Introduction:

        1. Gen 3 is not just the sad ending of the account of creation

        2. It is the beginning of the wonderful story of salvation

                a. It is amazing that God took the initiative to come after man

                b. At the end of this chapter we hear a promise of a Savior

        3. We also see a picture of the atoning work of that Savior

        4. No one is saved unless God goes after him

        5. What a gift of God’s grace

                a. God did not pursue Satan and provide salvation for him

                b. God did not provide salvation for fallen angels and go after them

                c. There is no means of reconciliation – they are doomed in their fallen state for all eternity

        6. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels

                a. He is perfectly just in sending them to hell some day

                b. God would have been perfectly just in sending us there

                c. Yet God decided to act toward fallen man in love, mercy and grace

                d. He provided the ultimate sacrifice, His Son, so we could be reconc

        7. For eternity we will be praising Him that He pursued us, He sought us and bought us with His redeeming blood

I.    THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE FALL – vs 7

·         The consequences of sin are not pleasant.

·         Sin advertises itself so deceitfully it never tells you of the consequences

·         But Scripture does.

A.  The Shame in the Sequence – vs 7 ß

1.     The awareness of shame

a)    The first consequence of the sin was of shame and guilt for A/Eve

b)    When one sins, sooner or later the shame / guilt is sure to come

c)    Lurking behind every evil deed is the monster of guilt

d)    Psychologists have tried in vain to rid us of the shame and guilt of sin, but shame and guilt are built into sin.

2.     The apparel for shame

a)    This covering was unacceptable to God

b)    It was man's vain attempt to cover his shame.

c)    Sin tries to deal with guilt/ shame by good works to appease the conscience, trying to redeem oneself by works; but it is  futile

d)    Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse away our sin.

B.  The Society in the Sequence – vs 8 ß

1.     Sin brings a decrease in our interest in God and His Word.

2.     Adam and Eve after their sin no longer had a delight in fellowshipping with God. Sin shuns fellowship with God.

3.     People who get into sin lose interest in church and worship 

C.  The Scare in the Sequence – vs 10

        10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

1.     Sin may bring some temporary enjoyments but fear soon replaces felicity.

2.     "God hath not given us the spirit of fear" (2 Tim 1:7), but sin has

II.  THE SEEKING AFTER THE FALL – vs 8-13

·         After Adam and Eve sinned and hid themselves because of their sin, God came seeking for them.

·         God is ever seeking man. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10).

·         Salvation is a matter of God seeking man not man seeking God.

A.  The Mercy in the Seeking – vs 8

1.     Both "walking" and "the cool of the day" show the mercy of God in the seeking.

2.     God did not run after them in the heat of the day to apprehend and annihilate them.

3.     He could have and would have been justified in so doing, but God seeks sinners in grace.

4.     It is after grace is refused that judgment comes.

B.  The Manner in the Seeking – vs 11-13 ß

·         God's manner of seeking Adam and Eve was with pungent questions.

·         The questions and their response are most instructive.

1.     The asking

a)    First, Where are you?  - vs 9   Out of God’s will?

b)    Second, Who told you that you were naked?- vs 11

c)    Third, What have you done? ("hast thou eaten of the tree)

2.     The answers

a)    The answers by Adam and Eve simply passed the buck; they demonstrated that they were being irresponsible.

b)    God was blamed ("woman who thou gavest... me,…"

c)    So was the serpent ("the serpent beguiled me" Gen 3:13

d)    Many today are still passing the buck

e)     It is the victim syndrome. Blame anybody but yourself and especially blame God is the evil habit.

III. THE SENTENCING AFTER THE FALL – vs 14-20

·         All involved in the fall were given sentences from God.

·         Judgment comes where sin has occurred.

·         Men do not like judgment and many ministers try to take judgment out of the message, but it is put there by God!

A.  The Sentence for the Serpent  - vs 14 ß

·         Satan was the first one sentenced; and fittingly, because he initiated the fall, his was the worst sentence of all.

1.     The curse in the sentence - That is why the snake is so repulsive.

2.     The crawling in the sentence

a)    Crawling on the belly has to do with humility than anything else.

b)    Eating dust is not as literal as it is symbolic of the crawling.

3.     The conflict in the sentence – “enmity”

a)    There is more here than just the normal conflict between snakes and humans

b)    But this text also speaks of the great conflict between good and evil, especially the great conflict between Christ and Satan.

4.     The conquest in the sentence – “thou shalt bruise his heel”

a)    Here is the great prophecy of Christ's ultimate victory over Satan.

b)    "her" seed points to the virgin birth.

c)    Bruising the head is best way to kill a snake

d)    Bruising the heel speaks of Calvary.

