How are you doing today? Awesome. I'm doing good. Thank you so much. We like to
start every Sunday by welcoming anybody that is here visiting or joining us for
the very first time or if you're online watching for the very first time. We
want to say welcome to all of you. We're so glad you're here to worship with us here
at Hosanna. I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we are going to be concluding
our study of the fall of mankind by looking at the curse and the judgment
that fell on the man. Now we've already looked at the curse that fell on the
serpent and the curse that fell on the woman for their part in the original sin
and if you remember when we started the book of Genesis I mentioned that there
were five major narrative movements through this book. The first one being
the fall and then Cain and Abel, the sons of God marrying the daughters of women,
the flood and the tower of Babel and each of those major narratives they
follow the same structure and we've seen this structure already in the story of
the fall of man where the sin is described or the sin is told like we see
the sin happen and what's taking place then there's a speech a dialogue or
conversation by God wherein he will either talk to those that are in sin but
his real big point in that is he then declares the penalty for sin but in the
declaration of the penalty we also see the grace of God as he brings hope both
practical hope and prophetic hope through his laying down the penalty for
sin and then we actually see the judgment for and the consequences of
sin played out. Those are the four movements in this story. Now in Genesis
chapter 3 so far in the first 13 verses we read about the sin, the original sin,
the sin being described which is the story of the serpent and the woman and
the man. In verses 14 through 19 is where we've been studying the the speech by
God if you will where he's declaring the penalty as he has the conversation with
man and woman and then he goes on to declare the penalty on the serpent, the
penalty on the woman and then today we'll be looking at the penalty on man.
We'll also be looking at the third movement in the story in verses 20 through
21 which is grace. God extending grace onto the people that he's laying
consequence on as he then clothes man and woman to cover their sin through the
slaying of an animal and then verses 22 through 24 we see the actual final
judgment for and the final consequences of their sin as they're going to be
exiled from the Garden of Eden. Now throughout the whole story however we
have seen regular glimpses of God's grace in sins description. We saw glimpses of
God's grace in his dialogue with man and woman and the first glimpse of God's
grace we saw there was that he didn't destroy man for sinning. That was one of
the original consequences where he said if you'd have this tree you will surely
die and that death involved every aspect of death but when woman ate and then man
ate God didn't immediately strike them down and that was a grace because
instead of that death physical death immediately although the spiritual death
had happened God graciously engaged with them in conversation giving them both an
opportunity to repent. Sadly they didn't take that opportunity and so judgment
was declared first on the serpent secondly on the woman but those
judgments were also imbued with grace because in the judgment on the serpent
we saw the very first gospel being preached to the world wherein it said
the woman's offspring would crush the serpent's head while the serpent would
bruise his heel and that was a picture of the death of Jesus Christ the first
prophetical mention that salvation will come that Satan will not ultimately win
and conquer and destroy mankind but he will indeed lose and we know that he did
through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then we saw the judgment
consequences on woman that impacted her fundamental roles her creative
purposes in the call of God to fill the earth to multiply to subdue everything
her and her husband's call to be a part of that original calling on earth her
judgment and consequence impacted her roles as a wife and as a mother wherein
these roles were originally eternally satisfying with little to no pain just a
complete joy and blessing in every way after the fall the blessed privileges of
carrying a child birthing a child raising that child sin came in and
polluted all of that wherein people can't have children people lose children
people simply have the pains of their children departing from them and in
going into lives of difficulty and drugs and sin and all of this being a result
of the fall but the way everything was originally created to be it was all to
be a perfect blessing however that was lost in the fall and then this never
ending lack of peace as a wife and mother was just simply a grace it was a
grace to drive her into the arms of God wherein she would no longer find
complete satisfaction in her marriage complete satisfaction in her
motherhood and her children but there would be difficulty in that and that
difficulty would drive her to find the only place of true and lasting
satisfaction and that was God himself so now we come to the remainder of God's
speech his declaration of the penalty of sin for Adam but as we're gonna see
again even here grace shines very brightly as grace does through the entire
book of Genesis the entire word of God amen let's pray father we love you we
thank you God so much for who you are we thank you for what you've done we thank
you for the grace that you've given us Lord we we know as sinful people Lord
sinners born from our original parents Lord we've inherited this nature and
therefore we are deserving of judgment and wrath Lord but but God you came to
die for us and Lord you prophesied that in the very beginning right after Adam
and Eve's fall after their disobedience we're gonna see today how you are the
one who provide the answer for sin and God that is a grace because we
definitely don't deserve it but you don't save us Lord because we deserve it
you save us because you love us Lord you carry us through the valleys of the
shadow of death because you love us you carry us through good times and bad
times because you love us and Lord it is your love that drives you to dwell
within us in the Holy Spirit to lead us to guide us to be our counselor to be
our guide to be our God and Lord we're so thankful so God as we look at the
curse on Adam today Lord we would see ultimately his prime responsibility in
what he was supposed to do for his family and who he was supposed to be and
how the curse affected those very things that he was called to do Lord we ask
that you would bless us today and encourage us and speak to us and Lord
especially the men that are here today God may they hear your word as they are
then challenged to step up to what your call is for men in this world God we
love you we worship you now it's in Jesus name we pray amen all right we are
in Genesis chapter 3 we're gonna be looking at verses 17 through 24 this
morning and if you remember with the with the serpent and the woman when God
laid out the the penalty on the serpent and the woman in his penalty and as he
was describing what was going to take place what was going to happen to them
God didn't specifically specify what they did in the declaration of the
penalty there was just a this is what's going to happen and we infer what they
did from the context of the story right we read the early verses in Genesis 3
and we could see what the woman did what the serpent did obviously and then when
