Paradise Lost- Genesis 3

Sermon Nuggets Mon March 19-

Verses Gen 3

Paradise Lost

     In 1667 John Milton wrote a classic called Paradise Lost. It has been called the greatest piece of literature in the English language. It is a 12 book series. Ultimately it is an epic poem reflecting on the story of Adam and Eve. He introduced the subject of the civil war in heaven and how it is played out on earth. It is the story of mankind who had paradise and lost it due to sin. It is also the story of the conflict between good and evil and how paradise is reclaimed through the sacrifice of our Savior.

     This civil war is carried out within the hearts of each one of us. It is a spiritual battle that has not ended in Genesis. It did not even end at the resurrection. I thought when I became a believer in Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit this battle against sin was over. Not so. The penalty of sin was paid. I am free from that. But the process of dealing with temptation, deceit, suffering, illness, jealousy, pride, and lust plagues us in our world which lost paradise.

        I had gotten an e-mail from Carroll and Bernice VanAnda who took a trip from Japan to the Philippines, where they served before. They brought their friends gifts and left clothing for so many are in poverty. They gave the workers at the guesthouse a $12 tip. They acted like was a million dollars. They gave another friend some clothes for his wife and children, and it was his 4 year old daughter's birthday. He took a dress and tooth brush for her to use as a birthday gift and was thrilled to death. The gardener at the guest house brought home some soap and shampoo. His wife was so happy she cried Bernice asks, “Do we Americans take a lot for granted?”

            As we concluded Chapter 2 of Genesis we see that Adam and Eve had everything they needed. That is what it was paradise. But as we read the 3rd chapter we see that even though they had all they needed they didn’t have it all. They wanted the one thing they couldn’t have.

        I’m afraid American advertisers play into the plan of the devil to convince us that we need it all, the latest gadget, shampoo, car, appliance, the house, etc The sad part about all this is that when we are kept from having it all we concentrate on what is denied. We stop enjoying what we have. We ponder what we are forbidden. What is forbidden or denied becomes the focus or our lives.

        After God created the perfect world and provided the protective garden, sin is introduced. In this chapter Satan is introduced. Death is witnessed. Relationships spiritually and emotionally are broken. Evil has not only entered into our world, but into our hearts.

       This is a sad chapter, but it is not without hope.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Tues March 20-

Verses- Gen 3:1-6 ¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

 ⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Sin begins with Temptation

            Not many people decide they are going to willfully do something wrong. Mostly, we are lead into it by temptation. The temptation that came in Eden was through the serpent described as the most crafty. Apparently he had intelligence. There must have been some communication ability, like Dr. Doolittle, with the animals, at this point. But there was no question the serpent was the incarnate Devil, Satan himself who is identified in other portions of the Bible. Rev 20:2 identifies that ancient serpent the devil, or Satan. This is the introduction of Satan into man’s history.

          Satan does not come with horns and hoofs and pitchforks, he comes as a good friend. He comes like one who has our best interests in mind. Satan wanted Eve to question whether God was holding out on them by not giving what was rightfully theirs. He wanted them to believe that the serpent had their best interests at heart. That is never true. When you are tempted it always comes from Satan and it is not for our best interests, never. It is only for our fall and our hurt and our destruction. He has no love, only hate. His hatred toward God is so intense he will take as many people to hell with him as he can. If it is deception, or ignorance, or confusion, or lying, or hurt, or pain, or pleasure, or apathy Satan will do what he can to hide the truth, distort the truth, confront the truth,  or ignore the truth. He is the Father of lies.

            First he calls to question God’s authority by asking if this really what God said. He causes doubt to the word of God. Eve’s answer shows she clearly understood God’s commandment. Then she quoted what God said. That is the best way to withstand temptation.

            However Satan does not give up. His statement then contradicts the word. He bluntly tells them that God is not telling them the truth. He knows our desires, and so he pushes Eve by telling her words that appeals to her desires. “You will not die. In fact the reason God his keeping you from that tree is that you will be like gods.” His statement was also partial truth, for Adam and Eve did discover good and evil. But they were not more like God, they became more like Satan.

