Transcription
So, it may be about 10 minutes of a sermon tonight here, you know. So I'm going to catch on if like you did, you eat lamontes or turn with me now. This is going to be real hard to find to the very first chapter of Genesis, the first chapter of the first book of God's word. I've I've felt the Lord kind of moving me in this direction for a while now. We've spent, you know, the last few months studying some pretty deep topics. We we was on prophecy there for a good long while. Then we got on the "if you love me, keep my commandments" and just some of the absolute, what we sometimes think of as basic, but it's really deep teachings of Jesus. I mean, you know, bless those that despitefully use you. That's not real easy to do. That's not super basic. That's pretty deep in terms of the walk with the Lord.
But sometimes I think that we we we overlook them, or maybe that's not even the right word, not the right way to phrase it, but we kind of just don't spend as much time walking through the Bible and studying through the Bible because I I listen, the Bible says, "Man shall not live live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Every word of this book is important from the very first word of Genesis to the very last word of Revelation. And there's a lot of times, even though I've read through the scriptures uh many times, I'll read through them again and man, God will just point out new things every time. Don't you love how God does that?
And so, we're going to take some time. We're going to And I'm not putting a time limit on it. You know, a lot of times we'll do three-week studies, sermon series, or six-week studies, or whatever. Not putting a time limit on it, you know, because who knows? We're just going to follow the Lord in this, but we're going to start in Genesis and work our way through Revelations. Not going to do exactly verse by verse all the way through there, but we're going to hit a lot of the stories and a lot of the topics and just really uh get to know God's word. And uh, you know, before I read the first verse here, I want you to understand, and I know you do, but I want to reiterate it, that there is nothing in life more important that will benefit you more than God's word. Consuming the Bible, consuming God's word. I have been studying the Old Testament since the first of the year. I've been in the New Testament, too, but I've been really studying, going back through and studying parts of the Old Testament, and it has truly blessed my heart. And I'll be honest with you, I've kind of been in a weird time for Lori and I lately. And if it had not been for God's word and just kind of feasting on his word, boy, I would probably really let myself get frustrated, you know. But God's word is the most important thing. It can benefit you more than anything in life. So, we're going to walk through the scriptures and tonight we're going to start in Genesis 1:1. All right.
And what I'm going to do is we're going to focus, or my intention anyway. We're going to follow the Lord. So, who knows where he may take us, but my intention is to spend most of our time tonight in chapter 3. But I thought, there's no way that we can start off a new study in Genesis without just going through creation. And I love the very first verse of Genesis. "In the beginning." Now, that's simple enough, isn't it? "In the beginning." It doesn't say there was a span before that, a span after, you know, it just says "in the beginning." So, we're talking about The beginning, folks. This is where it starts. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." It's very simple. Why in the world do we try to overcomplicate that verse right there? I'm talking about as humans, society, they try to come up with all the different aspects of the earth and atmosphere and the creation when it's right there. "In the beginning, God created it." That's all I need to know, folks. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Now, I'm just going to read. I I know I said that and then I spent 10 minutes talking about one verse, but I'm going to try my best just to basically read chapters 1 and two, and then we're going to start in three. So, let's just read. Got to focus here and read.
"The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And he called it night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear,' and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good."
Why does the enemy want to distract us so much from how God created the earth? Because this is the beginning. If he can distort this, he can distort anything within your mind. All right? It started, and I love how the scriptures just tells us "in the beginning." This is how he did it. We just got to believe it. Then the Bible says, "Then God said, 'Let earth bring forth grass and herb that yields seed and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself on the earth.' And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seeds according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. Then God said, 'Let the lights be the let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night. Then let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens, and give light on earth.' And it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night, and divide the light from the darkness, and God saw it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Then God said, 'Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.' So God created the great sea creatures, and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw it was good. And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters and the seas, and let the birds multiply the earth.' And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, each according to its kind.' And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God said, now this is a key verse. Y'all know this. 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'"
Now, that "us" and "our" is in there for a reason. All right, we're going to figure out what he's speaking about here in just a little bit. The Bible said, "So God created man in his own image." Don't ever forget. I just want to throw this in there. Don't ever forget that you are created in the image of God. Don't ever let the enemy lie to you. Think you're worthless, no good. God messed up on you, any foolish thing like that. You are specifically designed and created exactly the way God wanted you and in the image of God. "God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. Then God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves on the earth.'" I have taken that part of the dominion of the fish of the sea to heart. I try to be serious about that. Y'all supposed to laugh at that joke. >> Thank you, Blake. And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food." Now, that's key. "To you, it shall be for food." Also, to every beast of the earth, every bird of the air, everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I've given every herb for food. And it was so. Then God saw everything that he had made. Indeed, it was good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
There's the six days of creation. Chapter two. "Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done." Now we know this later going to be referenced as like the Sabbath, the rest day. But isn't it amazing how much arguing humans do over something that God did? Like we God instilled it, God designed it. God did it. And we argue about it. That's silly, isn't it? But that's what we do. But the Bible says he rested on the seventh day. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth and there was no man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward of Eden. Now we could go in and try to, you know, figure out where this is. There is a pretty good description of where we feel like the Garden of Eden might be, but really it is to no avail. It doesn't matter. All right. It's God's garden. All right. East of Eden. And he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from it there parted became four riverheads. And the name of the first, the Pishon, is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good. Bedellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is on it is the one which goes around the whole land of Kush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel. It is the one that goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth is the Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and to mend it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat."
