THE FALL OF MAN. Genesis 3: 1-13 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.

THE FALL OF MAN

Genesis 3: 1-13

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.’”

Genesis 3: 1-13

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

Genesis 3: 1-13

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.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

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.”

THE FALL OF MAN

What really happened that day in the Garden of Eden? Theologians call it “the fall.” They mean that Adam and Eve fell from a state of innocence into a state of sin, shame, slavery and death.

What they did has been passed down across the generations so that all of us inherit a nature that causes us to rebel against God.

That day in Eden, man declared his independence from God.

As a result, all of us are born with a clinched fist daring God to tell us what to do.

Human nature is now thoroughly corrupt. All are sinners. We are born that way, we live that way, and we will die that way. Sin is now the environment in which we live.

Every relationship is corrupted because sin always separates us from each other and from God.

Some would say that the reason why Christianity is falling out of favor in our culture today is it is not popular to say, “There is something wrong with you.”

But it’s the truth. There is something wrong you, and with me too. We are sinful. We are broken. You are. I am. We all are.

We teach our children to behave, not to be bad.

When we see the fall in Genesis 3, we see that sin drove Adam and Eve to hide from God, just like our sin causes us to flee from God.

That's not God's desire for us.

He doesn't' want us to hide from Him. He wants us to be at peace with Him and know Him.

The devil wants to drive us away from Him, just as he did Adam and Eve in the garden.

God knew before the foundations of the world that man would sin. But He had a plan, and that was to send His Son to reconcile us (bring us back) to Him. Christ died so that we could be made clean and pure once again, and therefore be at peace with God.

Until we accept the fact that Christ took the punishment for our sins and we actually give the sins in our lives over to Him, we can't fully know the Father’s goodness and the the peace and joy that He has for us.

The good news is that through Christ all our sins can now be forgiven.

In a true sense we are all like Adam and Eve. If we had been there, no doubt we would have done exactly as they did.

If we think otherwise, we don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do. They failed, we would have failed, and left to ourselves we fail every day.

Apart from the grace of God, we are capable of committing all sorts of evil. And through the cross of Christ, even our worst sins can be forgiven.

Special Relationships

God’s relationship with man was very personal. God involved man in His own plans and work.

What we see in the account of creation is three kinds of relationships. 1)Unique personal relationship of God to man2)Relationship of man to his wife, preceding all other human relationships3)Relationship of man to other parts of God’s creation under His sovereignty

Unique, Personal Relationship of God to Man

Genesis 2:4-7 4 “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens— 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground,

Unique, Personal Relationship of God to Man

6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground— 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

God established the first and the most intimate of all relationships between Himself and man.

God, the creator of the universe and maker of man, set him up as His representative over the rest of creation and commanded him to be fruitful and multiply.

(Genesis 1: 28-29). 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”

God Loves And Cares For His Creation

Relationship of Man to His Wife, Preceding All Other Human Relationships

After creating man and woman, God authored and ushered in marriage between one man and one woman.

(Genesis 2:18, 23-25). 18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Ephesians 5:22-31 “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

28 “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

God’s Design

Relationship of man to other parts of God’s creation under His sovereignty

Man is entirely dependent on God and called to involve himself in the assignments that God has given to him.

But man is not a robot, merely taking and carrying out the Lord’s instructions. Man’s free will requires him to carefully exercise his will through God’s loving guidance and strength to accomplish God’s assigned work.

A specific example of God’s guidance/Word is seen in Genesis 2:16-17. 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

Genesis 1:29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”

Observe the expanse of freedom in this area. Man could eat from every plant, fruit, and tree but the one tree.

FREEDOM

We must never think that man was positioned in a place of limited choice. Even the presence of the tree of eternal life indicated God’s intention for man.

God carefully guided them by informing them of the negative consequences of eating from that one forbidden tree.

The problem is we don’t trust God!

Man’s Trust in the Lord

There is much more to the universe than our limited minds can observe.

If He is not the utmost / supreme / highest in the entire existent universe, then we have serious cause not to put our trust or commitment in Him.

But, He is God. He is the God who sees and knows the total picture.

God is the great Creator we read about in Genesis 1 and the founder of relationships as seen in Genesis 2.

Crime, hatred, and evil invaded this beautifully created world. This God who identifies Himself here is the same who revealed Himself through Jesus the Messiah (i.e. Christ) many ages later, the only pillar on whom we should stake our entire being, future, and ultimate plan for eternity.

He is worthy of all our trust.

God’s Deep Love for Mankind

It is from this perspective that God gives us His Word and boundaries. He does not mean to destroy us but to happily involve us in His projects.

This is easily noticed through the way God has cared for His creation. He is not mean-spirited but generous and kind, and He delights in pleasing those He created.

God’s Deep Love for Mankind Adam received all his benefits from God. His position and his assignments were from God.

He knew God and what God’s word meant to him. He did not know guilt or shame, but had complete fellowship with God. “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day….” (Genesis 3:8).

The God of the Bible has revealed to us His truth and what we need to know.

•We need to know what He has revealed •We need to treasure it•We need to wisely use it

...in worship, in making decisions, in carrying out our life activities and in responding to Him.

GOD LOVES US!

God is our FatherSome people suggest that God makes all the decisions for man.

This is not what we find here at all. God has given us the necessary knowledge, strength, and wisdom to carry out His commands.

Like a loving father, He guides us. However, we need to make the right decisions.

God is our Father

It seems that on the one hand, we question the fact that God is in control of everything that happens, to accomplish His purpose.

Then, on the other hand, we question why God left one tree in the Garden so man could freely choose (or choose not to choose).

Yahweh God, in His delight, has created and equipped man with what he needs to carry out those activities that He has assigned him.

Many times man fails to complete God’s will. Yet we find this same God, who created man, designed a plan through Jesus Christ to get mankind back on track.

We still, however, are not robots. We must exercise our will to fill our minds with God’s Word and precepts so that we might accomplish the responsibilities that God has set before each one of us.

God lovingly guides us by the Holy Spirit, if we will listen.

The Lessons we learn from Genesis 3

1)The first lesson we need to learn is to resist the temptation of failing to trust God.

2)The second lesson is to not listen to voices that cause us to mistrust God’s love and good purpose for our life. 3) The third lesson is to resist pride and the desire to be like God.

Discussion Questions

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God”. . .

Why do we try to hide from God?

Discussion Questions

Some people would say that the reason why Christianity is not for our culture today is because it is unpopular to say “There is something wrong with you.”

Why is it so hard for us to admit that we are sinners and need God?

Discussion Questions

Some people say that when a person believes in Jesus, he needs to ‘check out his brains!’ They suggest that God makes all the decisions for man. However, God has given man freedom to choose.

Why do we sometimes blame God when we make wrong decisions?

Discussion Questions

We must exercise our will to fill our minds with God’s Word and precepts so we might accomplish the responsibilities that God has set before each one of us.

Why do we resist filling our minds with God’s Word and precepts?

THE FALL OF MAN