Sin Enters the Creation

Transcript

GRS 3
January 26, 1986
Sin Enters the Creation
Old Testament Survey
Genesis 3-5
Gil Rugh

Genesis chapter 3. The opening chapters of Genesis are crucial to understanding all the rest of Scripture, and the opening three chapters set the framework out of which all the rest of the Bible develops. Chapter 1, the creation of the world and all that’s in it. An overview of God’s work of creation. And the world and the heavens around the world called into existence by the word of God and then through a six-day period God calls into existence everything that there is in this world. On the sixth day you have the epitome of His creation made in His own image, reflecting His own person and His own character – man, created as male and female.

Chapter 2 of Genesis, the creation of man or mankind. It’s mentioned in chapter 1 on the sixth day. Now chapter 2 unfolds the details of the creation of man and woman. Now if we went from chapter 3 of Genesis to chapter 4, nothing would quite make sense, because in chapter 1 and chapter 2 everything is perfect. Everything is good; it’s beautiful to behold and it fits the purpose God intended in creating it. By the time you get to chapter 4, you have chaos and unpleasantness talking hold in the world. You try to understand the rest of Scripture without understanding chapter 3 of Genesis. It just doesn’t make sense. The rest of Scripture is providing the answer that is necessary for man’s problem because of Genesis 3. You can Genesis 3 out of the picture and you don’t know what you’re answering. You’re providing an answer to what?

Now, what we have in chapter 3 of Genesis is the Fall of Man. Key chapter. You think of genesis 3 you ought to think of one word, ‘fall’. Man’s fall. Sin enters the picture, enters in to God’s creation. We’re going to see in the New Testament what happens in Genesis 3 is taken and paralleled with what happens in Jesus Christ. My understanding of the events in chapter 3 is that they are literal, actual, historical events happening just as they are recorded. Just as was true of chapter 1 and chapter 2 also. Turn over to the book of Romans, chapter 5. In Romans chapter 5, the apostle Paul builds upon what happens in chapter 3, and he draws the comparison showing that there is a type in Adam of Jesus Christ. So in Romans chapter 5, verse 12: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” You see here how crucial chapter 3 is? By one man, Adam, sin entered into the world and death came into the world as a result of sin. If it were not for sin there would be no death because the penalty for sin is death. We’ll see in our study that death is a direct result of sin. Paul accepts Genesis 3 as an actual historical account. “By one man sin entered the world,” that man being Adam.

Then to verse 14, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s offense, who is a type of Him who has come.” From the time Adam sinned all the way down to Moses, people were dying. Even though the Law itself is given through Moses with specific commandments are broken by people, death is taking hold and people are dying. Now Adam is a type of Him who was to come. That doesn’t Adam was not a literal, historical person; he is, and he prefigures in many ways One who is coming. And note the parallel, verse 15. “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died.” One man sinned, Adam, and death spread to the whole human race. “Much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.” And the comparison being made – one man sinned and everyone died. Now one man through His death will provide righteousness so that is available to all men. That’s the parallel. One man does something, death results; another man does, and life and righteousness is the result.

Verse 16, “And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting is justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one (Adam), much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression (Adam’s sin) there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through the one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.” Now don’t get lost in the details of Romans 5. All we want to see here is that Paul takes what happens in Genesis 3 as a literal, historical fact. And if you deny the historicity of Genesis 3, you have real problems with the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Because Paul said, “Just like sin came into the world through Adam, so righteousness comes into the world through Christ.” If you say, well there was no literal Adam and that’s all just a story, you see the whole picture concerning Jesus Christ collapses because how do you know, then, that there is life through One man. Maybe that’s just a story too. So you can see why there is an attack on the opening chapters of Genesis. What Satan is doing is dismantling the foundation of the Word of God. People say, Well does it really matter? It makes tremendous difference, because if you dismantle the opening chapters of Genesis, you have dismantled the Scripture. It’s built on a foundation of sand and it collapses on itself. Let’s look at some of the details through these chapters, beginning with chapter 3 of Genesis.

The man and the woman have been created; they have been placed in the Garden of Eden, a perfect environment in God’s perfect creation. Man and woman are created as personal beings in the image of God. There is no sin present; they are without sin. The chapter opens up, “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 shall not eat from any tree of the garden?”’” So the details of the temptation will cover the first seven verses. The serpent, and what you have here is Satan using an animal as a spokesman. Now a lot of details come up, we say, “Didn’t Eve think it was strange that an animal comes talking to her?” Well, keep in mind there is no sin; there have been no problems. There is no fear present in the world then, so perhaps it did not strike Eve as particularly strange that this conversation would be carried on.