Now listen, this is the first, or this is not the fir, but this is the command here that God gives Adam. The first command was to keep the garden, you know, and all the things. But he says, "Everything here you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." Now, I want you to think about this before we read any further, that this is a place of perfection here. But even in the place of perfection, there was a "do this" and "don't do this." All right? Even in the place of God's perfection for your life, for your will, there is a "do this, don't do this" command from God. I mean, we're talking about the Garden of Eden. There was no sin in the world at this time. There was no red wasp in the world. There was no snake, no snakes like we know them now in the world. There was none of these things, no sickness, no anything. It was a place of paradise, heaven on earth, so to speak, in the Garden of Eden. But there was a law there. One, you can have all the, everything is at your disposal, Adam, except this one thing. Now, the tempter, who we're going to read about here in just a minute, we're going to get in here. He has no new tactics. The devil don't do no new. He has no new scheme. He tries to tell you now, when you get saved, you're great. God's made you perfect. You can just live and have the joy of the Lord and there are no "don't dos" or you know, you're covered. That's exactly what he's about to do to humanity in the garden. All right. So even in the place of God's favor, in the place of God's perfection, in the place of God's will, there are still those commands that we must abide by. You ever thought about that? This is the most perfect place that has ever been on earth, and there was a "do this" and "don't do this." All right.
So the Bible says, "The Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone. I I read this in a lot of weddings. I will make him a helper comparable to him.' Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name." Now, I think Adam sometimes he wasn't too original. He saw this one thing eating the ants and he said, "I'll call that the anteater." Boy, y'all ain't laughing much. It's pretty simple. What do I call that? Well, he's eating ants. Let's go with anteater. You call me burrito eater tonight. Burrito eater. So, Adam gave names to all the cattle, to all the birds of the air. I've given names to some cattle before. Crazy. Stupid hamburger. Yes. To the birds of the air and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam. And he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman and he brought her to the man. And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of a man. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." You know what that means? That means they did not have that. They were not aware of the nakedness in which they had. They did not have that sinful desire and that that way that we think about nakedness now, that did not exist at this time in the garden. Now, why do we read that passage in scriptures, "the two shall become one flesh" and all those things? Is because this is where God literally designed marriage. He created Eve for Adam. He created Eve out of Adam. He used Adam's rib bone and created his wife, created Eve. And so now, when a man and a wife, this is why marriage is serious business. When a man and a wife come together and are joined together by God, it is in the same manner. He joins you in the same manner in which he joined Adam and Eve. He said, "How do I know it's the same?" Because he goes on to say there, "Therefore, man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife." He's speaking into the future. All right? "Shall leave his father and mother." Just like I have created Eve out of Adam, and Adam and Eve are joined together. Now they are one flesh. In the same manner, when I join a husband and wife together, they will be joined just like Adam and Eve are here.
