The Fall // Genesis 3

Join us as we continue our EDEN series in Genesis 3!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
they're meant to be, because sin broke it and, at its
core, sinning is making thesame decision that those
students made with that duck.
I'm gonna do things my way, I'mgonna make my own rules, and
the thing is just like themcooking that duck, it never ends
how you want it to, and a lotof you guys here tonight are

(00:21):
experiencing that very samething, whether you realize it or
not.
To do it your own way, you'vebeen trying to prove your worth
through popularity, grades,sports, but all that's done is
leave you anxious and insecurebecause you're never quite good
enough.
There's always somebody faster,somebody just a little bit

(00:42):
funnier tells a better joke,someone a little prettier has
the shape and the image that youwish you had, and so you hear
hey, follow your heart, do whatfeels right.
But the problem is, every weekyour heart wants something else,
and the thing that it wantedlast week just left you feeling
emptier than before, and so yourun to distraction, addiction,

(01:02):
self-destruction, that same oldhabit that you know doesn't work
.
But you don't know how to stop.
And what we're gonna see inGod's word tonight, in Genesis
two and three, is one that it'snot meant to be that way, but
also that it doesn't have to bethat way and specifically what
we're gonna see this is a sermonin a sentence.
We were created to liveconnected to God as our source

(01:23):
of life.
But we were created to liveconnected to God as our source
of life but, just like Adam andEve, we've all chosen to unplug
and go our own way and it alwaysleads to shame, separation and
death.
Yet in Jesus, god offers toreconnect us to himself as the
true source of life.
So we're going to unpack that,the rest of this sermon.
So if you have your Bible,please go ahead and flip open to

(01:44):
Genesis, chapter two.
We're going to start in verseseven, genesis two.
In verse seven.
It's going to be right up front, probably like first page still
, depending on how your Bible isprinted, but Genesis, chapter
two, verse seven.
So verse seven says this Thenthe Lord God formed a man from
the dust of the ground andbreathed into his nostrils the

(02:05):
breath of life, and the manbecame a living being.
And the verses are gonna be uphere Now.
The Lord God had planted agarden in the east, in Eden, and
there he put the man he hadformed.
The Lord God made all kinds oftrees grow out of the ground
trees that were pleasing to theeye and good for food.
In the middle of the gardenthere was a tree of life and the
tree of the knowledge of goodand evil, and then we're going

(02:27):
to go down to verse 15.
Then the Lord God took the manand put him in the garden of
Eden to work it and take care ofit.
And the Lord God commanded theman you are free to eat from any
tree in the garden, but youmust not eat from the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, forwhen you eat from it you will
certainly die.
Will you pray with me, lord?
God, we love you so much and wepray that tonight we would come
to your word with open heartsand ears and minds to the truth

(02:50):
found in scripture, the capitalT truth, lord, that we would be
able to understand the sin thatis in all of us, lord, but we
would be able to see and respondpositively to the solution
you've given us.
So, father, we love you andpraise you and praise things in
Jesus' name.
And everybody said amen.
So one thing that has probablyconfused all of us at some point
is what in the world is goingon with the trees, right.

(03:13):
Like why are there two trees?
Why does one seem to be good,why does one seem to be bad?
Like why are they even there?
Well, here's the thing the treeof life is symbolic of God's
own life and power.
The tree of life was symbolicof God's own life and power.
It was the source of life foreverything in the garden.
That's why it's in the middleright.

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Because here's the thingthat'll blow your mind, because
I didn't understand this until Ireally we're not immortal in
and of themselves.
Like they were not created tohave inherent internal eternal
life.
They had eternal life becausethey were meant to come to an
outer source that provided themthat life.
Their life came from eating thefruit of the tree and living

(03:57):
forever, and God was the sourceof the life that they would gain
through that tree.
Basically, the idea is this thatif you are connected to God's
source of life, you'll liveforever.
Think about it this way.
Think of your phone, right?
This phone does not lastforever on its own.
You have to charge it.
The tree of life was kind oflike that charger and God's life

(04:17):
was the electricity, in a way,like the tree was the mode or
the method that they gained lifefrom God.
They would come to the tree andeat and they would live.
But if you unplug the chargerfrom your phone, your battery
might run for a little while,but eventually it'll die.
In the same way, we stayconnected to God's life.

