Well, after a few weeks of being on vacation, we come back this morning to Genesis, and I guess it was said from this pulpit that a pastor can't stay down on his vacation. He has a problem with preaching on vacation. That is true. I did preach on vacation. We're going to turn to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3, and this morning we're continuing our study, if you're visiting with us in this book. And we have come this morning to verses 16, and we will conclude chapter 3, 16 through 24. And I'm going to back up, and we will read at verse 14. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. Genesis 3.14. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. To the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing. In pain, you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. And to Adam, he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return the man called his wife's name eve because she was the mother of all living and the lord god made for adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them then the lord god said behold the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the to the tree of life may the lord bless this morning the hearing of his word the other day i was walking out of uh safeway and walked into the parking lot and a man approached me and he was clearly homeless and uh he had something wrong with his body the man had some kind of uh bad limp and something had gone wrong in his legs and he came to me and he asked of course for money that he might get a motel here in town. And coming to a pastor, I only had two bucks on me. So I reach in my pocket and I grab the two bucks and I looked at him as I was handing him the money. I looked right in his eyes. And I was handing him the money. I said, you know, you can be freed from this misery you're in. And he looked back at me and he said, Sir, I would love nothing more than to be freed from this. And so there we were out in Safeway having a big conversation about the gospel. And it was quite a scene. I say all of this this morning, and I raise that because thousands of years ago, there was another man in this very same predicament. His name was Adam. He faced the same issue. And I can't imagine what it must have been like to have had communion with God in the way that Adam had it. And to be at peace with God and to enjoy the beauties of His creation without sin. And to be able to approach God in worship and to gaze upon the glory. To know what that must have been like. And then, to have had it all taken away and experienced that loss, I can't imagine that moment for him. I can't imagine what that must have been like. To know what you had and then to see that by your decision, you threw it all away. And here we sit today. And we're all suffering the pain. Because in Adam, we made that decision. We all made it, and so here we stand. They had listened to the serpent in the garden who promised that if they said to them that if they ate of the tree, they would not die. Remember this, and we've unpacked that and studied this for a few weeks ago, but now they receive from God the very thing the devil said wouldn't happen, and the consequences of their sin falls upon Adam and Eve. The question this morning, and that's why I raised it with the man at the beginning, the question this morning is how could Adam and Eve escape this? Was there a way of escape? Is there a way out? And now, what would life be like under the sun because of this? What could Adam expect, and where was he to go from here? They're important questions, aren't they? What is life to be now, and what do we expect? And if there is this way out, what will life look like even though we're still fallen? I love Genesis 3 this morning because we're shown right after the fall, we're shown and given the answer of how God delivers. We're given good news immediately with the bad news. And we see here in Genesis 3 how the Lord brings people back to life, how He saves. You have everything right here in Genesis 3. You have everything about the Christian gospel. Everything you need is right here. We're going to see it develop throughout history in much more clarity, especially after Christ comes. But we see everything here in early seed form of everything the scriptures will unpack about the way back home. And I want you all to ask this morning, does your response look like Adam's? It's an important question. God is showing us the kind of response that pleases Him, the way of salvation. And the Scriptures maintain this over and over, that God has been long-suffering with us. God has been so long-suffering in goodness, feeding us, caring for us, so that when we see His goodness in light of how awful the reality of sin is, we would come to Him. We would repent, and we would believe, and He will lift us up. This is where we pick up this morning. What we have essentially in these curses is God now leveling the consequences of what He said, that in the day you eat of it, you will surely die. But He's describing for us what life is now going to be like because of sin for Adam and Eve. God had come, remember, in this scene, and it was a kind of judgment scene. God was demanding an account. He had come down, and we studied this in chapter 3. And everyone immediately wants the account. Adam, have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat? Immediately, all this blame shifting, all of this blaming had gone on. The blame game was being played. Remember this? Well, this woman whom you gave me, she made me do it. And the woman blames the serpent. And