A Study of the Fall

In chapter 1 and 2 of the book
of Genesis, God gives us a full account of how he brought the
world into being, and especially how he formed man out of the
dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life.
Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. And God said, let us, that's
the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, God is a triune God,
let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, over
every living 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 created he them. And God blessed them and God
said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth
and subdue it. and have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth." Solomon said in Ecclesiastes,
God created man upright, but he sought out many inventions. How soon man fell after he was
created, no one knows. No one can tell. I have heard
people say that man fell the same day that he was created.
I don't believe that. And there are two reasons why
I don't believe that. First of all, there was the naming
of all the animals. Look at Genesis 2, verse 20. And Adam gave names to all cattle,
to the fowls of the air, to every beast of the field. But for Adam,
there was not found a helpmeet for him. In other words, there
was a time, a period of time, in which every animal, every
beast, every bird appeared before Adam, and he named them. That
took some time. And then there was the formation
of Adam's wife, Eve. There was a time when God caused
the deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and the time when he took Eve
from the side of Adam. So I do not believe it was the
same day that he was created. However, how long he stood is
really not important. What's important to me tonight
is how he came to fall and the consequences surrounding that
fall. Now let's look at verse one.
Let's see if we can go through these verses and ask the Spirit
of God to be our teacher. Now the serpent was more subtle.
and any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he
said to the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden." Now we are going to learn something
here if you listen carefully. There has been much written and
much said about the serpent. whom Satan used to tempt Eve. It was Satan who tempted Eve. And he used a creature called
the serpent. The serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field. Now then, God may be referring
here to Satan being crafty and cunning. That's what the word
means. He may be referring to Satan, who has called that old
serpent the devil. But anyway, Some say this, some
say that when it says he was more subtle, John Gill reported
this, that they said he was more naked. That is, Eve wouldn't
have stood and talked to a bear or to a kangaroo or to a baboon
because of the difference in her and this bear or baboon,
that he didn't have as much hair as the other animals, this serpent,
this creature. Others say this means he was
more beautiful, that she was attracted toward him because
he was so much more beautiful than all the other beasts of
the field. But I ask this question. Wouldn't it seem strange to you
that Eve would stand and talk to an animal anyway? Wouldn't that seem strange? Animals
don't talk. Animals don't talk now, and animals
didn't talk then. And when it seems strange to
you that Eve should stand and talk to an animal, I don't believe
she would have. I don't believe Eve could have
been tempted and drawn down by an inferior creature. God said over here when he made
Adam and Eve that they would have dominion over all the beasts
of the field, over every creeping thing. She had dominion over
these things. But this person to whom she was
talking, this creature, whoever this was, She was not horrified,
she was not bewildered, she was not amazed when he spoke to her
because she readily replied to him. He addressed her and she,
without any being upset or disturbed, stood and talked to him. Now
then, here's a clue. It's very probable, and not only
probable, but highly possible, and I believe almost certain,
that good angels appeared in Eden's garden to Adam and Eve
in one form or another. Now, we know there's the Lord
God and that angels were created before man, and we know that
angels appear on this earth. There were two angels that came
in human form and appeared and talked a lot and came into his
home, and he closed the door and he fed them. These angels
talked a lot and he He was not amazed. They said they were angels
of the Lord, and they came and talked to him, and all the way
through the Scripture. We have messengers from heaven
coming down here and appearing in human form. And also the Bible
talks about the cherubims and the seraphims, S-E-P-R-A-H, a
seraph. A seraphim is plural of seraphs,
and is a good possibility that when this creature appeared to
Eve that it was a seraph. It was a good possibility. The
reason she wasn't amazed is because she had talked to these messengers
from heaven before. They were superb creatures and
outstanding creatures. And Satan, turn with me to the
book of Job. Satan, when the angels of God
came together in the presence of the Lord, Satan appeared with
them. In Job 1, Satan appeared with them. Now we know Satan
was an angel. He was called the son of the
morning. How beautiful, how superb he was, how superior he was,
how outstanding he was before his fall. And what is to prevent
if he could enter the apostle Peter and speak to our Lord? Did he not do that? Our Lord
said, when Peter spoke to him once, Get thee behind me, Satan. And our Lord said to Peter, Satan
hath desired thee, that he might sift thee. It's not you talking,
Peter, it's Satan. What is to prevent him from taking
the most beautiful creature, whether it be a creature of heaven
and earth together, or a creature of heaven or a creature of earth,
and entering that creature and dominating that creature and
speaking to Eve? In Job chapter 1, verse 6, And
there was a day when the sons of God, and that's the angels
of God, came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came
also among them. And the Lord said, Satan, which
comest thou? And he answered the Lord and
said, From going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and
down in it. There's no problem at all here that Satan wasn't
on this earth when Adam and Eve were here. Here he is right here. He's right here in the garden.