we look at details of their judgment we can infer also some of what they did
specifically but when God gets to the man's judgment he doesn't make any
qualms about saying exactly why the man is being judged and so read with me in
verse 17 of Genesis 3 it says he said to the man because you listen to your wife
and ate from the tree about which I commanded you do not eat from it the
ground is cursed because of you so the curse the judgment on man the
consequences for his own sin it says came because he listened to his wife
and ate from the tree so men don't do that amen let's go home no that's not
what this is saying okay let's walk through it a little bit here all right
when it says he listened that word in the Hebrew literally means obeyed right
it's the idea that he heard what she said or suggested and and what she led
him to do or told him to do and he did it and so what we read earlier in the
story is that as she was convinced by the serpent that it was maybe a good
thing to eat from the tree that maybe if she became like God you know she was
deceived and so we infer a lot from that that she perhaps thought she was doing a
good thing even though it was disobedience to God but in Adam's case he
knew flat out it was wrong no matter what and yet he took and he ate anyways
and so in that it says she gave he ate so in that phrase right there we infer
that he he obeyed her right she handed him a fruit that he clearly knew is
wrong to eat of it's very likely he was there observing the whole conversation
between her and the serpent and he didn't say anything he didn't step up he
didn't say wife don't listen to that serpent that's wrong that's not what God
told us to do he was silent and then she handed to him and without a word he ate
and so he obeyed her in that sense and this part of Adam's curse or the
reasoning that that Adam is being cursed this ties directly back to the second
part of the curse that fell on the woman if you guys remember there the second
part of the curse is that your desire would be for him and yet he will rule
over you and we walked through that in quite a bit of detail because it is a
hotly debated scripture it's a hotly debated thing where people are like well
the curse means this a curse means that and so we walked through that in detail
in our last message a couple weeks ago so if you want to look at that feel free
to go look at it on YouTube but to summarize the whole thing was this the
second part of her curse was that she would long to or crave or desire to
continue to have her husband listen to her and obey her to do it she wanted
to do it because that's exactly what she did in the garden there she said here
honey eat this it's a good thing and so she would want to continue to have that
type of rule that type of authority that type of leadership within the context
of her marriage yet it says there in the scripture she would instead be under his
authority and his leadership which I just find interesting because if you
look at the story what you have is is Eve wanting to lead and Adam not wanting
not saying a word stepping back abdicating his responsibility as head
of his household and yet when things fall down it's like woman you're gonna
listen to your husband or wife you're gonna listen to your husband and husband
you're gonna be responsible for her you're gonna be responsible for your
family and so in the fall because Adam who was supposed to be the head of his
family obeyed his wife and followed her lead in direction his curse the
judgment the consequences come down on him but I do want you to notice what
does it say about the consequences because you listen to your wife and
obeyed her God cursed the ground because of Adam that's interesting the serpent
sinned and the serpent was cursed Satan was working through that serpent Satan
was cursed the woman sinned the woman was cursed man sins and the ground is
cursed he wasn't cursed directly now it was a curse on him it was indirect
however and contrary to some popular opinion you know some people go well
work work is the curse right in the garden we did nothing we just sat there
and you know ate apples and had fun and frolicked around with the animals right
and it was just woohoo and so work man you have to work is a curse but that's
not what it says it says the ground was cursed that which he worked was cursed
and so the idea of having to work to produce to put in effort to see results
to have accomplishment that comes from that work that was a gift from God work
was always a part of the intention of perfection in the garden because back in
Genesis 2 15 it tells us that God placed Adam in the garden to work it so in the
perfection of heaven in the perfection of this paradise in this this presence
of God there was work but the work was joyous the work was not a burden the
work was not difficult and so again some like are like wow you know you read
through the curses and they're like Adam didn't even suffer a curse directly like
even the serpent how fair is that right I've even had some and many who will say
this today that if they see working as the curse they're like great so women
get double cursed because they have to work today they can't stay home and
raise their kids and they have to get especially in California right the you
even the kids have to know I'm just kidding but it's like it's so expensive
here though one woman gets the pain in childbirth and caring and raising
children just the pain of motherhood she has to submit to her husband and she
has to go work too how fair is that well that is a misunderstanding of what the
man's curse is and why it's a curse and so let's dig into that how is the
ground being cursed a curse on Adam well in a couple ways one I know this from
personal experience and I know this from talking to a lot of men over the years
but many men carry great guilt and shame when their actions harm something or
someone else okay it is a heavy thing for guys to carry when their actions harm
something or someone else and I believe that this is a part of the curse this is
a part of why it's the ground that was cursed and not Adam directly but he was
cursed indirectly through this because for the rest of time the rest of Adam's
life which he went on to live 900 plus years he would know that for all time
his actions caused the ground the earth all of it to be cursed his actions
caused worldwide an innocent party so to speak the ground to be cursed to produce
thorns and thistles to be difficult to work it was his fault the ground was
cursed harmed because of what he did it was also a part of his curse to know for
all time that that what God had meant to be an easy joyful means of provision for
his family right just go work and you know can take the fruit and it's an easy
thing to do he had to know for all time that every time he put the plow to the
field it was hard because of him his actions that that in trying to provide
for his wife it was difficult because of what man did he had to carry that guilt
and that shame for the rest of his life and the reason I see that as a curse
again and I've dealt with this personally too is is when men deal with
temptation and disobedience right we often justify it by saying well it's not
hurting anybody else we'll get wrapped up in drugs and alcohol and we'll say
well it's just hurting me it's not hurting anybody else and somehow we use
that justification to continue the sin well as long as it's not hurting
anybody else I'm fine I could take it I don't care what happens to me right and
