Hello and welcome to another broadcast. We're in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 7. That's where we're starting today. Have your Bible ready if you can. Well, the questions are asked, where we come from, why are we here, and where are we going? Those are good questions, and if you want the real answer, then you'll find it all in the Word of God. Verse number 7 of Genesis chapter 2 says, And the Lord God, for a man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Well, by the time we get to chapter 3 in verse number 19, we find out because of man's sin that the Lord said, out of it, the dust, was thou taken for dust thou art, and dust thou shalt return. Now, we see here the phrase is used, the Lord God, and you have the capital L, capital O, capital R, and a capital D, followed by the word God. When you see that in the Old Testament, it's always referring to Christ. We think of Christ sometime as his ministry, you know, showing up in Bethlehem as a little baby in a manger. Yes, he did do that, but he was very, very active throughout the Old Testament. In fact, we've seen in previous broadcasts that he's found in the very first verse of the Bible, because all things were created by him, the Bible says, and was nothing made that was made except he created it. And that, of course, is referring to Christ. Now in this verse in Genesis chapter 2, verse number 7, it says, and the Lord God, that is Christ, formed man of the dust of the ground. It was him in the Garden of Eden who formed man. Now we find his ministry throughout all of the Old Testament. For instance, if you check those references you'll find that in Genesis 3 it was Christ who charged Cain with killing his brother Abel. It was the Lord who named and warned Noah of the flood and told him to build an ark. It was the Lord who called Abraham from Ur the Chaldees and directed him to go to Canaan. It was the Lord who appeared with the two angels at Abraham's tent and told them about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was the Lord who wrestled with Jacob in the Genesis chapter 18 verses 1 through 3 It was Christ who appeared to Moses at the burning bush when Moses asked the angel of the Lord his name. He replied, I am that I am, and he said, and added to that, I am hath sent You, that was the Lord. In Exodus 3, it was the Lord who sent the plagues on the Egyptians and commanded the slaying of the Passover lamb. It was the Lord who opened the Red Sea for the children of Israel to cross over. And it was the Lord that gave the Ten Commandments. It was Him who formed man of the dust of the ground, as we've seen here in this verse. And it says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. It is interesting that that word formed has been translated potter 17 times. Your clay in the potter's hands. Well, The Bible says in Genesis 2 and 8, the Lord God, that is Christ, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis 2.9, and out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree. Genesis 2.15, the Lord God took man and put him in the garden of Eden. to dress it and to keep it. Genesis 2.16, we read it was the Lord God that commanded the man. 2.18, the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helpmeet for him. All of these references refer to Christ in the Old Testament. We read in Genesis 2.19, And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. Genesis 2.20, we read that Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to the fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helpmeet for him. And so we read in verse 21 of chapter 2, And the Lord God, that is Christ, caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof." And then we read, "...and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, He made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, and the man and his wife were not ashamed." Now there we have the very simple, plain, and easy to understand directions and information concerning how we got into this world in the first place. It was all done by the Lord. Now, as we've said in previous broadcasts, you simply believe God or you don't. It's just that simple. You decide whether you're going to believe the Genesis account on how we got here and how things got rolling in this world, or you're going to reject it. It's one or the other. And as we've said on many occasions, You're going to believe it five seconds after you're dead, but you need to just take a look into the Word of God, and more important, let the Word of God take a look into you and say, Lord, are you real? Are you real? So many people say, well, you can't trust the Bible. They've never opened it. You can't have an opinion on something you've never looked at. Well, as we get into chapter three, we get into one of the most important chapters in the Bible, and not that one chapter is more important than others, but as far as understanding where things came from and how we got into the mess that we're into today, this chapter does it for us. First of all, we have an explanation here in this chapter of all of our problems. We have man's response to God's command, and we have God's response to man's rebellion, and that's why we read in Genesis 3 and verse 19 that the Lord said, Out of the ground, out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." Now, evolution will tell us that man started at the bottom and is working his way to the top. No, the Bible tells us that man started at the top and is sinking lower and lower and is on his way to the bottom. Now, we get into this book and the first thing in this chapter, in verse number one, that we read is, "...now the serpent." Now the servant was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." The word subtle has been translated prudent eight times and that word means to show care concerning the future. Now you know the devil, the serpent represents the devil and of course he wanted to destroy the future that had anything to do with anybody trusting in God. Well in Genesis 3 and 1 we read, he said unto the