Mike Brumfield told me that he
had to put his wife in hospice this week, so everybody remember
him and Brenda. What a difficult time. Would
you turn back to Genesis chapter 3? Genesis chapter 3. I've entitled
this message, The Fall. There's a saying that I agree
with completely that I've heard for many years, wrong on the
fall, wrong on it all. We cannot be wrong here and be
right anywhere else. Now that gives us some idea of
how important this subject is, the fall. Every sin you and I
commit, every physical problem we have,
every emotional problem we have, every relational problem we have,
every trouble, everything that comes from a sinful nature, Every
problem in society, war, poverty, racism, crime, violence, the pandemic currently, all disease
and death itself finds its root in Genesis chapter three. Now, the story of the fall, when
you fall, you go into a lower place. You don't fall up, you
fall down. And here we read of the fall
of our first parents, and you and I are vitally related to
what they did. You have a personal share. I have a personal share in this
fall. Now look in verse 25 of chapter
two. This is after that first marriage,
and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed. There was no sin. There was no sin. That's why they were not ashamed. They didn't have anything to
be ashamed of. John Milton wrote a book back in the 1600s called
Paradise Lost. And here we have paradise. They
were naked and both not ashamed. And we're going to read of the
losing of paradise. Look in Genesis chapter two,
verse 15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress and to keep it,
to work 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
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Now the event of
Genesis chapter 3 is foretold at this time, in the day you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. Now, this event of Genesis
chapter 3 did not take God by surprise. It was all a part of
His eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. And what I love to think about
is the provision for this fall had already been made before
the fall took place. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. So before there was a fall, before
there was a sinner, salvation, God's purpose, had already been
taken place before it began. Now look in Genesis chapter 3,
verse 1, we're introduced to the serpent, the serpent, Satan. And it would be foolish on our
part to not be very aware of him. Now, the serpent was more
subtle, was more deceitful. than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made." Now, I do not know if this was Satan
in the serpent's body, where he possessed the serpent's body.
I know that the serpent was not like he was after the fall, crawling
on his belly in the dust. As a matter of fact, I think
the serpent at this time was a very beautiful being, very
appealing. And the scripture lets us know
that he is subtle, that he is deceitful. Turn with me for a
moment to second Corinthians chapter 11. Hold your finger
there. Second Corinthians chapter 11. Paul says in verse three, But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguile the Eve through his subtlety, through
his deceptiveness, so your minds, that's me and you right now,
this is such a real danger for me, for you. And this is what
he's warning us of. But I fear less by any means
as the serpent beguiled, deceived Eve through his subtlety. So
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity, the onlyness
that is in Christ. Look in verse 13 of the same
chapter. 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's no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
Look in 2 Timothy 2. 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 24.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive. But be gentle unto
all men apt to teach patient in meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves. if God peradventure will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover
themselves out of the snare of the devil. Now he's talking about
believers there, that they may recover themselves out of the
snare of the devil who were taken captive by him at his will. Now you will remember what the
Lord said to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. satan had a great influence then
in genesis chapter 3 and he is at work now always seeking to
corrupt our minds my mind your mind from the simplicity that
is in christ jesus now as i said i believe that he was a very
beautiful creature at this time. He wasn't crawling on his belly.
And I was thinking about this last night, the thought of this
story being introduced by Satan. Satan can't make us do anything.
Did you know that? You know, people say, well, the
devil made me do it. No, he didn't. We do what we want to do. Satan
can't make anybody do anything, but he is very deceptive. He's very deceitful and he will
do everything he can to twist our minds from the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus. And he was at work then, he's
always at work. You can write that down. He is
always at work. Now, the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made.
And here's where he begins. And he said unto the woman, yea,
hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.
Now, God didn't say that, did he? He said, there's one tree
you're not to eat of. But he changed what God said. And he said, has he said, you
shall not eat of every tree. And I don't believe Adam was
there at this time. It doesn't say he was. I think
that Satan was attempting to reach Adam through this woman. So he said to the woman, did
God say this, more subtle, more deceitful than any other creature. Here's the woman's reply. And
the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden. God said, you can freely eat
of the fruit of the trees of the garden. There's only one
you can't eat of. She says in verse three, but
of the tree of 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. Now, we don't read where God
said, don't touch it, do we? We don't read that. And I've
read and heard men say, well, that's not an issue. Of course,
you got to touch it to eat it. And there wasn't anything wrong
with her saying, don't touch it, lest you die. But I'm of
the opinion that it's never safe to add to what God says. It's
never safe. She added to what God said. Not
only did she add to what God said, she minimized what God
said. She said, don't touch it lest
ye die. And that word lest is also translated
peradventure, just in case you might die. God didn't say lest
ye die. He said, you shall surely die. So she minimized what God said. You see, the fall has already
begun. As soon as she was made to question what God said, this
begins. Verse 4, 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. There are different interpretations,
different points of view. God may have said that, but that's
not what he meant. You shall not surely die. Verse five, for God doth know
that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And you shall be as God's. You
will be like him, knowing good and evil. Now, God knows good
and evil. Evil was before the fall. He
talked about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God
knows evil. He knows good and evil. But here's
the thing about God. And here's what you're missing
out on. He chooses the good over the evil. That is the point of
being like God. You make a choice. You choose
the good over the evil. Now, right now, you may be good,
but there's no moral virtue to it because you're not making
a choice. You're just obeying your nature. That's all you're
doing. You're obeying your nature. You are Making, not making a
choice. And so that is exactly what was
taking place. And she's thinking, well, that
makes sense. That makes sense. I can see that.