and and that's a corruption of something that God built into man right men are
the ones who will go look I don't care what happens to me I'll go to war and
die as long as my family is protected right I'll go and in in slave away so
that there's food on the table for my my wife and kids that's how it was
supposed to be that's something God built within men to do I don't care what
happens to me as long as everybody else is taken care of but the per the
perversion of that is I don't care what happens to me I'll continue doing bad
things as long as it's not hurting anybody else that's a general thing that
men type men have now it's not a hundred percent across the board that men don't
care about themselves but the idea is is we'll use that as a justification for
disobedience but when innocence are suffering because of our actions when
others are harmed because of our actions it could be an incredibly great and
heavy burden to bear for a man in fact I think it's one of the greatest tools
that the enemy uses to tear men down right one of the greatest struggles a
man has is when the devil keeps pointing out how he let everybody down how he let
his wife down how he let his kids down how he let his church down when the
devil just keeps capitalizing on his own faults your own faults your own
weaknesses your own struggles your own difficulties you know all of that all
look how it harmed someone else look out cause suffering in someone else look
how it hurts your wife look how to hurt your kids look out hurt your friends
when the devil capitalizes on that it's really really tough and a lot of men
because we tend to isolate ourselves and not want to talk about our things what
do we do we go isolate we try to bury ourselves deeper into the things that
we're struggling with to get away and we get really really hammered down by the
Lord especially when that harm and difficulty from our actions falls on
the people we love the most it's a really heavy burden to bear and I see
that here in the curse hey Adam the ground is cursed because of you and Adam
had to live for the rest of his life knowing all of this difficulty it's
because of me it's because of what I did that's a heavy shame to bear now as I
mentioned in our study on the woman's curse I believe the primary context
of what is being cursed here is the fulfillment of the divine commission you
guys remember back in Genesis chapter 1 verse 28 the divine commission on Adam
and Eve it tells us there was be fruitful multiply fill the earth subdue
it right the accomplishment of this commission was was an initially
pleasant it was initially joyful it was without difficulty without you know
striving and toil it was satisfying it was easy work in that sense all they
had to do is obey the one command don't eat of that tree everything else is
yours enjoy it have an awesome life Adams working the garden I was awesome it
was pleasant he looked forward to going to work every day right he wasn't on
Sunday night going Monday's coming right it was he loved doing it it was a
service to the Lord and God was pleased with it it just pleased him right
everything about it was just beautiful but they did disobey and so as we saw
on the woman's curse their commission to be fruitful multiply fill the earth and
subdue it became much much harder the pleasant peaceful joyous easy nature of
their work was corrupted by pain both physical pain and emotional pain you see
an Eve's role in being fruitful and multiplying that was her role in that
was to be the one to carry the children and to birth the children and I believe
there's also extension into mothering and raising children her role in that
was cursed to be much more difficult than it was intended Adam's role in
providing and protecting in that his role in being fruitful and multiplying
which I believe was you know Adam yeah he contributed his genetic part of that
but then he didn't have to carry the child for nine months what did he do
for nine months while mom was carrying the child he provided for her he took
care of her he ministered to her he watched over her right that was that was
his role in that overall being fruitful multiplying and then when that child was
born to be a part of raising that kid too but in the original context he would
be providing and protecting while she would be primarily raising raising the
kids in the home all of that that he was called to do is made much much more
physically and emotionally difficult than it was intended to be just like the
mother Eve's role so read with me in verse 17 we see what that difficulty
looks like he says the ground is cursed because of you you'll eat from it by
means of painful labor all the days of your life it will produce thorns and
thistles for you and you'll eat the plants of the field you'll eat bread by
the sweat of your own brow until you return to the ground since you were
taken from it for you are dust and you will return to dust so like I said in
the same way that the woman's curse struck at the deepest root of her being
as wife and mother the man's curse strikes at the innermost nerve of his
life his work his activity and fulfillment of God's call in his life
now when it said painful labor back in the woman's curse we talked about that
in our last study this was a Hebrew word is called Issa bond Issa bond now that
word is the one that is used in the women's curse where God says I will
intensify your labor pains right we talked about a little bit what that
means but issa bond in the Hebrew it has two main definitions the physical
sensation of ache or sharp pains for any period of time just pain physical pain
and then the second definition is hard work or toil or labor that is very
intense and so expending considerable energy with a special focus on the
physical pain that occurs in very strenuous work now in the woman's curse
there was this word Hebrew word hair on that was connected to Issa bond and the
word hair on means pregnancy and in the Hebrew that meant the whole the whole
process from conception to birth of the child that was considered pregnancy okay
and so in the woman's curse it says I will intensify your issa bond hair on
the physical pain during the time of pregnancy and the strenuous work of
giving birth right that's how we interpreted that and then of course the
second part of her curse involved the emotional pain that comes with children
and and I believe extends it to the the pain of mothering right it could be
painful to be a mom but as we spoke last time when it says labor pains in the
English that that's not referring to just what we consider labor in our
modern understanding right it's not just the oh no my water broke right
labor is happening that that's not what it's referring to only it's including
the idea of the labor the work the toil of carrying a child birth in a child and
then moving on to raise that child and so here for the man the very ground that
had been such an easy joy to work such a blessing to work it was so easy to
provide for his wife it was so easy to provide for his family it was so easy to
please God and what he was called to do the ground that Adam cared for in the
garden the ground from where he provided or gathered the sustenance for him and
his family during her role in in fruit being fruitful multiplying all of that
was cursed his role in being fruitful multiplying was cursed his role in
taking care of his wife and children was cursed his role in serving the Lord was
cursed now the simple joyful blessing that all that was intended to be what
would be from this point forward an ongoing source of pain an ongoing source
