Old Town Christian Fellowship
Genesis 3
Where are you?
- Golden City
- Downpour
- Holy and Anointed One
- This Is Amazing Grace
- Genesis 3Good morning church! Welcome to Old Town Christian Fellowship. What an awesome weekend this has been. We had several people obey the Lord Jesus in baptism yesterday, and in that act of obedience, they made a public profession of their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Salvation is a free gift, free to us, but it cost Jesus everything, as He laid down His life as payment for that sin.So to you and I, salvation is a free gift, but discipleship, being a disciplined follower of Jesus costs you everything.
Matthew 16:24 LSB 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.If you want to be baptised and haven’t done so, we will try to offer a couple of more times this summer, the next scheduled baptism however is the 1st week of December in lower Galilee. It will be done in some natural hot springs that stay a constant 82 degrees year round, so sign up this week before we close our trip out.Speaking of baptism, we have another cool thing we get to share together as a church family this morning, and that is a baby dedication.Baby DedicationThis may be a brand new thing for some of you. You may wonder if we did baptisms yesterday, why didn’t we just dunk little Sterling in the pond? There are some theological reasons, but honestly, that sweet, petit, tiny little Becky over there... would have throat punched me and stuck pastor Jim with a shiv.The truth is we don’t do infant baptisms, for a couple of reasons. First there are zero examples of babies being baptised in The New Testament. What we do see instead is Mom’s and Dad’s taking their babies to the temple to be blessed and dedicated to the Lord. And third, after Jesus Himself was baptized, He taught His disciples to baptise those who had repented of their sins, believed in Him and received salvation in Jesus’ name. In other words, they must believe and then be baptised. Baptism does not save you, it is simply an outward profession, that you have been saved.I mentioned seeing mom’s and Dad’s do this in the Bible and there are examples in both the Old Testament and the New. Most relevant to us in the church today, is that in Luke chapter 2, we see Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, offer a sacrifice and dedicate Him unto the Lord.So if we could have Cooper and Becky come up now with Sterling. Church we have prayed for a lot of babies here over the years, baby Pricilla received a ton of prayer while she was in the womb and after birth as she had heart issues. But this little man was prayed for before conception and we have continued to pray for him.As parents, God has entrusted us with the care of the babies that He gives us. Our babies are dependent upon us in everyway, but the most important thing we could ever do for our children is to teach them the truth about their Creator. God gave this commandment in the book of Deuteronomy.Deuteronomy 6:5–7 LSB 5 “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.So as Cooper and Becky stand here this morning they are both thanking God for Sterling... and committing to raising him to know and love God. To teach him to follow God in all that He does and model that in their own lives, and in their home. We church are also participants in this. We are acknowledging before God that we will come alongside this family, and love them and help them keep this promise they are making before God.So let’s pray together.Father we thank you for this beautify family. We thank You for Sterling Lord and His big sister Piper. Father we would ask that in Your loving kindness, that You would cause your Holy Spirit to draw them to You while they are young. That they would avoid the pain and hardship of sin, and surrender to You and to never stray from that. Please God, strengthen, encourage, and equip Cooper and Becky to be the parents that You are calling them to be. Lord, please bless the reading and teaching of Your Word in this place today, In Jesus’ name, amen.Genesis chapter 3 this morning.Chapter 3Genesis 3:1 LSB 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”What a transition here, from a cheery baby dedication to the dreary reality of sin. We often think of this day in the garden being the birth of sin, or the day that sin entered into the world, and that is certainly true in regard to humanity, but the sin of pride is what caused this one called the serpent to be the tool through which that occurred. What is interesting is that the Bible doesn’t tell us here in Genesis chapter 3 specifically who this is. We must look to other places in the Scriptures to see this.The Bible indicates to us that Satan was originally created as a beautiful and holy cherub, of the highest order of angels. In the book of Isaiah we read this...Isaiah 14:11 LSB 11 ‘Your pride and the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you And worms are your covering.’If fire and brimstone were not enough of a deterrent for you to avoid Hell, how about maggots and worms???Isaiah 14:12–14 LSB 12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’Pay attention to that last statement as it is the same deceptive lie that he hooks Eve with!Now I think for most of us that are familiar with the story of the temptation and deception of eve, probably have always pictured something like this in our minds...as we envision it.Or maybe something like this...With Eve taking the apple from an evil looking snake. However, we have another description in our Bibles, this from the Book of Ezekiel...Ezekiel 28:12 LSB 12 ... ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.Ezekiel 28:13–16 LSB 13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz, and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise, and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire.Ezekiel 28:17 LSB 17 “Your heart was lofty because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.I bring all of that up because our Bible’s describe satan as very different than the images the world presents. He is never going to come to you in a red suit, with horns on his head, pitchfork in hand, and maggots on his feet, and invite you to hang out for a while so he can torture you...However he presented himself here in the garden...Genesis 3:1 LSB 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”We don’t see Eve recoil in revulsion, or scream, or run away in fear...she engages with him. He talks to her about God, about the things of God. Perhaps she had seen him before, and grew comfortable in his presence? We don’t know. Perhaps he had spoken with her before, maybe with flattery, we don’t know.Eden was a place of perfect paradise… between man, God, and the animals...Let’s read on in the story...Genesis 3:2–4 LSB 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’” 4 And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!I’m sure theologians could hyper analyze this and pull out 52 different points of application, but this morning I just want to draw your attention to 3.The first in verse 2...Genesis 3:2 LSB 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;The woman said to the serpent...that was mistake number one, we should never, ever engage Satan. We are told in James...James 4:7 LSB 7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.To submit ourselves to God and to resist, not to engage. We are to talk to God, not the devil, it is God’s job to rebuke Satan. By engaging him, you are no longer resisting him, you are giving him an audience. The second thing I want you to see this morning is in verse 3...her continued response to Satan...Genesis 3:3 LSB 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’”Problem number two here, legalism has entered in. Life prior to the fall was pretty simple. Adam and Eve did not have the 5 books of the law, they did not have the 613 laws in the Old Testament, not even the 10 commandments. There was one commandment. Chapter 2 vs. 17Genesis 2:17 LSB 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”That is what God said, and that is all that He said. He said this to Adam, there was no Eve yet. So either when Adam relayed it to his wife, or when she here relays it to Satan, there is an added rule to the one commandment that God had given them...God never said, You can’t touch this!...that was MC Hammer in 1990.We are so easily influenced by the power of suggestion...social medial capitalizes on it every single day, this whole exchange begins with Indeed, has God said, you Bible might read did God really say...did He actually say to you guys that you couldn’t eat any of the fruit from all of these beautiful trees???She engages, she answers, and look at his response in verse 4...Genesis 3:4 LSB 4 And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!He begins with getting her to question the Word of God, and then he contradicts the Word of God...the lesson for us church is anytime, anyone causes us to do the same, they are not an enlightened thinker, they are not seeing things in the Word that we have missed, they are an enemy of God, doing the work of the Devil, the Father of lies...This all begins with the power of suggestion...Has God said you can’t eat any of this? God never did, she knew that, and Satan knew that, but the suggestion has been made and the hook will soon be set.I mentioned social media already, but the combination of social media and the news media is one of the best examples of the power of suggestion. Someone will leak a story, and before we have verified one fact, or even seen any evidence, suddenly we are talking about it. Did you see what that scumbag did now. Or did you hear about what the police did? I hope we have all learned by now to reserve both judgement and comment until all the facts come out.But here the Father of Lies directly contradicts with Word of God, so we know it to be lie. So the third thing is that God’s Word is the standard of truth, not what you think, or what you feel, you are not God. So anytime someone causes you to doubt the Word, or Question the Word, they are working for or being worked by the Devil. If that sounds harsh, then I am communicating effectively.The serpent continues with this...Genesis 3:5 LSB 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.”Sadly, once they ate from it, they actually became a whole lot more like satan, than they did God. But here is why this final assault is so powerful and ultimately effective...it’s not all lie, it is a partial truth. Right, we will get to it in a second, but if you glance down to verse 7 real quick you will see that it begins...and the eyes of both of them were open...the most effective lies contain partial truths...This is an enticement that Satan continues to use today, trying to convince us that a bad God is trying to keep us from good things, or to deprive us of pleasure. God just doesn’t want you to have it, because then you will be like Him, your eyes will be opened and you