Today I want us to look at Genesis
chapter three. We'll be looking at verses one
through six and maybe one through seven. So let's begin reading
in verse one of Genesis chapter three. And if you have a Bible,
I hope that you'll read along with us as we look in God's word. It says, now the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.
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 you die. And the serpent
said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. For God doth
know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 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 in verse seven, And
the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked. And they sewed fig leaves together, and they made themselves
aprons." Here the Lord God has recorded here in these verses
the fall of our first parents here in the Garden of Eden. The
reason I want us to try to look at this today, there is so much
misunderstanding about what happened here in the garden. People don't,
and if you don't understand What happened here in the garden,
someone said if you're wrong on the fall, you're going to
be wrong on it all. If you don't understand what
happened here when man fell, you won't understand anything
else in the word of God. So today with the Lord's help,
I want us to look at these verses and to see this that happened
here in Genesis chapter 3. But before I get here in chapter
3, I want us to go back and read some verses from chapter 1. to
show where God created Adam and Eve before he ever placed them
here in the garden. And in verse 26 of chapter one,
and God said, let us make that man in our image after our likeness
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over
the fowls 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 he him, male and female. And God blessed them. And God said unto them, be fruitful
and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. And have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowls of the air,
over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God
said, behold, I have given you ever herb bearing seed, which
is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in which is the
fruit of the tree yield a seed to you, it shall be for meat
and to every beast of the earth and to every fowls of the air
and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there
is life. I have given ever green herb
for meat. And it was so. And God saw everything
that he had made. And behold, it was very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. And look
in verse seven of chapter two. And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life. And man became, notice this,
and man became a living living soul. God gave him this soul. God made man in his own image.
God is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and man is body,
soul, and spirit made in the image of God. And now begin reading
in verse 15 of chapter 2. And the Lord God took the man
that he had made, and he put him in the garden of Eden, to
dress it and to keep it. Now notice that God put him here.
God put him in this garden, in this place. And the Lord God
commanded the man saying, and here was the command. It wasn't
an option, it was a command. Of every tree of the garden,
thou mayest eat freely. 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. Read that again, for in the day,
and when God told Adam, now notice this, God told Adam, for in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Adam's
not been formed yet, I mean Eve's not been formed yet, Eve's not
been brought unto Adam, so he's speaking this to Adam, the federal
head. And verse 18, and the Lord God
said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make
him a helpmeet for him. 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 Adam would call them.
Now notice this, God didn't name the animals. God didn't name
the fowl of the air. He brought them unto Adam. to
see what Adam would call them. And whatsoever Adam called ever-living
creature, that was the name thereof. Adam was a brilliant man, had
some telling how much he knew before that he sinned against
God. In verse 20, and Adam gave names unto all the cattle, and
to all the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.
But for Adam, there was not found a helpmeet for him. And 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 thereof. And the rib which the Lord God
had taken from man made he a woman. Now notice this, and he brought
her unto the man. God only made one creature, only
made one man, and that was Adam. And he brought the woman from
the man. She was taken from his side.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of the man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and there
shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the
man and his wife. and they were not ashamed. We
see here in Adam being a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
know this from the scriptures in Romans 5.14. It says that
Adam, who is the figure of him that was to come, talking about
Christ, and Eve is a picture of God's church that was taken
from the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. She came from him and
they were united together as man and his wife. that they cleave
together as one flesh, this union of God, the Father, the Son,
and His Bride. Now we come to chapter 3. And
I said all that so you'll understand and get some background to see
all that God commanded Adam, what God gave Adam. And now we
see him here in the garden. And now we come to me. Every
time I read this, it just disturbs me. As I think back about how
we all got in this mess, how that Adam lived in a world of
innocency, he walked in fellowship with God, and how that Satan
came and deceived him and his wife, or deceived Eve, and then
Adam chose to do what he did. Now beginning in verse one. And
the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. And the serpent said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of
the garden. Here we see Adam. He is a symbol,
this tree that God placed in this garden. This is a symbol
in God's teaching Adam that God is sovereign in all things. And
that man is responsible for God's commands. He's commanded to be
obedient. And this tree was planted in
the garden which he was not permitted to partake of. And see, now the
serpent comes to him. He says, yea, hath God said,
you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Here we see Satan. He is a subtle enemy. There's
little is known about this serpent. We just see that he took upon
himself here the form of a serpent. What he looked like before the
fall, we don't know. And we don't understand why would
Eve stand here and talk to this creature. It doesn't act like
she's afraid of him or anything. We don't know the answers to
these questions. But there's some things that
are very clear here. Satan came to our first parents. And why
did he come? Why did he come now, now that
Adam has a wife? And why does he come to Eve?
He came to attack. He's not really interested in
Eve. He's not really interested in
the woman. I think maybe he thought, well, I can get to the man through
the woman, but he's really not interested in the woman or in
the man. He's interested in attacking the very throne of God. That's
what Satan's objective is. That's what his objective is
now. Satan thinks that he can overthrow the throne of God,
which he can't. But that was his objective here.