all of this was a blame upon God, we looked at, shifting the blame to ultimately blaming him for this mess. And we have seen this play out in history ever since with questions like, why does God allow this when we have some kind of tragedy? And where is God? All of these questions are attacking him. I was amazed how many parents came up to me and said, you know, this happens all the time in my house, my kids. And the children should learn this morning that the first parents did it. and we do it and the Lord is confronting us this way that we would say you know I have sinned I have done what is wrong and I come to you for help and forgiveness that I wouldn't do it again but that I would ultimately be forgiven and washed this is an amazing section this morning God didn't accept the excuses the very thing that he said would happen happened and this is what we have here with these curses you could almost sum this up with the language of ecclesiastes as i was reading through ecclesiastes this week it dawned on me the author says something like this i have seen the god-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied all go to one place all are from the dust and all return to the dust and look the tears the tears look at life it's full of tears and they have no comforter says the author it's psalm 127 um it's vain for you to rise up early and to stay up late to eat the bread of sorrows this is life under the curse this is life because of the fall of man and so in verse 14 you'll notice that we, as we read that, that God had initially cursed the serpent himself. But he doesn't so much curse Adam and Eve, does he? It would leave them without hope. He places them under the curse. And so God demonstrates his judgment in the order, in the way of things that they occurred in the garden. The serpent came in, he approached the woman, and then the man eats with her god levels the consequences now and so that's where we pick up this morning in verse 16 to the woman he said i will surely multiply your pain and childbearing in pain you shall bring forth children your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you now this is very common to us isn't it the very area of life that should be and birth about the greatest amount of joy and happiness is interrupted now with intense sorrow intense sorrow and he's not just speaking here about the birth process you'll notice the word sorrow he'll increase sorrow and it's kind a parallel statement but i believe he's he's explaining this further the whole process of motherhood with all of its joys will be mingled with sorrow women know this you want to see this sorrow turn to the next chapter and the very first thing i mean can you imagine the very first thing you see after this and there's a reason this comes right on the heels the very first thing you see are her two sons that come out of the womb and one of them rises up and kills the other. Sorrow. Sorrow has filled the home. From the time the infant comes out crying, seeing the little one suffer and hurt and they go through things often that mom never wants to see their children go through and then in the teenage years, all the bad choices that come with it, They overcome, bringing forth children is hard. It's hard. She bears sorrow. And then God adds to this. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. You'll remember when we unpacked, when the devil had come to Eve in the garden, that he was attacking her positionally. You remember. Remember what he had offered to her. When you eat of this, you will be as God. You will be like God. You'll become your own God. And she would be wise. She would be wise in her own understanding. Satan was offering her this. Satan was tempting her with this. And remember, Satan was challenging Eve to break free from the chains that God had placed upon the woman to be a helper comparable to the man. She had been assigned a role. she had been assigned a place and the devil was saying you don't have to do that this is oppressive you don't have to be in that position this god's holding you back you could be so much more you can define reality on your terms and so god curses and what does the curse hit god says your desire shall be for your husband he shall rule over you in a sense he gave the woman over to this she tried to take the head position the curse was saying god was saying you won't be able to take it you'll desire it but you won't be able to take it god struck at the intention of eve to abandon the position and if you look at the construction here over in chapter 4 uh you know your desire shall be for your husband and he will rule over you look over at verse 7 of chapter 4 when god talks to cain look what he says if you do well will you not be accepted and if you do not do well sin lies at the door and its desire is for you but you should rule over it she will desire her husband in the same kind of way. It's used in chapter 4. Sin's desire was for him, but he should rule over it. God is saying you will desire to control and rule and dominate, but you will not be able. He shall rule over you. And so what you essentially have in this is a power struggle that goes on, that under the curse there is a power struggle. And you want to see it run its course. You know this. This doesn't take a lot of convincing. To give you an example, Betty Friedan wrote her famous book in 1963 called The Feminine Mystique, which was premised on the idea that women were trapped in the structures of a male-dominated society. Friedan spoke of women as second-rate citizens. The problem is that men are in charge. Her ideas called for a collective rebellion providing a whole new definition of womanhood. Her thesis? Friedan said, We women need and can trust no other authority than our own personal truth. Who does that sound like? The devil. You can be as God. You can define reality on your terms. And that was the book that launched the modern-day feminist movement. The book. I could say more. I won't bore you with it. God now turns to the man. 