will know good and evil, it is the very temptation that caused Satan to fall, He wanted to be like The Most High.When the truth is, if from this very day forward you were only to follow the commands of God and live a life honoring to God, you would not miss out on a single good thing between here and eternity.Genesis 3:6 LSB 6 Then 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, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.What is interesting about this first sin of mankind is that we see all the elements and tools of temptation that Satan uses. Let’s look at it, then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that is the lust of the flesh, and she saw that it was a delight to the eyes...that’s the lust of the eyes, and then she saw that the tree was desirable to make one wise, that is the pride of life. All of Satan’s temptation fall into these three categories.Everyone wants to blame Eve for the fall, but the Bible doesn’t, the New Testament tells us Adam is to blame. Don’t miss this, her husband was with her, and he ate. She was deceived, Adam made a choice, and chose Eve over God.Genesis 3:7–9 LSB 7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. 8 Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst of the trees of the garden. 9 Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”I think verse 9 is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. That is always the result of sin, it separates us from God. Let’s read one more and we’ll talk about this.Genesis 3:10 LSB 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”This section just bums me out so bad...their eyes were opened, but it didn’t enlighten them, like the serpent promised, it made them self aware. And that awareness of self is one of the causal factors in nearly every sin that you or I have ever committed. Their eyes are opened and the first thing that they see is their own nakedness. The first thing they did was try to cover themselves. They made themselves loin coverings...AND then when they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the Garden...Now remember Bible students, God is Spirit, so this was a preincarnate, a pre Nazareth birth story, appearance of God the Son. And rather than run to Him, they hid from Him. Oh how different this could have been if they ran too Him and said, we have sinned, we ate of the tree help us, forgive us, but they hid.Their hiding also tells us that they also knew that their coverings were insufficient to deal with their sin, they couldn’t make it better. Then God said, where are you? Not because He didn’t know, or because He is the worst at hid and seek, that is Nicole and my granddaughter, all time worst...I think this was to offer them a chance for repentance. But He doesn’t take it...verse 11Genesis 3:11–12 LSB 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.”God give him a second chance to repent. Adam could have said, Yes God, I ate, and so did my wife. Please let me die, but save her… but he doesn’t... sin makes Adam go from perfect to punk in the blink of an eye...she did it, it was her, well both of You really God, the woman You gave me...I mean think back, things were pretty cool before You made her for me God, I never ate of the tree back then...guess the two of you probably have some stuff to figure out.Adam goes from having dominion over the entire earth, the perfect man and suddenly he acts like he is in junior high...Adam did you eat of the tree, yeah but what about her...what about You?!?...I mean isn’t that how kids react? Well kids and presidents...I shouldn’t have said that...not just presidents, most politicians. Don’t look at me, it was his fault or her fault...And now Eve answers to God.Genesis 3:13 LSB 13 Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”I mean she is really doing the same thing, casting blame elsewhere, the serpent deceived me, it was his fault, and I know in many ways it was, but what I want you to see is that neither one of them confess to their own blame or sin in this. Notice the difference in the next few verse when God confronts the serpent.Genesis 3:14–15 LSB 14 And Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than any of the cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”Notice, God did not ask him any question, nor offer the opportunity for repentance. Because it is a non-issue, Satan has already confirmed who He is when he rebelled against God and was cast down from the heavens. He doesn’t just act evil or do evil things, he is the evil one. He cannot be anything else...What is interesting here is that God also curses the serpent which satan was working through. We have no idea what the serpent was like before the fall, we always have this image of a forked tongue snake, but whatever this was then, it was not as we envision it today, because God cursed it, and so now it craws on it’s belly and eats dust. Now in verse 15 we have, I believe the first prophecy concerning both the gospel and the virgin birth...God says I will put enmity - deep seated hatred or hostility, pretty much how my wife feels about snakes.But then it says between your seed and her seed. A two fold meaning here. Certainly a perpetual hostility that will exist between the offspring of the woman, or all of mankind and the offspring of the serpent, who here is satan. Now satan does not have biological children, but he certainly has spiritual children. All those who reject God and embrace the flesh or the things of the world, are