He is crafty. That’s a word that is used in a good sense and a bad sense in the Scripture. He is clever. Here it doesn’t necessarily seem to be in a negative connotation. Keep in mind, there is no sin in the creation. Lucifer, but as far as the animal world and this world and the atmosphere around it, it is sinless.

He approaches the woman. Why the woman and not the man? We’re not told. I think the answer the Scripture does unfold is that the woman is more likely to deception than the man is, and we’ll see that in a few moments. And his approach is to raise question about the Word of God, and I want you to note the pattern that Satan will use. First, he raises a question about the Word of God – verse 4. Finding out what God says he said, “It’s not true. You won’t die. God says you’ll die; you won’t die.” He denies God’s Word. And then in verse 5 he will slander and attack the character of God. He attacks the motives of God. God’s real interest is one of envy and jealousy. He doesn’t want you to know what He knows. So you see a progression here. Raise a question, then attack God’s Word, and then slander the very character of God.

When he says, “Indeed, God has said,” that word translated ‘indeed’ is a word that implies amazement. And he’s really casting a question on God’s goodness here. “Indeed, you really mean to tell me that God said you shall not eat from any tree of the Garden? I mean, that would really surprise me if God’s put any limitations on you. I mean, if He’s really a good God. Is He withholding something from you? That would really be amazing.” Eve reiterates what God has said. Verse 2 and 3, “And the woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which in the middle of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.”’” Back in chapter 2, verse 16 and 17, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in that day that you eat from it you shall surely die.’” Now Eve basically summarizes what God said. Now some commentators make a great deal out of Eve’s response here, that she doesn’t really accurately present the Word of God. She adds to the Word of God when she says ‘You shall not touch it,’ etc. I think we need to be careful. Keep in mind there is no sin in the human race at this point. The fall has not occurred. So I’m rather uncomfortable with those who put a lot into how Eve is not happy with what God has said and she distorts His Word and she really isn’t satisfied with His goodness. I don’t think that’s here. I takeit what Eve does is pretty accurately, in verses 2 and 3, summarizes what God says. The fact of the matter is, they had no need to touch that tree because they weren’t allowed to have anything to do with it anyway. So what are they to do with it. They’re to have nothing to do with that tree. So she summarizes what God has said.

And note Satan’s response then. “And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely shall not die.’” Just a blatant attack on the truthfulness of God. Isn’t it amazing here? In John’s Gospel chapter 8, verse 44, Jesus said concerning Satan, he is father of lies, and when he tells a lie it originates in his very character because he’s a liar in his very nature. Now here, the father of lies manifests his character. He denies the truth of God. God says you’ll die; ‘you won’t die’, and it’s an emphatic statement the way it’s put. We have it, “You surely shall not die.” So you see what Satan has done. He has pitted himself against the Word of God. God said this, let me tell you, He’s wrong; you won’t die. No, you won’t; it’s a lie. They’ll eat of the tree; they’ll die spiritually and physical death will set in – process that will eventually consume them.

Verse 5, Satan gives the reason behind God’s commandment. God said ‘Don’t’ eat of that tree,’ but it’s not because you’re going to die. You know why? God’s a jealous, envious God and He knows if you eat of the tree, verse 5, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” You know, there is a . . . you can’t speak a partial truth, it’s . . . you know, your kid tells you half a lie, he’s told you a lie. But what Satan does here is take an element of the truth. They won’t die immediately physically. They’ll die immediately spiritually. And the process of physical death will set in. Their eyes will be opened when they eat of that tree. That’s true. What they see will not be what they want to see, though. So Satan really attacks the character of God here. He’s got ulterior motives; He’s afraid you’ll be like Him.

You know, this desire to be like God, Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 to 14, tell us that was Satan’s problem to begin with. Let’s jump over to Isaiah 14. At the heart of sin is pride, and pride is man trying to take God’s place, to play God. Satan’s fall occurred when he decided he would be like God. So verse 12 of Isaiah 14, we read, “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn!” A reference to Lucifer. “You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” Satan said, ‘I’ll be like God.’ The result was his fall. Now he is challenging Eve on the same level. You can be like God – eat of that tree! That’s the problem, God doesn’t want you to be like Him.