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 it, cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Notice how God throws this right back on Adam. Adam had made the excuse, Eve made me do it. And God says at the beginning, what does he say to the man? Because you've listened to the voice of your wife. And God says, he brings two curses here. First, the ground. The ground would become a kind of enemy. And we'll see this tonight in Romans 8. The connection with this is fascinating. Adam was given the command to rule and to cultivate and to subdue. And now as punishment, he's struggling with this very thing. God uses the same word in pain for childbearing with the woman as he uses here with the man in painful toil, he's going to work to survive. And then he faces the problem with productivity. There will be thorns and thistles and the earth brings forth bad crops constantly and weather destroys things and there's often a hostile creation for us to survive. And so notice the challenge here. The man now working hard to provide faces the constant pain and toil of the possibility of loss. Struggling. Struggling with the earth. Struggling with work. The earth rises up. His activity is often in pain and frustration. And what kind of leadership does he show? Your desire shall be for your husband, but he shall rule over you. That's not male headship. That's male dominance. That's what you've seen play out in history. Male dominance in response. If you were to go to Christ's time, the way women were treated was horrible. They were divorced to be married, married to be divorced. They were used to just have children while the men had all their concubines. It was awful. Sum this up. Here's life under the sun. You have a woman trying to find her satisfaction in the home, but she can't. She's struggling. It's full of conflict with children and conflict with the husband. You have the man trying to find satisfaction outside the home. Both pursuits are full of pain, and their happinesses, their search for happinesses, are contrary to one another. Thus you have all sorts of books written about men are from Mars and women are from Venus. I think that's how it goes. And you got the worst news. We're all dying. Not only did we die spiritually, but do you notice the end? For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Isn't that the worst thing that could be said? Because of sin, all of us know and it doesn't respect ages, all of us know that you could die any moment. And it's over. What a mess. What a mess. What a mess. And you see this every night. You flip open the news. Murder, husbands and wives, the awful, atrocious things. family crumbling, people hating one another. Now here's the question this morning. What's the option for Adam? What's the option for Eve? See why Psalm 127 says, unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain will build it. But I'm going to put a big but in front of that. Does the Lord unleash the full effects of the curse on us? We taste it. We see it all the time. We see the earth rising up as an enemy often. I've seen these tornadoes come through and pull up whole towns this last month. I've seen earthquakes wipe out regions. I've seen flooding in India, tearing down villages right now, and people being swept away in the hundreds. I see homes in shambles. But what has God done? He's restrained a lot of this, hasn't he? I don't think we ever stop and think about that enough, how much he's actually restraining this stuff. He allows seed time and harvest to continue. And the result being that today, I'm not sure there's anyone in this building who's going to go home and say, you know, I don't have a meal to eat. You're going to go sit down and you're going to have a nice meal in front of you and there it is from where and even though there's curses marriages even those who have non-believers are still being enjoyed all over the face of this earth some experience harmony we get to enjoy the beauties of creation even though the ground's cursed i can look out and i can see yosemite and say look at that glory beautiful have you ever stopped and asked the question why why did god leave it that way why did god restrain this kind of way when paul was speaking to the pagans in lystra remember what happened they were worshiping paul as barnabas and paul and barnabas as greek gods and paul starts preaching and remember what paul said we preach that you should turn from these useless things to the living god who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them but he never left us without witness and that he did good he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts your hearts pagans with food and gladness he said to them whoa why did god do that he didn't have to do that god holds back earthquakes we don't know how much he has really restrained but if we knew we're sitting in the 50s building that probably needs retrofitting for earthquake problems, right? How much does God restrain? You ever thought about it? How much does God protect? He feeds your children. Yes, the ground's cursed. Marriages are often at