Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Neibert. I'm going to be speaking this
morning from Genesis chapter three, and I've entitled this
message, The Fall. And this is talking about the
fall of our first parents in the Garden of Eden and our fall
in them. Now somebody once made the statement,
if you're wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all. And I
would completely agree with that. We cannot be right anywhere if
we're wrong here. We're starting in the wrong direction
if we do. You can't start at the wrong
point and end up right. Wrong on the fall, wrong on it
all. Now, before we get into this,
let me make a few statements. Every sin that you and I commit,
every physical problem we have, every emotional problem we have,
every relational problem we have, everything that we do that has
something to do with our sinful nature, every problem in society,
war, poverty, racism, crime, violence, all disease, the pandemic
that's going on right now, and death itself finds its roots
in Genesis chapter three, the story of the fall. Now, the verse that comes before
Genesis 3 is Genesis 2.25, speaking of Adam and Eve, and they were
both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Now, the reason they were not
ashamed is because they didn't have sinful natures. They could
look at someone naked and there would be no unclean or perverse
thought. They had innocent natures. They were not sinful as of yet. John Milton wrote a book entitled
in the 1600s, Paradise Lost. And this is what is happening
here. Paradise lost. This man and woman
were in the state of paradise. Things couldn't get any better,
but it wouldn't continue. Now we read in Genesis chapter
two, verses 15 through 17, this fall did not take God by surprise. Look what verse 15 says, the
Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to
dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, 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. Now this fall is foretold. The Lord says, in the day you
do eat, You shall surely die. It didn't take God by surprise. It was all a part of his eternal
purpose. And the provision for the fall
was made prior to the fall. The provision for the fall was
made before the foundation of the world because Christ is called
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So the Lord knew
all this was going to happen. And it was all a part of his
glorious purpose. Now, somebody says, well, if
he knew it could happen, why didn't he prevent it? We're going
in the wrong direction when we start thinking like that, because
all of a sudden we become God's judges. I don't agree with what
God's doing. Well, who are you to reply? Who
am I to reply against God? Whatever God does is right. That's
just the way it is. I'm not going to apologize for
anything He does. God is right. We are wrong. And whatever He
does is right. So He foretold of the fall, and
then we read in Genesis 3, verse 1, Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Now we're introduced to the serpent. Now this lets me know this is
the devil, and I don't know if he was simply in the body of
the serpent, taking its body and taking its form and speaking,
or whether this was his literal body, I don't know. I know that
the serpent was not yet like the serpent we know of today
because the fall and curse had not yet taken place. And part
of the curse upon the serpent that it would eat dust and crawl
on the ground. But at this time, I believe the
serpent was probably a very beautiful creature, speaking to Eve, and
he was seeking to tempt her to sin. That's what his purpose
was. Now, he couldn't make her sin.
You know, Satan can't make you sin. but he can tempt you, and
how well are you to handle his temptations? The scripture says
he's very subtle, very deceitful. Now, I'm thankful that he can
only do what God permits him to do. Yes, he's a powerful creature,
but he's under God's thumb. He's God's devil doing God's
will, and he can't make a move without even asking God for permission. You remember when the The Lord
said regarding Peter, Peter, Satan has desired to have you.
Literally, he's asked permission for you. He couldn't touch him
without the Lord's permission. Like Job couldn't be touched
by Satan unless the Lord let him do it. Satan is a powerful
being. Me and you aren't any match for
him. But he's God's devil, and he can't do a thing without God
purposing it to happen. God is in control. You see, God's
sovereign. He's sovereign over me and you. He's sovereign over
the devil. I love God being God. He is absolutely
sovereign over all things. But the serpent comes, deceitful. Let me read a passage from the
New Testament regarding the serpent. Paul says, I fear, 2 Corinthians
11.3, I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguile thee through
his subtlety. Speaking of this event, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. The onlyness, the singularity. You know what that means? You
believe he only is your salvation. You don't look anywhere else.