Back in Genesis 3:6 you see what happens. “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 from its fruit and ate.” Now 1 John 2:16 tells us, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” Now note the pattern of Eve here in verse 6: she saw the tree was good for food – the lust of the eyes. It was a delight to the eyes, it was desirable to make one wise. Delight to the eyes – the lust of the flesh is first; good for food – delight to the eyes – the lust of the eyes; desirable to make one wise – the pride of life. Contemplated it here. You know, the only issue God said ‘You can’t.’ Now she sits here now and rationalizes and proceeds to eat the fruit – and she gave it to her husband. He ate. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened.” Satan was right. ‘When you eat that fruit your eyes will be opened.’ You see, it was a deceptive lie. It’s like sin always does. If you will involve yourself in this sinful deed, you’ll like it! Person says, ‘I would like it; that would be fun; that would be enjoyable; there would be pleasure.’ But what we’re not told is the catastrophe and tragedy of destruction that sin brings. So the pattern hasn’t changed. From the Garden of Eden in chapter 3, Satan’s pattern is always to make sin look desirable and attractive, something that you would want. And with that hook then he brings about destruction.

She took, she ate, and she gave it to her husband. He ate also. Now the New Testament makes something clear. The woman was deceived; the man was not. You know when Eve ate of this fruit she had been deceived by Satan. When Adam took from Eve and ate, he did it knowing it was a willful act of rebellion against god. Now it’s sin for both of them, but in 1 Timothy 2:14 we are told that Eve was deceived by the serpent, but Adam ate with his eyes opened, realizing what he was doing.

Their eyes are opened, but what do they see? “They knew they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” You see what happens? Now they see themselves as guilty sinners. There’s a sense of guilt and shame that comes in, and they want to cover themselves and hide themselves. At the end of chapter 2, verse 25, the man and his wife were both naked and they weren’t ashamed. There was no guilt, there was no shame. There was an openness. But immediately upon sinning, guilt and shame come into the picture. Now what do they want to do? They want to cover themselves; they want to hide. This is a man and a wife, what’s to hide? But there is that sense of guilt – I have to do something to cover myself, to hide. They sew fig leaves together to make coverings. Pitiful attempt to cover their sin and cover their shame. That’s the fall. In 7 verses God records the catastrophe that results in the fall of the human race and all the suffering, all the heartache, all the troubles that go on in the world right down to today are a result of what we read in those 7 verses. To say God doesn’t have an ability to summarize! All the calamities, every heartache, every pain that is ever felt can be traced back to the first 7 verses of Genesis chapter 3.

The issue wasn’t eating a piece of fruit. The issue was obeying or disobeying God. And as a personal being, Adam and Eve had emotion, intellect and will. They could exercise their emotion to love God and love each other. They could exercise their intellect to know more about God, to know more about God’s creation, and now they are given an opportunity to exercise their will. Here are all the trees in the garden – help yourselves to any and all of them, except one. Now they have an opportunity to exercise their will, and they do it to disobey and rebel against God and bring about the fall of the human race.

There are always consequences to sin. Man has to confront God, and that confrontation is recorded in verses 8-13. “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” And this would have been the pre-incarnate Christ. We have a Christophany here, where Christ would have taken a form and came and walked with them in the garden in the cool of the day. And you’ll note what happens. “The man and his wife hid themselves.” You note the sense of shame, the openness is gone. Now they are afraid and they hide from the presence of God among the trees of the garden. “The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” Now He knows where he is. He’s the omnipotent God. He’s the omnipresent God, the omniscient God. He knows everything1 But what He is doing is drawing Adam and Eve to confront the reality of their situation. “Where are you?” verse 9. Adam said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” You ought to note verse 9 that it is God who is seeking man. As a result of man’s sin, he is running from God; he’s hiding from God. It’s God in grace who reaches out to seek after man. That pattern is always the same, right down to today.