I agree with that. That makes sense. I mean, it
seems like it would be better to choose than to just obey your
nature. That makes sense. I see what
Satan is saying. This is what will make me like
God. Now, 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. Now here we have the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. You remember
in 1 John 2, verse 15, where John said, all that's of the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life. Now this is presented in that
tree in this temptation. The lust of the flesh, it was
good for food. It tastes good. I would get pleasure
from this. The lust of the eyes. What is
the lust of the eyes? It's being more concerned about
what men see than what God sees. It's desiring to impress the
flesh. The pride of life. Self-righteousness, power. whatever
you want to call it. She saw all three of those things
in this fruit that Satan was tempting her with. And what did
she do? 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
and did eat. You know what? Nothing happened. Nothing happened. She didn't
die at this time. Maybe Satan was right. I didn't
die. You know, as a matter of fact,
I know this is conjecture on my part, but I don't think it's
wrong conjecture. It could be that Satan, while
he was tempting her, was munching on that fruit. I'm not dying.
You see, it's only Adam that was said to die. And our race
stands or falls in Adam. And when Eve ate of the fruit,
she did not die because it was the race would die through Adam
eating. And so she ate of that fruit
and she didn't die. I think Satan was right. And
perhaps Adam comes walking up at this time. Like I said, I
don't think he was there. I don't think he was there. And now he
comes up and Eve hands him the fruit. You're not going to die.
I'm eating it. It's good. It's pleasant. It's
going to make us like God. And she hands Adam the fruit. And he did eat. Verse seven. Just like Satan
said, and the eyes of them both were opened. Just like Satan said, the eyes
of them both were opened. And they knew that they were
naked. Now they were naked before. We've
already pointed that out. The scripture says they were
naked and not ashamed, but now they are spiritually dead. They
went from being sinless, knowing only good to being sinful, knowing
only evil. Look at Genesis chapter six.
Now this is 2000 years later, right before the flood. Genesis
chapter six. Now, did it take 2000 years for
men to get this way in verse five? And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Did that
take 2000 years for that to take place? No. Right then. Right then, as soon as Adam ate,
spiritual death took place. And this describes them. Now, what is the reason for the
fall? Adam's act of disobedience. He, with his eyes wide open,
ate of the fruit. And the scripture actually points
out that Adam wasn't deceived. Eve was. Adam was not deceived. He did what he did with his eyes
wide open And eating the fruit, he plunged our race into spiritual
death. Now, somebody may be thinking,
well, could God have prevented this? I mean, look at all the
horrible things that have taken place as a result of Adam's sin
and Adam's fall. I mean, the horrors of sin that's
brought on into this world. Could God have prevented this?
And if he could have, why didn't he? Of course he could have prevented
it. He's God. It's ridiculous to
think of anything less than that. Of course, he could have prevented
it. He didn't because it was his high and glorious purpose. Now, whatever the Lord does is
right. And whenever somebody says, well, how could God have
let this happen? Because look at all the bad things
that have happened as a result of that. All of a sudden, I become
God's judge. All of a sudden, I think I'm
better than God and I make better decisions than him. Now, let
me remind you this, the Lord Here's a good way to put this.
What Joseph said to his brethren, you meant it evil, but the Lord
meant it for good. The Lord brings good out of all
that he does for his own glory and the great example of that
is the cross. What's the most evil thing to ever take place
when men were allowed to do what they wanted to do and they nailed
God, Jesus Christ, the God-man to the cross out of hatred to
Him and wanting to be rid of Him. We'll not have this man
to reign over us. Oh, without question, that's
the most wicked event to ever take place. But it was all according
to God's glorious purpose, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's why He's on the cross.
He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Now you've taken Him with wicked
hands, you've crucified and slain Him, you said. There's no excuse
for us in our sin. But oh, the glorious purpose
God has in all things. God's good all the time. Whatever he does is good. Whatever
he does is right. And what glory comes to God,
what a glorious salvation comes to his people through this event. Of course, God could have prevented
it, but it was all a part of his purpose. Now, this is not
a myth. This is the record of the fall.