of physical pain an ongoing source of emotional pain the very ground that was
this blessing that he was called to take care of was now his enemy it would now
work against him and so the role Adam played again and being fruitful in
multiplying and filling the earth and subduing it it would now be much much
more difficult more painful more laborious more tiring more strenuous
than it was ever intended to be and so yeah both Adam and Eve were now
experiencing perpetual pain in the very center of their existence and purpose
but even in this we see grace even in this we see grace because like the woman
would no longer find full satisfaction in her husband full satisfaction in her
kids full satisfaction in just her role as a wife and mother hopeful
satisfaction in a co-ruler overall creation with her husband just like she
would never find full satisfaction in that like she used to but be driven to
find it only in God apart from God no man's work no man's labor no man's
achievements would ever again fully satisfy him he would no longer be
content in those things it doesn't matter what the work was it doesn't
matter matter what the means of accomplishment is his providing his
protecting all of that none of it from the fall on would ever bring a full
complete joyous satisfaction in his life the way it did in the garden and thus
the very thing that so many men seek their fulfillment from and their purpose
in which is what I do my role as a husband my role as a father would now
be a never-ending source of disappointment and frustration and pain
now just like we talked about with the woman in mothering right there's there's
plenty of good moments right it's not all pain and you know just suffering
right you know it there's plenty of good moments the same thing applies in man's
work but it was never going to be remotely what it was intended to be in
the garden and so thus the good gift of work and labor and effort was now
covered in thorns and thistles especially the work that involved in
taking care of his family now as I said with the woman's curse stuff if you're a
single man you're not excluded right from the curse because anything you do
all the work and toil you do to contribute to contribute and taking care
of yourself to contribute and taking care of your your church and being a
part of the generosity and that the the work you do and what you're given to
take care of other people the work is still cursed it's still laborious it's
still strenuous it's still you know painful especially as the generations
have gone along I think I'm Gen X and I think my generation was the first one
that said the only reason we work is so we could have stuff right like
generations prior to Gen X was you work because that's what you do right you're
supposed to work my generation was like if I didn't have to work and I could
still have stuff I wouldn't work and then the generations that have come
after you know as people look at some of the the the changing ideas and ethics of
of working and stuff some see a decline in that where the generation after me
was I don't think I should have to work and then you know the generations after
that some say the idea is is no I should get paid what the CEO gets paid for my
entry-level work and you know and it's just like there's this idea that some
see in the in the idea of work you know it's applicable to everybody across the
gender lines but men in general I think a lot of us would rather just play we
would rather just hang out we would rather accomplish things that are
interesting to us more than we want to accomplish things for some company that
we work for and so we struggle with the idea of I have to earn and I have to pay
bills and I have to provide this and I you know we struggle with you know how
much do I make and am I making enough and am I being respected and we struggle
with all of these things especially if you're a husband and a father to say I
gotta I gotta take care of my wife and I gotta take care of my kids and you know
and society says you're supposed to be the man and if you're not measuring up
to what society says now you feel guilty you know all of this stuff it was all
affected but the grace that shines through this is that no matter what his
work was no matter how difficult and frustrating it was no matter how none of
it would ever bring full satisfaction and full joy they would be driven into
the arms of God to find it that the good gift of work and labor and effort being
covered with thorns and thistles was one that would drive them to seek those
things in God alone because God is the only one that could provide that just
like women were going to be driven into the arms of God men are driven as well
the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote this about life apart from God he said in
Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verses 3 & 4 what does a person gain for all his
efforts that he labors at under the Sun a generation goes and a generation comes
but the earth remains forever he was frustrated what is the point of work in
Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verses 10 through 11 he goes all that my eyes desired I
did not deny them I did not refuse myself any pleasure for I took pleasure in all
my struggles this was my reward for my struggles when I considered all that I
had accomplished and all that I had labored to achieve I found everything to
be futile and a pursuit of the wind there was nothing to be gained under the
Sun so for the writer of Ecclesiastes after a lifetime of work and effort and
labor and struggle and planning and devising and accomplishing he's like
it means nothing because you're just gonna die and again that's what God said
to Adam here he goes look from dust you came dust you're gonna return and for
many without God that reality makes the point of life well pointless right there
are so many in our world today men that that struggle with why why go to work
why earn why do that right you're just gonna die and then so what the devil
does is capitalize that and turn it into an idea of like yeah there's no point so
just have as much fun as you can it doesn't matter who you hurt along the
way just bury that just bury it just go eat drink and be merry and so many
men in our world try and live that way yet they're still carrying this deep
emptiness inside there's a guilt and a shame that they might bury very deep
but it's a part of the curse here now our ultimate dissatisfaction and what we
do as guys and what we accomplish here on earth taking care of our family and
otherwise it is a significant grace as I said because that discontent that
dissatisfaction that gosh if I can't make enough money to be satisfied I
can't have enough cars to be satisfied I can't take care of my family well
enough to be satisfied I can't get a big enough house for them or I can't you
know whatever those things are that come through our mind God says your
satisfaction isn't found in any of that it's found in me come to me trust me
rest in me that's where you'll find true satisfaction now if through obedience
to God's Word and God's way men we seek to please God and please God alone in
all that we do we can experience some of the garden satisfaction here and now on
this earth as men and as fathers and as husbands as employees as bosses as
artists musicians mechanics plumbers right fill in the blank administrator
whatever it is we can find contentment in the ultimate and only purpose that
matters is to glorify God and when that is the thing that drives you I'm gonna