Now, the third chapter, this is where I want to talk tonight. So they're living life. They're there in the in the garden and man, you know, how long did they live there? This is going to be debated for till we ask the Lord in person. We won't even care. But then, you know, science says this, theologian says this. Here's what I'm going to say to that. I have my thoughts on it just like everybody else does. But it really don't matter. Don't get hung up on that. All right? Don't get hung up on the trivial things. I want to I want to tell you a little story on the trivial things before we go any further. How many of you have ever heard of Billy Graham? You've heard of Billy Graham? Has any of y'all ever heard of a preacher by the name of R.C. Sproul? You heard of him? He's man, he's a fireball, was a fireball preacher. Now, Billy Graham was a preacher that believed strongly in free will. And R.C. Sproul believed strongly in more of almost a Calvinistic type teaching. But both of them believed in the blood of Jesus and, you know, saved by the grace of God and all those things. And one day they were talking, Brother R.C. Sproul was preaching there and someone asked him a question. They said, they they said, "You and and Brother Billy Graham, you know, disagree strongly on this one subject. You know, y'all have very different views on this one subject." He said, "Brother R.C.," he said, "Do you believe that you will see Billy Graham in heaven?" And his response was astonishing to me. He leaned down into the microphone. He said, "No." And everybody just kind of... And he said, "And here's why." He said, "Billy Graham will be so close to the throne of Jesus, and I'll be so far back that I won't be able to see." There are things that are black and white in the scripture. All right? And then there's these trivial things that we don't need to get too hung up on. We need to focus on Jesus and the blood that he shed at Calvary and salvation and living by his word, living for him. All right? And so the idea, these all the idea where we argue and discuss and get so twisted up on how old the earth is and, you know, all the carbon dating and all the dinosaurs and all that stuff. Listen, whatever y'all can discuss it or whatever, but don't ever get so hung up on that that it causes friction between the brothers and the sisters. Don't ever get so hung up on that that it causes you to stumble or you to stumble someone else. Those things really ultimately don't matter. We don't know. I hope there was a T-Rex, you know, at one time because every time I walk into Chandler's house, the thing she wants to do is scare Paul with her little T-Rex right now. All right. So whether there was or whether there isn't, I wasn't there. I don't know. But what I do know is that God created the earth and he designed it perfectly, exactly like he wanted it to, and it's exactly however old that God made it. That's the way I look at it, and that is the way I believe the body of Christ needs to begin to view things through that lens. All right.
So now we move into the third chapter here, and life is going on in the garden. Everything is perfect. All right. Adam and Eve are living there. Man, they got it going on. Lori and I, we got the yard swing. We like to sit out there and just look out over the field in the evenings, you know, and listen to the cows bellow, you know, and love the cows that I've grappled about most of the day or earlier than that. All those things. I bet Adam and Eve sat out there and looked over that beautiful garden and thought, "My goodness, how God has blessed us." Adam walked in the cool of the evening with the Lord. You know, he probably thought, "How had I I can't believe that God has created us and planted us here in this garden, man. This is so beautiful." And I would imagine that the fruit from the trees probably WE CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE WHAT THOSE must have tasted like. They were so wonderful and all the things God had blessed them with there in that garden. Life's going on. And then in the third chapter, something happens here. The third chapter of Genesis changes humanity for eternity. The third chapter of Genesis is where this whole thing that we go to church for, the whole thing that we do revolves around the third chapter of Genesis here. I mean, the scriptures gets right to it. The Bible says in verse one, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'"
Now, there's a couple of things. We'll we'll get to it here in about three years when we finally make it to Revelations. The 12th chapter of Revelation teaches where the devil was cast out of heaven. And here we find him in the form of a serpent. And I find it interesting that the question he asked her very similarly evolves something that God said. Have you ever noticed that God, or that the devil tempts you in that manner? He sprinkles just enough of something that sounds good or sounds spiritual or maybe even twists the scriptures just enough that you recognize a little bit of it. You're right. Like I love to use that scripture that "bodily exercise profits a little." I love that one. But I take it out of context most of the time. I mean, Matthew, you were going to teach on that I think Sunday morning, weren't you? How most of the time when we get stumped or we find ourselves not in a great way or not super close to the Lord is because the enemy has planted a little thought in our mind that we don't have any business