Here in Genesis 3 We Have the Beginning of the Ruination of God S Paradise. This Is The

WHAT SIN DID

Genesis 3:6-12

Here in Genesis 3 we have the beginning of the ruination of God’s paradise. This is the explanation of why there is a hell on earth. (Why people suffer pain, illness, and death).

• And what I want to do is show you some of the results or consequences of sin mentioned in this passage (these consequences are still experienced today…one of the things we need to learn and remember is that sin always, always has consequences…it is going to cost you something)…so the first thing we are going to do is look at just a few of the consequences of sin…
• …and then I want to show you some ways that man tried and still tries to deal with sin…and then how God deals with it.

Let’s begin in vs. 7. Adam and Eve have disobeyed God and have eaten the forbidden fruit…and look at the consequences of their actions. Vs. 7:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Look at this, “they knew they were naked…and the eyes of both of them was open?”

• It never bothered them before that they were naked.
• And they had always been able to see before.
• What changed?

What changed was before they were not ashamed to be naked before one another and now they are!

• What has happened is they have lost their innocence!
• And now they are aware that they have done something wrong and they feel guilty.

And unless a person sears over his conscience this is something that consistently accompanies sin.

• Years ago when I was in Jr. High we were going to have an English test. I was not very good at diagraming sentences so I took a little piece of paper and made some notes on it…when we started the test I took that piece of paper out and had it laying on my desk where I could get the answers from it.
• Well, I got so engrossed in what I was doing I didn’t see my teacher coming from behind me and the next thing I know he picks up my piece of paper and goes to his desk.
• I felt horrible. I had prided myself on being one of the top students in the class and now I had been caught cheating. I was so ashamed. I was so embarrassed.
• How was I going to face my classmates? Would my teacher give me an “F”?
• What made it worse was he was my football coach!
• I was no longer innocent. The guilt was huge. And then I made matters worse. After we were finished with the test and class was dismissed I went to him and lied about that piece of paper (“I wasn’t using it.”)
• Teenage girl…has sex for the first time with her boyfriend…now she has lost her innocence.
• Well thought of student in high school gets caught shoplifting.
• A man lies to his wife and she catches him. How long will it be before she trusts him again.
• Sin robs you of your innocence and the guilt is extremely heavy…just like it was for Adam and Eve. .

Look at another thing that is a result of sin, look at vs.10: And he said, "I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked;

“Afraid – fear”.

• In vs. 8 apparently it wasn’t uncommon for God to walk in the garden…and when He did Adam apparently looked forward to meeting with God.
• But now man is afraid to meet God…and he still is today.

The fear of meeting God is perhaps the main reason why modern man tries to convince himself that God does not exist.

• People today want to convince themselves that God doesn’t exist because if He does exist they are afraid to meet Him because they know they are sinners.
• But if He doesn’t exist…no fear…so they convince themselves that God is not real.

One of the consequences of sin is fear. Who will know? Will my classmates find out? Will my husband find out? My wife? My boss? Will my parents find out? Will she get pregnant?

And then the ultimate consequence of sin is death; vs. 3. Here in chapter 3 Adam and Eve began to die.

• You see, the spirit leaving the body is the end of death.
• But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned they set the process of dying in motion.
• They began to die and their sin would ultimately result in their physical death.

And not only that, but in vs. 22-24 sin also results in a separation from God and the tree of life.

So sin has consequences…it will always cost you something.

But I want you to notice three things in this passage that man tries to do with his sin.

First of all, notice in vs. 7 that they realized they were naked and so they “sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

• Why did they do that? They didn’t clothe themselves because of the climate.
• And they didn’t clothe themselves because of the public because there wasn’t anyone else around.

This covering was an attempt to deal with the shame brought on by their sin.

• They did this to feel better about themselves.
• This was a psychological and physical covering.

And today people do much the same thing…we use different things to cover ourselves psychologically and physically. For instance:

Sometimes we cover ourselves physically and psychologically by comparing ourselves with others.

• I feel a sense of shame for something I have done but I say to myself, “I may not be good but I am a lot better than him.”
• “I have never done that!”
• “Compared to her I am a saint.”
• All that is, is just a covering to deal with the shame brought on by our sin.

Another way we cover ourselves from sin and shame is we talk about corporate sin.

• “Boy, the church is just so apathetic today.”
• “The world is just so evil.”
• “Middle class America is just so amoral.”

We talk about everybody’s sin so we don’t have to talk about my sins.

• It is all just a covering.
• We are still just trying to avoid the naked truth.

That is how we deal with the shame of our sin…we try to cover it up.

And then we deal with the shame of our sin by hiding; vs. 8.

“They hid from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

I want you to notice this: Sin doesn’t cause God to want to abandon man. Sin causes man to desert God.

• After they sinned who was it that came looking for them? It was God.
• What did man do? He hid! “Let me get out of your sight God!
• “Let me run from you God!” “If I can hide then You won’t know what I have done.”
• Sin causes man to abandon God.

