
they didn't hear sirens. They didn't hear the police coming.
They heard the voice of their Father walking, not running. walking in the garden, in his garden,
in the cool of the day. That's what they heard. And when
they heard that, when they heard the voice of their father, they
split. They said, let's get out of here. And they went and hid. God called, their father called,
and they refused to come. Instead of being made wise, they
became fools. Scripture says, can any hide
himself from God? But the Father comes. God Almighty
comes into the garden, and He gives to Adam an effectual call. Here is an effectual call. God called. He said, where art
thou? You see the word art is added.
Where thou, Adam? Where? You know what He's saying? Here's what He's saying. Adam, look at where you are. Adam, look at where you are,
my son. Look at what you've done. I think it was a voice of pity.
over in Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103, verse 13. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. But I believe
it is a voice of pity. Adam, my son, what have you done? Look where you are now, Adam. Look where you are. He exposed
Adam's sin. He didn't hide it. He didn't
hide it. He exposed it. Look how afraid you are. Adam's
afraid now. Isn't that amazing? Perfect garden. Nothing was against
him. The animals were not wild. The
beasts were not wild. They had nothing to be afraid
of. Now they're afraid of their Creator. They're afraid of their
Father. Adam said, I heard thy voice. Instead of saying, I was glad,
I was afraid. I was afraid. I was afraid. I was naked. I heard your voice. I was naked. I hid myself. Well,
you was naked before that. Why didn't it bother you then? Sin. Guilt. That's why. God said, who told
you you were naked? Adam, who told you you were naked? Who told you that? Who revealed
that to you? It takes God Almighty to make
us to know and understand that our souls are naked and open
before him, that we are guilty. Who told you you were naked?
God made him know that. God made him to know that. Did you eat? Adam, did you eat
of the tree that I told you not to eat of? Is that the problem? God's not
asking for information. You know that. He's exposing
He's bringing out. It's like our Lord did with that
woman at the well. Bringing out of them. Their sin. It's conviction. Who told you
you were naked? Did you eat of the tree that
I told you? Did you disobey me, Adam? He knows it. He's going to bring
it out of Adam. Adam's going to confess it. Adam
and Eve both are going to confess their sin. But you know what? The first
thing they did, just like that woman at the well, instead of
confessing their sins when he asked them this, instead of doing
that, you know what they did? They started the blame game. We've all done it, haven't we? Every last one of us. He said
the woman, not my wife. He didn't call her wife now.
He didn't say my wife, my lovely wife. This woman, he said, the
woman, the woman you gave me, she made me do it. It's her fault. It's her fault. This woman that he loved, this
woman that he, I think, went ahead and died for
and because of, this woman, brought me this fruit. And it's her fault. You see how sin divides? Sin
divides homes. It divides husbands and wives. It divides. It divides. Sin will divide everything and
everyone. The woman you gave me, she was
the one, she's the problem. A man or woman will never be
saved until they just say guilty. Until you quit bringing up something
else or someone else and getting the focus off of you on someone
just guilty. David said, Against thee and
thee only have I sinned, done this evil in thy sight. It was
Bathsheba's fault. She shouldn't have been standing
down there. David said, No, it's my fault. It's my fault. Then she, of course, she blamed
the serpent. They just kept blaming. Well,
would somebody just say guilty? You get a lot further along if
you just say guilty. Then he pronounces a curse here
in verse 14 through 19. Look here. Now I'll wind this
down. said unto the serpent, Because
thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all the cattle and
above every beast of the field. From thy belly shalt thou go,
and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I'll put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed. It shall bruise thy head, thou shalt bruise his heel."
He told the woman, he said, I'm going to multiply your sorrow.
You're going to have children, but it's going to be painful.
It's going to be painful. And you're going to be in subjection
to your husband. Then he cursed the ground. He cursed the ground
because of Adam. And we know that because of this
disobedience, this one act of disobedience, not many, just
one, just one. There's spiritual death, physical
death, and then eternal death. But the Lord God gave good news.
Aren't you glad he didn't just leave it at this? He says the
seed of the woman is going to bruise that serpent, which the
devil's called that old serpent. He's going to bruise his head. He's going to destroy his power,
and we know the rest of the story. We know the rest of the story.
He's going to redeem his people, and he's going to finally get
the victory and the glory. and the power, it's all His. It's all His. Satan's going to
bruise His heel, His flesh, but He's going to take the victory.
He's going to bruise His head. Then He gives us a picture of
redemption here. Here's the first bloodshed. He revealed the seed,
the woman, the Messiah is going to come through her. You brought
down Adam, you went to the weakest vessel, and then you went through
her to get to him? Well, the Son of God is going
to come through her and get to you. He's going to come through her
and get to you. You used the woman, and I'm going to use the
woman now. Born of a woman, made under the
law. Here's what God did in verse
21. He killed an animal, and I bet you that animal was a lamb.
I bet it was a lamb. And he covered their nakedness. And then after that, he made
them coats. He shed the blood and then he made them coats. No doubt
represents the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ which
covers our naked souls. And you'll notice here, God did
both. He was the first preacher. He was the first one to shed
blood. He was the first one to make the coats of skin. He did
it. He covered them with it. He didn't
tell them to go do it. He did it. He did it. Salvation is all of God. All of God. And the Lord God,
it says, cast Adam out of the garden, lest he should take of
the tree of life and live, lest he attempt to work his way back,
lest he takes of that tree of life and then claim the glory
for it. I failed, but I made amends. No, it says here, God drove him.
He drove him. Adam, get out of here. Get out
of the garden. God put a flaming sword to keep
the way of the tree of life. Adam was not going to come back
in and take of that tree of life and live forever by it. Well,
then how are we going to be saved? How are we going to be saved?
By grace. By the grace of God through the
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. through that
tree of life represents. That's how. That's how. God is going to save every one
of his children through that seed of the woman. This is our story, isn't it?
This is our story. We fell in Adam. We were raised
in Christ. We died in one and we live in
another. And I thank God for it. I thank
God for representation. I thank God that I was allowed
to fall in one and rise in another. I thank God for it.