The Fall
Genesis 3
Message #2
Our series is “God’s Plan – Genesis to Revelation.” This message is number 2 in the series. As we said last week, we’re following the book “Multiply” but not following it from the beginning. We’ve started in Part IV. Today, Part IV – Session Two, then we’ll go back to the beginning after surveying the Bible.
I really encourage you to read the book with us. Read the chapter we’re studying, either before or after being here for the message. You can get the book on Amazon, or you can read it all for free at multiplymovement.com.
Today, we are surveying Genesis Chapter 3 to Genesis Chapter 11 and I’d encourage you to follow as we fly through these chapters, and make marks and notes in your Bible to come back to and study further.
I think it’s safe to say (I think we would all agree) this world is not as it was intended to be. Even those who are not yet following Christ know that. We can all sense it, it’s not too hard to figure out. But, when you look at God’s plan in the Bible, it brings the “not-rightness” of this world into perfect focus. God’s Word says the reason this world is not as it was intended to be – it is because of the Fall. Everywhere you look, everything you do, every aspect of God’s creation, has been in some way affected by the Fall.
Last week we surveyed the glory of God’s creation – the beauty, the perfection, the Paradise God made for Man. But suddenly, from the last verses of Genesis 2 to the first verses of Genesis 3, all that changed and that’s what we are looking at today.
Last week, we saw the earth created by God as it was intended to be – an incredible Paradise. And Mankind, created by God, as we were intended to be in perfect harmony with God and with one another. Everything was good – no sin, sorrow, pain, or death. Perfect fellowship between Man and God and between Man and Woman. But then… in the first verse of Genesis Chapter 3, the Serpent enters, and we know this Serpent (from the New Testament) as Satan. As Adam and Eve are enjoying perfect harmony with God and one another in Paradise. Satan, Subtly, Slithers, upon the Scene.
Genesis 3:1 (ESV)
1 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 (note this, underline this, mark this), ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
Well, that seems somewhat subtle, doesn’t it? Has God really said…? Did God really say… you shall not eat of any tree in the Garden? Mankind has been duped like this by Satan, since this day. So, let’s get a firm handle on his approach here.
1) He QUESTIONS God’s Word and God’s Authority
2) He DENIES God’s Word and God’s Authority
3) He CHANGES God’s Word and God’s Authority
That is how the Great Deceiver, the Serpent, the Devil, does it. He slithers in subtly, he seduces you into rebelling against God, and then he slays you! He’s been using this approach to steal, kill and destroy ever since the Garden of Eden, and still in your life today.
First, (verse 1) Satan questions God’s Word and authority, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
That’s step one – he questions God’s Word and he questions God’s authority in your life
Then step two – He denies God’s Word and God’s authority in your life
Then step three – He changes God’s Word and God’s authority in your life
That is how the Great Deceiver, the Serpent, the Devil, does it. He slithers in subtly. He seduces you into rebelling against God, and then he slays you! He’s been using this approach to steal, kill and destroy ever since the Garden of Eden, and still in your life today.
Do you know that probably Satan’s second biggest goal is to convince you that he doesn’t exist? Most of you don’t feel that Satan and his minions are really active in your life, and so you’re not on guard. You’re not alert. You’re not “sober-minded.” “For your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for whom he may devour,” 2 Peter 5:8 says. He’s there! And when he comes to you, he’s going to question God’s Word, and then he’s going to deny God’s Word, and then he’s going to change God’s Word. And if you buy into it, he will slay you because that’s what he does. He came to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus, John 10:10 says, came that you may have life, and have it more abundantly. Here’s the amazing thing – you get to choose. Slain by the enemy or abundant life in Christ.
So, step one is Satan questions God’s Word. Step two is he denies God’s Word. Eve makes an attempt in verses 2-3 saying, “it’s only the fruit from THAT ONE Tree we cannot eat – Lest we DIE.”
But then Satan swings punch number two – outright denying God’s Word.
Genesis 3:4 (ESV)
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
Now, Satan has Eve questioning and doubting both God’s Word and God’s authority over her. And then, Satan drops the hammer – just like he does on us. He exchanges the truth for a lie, and we too easily take the bait.