            Satan is still using the same "bag of tricks. He takes different approaches but it is always the same goal: trust yourself rather than the promise. He may try to keep us from reading and studying the Word or He may seek to distort the Word. But the goal is the same: trust ourselves or something other than God's Word. Here's some examples you might have heard, “I know God says we should not commit adultery, but how can it be wrong when it feels so good?” “I know God wants me to forgive but you don't know what they did!” “I know God says sex is for one man and one woman in marriage but He gave us these homosexual desires!” “Everyone is doing it”  ”If you want real freedom do what you want.” Then you find yourself trapped. “If you want pleasure you only are young once, enjoy yourself.” And it is pleasant for awhile until the sweetness makes you sick and you are worse off than controlled by your lustful desires.

            The devil did in his encounter with Jesus. The devil tries to get Jesus to give in to His hunger, His vanity, His insecurity. He tries to cast doubt on God's promise but Jesus does not fall for it. Each time . . .every time He stands on the promise of God.

            But there was another inward temptation for Eve. The woman "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes." The proverbial "forbidden fruit"! We want what we can't have. Eve was tempted; The pattern of sin was simple Eve heard, She thought, she saw, took, ate, and gave.

            This is also reminiscent of the temptation in the book of I John For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the yes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.”  She gazed on the fruit and saw it pleasing to the eye. She wanted to taste of it, which was the temptation of the flesh and thought she would be wise with leads to the pride of life.

            Now be aware, the Lord does not tempt anyone (James 1:13) God may provide testing which is different.  God uses testing to reveal or strength; Satan uses temptations to cause falling or destruction.  

            Be aware that to be tempted is not sin. It is the attractive door that requires us to open it up that leads to sin. It is a tool of Satan.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Weds March 21 

Verses- Gen 3:  ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Sin is displayed with Disobedience

            Although sin begins with the temptation it is not the sin. It is yielding to the temptation and disobeying God. That is the sin.

            Eve desired to gain wisdom, so she disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit and gave some to husband. Many sins occur with temptations from others. Many will lead others astray.

            With disobedience comes shame. This is implied when they noticed they were naked. They were no longer comfortable with each other. They felt compelled to hide from each other and hide from God.

        The book of Genesis is not saying that the nakedness of the man and woman was inherently bad; it's saying that up until now, it's just been no big deal, because there's been no shame or guilt in the human race. But now, after sin, after rebellion, there is bound to be shame, guilt, awareness of being "fallen"--and the man and the woman can no longer live in openness, before God or before one another. They have to "cover up"; and that's just what they do. They sew together leaves to make crude clothing.

 They have been "laid bare" before God in a very literal sense; we too are "laid bare" before God in a more figurative sense when we sin. The knowledge of what we have done, the awareness of our own guiltiness--we can't stand before God, or before other people, for that matter, with that kind of burden! We have to do something--and the easiest thing to do is to "cover it up."     

            The word naked is also used in the Bible to express the ideas of poverty,  desolation, or moral bankruptcy. So they chose to disobey God. This act of rebellion marked the entrance of sin into the world.

            The Christian has no choice, therefore, but to engage in a kind of spiritual warfare against his own natural tendency to disobey God. He should aim to be as obedient to God's will as Christ was when He "became obedient to the point of death"  (Phil. 2:8).

            When they heard sound of Lord God “walking” in garden in cool of day they hid from Lord among trees “Where are you?”

Adam replied, “I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

“Have you eaten from the tree?”

Then comes more sin.  “The woman you put here, whom you gave me.” Adam does what most red bloodied American men do-blame their wives. Then indirectly he blames God. It is as if he is saying, “She made me; but remember God she was your idea to begin with. You were the one who gave her too me. I’m a victim.

            Accepting responsibility is very hard. We want to avoid the pain of wounded pride and shattered ego. We insist that the primary reason for our sinful action lies with others people or circumstances. It is very difficult to admit our sin and confess that, “I am responsible. I was wrong.” All of us should say that. Few do.