Adam's fall, our fall. in him. But I want us to look
at the results of this fall. Verse seven, and the eyes of
them both were opened and they knew that they were naked. And so what did they do in verse
seven? And they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. They attempted to make a covering
for their shame. They attempted to do something
that would make them look okay to God, that would make them
acceptable. They attempted to do something
to hide their shame. Now, this represents the entire
thinking of salvation by works. That's what these fig leaves
represent. A sewing us together, a covering that will make us
acceptable to God and that will kind of hide our sins. And all
of a sudden now, because of these aprons we have made that we have
sewn together, notice it's not what God provided, it's what
they did. They now think they have a covering for their nakedness. Now, we never read of Adam and
Eve being sorry they did this. You ever thought about that?
We never read where they asked for forgiveness. We never read
where they asked for mercy. There's no confession of what
they did. All they do, and this shows what death and sin is.
All they do, they at one time relish God's presence, and now
they wanna be away from God. Let's go on reading. Verse eight. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Now I don't have any doubt that
this is the Lord Jesus. The voice of God walking in the
garden and there's something soothing about it being in the
cool of the day. Not about him angry and red-faced,
Adam where are you? Nothing like that. He's walking
in the cool of the day. What did they do? And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking 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. Now, they demonstrated their
spiritual death. They hid themselves. They no
longer wanted to be in God's presence. There was a time when
they walked in fellowship with God, but now they don't want
to be there. And they demonstrate this amazing
spiritual stupidity. They think they can hide from
Him who is omnipresent, and Him who is omniscient, and Him who
is omnipotent. And they think they can hide
from Him. You know, they now don't want
to be around Him. They start attributing to Him
things that they are, why he's gonna get us, he's become our
enemy, he's gonna torture us, he's going to bash us, he's gonna
do everything. They attribute to the Lord that which they were. They had harsh, judgmental thoughts
of God. They became God's judge. And they judged him harshly. They looked at him doing what
they would do. They're now spiritually dead. Verse nine. And the Lord God
called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? I pray that he says that to each
one of us. Where are you? Now, it's not
because he didn't know. He knew exactly where they were.
But this is to teach us something of his gospel. Where are you? What's happened? What have you
done? We'll look at Adam's reply. And he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden, and I was afraid. Now where'd that come from? He
didn't used to be afraid of God. Now this is not the good fear
of God, this is that slavish fear where he's attributing horrible
things to the Lord. I was afraid, he wasn't before,
but he is now. You know, the Lord is so good,
he's so glorious, he's so gracious, yet all he looks at him is this
cosmic kill joy, trying to destroy him for trying to eat some of
the fruit. And he was afraid, and he went, the scripture says,
he said, I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid myself. Verse 11. And he said, the Lord God said,
Who told thee that thou was naked? Has thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou should not eat? Look at 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. This is the woman's fault. This
is the woman that you gave me. And if you wouldn't have given
me to her, this would have never happened. This is not so much
the woman's fault. This is your fault. You're the
cause behind this. He blamed God. He became a victim. This is your fault. If you wouldn't
have given me this woman, this would have never taken place.
Look at the harshness of Adam. That woman that he seemed to
love, he's now ready to throw her under the bus, isn't he?
He throws her under the bus. It's you gave me this woman.
She's the cause of this. Ultimately, you're the cause
of this. He refused to take personal responsibility for his own sin. What about Eve? And the Lord God said unto the
woman, what is this that thou has done? And the woman said,
the serpent beguiled me and I did eat. Notice they both before
their confession, I did eat. They both had an excuse. It was
his fault. It was ultimately God's fault.
It was the serpent's fault. He beguiled me and I did eat. They were both victims. Even at this time, they're demonstrating
their spiritual death. They won't take personal responsibility
for their own sin. They were victims. Now, what they proved by that,
even after this fall, they did not really believe that they
were evil. They didn't believe that. They knew things were different,
but they didn't really believe that they were evil. You know,
I'm always almost amused when somebody says, you know, all
you got to do is read the newspapers and listen to the news and you
can tell about total depravity. You're missing it. You don't
need to look any further than your own heart to see what total
depravity is and human sinfulness. But they didn't see it. They were dead in sins. And if I do not take complete
responsibility for my own personal sin, I'll never ask for mercy. They did not ask for mercy. They didn't ask for forgiveness.
