Greeting
Hello church family. It is an honor to be with you this morning. We will begin by reading the Scriptures.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[a] of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:16-17
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool[c]of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”[d] 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the LordGod said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[e] and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to[f] your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.[g] 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3
Dear Congregation.
God has covenanted with man with a commandment to keep his law. It is a covenant of works of duty. After being tempted by Satan, man has broken this covenant with God by rebelling against Him. All mankind as a result has fallen into sin and is under the curse of death. But God because of his covenant grace with His Son, he has promised to send His son to reverse the curse of death and crush the head of Satan on the cross. Jesus Christ has come and fulfilled this covenant of grace by his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead and all those who believe in him and repent of there sins will no longer be under the curse of the law and the consequences of breaking the covenant of works. Therefore, those who are believing in Christ are joined to him by faith and receive all the benefits of the covenant of grace, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, adoption as children into God’s family, and a new heart in regeneration.
We are in a sermon series on the great doctrines of the Bible. We started with why the Bible is the word of God. Who God is? God’s sovereign decree and execution of his sovereign purpose in creation and providence. Since we looked at creation last week, including the creation of man, in the image and likeness of God, we look now at what happened after that in the Garden.
What happened in the Garden? Here’s some wrong views: Nothing really happened historically. It is just mythology. It’s a fairy tail to manipulate people into explaining away the way things are. Even though Jesus is the second historical Adam and Paul refers to both Adam’s as historical figures and that the whole of Christianity would be destroyed if you didn’t have a historical Adam that really feel, and a historical Jesus that really was crucified. God didn’t really say. Which is exactly how Satan tempted Eve and Jesus in the wilderness. Causing doubt upon God’s word, a chief tactic of the enemy. Man fell but it really has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with all of who you are because sin has corrupted mankind. We don’t even need the Old Testament because we have the New Testament.
Dear friends, the gospel is promised all over the Old Testament beginning in Genesis 3:15. Jesus said the whole Bible was about Him. The reason the world is as it is today is not because of the fall of man, it’s because: sin in the fabric of society, even though we cannot identify where it’s because we are victims, it couldn’t be my fault. It’s because of skin color, it’s in the power structures, it’s the colonial era’s fault, it’s the environment, it’s religion, it’s that group of people, it’s the fault of the previous generation, it’s the fault of the new generation, it’s the government, it’s this political party or that political party. Man fell in the garden, but it really wasn’t that bad. Man is still basically good. Except that the heart is deceitfully wicked, who can understand it, and there’s none righteous, no not one.
What really happened in the Garden?
1. A Covenant of Works
Let’s look at verse 16,
“And the LORD God commanded man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge and good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.’”
Genesis 2:16
God put Adam in the garden and now God is speaking to the crown of his creation. God is speaking to man and revealing himself in a covenantal relationship called the covenant of works. Why is it a covenant? It is a covenant because it is God speaking as the LORD God to man. This is normally how God makes a covenant, He is the one speaking to man with a command. Why is it a covenant of works?
Now lets look at verse 17,
“You cannot eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the day you eat of it you will surely die.“
Genesis 2:17
It is called a covenant of works because man is required to obey God, that is, to work. Adam was given the command not to eat of the tree of knowledge and good and evil. This is why it is a covenant of works. There is a command. A requirement. An obligation. A duty. It also a covenant because there are consequences for not keeping the covenant. Death. What do I mean by the covenant of works? “Do this and live.” This is different from the covenant of grace? “Live and do this.” It is also a covenant of works because Adam had a free will to obey or disobey in a period of testing. Throughout the garden narrative God is also speaking and with man, but during temptation and testing God is silent.
Even Christ, the second Adam was tested. Hosea 6:6-7 expressly speaks of a covenant with Adam, “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.” Though it is a lost doctrine, God making a covenant with Adam, the first man, should not surprise us because the whole Bible is covenantal. It is full of God’s promises, his solemn oaths, relationship to man, and man’s legal standing before God. God made a covenant with Noah to preserve the world, Abraham to bless him with many descendants, the Mosaic covenant, David that his kingdom would never end, New Covenant that there would be forgiveness of sins, a new heart, and we would be God’s people forever. Well he also made a covenant with Adam.