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We live, we unplug, we die.
But what about the tree of theknowledge of good and evil?
Why is that there?
God said they'd die if they eat.
It doesn't really seem likeit's a good part of God's
creation.
It actually had a deepermeaning.
It stood for something bigger,and this tree represents taking
the authority to do what isright in your own eyes.

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To put it another way, eatingfrom this tree was kind of like
saying I want to decide formyself what's right and wrong.
I don't need God and I reallydon't want him telling me what
to do.
It's saying God, hey, I think Iknow better than you and I'm
gonna make my own rules.
I'm gonna do it my way.
That's really what it is.

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It's the tree of I'm gonna doit my own way.
And that's why it led to death,because choosing this tree over
the other tree was to decide tounplug yourself from the source
of life and look, it might workfor a little while, but in the
end you're always gonna crashand burn.
Think, you're always going tocrash and burn.
Think about it this way.

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It's kind of like driving right,when you drive, there is a set
standard of rules to makedriving safe and fun, even
enjoyable and just a good thing.
But if you go outside of thoserules, things don't usually go
very well, right?
Imagine you wake up one day andyou go.
You know what?
I'm going to make my own rulesabout driving Oil change every
5,000 miles.
Nah, I think it sounds like50,000 miles.
I'm going to make my own rulesabout driving Oil change every
5,000 miles.
Nah, I think it sounds like50,000 miles.

(06:01):
I'm going to change my oilevery 50,000 miles, right, emmy,
50,000 sounds like a goodnumber.
20 mile per hour speed limit no, I'm thinking 120 mile per hour
speed limit, like that soundslike, and some of you drive like
that, but that sounds like myrules.
Or hey, red light means stop.
No, red light means punch itand pray, baby.
Like that's go time, likethat's your time to speed up.
You got to make it through thatthing.

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Stop sign.
Stop sign stands for optionalsuggestion from the government.
There might as well be aquestion mark on the end of that
.
Stop Question mark Right.
Or hey, school zone, that'sNASCAR with backpacks.
Baby Shake and bake Like we'regoing to go for it.
We're going to speed.
Baby Shake and bake Like we'regoing to go for it.
We're going to speed.
Making your own rules might feelgood for a little while, you
might feel free, have some fun,but very quickly it is going to

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lead to disaster, like you aregoing to kill someone, and it
works the same way in oureveryday life.
But maybe you're like me andyou want to ask like, why was
the tree of knowledge of goodand the evil there in the the
first place?
Like, if it had the potentialto do this much damage, why did
God put it there?
Was he just trying to, like,trick them or torture them?
No, here's the thing, andlisten closely here, because

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this will change how youunderstand this whole story.
The tree was there to give thema choice, because real love
cannot exist without a realchoice.
That's why God didn't makerobots.
He gave us free will, theability to choose, and we should
be thankful for that.
That's one of his gifts ofgrace, and so having this tree

(07:29):
in the garden was like Godsaying stay with me.
I am the source of good, I amthis tree of life.
I'm going to put my life in thecenter of this garden.
I'm going to put it there sothat you actually have to go to
it of life, because I don't wantyou to unplug yourself, but I'm
not going to force you.
You are free to choose your ownway, even if it leads to death.

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And without that tree, adam andEve couldn't choose to truly
love, trust and obey God,because there'd be nothing else
to choose.
That tree was their chance tosay God.
I believe that you know what'sbest for me, even if I don't see
the whole picture.
Ultimately, that tree was anopportunity for them to worship
God, and for a while that's whatthey did, right up until

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Genesis 3.
Genesis 3, verse 1.
Now, the serpent was more craftythan any of the other wild
animals.
The Lord God had made Genesis,chapter 3, verse 1.
And you must not touch it oryou will die.
You will not certainly die, theserpent said to the woman, for

(08:39):
God knows that when you eat fromit, your eyes will be opened
and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that thefruit of the tree was good for
food and pleasing to the eye andalso desirable for gaining
wisdom, she took some and ate it.
And she also gave some to herhusband who was with her, and he
ate it.
And then the eyes of both ofthem were opened and they

(09:02):
realized they were naked, and sothey sewed fig leaves together
and made coverings forthemselves.
And so maybe you've read thisbefore and been super confused
as well.
Right, like talking snake fruit, like on here, and it's hard to
tell what is symbolic andwhat's literal.
And so our focus here is goingto be what we can be very for
sure on, what the Bible istrying to say, like the point it
is trying to make, and one ofthose things is this is that the

