Genesis 3 - The Fall & God Judges

Tom Shrader examines Genesis 3 to reveal how Adam and Eve's disobedience brought sin into the world and shattered humanity's relationship with God. He demonstrates how Satan's temptation follows the same pattern of lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life that continues today. Shrader emphasizes that sin is humanity's core problem and Jesus is the only solution.

“Sin is your problem, Jesus is your answer.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Doctrine

Recorded: 2011

Duration: 51 min

Themes: sin, temptation, disobedience, judgment, salvation, worthiness, identity, redemption, feeling unworthy, struggling with identity, new believer, dealing with shame, questioning self worth, battling temptation, seeking purpose, overcoming guilt

Scripture: Genesis 2:25, Genesis 3, Genesis 3:1, Genesis 3:4, Genesis 3:6, Genesis 3:12, Genesis 3:15, James 1:13-15, 1 John 2:15-17, Romans 5:12, Matthew 4

Theological Themes: hamartiology, the fall, imago dei, image of god, total depravity, original sin, soteriology, christology

Full Transcript

Open your Bibles to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 2. I got an email this week that said, "Wow, what an amazing series. Thank you for the series. Thank you for the prayers and the support. It's all clicking with me. I was thanking God for His body and blood and the light came on. All these years I've not felt very valued or worthy and years I was believing a lie. My life has value because I'm made in the image of the triune God."

That's what we talked about. That's a perfect summary of what we talked about last week.

Reviewing the Trinity

Just to remind you, we talked the first week about the triune God Himself. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, three persons, one God. Somebody this week was trying to give me an illustration for the Trinity and was talking about how water could be a fluid or a gas or a solid. I'm really polite and I said thank you for the help.

Here's the problem with that illustration. When water becomes fluid it ceases to be gas or solid. When it becomes solid it's not fluid or gas. When it's gas it's not fluid or solid. God is not like the Holy Spirit sometimes, then Jesus, then the Father. I get the illustration how it can exist in three forms but it needs to exist in these three forms eternally and continuously. That helps us get our arms around it a little bit but we need to understand that distinction in there.

So the first week, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, one God, eternal. The second week we talked about revelation and that is God communicating to us through His word. If I want to know what God thinks about whatever it is, He's spoken here. It's not my impression, it's not what I think, it's not my feeling. I'm going to get God's view on everything really either directly here or principles that I can apply to it or if I can't do either of those it's not that important.

Creation and the Image of God

The next week we talked about creation. That was when Tyler taught and Neil taught on creation. That was essentially Genesis 1 and 2 talking about creation and God creating and how He creates and creating versus manufacturing. Last week we talked about the very end of chapter 2, we talked about creation as it relates to God creating man in His image, in His likeness.

We aren't gods, there's some sort of a God in us and we become gods, little image gods or miniature gods but we reflect Him. There are attributes that God has that are non-communicable like His eternality and immutability, we talked about those but there are attributes that God has that are communicated to us. We have them, He has them perfectly, we reflect them like love, like holiness, like righteousness. So we're made in the image of God.

Today we look at, and those of you that are following us, it's so cool to walk around and see how many of you are following along in the study guide. If you're following along in the study guide, you're following along in the doctrine book or you've just taken the bulletin and you're just working your way through, you know that today we are at the fall, God judges.

Where We Left Off

Here's where we left off, Genesis chapter 2 verse 25: "And the man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed." So God has created, God has put in charge of the earth to subdue it and to govern the earth, man. Man is innocent at this point, he is naked and unashamed, there's no sin. There's this sense, in fact there's a word that we're going to look at in a minute called shalom and there is that sense of that. There is not just peace, there's wholeness, completion.

Let me speak autobiographically. For me, the very first time I studied Genesis 3, it was a huge moment for me. Lights are coming on and it all came together. I'm like anything, once that's happened to me, I want that to happen to you. I want you to have that same experience, I hope that God does that. But so much of understanding of God, of man, of the world, of everything, so much of it comes together if I understand Genesis chapter 3.

