Admit Your Sin Problem - Genesis 3 - 4:26

In our first lesson regarding the Genesis of the total universe and all things contained therein… taught last Sunday, we failed to mention one of the most interesting concepts hidden away in this early scripture. We talked about the concept of creation of things where God simply said “let there be” and then the simple directions he gave when he said “let us make man” but we barely mentioned the first orthopedic surgeon, and the first operation ever performed on man. It was somewhat different from today, I will admit. There was nothing mentioned about an operating room, sterilizing of surgical instruments, or even nurses to help. It appears that God acted alone, put old Adam to sleep and cut out a rib; and from the rib he made Eve. It worked well and was not nearly as [dusty] as when he made Adam—since He made Adam from dust.

There is no place anywhere connected to the creation of man that God approved or did anything pertaining to any kind of ‘same-sex’ unions except condemn them. Later in his Word he did specifically say that homosexuality was an abomination in his sight, and it is listed as the cause that prompted God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. It is also listed among the many sins that took place in the orgies that were condemned by God—especially those held in religious temples. It is hard for Christian people to believe that some of the early worship was directed toward a “Sex Goddess” that was displayed at the scene of worship.

Our lesson today starts with the story about the temptation and fall in the Garden of Eden AND THE AFTERMATH. Those of you who have been in my Sunday School Class for some time will remember that I have two things that are emphasized in my teaching. First, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be born again; that is, be a child of God. Second, you must live a life of obedience. Salvation is for man’s benefit; while obedience is for God and demanded by him, and absolutely necessary in order to please Him. Without faith in God and obedience to his commands there is no way for any man/woman to escape the everlasting punishment in hell.

There is no doubt in my mind that Eve believed in God…she did not at that time have to be born again because she had not sinned—she was created a perfect human…but she was required to obey her master and SHE WAS NOT OBEDIENT! That means she did sin! The AFTERMATH or consequence of her sin has probably had the greatest destructive effect on man kind…more than any other sin that has ever been committed. The serpent in the Garden was crafty, which means that he was sly, or given to, or practicing secrecy…in fact he may have been so camouflaged that Eve never saw him. He did approach her representing the devil…the enemy of almighty God and His people. Since Satan is a master chameleon, he may have appeared to her in what ever form he knew would win her confidence. He is still stealing the hearts of good people by using the same means today, only enhanced by radio, movies, T.V. and all other new devices available. The harmful effects of advertised products are always camouflaged. Everyone involved is happy, feeling good and enjoying each other; and you never see the carnage on the highway with the broken and severed parts of the body and the blood of life running out on the highway.

Satan, at one time in the past, had been one of the most powerful, influential angels in heaven. Listen, it is important that you realize that Satan aspired to be like God [equal with God] and that is why he was thrown out of heaven. Here we find that he used almost the exact same argument in order to entice Eve to be disobedient. He told her that if she would eat the forbidden fruit, she would be like God and for that reason God had prevented her from eating of the forbidden fruit. He also assured her that she would not die as a result of the eating of the fruit. Satan is a liar; in fact, he is the father of lies. Since this is a proven fact—why, oh why do people still believe him?

As you read the early verses in chapter three, stop for a moment and think about the BIG mistake that is being made by Eve. She has allowed Satan to get involved in her thinking…she is listening to him…she is being disobedient to God. We must learn to turn Satan off, and say to him “get the behind me Satan.” That is what Christ did during his temptation. Even though Satan has caused Eve and all posterity to suffer greatly and often, we know that in the end we will win because God has promised that the Son of woman, Jesus Christ will crush the head of the serpent, the Devil.

Think about this: Eve looked at the beautiful fruit and took some for her self. She ate some of the forbidden fruit, it was so good, and she gave some to Adam. Both of these people had heard their father say no! But for some reason there was a greater desire stimulated simply because God had said that they should not partake of the fruit. I don’t think that I have ever known any young person that didn’t fit this mold. When parents warn children of dangers, this same Adam and Eve instinct overpowers their common sense and they just have to find out for themselves—every-time the consequence is devastating.

During the days when we heated our homes with wood stoves, the iron bellies of the stove would sometimes become red-hot—many children have been warned but they didn’t learn their lesson until they had touched it one time just to see if mother was telling the truth. I believe this same human instinct or inward drive is the reason we have the drug problem among the young—and just like the red-hot stove, once they have tried the addictive ones they have already gone one step too far and they have been burned with a devastating habit that leads to destruction of human enjoyment.

Lucifer was the chief angel with a host of helpers who were created by God before the foundation of the world. He developed a desire to be like God and maybe to be God, and so he became so powerful that he was cast out of heaven. He is known by many names such as Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, and many others. He invented his chief weapons, temptation and lies which he has used ever since the Garden of Eden. His use of temptation and a lying nature has worked to some degree against every foe except Jesus Christ, who was tempted as we are but did not sin. [This temptation is recorded in Matthew following Christ’s forty-day fast and prayer in the mountains.]