Step three – Satan changes God’s Word in your life.
Genesis 3:5 (ESV)
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you - will be - like - God, knowing good and evil.”
Satan’s number one lie was his own number one goal. “…you will be like God” If you read Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, you will see that Satan wanted to be like God. It didn’t go that well for him. So, now what? He wants you to join him, and what he wants is for you to want to be like God, just like he wanted to be like God. He knows where that got him, he wants you to join him.
Eve was already made in the image of God, enjoying perfect harmony with God and his creation. But Satan convinces her, “You can make your own decisions. You decide what’s right and wrong for your own life. Just because God created you – and everything else – that doesn’t give him authority over your life. Show him who’s boss. Do it your way. Be your own God.” And today, most of the world is still buying into Satan’s lie, believing we can be like God. We spend so much of our life doing what we want because that’s what we want. We do it when we want, how we want, where we want because that’s what we want! And we’re most important!
The world believes we can be like God. I want you to hear me when I say that was the original lie of the devil that caused the Fall.
It is an incredible study to compare Eve’s dialogue with Satan, to Jesus’ dialogue with Satan in Matthew Chapter 4 (wrong way/right way). I would encourage you to read those side-by-side, looking for differences.
But our point today is Adam and Eve bit on the lie and everything in God’s creation changed.
Francis Chan says, From this point on, the biblical story is saturated with the effects of the fall.
Sin had entered the world, and Adam and Eve were immediately separated from God… Listen, Isaiah 59, verses 1-2 says, it’s not that God’s arm is shortened or that his ear can’t hear. It’s that your sin has separated you from God. Sin separates us from God. That’s a foundational truth that we have got to grasp. And you and I because of our inherited sin nature, and because of our choosing the same sin as Adam and Eve choose… you and I were also separated from God.
The effects of the Fall are called The Curse (you can read about it in Genesis Chapter 3). Let me give you the highlights.
The greatest consequence of The Curse coming from The Fall is death.
Spiritual Death is separation from God now
Physical Death at the end of our life
Eternal Death if we die without Jesus Christ as God’s only answer to our sin problem
It’s hard for us to grasp what life was like before The Fall, we kind of picture it like a private nudist colony in a cool jungle. But it was so much more than that. It was literally Paradise in every way. It was God’s perfect creation operating in perfect harmony. And more than just living in a perfect environment, Adam and Eve lived in perfect relationship.
Perfect relationship with God
Perfect relationship with each other
They lived with God physically – in perfect harmony IN his perfect creation. And I need you to hear that very clearly because that is God’s Plan – Genesis to Revelation.
God’s plan is for us to live with him physically, in perfect harmony, in his perfect creation without the effects of sin. THAT is God’s Plan – Genesis to Revelation. And I promise you, if you’ll stay with us in this series, you’ll see that single thread run throughout the Bible.
To us, Revelation Chapter 21 (where God’s plan is fulfilled) seems a long way from Genesis Chapter 1 (where God’s plan starts). But from an eternal perspective, not so much.
2 Peter 3:8–9 (NLT)
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
You may think God is taking a long time to bring his plan to completion. But the truth is, he may be waiting for you so he can include you in the fullness of his plan.
Personally, I am eternally grateful that God was patient enough in his plan to give ME an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ and be part of God’s family when he restores all things to the way they were before the Fall.
But I am skipping ahead a bit. As we go back and follow the pages of scripture from Genesis Chapter 3, things just get worse, and worse, and worse. Adam and Eve are barred from the Garden and from God’s physical presence. In the next chapter (Genesis 4), Cain kills his brother Able. A few verses later, Lamech takes two wives and then writes a poem saying HIS OWN vengeance is even greater than God’s. Things are going downhill fast.
Then, in Genesis Chapter 5, we go from Adam to Noah, and in just a few pages turning, we get to Genesis 6 verse 5.
Genesis 6:5 (ESV)
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
That was a fast downhill slide for Mankind. In four chapters we go from Man in perfect harmony with God to… every intention of man’s heart was only evil continually.