The Importance of Genesis 3

Ray Stedman writes this in his study guide for Genesis chapter 3: "We come to Genesis 3 with a heightened sense of anticipation. In many ways this is the most important piece of information ever conveyed to man. Here's the ultimate explanation for the tension among the nations. Here we have the answer to the eternal why that arises in our hearts in times of tragedy or sorrow. Here's the explanation for over hundreds of centuries of man's heartache, misery, torture, blood, sweat, and tears. Here's the reason for the powerful fascination that we have for drugs, the passion for power, the lure of wealth, the enticement of forbidden sex to young and old alike. Here's the only reasonable answer for these things in the world today. Remove this chapter from the Bible and the rest of it seems incredible."

In his introduction to this chapter on the fall, in the book that we're reading and following along, Mark Driscoll writes this: "Something has gone terribly wrong and everybody knows it. The Bible reveals that God created this world in a perfect state. Upon the creation of man and woman, God declared His entire creation very good. This intended state of perfect being in all things described in the Old Testament as shalom."

Understanding Shalom

Again, that's that word. We hear that sometimes and it means hello, goodbye, it means peace, but its meaning in its broadest sense is the idea that everything is as it should be. It's Genesis 2:25. Even those who do not believe the Bible persist in longing for a shalom on earth, because deep down in God's image bearers, there's this faint echo of Eden and how things are supposed to be. Yet, no matter how much money we spend, how many elections we hold, how many organizations we start, how many blogs we write, how many complaints

We air, how many tears we cry, or how many wars we wage, boredom, annoyance, misery, fears, tragedy, suffering, injustice, evil, sickness, pain, and death continue unabated. So that's the world you live in. We look around and it's been my experience with everybody that thinks it all, that we look around and we kind of go, something's wrong.

Something's wrong with the world, something's wrong with the people in my life, something's wrong in my most honest moment, something's wrong with me. Now we're going to look at that at different levels, but here's what we're saying. You were created in the image of God. You do not cease to be created in the image of God.

We know in Genesis 5:1-3, Genesis 9, 1 Corinthians 11, we see it again, James chapter 3 verse 6, that post-fall, we're still created in the image of God. The challenge now is, the reflection is distorted. So let's do what Stedman suggested. Let's look at the end of Genesis chapter 2, so we got that pretty well figured out. God creates this place, and it's paradise.

From Paradise to Murder

Let's go to Genesis chapter 4, and in Genesis chapter 4, we meet Cain and Abel, and immediately we see a family that's falling apart. We see murder, hatred, anger, jealousy, pride. In short, we see rebellion. So if you skip Genesis 3, if you read Genesis 2, then Genesis 4, in your mind, you're going to go, what in the world happened?

That's why I really do believe that if you can kind of get your arms around Genesis chapter 2, 3, you're going to really be equipped to at least diagnose what's wrong in the world. That's what we're going to do. So here's what I want to do. Be really clear up front. I want to figure out what's our problem and then I'm going to then kill you. What's your problem? But that's good.

We have to do that because once we have an accurate diagnosis, we can go, what's the solution? What's your solution? So that's what we're going to do. We're going to look at what's called the fall. In my Bible, the heading on chapter 3 is the fall of man.

Understanding the Fall

Well what is this fall? How did it happen? What's it all about? And more important for us, I guess, is what are the implications of that? So when we look at Genesis chapter 3, we're looking at the story, the historically accurate account of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and how they sinned and what sin did to them and to the world.

Here you go. Genesis chapter 3 verse 1: "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, indeed has God said you should not eat from any tree of the garden."

So immediately now we're introduced to someone outside what we see in Genesis 1 and 2. We've got Adam and Eve and now there's the serpent. Now I wish, though I know you can't, I wish you could read this with fresh eyes. Because immediately when you read serpent here, you immediately know that's Satan. In all fairness, you can't know that from that verse. What we're bringing, and it's an appropriate way to study, we're bringing in all of Scripture to bear on this.

The Serpent's Identity

But we see Satan, serpent, snake. So if there's a play or a movie, we would introduce this character and go, that scary music. Susan and I are watching, we tape, we don't tape many shows. We're starting to tape more shows now.

We watch Shark Tank every week, and Pawn Stars every week, and The Mentalist every week, and Castle every week, and Body of Proof every week. And we don't watch that many shows, but it sounds like it when you say it out loud. But The Mentalist, The Mentalist in particular, they do an amazing, it's a wonderful show. They do an amazing job with the music in that show. Just that music creates that tension. Just as the scene sets.

And so if you watch, like when you rent a movie and you watch it, a lot of times you'll have a trailer or an additional option that says how the movie was made. And really to me, always one of the most fascinating things is how they write the score, and how the difference between watching a scene without any music and watching a scene with the music, it's radically different. So at this moment, you know that music would be playing. Here comes the serpent.

