Please take your copies of the scripture and turn to Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three, I'll be reading verses 13 through 16 this morning. We're continuing our examination of the curses following the fall of man. Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. 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, 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 in childbearing. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. Now for two weeks we've been examining the temptation and the fall of Adam and Eve and the consequent curses pronounced against our first parents and against the devil in the form of this serpent or dragon. Last Sunday, we took a second look at the curse pronounced against the serpent, against Satan, and we noted the causalities connecting the purpose and the actions of the wicked one to accomplishing the decree of God. Satan, in desiring what he desired and actually pursuing it, pursuing it to apparent accomplishment, in reality, we discover that he produces the very outcomes he most despises. He fulfills the holy purpose and decree of God, nullifying his own wicked designs. Ironically, Satan's temptation leading to the murder of the human race produces his own reduction. His own end. His cosmic coup is entirely abortive, even as he realizes his goals or thinks he does. Because he has done what he has done, according to the decree of God, Christ is exalted, and he's historically further empowered. Christ's kingdom gets historically physically expanded, and he's eternally enthroned over that kingdom, over all things. Satan is utterly defeated. the elect of the human race, are spiritually resuscitated, rescued, redeemed, restored, and resurrected to glory. The irony lies in the reality that Satan has been unwittingly used of God to actually accomplish this. Now today, as we move forward, we need to begin by considering once more a particular phrase preceding the curse pronounced against the serpent. We're moving out of the curse to the serpent into studying the curse to the woman. But we've got to take a half step back first. The record of the curse of God against the serpent contains a significant preamble. God says in Genesis 3.14, because you have done this, Now I bring this to your attention because this phrase brings note to the fact that God regards Satan's actions as having causal significance. The curse pronounced against Satan is not merely retaliatory. Now, to be sure, it's retaliatory, it's punitive, it certainly is. But the phrase, because you have done this, refers to much more than merely the retaliatory and punitive nature of the curse as the divine response to the transgression and the rebellion of the serpent. The phrase, because you have done this, also tells us that God wants Satan and Adam and Eve, and all of the human race to follow, to know not only that Satan has been punished because of what he has done, but that the very choices and actions of the serpent have in the predestining decree of God produced the contents of the curse that's about to fall. In other words, because Satan did what he did, The flow of causality from the actions, that flow has led to unavoidable, irrevocable, decreed outcomes. Now a similar phrase appears in the preamble to the curse pronounced against Adam. In Genesis 3.17, the phrase indicating causality is this. 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. There it is. Now we won't be exploring that phrase until we reach our examination of the curse pronounced against Adam on a future Sunday. But I bring this to your attention because it's significant. God is repeating himself, not word for word, but in terms of a particular communicative process. He's pointing out causality to us prior to the pronouncement of each curse. The signal word translated in English is that word because, because. Since we're beginning to look at Eve's curse today, it begs the question, where's the because preceding Eve's curse? Was the decision of Eve to rebel without consequence? Well, clearly not. So where and what is the because in her case? This is in large part what we're going to be discussing today. The because, the causality connected to Eve's specific desires and choices in her individual act of rebellion in the garden. Now the specific content of Eve's curse, its individual pieces, that gives us insight into what she chose and what she did. Her desires and her choices and actions net her a specific outcome just like the serpent and just like Adam. We can conclude that the situation is exactly the same for Eve because her curse is nestled in our text between the because of the serpent's rebellion and the because of Adam's rebellion. It makes little sense to bookend Eve's curse between these two phrases signaling causality and then expect the reader to just casually disassociate Eve's curse from her desire, her choice, and her action. That makes no sense. Further, The Apostle Paul absolutely certifies that the curse of Eve is causally based in her rebellious desire, choice, and decision when he instructs Timothy about the functional role of women in the church, recorded in 2 Timothy 2, verses 11 through 15. Turn there with me if you would, please. 2 Timothy 2. Nope, I did it again, didn't I? Hold on. I think it's 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2 verses 11 through 15. There we read these words. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. Now here's the takeaway that I'm attempting to bring to your attention by referencing these verses. Paul is telling us the contents and the impact, the practical implications of Eve's curse, all of that has causally flowed from the fact that she was deceived and became a transgressor. In other words, I'm telling you that Paul has given us our preamble to Eve's curse. Her preamble signaling causality is, because you have been deceived and become a transgressor. That's what precedes her curse. Now, you might be wondering, why is recognizing Eve's because statement, this preamble, why is that important? Well, it's important, it's relevant, because it tells us why Eve was cursed. It tells us about Eve's particular brand of sinful rebellion when she was busy talking to the serpent. It tells us something about what the redemptive seed of the woman Jesus Christ is going to accomplish when he finally arrives historically to reverse the impact of the fall and the curses of the fall. With this preamble to Eve's curse, we also have foundation for some practical considerations. Now that's three things that we can derive from just the idea of this because preamble. I want to take these three things together, one at a time, and consider them. Today and next week, we'll explore essentially three questions. Number one, from our preamble developed from Paul, because you have been deceived and become a transgressor, from that preamble, what can we learn generally about Eve's sinful rebellion in the garden? That's our first question. Second question, which we'll combine with the first. What practical considerations appear when we consider the curse pronounced against the woman from the perspective that her particular curse causally proceeded from the fact that she was deceived and became a transgressor? What are the practical implications of that thought? How do we apply this? And third, number three, which we'll look into next week, and we'll look into more of the details of the woman's curse next week. From the preamble to the curse pronounced against the woman, what do we learn about what the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, would one day accomplish? What's being predicted of his action? All right. Well, let's begin with what we can learn about Eve's rebellion in the garden. We learn that Eve's transgression, that is her law-breaking, which Paul has referenced, was partially caused by being deceived. No great discovery there, we just discussed this, but I bring it to your attention. That is a significant discovery. When we go to the text of Genesis 3 and we review the conversation between the woman and the serpent, we discover a series of disingenuous questions and deceptive answers proceeding from Satan, leading Eve down a very contrived path to arrive at an erroneous conclusion. how Eve was deceived is worthy of our serious consideration. After all, she was cursed because she was deceived. That makes it significant, doesn't it? That makes deception not a small thing if it's part of the ruin of the human race. Close examination of the conversation between the woman and the serpent provides some insight into how Eve fell to the serpent's deception. The first thing to note is that Eve had been apparently ill-prepared for Satan's deceit. Now, why do I say that? Well, I suggest that this is highly likely when we consider that the details of the divine law, forbidding eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, seem to have been miscommunicated to Eve. In Genesis 3-3, we read what Eve said. God said, these are Eve's words, she's quoting God. Be careful when you quote God. You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. The addition of the requirement, neither shall you touch it, was not part of the original divine injunction. Further, Eve softens the consequences of violation. She says, lest you die, dropping a critical emphasis of warning which appeared in the original divine injunction. In Genesis 2.16, we read the original injunction as follows. You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Now looking at the original statement, we see that Eve altered the injunction in two ways. God did not say that the tree could not be touched. And God emphasized, God emphasized the cost of violation with a critical emphasis. In the original language, there's an emphasis on the promise of death proceeding from violation that can be very accurately translated as follows. In the day you eat of it, dying you shall die. This Hebraism is roughly translated into an English equivalent with the words, you shall surely die. Now that translation captures the certainty of death with violation, but it lacks the emphasis of the double statement. In other words, when Adam heard, when he originally heard with his ears this promise of death with violation, he heard a very powerfully stated warning. Eve has softened that warning into something like, don't do that or you'll die. There's a difference, you can hear it, can't you? These two alterations are highly suggestive. Remember, it was only Adam who was present who is recorded as having received the original divine injunction directly from God. However that appeared, however that came to him, we're not told. We assume in words that he heard. That's reasonable. That leads us to conclude that it was Adam who was tasked to communicate the injunction to Eve. And apparently he did so with some inaccuracy. Adam seems to have overstepped divine injunction with an addition to that injunction. Something like, dear, don't even touch the tree, God has forbidden it. Now this seemingly innocuous addition would cost Adam and Eve greatly when the moment of temptation arrived. Eventually, Eve tested the impact of that additional injunction when she reached out her hand and took the fruit. When she did that, she took the fruit, she touched the tree, and guess what? Nothing happened. She didn't die. Now this would make it seem as if the words, lest you die, were untrue. With the handling of that fruit already, already in Eve's mind, Satan had gained credibility, and Adam and God had lost some. When taking the fruit produced no apparent judgment, Eve was primed for accepting the deception as truth, and she was empowered to violate