Our 17th century Baptist forefathers picked up on this and wrote, in The Second London Baptist Confession 20.1: “The covenant of works being broken by sin”. Some people objected that there’s no word for covenant in the garden account so we shouldn’t use it. Well we don’t have the word Trinity in the Bible but we see the elements of the Trinity in the Bible, sin is not mentioned by name nor marriage, but we see all these in Genesis 2-3 and likewise we see the basic elements of a covenant in Genesis 2. Really, no one has an issue with Jesus being the head of the church, the mediator of the new covenant. But when you start talking about the first Adam, as representing us, as our head, on we cannot have that?
Why does this matter for us? If you don’t have a historical Adam, you don’t have a historical Christ, You don’t have a historical fall, you don’t have a historical gospel. Why? Because Jesus and the Apostle Paul later reference the garden narrative in several places in the context that it historically took place in a literal sense. If we lose the covenant of works, there is no legal basis for mankind’s fall in Adam, and it lessens the parallel between our salvation in Christ. Paul explains, “For as by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the man will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). Laying the responsibility on Adam, implies he is the head of the human race. Eve sinned first, but Adam sin plunged the whole human race into ruin.
You see dear ones, there’s only two heads of man. The first Adam, in the covenant of works, or the second Adam, in the Covenant of Grace.
All mankind is part of the covenant of works because Adam was the head of mankind, representative head of the human race. We live in an individualistic age. You do you! I hear it all the time. The covenant of works teaches us that man fell collectively in Adam. You must recognize your former solidarity in Adam as a covenant breaker. We are not a law unto ourselves. We are not our own kings. Man has lived under God’s law in the covenant of works from the very beginning. This should help you see the need for Christ, the second Adam, the head of the New Covenant, the Covenant of Grace. Why? Because Christ lived under the law fulfilling the covenant of works. He obeyed God perfectly. Which Adam are you in the first or the Second? If you’re still in the covenant of works in the first Adam you will bear the consequences of the covenant of works. Death. And apart from Christ, hell. What else happened in the garden?
2. Temptation and Sin
Now lets look at Chapter 3 verse 1,
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LordGod had made.”
Genesis 3:1
The New Testament confirms that the Serpent is the Devil: “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). The 1st Temptation was to question and undermine God’s word and covenant with man. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” God always addressed the man first but the Tempter ignored the man, the head of the household, undermining God’s order of leadership. Satan does not use God’s personal name, drawing the woman away from God’s personal covenant. God said “of every tree…freely eat,” but Eve said “we may eat of the fruit of the trees.” She exaggerated God’s restriction by adding “neither shall you touch it.” God also said, “thou shalt surely die,” but she said “lest you die.” We might not die. These are subtle changes, her response shows she was beginning to doubt God’s word. If you begin to doubt God’s word, you are in temptation.
Another temptation was that there won’t be consequences: 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. Satan took this further and contradicted God’s word that God would not judge sinners. The wicked do not think God will judge. Additionally, the Devil tempted them by saying “You will be like God”. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan attacked God’s justice, truthfulness, and love. He twisted God’s word and promised a shortcut man could be like god independent of god.
Verse 6 states,
“So 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 to be desired to make one wise,”
Notice the three desires – the body, eyes, and wisdom. The tree was the same tree, but she saw it in a different light because of the temptations had a lack of faith in God’s word and Satan’s lie. Sin develops through corrupted desires, lies, and often through a series of temptations. And then sin enters the World. She gave into temptation and sinned. Man had everything good, he was created in God’s image, surrounded by paradise and beauty, commissioned to rule the world. But believing Satan’s lies made God’s provision seem hollow, provoked twisted desires that lowered man’s view of God, and his word, robbed joy, and led to disobedience. Man lost the things ironically, the tempter said man would gain. Sin makes promises to us it cannot keep. Adam sinned as well by eating, breaking God’s covenant of works.