be a good husband because I want to glorify God I'm gonna be a good father
because I want to glorify God I want to be a good employee because I want to
glorify God I want to be a good boss because I want to glorify God when we do
that when we pursue that along the way of us living our life people will be
blessed instead of cursed by our presence people will find the joy that
is in the Lord they will find the glory and the blessing that is in God people
will not be harmed by our selfishness but they will be blessed by our
selflessness and we only find that in Jesus Christ well I find that through
him and living according to his way in his word now verse 20 we move on it
says the man named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living so
we're passing from now the speech that is that is proclaiming the penalty for
the sin and we're moving into the grace that is going to be experienced by Adam
and Eve in the midst of their judgment now instead of both Adam and Eve being
destroyed for their disobedience killed for that killed for their sin against
God which is what was told to them they are allowed to continue living that is a
grace right they are allowed to continue working in fulfillment of the
commission God gave them that's a grace they weren't done they hadn't failed to
the place of being completely cut off although it's gonna be much more painful
much more difficult to do it but all of that then had the hope of salvation
built into it you see Adam naming his previously unnamed wife Eve like prior
to this she was just the woman she was just wife but he names her Eve it's a
it's a wonderful expression of hope on Adam's part because the word Eve means
life or life giver right and says he says he named her that because she was
the mother of all living you see Adam after having listened intently to what
God said to his wife right because they were both hiding and then they were both
there and they both gave their excuses and so God cursed the serpent then he
talked to his wife Adam listened to all of this and so after listening to what
God said to his wife after understanding that her offspring were
gonna be battling against Satan her ultimate offspring was gonna be the one
that would crush the head of Satan he knew that that all the intensified pain
that she was gonna experience and carrying and birthing and raising
children all of that meant a people would follow that there was a future hope
that she was indeed going to have children and children and children and
then through that line there's gonna be the ultimate Savior she understood he
understood that that humanity was not done that they had not sinned so much
that they were beyond the grace of God and so when it says he named her Eve
because she was the mother of all living there's an interesting tense in the
Hebrew language when it says she was the mother of all living that the tense of
that is it's as good as done like Adam was putting hope in her judgment in that
sense right you're gonna have kids Adam was like whoa wait a second that's
that's not gonna be fun it's gonna be painful but but that means there's hope
there you are the mother of all living it is a promise he was expressing that
he had complete faith and trust and hope in God's extended grace and mercy
by saying she was he's saying look I know God's gonna restore God's gonna
fix this God's gonna repair this God's promises are true I'm trusting in those
things it's as good as done and so verse 21 it says the Lord God made clothing
from the skins or from skins for the man and his wife and he clothed them now
this is God performing an act of practical grace it says the Lord God
made so what we notice here is that this act of covering them which is an
idea of covering their shame but practically covering them as well this
is a sovereign work of God this work was thought of and executed by God alone so
what I mean by that is I don't think Adam and Eve would ever thought of doing
this themselves because it involved something that had yet never happened on
earth it involved death it involved something dying it involved the taking
of life there was no death prior to sin they had never experienced this I don't
think they had ever seen this and remember their own attempt at covering
their shame was was very inadequate fig leaves right they took something that
didn't cost much and they used that to try and cover their shame this attempt
by them was was a replacement or it was a was a picture of man's own work to
cover his sin now it says here the Lord God made clothing from skins that means
animal skins okay so animals were killed they were skinned by God and these skins
were used to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness but again it's also a grace
because it's a foreshadowing of God's promises to redeem by God slaying a
creature it recognized that they were indeed now sinful creatures you Adam
and Eve are sinful creatures you have to be covered with something it admitted
that the penalty of death did indeed fall to sin but again as we were talking
about Adam carrying the shame and guilt of others being harmed because of what
he did you see back when Eve ate the fruit I think Adam was standing there
and he was like she didn't die maybe I'll get away with it too so he eats and
he's like I'm still alive all right I got away with it but what is Adam seeing
right here no you didn't get away with it something had to die but it was this
innocent animal that did nothing wrong because of you because of your actions
because of what you did and Adam had to carry that shame and that guilt but it
also spoke to what God would do in rectifying the problem it spoke
primarily that God would himself do the work of solving the problem of sin man's
ideas for covering his guilt and shame is we take leaves from an inanimate
unfeeling tree and and hey I'm good and God says no no no I have to deprive an
animal of life so that you may live I have to deprive an innocent other of
life so that you could continue and they're gonna die so that your shame
might be relieved to a degree now for us today death is commonplace I think we're
very familiar with death right all of us have experienced death to one degree or
another maybe we've had loved ones that have passed but it's all around us and
it has been our whole life and so in many ways death is is not such a big
shocking deal as it may have been to Adam because remember for Adam I don't
think death had ever happened at this point so in this animal being slain it
doesn't say whether Adam watched it or not but knowing that this animal was
slain for him I believe it was very shocking for him the idea that life was
lost was very shocking for him and it highlighted the truth that yeah Adam
what I told you was true if you ate of that tree death would indeed happen
contrary to what the serpent tried to tell them you won't surely die but
instead of it happening to Adam or Eve it happened to something else not him
and it really displayed I think to Adam and Eve that that that death ultimately
was was the sign of God's anger for sin you had immortality you sinned and now
death is gonna come into the world right and we talked before that the spiritual
death immediately happened their spirit died but their particular physical death
wasn't until hundreds of years later but right here in the beginning Adam was
very aware that death physical death was required to deal with their sin and so
Adam had to learn that sin cannot be covered by his own efforts sin cannot be
covered by a few leaves snatched as he passed by a tree in the forest it could