(09:24):
way that the serpent tempts Eveis the same way he tempts us
today?
And the serpent is Satan, right, the accuser.
He begins with a question hey,did God really say that you
shouldn't do that?
Did God really say not to eatfrom that tree?
And the answer was yes, likethat's exactly what he said.
And Eve tells the serpent that.
But you see that she's kind ofstarting to get a little bit
shaky because she says yeah, infact you know, he said don't

(09:46):
even touch it or you're going todie.
Now did God say that no?
So she adds to it right, she'sbuying into this, this thing
that Satan's trying to sell her.
And so Satan comes back andoutright contradicts God.
He says thing that Satan'strying to sell her, and so Satan
comes back and outrightcontradicts God.
He says you're not going to die.
God's lying to you.
He doesn't want you to knowwhat he knows.
He knows that if you eat fromit, then you're going to be like

(10:14):
him.
And the tricky thing is theyalready were we just talked
about.
They were made in God's image.
But see, here's the point Atits core, the temptation was not
so much about the fruit as itwas about not trusting God.
Satan was trying to convince Evethat, hey, god is not good,
that God is holding out on you,that he doesn't want you to live

(10:34):
your best life, that he'skeeping something from you, that
he's just some cosmic grandpabuzzkill and it's the same lie
we hear day in and day out fromthe enemy.
And she buys the lie.
She buys the lie that she can'ttrust God and she eats and she
gives some to Adam.
And in that moment they makethe decision to turn from the
tree of life and eat from thetree of I'll do it my own way,

(10:58):
I'll make my own rules.
And in that moment, what theywere doing, whether they
realized it or not, was puttingthemselves in the place of God,
trying to take the crown,declare themselves to be God.
And the problem is we makereally bad gods.
And we know this right.
Like think about it, girls,let's be honest here for a
second.
And we know this right, likethink about it, girls, let's be

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honest here for a second.
If we don't eat by 12 pm on thedot, we get like full-on rage,
monster levels of anger.
Will anybody admit to thattoday, please?
I have a wife and a daughterand anger is real, it happens,
right.
But don't worry, it's okaybecause guys, boys, let's level
here.
Look, if we get even theslightest stummy ache, it's like
playing the funeral, like putme in a box, float me down the

(11:41):
river, take me out behind thebarn, shoot me Like I'm done.
Stomach ache might as well befatal.
Or think about it this way weare so dependent.
Right, when that phone ban wentinto effect, my friends.
Some of y'all walked around likejunkies for a week.
Like some of y'all, I thoughtyou were going to spontaneously
combust for a solid three hourswhen you first got here that

(12:02):
first wind way.
The sun is millions of milesaway, but if my white self goes
outside and stands under it for15 minutes without white paint
slathered all over my body, Iwill look as red as Dallas's
shirt.
Like that is what happens everysingle time.
It's very red.
You don't have to turn around,just trust me.
Or I'm to the point in lifewhere if I sleep the wrong way,

(12:24):
my back files for retirementLike it's just over, like I
cannot walk straight for a week,or like the truth is, guys, I
really cannot form sentences inthe morning if I don't have
coffee.
Like I do not interact withhuman beings at all if I don't
have some form of caffeine.
And we can go on and joke andjoke.
But the point is we are finite,fragile, breakable people who

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make really bad gods.
And it's easy to look at Adamand Eve and think how dumb, like
they should have known better.
But here's the reality.
Lock in.
If I've lost you, come back tome for this.
We have all decided to eat fromthe wrong tree.
Every single one of us havedecided to try and do things our

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own way, to be our own God.
When you know that God callsyou to love your neighbor, but
you choose to tear them down,gossip about them, spread rumors
intentionally, not invite themto the things, send pictures and
messages and group chats thattear them down honest, but you

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lie to your parents to get yourway cheat in school because it's
easier.
Or when you care more aboutbeing popular than doing what's
right.
Or when you care more aboutbeing popular than doing what's
right.
Or when you act one way atchurch in a totally different
way at school.
When you know you shouldn'twatch that certain kind of video
or look at that certain kind ofstuff on social media, but you
do anyway and then just clearthe history.