having in our mind, whether it be a doubt, whether it be an anger or hatred, a lust, whatever. He's planted something there. And there is Eve in the garden, man, living his living life, and we find the serpent. He asks her a question. Now, the first thing that comes to my mind is Eve don't have no business talking to that serpent. Have you ever found yourself struggling because you're hanging out with somebody you ain't got no business hanging out with to begin with? Or you're in a situation you ain't got no business being in a situation for? Man, I I've got a lot of regrets in my life. A lot of times when I get myself stressed out or or in in a mess or whatever, it's probably because I'm in a position or around somebody or listening to somebody and I ain't got no business being around to begin with. First off, Eve, when she sees the serpent coming, let's don't let's don't have that talk. All right? I want you to think about that as you go about your day starting tonight. As you you go on in life, there's times where you just don't need to have that talk. There's times where you just need to say, "You know what, devil? I ain't doing this. Keeping my mouth shut. I'm walking away. Not doing it." Eve resumes to have a conversation with the serpent. Think of how different humanity would be if Eve never talked to that devil. Eve never talked to that serpent. Now, we know it's God's plan, but just for study's sake. But he asked, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree in the garden?'" Man, he sounds so innocent, doesn't he? Ain't that how that sucker does? Sounds so innocent. I can just hear him, "Hey, Eve, has has God said that you're not supposed to eat of that tree?" Really? You know, sounds so innocent. And then Eve engages in the conversation. It's not that the devil tempts us. It's when we engage in the temptation. And the woman said to the serpent, she starts to reason with him. "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
Now, it's been my experience in life, and I would imagine you have the same one, that if there's something that I I know I'm not supposed to do, let me say it like this. Most of the time when I see something there I'm going to eat that I don't need to eat, I have that thought, and this is how it goes. I'm not supposed to eat that. Can't you hear that in Eve's voice a little bit? He said we could eat anything in the garden and we're we're not supposed to eat of that tree. She's engaging in a conversation that she has no business engaging with. And now all of a sudden she's beginning to reason in her mind God's word and she's trying to reason the serpent's word with it. She's trying in essence to work out in her mind how the serpent's idea or the serpent's thoughts or the serpent's statements fit into God's command. Oftentimes we find ourselves in that same position. We try to figure out how the serpent's or the devil's thoughts or the devil's plans or the devil's schemes might somehow fit into God's commands. How can I do this without breaking God's command? All of a sudden, Eve is there and she said, "Well, we're supposed, we can have all this, but we're not supposed to eat that. If we do, we'll die." And look at the serpent. He says, "The serpent said to the woman, 'You're not going to die.'" AIN'T THAT SO BASIC, but so profound? We read this and we're like, "Of course they're going to fall." We know the story. She talked to THE SERPENT. BUT YET us in our humanity fall for the same scheme over and over and over. She clearly knew what God's command was. She had a free will. No doubt about it right here. Because she even told the devil, "I'm not supposed to do that." So there is no excuse. She knew she wasn't supposed to eat of that tree. And the devil said, "You're not going to die. You're not going to die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil."
Now, first off, remember that devil is a liar. The Bible says he's been a liar since the beginning. He's a liar, but man, he is laying it on thick right here to Eve. So, all of a sudden, because she has engaged into a situation and a conversation she had no business talking with to begin with, now she finds herself questioning God. Now she's giving the serpent's word more credence than God's word. Man, we're in a serious situation here. When we deliberately break God's command, break God's law, we have given the enemy's word more value than we did God. That's what she's done right here. And then she goes on in verse six. She says, it says, "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of the fruit and she ate." Man, it started with one simple line. The serpent said, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of the tree of the garden?'" Is that what God said? Is that what did he say? That it started with that, and now she's overlooking things she don't need to be looking at. She's partaking with things, touching things she don't need to be doing. And now she's eating things. I mean, she's literally consuming things that are in direct opposition to what God said. Do you see how the story of the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve is not just a story? It is a picture of humanity. And this is where it all starts. The Bible says when she saw that it's going to make me wise. So, we all, we're seeing some covetousness start here. You know, we're seeing some things. "It's going to make me wise." And she eats of that fruit. And guess what? It did not taste bad to