Verse 10, the first mention of fear in the Bible. See where fear comes from? It comes from our sinful rebellion against God – “I was afraid because I was naked.” You see the shame here? There’s no openness any longer. There’s guilt and shame and I have to hide to cover myself, so I can’t be in Your presence. God’s question, “Who told you that you were naked? When did that become an issue? It wasn’t an issue when I placed you in the garden, remember?” Verse 25 of chapter 2? No shame. Who told you you were naked? What’s the problem here, Adam? Did you eat of the tree which I commanded you not to eat? Again we see the pattern that sin always takes. Someone else is to blame. You know how much that characterizes our society today? Someone else is to blame? It’s the background and basis for many of the suits, lawsuits, that go on today. I just couldn’t be responsible! Nobody’s responsible. That didn’t just start in our day. It may be manifest a little more clearly and a little more openly as people aren’t afraid to deny their responsibility even when they are clearly responsible, but it starts right here in verse 12. “The woman whom you gave to be with me, SHE gave me from the tree.” Right away that started to shift the blame. And you know what? He not only shifts it to his wife, he shifts it to God because “the woman that YOU gave me.” I wouldn’t have had this trouble if You hadn’t given her to me. It wasn’t my idea to eat of that tree. YOU gave me a woman, and she gave me of the fruit. So I don’t know whose fault it is – Maybe her’s, maybe Your’s, but it’s sure not mine! Doesn’t it sound pretty much like today? Somehow no matter what our kids do, it wasn’t their fault. I am amazed at what darling innocent angels I have succeeded in raising, and no matter what problems or troubles or trials come into their life, I sit down amazed at the brilliance of the explanations of how it really wasn’t their fault after all. And I know where they got it! You all know too! “The woman the Lord gave me!” (Isn’t that the way the saying goes, like mother, like son? Something like that!) She gave me of the tree and I ate.

God turns to the woman, “What do you have to say for yourself? What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate. Wasn’t my fault! That serpent tricked me?” She’s telling the truth there. 1 Timothy 2:14 bears her out – she was deceived, but she’s responsible for it. Because what God said was clear. The fact that she was tricked by Satan, all she had to do was tell him “No.” Didn’t matter whether there was any logic or any reason to what Satan said, the fact what God said was clear – “Don’t eat of the tree.” She knew that. She told the serpent that. The serpent, he did it.

Well, God doesn’t argue with any of them. Alright, the Lord God said . . . And what you have now in verses 14 to 19 is the condemnation that is going to be meted out on each participant. We’ll start out with the serpent, we’ll move to Satan, we’ll come to the woman, we’ll move to the man. Ultimately the man bears the responsibility for the decision made in the fall, and the fall, you note, occurred when the man took and ate. He was the responsible leader of the race. “By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin.” He was the responsible decision maker though the woman was involved in the fall.

“And the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on our belly shall you go.” So for his part, the serpent, the snake, is punished by God. It’s useless to speculate, What was the serpent like? We don’t know. Evidently its form and its movements were changed here now, eating dust. That becomes a symbol or a picture of humiliation. We talk about people ‘biting the dust’ or ‘eating the dust’ even in that picture today. The serpent is made literally to crawl on its belly, to be humiliated, eating dust so to speak, all of its days as a reminder of its part in the fall.

Then in verse 15, think we have a transition to the one who controlled the serpent – Satan himself. And they are so inter-connected that through Scripture the serpent will become a name for Satan. He will be called the serpent because that was the initial form he took in deceiving mankind. “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.” Seems what we have here is the first prophecy of the Gospel, the first mention of the Gospel in the Scripture. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. In John 8:44, Jesus talks about “You are of your father the devil” speaking to the religious leaders of His day. You’re the seed of the serpent, your father is the devil. In 1 John 3:10, John says, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious.” So you have the seed of God and the seed of the devil and the conflict that exists. Here the seed of the woman is a reference to Christ because “He shall bruise you on the head; you shall bruise Him on the heel,” anticipating the fact when Christ goes to the cross He’ll be bruised on the heel by Satan. Painful wound, but not a mortal wound, whereas Christ will crush the head of the serpent, a mortal wound.

