Genesis 3:1-24

If there were a day in history that we wish could have been relived, it would be this day.  The fall of Adam into sin it, without a doubt, the darkest day in history.  All sin and its many consequences owe their origin to this original sin on the part of man. All of nature and every fiber of our beings have been infected by the sin that started on this day.  The glorious news is that in Christ we can be saved from sin and as a result of Christ’s salvation our eternal fate will be far superior to that of Adam and Eve prior to sin.  However, until that glorious day, we would do well to learn from the lessons about sin that we learn from this passage.

THE DECEPTION BY SIN: Sin always starts with some form of deception.  Satan shows up in the garden in the form of a snake and begins to question Eve about the commandment of God.  Satan is constantly doubting and distorting the Word of God in an attempt to deceive us about God and His Word.  Eventually Satan gets to the point of denouncing the Word of God and even the very character of God.  We wonder how Eve could have been so easily deceived when she has so much going for her because of God’s provision.  We wonder how Eve could have possibly been dissatisfied in such a perfect environment.  The truth was that she was not dissatisfied but Satan deceived her into thinking that she was.  The same happens to us every time that we sin.  God has given us all that we need, He has revealed to us just what His will is in His Word, yet, we lust after things that are against His will.  We rationalize that we deserve these pleasures or that God has failed to meet some need so that we are justified in sinful actions and attitudes.  The truth is that we are simply being deceived by Satan or deceiving ourselves.  We must never doubt or distort God’s Word and must never deny God’s goodness.  Every time we sin we are deceived into doing one or all three of these things.

THE DESIRE TO SIN: Satan is able to deceive us into sinning because he makes sin appear so desirable.  There is no question that sin does offer an appeal to our personal pleasures and that it brings about a temporary pleasure.  Satan convinced Adam and Eve that they would be wise and become like God as a result of this sin.  A desire for wisdom and a desire to be like God are not sinful desires but they became sinful the minute that their desire for these qualities became stronger than their desire to obey God’s clear command.  Sometimes the most difficult sins to avoid are related to our desires to do or have things that are not sinful or are even good.  The problem arises when our desires are place ahead of God’s will.  We must constantly examine the desires of our hearts to be sure that they are not replacing our desire for God and His Word.

THE DISTANCE FROM SIN: The first consequence of sin was immediate.  Adam and Eve became ashamed of their nakedness and they did not want to face God.  This is the first recorded game of “hide and go seek.”  God won!  Prior to sin God’s presence would come into the garden apparently in a bodily form and He would walk with Adam and Eve.  They realized that this fellowship was conditional upon their obeying His command.  When they disobeyed, the first thing that they wanted was distance from God.  They didn’t want to face God’s wrath which they knew they deserved.  They learned as we often have, that hiding from God is an exercise in futility.  He knows where we are and what we do at all times.  However, there has been a distance maintained between God and man since sin entered the world.  That distance can only be breached by the blood of Jesus.  Christ came to draw us near to God once again through faith in His work on the cross.  Killing His own Son was the only means by which God could restore fellowship with man and provide for man’s eternal righteousness in God’s perfect presence.

THE DISASTER OF SIN: We rarely count the consequences of sin, but we see that the original sin had many disastrous consequences for all who were involved.  Satan was cursed, the serpent was cursed, the earth was cursed, Eve was cursed, Adam was cursed and they were thrown out of the beautiful garden which God had prepared for them.  From this point on, man’s work became much more difficult along with every aspect of his life from his personal relationships to his thoughts, desires and actions.  The consequences of Adam’s sin have been passed on to all of us and they should serve as a reminder to all of us that all of our sins have consequences and that we must to all that is in our power to avoid sin.  When we are tempted to sin we rarely think about the consequences of those actions.  We become blinded by our desires and choose to ignore God’s warnings and forget the pain of our past sins.  This brings about disaster in our lives all over again.  If we are going to be victorious in the war we are waging against the sins in our hearts we much begin to count the cost of our sin and wage war on the wickedness of our own hearts.