And Satan's great desire is to get me or you to look somewhere
other than Christ. That's his purpose. Somebody
says, well, he's in the brothel houses and the bars trying to
get people to see him. No, he's just leaving those people
alone. I'll tell you where he works it from the pulpit. Look in verse
13 of 2 Corinthians 11. For such are false apostles deceitful
workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
That's how they come. Wolves in sheep's clothing, the
Lord said. And no marvel for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it's no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. whose end shall be according
to their works. Now the serpent, back to Genesis
3, now the serpent was more subtle, more deceitful 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." Now, he begins by changing what God said. Did God really say you should
eat of any of these trees? And look how Eve responds, verse
2, and the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit
of the trees of the garden. We've already read from Genesis
2.15 where it said of every tree you can freely eat except one.
And she says, no, we can eat of any of these trees of the
garden, but, verse 3, of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, that's the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither
shall ye touch it, lest ye die." There are some who said, well,
Eve has added to what God says now. And that may be. I don't
think it's ever safe to do anything but say exactly what God said.
God didn't say don't touch it. But I mean, I can see where you
think, well, to eat it, you have to touch it. But still, God didn't
say that. And this could be where touch
not, taste not, handle not religion came from. Touch not, taste not,
handle not. Don't touch it. We can't eat
it. We can't touch it. We need to stay away from it.
But at any rate, she said that. And she minimized what God said.
God has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch
it, lest ye die. You might die out of this. Peradventure,
you die. God didn't say, lest ye die.
He said, you shall surely die. So she minimized what God said. The fall had already began. I
mean, it's a process, but the fall had already began when she
added to what God said, and minimized what God said. Verse four, here's
the serpent's reply. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die. If God said that, that's not
what he meant. That's not how it should be interpreted. I mean,
there are different points of view, different ways of looking
at things. Even if God said that, that's not what he meant. You shall not surely die. Four, verse five, God doth know
that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And you shall be as God's, knowing
good and evil. Now, remember that tree is called
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, God doesn't
want you to become like him. That's why he's telling you not
to eat of that fruit. You see, he knows good and evil.
He's God. He knows good and evil, and he
chooses the good over the evil. That's what makes him God. That's
what makes him such a righteous person, a righteous being, however
you want to say that. He chooses the good over the
evil. But you, you're not making a choice. You don't have the
knowledge of good and evil. All you know is good. And you're
not really making a choice to be good. You're just obeying
your nature. There's no choice involved. Now,
if you eat of this fruit, you'll know good and evil, and you'll
be able to choose the good over the evil. And that's what'll
make you like God. And Eve listened. She thought,
you know, That makes sense. I can see where that would be
a better way to be. You know, Satan is implying God's
holding out on you. He's keeping something from you
that you would have, but you won't unless you eat this fruit.
He's forbidding you to eat the fruit. He's holding out on you.
He's preventing something good for you. And then we read in
verse six, and the woman saw that the tree was good for food. You know, I wouldn't doubt it
if this text doesn't say this, but Satan might have been, the
serpent might have been eating on that fruit while he's talking
to her. I'm not dead. You know, God said to Adam, in
the day you eat, you'll die. Not the serpent, not even the
woman. And he was perhaps eating that fruit saying, see, I'm not
dead. I'm not dead. And she looked at that fruit,
and she saw that it was good for food, the lust of the flesh,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, the lust of the eyes, and
a tree desired to make one wise, the pride of life, those three
temptations. She saw all of those in that
fruit, And what did she do? She took of the fruit and did
eat. I don't know what kind of fruit
it was, but whatever kind it was, she took a bite of it and
she did eat. And you know what? Nothing happened. Satan was right, or the serpent
was right. I'm not dead. You see, she didn't realize that
our standing is in Adam. She came out of Adam. What counts
is what Adam does. And in like manner, what counts
is what Christ does. Adam is the figure of him that
was to come. It was when Adam ate of the fruit
that our race was plunged into this sinful nature. But at any
rate, she ate of the fruit. And I don't think Adam was around
at this time. I think that this conversation had not gone on
with Adam listening. I think he was not there, and
the serpent was going to get to Adam through this woman. And
so Adam comes walking up, and he's got that fruit, and she's
eating it, and she's not dead. And she gives the fruit to him.