And with his power and with his ability and with his craftiness
and with his cunningness, Paul wrote over there in Corinthians
and says that Satan transforms himself into what? An angel of
light. You know what it says? And his
ministers are ministers of righteousness. So what you have here, you don't
have a snake wrapped around an apple tree. And you don't have
some hairy beast wandering through the forest on four legs talking
and talking to Eve. She's not that dumb. Eve was
a brilliant, brilliant, beautiful, superior creature made in the
image of God. Now the only one who could attract
her attention so as to discuss something on this level with
her would be a superior creature, a creature equal with her, a
creature that did not alarm her and did not frighten her. some
spiritual being that appeared to her, and you won't find any
better light on that serpent than I just gave you. I've looked
into this thing enough, and I've never been satisfied with this
thing of a snake looked prettier before he became a snake. Now,
when God put the curse on this creature that was used by Satan,
There's a good possibility he became the snake, as we know
it, because Scripture said, Thus thou eat, shall eat all the days
of thy life, and so forth. But the curse was upon Satan,
and that the Son of God should bruise his head. But what you
have here is Eve, and she was near this tree of good and evil. She was close by. She was away
from her husband. They weren't together. And Satan
appeared to her in the form of this being, this creature. And
the only way I can describe this is simply to say that Eve had
had communication before with heavenly messengers and heavenly
angels and heavenly beings who had appeared and talked to them
as God appeared and talked to them in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now let's listen to what he says.
And he said to her, hath God said you shall not eat of every
tree of the garden? Now as I say, evidently she was
alone. Because he didn't address Adam, no mention is made of Adam,
none whatsoever. He didn't address Adam, he was
talking to Eve. And in all probability, she was
near that tree at this time looking at it. Curiosity or whatever
it was, she was near this tree. I can't say certain that she
was, but everything that transpired here, she took of it and ate
of it right there. It didn't say the next day or
they went on a journey or he led her to it. She was there
evidently looking at it, and he spoke to her, and this is
what he's saying now. He's saying this, is it true?
Can it be possible that God has said to you that you shall not
eat of, some say, any tree of the garden or every tree of the
garden? Here's what Satan is saying to her, this creature,
this supernatural being. He's saying, you are a superior
creature. The whole earth is supposed to
be in subjection to you, but you're not totally free, you're
not totally superior, for there's an area where you're not free.
Has God said, you shall not eat of every tree? Is there an area
where you're not permitted? Is there an area where you're
not allowed? Is there a place where God won't let you come?
Is there something God's keeping from you? Is it possible that
God has something He's not letting you have? You mean that there's
a tree that you're not allowed to have, then you're not totally
free. You're not the superior creature
you think you are. Is this true? It's what he's
saying to her. Yea, hath God said, is this true, that you're
not to eat of every tree of the garden? Is this true? Now listen
to what she replied. And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, God's not
keeping all the trees from us, but, verse 3, of the fruit of
the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,
you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you
die. Now she quoted the commandment almost correctly. I know a lot
of people put the emphasis on the fact that she said, neither
shall you touch it, but I think she's saying this, if a person
reaches out and takes something, his intention is to eat it. If
he's going to touch it, he's probably going to eat it. And
she quoted it correctly. Now listen to the serpent. And
the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die. This was in direct contradiction
to the divine word. He's saying this. This is just
a threat. This is just a threat. God will
not carry it out. This is only to keep you in subjection. God doesn't really mean this.