only be covered by pain it can only be covered by sacrifice it could only be
covered by the innocent blood of another who had done nothing wrong are you guys
seeing the connection here the point was sin cannot be atoned for atoned for by
any work of man ritualistically without feeling oh let's just go through the
motions and today that might be oh I go to church once a week I'm fine I read my
Bible here and there I'm fine I do the ritualistic things but you're still
living in sin the point here just because you come to church doesn't mean
you're saved just because you read your Bible doesn't mean you're saved just
because you pass out tracts doesn't mean you're saved do you trust in Jesus
Christ the innocent who was killed for your sin do you put your faith in his
shed blood and if you do that is how you're saved everything else is a
response to that so the animal very clearly demonstrated that suffering both
physically and emotionally follows sin it demonstrated that sin was real a very
serious evil it demonstrated that no cheap easy process could deal with sin
and Adam further learned that sin goes beyond its effect to him alone it injures
and harms everything around us it injures and harms the people around us
whether we think it does or not it does sin is malicious personal sin that
nobody knows about it's not okay it radically changes your relationship to
your creator it changes that relationship man it hurts that
relationship it builds barriers between you and God and contrary to what you
might be thinking there is nothing you could do about its power over you on
your own you have to have God's intervention to deal with your sin once
and for all God had to do something very physically and emotionally painful
something incredibly strenuously difficult and it was done to one who had
done nothing wrong one who was without sin whose blood was pure whose blood was
absolutely innocent and that was Jesus Christ on the cross now of course the
slain of an innocent animal to cover Adam and Eve's sin
it's a foreshadowing to that work that God did as he came to this earth God the
Son Jesus Christ clothed himself in human flesh lived a perfect life and
then was crucified for my sin and your sin who was nailed to the cross
brutalized beaten for your sin and my sin an innocent man who had literally
never committed sin one single time but thus again we see the gospel in Genesis
right verse 22 then the Lord God said since the man had become like one of us
has become like one of us knowing good and evil he must not reach out and take
from the tree of life eat and live forever so as we've seen the gospel
numerous times here in Genesis we've also seen the Trinity numerous times back
in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 God's initial internal conversation where
they were talking about the creation of man and all that we see that here again
since man has become like one of us God is a Trinity is God the Father God the
Son God the Spirit three separate and distinct persons but simultaneously one
God okay and people still argue about that how does that make any sense I
don't know but the Bible teaches it it's a principle we find in the Bible people
go I know I've never seen the word Trinity in the Bible I also don't see
the word pornography in the Bible but it's still wrong like we infer things
from the teaching of Scripture and the idea of God being a triune being is very
clearly taught throughout Scripture and so just because the word Trinity doesn't
exist doesn't mean the idea isn't there and so we see it here again as God is
saying since the man has become like one of us and how did he become like one of
us how did he become like God what said he now had full knowledge of good and
evil now this is part of what Satan promised to Eve you remember he said God
doesn't want you to eat of it because he knows when you do you'll become like him
knowing good and evil and now that was partially true they did know good and
evil and in that way we're like God but in the way Satan was inferring they
were not at all like God instead of becoming glorious in knowledge and
wisdom instead of becoming pure and holy knowing every evil and every wrong and
every good they were corrupted they were marred they were stained they were
spotted made impure and imperfect as their innocence was lost and we talked
about this back in that that what they had sought was the power to decide
right and wrong outside of and apart from God and His Word that was the that
was the temptation you'll have all the knowledge of good and evil you don't
need God to tell you what is right and wrong you'll be able to decide yourself
you'll be autonomous morally autonomous without God your own God's able to
dictate your own fate and your own future and mankind has pursued that goal
ever since let's do it without God we're gonna see that in all five stories that
come up in Genesis the big major narratives or the primeval history I
mean before we get to the post-flood world you have these five stories where
you see man over and over going we could do it without God we don't need him
let's do it on our own let's pursue our own pleasures let's pursue our own
wisdom let's pursue our own way and every time God has to step in he has to
declare penalty he has to drop the judgment and the consequences but every
single time we see God's grace in the midst of it and so to remain living in
the garden Adam and Eve would have possibly gone to eat from the tree of
life and eating from that tree of life would have given them eternal life and
so what God is saying here is like hey I don't want man to be forever alive
bodily but forever dead spiritually right that's what he's referring to here
if they ate of the tree of life bodily they would be still immortal but
spiritually they would be separated from God and it would be forever and that
would be a hellscape on earth right it would just be a literal whole earth
populated by the undying dead like somebody's gonna make a movie about that
at some point maybe they've already have I don't know anyways and God was like
that's not okay I don't want my creation who I love so much to be separated
spiritually for me forever and so verse 23 the Lord God sent him away from the
Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken he drove the man out
and stationed the cherubim and the flaming whirling sword east of the Garden
of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life now it's interesting in verse 24 it
says he drove the man out what does that tell you I don't think they left
willingly they were like okay God we messed up let's go they were possibly
still now in their sinful fallen state trying to justify no no let us stay and
God's like get out you sinned you disobeyed me and you can't stay here
anymore this is this is paradise this is the place of perfection the Bible tells
us that that sin cannot dwell in the presence of God and in the garden that
was that special place of God's presence here on earth and so God makes his
preemptive strike to to make sure they're an inevitable next step towards
making themselves like God could not happen and he kicks them out of the
garden it says that he posted the cherubim and the flaming whirling sword
east of the Garden of Eden and I'm like as a kid I would read something like that
as a teenager I'm like oh that's cool all right that's like Lord of the Rings
right a whirling flaming sword the words in the Hebrew literally mean a real sword
that was really on fire and really whirling in the air I'm gonna ask God to