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Or when you know you shouldn'tsend those kinds of texts and
memes in the group chat, but youdo because you want the
attention.
When you know that youshouldn't be crossing those
lines with your boyfriend orgirlfriend, but you do anyways.
Every single one of us has eatenthe fruit, myself included.
We've said I wanna decide formyself what's right and wrong

(14:15):
and the Bible calls that sin and, whether we realize it or not,
when we make that decision, wetake the crown and we say I'm
going to be my own God, and itleads to death because we unplug
ourselves from the source oflife.
And that's what we see rightafter in verse seven of chapter
three.
And then the eyes of both ofthem were opened and they
realized they were naked.
And so they sewed fig leavestogether and made coverings for

(14:36):
themselves.
So they realized that they werenaked and they hid, and it's
more than meets the eye.
It's not like they were juststanding around and they felt a
breeze and like, ah, and thenrealized they were naked.
But what it's standing for isthis idea of shame that they had
something to hide Before theyhad perfect innocence.
Can you imagine that?
Like, think about that Beforethey had perfect innocence?

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Can you imagine that, like,think about that Hiding
absolutely nothing, nothing tohide, nothing to be afraid of,
right, if somebody were to sendyou a letter in the mail that
says I knew what you did, youcould just tear that thing up,
because you know that everybodyknows like perfect innocence.
None of us know that.
We all have skeletons in ourcloset.

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We all have things, nights,memories, decisions we don't
know that type of innocence.
All we know is the guilt andthe shame that they did.
They realized they were nakedand they hid in shame.
They ran from God.
And then in verse eight then theman and his wife heard the
sound of the Lord as he waswalking in the garden in the
cool of the day and they hidfrom the Lord God among the

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trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to theman where are you?
Adam and Eve ran and hid fromGod.
They used to walk with God likethe presence of God in the
garden.
Can you imagine what that'slike?
And then they hide.
Why?
Because they knew they messedup, they knew they disobeyed and

(16:00):
they knew they deserved theconsequence.
God is perfect, he's just, hepunishes sin and we want God to
punish evil.
But what happens when we're theevil ones?
What happens when we're on thatside of the fence?
We have a reason to want to gohide.
Then verse 10, he answered andsaid I heard you in the garden
and I was afraid because I wasnaked, so I hid.
And he said who told you thatyou were naked?
Have you eaten from the treethat I've commanded you not to

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eat from the man, said the womanyou put here with me.
She gave me.
Then the Lord God said to thewoman what is this you have done
?
The woman said the serpentdeceived me and I ate.
God asks Adam what happened?
And he immediately actually Ihad written in my notes that he
blames Eve, but that's not whohe blames first, he blames God.
He says God, the woman you gaveme tempted me.

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You notice how he forgets hername all of a sudden, right Like
he was just singing like a lovesong, basically after God
creates her and brings her tohim.
And now it's just that woman.
Because that's what sin does.
Because, think about it, if sinis trying to be your own God,
what happens when a bunch ofpeople who all think they're
little gods start running intoeach other?

(17:03):
Right, if I think I'm God, whathappens when I run into Owen,
who thinks he's God and we bothwant the same thing?
That's why you fight.
That's what leads to gossip.
That damages and destroysfriend groups.
That's why jealousy makes youbitter when your friend gets
something that you really wanted.
That's why you lie to yourparents and try to just get your

(17:23):
way, and it breaks their trust.
That's why comparing yourselfto others online makes you just
hate how you look, or why fightsstart and friendships end just
because somebody had to be right.
And what I'm trying to get youto see here is that we have all
sinned, we've all chosen to eatthat fruit, and it always leads
to bad things.
In fact, scripture says thatsin has infected all of us.

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It's all we know.
All have sinned and fallenshort of the glory of God, and
the wages of sin are death, andthat's a hard pill to swallow.
But the beauty is even in theend of this, one of the darkest
chapters in all of scripture,there is hope at the end of the
story, and so, in God's mercy,he lets Adam and Eve live.
But he deals out theseconsequences.

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He makes childbearing hard forEve, he makes work hard for Adam
.
Like these are thankful andgive them dignity, but now
they're a strain and it wouldultimately point them back to
God.
But this is what God says to theserpent.
I know we're, you know, lock in.
It's been a long day, buteverybody listen here for this.
This is the most important partof the sermon.
If you heard nothing else, thisis what you need to hear all

(18:26):
right, cursed are you above alllivestock and all wild animals.
You will crawl on your bellyand you will eat dust all the
days of your life, and I willput enm.

