Well, we're going to be continuing our study in the book of Genesis. So if you have a Bible, please open up to Genesis chapter 3. We'll be looking at Genesis chapter 3 this morning. If you don't have a Bible, I would encourage you to open the Bible on your phone if you use a digital copy, or we also have some hard copies. back at the communion table as well. We always highly encourage you guys to follow along as much as possible with the scriptures open in front of you so that you can see that these things are based in God's word and not just my own opinions. And so we'll be looking at Genesis chapter three, and as you guys turn there, something to consider is how one act can have rather significant effect on historical events. You know, as someone who sometimes enjoys studying history, it is interesting how some of the most life-changing events in all of history can really come down to one single act by one single person. In fact, I'll give you a few examples, a couple of examples of how one act actually led to some really serious and dire consequences, not just for individuals, but for all of world history. The first one is the act of a particular driver. A driver of the Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, took a wrong turn one day, and just so happened to accidentally drive by his would-be assassin. The Archduke, as some of you may know, according to world history, was assassinated, and because of the way alliances worked at that time, the world was thrust into World War I. costing the lives of over 16 million people, and setting the stage for the events of World War II. These two events can almost be looked to as being led to by that simple one wrong turn. Or consider this, even prior before that, there was a particular flea that had a particular bacteria that at one time bit a human and thus began to spread what became known as the Black Death all across Europe. costing the lives of one-third of Europe's population. It's estimated that 25 to 50 million people died because of that plague, the most deadly plague ever in all of history. And so you can go on and on and think about how certain events could really be boiled down to possibly being a result of one particular act. We see how even tragic events, such as World War I, World War II, the Black Plague, all come down to the chance of one event. But there's one event in all of history that has had a far greater impact. And yes, it is the event that we'll be reading of here in the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter three, the eating of a sheep. forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve. This one event has brought more death, more suffering in the world than any plague or any war. In fact, it is the root cause of all plagues and all wars and all suffering here in the creation. And so we call this one event the fall within Christian theology and Christian circles where mankind falls from their position and falls into sin. Fall is the ultimate example of how one choice can change everything. But praise God that through one more act, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God made a way to reverse the curse of the fall and to restore what is lost. And so, as we give attention to this story of Genesis chapter three, the fall, we'll be talking about it in three sections or three points. The first will be the fall into sin. Then we'll look at the consequence of sin. and then praise God the deliverance from sin. So let us now turn to the reading of God's word. If you are willing and able, I invite you to stand for the reading of God's word this morning. I will read the entire chapter of Genesis chapter three, verses one through 24. Hear now the word of the Lord. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit trees in the garden, but God said, 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. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. He said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate. Then the Lord said to the woman, what is this that you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. And the Lord 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. Verse 15, 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 until you return to the ground, for of it you are taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Then 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 skin and clothed them. Then the Lord 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 way to the tree of life. This is the word of God. This morning, let us say together, may God apply its truth to our lives. Thank you. You may be seated. So as you can see, just in reading this chapter, this is quite a bit to go through. I will do my best to give some of the most essential observations of this text, but I will say from the outset that there are many things that I may not be able to cover this morning, and you still may have many questions as a result of the reading of this chapter, and I encourage you to write those questions down, investigate on your own some of those answers, or reach out to me, and I would love to dialogue with you about some of the questions that you may have. But first, let us give consideration to the fall into sin as it's recorded here in this chapter. Prior to this event, sin was not a part of God's creation, and it was particularly not a part of the life of the man and the woman. But sin enters the world through the temptation that comes through the serpent. The serpent, as we are later told throughout the remainder of Scripture, is Satan, or at the very least is used by Satan to deceive the man and the woman. And we're told early on that this serpent in verse one was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. This term crafty refers to the cunning and deceptive nature of the very character of who Satan is, that he is the deceiver, that he is the father of lies. Jesus refers to him as such in John chapter eight, verse 44. It is helpful for us to read such a description even as we look back to this story in Genesis chapter three. Hear these words from our Lord Jesus Christ. John 8, verse 44, in rebuking