further, and then she ate the fruit. You see what happened there? Now consider also that the fear of violation was apparently lessened in Eve by another factor. Apparently, Adam had not fully communicated the urgency of refusing to violate God's command. It seems that he had not communicated how critical a violation would be. Eve's words, lest you die, suggest that she really wasn't prepared to consider the great cost of violation, so it would be easier to carelessly eat the fruit. To say it in a more pointed way, I'm suggesting that Eve was directly and deliberately deceived by Satan's lies, and she was also indirectly influenced and prepped for deception by the errors in Adam's communication. She was ill-prepared to counter the lies of the wicked one. And apparently, she was ill-prepared as we read her own words. What do we learn from this? Well, I said that the preamble to the curse to Eve leads to practical considerations for us, so let me back up my words earlier with this practical thought. Eve was ill-prepared to face temptation and to honor God. She was deceived and fell into rebellion, becoming a transgressor because, by all appearances, God's word had not been properly communicated to her. Adam had been careless in communication. He had not deeply considered and honored God's word with regard to this injunction in terms of communication, and the cost was terrible. Now perhaps Eve has merely come to this misunderstanding on her own feet. Adam's not propelled her through miscommunication to some of these conclusions. Even then, has Eve fully invested then in what she's been told of God's Word? If she herself had this softening and this addition to the injunction. The point is the same. No matter how you look at it, God's Word has not been honored with regard to this injunction in terms of communication. The cost is terrible. It reminds me of the carelessness with which the two sons of Aaron regarded the laws pertaining to proper worship practices in ancient Israel. Nadab and Abihu offered incense, which God considered profane because it wasn't commanded. They added just a single instance of incense offering. Where's the harm in that? It was done in the spirit of worship, wasn't it? They were celebrating God. Yet God considered their carelessness a violation of his honor and a diminishing of his holiness before his people. They didn't pay attention to his word to honor it carefully, and he executed the two men instantly by immolation. Carelessness with the word of God isn't without cost. That's my point. Carelessness with the word of God isn't without cost. It primed Eve for deception. And now she's not off the hook for her transgression, as I'll argue momentarily. But Adam could have been much more careful and more helpful to his wife. Had he carefully communicated only the Word of God without addition, had he carefully communicated the warning of God to its fullness, what might have been? I don't know. We're not given to know what might have been. But brethren, My point of application, I think, is well derived from the text in front of us this morning. Husbands, be careful. Fathers, be careful and scripturally thorough as you teach your families. Be careful in the way you communicate the word of God and his requirements to your wives and your children. a little over-emphasis on Adam's part at one point, mixed with a little under-emphasis in another, and his wife is primed to be a target of satanic deception. Now, I've witnessed churches and pastors adding to God's law, teaching as commandments the doctrines of men, and setting men, women, and children up for spiritual falls doing that. We've also come to be aware of the common refusal of many churches and many ministers in our day, a common refusal to proclaim the full counsel of God's Word. Let's avoid some of those things that might offend or court the ire of the world. Zip around those. As individuals, as families, as wedded couples, As a congregation, we need to be very careful with even seemingly paltry errors in communicating God's Word to one another. I said before, and you'll no doubt hear me say it again before I pass, bad doctrine leads to bad practice. And we need to recognize that a little error, like a little leaven, grows and it expands and it can end up producing widespread injury to a church. Now if you wonder at me at times why I'm tough on a particular preacher or teacher, over what may seem to be some kind of side issue, perhaps their error seems to be relatively inconsequential, an inconsequential misconception or misrepresentation of Scripture, then please understand there is no such thing as an inconsequential misconception or misrepresentation of Scripture. Just look what happened with a little carelessness handling the Word of God in the Garden of Eden. And here we are. Eve was deceived and became a transgressor. Let's be careful, brother. Let's be cautious. Before the people of God, God will be honored. He must be. If we dabble in a little inaccuracy, a little additive teaching, a little poison, what will the impact be? What will we court? Nor, brethren, can we afford to soften or to neglect to preach any part of the word of God. Softening of the scriptural warnings of God or setting them aside altogether by refusing to declare his law. It's a very popular, very progressive thing to do in the nominal Christian church. We dare not do that, brethren. A little softening of God's warning in the garden contributed to the murder of the human race. It brought generations of pain and death, war and disease and famine. It's contributed to a fallen condition in mankind that required the destruction of the entire earth in a universal flood of divine wrath. It contributed to the necessity of the redemptive death of the Son of God. Brethren, softening the warnings of God killed the human race once