war. There's different desires on the part of men and women, and God is holding stuff back. And he lets you taste an enjoyment of what his goodness is like. And why is he doing it? Romans 2, do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? You say, look how much I have. And I say, where is that leading you? Because you don't deserve a lick of it. Look at the food, look at the blessing, look at all of this that I have enjoyed in this life. I say, where is it leading us? God could have ended it right then and there. But he desired to lead people to repentance. So that they would taste and see his goodness. And when they taste and see his goodness, and they still get to enjoy marriages, the blessing of marriage. They still get to enjoy food and gladness. They might turn to Him and see that He's not a God. That He does not, this God does not delight in the death of the wicked, but that they turn and live. That's what He's like. That's what He's like. And so you kind of have a choose you this day scene here in Genesis 3. Which way would Adam go? God said something in the midst of all of this that's just shocking, isn't it? He had made a promise. All these curses are falling, and He makes a promise. And in the midst of all of this, this light is put in there in verse 315. And He denounced a way of escape. What does God want you to see? He wants you to stop and see, like I said to that man at the Safeway Park, you can get out. There's a way out of this misery, the goodness and abundance that we're all enjoying and the kindness of living and moving and having our being, all of these things tell us that He is kind. And so now God shows us the way. Think about what the Holy Spirit did here in showing us the way. We have the first conversion after the fall. Genesis 3, the first conversion. Imagine the pain of losing it all. and your choice did it and you've just heard that and you think to myself what have I done you ever seen people caught on the news when they're doing something awful and the reality that sets in on them but Adam is processing all of this imagine the tears were terrible God just said something in the midst of this he thinks wait a minute wait wait God just said something that somebody's going to come. A champion is going to come from the woman and he is going to crush the serpent's head. Whoa, where did that come from? God just said he's going to save. God just, in other words, God made a promise right now in Genesis 3. He said a champion is going to come who is going to save a people to himself. There are going to be two seeds in the earth, but this one is going to deliver a death blow to the devil, even though the devil will strike his heel. A promise. And so verse 20 should be so meaningful to you. Take a highlighter and you just highlight that, boys and girls. We read, then the man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. That name did not come about till after the fall, you realize she was called woman now she's called eve why is she called eve well all of this blaming had gone us woman whom you made made me do this but now he stops and adam takes responsibility and adam heard god say that the woman would be in great pain to bring forth children but in this painful birth process one would come and so he listened to God's word and he discerned the promise and he believes so much what does he name his wife he names his wife Eve you know what the name Eve means it means life life not death wife giver she would be the mother of all living the hebrews fast this is as good as done he discerned the promise he listened to the judgment he believed god's way he believed the gospel promise he understood that from the woman would come one and he believed it was as good as done the name eve is a joyful celebration of god's announcement that there's a way to be saved if any of this sounds familiar it's because it's the pre-story to the story of abraham isn't it it's the story of abraham when god made a promise to abraham of a seed that he would send the son and what does scripture say about abraham in response the scriptures highlight this all over the place this is the central message of romans 4 remember when when god who gives life to the dead says abraham in the presence of god believed god who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did who contrary to hope in hope believed so that he became the father of many nations in other words he became the father of this multitude of people no man can number that god is going to save you look up boys and girls at the stars or you go out to the beach and you grab a handful of sand and you should say wow god is saving to that degree they didn't have to save any and the lord here is announcing the only way of return remember what happened to abraham when he believed god says look up see those see that abraham believed god and it was accounted to him for righteousness right then and there what did god do paul makes this point in romans 4 that god justified abraham he was forgiven heaven was certain he and he looked for that better country that better land well did you notice what happened as soon as adam named his wife eve life what did god do i think it's one of the most moving verses. For Adam and his wife, verse 21, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. You see the whole formula here? God makes a promise. Adam believes the promise. And what does God do? God does something. There's Adam standing with fig leaves on in front of this holy God who can't tolerate any sin. No sinner can be in his presence and live. And Adam