To the woman He said, in verse 16, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children; yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Remember back in Genesis chapter 1, God told the man and woman to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. It’s God’s intention that they have a sexual relationship expressing their oneness, that they bear children, that the woman have children. Now there’s another dimension to that. Her role and responsibility will not be changed by the fall. I think this is important. The role of the woman is not changed by the fall, but the negative dimensions are brought into it and that will be true of the man as well. She would have had children had there never been a fall according to Genesis 1. But now there is pain and suffering involved in bearing children. “In pain you shall bring forth children.” “I will GREATLY multiply your pain in childbirth.” Along with that, “Yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” There is some discussion about the word ‘desire’ here and what it means. I think it is most simple to take it in light of the context. That her desire will be for her husband. She will have a longing for him and an attachment to him. The pain of childbirth doesn’t drive a woman away from her husband, does it? You say, “I’m a woman, I’m not going to have any kids. Look at all the pain it causes.” Will, there is that desire to the husband and that attraction that goes on in spite of the pain. The desire that is there for him and submissiveness to him as he shall rule over you. You might want to trace that word ‘desire’ down. There’s only 3 passages – this one in Genesis, it’s used in chapter 4:7, and in Song of Solomon 7:10. Those are the only three uses and you read some commentators you’ll see there is quite a bit of discussion about its meaning in light of its use in Genesis 4:7. But you should also consider its use in Song of Solomon 7:10. I think it’s in the context here of submissiveness and attachment to her husband.

“He shall rule over you.” Now that’s not something new. That’s been God’s intention from creation. According to the New Testament, the man was created to rule over the woman, to be the woman’s leader. The evidence being, the man was created first and then the woman. Second, in chapter 2, the woman was made as a helper for the man and not the man for the woman. And those 2 points occur before the fall and are taken in the New Testament as indicative of the fact that man is to be the leader over the woman. What happens now is into that role comes some negative connotations as well, as the man will rule his wife. It won’t always be loving leadership, but it will become domination with all the negative connotations of that.

Now the woman’s realm? You ought to note before the fall and after the fall it’s the same. It functions in the realm of the home and the children – her pain is associated with her prime role, the children and her relationship to her husband in being submissive. That was the role she had before the fall and after the fall. But now that the fall has occurred, there are negative things included with that. I want you to look at a few passages with me in the New Testament quickly.

1 Timothy chapter 2. We don’t have time to develop these but just to note. First, that the woman’s realm is the home, associated with the children. All the emphasis we have in the world today that takes the woman out of her realm, out of her role as the mother and keeper of the home is a further attack of Satan on the Word of God. And you see how Eve was taken in by it? Adam was caused to sin. How many believers have been caught up in the lie of Satan today in this realm? Look in 1 Timothy 2:15, “But woman shall be preserved through the bearing of children,” the word there ‘be preserved’ is literally ‘be saved,’ not referring to her eternal salvation but the woman’s fulfillment is not in being the leader, not in being a teacher of what has been going on in the previous context, but her realm and her role is the home and the children.

Look over in chapter 5, verse 14 of 1 Timothy, where Paul talks about younger widows. “Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house,” guide the home, be the despot of the home literally. Rule the house. That’s her realm and her domain. “Give the enemy no occasion for reproach.”

Then over to Titus chapter 2, verse 4 and 5: the older women are to “encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored.” Now you take what he says is to happen here so the word of God is not dishonored, and you can just take it and see he world doing the opposite. I mean, who says the women are to be devoted to their husbands and their children? I mean that’s just as much the husband’s responsibility and the father’s responsibility as the wife, and that’s something we share equally. Will, as a husband and father I have responsibilities, but the prime role and realm of the wife and mother is the home and the children. They are to be workers at home. Any wonder that the world changes that around now and says the woman ought to get out of the home and we ought to have daycare centers to take care of the children? That’s a direct attack on the word of God. It doesn’t seem so complicated. Now if what I’m saying isn’t biblical, don’t believe it; but you have to deal with the Scriptures as they are here.

Her submissiveness to her husband? We’re eluded to that in 1 Timothy, and you can just jot down 1 Timothy 2:13, “I do not allow a woman to teach or be in authority over a man.” But go back to 1 Corinthians 11. Some of what we’re looking at here will apply to the man when we get there in a moment in Genesis. In 1 Corinthians 11:3, “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.” There’s the order. God the Father, God the Son, the man, the woman.

Jump down to verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 11: “For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man.” That’s out of Genesis 2, before the fall! So this relationship of the husband or the man as the leader is not a result of the fall. It’s a result of the order of creation, and the fact that God took the woman out of the man. Verse 9, “For indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake but woman for the man’s sake.” It’s not good for man to be alone so I’ll make a helper fit for him, Genesis 2, before the fall. Now the negative aspects of that, that a man does not lead his wife in love but dominates her as a servant is a result of the fall. But the order is still the same in God’s pattern. He does not reverse the order in bringing the judgment of the fall.