All they were were victims blaming somebody else. It's no different
today, is it? That's the way all of us would be if the Lord
doesn't do something for us. But here we have them in the
garden. Now, I'm so thankful that the Lord
announces the gospel at this time. Verse 14, and the Lord
God said unto the serpent, because thou has done this, this is where
this story began. Because thou has done this, thou
art cursed above all cattle. And above every beast of the
field upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all
the days of thy life. And here we have what some people
has called the first gospel promise. I would beg to differ. I think
the first, the gospel is found in Genesis 1.1, in the beginning
God. If you believe that, you believe
the whole Bible. In the beginning, God. But here
we have this promise. He says, 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, notice
he speaks of the seed of woman, not the seed of Adam. Christ
came born of a virgin, not having Adam's sinful, corrupt nature. He's God, born of a virgin, and
the scripture says He's going to come, and His heel is going
to be bruised. The cross. Indeed, His heel was
bruised when He became the sin-bearing substitute. Indeed, His heel
was bruised, but He crushed, completely defeated the serpent's
head. He undid everything the serpent
did, and he crushed his head. This is, oh, this is so comforting.
This is speaking of the complete victory of the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross. He accomplished my salvation.
He didn't make my salvation available if I do something. He accomplished
my salvation when he said it is finished. Todd and Albert
and everybody else Christ died for was saved. He crushed, utterly
defeated the serpent's head. Oh, what a glorious gospel promise. Speaking of the cross, right
off the bat, that lamb slain from the foundation of the world
is typified right after the fall. Verse 16, unto the woman, he
said, I will 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. Now, there's
a couple of different ways to look at that desire. Some people
would say, well, that means that the woman finds her desire and
identity in the man. And in some respects, I suppose
that's true, but I don't really think that's what it's saying.
What it's saying is you're gonna desire to rule over him, and
he's gonna rule over you. And I think every woman has that
desire, and from a corrupt nature, and men have the desire to have
the wrong attitude about women as well. I mean, it's just, it's
all a part of the fall. You're gonna desire to rule over
him, and he's going to rule over you. Verse 17, and to Adam he
said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree which I commanded thee, saying thou
shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake. 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 of 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 into dust thou shalt return in death, physical
death. And Adam called his wife's name
Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. Now here we have the first death. And I don't have any doubt that
Adam and Eve were watching what was taking place, and I'm sure
that they were shocked. I'm sure that the first death
and the first shedding of blood watching these animals slain
so they could be clothed. I'm sure it was a very poignant
and difficult thing to look upon to see these animals slain. And the Lord God takes the skin
of somebody else and uses it for a covering for them. And here we have the gospel. The Lord God did this. He was
the one that slew the animals, not Adam and Eve. He did it for
them and on their behalf. And He made coats of skin. The
righteousness of Christ is what He's performed. And notice He
didn't hand it to them and say, put them on. Scripture says He
clothed them. He clothed them. He did everything. Now that's the gospel. He did
everything. And I say with such believingness,
if I'm saved, it's because He did everything. He provided me with a coat that
has nothing to do with my works. It's the righteousness and merits
of his son that he clothed me with. So there we have the first
blood shedding. Verse 22, and the Lord God said,
behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. Now there was a time when all
he knew was good. And now all he knows is evil. This is what has taken place.
He's known good and he knows evil. And now let us put forth his
hand and take also out of the tree of law. And, uh, now let
it, lest he put forth his hand and take also the tree of life
and eat and live forever. You see, if Adam would have eaten
of that tree of life, he would have lived forever in this unfallen
state. I mean, this fallen state, there
would be no hope for him. If he would eat of the tree of
life, he would live eternally in this state of spiritual death
and sinfulness. Verse 23, 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
this is a mercy. He drove out the man and he 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, which is picturing the gospel. We're saved by his life. So he keeps him from eating of
this tree, lest he live forever in this fallen state. Now I began this message wrong
on the fall, wrong on it all. Now, let me tell you what the
fall necessitates. The fall necessitates divine
election. If God doesn't choose me to be
saved, I will not be saved. The fall necessitates the successful,
glorious atonement of Christ doing everything actually achieving
my salvation. The fall necessitates that. The
fall necessitates invincible, irresistible, saving grace. Because
if what the fall and death says is true, then I won't be saved
unless God gives me life and causes me to believe and gives
me grace. The fall necessitates God preserving
me and keeping me looking to Christ only all the way to the
end. That will not take place unless God does that for us.
The fall necessitates the gospel. May the Lord write this on our
hearts. Let's pray. Lord, we ask for your mercy and for your
grace. Like Adam, like Eve, our sin
is all our fault. And we need your mercy and your
grace. And Lord, how we thank you for
the promise of thy son. that he has crushed the serpent's
head. His heel was bruised on Calvary's
tree as the sinner's substitute, but how we thank you for his
complete victory. How we thank you for clothing
our naked souls with him. I bless this message for your
glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Dwayne, could you lead us in
a closing hymn?