show me that when I get to heaven I'm like that's cool but it was the point of
it was to keep them from re-entering to Eden to keep them out right the flaming
sword is a picture of God's righteous judgment and so they couldn't get in and
then it says there was cherubim that word cherubim refers to an otherly world
otherworldly servant of God right it's an angel or a particular type of angel
and then cherubim is a plural word it's a plural of the word cherub so there was
more than one of these particular types of angels there guarding the entrance to
Eden it also appears that there was one entrance into the garden from the east
and so the one who was created to be a caretaker of the garden the one who was
created to subdue the earth the one who was created to provide for and take care
of his family to be the head of his house and to lead in a godly way as God
would lead him the one who is created and placed in this very special place of
God's presence just like the Holy of Holies that we see in the later
tabernacle and then the Holy of Holies later in the temple and this place we're
gonna see ultimately in heaven again he was excluded from that place he was
excluded from that special presence never to enter it again at least in an
earthly sense so although the exile was was terrible it was paradise lost again
there is grace here is he because Adam and Eve had once lived in this perfect
place gazing on God's face as he walked in the garden spending time in God's
presence walking with him literally kind of breathing in the air of his presence
there now it was impossible to do so there was a separation and I imagine
their new condition their new situation had to be like I don't know life without
oxygen right it was it was now they were perpetually short of spiritual
breath they couldn't get enough they couldn't get close to God like they had
before and there was that that very palpable sense of separation they could
never get enough of God and in that they would long for what they had lost the
memory of what they had lost would drive them and the intent was that it would
drive them back in pursuit of what they once had it would drive them back into
pursuit of the only one who could give them that peace and perfection and that
was God himself and so Eve she found pain at the very center of her domestic
existence Adam found the same pain in all his
labors every day for the rest of his life I think at this point especially
after Adam blamed her this is where fights began their children fought as
we're gonna see in the next chapter with Cain and Abel and and after Eden they
were never truly at home again there was always discontent and always frustration
and always that sense that things aren't right things aren't the way they should
be but they lived with the hope that one day through faith in God and trust in
his promises that they could one day again be in paradise in his presence
restored without sin forever and that really is the story of the Bible that
that hope lies before all of us you know the entirety of Scripture from the
Garden of Eden all the way to the great holy city at the end it's a story of
grace as I mentioned the Garden of Eden this place of God's special presence it
foreshadowed the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the temple it foreshadowed
that special place of God's presence which we're gonna see at the end in the
new heaven and new earth as we go through the Old Testament we're gonna
see the entire system of worship in the tabernacle and temple all pointed to
Jesus Christ the promised offspring who was gonna come and fix it when Jesus
died on the cross we know in that story it says the veil that separated the
outside of the holy place from the Holy of Holies where God's presence was it
was torn in half from the top to the bottom why because when Jesus died on
the cross access to the presence of God no longer required the blood of another
as those animals they sacrificed all the time it no longer required a priest to
mediate between the people in God it no longer required a temple as the sole and
only place of God's special presence why because Jesus Christ was all three of
those at once he was the sacrifice he is the great high priest and he is the
temple he is the embodiment of all of God's glory in one spot and then as he
is sitting at the right hand of the Father it says that the Holy Spirit is
sent to dwell within us Christian do you understand that each one of you that
know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior you were the Holy of Holies do
you realize that and I'm like I got to repaint or something I got to decorate
this place a little better and God's like no I I dwell within you I dwell
within you I am the hope of the future I am the promise of salvation it says
that he is literally the guarantee of our inheritance the Holy Spirit is and
this amazing reality for for all of believers today is that we have access
to God's presence now not exactly like it was in the garden but we have the
hope that it will be again one day just like that but the other side of that
coin is for Adam and Eve and for us and all humans today there's no going back
to the garden here on earth but it's through Christ the second Adam that the
reality of paradise is restored to us the hope of heaven is restored to us and
this is how Paul stated the gospel and I'll close on this 1st Corinthians 15
verse 3 & 4 Paul said for I passed on to you is most important what I also
received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was
buried that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures what
scriptures do you think Paul's referring to there they didn't have the New
Testament canonized at this point what scriptures is he referring to the Old
Testament he's referring to the Old Testament scriptures and that will
naturally does naturally take us back to Genesis chapter 3 and the very original
initial prophecy that Jesus would crush Satan's head by his death and
resurrection to the glimpse of grace we saw in verse 21 as God slaughtered an
innocent animal to provide covering the clothing to cover Adam and Eve sin they
exiled from the garden all of that that Adam being reminded every day of his
life that his disobedience caused all of this devastation his disobedience
called the whole world caused the whole world to suffer his disobedience made
his very call to to provide for himself and his family so strenuous so
difficult so frustrating everything he would do all his work to provide and
protect and accomplish the very ground the animals slain for their skin all of
the the innocent suffering for his his his choices the physical and emotional
pain of fulfilling God's Commission all of the days of his life as difficult as
it was was still God's grace for it would drive him it would drive his wife
it would drive his children and all future generations to God where true
and full safety salvation and satisfaction can be found again so men
my message to you today you know every frustration every difficulty every
stress involved in your work and what you do all of your labor to provide for
your own needs provide for the needs of your wife and your kids your families
every frustration with the difficulty of making ends meet the difficulty of
finding purpose in what you do all of that should remind you of the
consequences of ever thinking you don't need God when you're like I hate my job
I hate the fact that I have to go to work right you can get a different job
but why do I have to work it's because I have a tendency to think I could do it