The Nature of Our Enemy

In reality, the word serpent means a shining one. He's crafty, subtle, cunning, more than any other creature. Jesus called him the ruler of this world. Paul called him the god of this age. Martin Luther says, on earth he has no equal.

One author writes, and this is speaking of the serpent today now, he has the ear of humanity and whispers into it a lie, an outrageous but very attractive lie that makes men drool with desire. That's who he is. He is the one that Jesus says was a liar from the beginning, a murderer from the beginning.

The First Temptation

He comes to Eve, and he asked what at least on the surface appears to be a rather, almost innocuous question. "Indeed God said you should not eat from any tree in the garden," and Eve answers and said "the fruit from the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you should not eat from it or touch it or you will die."

Now I want to make two points here. Satan comes and in his own way, he casts a bit of doubt on what God said. Did God really say this? And it's not just am I hearing this accurately, he's planting a seed of doubt because the idea is, wait a minute, if God really loved you, why would he put these restrictions on you?

Did God really say something like don't do that? Is that how a loving God behaves? What is God? Why would he do that? Eve, think with me for a second. Is that what He really said? Because if He did, it has huge implications. He mustn't love you Eve, I wouldn't restrict anything from you. That's kind of what's going on there.

And Eve then, and a lot of scholars, I shouldn't say a lot, a number of scholars really jump really strongly on verse 3 when she said you shouldn't

eat it or touch it or you will die. Now if we go to chapter 2 verse 16, in my Bible it's the next column to the left, you may have to turn a page, but it's Genesis chapter 2 verse 16: "The Lord God commanded man, saying from any tree of the garden you may eat, but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day you eat from it you will die."

So if we take that and lay it next to what Eve said, she said you should not eat of it or touch it or you'll die. A lot of scholars want to come and say, "Oh there she is immediately, here's what happens when you add to or alter the Word of God." Certainly that's fair game, that's a fair warning. God says something, we don't need to add to it or take away from it. I don't know if that's what's going on there or not. This is interesting too: in Genesis chapter 2 verse 16 and 17, God's talking to Adam. Did God directly give this command to Eve? I don't know. Or did Adam merely relate the command? I don't know. I don't know how important it is. I don't think the issue really here is that she added to it. I think she got it pretty clear.

The Test Is About Authority, Not Nutrition

Here's what I want you to see: the test is not about nutrition. For a long time, here was my perception of this, and I know it's silly and naive, but it's what I thought for a long time. It was like they said yesterday in East Mesa it was 121 degrees. I don't know if that's right. They said 118 at the airport. Regardless, we're living in hell here. So here's this place, and nothing grows. My perception was, here's this tree, don't eat from it, and they're thinking, "Oh gosh, what are we going to eat?"

So it's not about nutrition or diet. They're in paradise! This is huge. They're in paradise, and in the middle of paradise there is this tree that God identifies as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here's what He's saying: In this vast, plush garden, all things are growing, all the food you need is there, all the fruit you need, whatever it is, all you need is there. In the midst of this forest, in the midst of this huge grove of trees, beyond anything we can imagine, more than you could ever use, in the midst of this grove there's one tree. From that tree, don't eat.

So it's not a test of nutrition, it's a test of who's in control, who's the authority. That's what this is all about. This is all about pride and ego and rebellion. Don't eat from that. And Satan's going, "Did He really say that? Because that just doesn't sound right, because I thought He was a God of love, and how would a God of love..." and then you can fill in the blank.

Satan's Lies Wrapped in Truth

He said, "No, no," and look at verse 4. He comes right with a direct lie, but I'm going to read it to you like I would see it happening in real time: "Oh, you'll surely not die." See, he's not going to leave that lying out there by itself. Any lie is always wrapped in some shred of truth. "You shall not die, for God knows that the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open, and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil."

Well, is that what happened? Yeah. Indeed, they ate from it, and their eyes were open. And they were like God, in the sense that they began to see good and evil, but they saw it all through their perspective, and now that mirror that reflects God is shattered, and everything is now distorted.

Verse 6: "When 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, she took its fruit and ate it, and she gave also to her husband who was with her and ate it."