the leaders ahead of him or around him, he says, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. Referring to his father, the devil, he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. And so this is the serpent, the enemy, Satan, the devil in whom we are dealing with here in this passage. And we see his craftiness, his deception on display in the way that he tempts Adam and Eve to rebel against God. And so it is helpful for us to look at this process of temptation and deception because in many ways these are the same things that he does today in leading others to fall victim to his very similar schemes. The first thing that we'll notice is that the serpent targets the woman. The serpent goes to the woman to tempt her in particular to eat of this fruit. And so we might want to ask the question, why target Eve instead of Adam? Well, there are in some ways a number of answers to this, but as I reflected upon this, I think most essential was that Eve was more vulnerable than Adam to a certain degree. One of the reasons why she was more vulnerable is that she was not the one given the command to not eat of this particular fruit, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This command is recorded in Genesis chapter two, verse 16. If you will just look over in your Bibles to verse 16, you can see. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. Or on the day that you eat it, you will surely die. Notice that this verse or this command is given in verse 16. The woman, Eve, was not even created when this command was given. She is brought into existence through the divine act of creation of God in verse 22 of chapter two. So this command was originally given to Adam, and so Adam was to lead his family, and particularly his wife, in obedience to this command. Now this does not basically let Eve off the hook for falling victim to this deception, but you at the very least see that Eve in many ways was more vulnerable given this interaction with the serpent. It is apparent that Adam did not do his duty either in originally conveying this command or he was complicit in a greater way of being more disobedient than Eve was. Eve was deceived, Adam was rebellious. And so the tragedy is that there is in many ways a reversal of the creation order here. Adam was designed to lead in righteousness, Adam fails to lead, the woman is deceived, and they are both led into sin. Paul talks about this in 1 Timothy 2, verses 13 through 14. He says, for Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. If we are to place greater blame on one or the other, it is to be on Adam's head and his responsibility, that mankind would fall into sin. Adam's sin is in some ways greater because he had greater responsibility because he had the greater knowledge there in the garden, that he was to be the head, that he was to be the leader and he failed to lead. Eve indeed does bear her own guilt, but the guilt that we inherit from this fall does not come from Eve, it comes from Adam. And so in some ways, Eve was the more vulnerable target because Adam neglected his responsibilities to lead and protect and to guide. What are some of the other deceptive acts that are observable here in this interaction between the serpent and Eve in particular? Well, the serpent shows his craftiness in that he creates doubt through half-truths. Right, he intentionally is leading Eve to come to some conclusions by implying certain things about God, and not everything that the serpent says is completely false, but there's some element of truth, and that's what makes it so dangerous and so deceptive. Notice what the serpent says in verse one. He says, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? The serpent knows full well what God had said, that it was God who said, you shall have every tree in the garden for food to eat, to enjoy, except one. But he changes that. He says, did God really say that you couldn't eat any of the fruit from any of the trees? And so he's kind of reeling Eve in for his work of deception. He begins to sow doubt within the mind of Eve. And this doubt is likely what led even Eve to exaggerate God's prohibition that he had given. Eve's response is, no, that's not what God said. He said, you shall eat of the fruit of the tree, or you may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, verse two, but God said, 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. And so in some ways, Eve correctly conveys what God said, that we can eat of any tree, but this one tree is the tree that we're not supposed to eat, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but she adds something. She says, not only are you not supposed to eat it, but we're not even supposed to touch it. If we touch it, then we will be liable to God's judgment and die. This is an addition to God's command. God did not say or prohibit them from touching the tree. And so this shows the doubt that is beginning to take place in Eve's mind. God never said this. And it also shows that just as it is bad to ignore God's commands, it is also bad and unwise and unhelpful to add to God's commands as well. This is something that later in the course of Scripture, Jesus would rebuke, say, the Pharisees for, that they were so concerned with keeping God's law that they piled on top of it the traditions of man and their own laws, which did not serve to help the people walk in more obedience. Instead, these were burdens laid upon the people that helped them even to be more enslaved to their own sin. And so these doubts begin to be sown into Eve's mind and her trust of God begins to fade. And lastly, the serpent now capitalizes on this opportunity and he makes Eve believe that she's missing out on something good. that God is withholding something from her that will be for her joy and for her benefit by not allowing her to eat of this particular tree. The serpent's last response to Eve before they officially eat of this fruit, he says, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. I think this really gets at the heart of the temptation to rebel against God that Adam and Eve both faced, that the temptation was that we