From perfect harmony with God
to total depravity apart from God
And that is exactly how fast you and I can fall today.
Back in Genesis 4, when God warns Cain before he kills Abel, God says to Cain (and to us),
Genesis 4:7 (NLT)
7 . . . But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you . . .
The problem is Cain, and most of Mankind, won’t listen to God. By Genesis Chapter 6, sin was in control of Mankind and every intention of man’s heart was only evil continually. And so, shockingly, Genesis 6 says God regretted that he made man and it grieved him to his heart Genesis 6:6 (ESV), and God would’ve been perfectly holy, just, and righteous if he would have wiped man out altogether right there. But it was never God’s plan to completely annihilate Mankind, even though we deserved it!
Here's how God continued.
Genesis 6:8-9 (ESV)
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
9 . . . Noah was a righteous man, . . . Noah walked with God.
And right there we see a critical truth found throughout the Bible, and that is the Believing Remnant. So often we see God’s plan continuing through a very small Believing Remnant. Noah and his family were the first of the Believing Remnants that God used to continue to move his plan ahead.
So, as you may know, continuing in Genesis Chapter 6, God judges the earth. God has Noah build the Ark, then seals Noah and his family inside, which is a picture of God sealing us (Believers) in Christ – away from his judgment. Then God judges the earth with a worldwide flood, and in essence, starts over with Noah and his family, and we would think, okay – God got his point across.
Certainly, with the effects of the flood fresh in their minds, this time around things would be different. Yeah, you would think. But… not so much. Genesis Chapter 10 is a list of the Nations of People that were all started from Noah’s sons and their wives. It’s a phenomenal list of clans that became nations. Just a quick count – I get seventy nations. And the last verse says,
Genesis 10:32 (NLT)
32 . . . All the nations of the earth descended from these clans after the great flood.
But it seems like immediately after those seventy nations are listed in Genesis 110, Mankind just wants to exercise its “God-Complex” again. In the very next Chapter (Genesis Chapter 11), again, Man so quickly decides he wants to be like God, just like back in Genesis Chapter 3. And guys, listen, please, at the root of your sin and mine, is the same desire – to be autonomous. To BE AUTONOMOUS means “to be self-governed, to act independently, to do whatever you want.” THAT was the root of the original sin, and THAT is the root of the majority of our sin today.
And that was at the root of the events that follow in Genesis Chapter 11. In Genesis 11, we find Mankind building the Tower of Babel. At the root of the Tower of Babel was Mankind saying,
We can do anything we want
However and whenever we want
and nothing (not even God) can stop us!
And God says… “Wanna bet?”
But this time God responds differently. God works, listen carefully, within man’s sinful choices to accomplish his purposes. That does not give you license to sin! It means, when you look back over your life and say “Whoa! I made so many mistakes! I chose my flesh over God so many times. I chose sin over God so many times.” I’m here to tell you, God was at work. God was at work in your life, and he was at work for good, even in the midst of your sinful choices. That doesn’t make the sin okay. It means that God is bigger and he can restore you and accomplish his plan in you. Here, in Genesis chapter 11, God uses the sinful desire in man’s heart to further disperse Mankind around the earth. As we saw in the last message, God again confers with the Trinity.
Genesis 11:7-8 (ESV)
7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language . . .
8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth . . .
I like the way God dealt with Man’s sin at the Tower of Babel because it shows how God can be at work for good in all things – EVEN in our sinful choices.
The Tower of Babel is the symbol of Mankind saying, we can rule the world without God. And it’s more than interesting today, that in the almost completely Godless federation of nations called the European Union (EU), their headquarters building is actually designed to look like a famous painting of the Tower of Babel. The EU has actually used the Tower of Babel to promote their power, and ability, and unity among nations. This is funny because those are the same things the nations were trying to prove with the original Tower of Babel. But it is a Godless Federation of Nations.
But God showed man WHO was actually in charge in Genesis 11, and he will show man again – you can count on it.
So, we’ve been flying through nine chapters of Genesis, and we’ve seen clearly the results of sin and the Fall. But, what about God accomplishing his plan!?