His lie to Eve was “you will not die” and his temptation was “You can have the knowledge of good and evil which will make you equal with God.” It is sad that Adam and Eve got what they wanted; they did obtain the knowledge of good and evil—but they got it by doing evil…through disobedience…and the results were disastrous. Our generation is disillusioned because they seem to think that “freedom” is doing anything we want any time we want to do it. Our Bible teaches us that we obtain true freedom through our obedience to God and by knowing what not to do. The restrictions placed on us by God are for our own good and help us to avoid evil. We could say that they can keep us from touching a red hot stove if we obey.

Satan used a sincere motive to tempt Eve when he told her she could be like God. Her desire to be like God was not wrong—all true Christians strive each day to be more like Him. It should be our greatest desire—it should be our highest goal in life and it is what we are supposed to do. But Satan miss-led her in how she was to reach this goal. He told her to defy God and his authority by taking his place in the decision making process and that she should decide for herself what was best for her. He told her to be her own God. Note: This is exactly what the “New Life Movement” is teaching their followers to do today—and they are strong and growing especially out West. To become like God is not the same as trying to be God. Self exaltation will always lead to rebellion against the higher power. Sins effect always spreads and involves others. Eve sinned and then she involved Adam. Our sins always affects others. Listen. Causing a little one to sin is much worse than sinning yourself. Sin brings guilt. Adam and Eve were naked and at ease, but their sin caused them to feel guilty and they started trying to cover the sin by covering their bodies with leaves. This is what we call a guilty conscience; it is like a burglar alarm that goes off when sin is trespassing on our property. It is dangerous business when you reach the place that your guilt no longer bothers you. We should be glad when pangs of guilt are present—the warning lets us know that it is time to repent and seek forgiveness.

It would have been sad, but amusing if we could have watched Adam and Eve trying to hide their sin with fig leaves. Do you think they really thought that God would not know what happened if they would just cover themselves with leaves? Funny? Yes, but how many times have we tried to hide our sin life. We hide our sin from other people and rationalize that this solves our problem. We have inherited another foolish practice. Students can’t read and the university blames colleges who blame high schools, who blame middle schools, who blame elementary teachers who blame the parents. Adam blamed Eve; she blamed the serpent who blamed God. Oh why is it so hard for us to admit that we have done wrong, then repent and seek forgiveness? God drove them out of the heavenly garden where everything was free and perfect into a rugged world where they would earn their lively-hood by the sweat of their brow tilling the land they were made from.

No longer was everything free and provided as it was in the Garden. Now they had to struggle against the elements in order to provide their food, clothing and shelter for them and Cain and Abel, their first two sons born the hard way following their departure from the Garden—with suffering. Cain became a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. In the mid east, these ancient occupations are still in practice much as they were then. They are both honorable professions but very demanding and associated with hard work, self-sacrifice, and their success always depends on God.

Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices and offered them up to God. Cain brought fruits of the soil while Abel brought portions of the first born of his flock. I cannot find any where in the Bible why God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected the offering of Cain. Some say it was because there was no blood in the fruit offering; but I had rather think it had something to do with their attitude or willingness to give. I do not know. God did give him a second chance, and surely he let Able know what he was neglecting to do. I believe that Cain was at fault and had the opportunity to correct the wrong. How do you react when you are accused of doing wrong? Do you admit and correct your mistake? Or do you seek revenge against your accuser?

We cannot master the sin that is guarding the doors of our desires. Just like Cain we either master our anger or suffer the consequences. Cain did not repent and make things right with his brother but chose to murder him instead. This is the first record in the Bible of the shedding of innocent blood. God gave us life sustaining blood and only He has a right to take it from us. Notice how quickly the act of disobedience in the parents develops into murder of one son by his brother. They only ate a small bit of forbidden fruit—why was that so important? Sin was not in the fruit, it was their DISOBEDIENCE. Their sin was against God. Cain’s sin was against both God and man—and so has every sin committed since that day involved both God and another person.

Cain was severely punished for murder. God judges our sins and will punish appropriately. He will not punish out of anger or vengeance, but in order to correct our behavior—we should never resent anything that comes into our lives that appears as punishment; but we should use the incident as a point of correction and a renewal of our fellowship with God.

We come now to the comments regarding our lesson today which states that each one of us MUST ADMIT OUR SIN PROBLEM. God made Adam from the elements found in the soil of the earth which God had already created; he then made Eve from a rib removed from Adam. These two created beings were without sin—but God gave each of them a free will—a free will that could have chosen to obey God and remained forever free from any sin. They chose to disobey God, and thus, sin entered the human race. They were cast out of the Garden into a sinful world where both of their children were born. Cain and Able were conceived in sin; and every child born since that day was conceived in sin and born in iniquity and that includes you and me. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

At some opportune time [after the age of accountability] each individual must repent of their sin; realize that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross paid for our sin—and we must accept him as our savior—take up our personal cross and follow Him. We still have the same free will which Adam misused, and if we misuse it by rejecting Christ’s death on the Cross as payment for our sin—then we will pay for it. The price [wages] of sin is always death. An ‘unsaved’ person is ‘spiritually’ dead in their trespasses and sin. They were physically born into the world—that is their first birth. Christ told Nicodemus that he must be born again—and that would come when he accepted Christ as Savior. Only those who are spiritually alive will ever see the gates of heaven!