            Look at all the various lawsuits. Observe all the people who are victims many  learn not to take responsibility for their own actions or neglect. I am glad that tobacco companies are being called to task for their lies, for their abuse on mankind through promotion of cigarettes, pipes and cigars not to mention chewing tobacco. They need to be held accountable to entice young people into smoking as well as adding addictive ingredients to make smoking harder to stop. But one must be mystified that the smoker must take responsibility also. As long as I remember there were warnings clear and loud that tobacco was bad for your health. Some of the earliest sermons I remember as a young person were the evils of smoking and drinking .“Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, don’t defile it with such unhealthy and addictive substances.”

            Somewhere down the line someone has to say “It’s me, It’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. I am the one who was disobedient. I have sinned. I have disobeyed you.”

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Thurs March 22 

Verses- Gen 3: ¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

 ¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

 ¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

 ¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

   The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 ¹⁴ So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

   “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly
   and you will eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

 ¹⁶ To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

 ¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,  since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Sin results in Consequences

The consequences of sin are real! Some might think God is not serious about his judgments. The promises of God are kept whether they be blessings or curses. Satan wants us to think, God made the law, but he really isn’t going to enforce it. Lots of people get away with breaking God’s commands. To teach a child to avoid a certain behavior, you have to teach the child that the consequences are real--punishment will be given! It is the knowledge of a reasonable spanking, or lost privileges that prompts obedience, or correction of behavior.

            With every sin there will be payback time. The result was quite different than Adam and Eve expected. Instead of gaining superior knowledge that made them equal with God, they gained awareness or knowledge of their guilt, shame, and condemnation. There are consequences for sin and especially this experience of disobedience caused all of creation to be affected. Life was never the same as God intended because this world is out of step with God’s perfect plan.

            The immediate consequence of the fall was death, symbolized by their loss of fellowship with God. For the first time, Adam and Eve experienced fear in the presence of the Lord God; and they hid when He approached.

            Serpent initiated temptation that led to human sin and his judgment is the most severe. Dust, the symbol of death, would be his food and he would crawl on his belly in abject misery as long as he lived. Snakes are generally unpleasant and frequent enemies of humans; but notice that with every curse there is an element of grace. God allowed him to live. 

            But there would be enmity between you and woman and offspring and hers. Many are not fond of snakes. Most women fall in the category of staying away from them as far as possible. My mother would not even go into a reptile house at the zoo. If there were snakes on the television she would turn the station. Whenever the rational voice would seek to persuade her that she was in no danger, her theology pointed to this passage which ended discussions at our home. The Bible says it. I believe it. No more discussion about snakes.

            A woman’s curse also included an increase of pain in childbearing; Many have said if men had to give birth instead of women each family would stop with one child. Perhaps that is true. But the very means of joy also becomes the most difficult time of pain in a woman’s life.

            God added to Eve, the desire will be for the husband; he will rule over you. The very point at which she receives her greatest sense of fulfillment in life according to OT conventions will also be a point of suffering. But there is grace noted as well, for since it will be through her pain and childbirth that God will provide salvation for the world.

            Eve’s relationship with her husband has been marred as well because of sin. To love and to cherish has degenerated into desire and domination. The passage is not prescriptive, but descriptive. It explains not how it should be, but why it is. It should not be man works by the sweat of his brow. It should not be that women have pain, but that does explain how it happened.

            Then Adam faced his consequence. He listened to Eve instead of God. Not only would their relationship with each other be affected, so would his work be affected. Now the ground was cursed and growing and sowing, planting and harvesting would not be easy jobs. Farming is hard work today and it was hard work after Eden was closed. All of work, though a blessing has with it tough times. There is not such thing as a perfect job.

            All of creation was in disarray. There were no beasts of prey, no blight of insect. Now there would be. No thorns on roses; no drought, floods, and shriveling heat to threaten man’s efforts to grow food. There were no computers to cause grief and tv shows to make our brains mush. There was a blessing to work, but there are elements of difficulty and hardship to make life work and often just subsist.

            Because of their unbelief and rebellion, they were driven from the garden that God had provided as their home. Physical death, with the decay of the body was not the original design. We do not know how long they were in Eden before the fall. There had never been a tired wrinkle in his face or gray hair, or decayed tooth, never a pain or headache.      