Let’s rewind to see God at work through all of this. Let’s start back in Genesis Chapter 3 – again. Right in the midst of everything bad in the Fall – in Genesis Chapter 3 – there is actually a promise of God’s plan coming to pass.
Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
15 I will put enmity between you (Serpent) and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he (women’s offspring) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
NIV says, he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel
The NIV uses that language because the image here is: a blow to the head is fatal – a blow to the heel is minor, and who is it that crushes the head of Satan while Satan bruises his heel…
Colossians 2:14-15 (NLT)
14 [Jesus] canceled the record of the charges against us (Sin) and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
At the cross, Satan bruised Jesus badly. But at the Resurrection Jesus crushed Satan’s head. And right there, in Genesis 3, verse 15, we have the first promise of God’s plan coming to pass in order to save us.
Then skip ahead to Genesis Chapter 6 and the Flood. Noah is a righteous man who walks with God after God tells Noah exactly how to build the Ark… God says to Noah,
Genesis 6:18 (NLT)
18 . . . I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives.
The covenant God made with Adam he now confirms with Noah. God seals Noah and his family away from his judgment, and then much of Genesis Chapter 9 is God confirming his covenant with Noah and his sons.
And then, what about the Tower of Babel incident? What do we see of God “continuing his plan” there? Well, flip over to Genesis Chapter 11, and look down at the very end. Remember, the Tower of Babel is at the beginning of Chapter 11. At the end of that chapter,
Genesis 11:31 (ESV)
31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
This Abram is who we know as Abraham
This Sarai is who we know as Abraham’s wife Sarah
This Canaan is what we know today as the Land of Israel
And next week we’ll see God’s plan really get moving with God’s covenant with Abraham.
But this week’s message has really been about the bad news. It’s about our sin, the Fall, and the result of our sin – not Adam’s sin – our sin. We did inherit the sin nature from Adam. But we must recognize we have also chosen sin, just like Adam and Eve did.
Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. But it must start there. It must start by you understanding that you are a sinner in need of God’s grace. And if you don’t understand that your sin has separated you from God and that you deserve God’s judgment, and that God is fair, and just, and holy to judge you – if you don’t understand that – you’ll never understand the joy of your salvation. Because you’ll think God saved you because you’re a ”pretty good” person. You were the scum of the earth (let me be straight with you). You were just in the mire of sin. And God saved you by his grace and his mercy and his unconditional love. And seeing yourself that way, causes you to see God in the right light.
If we refuse to accept and admit that we are cut off from God by our own sin, then we place ourselves in the company of those
who have rejected God
who have rejected God’s truths
who have rejected God’s authority
who have rejected God’s Word…
Don’t do that!
We tend to think too highly of ourselves and think that we can be our own god, and think that we can be autonomous. But when we understand that we’re sinners, we say “God, my only hope is your grace. My only hope is to come to your Cross, without deserving but freely receiving. To have you shower love on me instead of the judgment I deserve.” We have to approach God correctly.
God’s plan is a plan for your salvation. It’s a plan for your eternal life with him. In his presence – in his perfect and glorified creation – as it was intended to be in the Garden. But you and I cannot benefit from God’s plan… unless we first accept and admit that we’ve been separated from God by our own sin, and unless we accept by faith that our only hope…is to rely on God’s plan to restore us, and to redeem us – to himself.
I really encourage you to read the book with us. Read the chapter we’re studying, either before or after being here for the message. You can get the book on Amazon, or you can read it all for free at multiplymovement.com.
Today, we are surveying Genesis Chapter 3 to Genesis Chapter 11 and I’d encourage you to follow as we fly through these chapters, and make marks and notes in your Bible to come back to and study further.
I think it’s safe to say (I think we would all agree) this world is not as it was intended to be. Even those who are not yet following Christ know that. We can all sense it, it’s not too hard to figure out. But, when you look at God’s plan in the Bible, it brings the “not-rightness” of this world into perfect focus. God’s Word says the reason this world is not as it was intended to be – it is because of the Fall. Everywhere you look, everything you do, every aspect of God’s creation, has been in some way affected by the Fall.
