Where Are You?

Good morning. We're going to proceed into Chapter 3 of Genesis. I know that may be a shock to some of you. We spent the entire month of January kind of hovering around Genesis 2.24. But before we dive into the passage, I want to kind of revisit something we talked about a couple months ago.

And we recommended you bring your Bibles to church. And we said that, yes, Roger has the right idea. that having a Bible with really big margins is probably well advised, and it doesn't matter whatever it takes. And this morning you may have found yourself in shock, looking and saying, there's no handout inserted in the bulletin. Well, that is not a mistake, that's by intent, and so use your very large Bibles. Before also we proceed into that, just to let you know, we have a couple of last week's handouts, some copies remaining on the cabinet to the right as you exit the room, so feel free to take advantage of those.

That was 1 Thessalonians 2 on Christian parenting, and 1 Peter 3, 1-7 on marriage. This is Peter's Insights. We've been focused this last month substantially on Paul's insights, but Peter's insights. And we have a couple of additional ones. Do babies and little children go to heaven at the moment of death? Again, dealing with kind of a family issue. We won't have time to cover it, but at least there's a handout, a supplement that you can take a look at. And another one, what does scripture say about premarital sex? So both of those are available on the cabinet to the right as you exit this room.

We have been, as we began in December, looking at the creation account. And Chapter 1 spelled out those first six days and kind of gave even measure, more or less, to each one with a little bit more emphasis on the sixth day. Chapter 2, as we looked at, focused on the events of the sixth day, particularly surrounding the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.

And we, of course, this last month, the month of January, looked at Genesis 2.24 and other scriptures surrounding that. As we look ahead here this morning, we're going to be turning the page into Genesis chapter 3. We've been going from the creation of everything in these first two chapters to this precipitous event that devastated that initial pair of human beings, Adam and Eve, and, as it happens, every person and, in fact, the whole creation since then. Romans 8 describes the whole creation groaning.

And so this is a very substantial and huge event that's taken place here. Now, as we step our way through the rest of Genesis, I just want to kind of give you, sort of lift the curtain a bit. We're going to be touching on some edgy topics. Cavemen and women. We're actually touching on that subject more than once. Talking about what does the Bible say and even what do we think about what others have to say. Perversions of different kinds are going to show up as we turn the pages of Genesis. Nightmare fireworks. Fireworks gone bad. So we'll see that. Chase scenes. We're going to see chase scenes as we step our way through Genesis. And finally, a new sport, angel wrestling. That's going to crop up.

So you're going to see some very interesting things, some very edgy topics will be among the things that we'll be looking at in the weeks and months ahead here. I also want to make a comment because I've been showing pictures and will continue to do so, Adam and Eve and this kind of thing. And one of the things I'll have to, I'm not sure whether to apologize or just advise you, a lot of the artist renderings have a sort of a European slant to what they draw. the reality is that that European look not only might not be true, Scripture doesn't give us a description, I would almost say it is likely not the case. And so just if you kind of, as you look at this, keep that in mind that what appears to be a European bias is not my intent and I don't think it's Scripture's intent.

I think what you find instead, what Paul said and Dr. Luke recorded in Acts 17, is the truth and that's in verse 26. He, that is God, made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. Scripture is not racist. And so I don't intend to convey any racism at all in the pictures.

The other thing is the pictures that we look at Frequently, I find that they just show a snake wrapped around a tree as sort of the standard characterization of this serpent. But I think, especially as we get farther on in chapter 3 of Genesis, we'll find that that's actually not a good characterization of the being that was there tempting and deceiving Eve.

That, in fact, when the Lord placed a curse upon the serpent. He says, on your belly you'll go and you'll be eating dust. Well, what changed? Except that I think that the serpent had some other form, mode of operation, mode of habitation, than what we typically see.

All right, that aside, please turn with me in your Bibles to chapter 3. We'll be looking initially at the first five verses there. We'll begin with the first half of the first verse that Wayne read initially for us there. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Now there have been debates over the years over whether the serpent was just some sort of a crafty snake-like creature or a miraculous embodiment by Satan or a created snake-like creature indeed that was used and possessed by Satan and I would say of those three what seems to fit the facts better is the third one that this was a serpent after all this fits the curse that we see and we'll be studying next week that was placed upon that being but also seems to fit the facts here we have this additional thing that you're wondering is this really Satan that's involved Or is it just some crafty creature? Revelation chapter 20 verse 2, and I would also reference Revelation 12 too, says this, the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan. It's like John does not want this to be vague at all. He wants to lay it out real clearly. So this serpent of old, that's this one we'll be studying about this morning. who is the devil and Satan. So he makes the identification there.