The Timeline of Temptation

Now let me say, because I've got a little bit of extra time, so let me spend it on this. I'm massively curious and will not know until eternity and then not know if it matters. The time frame between chapter 2 verse 25 and chapter 3 verse 1 and chapter 3 verse 5 and chapter 3 verse 6. In other words, after Adam and Eve are in the garden and they're naked and they're innocent and they are not ashamed, how long is it until the serpent comes? Don't know.

Then the serpent comes and drops his load and they have this conversation and then he leaves. How long is it between the time he leaves and Eve is... in other words, the process of verse 6? She's looking. You get an implication here that there's some contemplation going on. She didn't just run up, grab the fruit and eat it. So I don't know if it was a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year. I don't know.

The Pattern of Temptation Leading to Sin

I like to think that in verse 6 there's this process that we see of how temptation leads to sin. A few months ago I was teaching the book of James to you and in James chapter 1 verse 13, you don't need to turn there but you might want to make a note, James chapter 1 verse 13 through 15, James writes this: "Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does God tempt us." So in this entire process, God's in control and all that goes with it, He is not the one who is tempting us here.

So he said here's what happens: "But each one," it's James 1 verse 14, "is tempted when he's carried away by his own lusts and when lust is conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death." If you want to see an illustration of that, perfect illustration, Genesis 3 verse 6. So something external is connecting with something internal.

Now if we want to even go and make yet another point that I think is helpful, let me read you 1 John 2, 15, 16, 17. John writes this: "Don't love the world or the things of the world." So when he's talking about the world, he's not just talking about don't love the planet, he's talking about the world system, the flesh, those things that are filled with or tainted

by sin. So don't love the world system, the world value system. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life isn't from the Father, but it's from the world. Well the ruler of the world, who's that? Satan.

Now take that and lay that grid on Genesis 3 verse 6. See why this is so rich? I mean this is why this is key. When you get this, lots of stuff comes together. So the woman saw the fruit was good for food, the lust of the flesh. There was a delight to the eyes, the lust of the eyes, and it was desirable to make one wise, the boastful pride of life. There it is. That's the way Satan works.

Satan's Consistent Strategy

Granted, He comes sometimes as an angel of light, sometimes as a subtle serpent, sometimes as a roaring lion. But I think in our culture, more and more, it's an angel of light or a subtle serpent. And He's telling you what He's going to do. It's the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, boastful pride of life.

My senior year of high school, I was, it's hard for you to imagine, the second team quarterback on a team. We were preseason picked like fourth or fifth in the state. So I had this very good team. The quarterback, starting quarterback, would have been one of the top two or three quarterbacks in our state. So for me, there was a certain level of comfort in this sense. I wasn't going to have to play unless we were either way ahead or, God forbid, he get hurt.

My primary job was to run what's called the scout team. So I would prepare each week to model or mimic the offense of the team we would be playing on Friday night. And I would run that offense against the first team defense. And so we would run plays. So every week, we're learning new plays. And that kept us sharp in our skills and all that goes with it.

So we played a team, Davenport Central. So I'm in Davenport, Iowa. At the time, there's Davenport Central, there's the Catholic school, the one I went to, Davenport Assumption, and a new school, Davenport West. Davenport Central, those of you that are kind of football or sports people, you know the name Roger Craig. So Roger Craig, Curtis Craig, Theotis Craig, Jim Jensen, Boogie Hester, all these guys came out of Davenport Central.

Davenport Central ran a very simple offense. And their most effective play was a counter. So here's what they would do. So if I'm quarterbacking, I'd get the ball, I'd take it back, I'd hand off, and I'd go through, they'd go around, and they'd just grind you. They would just grind you down. And they'd do the same play. We'd pick it, we'd do it the other way. You'd hand it off here, you'd go down here.

Their most effective play was a counter play, and here's how it worked. You'd take that snap, you'd step back, you'd fake this handoff, and as you're moving down the line, they'd bring a guy who was flanked, they'd bring him in, it's an inside handoff, and I mean there's nobody left out there to stop him. And they ran it, and ran it, and ran it.

Here's what would happen against them or anybody else. It's the worst thing you could hear on our end. We'd run a play, let's say it's the counter, we'd run that counter, it would work, and a coach would, so they'd pick up 10, 20, 30 yards, and that would tick off the defense. So the coaches would scream, what would they scream? Run it again.