And if you want to In your spare reading, if you want to read
where Satan fell, Lucifer, you can find this in Isaiah chapter
14, verses 12 through 15, Ezekiel 28, verses 12 through 19, and
Revelation chapter 12, verses 7 through 11. I'll read you two
verses from Isaiah. For thou hast said in thine heart,
talking about Satan, I will ascend into the heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the
mound of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the cloud. And I will be like the
most high God. That's what he said in his heart. And he wanted to get to God. And the way he came to attack,
he didn't go to the woman, I mean, to the man. He came to the woman. It said, and he said unto the
woman, the weaker vessels, what she's referred to in 1 Peter
3, 7. And in 2 Corinthians 11, 3 it says, but I fear this by
any means is the serpent. that old serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtlety, his craftiness. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. Remember this, that God
taught Adam, God instructed Adam. Remember I showed you that back
in verse 17 of Genesis 2. And then Adam told
Eve. Adam had instructed Eve what
God had commanded. So she got her information from
Adam. And Satan come to her. So Satan
come to our first parents. Eve was probably alone. Some
think she had maybe been near the tree, maybe even been looking
at the tree. So when Satan came, and I want you to see this, the
first thing that he did was to attack God's word. He said, yea, hath God said. God did say it. That's what he
did say. But Satan said, has God really
said that? Did God really mean that? He
maybe could have said to her, you're supposed to be a superior
creature to everybody else and everything else. And God's keeping
something from you. And Satan's objective today is
still the same. He still wants to question God's
Word. That's why I tried to encourage
you to take your Bible and to follow along with me. Don't take
my word for it. That you need to find out yourself
what God's Word says, not what somebody else says that God's
Word says. You hear a lot of people say,
well, God's Word says this, and it doesn't say that. And here
was Satan's, this is how he came. He questions God's word. Not what someone says that God
says, but what does God say? Satan comes and he's trying to
throw doubt upon God's word. Did God really say that? Did
you really hear him right? Maybe you didn't hear him just
exactly right. So now in verse two, 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 has said, you shall not eat of it, neither
shall you touch it, lest you die. Eve talked to this serpent
and she was not alarmed. I don't think Satan came in some
scary form. And when he comes today, he's
not gonna come with a red suit and a forked tail and a pitchfork. That ain't how he comes. He comes
today dressed in a suit, standing in a pulpit. And he gets people
to question God's word. And he said, and this is how
Eve answered him. Eve knew the commandment of God.
She said that we may eat of the trees, but the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God has said, now watch what she
said. She added to the word of God. She said, neither shall
you touch it. lest ye die. Let me read you
what God said in verse 17 of Genesis 2. The day that thou
eatest thereof, now this was God's command, this is what God
said. Thereof, when you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die. No question here. That's what
he said, not that you might die, you shall surely die. That's
what God said. So you see where Satan got Eve. God said, you shall not surely
die, and she said, you shall not lest ye die. Verse four,
and the serpent said unto the woman, now here he is, this is
exactly what God said, but he said, ye shall not surely die. This is a direct denial of God's
word. Here Satan comes in a serpent,
taking on this form. And listen to me this morning,
he's still able to transform himself into an angel of light.
He's not an angel of light, but he's able to transform himself
into a messenger of light. He's not that messenger, but
he tries to come as a messenger of light. Let me read you some
scripture, 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the 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 into the
ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their
works. He said, you shall not surely
die. And how does Satan speak today?
He speaks now through fallen men, false preachers. He says,
that's not what God says. They change the truth of God
into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the creator
who is blessed forever. Amen. But Satan, a direct denial
of God's word. Verse five. Here's what Satan
said, for God does know that in the day that you eat thereof,
then your eyes will be opened. and you shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. You won't die. Your eyes will
be opened. You'll know good and you'll be
as a god, knowing good and evil. Satan says that this is only
a threat from God to keep you in subjection to him. God won't
bring judgment upon you. He won't carry it out. God loves
you too much. Doesn't that sound familiar?
God knows all things, and he knows that if you eat of the
tree, the eyes of your understanding will be opened, and you will
know things that you didn't know before. Oh, yes, they did know
things that you didn't know before, but he didn't tell her the whole
story. Satan says that you will be as gods yourself, and you
will know good and evil. You know what he's doing? He's
actually trying to cast a slur upon the very character of Almighty
God. People try to set God in a light
today that God's not displayed in his true character as he's
revealed in his word, and that's what Satan's doing here. God's
keeping something from you. Now, listen. Here's what he says. Now, Satan's
a liar. John 8, 44, he was a murderer from the beginning and a bognard
in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father
of it. In Romans 1, 25, now this is where we are today. Man has
been told, he's still being told by Satan as he uses instruments
to preach a false gospel. Here's what they've done. They've
changed or exchanged the truth of God into a lie. They've exchanged
the truth of God for a lie. And they worshipped and served
the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen.