her. She didn't immediately go. She said it was good. And guess what she did? The first thing she did? She went to her husband. "She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." Now, oh, Adam, he didn't even pay no attention. We've got a couple of things happening here. We've got one that has fallen deliberately. I mean, she's clearly stated what God said and she clearly disobeyed that. And I mean, there's no way around that. That's what happened. And then we've got one over here that's going to fall and feel the wrath of God because he's lazy, because he's not paying attention, because he just did what somebody else said do. He just did it. So you got one over here. You got Eve, man. She has really messed up. She's been over talking to the devil. She's been over playing with the serpent, and she has deliberately disobeyed God. She says, "Here, Adam." And Adam goes, "What's this?" I want to tell you something. You know why this preacher, and hopefully every other preacher in the country, every Sunday stands up there and says, "You got to take up your cross and die daily and pay attention and don't be lazy. Don't be shallow. Don't be stagnant spiritually." You know why that is? Because if we ain't careful, we going to get taken straight to hell BECAUSE WE AIN'T PAYING ATTENTION. BECAUSE WE'RE NOT DYING EVERY DAY TO SELF. WE'RE LETTING OUR SELF CONSUME US JUST LIKE ADAM. YEAH, give me some of that. He I I don't think Adam in this instance just deliberately wanted to DISOBEY GOD, BUT HE FINDS HIMSELF JUST TAKING EVE'S WORD FOR IT, KNOWING THE SEVERITY OF WHAT GOD HAD TOLD HIM. HE SHOULD HAVE PAID MORE ATTENTION. HE SHOULD HAVE STUDIED TO SHOW HIMSELF APPROVED. HE SHOULD HAVE DIED DAILY RIGHT THERE. BUT HE DIDN'T. HE WAS LAZY. HE WAS INFLUENCED. AND HE JUST SUCKED RIGHT INTO IT right with her. And guess what? Both of them's demise is because of it. And the Bible says the eyes of both of them were opened instantly. And they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. All of a sudden, a sin nature has entered into humanity. Every one of us, when we are born, are born into a sinful nature. You've heard it stated many times, but it's so true. You don't have to teach a child how to be bad or how to throw a fit. You have to teach them how to be good, don't you? You have to correct them. Why is that? Because we're not born into a perfect nature. We are born into a sin nature. That's why the Bible says we are all sinners and fallen short of the glory of God. And every single one of us are in need of a savior. If you're sitting out there, maybe you've never thought about it in this realm, and you hear the preacher say, "We're all sinners. We're all in need of a savior." This is where it comes from, right here. Because sin entered the world. And now, as Adam and Eve now, they both know that they're naked. That sin nature has come in. When they are fruitful and multiply, their children are not born in the perfection that God placed them in Eden. THEY ARE BORN into the sin nature they received from their human parents. Just like me, just like you, just like our children. That's why we all need a savior. EVERY ONE OF US. THAT'S WHY WE HAVE TO preach those things. That's why Jesus is so important. Because we all are born with no hope of salvation because of what happened right here in the third chapter of Genesis. Man, you start reading the Bible and it's wild right off the bat. The Bible says this, "The Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'" You realize Adam had never hidden from God. Adam had never hidden from God until right now. How many of you know what the feeling of conviction is? Boy, ain't it a heavy one when you know what God's word says and you're living for Jesus and then you do something, you willfully do something that God don't want you to do, and man, you feel about this tall. That's called conviction. And what does it cause us to do until we get it through our thick skull that we got to get on our knees and repent? What do we find ourselves doing? Trying to either hide the sin or hide ourselves. How many people has that serpent convinced to go into a room, a dark room, and bury themselves, hide themselves in alcohol, hide themselves in some kind of drug, hide themselves in some kind of manner? You know why? That's just like what Adam and Eve were doing when they sinned. When they were in opposition to God, when they were in a fallen state, they instantly, instinctively tried to hide. I want to tell you something. There ain't nothing that's going to be hidden. All right? Everything that's done in the dark will be brought to light. It is not time to hide your sin or hide yourself. It is time to repent. Adam had never hidden from God. But God shows up in the garden in the evening, just like always. He says, "Adam, where are you?" So he said, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked?" Now, God's all-knowing. He knows the answer to all this. Sometimes he wants to hear it from you. "Who told you? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" God's asking him the question. Man, he asks us that same question. Do you know God gives us opportunity every day, all day to repent? Every day, all day, God gives us opp There's never a time where God says, "No, you can't repent right now. Forgiveness is not available." Never a time. He gives us opportunity all day, every day to repent. "Who told you you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat?"