Well, there's a little bit, and we'd walk back, and I'm going, gee, this is not very good. They know what? They know what the play's going to be. I mean, here I am, and I had my best, one of my really close friends was my halfback in that, and I'd walk back to the huddle, and I'd go, oh my gosh, and we're just going to get killed. You're just going to get killed.

I'm going to come to here, I'm going to give them the ball, and as I get there, so will 11 other guys. I mean, they're going to get killed. I'll never forget, it's one of those, it's always, run it again. We'd run it, it works. Run it again. We'd run it, it works. That was three times. We'd come back to the huddle, run it again, and he looks at me, he said, no, no, no, again. So we'd throw a little pass play out of it for a touchdown. That aggravated the defense, but the coaches, more importantly, anyway, regardless of that. Run it again.

The Devil's Playbook

If you know the play they're going to run, presumably that's a huge advantage to you, right? So you see a pitcher and a catcher, and the catcher walks out to the mound, and they have a discussion, and now what do they have? They have the glove over their mouth. Because if they know what's coming, you know, they're stealing signals. So they're stealing signals.

Satan goes, I'll tell you what I'm going to run. You want to know what I'm going to run? I'll tell you the play. It's either going to be lust of the flesh, or lust of the eyes, or boastful pride of life, likely all three. That's what I'm running.

He ran it against Adam and Eve. He ran it in Matthew 4 against Jesus. When he takes Him up on a mountain, look down, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, boastful pride of life, make these stones bread, lust of the flesh, look how beautiful it is, lust of the eyes. Throw yourself down, angels will catch you, we'll worship you, you'll be God, boastful pride of life.

The Fall Accomplished

So Satan comes, he comes into this situation, he tempts them, still no sin at the end of verse, almost to the very end of verse 6, no sin. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, then she took the fruit, we've got a problem now, she ate it, she gave it to her husband who was with her, which we could go off and go, where's the man in this situation, he's there to protect her, he apparently is there and doesn't stop her, I don't know what, again we have to read into this, what did he know and when did he know it? But ultimately he takes it and eats it, now we've got the fall.

And look at what's happened, any sort of innocence and humility is now replaced by pride. Immediately the man, the woman, become very self-aware.

Very self-focused, D.A. Carson writing about the fall writes this: consumed by our own self-focus, we desire to dominate or manipulate others. Here, he's talking about Genesis 3-6. Here's the beginning of fences, of rape, of greed, of malice, of bitterness, of war.

Listen to this phrase. This is a great one that Carson uses. It's on page 149 of the Doctrine book: the heart of evil is idolatry. Listen to this phrase now: it's the de-godding of God. In other words, I'm going to make God in my image.

So we've said this, and we can say it somewhat facetiously, cynically: God in Genesis 2:2 made man in His own image, and as Voltaire says, man's been returning the favor ever since. So God made man, God made creation, God said this is how it shall be, this is the authority. And man in Genesis 3:6, our representative Adam, chosen by God to represent all of mankind, at that moment he now sins. That's called the fall.

The Immediate Consequences of Sin

The repercussions of that come quickly. Chapter 3, verse 7: "The eyes of both of them were open" - see that's what Satan said was going to happen, he was right there - their eyes are open, and they now know that they're naked and they begin to cover themselves up. They sew fig leaves together and they cover themselves. And they heard the sound of 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.

Adam says in verse 10, when he's asked where were you, he said, "I heard the sound and I was afraid." Now from verse 8 and verse 10, I can get that what was normal was man heard God walking in the cool of the day in the garden, and there was shalom - peace, harmony, wholeness. But now it's broken and what's changed is sin.

When man sins, he shatters not us being made in the image of God, but us being able to see ourselves in that image. So when I get to verse 8, I have the first record in all of human history of abnormal behavior. Immediately remember what they were? Go back to shalom, chapter 2 verse 25: "The man and his wife were naked and unashamed." Now they're naked, what do they do? They hear God, they hide.

The Shattered Mirror of Relationship

Immediately upon sin, our relationship with God is distorted - that mirror is shattered. They begin to cover themselves, presumably he grabs a fig leaf, she grabs three, they cover themselves up. All of a sudden their sense of themselves is distorted. Their sense of relationship with one another - they're going to turn like that on each other. And their whole relationship with creation - all of a sudden what's happened is that work becomes toil.