The scripture says she was deceived, but he did what he did with his
eyes wide open. He was not deceived. He took the fruit, and he ate
thereof, and what happened? Just as Satan said, their eyes
were opened. And you know what they knew? They knew they were naked. Now,
they were naked before, but it wasn't an issue. They were not
sinful, but now they are sinful. They have become spiritually
dead. In the day you eat thereof, that
very day, you shall surely die. They ate of the fruit, Adam ate
of the fruit, and they both died. And the scripture says, they
knew they were naked. Now somebody may think, could
God have prevented this? Of course He could. Why didn't
He prevent it? Look at all the terrible things
that have taken place. Whatever God does is right. God
is altogether glorious. altogether wise, and only He
brings good out of evil." The proof of that is the cross. What's
the most evil thing to ever take place when men nailed Jesus Christ
to a cross? What is the most glorious thing
to ever take place? The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,
where He saved His people from their sins. God brings good out
of evil. I like what Joseph said to his
brethren, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Now,
what Adam and Eve did was evil. It was sin against God, and they
meant it for evil. There wasn't anything good or
noble about it. But oh, God meant it for good. People who the Lord saves are
in a better state than Adam and Eve ever were before the fall.
They have the very righteousness of God, not a temporary, mutable
righteousness which is gonna go away, but they have the very
righteousness of God. Now, we're given this record
of the fall. Now what I'd like us to consider
for a few moments is the results of the fall. We have this record,
now here are the results of the fall. And the eyes of them both
were opened and they knew they were naked. And they sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons. Now this represents salvation
by works. They sought to make themselves
a covering that would hide their shame from God and make them
acceptable before God. Now any sense that salvation
is dependent upon you doing something to make you acceptable before
God is salvation by works. That's what they were doing.
They were sowing these fig leaves together and they didn't do any
good. Now, verse eight, and they heard
the voice of the Lord God walking. I have no doubt that that's the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one who they formerly had fellowship
with. They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day. There's something soothing about
that. Not red-faced with anger, looking to smite him. Walking
in the cool of the day. And what did Adam and his wife
do? And Adam and his wife did hide themselves from the presence
of the Lord, God, amongst the trees of the garden. Now, they
proved their deadness in spiritual sins because they tried to hide
from him who's omnipotent, all-powerful, omniscient, knows everything.
Omnipresent, he's everywhere at once. There's nowhere you
can hide from him, but they became spiritually stupid after the
fall, and they thought they could hide from God's presence. And
here's God's first words to man after the fall. And the Lord
God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? Now, he knew where they were,
but he's going to have Adam see where he was. What have you done,
Adam? What happened? Now, one of the things that I
think is interesting is we're going to go on looking at Adam's
response. At no time does Adam or Eve show
any remorse for their sins. They never ask for forgiveness.
They never seek mercy. Nothing of the kind. Not until
the Lord revealed himself to them. They're dead in sins. And
they have no remorse for what they've done. All they want to
do is hide from God's presence. They used to relish being in
God's presence. Now, anywhere God is, they don't
want to be. Now, I heard thy voice in the
garden. Where are you, Adam? I heard
your voice in the garden. And I was afraid. Now, where'd
that come from? He wasn't afraid before. But
he's afraid. Now, you see, all he can think
of is God punishing him, smiting him. And he's afraid of God.
He is afraid of the consequences sin is going to bring. And he
thinks God's like he is. That's what he's attributing
things to the Lord God that were not. He's thinking, well, this
is what I do, and this is what he's going to do. And he was
bringing God down to his human level. I was afraid. And I hid
myself because I was naked. I was afraid you'd see me naked. And then the Lord said in verse
11, who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the
tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Now obviously the Lord knew he had, but he's having Adam confronted
with this. Now I want us to notice how Adam
handles this. Here's Adam's reply. And the
man said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave
me of the tree, and I did eat. If you hadn't have given me this
woman, this would have never taken place. This is all your
fault. If you just hadn't given me this
woman, I'd be in good shape right now. This is your fault. He puts the blame on God and
this woman that he loved. He's now willing to throw her
under the bus. It's her fault this took place.