can be like God. The irony of ironies, Adam and Eve were already like God. They, of all the other things created in the earth, already bore the image of God. being made in God's image. And so in many ways, they were already like God in all the ways that we were intended to be. But more than just being like God, they wanted to be a God unto themselves. Many theologians have observed that what this tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents is the ability to decide what is good and what is evil all on our own. that no longer will we be dependent on God to tell us what is good and what is right and what is wrong, but we will be like God making those decisions ourselves. It in many ways is the ultimate act of rebellion as God's created beings. It's the idea that it's unfair that God would withhold something from us. What are you holding out on? Why is this just for you? That doesn't seem fair. And so eating of this tree of knowledge of good and evil is this ultimate act of rebellion, deciding what is right and what is wrong on our own, and thus placing ourselves in the position of God and being gods unto ourselves. Well, we are so easily led astray by a very similar way of thinking. It's not something that we have to be taught either. In fact, we grow up into these very actions naturally. I can remember as a child often having that feeling with regards to my own parents' rules and discipline and guidance in my life of, you just don't want me to have any fun. That you're withholding good things from me just because you don't want me to have what you have. You know, my parents had rules about bedtime and staying up late, and in the mind of a young child or even a teenager whose friends are always staying up so late, I had in my mind that they were withholding something good from me. Or maybe it was being able to watch certain shows and movies that everybody else was talking about that I wanted to see that were so good, but they deemed inappropriate for me. or maybe it was just simply in making sure that I do my chores or even as I began to work as a young man in high school and things like that to pay my own bills, that this was not fair. But in hindsight, looking back, I can see the goodness in these commands, the goodness in these rules. If you give me the opportunity to go to bed early now in life, I am taking it, because sleep is so good. I can see how those shows and movies that I did still watch, even though I was forbidden to, have changed the way that I think and the way that I speak in ways that I am not proud of. I can see how Encouraging me, borderline making me be responsible and do chores and pay bills did set me up for a lot of responsibility later in life that came a lot easier to me than those who did not have such structure in their families. As an adult, I've been able to see the wisdom in that these rules, more and more, were for my good. that my parents were not keeping something good for me, that they were actually protecting me from something that was bad through these rules and prohibitions. And in the same way, it probably didn't take Adam and Eve very long after eating that fruit to realize God's wisdom and forbidding them to eat of it. The condemnation, the feelings of guilt because of their sin come quickly, as we will see in just a few moments. This idea of having something withheld from you does not always mean that that is bad. In fact, more often than not, it's actually good. We are not meant to experience everything that life has to offer. That if you are missing out on opportunities to sin, that is a blessing, not a curse. But nevertheless, Adam and Eve, they both in many ways are deceived by that phrase. that you will be like God, and won't that be a good thing? And so verse six says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. It's interesting, there's all kinds of word plays here in this story, one of which is you already see, even before eating the fruit, Adam and Eve are already deciding what is good for themselves. It says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, she took of it and ate. Prior to this, in Genesis one through two, who is the one that often is saying if something is good or not, it is God. God creates, he says it is good, it is good, it is good. And here we have, even right before the eating of this fruit, Adam and Eve deciding what is good for themselves and how wrong they are. In this verse, we see that internal process that leads to sin even to this day, that it was a delight to their eyes, that they were led through their own lust and desire. They were led by their own desire to receive the benefits, the pride, the wisdom, whatever was entailed in this, and they ate. They were controlled already by their carnal passions. We see sin. is a subtle but dangerous process in our hearts. James outlines this in his own epistle, in James chapter one, verse 14 through 15. These words are meant to remind us of the very words that we just read in Genesis. James says, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Adam and Eve, yes, they were deceived, but they were lured and enticed by their own desires. Whether it be the attractiveness of this fruit, the pleasure that it would bring in eating of it, whether it be in its benefits to make one wise, they were led astray by their own desires, and then that desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin. They act upon those desires, and they ate the fruit. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Adam and Eve, as a consequence of their sin, begin to experience that consequence of death and separation in their life. And so as we look at this first point of Adam and Eve falling into sin, what I want us to understand is what was true then is also true now. That the same tactics that were used to deceive Adam and Eve and lead them into sin are the same tactics and temptations that are often used to lead us astray as well. That Satan will target the vulnerable. We talked about how Eve may or may not have been more vulnerable because she was not as well versed in the commands of God, or dare I say, the word of God. It is interesting that when Jesus, in many ways, would reenact this whole temptation in his life and ministry as he was led out into the desert, fasted for 40 days, he would have a very similar encounter with Satan and experience very similar temptations that Adam and Eve would face, but he would endure. He would remain faithful. And it's interesting, as we look at it, we see the same tactics used. Satan is misquoting scripture to Jesus, trying to get him to rebel against his father, but Jesus knew God's word. I mean, he was the living word of God, but nevertheless, he knew God's word, and he rebukes Satan with his half-truths, using the word of God. And so, as we seek to resist sin, let us not be vulnerable by being unfamiliar with God's word. The more familiar you are, the less vulnerable you will be. What was true then is true now. Satan will target the vulnerable. He will also use half-truths, which are outright lies, and they're meant to cause doubt to form in your mind. You could almost hear that whisper, even still today, when you're tempted to sin. Did God really say? Did God really say you should wait to be married to engage in physical intimacy with somebody? Did God really say that it's always a sin to be drunk with wine? Aren't there settings in which that's okay? If it's just a little, if it's just with friends? Did God really say you could almost fill in the blank? There's these half-truths, which are whole lies that are meant to sow doubt and lead to our rebellion and our sin. There's also this constant temptation to believe that you are missing out on something good, that sin has something to offer you that you are missing and that you need. And the reality is, no, just as we talked about through that illustration, these rules, these commands, these things that God has forbidden are for our good. He's protecting us. He's not withholding anything from us. As I was studying this passage, and this will kind of be my last point with regards to the fall into sin, it was noted by one of the commentators that to give into sin, like Adam and Eve gave into sin in this moment, is to choose to believe Satan is a truth teller and that God is a liar. When we sin, we choose to believe Satan. This involves regarding God as a liar. It involves believing that God is our enemy and Satan is our true friend. Thus in our thinking, God and the devil have exchanged places. Let us not fall victim to these things. Because as we can see in the second point, that after this rebellion, after this temptation, after this fall, there are immediate and dire consequences to this sin. The consequences of sin can be seen immediately. Immediately, Adam and Eve are aware of their nakedness. They become aware of their nakedness and they seek to cover themselves. This awareness is indicative of them losing their childlike innocence, to all of a sudden become self-conscious and ashamed. And it's interesting, it's only a chapter before we read at the end of Genesis chapter two, verse 25, that the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed. Now, after eating of the fruit in verse seven, it says, then the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And so immediately they're overcome with feelings of shame, a new emotion and a new experience for the man and the woman. And what does that shame lead them to do? It leads them to hide from the Lord. Verse eight, and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees in the garden. Two interesting observations from this one verse. It goes to show that prior to this fall, that the intimacy between Adam and Eve and God was of great closeness, that God's presence was there in the garden with them, that he was walking and speaking with them in the cool of the day in the garden. And all of that is lost. God hasn't even cast them out yet. They've already removed themselves because of their feelings of guilt and shame. They hide from the Lord, and their relationship, you can already see, is broken. Another consequence is not only is there separation between that close relationship between God and the man and the woman, but there's also brokenness now within Adam and Eve's own relationship. We begin to see a blame game take place in the corresponding verses. God calls to Adam and asks, why is he hiding? As if God isn't already aware. But nevertheless, God condescendingly speaks to Adam, and he gives Adam an opportunity to confess, but instead Adam uses it as an opportunity to blame. I want you to note who it is that God actually, or that Adam actually blames in this instance. So God calls out to Adam. Adam is forced to speak back to God. He says, we hid from you because we all of a sudden knew we were naked. God says, who said you were naked? Did you eat of the tree which I told you not to eat? And what does Adam say? He says in verse 11. Or in verse 11, God says, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you? Then the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me She gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate. So Adam, in many ways, is pointing two fingers of blame when confronted by the Lord. Not only does he just throw his wife under the bus that she made me do it, but he also says, God, you're the one that gave her to me, and look what she did. Adam doesn't accept his responsibility, though he bears the majority of the responsibility for the fall in this regard. Instead, he blames not only Eve, but God himself. And then God turns to the woman, and she, in many ways, is no different. Turns to the woman in verse 13. Then the Lord said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. The common denominator is neither Adam or Eve, except responsibility themselves. These excuses didn't work then, and they don't work now. I can remember prior to going into full-time ministry, working my way through college and things like that, working at a paint store, very similar to, say, a Sherwin-Williams here in this area, and being in a management position there, and getting reviews from my either kind of multi-store manager or district manager with regards to why our store exceeded their budget on mistakes. Maybe you