woman. Her only hope against the devil is to quote scripture at him. You remember that's what Jesus did when he was tempted of the devil on the mountain. All he did was say three times, it is written, it is written, it is written. Now if you study that you'll see that how the devil tempted Adam and Eve or tempted Eve especially here, and how he tempted the Lord was exactly the same way. And what the Lord did, and taught us a great lesson there, was he just quoted Scripture. Satan can't stand Scripture. Eve didn't do that. And we have this misconception of some slimy snake coming down the tree and talking to Eve. Now, she'd still be running if that was the case. We will see here as we go through this chapter that the snake was cursed and is crawling on his belly as a result of that curse, but that's not how it started out here. She was talking to one of the most beautiful creatures in the garden at that time. Well, we see in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1, the first thing that Satan does is he questions the Word of God. He says in verse 1, God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. What is he doing? He's throwing doubt on the Word of God. How that happens today in our schools and everywhere in the world is just everybody throwing doubt on the Word of God. They never read it. They don't know what's in it, but they'll throw doubt on it and get someone else to listen to them as they do it. Yea, hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Well, no, that's not what God said. God said of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. Genesis 2 verse 16, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And so Satan questions the Word of God and then he misquotes the Word of God and then the next thing we see is that Eve misquotes the Word of God. We read in Genesis 3 and verse 2 and 3, And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden." Okay, she got that part right. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest ye die. Well, ye shall not eat of it, that part was right. You can't find anything in there that he said you can't touch it. Neither shall you touch it. And then she said, lest ye die. God said thou shalt surely die. Well then Satan changes the word of God in Genesis 3 and verse 4. The serpent said unto the woman you shall not surely die. Well all he did was add one extra word. God said you shall surely die. The devil said you shall not surely die. surely die. And he goes on to question the goodness of God. He says in verse 5, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good from evil. And he questions the goodness of God. How much does that happen today? Well, Eve rejects the Word of God. We see in verse 6, "...and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and two, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired, three, to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." Now, you'll notice that the attack here, as I said a moment ago, is the same as how he attacked the Savior when he was tempted on the mountain. The Bible says, first of all, the woman saw that the tree was good for food. What are we talking about here? The body. It's good for food. Then he attacks the soul, the emotional nature of the soul, and says, well, it's pleasant to the eyes. That doesn't mean it makes your eyes feel good. I mean, it's perception here. It has to do with what you perceive as pleasant And so it's a challenge to the emotional nature of the soul. And then the spirit, she says, it'll make you wise. Well, the Bible says the beginning of wisdom is worshiping the Lord. And so we get this attack on the body, the soul, and the spirit. And that's how Christ was tempted. That's how Adam and Eve were tempted. And that's exactly how things are done today when the devil wants to tempt us. Well, we read in verse number seven, and the eyes of them both were open, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. Now, here's the problem here. We see that they're going to try and get it together on their own. We don't need the Lord to help us out here. Oh, yeah, they do. You can't get your man-made religion and make it. It's not going to happen. You can't cover up for your own sin. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that. Well, in verse 8 it says, they heard the voice of the Lord God, that is, Christ, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Well, in verse 9, the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? That's an interesting question. Adam, where art thou?" Well, God knew exactly where Adam was. He wanted Adam to figure out where he was, and He wanted Adam to repent of his sin. Well, in verse 10, Adam said, I heard the voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And that's the first time we have the word fear. a reference to it in the Bible. I was afraid. Well, the Lord said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldest not eat? Now, once again, the Lord knew he'd done that. What he wanted Adam to do was confess his sin and to repent of his sin. Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Did Adam repent? No. It says here in verse 12, He said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Not my fault. It's her fault. I mean, she did it. It's not my fault. In fact, you gave her to me, so maybe it's your fault. Blame. You can't just repent and say, No, I'm sorry. No, no, you're not going to do that. Well, the Lord said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And she said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. It wasn't my fault. It was the serpent. And besides, you made the serpent, and so it's everybody's fault but mine. Not my fault. Well, no, the Bible says very plainly, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. No, they're not going to repent. They're going to throw blame somewhere else. Well, we're out of time, as you can tell by the music in the background. We'll pick it up from here tomorrow. Be sure and tune in. We'll try to make it plain, and we will try to make it simple. you