Now, contrary to most of the artist's renderings, we made note of this earlier, the serpent seems not to have crawled on its belly on the ground, eating the dust from the beginning of creation, but only after the judgment of Genesis 3.14.

Let me read for us the second half of verse 1. He said to the woman, indeed, Has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? Did God really say that? That's the question that he asked. Now, take note here of a few startling observations as you look at this passage.

The serpent spoke and that didn't seem to puzzle or startle Eve at all. Now, Nancy and I, during our courting years, both before and after we got engaged, would go out regularly and milk the cows. And I might have said a few things to the cows, but I never heard the cow talk back to me. So I don't know why Eve wasn't startled. It may be that the animals had particular behaviors and powers that they don't have now, but it didn't seem to bother her. But notice also, The serpent didn't approach the man directly.

He approached the woman with his proposals, his deceptive proposals. And one of the other things you'll note is we have here a reversal of God's order. Here is a being, this serpent, that was supposed to be under the dominion of Adam with Eve right alongside. And what did the serpent do? by Satan's instigation a reversal of God's order. That's right. Instead, what you have is an upside down of the authority that God had in place.

The serpent's first communication wasn't a statement. See that? But a question. Interesting. Asked a question first. The serpent did not come to Eve and make some sort of a statement like, there is no God. Why? First of all, that wouldn't sell. Eve was one who, with Adam, walked with God every day. That was the pattern. To come up and say there is no God would have been ridiculous. It just wouldn't sell.

And so, what does he do instead? Instead of denying God's existence, And certainly, Satan would be capable of that. He does that now. The error does not need to go that far before it causes a catastrophic result. You see that? A person does not need to deny God's existence before the outcome is catastrophic. All you need is a really good distortion of the facts. Is Satan happy to have those who are atheists? Oh yeah, but it's not necessary.

All you have to do is distort the truth some, and you end up with just as good a result, or as bad, depending on how you want to take a look at it. Satan, speaking through the serpent, took what God said, because you notice, what did Satan do? He took the truth and distorted it with a question. He took the truth.

He challenged God's limitation not to eat of the one tree. Here the Lord had said, eat of all of these. And instead of focusing upon all of the trees that you might eat from, is it true that you can't have that one? The one prohibition is all the focus. That's where he puts the question. Didn't God say you can eat of any of them? What about this one over here? He did so by quoting what God had actually said. Isn't that something? Satan uses the truth. He doesn't come up with something that's a bald-faced lie. He comes up with something that has an element of truth in it, but a twist. Let's look at verse 2.

The woman said to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die. Now, it was the woman's turn to respond, although really, did she have to even respond to this being? Did the serpent deserve a response? Did his question merit an answer.

It doesn't really seem so. Eve also, as you notice in this set of verses we just read, she didn't name the tree which would have told about its character. She just talked about where it was. So it's interesting. Instead of the shift of what's the character of this tree, the focus was on, oh, it's the one over there. The one in the middle of the garden. Eve added, or touch it. Or touch it. Now what's the difference with that? You might kind of let it slip by and just say, well, it's just a few extra words. But here's, I think, the point. It is very easy for us. in her.

It's easy for anyone to think that by adding to what God has laid down and being more restrictive that we're somehow being better or more moral. It is easy to fall into this legalism. If God put the boundary here, we put the boundary here. if God restricts this, when we make seven more rules to restrict ourselves from accidentally breaking the one that God made. It is very easy for us to slip into that mode, thinking that being more restrictive and adding more laws and adding more rules makes us somehow more moral. Christ, when he came, would have none of it. He rebuked the Pharisees for doing that very thing. adding to what God had said. No, that was a mistake. In addition to this adding, Eve also left some things off.