Last week we surveyed the glory of God’s creation – the beauty, the perfection, the Paradise God made for Man. But suddenly, from the last verses of Genesis 2 to the first verses of Genesis 3, all that changed and that’s what we are looking at today.
Last week, we saw the earth created by God as it was intended to be – an incredible Paradise. And Mankind, created by God, as we were intended to be in perfect harmony with God and with one another. Everything was good – no sin, sorrow, pain, or death. Perfect fellowship between Man and God and between Man and Woman. But then… in the first verse of Genesis Chapter 3, the Serpent enters, and we know this Serpent (from the New Testament) as Satan. As Adam and Eve are enjoying perfect harmony with God and one another in Paradise. Satan, Subtly, Slithers, upon the Scene.
Genesis 3:1 (ESV)
1 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 (note this, underline this, mark this), ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
Well, that seems somewhat subtle, doesn’t it? Has God really said…? Did God really say… you shall not eat of any tree in the Garden? Mankind has been duped like this by Satan, since this day. So, let’s get a firm handle on his approach here.
1) He QUESTIONS God’s Word and God’s Authority
2) He DENIES God’s Word and God’s Authority
3) He CHANGES God’s Word and God’s Authority
That is how the Great Deceiver, the Serpent, the Devil, does it. He slithers in subtly, he seduces you into rebelling against God, and then he slays you! He’s been using this approach to steal, kill and destroy ever since the Garden of Eden, and still in your life today.
First, (verse 1) Satan questions God’s Word and authority, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
That’s step one – he questions God’s Word and he questions God’s authority in your life
Then step two – He denies God’s Word and God’s authority in your life
Then step three – He changes God’s Word and God’s authority in your life
That is how the Great Deceiver, the Serpent, the Devil, does it. He slithers in subtly. He seduces you into rebelling against God, and then he slays you! He’s been using this approach to steal, kill and destroy ever since the Garden of Eden, and still in your life today.
Do you know that probably Satan’s second biggest goal is to convince you that he doesn’t exist? Most of you don’t feel that Satan and his minions are really active in your life, and so you’re not on guard. You’re not alert. You’re not “sober-minded.” “For your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for whom he may devour,” 2 Peter 5:8 says. He’s there! And when he comes to you, he’s going to question God’s Word, and then he’s going to deny God’s Word, and then he’s going to change God’s Word. And if you buy into it, he will slay you because that’s what he does. He came to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus, John 10:10 says, came that you may have life, and have it more abundantly. Here’s the amazing thing – you get to choose. Slain by the enemy or abundant life in Christ.
So, step one is Satan questions God’s Word. Step two is he denies God’s Word. Eve makes an attempt in verses 2-3 saying, “it’s only the fruit from THAT ONE Tree we cannot eat – Lest we DIE.”
But then Satan swings punch number two – outright denying God’s Word.
Genesis 3:4 (ESV)
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
Now, Satan has Eve questioning and doubting both God’s Word and God’s authority over her. And then, Satan drops the hammer – just like he does on us. He exchanges the truth for a lie, and we too easily take the bait.
Step three – Satan changes God’s Word in your life.
Genesis 3:5 (ESV)
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you - will be - like - God, knowing good and evil.”
Satan’s number one lie was his own number one goal. “…you will be like God” If you read Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, you will see that Satan wanted to be like God. It didn’t go that well for him. So, now what? He wants you to join him, and what he wants is for you to want to be like God, just like he wanted to be like God. He knows where that got him, he wants you to join him.
Eve was already made in the image of God, enjoying perfect harmony with God and his creation. But Satan convinces her, “You can make your own decisions. You decide what’s right and wrong for your own life. Just because God created you – and everything else – that doesn’t give him authority over your life. Show him who’s boss. Do it your way. Be your own God.” And today, most of the world is still buying into Satan’s lie, believing we can be like God. We spend so much of our life doing what we want because that’s what we want. We do it when we want, how we want, where we want because that’s what we want! And we’re most important!
The world believes we can be like God. I want you to hear me when I say that was the original lie of the devil that caused the Fall.