And today, people do the same thing…they want to hide from God.

• People hide from God by withdrawing into the recesses of their homes(don’t want to be seen; don’t want to go to church; don’t want to fellowship).

• Some hide from God in strong drink and drugs.
• And one of the reasons why psychology and philosophy is so popular today is because it is intellectual shrubbery to hide behind. All these academics and all these philosophers, and all these psychologists pull up things from our past…and they create all these issues and excuses to hide behind…instead of simply being open and honest about their sin.

Listen, it is foolish to play hide and seek with God.

• And instead of hiding do you know what they should have done. They should have run to God…because God was the only one who could straighten out what was now crooked.

So, if covering doesn’t work. And hiding doesn’t work, what do you do?

Look at vs. 12: And the man said, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

This may be man’s favorite way to deal with sin and the guilt that goes with it…and that is by blaming.

• The man was quick to blame the woman and the woman was quick to blame the serpent.
• And things haven’t changed.

We are so good in our culture at blaming. Everybody is a victim.

• “You can’t call that sin because I only did what I was told.”
• “You can’t hold me responsible because you don’t know the environment in which I was raised.”
• “You can’t hold me accountable because you don’t know the abuses I have endured.”
• We want to blame everything on someone else.

And do you know who is blamed more than anyone else? God.

• Adam said, “God, you gave me the woman.”
• And Eve said, “The serpent that you created” caused me.

Have you ever done that? “God it is your fault. If you would’ve answered my prayer.”

• “If you would have healed my cancer…” “If you would have got me that job.”
• “If you would change my boss.” “If you would not have brought that woman into the office I would not have looked.”

We are good at blaming. And the sad thing is, blaming others opens the door for justifying more sinful behavior (After all, none of it is my fault)

So we try to cover our sins…and we try to hide from God…and we blame others…and yet all of our attempts to deal with our sins are woefully inadequate…our refusal to admit the truth about himself just leads to more tragic consequences.

• The only effective remedy for sin has got to come from God.

And that is what makes Genesis 3 so important to us because if we can learn how God responded when Adam and Eve sinned then we can have a pretty good idea how God is going to respond when we sin. When we disobey and rebel.

And the first thing I want you to notice isGod came looking for the man but where was Satan?

• I will tell you. Satan abandoned them. Satan didn’t speak up. He didn’t try to defend them. He didn’t try to rescue them.

When trouble came it was God who showed up looking for the man.

• And that is very interesting because all other religions in the world have man looking for God.
• But the God of the Bible always takes the initiative when it comes to salvation.
• We need to learn that. What separates the God of the Bible from all the other gods that men worship is you have to go and find their gods…but our God comes to find you.

And He approaches you, not in a spirit of contempt but in a spirit of concern.

• He loved Adam and Eve so much in spite of their sin that He attempts, not to flush them out…but to draw them out.

That is why He asked the question, “Where are you?”

• This question was designed for their benefit, not His? God knew where they were. He knew what had happened.

God asks, “Where are you?” And what He is really asking is, “Why are you where you are? Why are you hiding from Me? Why are you afraid of Me? Why do you feel so bad?”

• What God wanted and what He wants from us today, is for us to come to terms with the truth about sin.
• He wants us to get it out in the open…but instead Adam and Eve did what a lot of people do today…they tried to cover it up, and they tried to hide…and they tried to blame someone else.

Listen, that is where it starts! We have to come to terms with the truth of our sins before God can straighten out what is crooked.

How does God do that? Well, look at vs. 15. Here in this verse God announces the only remedy for sin that is adequate. Look at vs. 15. Speaking to the serpent God says,

And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel. "

There are a lot of things we could say about what is said here. But what you have here at the very beginning is God saying, “Someone is going to come who is going to crush the serpents head.”

• And Matthew, Mark, Luke and John say, “Here He is. This is the One. Don’t look anywhere else. Here He is.”
• And how does Mark say it, “The gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” “The good news of Jesus Christ!”
• And time and time again as you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you see example after example where Jesus defeats Satan.
• But when you get to the end of each of those books, Jesus dies and you think, “Oh no! Who is going to defeat Satan now?”

But then Jesus is raised from the dead…and what you realize is the serpent bruised Christs heel when he killed Christ on the cross that day…he made Jesus suffer…but when Christ died without sin and was raised from the dead…He crushed the serpents head. (Jesus rendered powerless the one who had the power of death. Heb. 2:14).

• So the crucified Christ is God’s remedy for sin. What do we do with sin? Do we cover it? No, God can’t cover your sin as long as you are trying to cover it. .Do we hide it? No. God can’t cover your sin as long as you are trying to cover it. Do we blame it on someone else? No, God can’t cover your sin as long as you are are blaming it on someone else.
• The only way God can cover your sin is if you get it out in the open…confess it to God and then let God cover your sin with the blood of His Son. That is what God did to deal with sin.