the offspring of Satan.Listen to how Jesus words this when he was speaking to the religious leaders in John chapter 8, He saysJohn 8:44 LSB 44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.Believe it or not, these guys took offense at that, and claimed that Abraham was their Father, and that God was their father. To which Jesus replied, if God was your father, then you would love Me.But back to our verse in Genesis, there is something else to see here.Genesis 3:15 LSB 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”This is speaking of the virgin birth. You guys know your biology, does the seed come from the man or the woman? The man, the woman has the egg. So this is prophetically speaking of the One that would come through the woman, without the seed of man, but through the Holy Spirit, it is specifically speaking of Jesus. Who will indeed bruise the head of satan when He crushes Him and delivers him into the lake of fire which was prepared for the Devil and his angels.And he shall bruise him on the heel. We saw that when Jesus went to the cross and his hands and feet were pierced for our transgressions, but He rose again on the third day, and is living today at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.Genesis 3:16 LSB 16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain and conception, In pain you will bear children; Your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”Check, check and check Although, Christianity has done much to redeem the last part of this.Genesis 3:17–19 LSB 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”Thanks for that Adam...Genesis 3:20–21 LSB 20 Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 Then Yahweh God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.Their covering was insufficient. God covered them, but that covering required death. So God sacrificed an animal and covered them with the skins of those animals.Genesis 3:22–24 LSB 22 Then Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us to know good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever”— 23 therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.This is interesting I think. Why drive him out and why guard the way to the tree. It doesn’t say, entirely, so this is a here’s what I think. First God said, and I’ll show you the verse I quoted earlier...Genesis 2:17 LSB 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”Now most Bible scholars will say the later part of this verse for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die, simply means that now they are mortal and they are going to die on some future date, but now it is definitely going to happen and it will happen to you and I as well. I get the argument, but the language here in the original Hebrew does not state that this was God’s promise that they will now die on some future date. So what does the Hebrew say? For in the day that you eat from it you will surely die, for in the day...Here is the problem with the way that it is written, they didn’t die in the day that they ate of it, in the way that we were expecting them to die, because this is speaking of a different kind of death. This is why the exile here is important as well.Whenever we see Cherubim in the Bible, they mark a meeting place with God. When Adam and Eve were removed from the garden they were removed from this sacred spot, they were exiled from the place that the presence of God was. That life giving presence of God was in the place that the tree was. Because of their sin. That is what sin changes. It brought them not physical death, but spiritual death, sin separates.It changed their access to God. He didn’t die physically on that day, but he was judgedJudged = The CurseHe was cut off =No PresenceExiled = No Tree of LifeThat is what death means biblically. No your body going back into the ground, but separation from God. That is why we see it over and over again in our bibles. Where people are physically alive, but the bible says they are dead. Eph 2 is such a place.Ephesians 2:1–3 LSB 1 And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.Ephesians 2:4–5 LSB 4 But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—So this exile was yet another act of mercy so that they would not consume of it and live eternally in their sinful fallen state. But now they could at least be relieved of that torment through physical death when they could once again be in the presence of God.For you believers, this tree of life is something that you will get to see in not on the trip in December, but in the new Jerusalem when there is a new Heaven and a new earth, you can check it out in Rev 22, and you’ll see it will be like the fruit of the month club for the redeemed as it will produce 12 kinds of fruit, but it will do that every month, no more waiting for the honeybell oranges, you can get them year round.Ok, Good stopping point. Read ahead for next week chapter 4.Grace and Peace Matthew 16:24ESV
Deuteronomy 6:5–7ESV
Genesis 3:1ESV
Isaiah 14:11ESV
Isaiah 14:12–14ESV
Ezekiel 28:12ESV
Ezekiel 28:13–16ESV
Ezekiel 28:17ESV
Genesis 3:1ESV
Genesis 3:2–4ESV
Genesis 3:2ESV
James 4:7ESV
Genesis 3:3ESV
Genesis 2:17ESV
Genesis 3:4ESV
Genesis 3:5ESV
Genesis 3:6ESV
Genesis 3:7–9ESV
Genesis 3:10ESV
Genesis 3:11–12ESV
Genesis 3:13ESV
Genesis 3:14–15ESV
John 8:44ESV
Genesis 3:15ESV
Genesis 3:16ESV
Genesis 3:17–19ESV
Genesis 3:20–21ESV
Genesis 3:22–24ESV
Genesis 2:17ESV
Ephesians 2:1–3ESV
Ephesians 2:4–5ESV
Old Town Christian Fellowship
3 members • 10 followers