Doesn't Satan operate that way today? You mean to tell me that
God is going to bring all the world into judgment at a great
white throne? You mean to tell me that God
is going to separate the sheep from the goats and all who believe
on Christ are going to heaven and all who don't believe are
going to hell? You mean God is going to send people to hell
to punish them with infinite justice and everlasting torment?
God doesn't really mean that. You shall not surely die. That's
not what God means at all. You shall not die. Now listen.
For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof. Now we're
going to understand something about man's fall as we look at
this. This is what God knows. God knows
all things. And He knows this, that in the
day you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened. And you shall
be as God's, knowing good and evil." Now here's what he's saying.
God knows all things. And the things that God's keeping
from you. He knows that if you eat of this
fruit, your eyes will be opened. Not the natural eyes. He could
see. But he means the eyes of your
understanding. God's keeping you in the dark.
God's keeping you in the dark. And he knows that when you eat
of this fruit, Your eyes will be opened, your understanding
will be enlightened. You don't know what evil is,
do you, Eve? She didn't know what evil was.
She never encountered evil. Really, Eve, you don't know what
good is. You have nothing with which to
compare it. God is keeping you from a greater understanding
by not letting you know what evil is and what good is. Now,
God's got you in the dark. God knows this, that when you
eat of this fruit, You're going to be like God yourself. You're
going to be like God, great person, great as the mighty angel. You're
going to be under no control. You're going to be inferior to
no one. You're going to be equal or superior
to God. And he indicated that he knew
whereof he spoke. He knew things she didn't know.
And he did. He did know things she didn't
know. He knew what evil was. He was the first evil person.
She's talking to someone here. Now, Satan, I hear preachers
and church members talking about resisting the devil, and that's
what Scripture says, and whip Satan and throw him out of the
church and all this. Now, let me tell you something. Eve was a brilliant woman. And
Eve was a choice creature of God. And she was a superior creature. But she had met her match here. She had met Satan. And crafty
and cunning, and he stood there and talked to her, didn't alarm
her at all. He's just simply saying this,
that God's got you in the dark. You're in subjection. It's what
we're hollering about today. Everybody wants a free will.
Everybody wants to be free. Free to make your own decisions.
If you eat of this tree, God knows that you're going to get
out from under his control and out from under his dominion.
You're going to be smart as God. You're going to be wise as God.
You're going to be as intelligent as God. You're going to know
what evil is. You don't know what evil is.
See? God's keeping something. You don't even know what evil
is. You're going to know all about good and evil. You don't
know anything about those subjects. And she didn't. She knew nothing
about it. She'd never encountered it. Now
here's something that I'd never thought of in my life till today
in looking this over. And I can't prove this, but this
is what I believe. The next verse says, And when
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, you know what
Satan did? He took that tree and ate it. That's what he did.
I'm just as sure of that as I'm standing here. That as he stood
and talked to her, She said, God said, we may not eat of this
particular tree. If you eat it, you'll die. Now
he says, eat, you'll not die. You'll not die. God knows when
you eat it, you're going to be as gods and no good and evil.
Watch Eve. I'm not dying, Emma. Am I dying,
Eve? No, he's not dying. He's not
going to die. He's an eternal creature. Am
I dying Eve? She saw it was good for food.
This is good Eve. And you're going to have your
eyes open. God's got you in the dark Eve. God's got you in subjection. They're things you don't know
anything about. Now you eat this fruit and your eyes will be open. So she saw three things. She
saw it was good for food. It appealed to the flesh. It
was pleasant to the eyes. That's the lust of the eyes.