without God's counsel why am I having this friction with my wife it's because
I have a tendency to do things without God's counsel why won't my kids listen
to me because of the original sin in the garden of Adam saying I'm gonna forsake
my role as head of the household I'm gonna forsake my role as a husband I'm
gonna forsake my role as a father I'm gonna set that aside and say it's her
responsibility men God are calling you to lead I think a lot of the problems we
see in the world today is because men won't step up and lead men won't step up
for righteousness well men won't step up for for God and why it's because of our
fallen sinful nature to say I don't want to be responsible just let me do me and
you do you and we're all good no we're not all good the world needs godly men
to step up and lead it needs godly men to step up and lead in their families it
needs godly men to step up and lead in their church it means men it needs men
to to to example what it is to be a follower of God as a husband and a
father the world needs it because the world is so lost and we will look out to
the world without God what we have is men who abandon their wives we have men
who abandon their children we have men who who abandon their
responsibilities that's a problem now if you're a man here this morning in
you want to have your sins forgiven you've realized that you've disobeyed
God in your life maybe you're carrying the the guilt and the shame of of
innocence being harmed by your own selfishness and your own selfish
decisions maybe you're just sick of how messed up you are in this world is and
you want to have the hope of heaven maybe you're like what is the point of
life I want you to know this today the answers to all of those questions all
those struggles is only found through the shed blood of Jesus Christ it is
only in a relationship with your Creator that you will find purpose you will find
peace you will find everything you need to be who God has created you to be and
if you're like no I'm gonna keep trying on my own you know the definition of
insanity is trying the same thing over and over and hoping for a different
result that's insane God wants to save you your sin your shame your guilt the
glorious news of the Gospels it's not just covered but it's completely washed
away by a sacrifice that from the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ God
looks at you and he doesn't see a person covered with an animal skin no that was
the old covenant what he sees as someone who is spotless and blameless because
you've put your faith in the blood of Jesus Christ the innocent who died in
your place the one who had done nothing wrong where you had done everything
wrong but he died he took the penalty in the punishment when you put your faith
in that that blood that he shed it washes you clean there's no guilt there's no
condemnation you're free you are free in Jesus Christ this is the great gospel
this is the gospel announced here in the beginning of Genesis this is the gospel
that is fully consummated at the end of Revelation and the reality is simply
this if you were apart from Christ you are lost but if you were in Christ you
have life and in Christ you will one day again see paradise you will see the tree
of life you will see the face of God forever in his presence but it starts
here and now saying God I believe in who you are I believe that sin is my problem
and I believe you're the only one that could fix it let's pray father we thank
you God for your word Lord I believe there are men possibly here in our room
and men online watching that you're speaking to God Lord our world has
twisted your call on men's life and tried to tell us that that we are the
ones who have all the answers and it's in our strength everything will be
accomplished Lord and yet the harder we try the worst things get that Lord there
is no peace without you there is no joy without you there is no point and
purpose without you but God the problem is that we are sinners and as long as we
keep trying to cover our own sin with fig leaves we keep trying to say well
our own works our own efforts are enough that somehow that's gonna make us right
with you God Lord the reality is none of that will ever be enough it is only full
faith and trust and yielding to the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses
from all sin and Lord your word promises us both men and women that all who would
confess their sin all who would come to you and confess what they've done and
say God I am a sinner and I know that that if they ask for your salvation they
would be saved and so Lord I just want to pray right now for any men in this
room and women as well if God is speaking to you about your need for salvation I
just want you to pray this prayer with me and say Lord God I know I've sinned I
know I've been trying to cover my sin with my own efforts and my own work but
God I know I've been neglecting your call God I know I've been neglecting the
role you've given me in this world Lord to be a man to be a father to be a
husband to be an employee to be a boss whatever it may be God Lord in all of
those you've called me to obey you that I would accomplish your call
successfully but God I've I've sinned I have disobeyed you I've neglected my
duty and I say God please forgive me God I don't want to be covered with my own
works anymore because they're inadequate I want to be covered by the blood of
Christ Jesus I trust in what you did for me I thank you for what you did for me I
put my faith in that and believe that you are saving my soul that I am saved
now and that I will be saved in the future Lord let me experience your
presence humble me in your presence that I would live for you in this world with
the hope of heaven in the future thank you for loving me so much thank you for
dying in my place thank you for taking my penalty and thank you Lord to the
blood of Jesus Christ that you would forgive me and alleviate me of the guilt
and the condemnation that the enemy would pull upon me Lord be glorified in
my life in Jesus name amen well if you prayed that prayer today
congratulations God is gonna change your life I think every man in here that
knows Jesus Christ can testify to the moment they put their faith in Jesus
Christ their life changed and it continued to change as they walked with
him there's also a lot of men in here who can testify that yes sometimes when
we stopped walking with God wow things got worse and so don't do that right but
there are people here that that want to support you in this walk and if you gave
your life to Jesus Christ today you've made the most important decision you
will ever make you were on the path to being who God created you to be as you
learn of him you were on the path to being a better husband and a better
father as you learn how to yield to Jesus and lead the way he's calling you
to lead you're gonna experience contentment and peace and joy and purpose
like you've never experienced before so if you made that decision today we we
have this thing called a new believers pack we want to give you to help you on
this journey if you're watching online please let us know in chat we'll mail
one out to you because this relationship you've now reestablished
yours with your creator we just want to walk with you the church is the family
of God and as family we support one another we pray for one another we're
there for one another don't do this alone guys don't try and isolate that is
not how God created it to be be in community and grow in the Lord and watch
your life be blessed amen let's pray or let's worship