receives the promise by faith. There he is standing in the heavenly courts, if you will. And what does God do? God takes an animal. I don't know what it was. I'd like to think it was a lamb, beautiful without spot. And Adam sees, I believe, something he never witnessed before. the slaying the cutting of a neck and blood coming out everywhere and he sheds the blood and i'm not sure if we understand the horror that fell over adam at that moment because the same kind of horror fell over abraham when he was put out in a trance or in a sleep and god passed through the pieces and he saw death and he saw as a visual when god cut that covenant what he would do to his son and adam standing there i've got fig leaves on okay what am i doing how shameful how inadequate i can't cover myself in front of this holy i can't forgive my own sins we read that God makes this garment for him and this garment went all the way down to the ankles covered him all the way and what Adam learned in a moment was a visual of how angry God is with sinners and that it requires a death of a righteous substitute and that atonement and he learned that God's wrath could never be propitiated could never be satisfied by fig leaves we can't wash ourselves and God himself kills the animal and he clothes in the garden sanctuary in the holy place God sheds blood which would be the whole story of redemption right through the history of Israel to tell us that when Jesus would come in the fullness of times, he stood there open and naked before the wrath of God to forgive us all of our sins. And that's why every year a high priest would go in and enter the most holy place. Remember the garden scene? And he would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. And all of this would speak to the lamb that stood slain from the foundation of the world. God delivering his son. For now, adam was sent out of the garden why well we'll look at this somewhat tonight but the way into the holiest of all was not yet opened until christ would come and so for now the cherubim put up the swords they had to guard and adam was an offender he's now outside but when jesus came and died remember what split into the veil and the way to the most holy place was opened again and all who believe have access all who come with believing hearts they're clothed there's nothing easy about this life is it nothing easy it's a life of trial it's a life of affliction of suffering and i mean think of the suffering that adam and eve are about to undergo now in the next chapter seeing Cain kill Abel. Have you ever had that? Hard life. Now, it's a hard wilderness life. Christians aren't immune from these things. The woman still struggles in the home with her marriage. She struggles with her husband. The man still struggles to care and love for his wife. Productivity is often hit. Trials and conflicts come. We're all under the sun right now, and it's hard. But have you responded with true faith, believing? Or are you trying to build your life without the Lord? That's the two ways here. Because the Lord often, and I would imagine if I had a show of hands today of how good He's been in blessing you, you're all going to raise your hands and say, He has been overwhelming in His goodness to me. then where should that lead you? To Him. To commune with Him. To pray to Him. Because what He gives to the Christian is a different kind of life under the sun. I love coming back to Ecclesiastes. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and given him the power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor, this is a gift from God. He will not dwell unduly on the days of his life because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. What's the joy of your heart? It's Christ. He's the pearl. He's your life. He's your righteousness. And without Him, you can do nothing. That's what we're considering tonight. I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall soon be revealed in us. The Jewish rabbis, I'll close with this, believed that these flaming cherubim splashed their swords, that Adam would come back and that he would stand in front of their offering offerings and by faith, he looked for the day when those swords would be let down and that he could come in again. That's what they believed. Do you know what God's done for you? He has said, you can now come with boldness, having access by faith to this grace in which you stand and worship the Lord and he is with you. Wait presently then with patience. The tribulation that we undergo, which is for a little bit longer, it doesn't even compare with the glory that is soon to be revealed. Let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, we thank you for your gospel promise. And that they are all yes and amen. And that in the fullness of time, you showed the way back into the most holy place. It's through the blood of Jesus who, by receiving him by faith, were covered in his rich garments. Thank you, Lord, for showing us this in Genesis 3. And may we always see how important it is to announce to this sad world how important it is to come this day and be saved. Thank you for opening that way. Bless your people with strength and encouragement, no matter the trials and afflictions that they have to face, that they may know that they are loved by you and that they are covered and that they are forgiven and that nothing can separate us from your love which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The Lamb stood slain from the foundation of the world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.