For in the day that you eat of it, that means that day. It's going to happen right then. In the day that you eat of it, you will, and here's the word that was dropped off, surely die. Certainty. You know, have you noticed our world does not like certainty? You do your thing, I'll do my thing. Whatever floats your boat. The world does not like certainty. The world does not like absolute objectivity. The world shuns that, steers away from it. It's the one thing that she dropped out at the very end there, Surely die it is as certain as can be more so than death and taxes, right?

She left off the part about timing in the day and that certainty now Right at this point. I want to ask you the question. Did the human race fall right here? Did the human race fall at this point? Does God place the responsibility upon Eve? We'll get there.

Okay. The serpent, in verse 4. The serpent said to the woman, you will surely not die. Ah! Satan's first strategy was to ask a question, to question God's communication. Did God say this? That was his first part. Now, he outright denies what God said. But isn't that just a typical denial?

How many times do human beings have passed through their mind, I hope I got away with that one. I hope I don't get found out. Maybe I can get by with it. How many times do human beings think that way? The truth is, The truth is that God holds absolutely every tiny little thing to justice, not one exception. It happens in one of three places and times. It either happens at the cross, it happens during life, or when this life has ended and all things are judged. One of those three places. Nothing gets by. And the point here is that there are consequences for everything. Fortunately for us, we can lay so much of that on the Lord. He Himself takes our sin upon Himself. All we have to do is believe for that to be effective.

He twisted the truth here. Satan actually did say something that was true as he twisted it, as he denied it, and what was that? Adam and Eve wouldn't die physically on that day, so there was a way that he could say that and still have it be twisted, but a truth. They would be separated from God on that very day. There would be spiritual death on that very day. That is exactly what God meant, and that is exactly what Satan was hoping for. There would also be consequences to follow.

Let's look at verse 5. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. First, Satan questioned God's communication. He asked a question. Then, Satan denied God's communication. Now, he challenged God's character. He challenged God's truthfulness. He challenged God's motives.

God is not really operating with your best interest in mind, is what Satan is saying. God really is not looking out for you. You've got to look out for number one. God's not doing that. That's Satan's message. You've got to look out for number one because God isn't. And actually, God's holding back from you some things. Adam and Eve are being held down by God's restriction that He had placed upon them. And actually, God didn't want Adam and Eve to have something that, as Satan sold it, they really ought to have.

God knows something that he isn't telling you. It was a part of what was being presented there. He's not being fully open and truthful with you. Yeah, that's God's motive. He's not really giving you the whole set of information here. He's keeping something from you. And the day that you eat of it, those actually are God's words. And take note of what Satan is saying through the serpent he was offering. You will be like God. Ooh, what a twist.

Now that is an outright lie. That's not questioning something. That's not leaving something to doubt. That is an outright lie. It's a lie that Satan and the world and the sin nature, however, have sold well over the years. And boy, does it sell. It sells in all kinds of forms, and really, the enemy doesn't care. Whatever form people will buy into, that's fine. It has been the deceptive draw of Mormonism, of New Age religion, of humanism and of paganism. Eastern religions have been saying that for years.

You will be like God. Your eyes will be opened knowing good and evil. So here's a twisted teaching. that has snared people even in our own times. Even Christians have taken the bait on this one. The teaching is that you will have special knowledge if you just have this certain experience. You'll have an eye-opening experience if you do this and do that.

That those experiences are the golden key to life. Music lyrics, books, movies, many other mediums of communication have sold people, and I would say especially since World War II, that very message experiences the ultimate actualization. It's the ultimate test of truth. But the fall took place here at this point when God when what God said and his motives and his love and his grace have been questioned and distorted and challenged.

Here is the key biblical principle for us to take away here. We measure ours or anyone else's experience by the truth that is in scripture. We do not use experiences to measure truth. We do not use experience to measure scripture. It is not the experience that is the measure. It is truth out of God's Word. That measures the experience.

Satan said another thing quite correctly and truthfully here at this point. They would know good and evil. Would they? Yeah. He's right. It's true. They would. Knowing, experiencing, Both good and evil is not a good thing. Ever hear these words, don't knock it till you've tried it? Believe me, there are some things you don't want to try. And go ahead and knock it ahead of time. Really lousy words. Because what it says is set aside wisdom. Set aside truth. Let experience be your guide. Only there's some experiences you can go through You'll never live to tell anybody afterwards whether it was good or bad.

