THROUGH THE BIBLE: Genesis 3..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Now, the servant was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And 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. But the Lord God called to man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.

He said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree. and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, that is, what is that you have done?

The woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

To the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing. In pain, you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. And to Adam, he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you.

In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you are taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return. The man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living and the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothing. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man had become one of us, knowing good and evil.

Now lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man. And at the east of the garden of Eden, he placed the cherubim, a flashing sword, which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Amen, and this is the word of the Lord.

The last couple of weeks, our brother Nelson has taken us through Genesis chapter one and chapter two, and he's explained that this is God's creative account. The account where God created all things that we see. Everything that was ever created was created in the six literal days. And then God rested. But this creation included God's crowning glory of his creation when he created the first man and the first woman.

And he created them in his likeness, in his own image. They were created in perfect righteousness without sin. God commanded man in the garden, and man was to be, he communed with man in the garden, and man was to be much more than a farmer. Remember Nelson, Brother Nelson told us this the other week. He was to be fruitful and multiply.

He was to subdue and dominate the whole world. The garden, in a sense, was like the first temple. God manifested his presence in a special way in Eden. It was the dwelling place of the Lord. And man was to be as a priest in that temple.

He was to do his duty unto the Lord, to cultivate and keep the garden and protect it from harm. The same language is used of the Levitical priesthood with their work in the temple in Jerusalem. But man was not to remain in the garden, no. He was to start in the garden, but his influence was to extend over all the earth. He was to bring all things into submission to the triune God, starting with his own obedience of him.

Well, we come to chapter three now, and here we have the sad fall of man. Man and woman had been given all that they ever needed and much more. Indeed, the greatest thing they were given was a personal, intimate communion with the living God. He had given them the whole garden of trees to eat from, but he only forbade them to eat of one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was a test of obedience for man and woman.

Now, the crafty serpent, most likely possessed by Satan, begins to ask questions of the woman, and suddenly, in a deceptive way, he lures her in. He exaggerates the restriction of all the trees in the garden, he says, that God has forbidden you to eat. And with his lying lips, he plants doubts in the mind of the woman. But what would you expect from the father of all liars? God had spoken clearly.

But the serpent stands in judgment over God's Word, as though to make God a liar. Where is man? He's meant to protect his wife from harm and bring all creation into submission to God. The serpent is a rebel and he needs to be dealt with. Remember, this is Adam's priestly duty.

But it's too late. Doubt has been planted in the mind of the woman. In her mind, God is now holding back of His goodness. God is envious of her becoming like Him. She is deceived into thinking the threat of death is just a lie.

Now in her eyes, the loving God is an envious God. No longer is she satisfied with God's abundant provision But now she's convinced God was holding back. Beloved, this is the nature of sin. The lie becomes more appealing than the true word of the holy, living, loving God. Seeing that the fruit was pleasing to the eye and able to make one wise, she ate of the forbidden fruit.

Woman fell for what the world offers. So what is in the world? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Where is man in all of this? Well the text tells us, hear this, she turns around and gives some of the fruit to her husband who was with her and he ate.

Both their eyes were opened and they were no longer righteous before God. They understood evil in an experiential way. Now fearful and in shame, they covered their nakedness with fig leaves. When God comes to call man to account, Adam manifests his new sinful nature. And what's the first thing he does?

He blames his wife for everything. Adam was called to protect. provide and love his wife. Their marriage was typical of Christ and the church. Instead, he throws her under the bus, so to speak.

Sin has entered into the world. Man's duty was to be a priest in this garden, serving the Lord and bringing all things into submission to him. This includes providing protection against harm. Man failed the test. He couldn't even protect his own wife.

His disobedience plunged all of humanity with him. You see, Romans 5 explains for us the first man, Adam, was our federal head. He was the representative of all humanity. But he failed. And because of his disobedience, sin entered into the world by one man and death through sin.

We have all sinned in Adam. Man and woman on that day, they died spiritually. They no longer had communion with God in the way they once enjoyed. They had been now separated from God. They were kicked out of the garden and a cherubim, a huge winged angelic being, was placed at the entrance, guarding against anyone trying to return to the Garden of Eden, the dwelling place of the Lord.

Intimate communion with God has now been broken. But I'll turn your attention to two things that God does before he kicks Adam and Eve out of the Garden. The first, he clothes them with animal skins in place of their poor attempt of clothing the fig leaves. Blood sacrifice may be in view here, but more immediately, God in his grace has not destroyed them under the righteous wrath. This would have been just, but rather, lovingly he provides for their physical needs and gives them a more permanent covering for their nakedness.

The second thing I want to draw your attention to is the pronouncement of curses upon the serpent, upon Adam, and upon Eve. Woman will continue to produce children, but with a lot of pain. And man will continue to be able to produce food from the ground, but with a lot more sweat. Life has become a lot harder for these two. and for everyone else.

Although they will long for the rest they had in Eden, life goes on. This is mercy. Adam now places his trust in God and says that he'll name his wife Eve, which means mother of all the living. Life is allowed to continue. But there's more good news.

Now don't miss this. Nestled in the curse to the serpent in verse 15 is the first view of the gospel. Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman. He will crush the head of the serpent. Our gracious God has made a way of redempting, of redeeming his people where there seemed to be no way.

But it will come at a cost. His son would have to sacrifice his life. I mentioned Romans 5, referring to Adam's sin, bringing in it with death to all his descendants. But Romans 5 also continues to tell us that Jesus Christ is the second Adam, the righteous Adam. Unlike the first Adam, who failed, Jesus passed the test in being completely obedient to God.

By faith, we can be united into the second Adam, Jesus Christ, and we can be justified before the Lord. Remember when man and woman were exiled from the presence of God in the garden? The cherubim stood guard at the entrance so no one would enter the presence of God. And he had a flaming sword disallowing anyone entry. Now moving forward a few thousand years from that point, You have to remember the entrance of the Holy of Holy in the temple.

That's the place where the Ark of the Covenant is and where the special manifested presence of God was. Do you remember what separated the Holy of Holies from everything else? It was a veil. It was a curtain. Do you know what was on that curtain?

On that curtain was embroidered a cherubim. And so when Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior, hung on that cross and bore our sin in His body 2,000 years ago, do you know what the Bible tells us? The Bible tells us that that curtain ripped from top to bottom, opening up and allowing entry into the presence of God once again for anyone who was trusting in Jesus and in Jesus alone. Brothers and sisters, this is great news. Entry into the presence of God is now permitted, once forbidden, now permitted.

The gates of Eden have reopened, and in Christ we are to enter in once again. Amen.