long ago, and horrifically, much of what calls itself the Christian church today has continued in the same way to contribute to the destruction of humanity. If we would be rescuers and not murderers, the church of Jesus Christ must declare the full counsel of God's word unabashedly, and in that sense, we must not be like our father, Adam. All right. I'm not yet through throwing Adam under the bus, but now Eve has to join him. Not only was Eve primed for deception through Adam's miscommunication of the word of God, but it also appears that in the moment of temptation and decision-making, she was apparently without holy counsel. We know that when Satan was making his case to Eve, Adam was nearby. He wasn't absent. We know that because in Genesis 3, 6, we read these words. She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her. And he ate. In point of fact, all throughout the narrative of Genesis 3, the reader gets the impression that the couple was inseparable. They eat the fruit together. They recognize together that they're transgressors and naked. They hide together. They blame others together. They're clothed in skins together. They're driven out of the garden together. There's nothing in the text that I can find that would suggest that Adam wasn't present when the deception and the temptation of Eve is proceeding. Adam's there. He's simply been rendered practically inconsequential to the whole affair by a choice of passivity and non-interference. And this is key. Both of our first parents chose that role for Adam in that moment. We'll talk more about that next week. They're both under the bus. Adam offered no counsel and Eve sought none. When Adam might have corrected the words, lest you die, wait a minute, wait a minute, that's not the warning, it's not lest you die, he opted for silence. He might have jumped into the conversation and started correcting the lies of Satan as well as his wife's misconceptions. He might have done that, misconceptions that apparently he contributed to. He was just there, Adam was there, no input. No counsel. When Eve might have taken counsel with her husband regarding these confusing, contradictory claims of the serpent, she opted to independently assess, to make her own decision based on her own independent analysis. And brethren, no one takes counsel with God. No prayer, no supplication. The entire decision, this universe shattering decision occurs without any counsel. Now this is not only autonomy, brethren, this is evidence of autarchy in action. Eve decided that she was sufficient to make this decision on her own. Adam decided that she was sufficient to make this decision on her own, perhaps even for him. And in a moment, he would make the same decision for himself. Sounds the deception. He wasn't even deceived. Not even Satan is giving counsel. When you read the words of the serpent, he only provides information. False claims, perverse reasoning, he never really makes a recommendation. Eve decided everything on her own, and Adam shamefully led her. Brethren, the warning, the useful warning should be clear. Eve should have taken counsel of God and her husband. He was there by her the whole time. He was available. Why didn't she? Well, the answer is simple. She didn't want to. Why didn't Adam step in and say, wait a minute, hold up, let's stop for a moment and take counsel of the Lord? Simple, why didn't he do that? He didn't want to. Eve wanted to make the decision on her own, and Adam wanted her to do that as well. And their choice was calamitous folly. Again, I think the application is clear. You brethren are smart enough to see it already, I know you. Proverbs 11, 14, where there is no guidance, a people falls. Bam, it almost sounds like a reference to the garden, doesn't it? Where there's no guidance, a people falls. But in an abundance of counselors, there's safety. Proverbs 15, 22, without counsel, plans fail. But with many advisors, they succeed. Proverbs 24, 6, excuse me, for by wise guidance, you can wage your war. But in abundance of counselors, there's victory. and in abundance of counselors there's victory. Proverbs 3.10, by insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom. And I could easily go on and on, but you get the point. I only add this additional thought from scripture. Remember when Joshua and the elders of Israel were deceived by the Gibeonites. We read about that incident in the history of Israel in the book of Joshua chapter nine. The Gibeonites were slated for destruction among the inhabitants of Canaan. But they were clever and they made themselves look like travelers having come from a great distance. We've got moley bread, we have broken wineskins, look how worn out our shoes are. They tricked Joshua and the elders into swearing a treaty of peace with them for the advantage of trade. Joshua and the elders were utterly deceived and became transgressors of God's command to eradicate all of the Canaanites Now, how did that happen? In Joshua 9 verse 14, we read the answer to the question. How did this happen? Examining the situation independently we read that Joshua and the elders 14 verse 14 of that chapter Joshua 9 14 did not ask counsel from the Lord It's clear, isn't it? Brethren, the counsel of the Lord is vital to the success of His people. It keeps us from being deceived and becoming transgressors. The revelation of God in His Word sanctifies us. It makes us wise in our decision-making. In Proverbs 29, 18, we read these words, where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. In other words, without counsel of the Word of God, the disciple of Jesus Christ simply won't follow the Lord. We won't do it that well, and we'll do it with error. We'll be, as Proverbs 29, 18 tells us, we'll be unrestrained transgressors. Brethren, we learn from Eve's deception and her sin that we are