Come back now to Genesis chapter 3. That’s the punishment for the woman. For the man, and you note the man’s is the longest, verses 17 to 19. He is the accountable head of the race, the one who was to provide the leadership. Then to Adam, God says, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; . . . By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” You note, the realm of man does not change. Back in chapter 2:15, “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” Man was to keep the Garden, to cultivate it. Now he is still to do the same thing, but it will become burdensome toil because the ground is cursed. Now instead of cultivating the beautiful garden, there will be the thorns and thistles and the unproductive ground and man will be grinding out day after day, dawn to dusk to try to provide for his family. That’s still man’s realm. Woman’s realm is the home, the children; the man is to be providing. Now the world’s attacked that. Who says the man shouldn’t stay home and the woman go out and make a living? I mean, who says that’s the woman’s role to be at home? Let her go out and let’s have some househusbands. Well, if you don’t believe the Word of God, you don’t have any standard; you don’t know who ought to do what. We have an identity crisis – men don’t know what it is to be a man, women don’t know what a woman’s supposed to be and no wonder they are in confusion. You have to come to the Maker, and I can say, “Here’s the One who made me. He says ‘Man, get out and grind it out.’” You say, “You don’t know how hard it is to provide a living.” That’s what God said it would be as a result of the fall, right? “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” “In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” Going to be hard work to provide a living. We say, “Boy, you can hardly make it on one income today.” That’s what God said back in Genesis 3, folks. It’s going to be hard work. You’re going to work from day to night until the day you die. We’re trying to get around that. “I want an early retirement, and two incomes are going to make that possible.” But you see what you have to do? You have to begin to break apart the structure that God has set down, and even then it doesn’t work. And everything becomes confusion.

Pain is the result. Interesting, God speaks about man in verse 19 and uses the same word in verse 19 to refer to pain for the man as he works by the seat of his face to eat bread, and then he’s going to return to dust. He’s going to be suffering just like the woman is in her realm. Somehow the man thinks he’ll suffer less if he could just get into the woman’s realm; the woman thinks it’ll be better if she can get out of this house and get into the man’s realm. We find out God has consigned us because of the fall to suffering, whatever our realm.

Now one other thing. Man will name his wife again, ought to note that before we pass. Again noting man’s leadership. He named her at the end of chapter 2, ‘woman.’ We noted to name is to indicate you have authority. Here again he names her, now ‘Eve’, mother of all living in recognition of her position in the race. Then God makes provision, verse 21, of the animal skins. I take it it’s an implication of sacrifice here. To get animal skins, animals had to die. Already we have a preview – the penalty for sin is death. For you to be covered will take the death of someone.

And then they are excommunicated from the garden. That is a punishment, but it is a blessing. The reason they are kicked out of the Garden is so they don’t eat of the Tree of Life. You note, God never said they couldn’t eat of the Tree of Life. There was only one tree they couldn’t eat of. If they ate of the Tree of Life they would have been forever confirmed – if they ate before the fall of the Tree of Life they would have been confirmed in holiness. They couldn’t eat now. You know it would have been a disaster. God said if they eat of the Tree of Life they’ll live forever. The problem with that is they would have lived forever as fallen beings under the curse of God. So God graciously excludes them from the Garden.

Chapter 4 of Genesis, Cain and Abel, and you’re familiar with the story. And you see how quickly sin takes hold? Here you have the two sons of Adam and Eve, and sin so infects them that one brother is going to kill the other. And the purpose of the account here, the first 8 verses, is it gives the conflict, is to show that sin has already taken hold. That people are already infected and affected by sin. The account here, I take it, presupposes instructions on sacrifice. Both Cain and Abel come with sacrifices. Perhaps instruction was given in connection with making of the garments of skin by God. He explained to them that fig leaves won’t do it; you ought to be covered with animal skins because the penalty for sin is death. So they understand something of the sacrificial system. And the conflict between Cain and God starts right at the beginning – man wants to come to God on his own terms. They both come to God – Abel with something from his flocks; Cain with the fruit of the ground. Hebrews 11:4 says, “By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice.” You ought to jot that down. Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice.” You see, Abel believed what God said about sacrifices so he did what God demanded. Cain did not. Jude 11 talks about false teachers who are in the way of Cain. You know what the way of Cain is? It’s a person who thinks he can come to God on his own terms. People haven’t changed. I come to God on the basis of my good works, on the basis of my church membership, on the basis of my baptism, on the basis of the fact I’m a preacher. That’s the way of Cain. Cain thought he could come on his own terms in his own way. God says, “Nope, you can’t do it.” God rejects his sacrifice, and in verse 5, “For Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.” Isn’t it interesting, and strong statement here, it literally says when Cain became very angry, “It burned Cain exceedingly.” You think the expression ‘It burns me up’ is new? Nope! All the way back here in Genesis 4 – Cain was burned up. It burned Cain exceedingly! He is so mad at God for not accepting his offering. Men haven’t changed. You go talk to somebody who is very religious, maybe very involved in their religious system. And you tell them it’s unacceptable, that all that will get them is eternity in hell because they have to believe in Jesus Christ and trust Him as their sacrifice. See if you don’t make some people mad. Response is still the same – people in the way of Cain don’t want to be told by God ‘You have to do it My way.’ You see what happens? Cain wants to play God. HE wants to decide what kind of sacrifice he can do. HE wants to decide what will be acceptable to God. And when God tells him ‘No, it’s not,’ he’s angry with God. This time something’s wrong.