So what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 5, verse 12, is that through one man's sin, Adam, sin entered into the whole world. That means all of us, so all of us have sinned, and with that one man and that sin comes death. So here you go, here's the evidence of sin in the world, and that is every person dies.

I was just back between services talking to one of the staff guys, and he was talking about how tired he was, and energy level, he was talking about some different things. And I said, "How old are you?" And he said 34. And I said, "Okay, tip: it isn't going to get better buddy. It just goes south, it just goes south, south, south, south, south, south."

The Reality of Physical Decline

I told the story, and I sound like a bad guy in this, but I'm not. I used to work out - the best workout I ever had was at basic community college, and it was one where you got your heart rate going, and then they played music, and it would ding. So it would ding, and then there'd be 30 seconds, ding, and there'd be 10, ding, and there'd be another 30. So you'd get on a bike, you'd get the cardio going, then you'd start the cycle.

So you'd get the cycle going, then you'd go do 30 seconds of weights, then it would ding, it'd give you time to get to the bike, cardio, do 30 seconds - I said 30 minutes, 30 seconds - ding, and then you'd go back over. Ten seconds to get there, then 30 seconds of weights and back and forth.

Well, at the end of this, you were doing crunches, and that's where the stair master is. And it was every time, every time I was in the gym, and I was in there a lot, there was this woman in there on the stair master. And I never saw her in anything but the stair master. She was on the stair master when I got there, she was on the stair master when I left.

So one day I'm walking out - I'm trying to think how I present this so I don't sound like a pervert. So I'm walking out, and she's there, and I said, "Hi, how are you?" And she said, I said, "You know, I want to ask you a question. You have really nice legs, but I always see you on the stair master." And she said, "I'm on the stair master two to three hours a day." Well, I'd have nice legs if I was on the stair master - I'm not that committed to nice legs.

And all I could see - and she had, you know, I mean, I don't mean this in some dark sexual way, she just had these great legs, you couldn't miss them. I mean, you're in there in shorts, you couldn't miss them. But all I could think of is, somewhere along the way, you're going to lose.

The Inevitability of Aging

I can have my - like this eye has bothered me. I was going to get my eyes fixed, remember, two years ago, and insurance denied it, so my insurance is already rationed. But I mean, they're just driving me nuts. And it's just that, but since that, now I've got a little bit of this going. I'm thinking, gosh, if I'm going in for one, I might as well get two or three of these things taken. It makes sense - why would I not get them all taken care of if I'm going in?

And the reality is, that's life. And who do you have to blame for this? Adam. So when all these people, oh, when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask God - no, when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask Adam, "What were you thinking about in this whole thing? You screwed it up for me and everybody else." So that's what happens there.

Now, this is really important. We're going to talk about, whatever, 15 minutes max, so here's...

What I want you to see—we'll go back to the sentence that we opened the whole day with from Driscoll: something has gone terribly wrong, and everyone knows it. There's a distortion in our relationship with God. There's a distortion in ourselves, we begin to hide. There's a relational distortion.

Look what happens in verse 9: God said, "Where are you?" Adam said, "I heard you in the sound of the garden, I was afraid, I was naked, I hid myself." So God said, "Who told you you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?" And the man said, Genesis 3:12, "The woman that you gave to be with me, she gave me."

The Blame Game Begins

In essence, now watch how this works. God comes to Adam and says, "Did you eat?" I felt sorry for Adam at that point, because the typical excuses—"I'm a victim of my social economic background"—that's not working. "My parents"—he didn't have any. He's got nobody to blame. He's in real trouble.

But sin makes us creative. Here's what he says: "It really wasn't me." You see where he's going here. "It really wasn't me, it was her." There's even an undercurrent in this—it's really not even her. It's you. You made her. "It's the woman you gave me."

The Lord then said to the woman, "What have you done?" She said, verse 13, "It's the serpent. He deceived me. It's not my fault, it's the serpent." I think there's a little bit of Adam in there: "It's the serpent you created." They begin to deflect, but finally they both say they've eaten.

God's Judgment Falls

So God the prosecuting attorney becomes God now, the prosecuting attorney on Satan, and He issues this curse: "Because you've done this thing, cursed are you more than all the cattle." Then He lays out how in childbirth the woman will be cursed, how the woman will have this desire to challenge the man, be for the husband, and yet he'll rule over you. Then in verses 17, 18, 19, 20, all of creation—all of it—is distorted by this.