Some minimize Adam’s sin as small, just a piece of fruit, but William Perkins said, “this one sin contained many sins…unbelieve… of the truth of God’s word, contempt of God, pride and ambition, ingratitude for God’s good gifts, craving to be wiser than God, blasphemies of charging God with lying, murder of themselves and their descendants, discontent with their high status to subdue the world, in short—the breaking of the whole law of God and his covenant with man.” They were ashamed of their sin:
In Verse 7 it says,
“7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”
They tried to cover up their nakedness –
“And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
They hid because they were afraid and their consciences condemned them, they knew they were guilty-
“8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.“
God came patiently asking questions allowing time for sinners to examine themselves. God called to the man, the head of the family first.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
God knew where he was, but God he was giving Adam opportunity to confess his sin.
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11
You cannot cover your sins.
We cannot even cover ourselves with good works, religion, or hiding from God. Only Christ’s blood can wash away our sins. Only Christ’s righteousness covers us. Adam answers God’s question by blaming his sin on the woman and God Himself demonstrating his allegiance to Satan: God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The question was meant for Adam to acknowledge Satan’s influence.
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Rather than confess his sin, he displayed hatred and selfishness. He blamed his once loved wife, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, and effectively said God kill her instead of me. This is the exact opposite of what the Second Adam does for his bride. Jesus says crucify me instead of my bride. Husbands love your wives like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Worse than this, Adam blames God for giving him a wife effectively laying the sin upon God himself, in sheer utter rebellion against the almighty. Here we have the breaking of the greatest commandment: loving God and the second loving his neighbor. “Curse you God, and kill my wife.” Adam sees himself as the victim while he attacks God and his neighbor.
How often this is what sin does to us. We see ourselves as the victims and charge God with the wrong and our neighbors. The woman follow’s Adam’s sin of blame and blames the serpent and God knowing God made the serpent:
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
What is sin?
Sin is doing that which God forbids or not doing what God commands. It is depravity. Sin is moral corruption. It is not merely, external, it is in the human heart. It is the condition of humanity. It is evil. It is defiling. Sin is rebellion against God. Sin is not eternal. God made man upright but he sought out many schemes. One puritan wrote, “sin is the rape of God’s mercy.” Man is totally depraved – Sin has infected the whole of man. You were dead in your sins and trespasses in which you once walked following the course of this world. By nature children of wrath (Eph. 2). Sin is used in the bible with words like: iniquity, unrighteousness, lawlessness, transgression, disobedience to God, error, and uncleanness. How does this sin effect all mankind? Because Adam is the head of mankind.
“For as in Adam all die.”
1 Corin. 15:22
Sins we actually commit. The breaking of the moral law – the 10 commandments. What are the consequences and punishment?
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
The children bearing comes with pain as a consequence to the fall: 1
6 To the woman he said,“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.
The pre-fall marriage relationship is corrupted by sin: “
Your desire shall be contrary to[f] your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
Man is frustrated in his work and ability to provide food. The ground is cursed:
“17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken;”
Man’s labor was by thorns and thistles, the very thorns that Christ came to wear on his head to reverse the cruse of man’s fall. Sin frustrates and brings pain to the ordinary duties and relationships that were given to the man and woman. For the woman her domestic relationships with husband and children are afflicted. For the man affliction came in his work and ability to provide for the family. Christ redeems the marriages between husbands, wives, families, and our work. Man’s rebellion culminated in returning to dust. Death. A reversal of the act of creation: “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return (v. 19).”
Adam and Eve cast out of the Garden and the way back in is blocked:
“23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.“
Man’s quest to become a god cost him everything. His access to the tree of life could have allowed him to live forever. The ultimate consequence is separation from God forever. Hell. The place where the worm doesn’t die. The place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The lake of fire.
3. Covenant of Grace
“15 I will put enmity between you and the woman.”
God graciously changes the affections of the woman from Satan to God. Humanity is divided between to groups. The offspring of the woman and the offspring of Satan, the redeemed and the lost.As Christians there is enmity between us and the world, between us and Satan. We are in a spiritual war everyday of our lives. Ultimately, however, this text finds it’s fulfillment in the LORD Jesus Christ, in the fullness of time, born of a virgin, conceived of the holy Spirit, Jesus was the second Adam, the Son of God. There is a line of decedents from the offspring of Eve all the way to Jesus Christ.