cursed without the counsel of God. To dispose of the counsel of God is to choose to be deceived, and to choose to fall into sin, and to choose to receive judgment and chastening. How urgent it is then for the Christian to study the word of God, to receive his counsel, to know it. How urgent to hear the preaching of the word of God regularly proclaimed on the Lord's day in the presence of his spirit, working among his people through his word. How vital it is for us to engage with one another in scriptural counsel, not to be silent, just standing around passively like Adam, refusing to speak. Nor should we refuse to seek counsel like Eve. We don't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Eve primed herself for transgression when she refused to check the deceptive words of the snake. She fell headlong into transgression when she refused to seek counsel before taking the fruit and eating it. and her choice of autarchy, independent rule and sufficiency contributed to her doom and the doom of the human race. We dare not live as if our God is not mighty in counsel. We have named ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ. What an absurd contradiction if as Christians we don't take counsel of the one who's called wonderful counselor. Brethren, we need to learn from the error of our first mother. It was a serious error. It was a costly error. There was deception that could have been avoided, could have been corrected. Eve's failure to seek counsel, I'm sorry to tell you, was not her only failure. As a third failure contributing to her deception, it's worthy of our note that Eve did not exercise faith. And that empowered her deception, which expanded into transgression. And let me explain what I mean by that. When Eve hears this contradictory information of the serpent rolling out, she has a decision to make. She had to decide who was lying. Someone's lying. Someone's not telling the truth. Someone was deceiving her. Either she would surely die or she would not surely die. Eve had a choice to make. She decided that God was the liar. Instead of believing God, Eve chose to believe her own senses. Genesis 3.6, so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, it looked good. It looked good. It appealed to Eve's senses. And Eve trusted that. She also believed in her own feelings. Genesis 3, 6 again. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. You hear the feeling in there, the desire? Eve followed her heart. Her desires spoke to her and she listened to them, believing that what she desired was best. It was her truth. Ultimately, brethren, she also believed her own reason. Her reason led her to make this choice, deciding in error that God was a liar. She believed the father of lies because what he said seemed reasonably true. Keep in mind, as of yet, the fall has not occurred in action. The curse has not yet come down. Spiritual death has not yet been certified. Eve was bitterly misled in this state by her senses, her desires, and her reason, and she wasn't even fallen yet. Oh, brethren, do you see the teaching there? Even in the garden, in humanity's state of innocence, senses, desire, feelings, and reason alone were never trustworthy means to safely direct human analysis and human choice. We truly do not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It's always been that way. We walk by faith, not by sight. Now had our deceived first mother simply halted, stopped cold, and trusted in the word of God, what might have been? Even though Satan's words seemed reasonable, even though the fruit looked pleasant and felt desirable, even though everything explained in this moment seemed reasonable, and Eve had just tested it by reaching out and taking the fruit, nothing had happened. She experimented. She tested. She followed the scientific theory. What if Eve had just trusted God instead of her senses, her feelings, her experiment, and her reasons, her reasoning? What if? Well, we might be reading a very different history than the history of Genesis. Hebrews 11.6, and without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe. that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Eve did not believe that. She did not believe that God would reward her for seeking His will. She didn't believe it. If Eve had simply trusted the Word of God and believed Him, she would have been kept from transgression even though she was deceived. She would have pleased God seeking His will in the fear of Him. She would have received the reward of the tree of life. Her sin was not being deceived. The sin followed the deception. She became a transgressor because of her deception. The transgression followed. Brethren, the command to believe is just that. It is a command. When we first became a believer, we received in obedience by God's grace a command to believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved." Romans 10, 10. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. He packed up his family and his possessions and he became a wanderer in the wilderness. He was promised a heritage even though he and Sarah were beyond the age of conception of children. Where, in all of the promises of God, was Abraham's senses, his desires, and his reasoning analyzing all this? It made no sense to his reason to think he would have children, or that a great and mighty nation would build a kingdom in an empty land in which he wandered, belonging to other powerful and mighty kings and nations. He believed God. not his human senses or his feelings or his desires and reasoning. There were spiritual desires, there were spiritual desires and spiritual reasoning in the old patriarch that transcended his material senses and mere human reason. He believed God. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Oh, that Eve had been convinced of things not seen. Brethren, if you believe, you have been given the gift of faith to believe in things not seen. You believe in the unseen Savior, the seed of the woman who crushed the serpent's head for you. My exhortation to you is to exercise that faith that you've been given. It has been given to you to rule over your fallen senses, your fallen feelings, desires, and fallen reason. You believe what is true, not being deceived by this world or the flesh or the devil, because your reason has now been grounded in the truth of the word of God. Your faith has been given to you so that you do not trust in your heart, which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You do not trust its urgings and its values that you've learned are not reliable. They're not trustworthy. You've learned through faith not to believe everything you think, but to test the spirits to see whether they're from God. You've learned through faith to bring every thought into captivity to obey Christ. This is the gift of faith that you have to exercise daily as a Christian, as a believer. And you do, and you will by the power of God. Already in a sense already the believer enjoys glory You are already glorified in that golden chain of salvation in the sense that you now possess presently a divine gift of Perseverant faith that Adam and Eve not even in their first state of innocence enjoyed in the garden you presently enjoy that Faith is the victory that overcomes the world Therefore, brethren, overcome the world. Exercise the faith you've been given. Believe God. Trust in Christ Jesus in his work accomplished for your redemption. Trust in his rule and reign over your soul. Rest in that unequivocally. Had Eve trusted in the rule and the reign of God, she would have escaped the trap of the wicked one. You can, brethren, and you must. Galatians 5 16, but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh Now one final thought and I think we're done for today Consider that Satan's deceit was successful in producing transgression Because Eve chose to rebel against authority She had been deceived And, well, let me say it this way. Had she been deceived, but had remained in submission, transgression arguably could have been avoided. Faith is always connected to submission. It's always connected to submission. Hence Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12.3, no one speaking in the spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed. And no one can say Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit. put more simply, or in a different way, James says it this way, faith without works is dead. Now I'm reversing my exhortation to you that I gave you a little bit ago. Before, I argued that if Eve had trusted God and exercised faith, she would not have been deceived by the false angel of light. Instead, her faith would have compelled her to obedience. Now, as I reference authority and submission, I'm arguing that if Eve had simply obeyed God, her faith would have rescued her out of that trap. You see, they're connected. If Eve had submitted to God, ultimately the serpent's designs would have been defeated. Instead, Eve proved that she had no faith because she didn't obey God, because she didn't submit to him. She chose to trust herself and that allowed her to choose rebellion. Now varying somewhat from my previous exhortation, I'm arguing that Eve was deceived and became a transgressor because she didn't flee to the refuge of divinely appointed authority. That's what I'm arguing. When the serpent first began his cunning discourse to divert Eve from obedience, she should have run to Adam for shelter, for safety. She should have encouraged him to guide her and be the husband that is the nurturing leader that he had been appointed by God to be. Now, Paul's teaching to Timothy about the role of women in the church in 1 Timothy 2.11, again, it reads as follows. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet, for Adam was formed first, then Eve. Adam's precedence in creation came with divinely appointed leadership. That's Paul's argument. Eve should have invested in that leadership in this moment of confusion and temptation. She should have carried the messy, contradicting argument over to Adam and dumped it in his lap and expected him to explain it, to untangle it, and to come to a decision in the matter. Now supporting this sort of chain of command process is Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 14, 34 through 35. Listen to what he says to the Corinthians. The women should keep silent in the churches, for they're not permitted to speak, but should be in submission. As the law also says, if there's anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it's shameful for a woman to speak in church. What if Eve had followed the chain of command and simply addressed Adam with what she desired to learn, with her desire to know good and evil? What if she had done that? Again, this is a what if we can't answer. We don't know. We don't know what Eve didn't do. She surely didn't do what Paul instructs women in the church to do in 1 Corinthians 14, 34 through 35. And it seems to me that in the vacuum of Adam's engagement, Eve seized the reins of authority and determined to make her own decision. This is an exercise of authority that we're reading about here in Eve's decision in Genesis 3. She authorized herself, you might say, neither recognizing God's authority nor Adam's in these matters. Now unfortunately, I am out of time to develop this fourth contributing factor to Eve's deception and her fall into transgression. And Lord willing, this is where we'll pick up things next week as we look into the details of the curse to the woman. We'll look into the details of Genesis 3.16 with these words, your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. And we'll pick that up next Sunday. Let's pray.