            Adam and Eve did not sin simply as private persons, but as the representatives of all members of the human race. Their sin is the sin of all; and all persons receive from them a corrupt nature. It is this nature that stands behind all personal violations of the Lord's commandments. For this reason, the fall of Adam is the fall of the human race.

Pastor Dale    

                       

Sermon Nuggets Fri March 23

Verses- Gen 3: ¹⁵ And I will put enmity 
   between you and the woman, 
   and between your offspring and hers; 
he will crush your head, 
   and you will strike his heel.”

²¹ The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²² And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” ²³ So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Conclusions about Sin.  

            Now God had to do something because of sin. In addition to the consequences there is now added work of the Lord. The Lord made garments of skins for Adam and wife and clothed them. I believe this is an act of mercy and grace. Before this time no one killed animals. Surely Adam and Eve were horrified when the animal was killed. The animals were friends of the humans. This must have been like seeing the family pet killed and then being asked to wear their skin. What God was teaching Adam and Eve was the horrible consequence of sin. God stated that when they ate of the fruit they would die. So the animal now dies as a temporary substitute. Even in His mercy God must deal sin. Sin costs. In this case innocent animals were sacrificed to "cover" the first couple for sin.

            The grace of God also was demonstrated in provisions for mankind. He does not leave him without Godly presence. There was separation from the intimacy of God, but there is the involvement of God’s work in the lives of mankind.

            There is pain, but there is the blessing of children. There is labor of work, but there is the blessing of the fruit of one’s labor. There is enmity with the serpent but notice the 15th verse. There is the prophecy of the plan of God to send Jesus Christ to conquer that serpent once and for all.  This called the protevangelism, or the first gospel. Christ came to defeat the works of Satan. Satan did strike Jesus heal at the cross and suffering and death, but by the resurrection Christ presents a striking blow to his head and destroys his power from the believers who trust in Christ.

            Dear friends, in sin there are two options. Continue in sin, consequences, and self which leads to a downward spiral, or turn to Christ and but lifted from the power of Satan. You might be asking, What can I do about sin?

            First confess it. Own up to it. Don’t cover up and hide, but come with your guilt before the God of the Universe and say with honest and humbled heart what each of us have to say. Lord, I have sinned. Do not keep the distance from our Lord, but that is the first step to admit it. Don’t blame your parents, your circumstances, your church, other Christians, or friends. Let the Lord know and come to understand you have been disobedient to the Lord and are in need of forgiveness and fellowship.

            Second, If you've been driven away from God, driven away from his church, driven away from the joy of this fellowship, by something "deep and dark," something embarrassing, you believe--don't be afraid to come out into his light! The light of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't ridicule, or point fingers, or draw attention to your weaknesses; the light of Christ heals and forgives. This is called repentance. Turn from sin.

            One Christian psychiatrist was telling of a man who came with problems of feeling apart form God and almost losing his faith and not having a desire to pray. The psychiatrist interrupted him by saying” Truthfully, I‘m not very interested in your symptoms” Lets get to the root of your spiritual fears- tell me about your besetting sins” The man was silent and looked blankly at the doctor. “Do you have any pictures of your family in your wallet?” Then he laid them on the desk in front of him. Suddenly, the man covered his face and began to weep. He blurted out the story of infidelity. Having indulged in sins that made him ashamed to face his family and his church and lost fellowship with the Lord. Later, as he confessed his wrongdoing to God and asked his wife to forgive him, his soul was flooded with peace and his nagging fear was relieved.

        Only God can forgive us our sins. He has promised to do so. He desired to reinstate us to his fellowship that the rest of the book tells us how he reveals his love and offers a way that sin can be covered in the Old Testament and then cleansed completely in the new testament. Only God can pick up your sins and cast them away. The bronze serpent raised up by Moses in the wilderness serves as a symbol of the saving power of Christ on the cross (John 3:14). By His crucifixion and resurrection, Christ has bruised the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).

            Conclusions: Seek the truth of God’s word above anything else that tells you otherwise. Anything else is a lie. 2. Accept responsibility for your own actions. Stop blaming and own up to your choices, your decisions and your sin. 3.Respond to the One who offers you a way out. The message of the Gospel is simple: "your life is a mess because of sin and there is only one who can fix it: His name is Jesus."

Pastor Dale