Now, I want you to understand something. I want you to notice specifically that God came to the man first. Now, this is not letting y'all off, women. But I want to tell you something, men. You are the head of the house, and you need to lead your families. All right? He came to the man first. Even though it was Eve that ate of it first, he came to the man first and he said, "Adam, where you at?" And he said, ' Have you eaten of this?' And the man said, he did what men typically do. Blamed his wife. How many of you men cannot find your shoes? And it's not that you took them off and threw them down somewhere. It's not any reason other than my wife must have moved them, my wife hid my shoes, my wife hid this, my wife hid that. And Lori's common answer is, "It's right in there where it's supposed to be." Sure enough, I go in there, there it is. You know, how is it that wives know where everything's at? You ever noticed that? I can ask Lori where any random, I mean, pick the most random item I could possibly. "Where's the pineapple skinner, hun?" "Oh, it's right back there behind the shelf and on the..." You know, she knows. Adam does what all men do. God said, "Have you eaten of the tree that I told you not to?" And and Adam says, "This woman that you gave me." The man said, "I just think it's hilarious, really, but it's very heartbreaking and serious." The first thing that Adam could think of to say, he's caught red-handed. And the first thing that he could think to say to God was, "This this woman you gave me." Men, that feels kind of natural, don't it? "This woman that you gave me." I'm getting a lot of amening right here. I don't know what's going on with y'all. Getting a lot of amening right there. "The woman that you gave me of the tree, and I ate." And so the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you've done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
Now, I love the fact that she doesn't try to hide the fact that she ate. What was God's command? "Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." And she says, "I ate." She's trying to explain away why she did this and all that, but the fact remains that he said, "Don't eat." And she ate. Have you ever found yourself in the same situation? You're trying to explain to God why you're living in this sinful way. I've done that. We all do that. "This is why I got so angry at my neighbor, God. This is why I did it. I know I'm supposed to love my neighbor, but this is why I got angry." Expecting God to say, "Oh, okay. Yeah, now see, we do the same thing as Eve's trying to do here. The serpent gave it to me and he deceived me and I ate. Somehow if we try to explain to God why we're sinning, all of a sudden he'll just act like we didn't sin. If I tell him the serpent gave it to me and he deceived me, he'll just overlook the part of me eating it." I'm going to tell you something. There is never a time for sin. I don't care what situation you're in. I don't care how bad it is. I don't care how dire it is. I don't care. There's never a time to do wrong. There's never a time to do what God says not to do. All right? There is never a time for sin. The Bible says in the book of Romans, I believe it is, but the Bible says in the epistles, he says that you are never so TEMPTED THAT GOD HAS NOT given you a way of escape. THERE'S NEVER A TIME TO SIN. IF GOD HAS ALLOWED YOU TO BE IN A SITUATION, I DON'T CARE HOW TOUGH it seems, how at no end IT SEEMS, HOW DIRE IT SEEMS, HE WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU A WAY NOT TO SIN. ALL RIGHT. HOW DO WE DO THAT? THAT NARROW PATH. WE GOT TO BE LOOKING UNTO JESUS. WE GOT TO BE FOLLOWING WHAT HIS WORD SAYS. WE GOT TO BE DOING WHAT HE SAYS TO DO AND NOT DOING WHAT HE SAYS NOT TO DO. THERE'S NEVER A TIME TO SAY, "HE DECEIVED ME AND I ATE."
So look what happened. So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you've done this, and you you are cursed more than all cattle, more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go, and on and on you shall eat dust all the days of your life." Now listen, this is prophetic right here. The Lord's speaking. "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. Look at that second seed. That S is capital. Between your seed and her seed, and he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." I want you to know something. You'll have preachers that'll preach a sermon something like this, that man fell in the garden and God searched all down through humanity. God looked down all through time and all through history trying to find a perfect sacrifice to save his people. That is absolutely not the way it worked. God said right here in the third chapter of Genesis. I COULD ABOUT PREACH TONIGHT, FOLKS. I'm here to tell you, HE SAID RIGHT HERE, DEVIL, BECAUSE YOU HAVE CAUSED THIS CREATION OF MINE TO FALL, I'M GOING TO SEND MY SON. HE'S GOING TO STOMP YOUR HEAD, IS WHAT HE'S SAYING. YOU'RE GOING TO BRUISE HIS HEEL, BUT HE'S GOING TO CRUSH YOUR HEAD. GOD KNEW FROM THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD THAT JESUS WOULD BE THE SAVING GRACE OF ALL HUMANITY. THERE WAS NO SEARCHING. THERE WAS NO WONDERING. HE KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING THAT JESUS WAS the savior of the world. AMEN. WOO! MAN, THAT gets me going, man. To preach on that Sunday morning. I love it. You can hear the authority in God's voice. I want to tell you something. This is just one of those little