And it was a tree desired to make one wise. What did John
say in 1 John 2, verse 15, 16? Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Those are the three things at Eve that appeal to her right
there. That's the foundation of sin
and evil. It appealed to flesh. It was
good for food, it appealed to the eyes, and it appealed to
the pride. I want to be like God. And it
says, when she saw those three things, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat. Now then, here's something I've
always wondered about. Why didn't she holler, why didn't
she realize then, instead of later, that she was naked. Why
didn't she realize something traumatic had happened? Because
it hadn't. It hadn't. And here's the reason. When she took that fruit and
ate of it, I'm saying this, probably nothing happened. Nothing at
all. Because It was upon Adam eating
the fruit that the fate of man depended. Eve was not the federal
head of this race, Adam was. Now if Eve, not the woman, but
the man was the federal head, it was after Adam ate that their
eyes were opened and they saw they were naked. only had eaten the fruit, it
would only have affected her. It would never have affected
Adam and never would have affected me. God would have made another
woman. Turn to 1 Timothy 2. Now you
think about this a little bit. And this has been a real problem
with me through the years. Why didn't, when Eve, they didn't
eat at the same time. I don't even think Adam was with
her when she ate it. I don't believe Satan was around
when she gave it to Adam. She found Adam and gave him that
fruit. She said, nothing's happened
to me. That's what Satan said to her. Look, he ate it, nothing's
happened to me, I'm not dead. See, God's deceived you. And
she ate that fruit and nothing happened. Because she wasn't
the federal head of the human race. God didn't create her,
he took her out of the manger. God didn't bring her out of the
dust of the ground and make her the head of the race. Look at
1 Timothy 2, verse 12. I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor a use of authority over the man, but to be in silence. Adam
was first formed, and then Eve. Adam was not deceived, but the
woman being deceived was in the transgression. Adam was not deceived. Satan didn't deceive him. His
wife gave him that fruit. And when the script turned back
to Genesis 3, and watch it now, and listen to this, it said,
and when the woman saw that the tree appealed to her flesh and
was good for food, Satan evidently had shown her, when did she see
it was good for food? After he showed her it was good
for food. And it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired
to make one wise." He says she saw that, she understood that.
That's what she believed because somebody had convinced her of
it by eating it himself. And she took of the fruit thereof
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband, and he did eat. Now watch verse 7, "...and the
eyes of them both were opened." That's when it happened, when
Adam ate of the fruit. That's when it happened. Adam
ate and the human race fell, as in Adam all men die. By one
man's disobedience, death, judgment, condemnation passed upon all
men. This is the only way that you can account for the fact
that this woman deceived and tempted of Satan, ate this fruit,
and then gave it to her husband. He was not there to object. He
was not there to offer any resistance. She was not, he was not in subjection
to her. She was not his spokesman. He
was the head. And he wasn't a mealy-mouthed
individual. Adam was in God's image. He was holy and upright and without
sin. And Adam and Eve brought him
the fruit, and he ate of it. And the eyes of them both were
opened then, after Adam ate. Now watch it. Their eyes were
opened, not like Satan said to advance knowledge, not like Satan
said to pleasant, profitable, promised things. Their eyes were
opened to things distressing. They saw that they had been deceived. That's what they saw. Their understanding
came to them that they had lost communion with God. Their eyes
were opened and they understood and realized what blessings they
had lost. We know that because of the next
step that they took. It says they knew they were naked. Now, I want you to see something
here. Adam and Eve felt something they
never had felt. And it's something that is the
plague of the whole human race right now. It is something that
is the source of 90% of the emotional illness in this country. They
felt what they had never felt before, G-U-I-L-T, guilt. Adam and Eve were naked all along,
and yet they felt no guilt. After they'd eaten this, and
as the eyes of their understanding was open, they felt something
they'd never felt. They felt guilt. Why? They were
naked before. That's not the cause. It was
a nakedness of soul. They were stripped of glory. They were stripped of honor.