Man today has tried to get man to understand or tried to convince
him that he's a God and that God must bow to him. And this
was Satan's lie. This is what he told Eve. This
is what he said to her. And look in verse six. 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. Eve began to look more closely
at the tree. Like I said, we don't know for
sure. She could have been standing right there beside the tree as
Satan, the serpent, is talking to her. She saw that it was a
tree good for food. That means it was by the lust
of the flesh, that it was pleasant to the eyes, or the lust of the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, the pride of
life. And it said, notice there that she took of the fruit thereof. She rebelled. That which God
had commanded them not to do, she did. And she did eat. And I want you to see this. It
doesn't say that anything happened. It doesn't say that her eyes
were opened. You know why? And I'm going to show you this
in just a minute. She's not the federal head. God created Adam,
God told Adam, Eve came from Adam. And look at this. Don't you see this? Let me read
the verse again so I don't want you to miss this. 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 the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat, and when he ate, Then the eyes of
them both were opened in verse seven, and they knew, both of
them, that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. Why was it when Adam ate? Adam
is the federal head of all men. Wherefore, as one man sinned,
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. As Eve was an Adam, all men are
an Adam. Every man, woman, boy, or girl
that has ever lived was in Adam. And when Adam rebelled, we all
rebelled. When Adam ate, Eve's eyes were
opened. Not until. He is the representative. He's the federal head. He represented
all men. All men. Adam did. And when he
ate, their eyes were opened. Eve was deceived, but not Adam. Satan deceived Eve, not Adam. Adam knew what he was doing.
Now, I want you to see this. Remember, Adam is in a state
of holiness. Adam had a perfect righteousness,
and Adam is the only man, the only man that ever had a free
will. Adam did what he did willingly. freely of his own will. Why? Because he wanted to. He chose to sin. He rebelled. His eyes were not deceived. He
knew exactly what he was doing. Most people's never been taught
this. They've never saw this, that it's in Adam. But why did
Adam partake of this fruit? If he knew what he was doing,
why did he do this? If he knew when he partook of
this fruit, now think with me for a minute. If he knew when
he partook of this fruit that he would bring upon himself death. Now we know that they didn't
die physically right now, but they did die spiritually. We're
going to maybe look at that, Lord willing, next week. But
his eyes were opened and he understood what he did. But why did he do
this? I believe it was because he loved
his wife. He loved Eve. And we have a picture
here. Oh, what a beautiful picture
of the gospel. That Adam loved Eve. He knew
what he was going to do and what he did and what he did on purpose.
He was willing to come under the wrath and the judgment of
Almighty God because he loved his wife. The scriptures say husbands love
your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. Adam was willing to give it all
up to be identified with his wife because he loved her. And the good news this morning
is the Lord Jesus Christ loves his church. And he was willing
to bring upon himself the wrath and the judgment of Almighty
God to redeem a people that he loved with an everlasting love. What a picture that Adam loved
Eve. And when he partook of the fruit
that his wife gave him, he did eat and took himself, brought
himself, under the judgment of almighty God. The scripture says
that Christ was made sin for us, and you know sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. And when the eyes
of them both were opened, now they knew that they were naked. And when they knew this, what
did they do? They went about to try to undo
what they had done. They sewed fig leaves together
and they made themselves aprons. A man today is trying his best
to undo what's happened. He thinks, well, if I can sew
some fig leaves together of my own works, of my own efforts,
then I can cover up my nakedness. And all men, by nature, since
the fall, since Adam sinned, we all come in this world not
just only naked physically, we come naked spiritually before
Almighty God. We're without any covering to
cover up our shame and our guilt and our nakedness. We've rebelled
against God. Rebelled against God. And this
is what sin is. It is rebellion against the throne
of Almighty God. This is what Satan wanted to
do. He says, well, I'll go to Eve, and I'll go to Eve, and
I'll get to Adam, and when I get to Adam, I'll get to God. And
when he deceived Eve, and Adam then partook of the fruit and
rebelled against God. He brought this world and we're
gonna see and everything in it under the curse and the judgment
of Almighty God. And it's a thing called death,
death. Like I said, they didn't die
right here physically, they died spiritually. And as we live,
we are dying. And one day, these bodies will
die. One day, they'll lay these bodies
in the grave. Why? Sin. Why does a man get
sick? Sin. Why do we have so much problems
with the flesh and all these things that are going on to the
world? Sin. And we find this out right here. And if you don't
understand what happened here, you don't understand anything
else. And I realize that the only way you can understand anything
is for God to give you an understanding. And I pray that God might take
this, this message today, and be pleased to open up your eyes
and that you may see that without God you are naked. And it's your
feeble attempts to try to sew fig leaves together to try to
cover up your nakedness, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. The Lord willing, we'll try,
to pick up there in verse 8 next week and try to look down to
about verse 21. Until next week, may the Lord
bless you.