Islington Baptist Church February 18, 2001
Sermon Text: Genesis 3:7-19
Scripture readings: Psalm 32, 139
In Psalms 32:1-6a it says “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of the summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’ and your forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may found;…..”
Today we are going to examine Genesis 3:7-19 which details the consequences of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God. As you might have guessed from my reading of Psalm 32; when we sin against God there are always consequences to be faced. This too is one of the applications of Genesis 3:7-19. (READ TEXT)
As you might guess, we are not today going to be able to examine every theme and subject that is here before us in our text.
I. A feeling of shame and guilt for our sins is a good thing
Some folks no longer know any shame for their sins—their consciences have been so seared by their repeated wickedness that they no longer have any pangs of guilt or shame for what they do. Such people no longer have the capacity to blush or turn their heads in shame.
A sense of shame and guilt for our unconfessed and unrepented sins is a good thing.
When Adam and Eve sinned one of their first experiences was that of feeling shame or guilt---illustrated in their realizing of their literal nakedness and in their crude attempts to cover themselves with fig leaves.
Adam and Eve’s sense of shame and guilt, in and of itself is and was a good thing. In like manner a sensitivity to our sin and guilt in our lives is a good thing. Some of us have lost this in that we do evil and it hardly bothers us or causes us consternation. Oh that God would grant us a renewed and refreshed sensitivity to sin in our lives. As David prayed “Search me O God and know my heart”
II. While shame and a sense of guilt for our sins is a good thing: trying to cover up our sins or deny our sin is not.
In our text we get this picture of Adam and Eve patching together fig leaves so that somehow they might cover themselves and their sin up. In addition to this our text speaks of how when they heard God walking in the garden that they high tailed it into the nearest bushes. Then we have God questioning them and what is it they do? They both shift the blame and responsibility for their sinful actions.
At its most basic level, Adam and Eve attempted to cover up their sins and deny any responsibility for their rebellion against God.
Principle: Our sin cannot be hidden from God. Any attempts on our part to cover our sins before God are going to be futile.
The scriptures affirm that all of our ways are open and known by the Lord. The scriptures affirm that God searches our hearts and knows them. In Psalm 139:1ff it says “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways……
You and I can’t hide anything from God! Yet what is it that Adam and Eve tried to do: cover themselves and hide from God.
Adam and Eve also excelled in what we excel at today: Refusing to take responsibility for and confess our sins.
Adam and Eve were the first ones to perfect the blame game. Note this sickening thing: Adam blamed God for his sin “the woman you gave me”
Too often I speak to people who blame everyone around them for their sin and problems while never owning up to the fact that the problem is them.
The first step to right living and being right with God is to honestly confess our sins and personal responsibility for the mess we have created.
III. Any sense of shame and guilt that we have ought to lead us to confession and repentance of our sin
Surprisingly, our text is totally devoid of any sign of repentance on their part.
When God questioned Adam and then Eve his questions were designed to bring confession and repentance. God was giving them an opportunity to seek his face in humble contriteness and repentance and yet……
We need to keep short accounts with God. We need to regularly invite his examination and compare our lives with God’s revealed standards so that we can ensure that we are without guilt before Him.
IV. Sin affects our relationship with God and ultimately our quality of life
Until that day, Adam and Eve knew perfect and sweet daily fellowship with God in the garden. Upon the moment of their sin they didn’t want anything to do with God. Same thing with us: when we sin we tend to start avoiding God. The quality of our experiential relationship with God suffers……..
In a moment we are going to move forward to consider the specific results and consequences that God declared against Adam and the woman, for their sin against him. Before doing so I would like you to think about the following:
a. The portrait of God in this text
God is not portrayed as a fire breathing, rage wracked, God. Rather, there is a noticeable lack of severity on God’s part in this text. In fact this text is filled with the grace of God. In God’s judgment of Satan there is the promise of a Savior. In God’s questioning of Adam and Eve their seems to be an invitation to confession and repentance. In God’s judging of Adam and Eve hope is there—for the human race will continue on.
Also note this: How is it that God approaches and deals with Adam and Eve: Like a Father, like a parent “Where are you” “Who told you that you were naked”…..
b. Consider this for a moment: Do you think God’s judgments against Adam and the woman were strictly punitive and retributive in nature or do you think that these specific judgements of God were intended to have a greater effect. And if so, what do you think God’s purpose behind these particular judgments was?
-dependence! Highlight their need of God and of a savior.
THE SPECIFIC CONSEQUENCES THAT THE WOMAN AND ALL WOMEN FACE BECAUSE OF HER REBELLION AGAINST GOD.
Note: God metes out the consequences of sin in order of offense
a. Greatly increased pains in childbearing
-any woman who has conceived knows this to be true. No end of misery when it comes to having children (difficulties in conception, carrying babies to term, delivering them, etc)
-it is also proposed that more than the act of giving birth in view: the very raising of children in view --think of all the pain we as children bring to our parents by our rebelliousness ,etc
b. Marriages that are a struggle, and in particular: a real difficulty on the woman’s part when it comes to submitting to her husbands leadership and headship.