Cain’s response to it all? Verse 8, he kills his brother. Now is it Abel’s fault that God rejects Cain’s offer? But sin is irrational, isn’t it? He gets so mad at God he’s got to take it out on someone, so his brother. He murders Abel. And now he has to confront God about it. In verse 9, “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’” And note the response of Cain. Not only his unbelief but his absolute disrespect. “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Talk about being flip with God. “What do you mean, Where’s my brother? How should I know? Do I get paid to keep track of Abel?” Man would have the audacity to speak to God like that? To lie to God and say “I don’t know where Abel is.” He knows where Abel is, he’s murdered him. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” You see the attitude of unbelief that pervades Cain? Even though God had told him, “Cain, you’ll be acceptable if you do the right thing. Cain, you bring the right offering and you’ll be acceptable.” No, that’s not good enough. And anybody who does it, I’m angry with.

So God says, “Cursed is the ground . . . it won’t produce for you anymore; you’re going to be a wandering vagabond struggling to make a living. That’s your punishment.” You know what the sinner always says? Verse 13, “And Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to bear!’” Isn’t that amazing? What do sinners say today when you tell them about hell? “Oh, a loving God would never do that? That’s too severe?” The sinner always thinks his punishment is too severe. Starts out right here with Cain. First murder. God says the ground will no longer produce for you and you’re going to be a wandering vagabond. Cain says, “Oh that’s too severe a punishment.” You see, Cain has not come to grips with his sin and the need for a relationship with God. So God places a mark over Cain. What the sign or mark of Cain is we’re not told, so I don’t have any speculations for you. I know one thing it’s not – it’s not a mark of race or color. Some people who are biblically ignorant and sinfully prejudice manifest their fallen condition by trying to put a race in here like the black race. And therefore that justifies my mistreating them of holding them down because they have the mark of Cain. How dumb can you get? You know, if you just read from chapter 4 to chapter 6, you know what you find out? The line of Cain is destroyed in the flood, folks, so if it was a race, it’s a gone race, because the live of Noah comes through Adam through Seth to Noah. So the line of Cain comes to an end with the flood. They don’t get anything out of this by saying, “Ah-hah, that’s why those people have so much trouble. Uh-huh, they’ve got the curse of Cain.” Nothing worse than a person who knows little about the Scripture and then takes their sinful prejudices to try to use it to prove something. So whatever the mark is, it will keep Cain from being executed by other relatives for what he did. And then Cain went out to the land of Nod where many people I have preached to have gone also. The rest of the chapter and following give you the genealogy of Cain, just so you can learn something of Cain’s family line.

In verse 19 you have polygamy started in the line of Cain – Lamech took to himself two wives. Didn’t take long to break God’s pattern, did it? When sin sets in, murder takes place, now polygamy, and when you get down to verses 23 and 24, you’re going to find Lamech boasting about murdering someone who hurt him, taking vengeance upon himself. So the deterioration. But you note in Cain’s line there are marked, skillful, intellectual craftsmen. People of great abilities, and the line of Cain becomes almost a type of ungodly people. Often people of great abilities, but no moral character. That’s the line of Cain.

We come to chapter 5. Basically the purpose of chapter 5 is to give you the genealogy from Adam to Noah through Seth. So what chapter 5 really is is the genealogy of Seth the son of Adam, and we want to get from Adam to Noah. What happens? Chapter 5 summarizes it for you. Here are the key people, ten men from Adam to Noah, through Seth. So keep that in mind. The line of Cain coming to an end at the end of the flood. None of them survived the flood. Only descendants through Seth because only Noah’s family is going to survive and Noah is a descendant of Seth and thus Adam.