If we go back to the beginning, something's terribly wrong, and we all know it. We see it globally in a whole bunch of different ways. We see kids starving, thousands of kids starving to death every year—that's not right. Nations at war. We see it within the country here: race warfare, class warfare, management, labor, husband, wife. We see it within the family.

The Problem Comes Home

Here you go now, now you knew we'd get to this—we see you're pretty jacked up, too. The world's screwed up, the country's screwed up, the state's screwed up, the city's screwed up, your family's screwed up, you're screwed up. The problem is sin.

What I want to do is to say, "I got it, but it's not that big a deal." "I got it, but it's not really my fault." "I got it, but it's the woman you gave me." "I got it, but come on, I'm no Casey Anthony. I'm no OJ. I'm no Hitler. It's not that bad." Or, "I'm sorry," but there's never any repentance. "I got this, but I want you to understand it's a disease." All of those excuses.

Here's what the Bible says—really important. You got to hang in there about 10 more minutes. Sin is the problem. Sin is your problem. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is your answer. That's that connection you need to make.

Hope in the Midst of Judgment

Over the next four weeks, we're going to talk about covenant that God made. Then we're going to talk about Jesus, the incarnation. Then we're going to talk about the cross. Then we're going to talk about resurrection. Now I'm not going to go and give you a detailed answer today, but it occurred to me as I put all of this together that you might be sitting there today and go, "I'm kind of hanging here. Have I got any hope?"

Yeah, the hope. God is such a gracious God. He tells us about the hope in Genesis 3:15: "I'll put enmity between you"—He's speaking to Satan—"and the woman. Between your seed and her seed." It's called proto evangelium. It's the announcement that Jesus is coming. Clear to us now, a promise to them that would become more clear.

Why Do We Act This Way?

Let's really unpack this now. When a good friend of yours has great success, why is it that you're a little uncomfortable? "Congratulations, I'm really happy. I wish it were me." That kind of thing. How come it's your flinch when somebody says, "Hey, did you?" "No." Why is it your flinch to say, "Tell them I'm not here"? Why is gossip so attractive?

Why is this Casey—and I'm not putting you down, if you're interested in it, I mean, people tell me I need to get a life. My golly, if you're watching this, you're worse than me. But why is that even interesting? When you're a kid and somebody gets something, why do you immediately say, "What about me?"

Here you go, let's say you're married. Why when your spouse, maybe you're engaged—why is it when your fiancé or your spouse comes to you and legitimately points out something that you do that's wrong and they say, "Well, you always do this," why is your flinch to go, "Always? Really? Always?" Because that's what I do. "Always? Always. Every time. 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I always do that. I don't think I did it this morning. I remember us talking this morning. Did I do it to you this morning? No. Then I don't always do it."

All of a sudden, your grammar becomes the issue when really I'm just a jerk and that needed to be dealt with. Why is that? Why do I flinch to protect myself? Why can't I see myself accurately? Sin. Just think of a broken mirror as you see yourself in a physical realm. I look at myself physically. I look in a mirror that's been shattered. That's what happens with the fall.

Two Groups

You may be here today. Here's what I know. I got it every week. It's my biggest challenge every week in preparing to speak to you is to understand two groups of people: those of you who already get it and those of—

Some of you are here, and we pray God will touch your hearts. In about 8 or 9 minutes, Matt's going to come out and lead you in communion. Then the guys are going to lead you in worship. Those of you who know Jesus as Lord and Savior are going to participate, and it's a rich moment. For you, we just hope God reveals in maybe a new way, in a deeper way, how sinful you were, how desperate your situation was, and then He saved you in the midst of that.

Some of you, and I know this because it happens every week, some of you are here because a friend invited you or whatever. You come once a month or whatever it is. It doesn't matter. And you're going, "Gosh, I don't know, this is starting to make sense."

Let me see if I can get to you. I had an experience once when I was in that very situation I described. I walked into a Bible study and Larry Wright was teaching, and it was in a room—there weren't near this many people, but there were probably 30 or 40 people in the room. As he taught, it was as though I was the only one in the room. Maybe I can connect to you at that level right now, and it wouldn't be me, it would be the Holy Spirit.

The Root Problem We All Share

So you come in with something wrong, and maybe you can't even say this is what it is. Maybe it's out of desperation. You got absolutely lit up last night, just blasted out of your mind, and you're in here today, maybe even still a little high so I sound especially good to you. And you're going, "I don't know, I'm just here, I'm all jacked up, I know it, I don't know, I don't know, man."