The robe of purity and the robe of innocence had been stripped
from their souls, and they were ashamed. That's what happened. Now, when a person is saved by
God's grace and is robed in the righteousness of Christ, it's
not these bodies that Christ has robed in his perfect righteousness,
it's our souls. Adam and Eve, when they sinned,
had stripped from them the robe of purity, the robe of innocence,
the robe of righteousness, the robe of holiness. When Christ
comes, he puts it back on, and there is in Christ no guilt.
No condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. None whatsoever. Adam and Eve, their eyes were
open. What happened? And they realized
they were naked, not of body. That's not what they realized.
That's not their trouble. They used it as an excuse. But
what their nakedness was, was a nakedness of glory, of innocence,
of purity. Their souls had been stripped.
And they were ashamed, they were trespassers, they were traitors
to God. They had violated the law of
God in whose garden they were walking. They became something
they never were before, sinners. And they experienced something
they never knew before, guilt. They had done wrong. And they
began to try to cover themselves with leaves, but it was an inward
damage that was done, not an outward damage. They lost spiritual
life, they lost purity, everything else was unchanged. On the outside,
even their bodies were unchanged, but their souls were twisted,
and their minds were twisted. Their affections, they fell out
of God, they fell out of purity, and fell into themselves, and
they became partakers of an evil nature. They had gone from being
partakers of a divine nature that knows no guilt to partakers of an evil nature,
a fleshly nature that that's all it can know is guilt. They
were naked in soul. They had all about them stolen
goods. They were trespassers on God's
territory, therefore they were guilty. Here's a man with a watermelon
patch. The fellow comes down the road,
two fellows, at night, and they crawl under the fence, and they're
going about through the watermelon patch, and they hear a noise. Wait a minute, what's that? They're
guilty, they're trespassers. They got no business being there.
And they know they got no business being there. Adam and Eve now. They didn't feel that way before,
but here they were on God's territory, trespassing in God's place. They were guilty. They felt that
guilt. And they tried to cover the outside
and make up for the nakedness on the inside, and it wouldn't
work. And then verse 8, they heard the voice of the Lord God
walking in the cool of the day in the garden. This was the Lord
Jesus Christ. walking in the garden in the
evening. Evidently the sin took place in the morning or noon,
but this was the afternoon. And Adam and Eve hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord. Now instead of rejoicing, instead
of coming and fellowshipping with God, they ran and hid. They felt something else they
never felt before. Fear. Fear. Adam and Eve had never feared
God before. They'd never had any reason to
fear God. And when a man is saved, when he's brought to Christ,
a vital union with Christ, perfect love casted out what? Fear. And he runs to God. They'd never
felt shame before. They'd never felt guilt before.
They'd never felt fear before. But all of these things were
caused by sin. Shame was caused by the fact
that they were trespassers. They were robbers of God. They
tried to take God's place. Guilt came because everything
was out of perspective. Fear came and they ran from God. Another thing they did here,
Adam lost wisdom. Now you just stop a moment and
I had to remind myself of this all the way through this thing.
Here was Adam and Eve doing a very foolish thing. Trying to hide
from God. Now he was smarter than that.
Trying to hide from God. This was foolish. Adam was a
wise man. Adam knows that trees can't hide
from God. Adam was created in the image
of God. But here he is acting foolishly. See what sin does?