things that I think about sometimes. But you can feel the difference in the tone when he's speaking to Adam and to Eve and when he's speaking to the serpent. He feels disappointment when he's speaking to Adam and Eve. But I'm going to tell you something. God rises to the occasion when he speaks to that serpent. I want you to know something. God loves you. You hear the question asked all the time. "How could God, such a loving God, send somebody to hell?" You ever heard that? The old enemy, that sounds a lot like that. "Did God tell you you couldn't eat of the tree?" He throws those same kind of questions. But I want to tell you something. God loves you. God loves you more than you could ever even imagine. Every time we sin, it breaks the heart of God. He is so hurt and disappointed. Not because we failed, but because it separates us. I want to tell you something. When my kids do something wrong, I'm hurt and disappointed. Not because they just messed up, but because there's some separation there. It breaks my heart. It breaks the heart of God WHEN WE MESS UP. HE WALKED AND TALKED IN THE COOL of the evening with Adam and Eve. And now sin has entered AND IT'S SEPARATING HIM. HIS HEART IS BROKEN. AND THEN HE TURNS TO THE ENEMY AND HE SAYS, "BECAUSE YOU HAVE CAUSED THIS, I'M GOING TO CRUSH YOUR HEAD. ON YOUR BELLY YOU'LL GO AND LATER YOU'LL FIND INTO THE LAKE OF ETERNAL FIRE you shall go." Devil, how could a God so holy and loving send somebody to hell? I'M HERE TO TELL YOU HE DESIRES THAT NONE SHOULD PERISH. BUT BECAUSE OF THE third chapter of Genesis, he sent his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON SO THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO THERE. You're deserving of it. I'm deserving of it because of what happened here. But because he loves us so much, he sent Jesus. To the woman, he said, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children, and your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." Then to Adam he said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it.' Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. I like to plant a garden every year. Fanny, Arkansas, we grow the biggest, most beautiful rocks you've ever seen. Every year when I go out there and till up my garden, I'm like, I just picked thousands of these up last year. Where they come from? I'm throwing these rocks out of the garden, hauling them off, and the whole time I'm saying, Adam, cursed is the ground because of it. Both thorns and thistles you shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return." And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, capital U, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever." Therefore the L Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. And he drove out the man, and he placed cherubim, which is a heavenly being, kind of like an angel, not an angel, but it's a heavenly being. He placed cherubim at the east of the gate of the garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Can't sneak there. You're not going to find it. God's hiding it by heavenly beings. That's the third chapter of the book of Genesis. We're three chapters in and it's like, wow. Wow. A lot's happened in three chapters. This chapter is the beginning of what all this is about. This whole Bible that we read, when you read Paul's writings in Thessalonians and Colossians, Peter, all the writings of Peter and the Revelations, and then the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you read all of that, it's because of this third chapter right here starting. So, I hope that you can kind of see where we're going to go with this thing.
Next week, we're going to we're going to skip over to Noah and the ark. Has anybody ever heard of that story? We're going to skip over to Noah and the ark. And I might touch just a minute on Cain and Abel, but we're going to spend next week on Noah and the ark and the great flood because man, what a picture of Jesus it is. What a picture of Jesus it is. So, I hope everybody enjoys these studies. You kind of man, I I may end up preaching through them because I I didn't intend on getting that wound up tonight, but man, I felt the Holy Ghost come in there and we start talking about that uh next week Noah and the ark. But I feel like that God's going to show us something great as we progress through the scriptures. And uh, and then after Noah and the ark, we're going to get on the Tower of Babel. Tower of Babel. And I hope people, I hope we learn some things, you know, learn some things throughout this study. So thank y'all for coming tonight. Uh, we're going we'll have a word of prayer and dismiss, but uh, invite somebody. Make Wednesday nights one of my favorite nights of the week. I love getting in God's word like this. So invite somebody. Let's uh make Wednesday night part of our routine, you know. Uh, and then I'm looking forward to a good day Sunday. I can't hardly wait. We might go back on the third chapter of Genesis Sunday morning. I don't know. Anybody got anything tonight before we close out? Okay. Okay. Absolutely. Absolutely. Remember brother Truman as well as he heals up all the different things going on. Let's uh let's all stand tonight. Let's go to the Lord. And when we get done praying, grab a hold of somebody and hug their neck, shake their hand, just just tell them, "Hey, I'm glad you're here. Part of the family." Brother David, would you pray for us tonight?