Or maybe you're on the other end. You're pretty successful—closing the deal, making the goals, got the scholarship, made the team. But both of those groups are saying something's wrong and something's missing.

Sin is your problem. Jesus is your answer.

Why Nothing Else Satisfies

Just getting more of what you think will make you happy never does. It does for a moment. You can get high and let's say have a good time, maybe have a good night. You have a good couple of nights, maybe a good week. But sooner or later that comes crashing and burning, and you go, "That didn't really work. I either got to get higher or I got to find a new drug."

It can be sex that can be that way. So I found that girl, that thing—boy, that was great like a time or two, but now it's that job, it's that whatever it is. And you keep trying it and trying it and trying it, and you come up empty.

The reason you're empty is because your problem is sin. So the solution isn't another girl, it's not another guy. Your problem's not economics, so you don't need more stuff. It's not intellectual, so you don't need to go get a degree. I'm saying you can go do all of those things, but the problem you have is not a social, economic, intelligence, environmental problem—it's a sin problem.

The Right Diagnosis Leads to the Right Cure

Now that we've accurately diagnosed it, we can point you to the right cure. Because the problem is sin, the cure is Jesus. That's why He came and lived and died. That's what we're going to talk about the next four weeks. But you don't want to wait four weeks, and I don't blame you.

So when this service is over, you either need to talk to the men and women who'll be in the front of the conference center if you're over there, who'll be here in the chapel—and they're here and they exist. At that point in time when this service is over, at that point in time until they're done with you, their sole purpose on earth is to be with you to talk about Jesus or your spiritual need. That's why they're here.

Or maybe you go, "I'm not an upfront kind of person." Talk to the person who invited you. But don't let the moment go by, because God maybe is exposing your heart.

Even Christians Struggle with Idolatry

Even those of us who are Christians—clearly though we can be saved, there's still sin in our life, right? We still fall in that trap where we're going, "Boy, if I get that, I'll be happy." And all of a sudden our heart, as John Calvin says, our heart is an idol factory. We're creating idols all the time—false gods. And we're asking these false gods to do what the one true God can do, and what only the one true God can do.

False gods never fail to fail. So that shalom—we'll close the loop here—that shalom, that peace, that wholeness is never going to come with a person, place, or thing other than Jesus.

The Simple Truth About Humanity's Problem

What's the problem with man? It's real simple. It's sin. It manifests itself all around us every day. We see it everywhere around us.

God created paradise and put us there. And our perfect representative said, "No thanks, I'll do it my way." God said, "Fine, there you go." But even then, in His grace and mercy, when He's totally justified in keeping us in that state and having us spend eternity separated from Him, because of His grace and mercy, He offers to us Christ—the only hope of salvation.

Our Only True Hope

Fourth of July is like one of my least favorite—here you go, here you go. This is born in the Midwest, raised in the Midwest. Here's how I feel real time: Fourth of July. I hated the Fourth of July. I hated it. I never liked it. I hated it.

But let's go ahead and say it's a good holiday, and it's certainly significant. And you are part of one of the great, if not the greatest nation that was ever conceived. But even this, I want you to get: Abraham Lincoln called the United States of America "the last best hope." No, no, no. The only hope is Jesus.

It's not this country—great country, be a good citizen. You got that, man. You hung around long enough to know we believe in all that. But my ultimate hope and only hope is Jesus, because my problem is sin.

Looking Ahead

We're going to stop. Next four weeks we focus now on that solution. God—now man has fallen, sin. God now comes in with His promise, and then we see in Jesus the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection. So that's the focus now of the next four weeks.

Let me pray as Matt comes to lead us in our time of communion. Father, thank You for this amazing, wonderful truth that You are a God who loves us and cares for us.

Father, we thank You that You have revealed Yourself to us and You've made provision for us. If indeed we understand that we are sinners and our sin has separated us from You, in that condition You will come and You will save us. You sent Jesus to live the perfect life and to die the death that we deserve.

God, now as we come to the communion table, I pray that Your people would come and eat and drink and do so in memory of Your Son's death. Then Father, we would sing these songs of worship to You and we'd leave this place. In each and every day and every moment of that time, we would be Your hands and feet to the world around us. God, we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.