guys have ordered paint before. You've seen how it works. At any time you pick a color, they kind of have to put the ingredients in to make the right color. And those mistakes can be rather costly, especially when you're working mostly with commercial clients, people ordering thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars of paint for giant projects in the LA area. And these mistakes can be rather large with regards to their cost for the company. And so being a manager, I had to defend my mistakes in many ways. And I was no different than Adam and Eve. I made all kinds of excuses. I remember sitting in one of these reviews and having to explain myself and the performance of the store and saying, well, you know, this year we've just done more volume as a store. We're mixing more paint, which is a good thing. That's more money, but with that comes more mistakes. I also tried to excuse it by saying that, you know, we have a lot of new employees this year. And new people, they just, they're not fully trained and they make, you know, more mistakes as well. Or the worst excuse that I made was blaming customers. They just ordered it wrong and then tried to make us absorb the cost instead. As you may expect, these excuses did not go over well with my superiors. In fact, each one of them was put down rather quickly. If we were earning more money, but all that money was going out the door because of our mistakes, you're not being a very good manager. I said, yeah, you're right. If these new employees don't know how to mix paint correctly, that means you're not being a good trainer. Yeah, you're right. And if you're trying to blame the customer for these mistakes, then you're clearly not following our procedures to confirm orders with our customers, are you? No, I'm not. And so, well, yes, these all may have been slight factors. Ultimately, I learned that day that it was my fault. as a manager for the mistakes that took place in that store. And if I, as a manager, had to take responsibility for mistakes in a paint store, how much more responsibility do I bear for my own actions and my own rebellion against God? It's not that there aren't other factors, but those aren't the chief factors. We bear responsibility for our sin. And we can't point the finger at anybody else. What's the old saying? When you point one finger at someone else, there's four more pointed back at you. And so sin, as we see, leads to separation from God. It leads to separation from one another as Adam and Eve are just throwing each other under the bus. And there are real consequences that God lays forth as a result of this rebellion and this act of sinfulness. As we continue on in these verses, we read of these ongoing consequences that now are just part of the created order. For the woman, God says that pain will be multiplied in childbearing. Many commentators noted that this isn't just the physical act of birth, but all of us as a parent know that child rearing can be a very painful and frustrating process. that we as children rebelled against our God, so there's a little bit of a taste of our own medicine when our own children naturally rebel against us. There's also, since sin came about because of reversal of the created order of Adam as a leader and Eve as a helper, that now becomes a permanent part of the cursed. God says that the woman will have a desire to exercise dominance over the man instead of fulfilling her role as a helper, and she will adversely seek to lead over and against him, that there's a rebelliousness to the created order of things as well. Man is cursed along with all mankind and his work, not that there wasn't work prior to the fall, but now work is toilsome and unfruitful. By the sweat of our brow, we will work the land. Mankind is also told that as a consequence for their sin, they will indeed surely die. Most shocking thing is that Adam and Eve do not die in the moment, but that God instead shows his grace, but nevertheless, death is a part of the world now. Verse 19, God says to Adam, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. And so there are consequences in life, and yes, consequence of death, and consequences in death. Verses 22 through 23 are interesting. We see this inner dialogue of the Trinity here where the Lord says, behold, the man has become like 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 has taken. There's actually still some protection and grace even in this act of discipline. that there was still another tree, a tree of life that would give eternal physical life to Adam and Eve. This tree of life comes back into the scriptures in the new creation. In the latter chapters of Revelation, we see this tree of life showing the new life that we have with Christ. But had Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, fallen into sin, and then eaten of this tree, they would have lived forever separated from God. So yes, God judges them for their sin, but he in many ways does so graciously by casting them out of the garden so they will not be eternally separated because God, as we'll see, is the only one who can mend the brokenness that comes as a result of this fall. And so that naturally leads us to this last point. I recognize that this chapter in many ways is a chapter full of sad and terrible bad news. In fact, I would argue to say that this is the most important, but yes, saddest chapter in all of the Bible. But it is not without hope because we have a good and gracious God who even in the midst of such a dark situation as this lays the foundation for the gospel that brings salvation. I will turn your attention to verse 15. One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture. In the midst of speaking above the coming judgment because of their sin, God makes this prophecy and this promise in verse 15. He says, I will put enmity between you, referring to the serpent, and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This one verse has been called the Proto-Evangelion, the first gospel, that this is the first hint of the coming good news, that yes, Adam and Eve have fallen into sin, that there's nothing they can do to save