Verse 6, When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Look at what Eve was drawn by here. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, was it really?

Was it really good? Was it actually there? It says here it was a delight to the eyes. It looked good. One of the things that humans are easily drawn into is something looks good. Something looks good. It's the way it looks is the measure of it. But looks good and is good are two different things. And you shouldn't have a hard time with the definition of the word is. Okay? Looks good and is good are two different things. Well, are unenlightened desires the standard of good and bad? Are these desires, should those be the measure of what's good and what's bad, of what's right and what's wrong? I think this indicates no. Again, it's God's Word.

Define wise. What kind of wise would it make her? What wisdom was she looking to have? She was looking for wisdom that it wasn't good to have. Wisdom is truthful knowledge applied. That's what's wisdom. If it doesn't come from God, it's not true knowledge. Does experience of whatever kind actually make for wisdom? sometimes the hard way. You might say, well, I experienced that, but you know, I don't think I'll ever do that again. You ever had one of those? I have. Alright. Let's look at verse 7.

And the eyes of both of them were open, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Satan was right. Satan told the truth. Their eyes were opened. How about that? But oh, did they wish that they hadn't been. Where the end of Genesis chapter 2, it said that the man and the woman were naked and not ashamed.

Now the innocence was gone. What had happened there? All of a sudden there was a realization that what had been innocence and their physical beings before one another all of a sudden had a multitude of distortions. What was created and God said was very good could now be all kinds of awful. Where there was absolute trust before, that's gone. What does this mean and what are the consequences of that? It was all a big question mark.

The creativity that had been a part of their being created in the image of God was now to come into play. It was redirected towards making some fig leaf covers. It was only necessary because they had eaten of the fruit from the one tree that God had told them not to. They could eat of all the others, just that one. Don't eat of it. They would try to cover the consequences of their sin by their own works. See that? And people have been trying to do that ever since. Ever talk to somebody who says, oh, I'm good enough to go to heaven? Or I hope I'm good enough to go to heaven? My own works will cover it?

No. Covering their sin and covering their tracks, doing this and that, refraining from doing this and that, The thought is, if I just do this, then my sin won't be seen or found out. And we'll see next week what God did to make their covering acceptable because what they had prepared, the fig leaves, was not going to work.

I tell you, one problem with fig leaves, when they dry, they get crispy. But there's another problem. Adam knew. Adam knew that he was in big, big trouble. Because as soon as they put the fig leaves on, do you know what Eve said? Do these fig leaves make me look fat? Next week's passage. which reveals the further outcome of this precipitous, disastrous decision on the part of Adam, looks like this.

In verses 8 and 9, it reads, They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? That's a question he had to ask before. It wasn't because he was ignorant. It was because exactly what God had warned had in fact taken place. God and man were now separated.

Where are you, Adam? Where did you go? How come you're not here ready to fellowship with me? What's the problem? Where have you gone? Why are you hiding? The question comes not out of God's ignorance, but because of the separation from God. We're going to see in the chapter right ahead of us here, humankind, male and female, Adam and Eve, in every one sense, is in desperate need of a Savior.

That salvation is entirely by grace because there's no fig leaves that man can make. There's no other covering. There's nothing that man can do that will reverse. There's no little icon that you can click undo. Not on man's part. Not on man's part. We could not do anything on our own. God had to do it. Not even fig leaves will fix this horrific problem. that separated man from God on that day.

They, from that moment, were in fact in need of a Savior. And as we'll see in next week's passage, God already had an answer ready, addressing their need for a Savior. The salvation that He provides, not Adam and Eve's works, not the best thing that they can concoct, The salvation he provides is what we'll be remembering here next, just a few minutes from now. What the Lord did, what the Lord accomplished to deal with this huge problem that had been created by Adam's sin.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this passage here. We thank you for your love and care for us. We thank you for all the things that you have done. And as we look at this tragic event, we also see as we will remember here in a few moments, your provision and your reference immediately to a Savior, the Savior, your Savior, the one whom you sent for us, because we could do nothing to undo the huge damage that had been done. And beyond saving just from the problems and the errors and the tragedy, what is amazing is how you have wonderfully blessed us. We thank you for that and give you praise and honor and glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.