B.  The Sentence for the Woman – vs 16

        16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

·         The sentence for the woman was no picnic.

·         It affected her status and her suffering.

1.     The sorrow in the sentence

a)    "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and [particularly in] thy conception; [and] in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children."

b)    Sorrow involves pain here.

c)    It comes to the woman in common life and especially in child birth.

2.     The subjection in the sentence

a)    "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

b)    This is speaking of more than the proper position of women but also of the great oppression that has often come to women in the history of the human race.

C.  The Sentence for the Man – vs 17-19 

·         Adam was the last to be sentenced, but his was the longest of the three

·         It replaced pleasure w/ pain, happiness w/ sorrow, blessing w/ burden

1.     The soil in the sentence – vs 17 ß

a)    Productivity of the ground would not be as it was before the fall

b)    "Thorns also and thistles" – vs 18 are part of the reason.

c)     Any farmer knows the struggle with the productivity of the groun

d)    The great problem with the environment is sin—the environmentalists have yet to learn this truth.

2.     The sorrow in the sentence

a)    "In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life"

b)    Three times the word "sorrow" is found in the Divine sentence upon Adam and Eve.

c)    Sin may bring some pleasure (Hebrews 11:25) but the pleasure does not last long.

d)    What lasts and lasts is the sorrow that comes from sin.

e)    Sin is full of appealing promises but only brings agonizing punishment instead.

f)      Sin is the great producer of heartache not happiness. In the beatitudes, Jesus said, "Blessed [happy] are the pure" (Matthew 5:8), not happy are the impure.

3.     The sweat in the sentence – vs 19

        18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

a)    "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Genesis 3:19).

b)    This emphasizes the struggle of life, the burdensome labor which sin has brought upon mankind.

c)    Every drop of sweat should remind us of the penalty for sin.

4.     The sequence in the sentence

a)    "Thou return unto the ground... for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19).

b)    Satan said, "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4) but they did—both spiritually and physically.

c)    Satan "is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44).

IV. THE SKINS AFTER THE FALL – vs 21

·         God did not approve of the fig leave aprons

·         So He clothed them with the skins of an animal (good thing the animal rights people were not in the Garden after the fall).

·         These skins and the covering God made for Adam and Eve are a great portrayal of the Gospel.

A.  The Sacrifice in the Skins – vs 21

        21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

a)    In order to clothe Adam and Eve and cover their shame, God had to slay an animal and shed its blood.

b)    In order to clothe mankind in robes of righteousness in salvation, a sacrifice also had to occur.

c)    "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22).

B.  The Substitution in the Skins – vs 21

a)    In order for Adam and Eve to be clothed, an innocent had to die

b)    Here is the great doctrine of substitution.

c)    Christ was our substitute to die on the cross in our place that we may be clothed in the "robe of righteousness" instead of in sin.

d)    "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21).

C.  The Supplying in the Skins vs 21

a)    Salvation is supplied by God for the sinner, not by the sinner.

b)    It is not of man's works.

c)    The attempt of Adam and Eve to supply their own covering was wholly inadequate—our works will never save us, only the provision of God will save.

V.   THE SETTLEMENT AFTER THE FALL – vs 22-24

A.  The Removing for the Settlement – vs 23-24 ß

·         God removed man from the Garden of Eden to his new settlement

1.     The driving in the removal - "He drove out the man" – vs 24

a)    Drove - suggests refusal to leave, rebelling against God’s will

b)    The submissive soul is led, not driven.

2.     The discomfort in the removal – “sent him from forth”

a)    Sin removes the sinner from the place of blessing.

b)    Sin brings much discomfort.

3.     The doctrine in the removal

a)    Some teach that a better environment will change bad to good, but the fall of man teaches that evil will change good to bad.

b)    The parlor will not change the pig.

4.     The duty after the removal

a)    "The Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground' (Genesis 3:23).

b)    It would be a cursed ground with weeds battling the productivity of it (Genesis 3:17,18). Sin makes things harder for us.

B.  The Repelling for the Settlement – vs 24

        24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

o    God put up a guard to repel and keep man out of Eden.

1.     The place of the repelling

a)    "At the east of the garden of Eden."

b)    Obviously this was the entrance to the garden.

2.     The particulars of the repelling

a)    "He placed... Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way."

b)    The angels (Cherubims) of God and the anger (flaming sword) of God served as sentinels to repel all from the garden.

3.     The purpose of the repelling

a)     "To keep the way of the tree of life."

b)    The peril of partaking from the tree is stated in Genesis 3:22. Thus the angels and anger protected man, too.