themselves from their sin, but God is promising to send a deliverer, that there will be an offspring from the woman who will come and who will crush the head of this serpent who has led you into sin. Crushing the head of the serpent signifies an ultimate defeat of this great and terrible enemy, but this defeat comes at a cost to this offspring. You shall strike his head, but he shall bruise your heel. This coming deliverer will be a wounded savior, that through his wounds, we will be healed. We know this deliverer to be the Lord Jesus Christ. But not only would he be wounded, he would be put to death, even death on a cross. But it is through that act, that sacrificial act, the power of Satan is diminished, it's destroyed, he's defeated. And Christ is now risen and reigning. See, the fulfillment of this prophecy and the promise is the gospel of Jesus Christ, as we just recited, even in the Apostles' Creed. Jesus Christ would be born of the Virgin Mary. He would suffer under Pontius Pilate, be crucified, die, and buried. He would be wounded and pay the penalty for our sin. But on the third day, he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. And from there, he will come to judge the living and the dead. He will be resurrected and glorified, saving sinners and punishing the wicked. He is this promised seed of the woman, the snake crusher, the wounded Savior, and all those who would believe in Him will have eternal life. I began this message by talking about how one action can lead to far-reaching, dire consequences in history. We see that here in this story of the fall of Adam and Eve, how one act of disobedience can set all of God's creation on trajectory of sin, death, rebellion, suffering. But the wonderful thing is that we also see how one act of faithfulness can purchase salvation for a people. This is how Paul puts it in Romans chapter five, intentionally contrasting this one sin of Adam and this one act of righteousness of Christ. Romans 5.12 says, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned. But he goes on in verse 15, that the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abound for many. Yes, we were all condemned in Adam. We inherit in many ways his sinful nature. We live a sinful life. Maybe even our own heart of rebellion, we may struggle with that. How can I be found guilty for someone else's actions? Well, how can you be found righteous for someone else's actions? Praise be to God that yes, in Adam, we inherit death, sin, rebellion, but in Christ, united to him by faith, he's able to give us grace and mercy and restore all the things that were broken. that we get to have that intimate fellowship with God once again, once united to Christ by faith. And so this morning, if you're someone who has not been united to Christ by faith, if you are still living under the slavery and condemnation of the sin in your life, come to Christ even now. Trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins. Experience the new life that he offers through faith. And begin to experience the blessing of that new life. We trust in Jesus for our deliverance from the curse of the fall. Jesus reverses this curse of the fall, and appropriately so, even using some of the same words we read in Genesis 3 to remind us of his great deliverance. As I was studying this passage, I came across a quote by another pastor and leader of a seminary. You may have heard of him, you may not. His name is Lincoln Duncan. And I wanna end with this quote, as it seems fitting. He says this, as we gather in Jesus's name, we hear Jesus say the words, take and eat, when instituting communion, bringing us into right fellowship with him and having that ongoing reminder of his forgiveness and his payment for sin and our salvation. So as we gather in Jesus's name, we hear Jesus say the words, take and eat, It's as if Jesus, recalling the words from Genesis 3 about Eve, when she saw the fruit and she took and she ate. Taking and eating of the serpent's fruit. You can almost imagine Jesus saying, watch this, Satan. And then he repeats those words by offering himself as the sacrifice. Take and eat, this is my body given for you. What were once words leading to condemnation are now on the lips of Jesus words of salvation. Christ undoes the curse of the fall with more craftiness than even Satan devised when he was leading mankind astray. How wonderful it is that we have such a good and gracious God. Would you join me in closing prayer? God, in many ways, this is the most sober passage in all of Scripture. And God, as we read it, it is not just the fall of Adam and Eve, it is our fall. Adam didn't just represent all of us, but his actions, in many ways, are no different than our actions today, nor would our actions be any different than his in the past. You will make this clear over and over as we read the rest of this book of Genesis. But Lord, we are so thankful for the deliverance that you offer through this promised offspring, through Jesus Christ, the snake crusher, the wounded savior, the one whom will absorb the wrath of God that should rightly be poured out on us because of our own rebellion and our own sinfulness, our own fault of believing the lies of the enemy, that we could be gods unto ourselves, or believing that you are withholding something good from us when you tell us to stay clear of sin. Thank you, Jesus, that you're willing to pay that punishment. Lord, I pray that if there's any here in this room this morning that has not confessed you, Lord Jesus, as your Savior, that your Spirit would work faith in them even now, bringing them the salvation that their soul so desperately needs. And for all of us, Lord, that have trusted in you already, would you lead us in paths of righteousness? And we know that even as believers, we can still be led astray, deceived, fall back into old habits. Lord, help us. to resist temptation and to walk in righteousness, not because we have the power in ourselves to do it, because you give us that ability through your Spirit. We thank you for this wonderful salvation, and we pray this in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.