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And so what's being said hereis much more than just an
explanation about why snakesslither.
God is promising that one daythere would be a descendant of
Eve who would come and destroythe serpent and the power that
he has over man, and that, eventhough that descendant would be
wounded, that that descendant,through that wound, would gain
the ultimate victory.
And that descendant's name isJesus.
And thousands of years later, aman named Jesus would be born

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in a manger in Bethlehem.
He'd grow up, live a perfectlife and at the end of his life
he died.
But not just he suffocated todeath, naked, beaten, beyond
human recognition, tortured onthe side of a road, hung on a
cross.

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The Bible says that was not anaccident.
He didn't just run in with thewrong crowd, but rather that on
that cross Jesus became our sin.
God is perfect and just, andwe've all chosen to eat from the
wrong tree and because of thatwe deserve the consequence of
death, because we chose tounplug ourself from the source

(19:52):
of life.
But Jesus took that death.
He took what we chose so thatwe would have the opportunity to
choose what he earned freedom,eternal life.
And that's the message of thegospel.
He faced death so that youcould be reconnected to the true

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eternal source of life, andthat's god, and that if you
would believe in your heart andconfess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord, you would besaved.
And you know what that means.
That means you got to make himking.
That means that crown thatyou've tried to take for
yourself so many times that yousaid I'm going to be God, I'm
going to do things my way.

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You got to give it back my way.
You got to give it back.
See, a lot of you guys walked inhere tonight thinking that
Christianity is believing that aGod exists.
Believe George Washington wasreal.
That's not really the pictureyou get here.
The demons, satan they allbelieve God exists.

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The demons, satan.
They all believe God exists.
They believe more than you do.
But true faith that saves thatyou get access to what Jesus did
for you on the cross is aposture of the heart.
It is not just saying I believehe was real, but it's saying I
am declaring him Lord.
I'm doing the opposite of whatAdam did in that garden where he

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chose to eat the tree of I'lldo it myself, man.
Faith in Jesus is you takingthat fruit and saying I'm done,
and throwing it at his feet?
I'm tired of choosing my ownway, I'm tired of trying to do
it on my own.
I can't, and all I bring to you, jesus, is a bunch of reasons
why I can't, and I'll lay themat your feet.
I'm gonna ask you to save mebecause you are the source of

(21:44):
life and I'm tired of trying toact like I can find it in a girl
or a guy or a number on socialmedia or a number on a scale or
anything else that I've lookedto.
It's all run dry.
So, jesus, I'm laying it atyour feet and I'm turning to you
.
Will you save me?
And scripture says you'll besaved.
Not only that, that you will beadopted back into the family of

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God, that you'll receive theHoly Spirit and through the Holy
Spirit, you'll be conformedback into that image of God that
we were created to bear, thatyou'd be forgiven, set free, a
child redeemed, that forevermore, your worth and your value and
identity is fixed in what Jesusdid for you, not your grades,

(22:27):
not what team you're on, notyour highlight reel, not what
school you get into, not howmany friends you have, not what
friend group you're in, none ofthat matters did for you on the
cross when it comes to eternity,that's all that matters.
And so some of you guys heretonight I mean there's a group
of you here that you've beenchecked out this entire time my

(22:49):
challenge would be this is themost important thing you've
heard all week.
This is the most importantthing you've ever heard in your
life, and not because I haveanything fancy to say, but it's
the message of life, and outsideof this there is no life.
And so my challenge would be toyou come back next week, ready
to hear, ready to listen.

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And some of you've come here andyou're honest, you're like man.
I've just kind of been playingthe game.
I've been checking the box.
I'm here because my friendinvited me.
I'm here because my parentswant me to be.
They go to some Bible study upthere and make me go to dinner.
But as you've been listeningtonight, you felt the Lord kind
of prick and poke and prod andsay, and I think that's me, man,
I'm eating from the wrong tree.

(23:30):
Ask yourself tonight, what treehave you been eating from?
Where are you with God?
And if you find that, hey, Ihave guts and I know I am not
with the source of life, well,maybe tonight is the first time
you may need to make thatdecision to throw that fruit
down.
To look at Jesus, say you areKing, you are Lord.

(23:52):
I'm going to follow you becauseI believe that you are life.