The first gospel promise: “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This is the first promise of the gospel that points us to and finds fulfillment in Jesus Christ on the cross. It is given directly after the fall of man when sin enters the world. Baptist Forefathers wrote: “This covenant is revealed in the gospel; first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman,5 and afterwards by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament;6“
This covenant is here for the first time in scripture promised to us. Why is it grace? Remember this is directly after the fall, were God said you shall surely die, according to the covenant of works. God could have killed them right there, but immediately, God shows them grace. Unmerited favor, according to the eternal covenant he made with the Son, here now promised and revealed.
Throughout the rest of the OT the covenant of grace is promised and finally, in the New Testament, we see it is fulfilled in the blood of Jesus on the cross. The blood that was poured out for you, according to the New Covenant. Christ even fulfills the covenant of works by doing what the first Adam did not do. Christ obeys God’s law that many would be made righteous. “You shall bruise his heel” – this is not a defeating blow, but Christ would be bruised on the cross, he would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our sins. Christ is bruised, he bleeds, he is offered as the once and for all sacrifice for sinners. “He shall bruise your head” – This is a defeating blow, the prince of darkness grim, the old serpent, takes a blow to the head. Christ crushes the head of Satan on the cross, on Golgotha, skull hill. This is the glorious announcement that the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, would defeat Satan.
Christ has bound the strong man and plundered all his goods. He ruined satan’s empire, stripped him of his authority, power over death. By Christ’s death, he broke the power of Satan who held the power of death. He disarmed the power and authorities, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. And at Christ’s return he will cast Satan into the lake of fire. After God’s promise of salvation, Adam trusts God’s promise by naming his wife Eve, meaning life.
“20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.”
Instead of the death of the cruse. There is a promise of grace. Life. God shows grace in providing clothing:
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
They tried to cloth themselves in shame. But God cloths them with animal skins, suggesting a sacrifice. Christ is the once and for all sacrifice for our sin that covers our guilt and shame. We are clothed in the righteous robes of the Lord Jesus Christ.God shows grace by protecting man from eating from the tree of life and forever be in a fallen state:
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden…”
Where else do we see the tree of life in the Bible? The tree of life is in the new heavens and new earth. Man was blocked. Now, man is let into heaven through Christ. If you are still in Adam, you’re spiritually dead in the covenant of works under condemnation. Do not try to earn your salvation by being good enough, you never will because of the cruse of Adam breaking God’s covenant of works. You must turn to Christ, the second Adam, the head of the covenant of grace, who has crushed Satan’s head on the cross. He is the only way back to the restored garden in the new heavens and new earth.
Remember, our war is not against flesh and blood but against dark powers and principalities. We have an advisory the Devil who hates us and Christ’s church. Satan will do whatever he can to destroy us and divide us. Put on the whole armor of God. Pray against the dark powers. In temptation God will always provide a way of escape, so flee. The gospel redeems marriages from the curse. Husbands love your wives. Wives respect your husbands. In your labor, pray for God to bless it, to give you favor, and know that work is a good thing from God but it has been cursed. Beware of those things that are a delight to the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Learn the depths of your depravity as a sinner and God’s amazing grace in providing a savior.
God is building His church by grace, Christ the head. As members of the body of Christ, love one another, pray for one another, build up one another, encourage one another. Serve the Lord in his church: We have VBS coming up. We have visitation ministry once a month. Christ is revealed himself in the whole bible. A whole bible makes a whole Christian. Feast on it every Lord’s day. We worship Christ every Lord’s day and center our worship on Him. Songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, fellowship, prayer, the Lord’s supper, baptisms, through preaching. Thanking the Lord for his covenant of grace that we experience in covenant with one another here until we experience all the fullness of it in glory.
Look forward to the promise of the covenant of grace, eternal life, the New Garden in glory, when we will join all the believers from all the world from all times, the church of the ages, and all the loved ones who have died in Christ and will be made alive again in heaven. There will be no more cruse of sin and death. It will be done away with. All our pains and sufferings will be gone. Set your hope on the heavenly garden where we will all eat from the tree of life forever and ever.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
Amen.
Benediction
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