You see what rebellion does? You see what turning from the
Word of God does? It brings you into a state of
guilt, a state of fear, a state of shame, and a state of foolishness
to try to hide from God. Adam bears no resemblance here
to the creature we talked about over here that's naming the birds
and naming the beasts and naming the flowers. Here's a silly,
foolish, ignorant fellow Down behind some trees in a garden
trying to hide from an omnipotent, omnipresent being. Yeah, his eyes were opened all
right. And he saw something he never saw before. Verse 9 tells
us what he saw. Verse 9, God said, Adam, where
art thou? Now you notice A-R-T is in italics
supplied by the translators. Adam, where thou? Now this wasn't so much a question
as a statement of pity, a statement of fact. Adam, look at where
you are. Look at where you are. That's
what it said. Adam, where thou? Look at where you are. Adam wants
the favorite, wants the chief creature, wants the companion
of the living God, wants walking in wisdom. and happiness and
glory and honor. Look where you are. Look how you've fallen by questioning
God's word. Look how you've fallen by putting
a question mark on God's law. Look where you've fallen by trying
to live without God, by trying to live without God. Now listen
to Adam. Adam, look where you are. And
he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid
because I was naked, and I hid myself. That wasn't the reason
he hid, because he was naked. He'd been naked ever since God
created him. That wasn't why he hid. He was
naked before, and he had no guilt. He was naked before, and he had
no fear. He had no shame. But now it's a different nakedness,
and it's something he still doesn't see. It's something 90% of the
people in this world don't see. His soul was naked. That was
his trouble. His soul had been stripped. The honesty and holiness and
innocence and beauty had been stripped from his soul. And that's
what was naked. That's what caused him to do
foolish things. That's what caused him to run
and hide from God. The soul nakedness expresses
itself in this outward behavior without natural affection. That's
because of soul nakedness. Implacable. Lovers of self more
than lovers of God, liars, covetousness. That's because the soul is naked,
not the body, it's the soul. He was right. He said, I was
naked and I hid, but it wasn't outwardly, it was a nakedness
within, stripped, laid bare. And then in verse 11, now it's
confession time. It's time for honesty if Adam's
got any left. But he hasn't. God said, who
told you you were naked? Who told you that? How did you
find that out? God's still dealing with him
as he spoke to God. He said, I was naked. But now
that's not why he did it. Because he was naked the day
before and he wasn't hiding. But God deals with him on the
same plateau in which he answered and God said, who told you you
were naked? Have you eaten of the tree whereof I commanded
thee, thou shouldest not eat?" Now, again, God doesn't ask men
questions for information. God knew that he'd eaten. But
God asked this question to bring Adam to the place of conviction
and confession. This is necessary to deal with
any man in grace, to deal with any man in mercy. But Adam refuses
to bear the blame. Now, I want to show you human
nature here. There's something else Adam never knew. that came
out right here. I watched this all the way through
this thing. First of all, something Adam
didn't know when he walked with God. He didn't know guilt. And
I say if we walk in Christ and are free in Christ and redeemed
in Christ, we can be delivered from the guilt that plagues this
whole world. In Christ I have no guilt. In
Christ I have no guilt. And you're missing a blessing
that you could enjoy if you'd claim your inheritance which
you have in Christ. My nakedness has been covered
by the blood of God's Son. I have no guilt. Adam knew fear. He'd never known fear before.
He ran from God. I have no reason to run from
God. No reason whatsoever. I am in Christ, holy and unblameable. There's no reason why I can't
boldly at any time come into his presence and say, Father,
Father, God is not my enemy, he's my father. And something
Adam and Eve never knew before crops out right here. Hatred. Hatred. Now you watch it, listen
to it. And the man said, verse 12, the woman whom thou gavest
to be with me. He didn't say my wife. He didn't
say my beloved companion. He didn't say, as he should have,
that I'm the guilty one, I protect my wife, I shield her. It wasn't
her fault, Lord, it's all my fault. No, God says, how come
you know you're naked? That woman, see the hatred? You see the malice? That woman. Or I tell you, sin divides friends. Sin divides husbands and wives. Sin makes a person turn on a
friend. This is the way human beings
act when they're caught in a violation of God. Russell did it. Of course, I was with him, and
we robbed a bank together, but Russell's fault. That's the way
we do it. And that's what Adam, that woman,
That woman, this is not Adam. This is not the man of holiness,
the man of compassion, the man of love, the man creating the
image of God. Adam, who told you you were naked?
That woman. Watch it now, he hates God too.
That woman that you gave to be with me. It's all your fault,
God. It's all your fault. I hear people asking this, but
they think this is real smart. I was in a church not long ago,
and a preacher asked this question. Why did God allow man to fall? See who's getting the blame there?