You gave me her. She's the one who tempted me
and I did eat. I'm a victim in this thing. This
is not my fault. It's your fault. It's the woman's
fault. I'm a victim. Well, that's the
way we think. It's not my fault. Let's go on
reading verse 13. And the Lord God said to the
woman, what is this that thou has done? And the woman said,
the serpent beguiled me. It's his fault. He beguiled me. And I did eat. They're both victims. They're not asking for mercy.
They're not confessing their sins. They're blaming God for
the things that take place. Now, understand this. If you
don't, if I don't take personal responsibility for my sin, they
didn't. They didn't understand that they
were completely evil at this time. They didn't understand
that. They were, but they didn't understand that. And if I don't
take complete responsibility for my sin, it's my fault. I
can't blame God. I can't blame my circumstances.
I can't blame my environment. It's all my fault. Until I'm
brought to where my sin is all my fault, I'll never ask for
mercy. I don't need mercy. I need justice.
I need paid back. I need to have what's coming
to me. It's only when my sin is all my fault that I will ask
for mercy. But she blames Satan. He beguiled me. And the
Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this,
thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the
field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all
the days of thy life. And here we have the gospel.
I will put enmity. God says, I'll do this. I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel. Now this is the cross. The Lord
says, I'm going to put enmity between you and the seed of the
woman. Now notice he didn't say the
seed of Adam. He's speaking of the virgin born Christ. You see,
the Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin because he did not
have Adam's sinful nature. If he would have not been born
of a virgin, if he would have born in the natural way, he would
have had a sinful nature, but that's not the case. He was born
of a virgin and you're going to indeed bruise his heel. On
the cross, oh, how Christ suffered. But he's gonna crush your head. Satan was completely defeated
on Calvary Street. He thought he was defeating the
Lord, but he didn't know he was signing his own death warrant.
And the Lord crushed his works and saved all of his people from
their sins by that glorious act on the cross. Now, He says in
verse 16, unto the woman he said, I'll greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. Some have said, you're going
to want to rule over him, and he's going to rule over you.
And unto Adam, he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the
voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded
thee, thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake, and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns and thistles shalt bring forth to thee, and thou shalt
eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it
was thou taken, for dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. And Adam called his wife's name
Eve because she was the mother of all living. Now catch this.
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of
skins and clothe them. Now here we have the first blood
shedding. The Lord took an innocent animal
and slayed that animal. He killed him. And he took the
skins of that animal and made clothes and clothed Adam and
Eve with those skins. Now how did they feel? They didn't
know what death was. There had never been a blood
shedding. I feel quite sure they watched
the Lord God kill this animal, and they were horrified. They'd
never seen anything like this. And the Lord made them coats. They tried to make their own
covering with the fig leaves, but now the Lord makes these
coats of skin, which prefigures the death of Christ. He was slain
on Calvary's tree, and His glorious righteousness is the covering
of every believer. You know, the coat, the covering,
the perfect righteousness of Christ. And God clothed them. They didn't clothe themselves,
God clothed them. Now this is the gospel. He does
it all. He provides the sacrifice. He provides the righteousness.
He clothes you. He does everything. Adam and
Eve just stood there and watched as the Lord God did this. And
they were given some glimpse of the gospel. And they were
given some glimpse of what that meant when The Lord said, you're
going to bruise his heels, speaking to Satan. And that happened on
the cross. He really died. but he's going
to crush your head. He didn't stay dead. He was raised
from the dead because he completely satisfied God. He completely
put away the sins of his people and now they're clothed with
his very own righteousness. Oh, how much they felt as they
were clothed by the blood of Jesus. God of all grace. And
then, and the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as
one of us to no good and evil. And now lest he put forth his
hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.
You see, if Adam would have aided that tree of life, he would have
stayed forever in that sinful state. And this is a mercy of
God. Therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden
of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken, so he drove
out the man. And he placed in 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." Now, we have
this message on DVD and CD. If you call the church right
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying God
will be pleased to make himself known to you. Amen. To receive
a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send a request to
todd.neibert at gmail.com or you may write or call the church
at the information provided on the screen.