Let me just make a comment here. There are ten names in the genealogy here. And the way that sometimes they figure out that you come to 4000 years or so for the creation is you add all the genealogies together, all these names. But it seems when you get over to chapter 11 that doesn’t fit. We’re going to find there are also 10 names in the genealogy from Noah to Abraham. It seems what they did was just pick out key individuals and keep it balanced in number so it would be easier to remember. Let’s take ten from Adam to Noah, and then ten from Noah to Abraham. So keep in mind they had to remember a lot of this because they didn’t have the same ability with books and everything as we do, so it greatly facilitated things. It seems in the genealogy of Scripture there are gaps. I don’t think there are millions of years in the gaps, but there are gaps present.

Now, there are also long years here – people are living 900 years on the earth. You say, could that be a literal year? I take it it’s a literal year. Evidently conditions before the flood were such and deterioration of the fall had not taken hold to such an extent that that combination enabled men to live tremendously long lives. That was part of God’s plan for populating the earth. He didn’t intend for him to die when He created him, but death sets in. You don’t gain anything – some people say these are months, not years. Well, you go through and work out some of them and you find some of them were having children before they were 9 years of age. Little bit of a problem. So I take it these are literal years. Some speculate that the waters above the earth formed a canopy so the harmful rays and radiation did not bring the deterioration, and after the flood with the flood with the collapsing of that canopy then man’s age rapidly declined. Whatever the reason, Genesis 5 says they lived that long. And I take it it’s true.

Two purposes in Genesis 5 – to give you the genealogy of Seth, to get us from Adam to Noah; and secondly, to show when God says “You shall surely die,” you shall surely die. Just look at the last part of these verses. Verse 5, “And he died.” Verse 8, “And he died.” Verse 11, “And he died.” Verse 14, “And he died.” Verse 17, “And he died.” Verse 20, “And he died.” Verse 27, “And he died.” Verse 31, “And he died.” The day you eat of the tree, “You shall surely die.” They died spiritually, they were separated from God and hid from Him and the process of physical death immediately set in. Who told the truth, Satan or God? Read Genesis 5 – “And he died, and he died, and he died, and he died.” The penalty for sin is death. There’s a glimpse of God’s grace here.

Enoch, in verse 24, “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” There is a break in the pattern. There was a man who faithfully walked with God and God took him into His presence without experiencing physical death. Reminder of the grace of God, even in the midst of the prevalence of sin and death.

You also have in verse 27 the longest recorded life in Scripture – the man Methuselah. There may have been others longer but of all the years recorded in Scripture, his is the longest, 969 years. Now we think somebody 69 years old is old today or getting older. Now think if you were 69 and you still had 900 years to live. Think if you had lived all the way back to 1000 A.D. down to approximately our day, that tells you how long a span Methuselah covered. You think when he sat down with his grandkids to tell stories, he had something to tell! When he said, ‘I remember when I was a kid’, that was something assuming he could remember back 800 years.

And we conclude verse 32 with Noah. Verse 30 Lamech lived 595 years – not the same Lamech in the line of Cain. This is a Lamech in the line of Seth. And he became the father of Noah. Verse 32, “And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Then the next four chapters will be involved with God’s judgment on the world and sparing the family of Noah, for you see sin has so deteriorated the race and the race has become so vile that it is going to be necessary now for God to intervene in judgment and bring a climax to His creation at this point. Sparing only one family on all the face of the earth. Can you imagine that? You start out with Adam and Eve in the Garden, perfect environment, no sin, in chapter 2. And by the time you get to chapter 6 there is only one family on the face of the whole earth worth saving from God’s perspective. And in His grace He spares Noah. What a pattern of sin!

A reminder of how destructive sin is. A reminder to us as believers, God is always right. Sin is always ruinous. We think, Well this will be an exception. I may be able to get involved in this sin and get away with it and just have the enjoyment of it. It may seem that way. You dabble in it and it may seem so pleasant, but you keep in mind, God is always right. The end is ruinous, heartache and tragedy. Praise God for His grace that He’s built in redemption so that even we fallen sinful human beings can enjoy the personal relationship with Him while we walk this life. Let’s pray together.