Why did God allow? The woman you gave me, if you
hadn't have put the woman here, and if you hadn't have given
her to me, I wouldn't be where I am. It's really your fault.
A man boasts about it. He wants free will. You talk
about free will. Okay. Adam had a free will. And God left him in the hands
of his free will. Now, we're always hollering about
free will. All right, Adam failed. You say,
why didn't God stop him? Hold on now, you're wanting God
to stop him now. He's got a free will. You can't
have both. You can't have Adam with a free
will and God stopping him. That'd violate his will, Charlie,
wouldn't it? Man has a free will. Adam had
a free will, all right? If here Satan talks to him and
says, You want to be like God? Yeah, I want to be like God.
You don't want to be in subjection to God? No, I want to be my own
God. God speaks up and says, Hold it, Adam. Don't do it. I'm
not going to let you do it. We don't want that. We want Adam
to have a free will. And that's what God let him have.
That's free will. Go right ahead, Adam. I'm staying
out of this. I'm not going to violate your
will. Here I am, I've already told you the way to walk, now
Satan's over there whispering something else. Now you choose
between him and me and Adam chose. Now then, I have, my free will's
been restored in Christ. Now this preacher right here
and you people out there have a free will who will regenerate
it. I can walk with my God, here's his word, or I can walk contrary
to it. Now he'll meet me down the road
if I do, but I can do it. I can do it. God's not going
to wrap me up in chains and say, you can't do this and can't do
the other, because I can. I know good from evil. And Adam
did. But Adam, after that fall, lost
his free will. He became the servant of sin. He became in bondage to sin. He was free to do what? Evil. Not good. It's like the Ethiopians,
free to be black, and the lepers, free to be spotted. And listen
to the woman. And the Lord God said, Woman,
what is this thou hast done? And the woman says, it's confession
time now, do you hear anybody saying, Against thee and thee
only have I sinned, Lord have mercy? No. The woman says, Well,
I'm really pure and holy, but this person Satan tricked me
and led me astray. The serpent beguiled me." That's
the woman's way. I want to read you something
Solomon said over here in Ecclesiastes 7. Ecclesiastes 7, I want you
to turn over here. This is human nature. Something
that Adam never knew before was hatred, blaming, putting the
blame on somebody else. And you've got to hate a person
to put the blame on them. When it comes time for, when payday
comes, if you want to shift all of the responsibility from yourself
and put it on someone else, man or God, you've got to have a
lot of hate for that person. And that's exactly what Adam
did. First of all, he said, that woman. And the woman said, that
serpent, you may. I'm holy, God, she said, I'm
pure, but he beguiled me. He beguiled me. Now listen to
Solomon. In Ecclesiastes 7 verse 27, Behold this have I found,
saith the preacher, weighing one thing after another, counting
one by one, find out the account, which yet my soul seeketh, but
I find not. One man among a thousand have
I found, but a woman among all those have I not found. Lo, this
only have I found, that God hath made man upright, but hath sought
out many Their hearts were not broken,
they were rebellious, they turned on one another. Now verse 14, God pronounced
a curse on the serpent. And verse 15, He said, He promised
the Savior, I will put enmity between thee and between thy
seed and the woman's seed, and he shall bruise thy head, thou
shalt bruise his heel. Our Father, we thank Thee for
being able to be here tonight. We love to read Thy Word. We
don't know anything in ourselves. Not a thing. We've got to be
taught. And we want to, thy word is so deep and rich and precious,
we want to be students, not just of the cold letter of the law
and the word, but we want to be students of Christ and of
thy mercy and thy grace in Christ. We want to see where we were
involved and what happened and what we are now. We can look
at Adam and we can see what happened to him in sin. And we can look
at our second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we've been
restored. We have no fear in thy presence
because of Christ. And our souls have been robed
in his spotless, pure righteousness. There is no sin, there's no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. He presents us holy and unblameable
in thy sight. No reason for us to run and to
hide, because thou art our God and hast taken up thy abode within
us.

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A Study of the Fall

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