“your desire will be for your husband”
Every married woman struggles with this sin: the woman seeking to usurp her husbands leadership and headship in the home. This is what “your desire will be for your husband means”.
Genesis 4:7 gives us insight into the meaning of desire. In Genesis 4:7 God says to Cain “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it”. Sin desired to master, control, possess Cain and in a marriage the woman struggles with the very same thing in respect to her husband.
The Bible’s clear teaching is that the husband is the head and leader of the home and that the wife is to submit in all things to her husband (This was clearly instituted by God before the Fall).
On the flip side the husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5) and yet as Genesis 3 intimates, husbands do a poor job.
The subject of men and women, husbands and wives and the Bible’s expectations of them is a much neglected subject.
In marriage husbands and wives need to continue to revisit the scriptures pattern for how a marriage ought to work and what the man’s and woman’s responsibilities are. See texts: Ephesians 5:21ff, I Corinthians 7; 11:2-16, Genesis 1:28, Proverbs 31, Song of Songs, etc)
THE SPECIFIC CONSEQUENCES THAT ADAM AND ALL MEN FACE BECAUSE OF HIS REBELLION AGAINST GOD.
Note how God addresses Adam here “Because you listened to our wife”
A number of fascinating things are brought to bear by these words.
1. In the marriage relationship who is to listen/obey who?
Wives are to obey their husbands but in eating of the forbidden fruit Adam obeyed –and willingly so, his wife. Adam is the one who first of all turned the marriage relationship upside down.
2. God expects obedience to him above all others.
In the NT the religious leaders commanded the disciples to stop telling people about Jesus. They said “we are going to obey God and not man”. Rather than obeying and listening to what his wife said Adam should have obeyed God.
At the end of the day this is what is most important: that we find ourselves in obedience to God. When we disobey God then there are consequences for that.*******
CONSEQUENCE #1 “cursed is the ground because of you”
In our text only Satan and the ground are cursed by God. Here it’s the very ground from which Adam came that is cursed by God. Cursed so much so that the ground which until this point had willingly yielded Adam’s food will now fight against Adam.
In Romans 8:19ff more insight is given to us regarding God’s cursing of the earth. It says …‘The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time…..
APPLICATION: Because of God’s cursing the ground: 1. Work, which is a good thing and God ordained, went from being pleasurable to being a pain. 2. Survival became something that was not assured
Adam’s work in particular was this: work/till the ground (the ground from which he came).
It was until after the flood that men were only to eat vegetables and plants for food. When God cursed the ground on account of Adam’s sin the getting of food to eat became a whole lot harder as did the accomplishment of God’s specific purpose for the man he had created.
Note: I feel for vegetable farmers who day by day intimately know the meaning of these words in this text.
CONSEQUENCE #2 DEATH ASSURED: “dust you are and to dust you will return”
Death: God was true to his word. Sin brought death. As the scriptures say “The wages of sin is death….”
Just as we were made from the dust of the ground so we will return to dust. Our days our limited. We are a but a breath. We are like the grass of the fields—here today and gone tomorrow.
Physical death is a consequence of sinning against God.
I always find it strange when I’m doing a funeral. I’ll be in the funeral car riding with the funeral director and without fail they always ask me if I want some sand. You see, at many funerals the minister takes a little vial of sand and makes a crude cross on the casket with it. I typically refuse this because I always think of God’s words “dust you are and to dust you will return”. The sand reminds me of God’s judgement against us.
I must admit though: this is a perfect text for a funeral sermon because we are reminded of our earthiness and lowly roots and of the penalty for sinning against God and of our need of a Savior.
A REFLECTIVE THOUGHT REGARDING GOD’S JUDGMENTS UPON THE WOMAN AND ADAM
God’s judgments upon the man and the woman touch upon the very cores of their beings and created purposes.
1. The woman faced consequences that directly impacted and related to her created purpose and central purpose of her being: Being a mother and being a wife
-being a mother and being a wife is the primary role of married woman
2. Adam faced consequences that directly related to his created purpose: tending the ground and acting as a provider for his family.
-one of the primary responsibilities of married men is to provide for their families. Now of course sometimes the woman needs to be involved in providing as well for the scriptures speak of how the woman was created as a helpmate to come along side the man to help him do what he could not do on his own.
CONCLUSION
1. When we sin against God there are consequences to be faced. Today we have considered the specific consequences for Adam and Eve.
2. A sense of shame and guilt when we sin against God is a good thing
3. Rather than seeking to cover our sin up, which we can’t do anyway, we ought to be quick to confess and repent of our sins.
4. In addition to this we must not be like Adam and Eve and try to “pass the buck”. We need to face up to our sins and get right with God.
5. It goes almost without saying: sin affects our relationship with God
6. This text has significant implications as it relates to the roles of men and women which we in this “so called liberated culture” must not neglect or write off.