It is an incredible study to compare Eve’s dialogue with Satan, to Jesus’ dialogue with Satan in Matthew Chapter 4 (wrong way/right way). I would encourage you to read those side-by-side, looking for differences.
But our point today is Adam and Eve bit on the lie and everything in God’s creation changed.
Francis Chan says, From this point on, the biblical story is saturated with the effects of the fall.
Sin had entered the world, and Adam and Eve were immediately separated from God… Listen, Isaiah 59, verses 1-2 says, it’s not that God’s arm is shortened or that his ear can’t hear. It’s that your sin has separated you from God. Sin separates us from God. That’s a foundational truth that we have got to grasp. And you and I because of our inherited sin nature, and because of our choosing the same sin as Adam and Eve choose… you and I were also separated from God.
The effects of the Fall are called The Curse (you can read about it in Genesis Chapter 3). Let me give you the highlights.
The greatest consequence of The Curse coming from The Fall is death.
Spiritual Death is separation from God now
Physical Death at the end of our life
Eternal Death if we die without Jesus Christ as God’s only answer to our sin problem
It’s hard for us to grasp what life was like before The Fall, we kind of picture it like a private nudist colony in a cool jungle. But it was so much more than that. It was literally Paradise in every way. It was God’s perfect creation operating in perfect harmony. And more than just living in a perfect environment, Adam and Eve lived in perfect relationship.
Perfect relationship with God
Perfect relationship with each other
They lived with God physically – in perfect harmony IN his perfect creation. And I need you to hear that very clearly because that is God’s Plan – Genesis to Revelation.
God’s plan is for us to live with him physically, in perfect harmony, in his perfect creation without the effects of sin. THAT is God’s Plan – Genesis to Revelation. And I promise you, if you’ll stay with us in this series, you’ll see that single thread run throughout the Bible.
To us, Revelation Chapter 21 (where God’s plan is fulfilled) seems a long way from Genesis Chapter 1 (where God’s plan starts). But from an eternal perspective, not so much.
2 Peter 3:8–9 (NLT)
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
You may think God is taking a long time to bring his plan to completion. But the truth is, he may be waiting for you so he can include you in the fullness of his plan.
Personally, I am eternally grateful that God was patient enough in his plan to give ME an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ and be part of God’s family when he restores all things to the way they were before the Fall.
But I am skipping ahead a bit. As we go back and follow the pages of scripture from Genesis Chapter 3, things just get worse, and worse, and worse. Adam and Eve are barred from the Garden and from God’s physical presence. In the next chapter (Genesis 4), Cain kills his brother Able. A few verses later, Lamech takes two wives and then writes a poem saying HIS OWN vengeance is even greater than God’s. Things are going downhill fast.
Then, in Genesis Chapter 5, we go from Adam to Noah, and in just a few pages turning, we get to Genesis 6 verse 5.
Genesis 6:5 (ESV)
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
That was a fast downhill slide for Mankind. In four chapters we go from Man in perfect harmony with God to… every intention of man’s heart was only evil continually.
From perfect harmony with God
to total depravity apart from God
And that is exactly how fast you and I can fall today.
Back in Genesis 4, when God warns Cain before he kills Abel, God says to Cain (and to us),
Genesis 4:7 (NLT)
7 . . . But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you . . .
The problem is Cain, and most of Mankind, won’t listen to God. By Genesis Chapter 6, sin was in control of Mankind and every intention of man’s heart was only evil continually. And so, shockingly, Genesis 6 says God regretted that he made man and it grieved him to his heart Genesis 6:6 (ESV), and God would’ve been perfectly holy, just, and righteous if he would have wiped man out altogether right there. But it was never God’s plan to completely annihilate Mankind, even though we deserved it!
Here's how God continued.
Genesis 6:8-9 (ESV)
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
9 . . . Noah was a righteous man, . . . Noah walked with God.
And right there we see a critical truth found throughout the Bible, and that is the Believing Remnant. So often we see God’s plan continuing through a very small Believing Remnant. Noah and his family were the first of the Believing Remnants that God used to continue to move his plan ahead.
So, as you may know, continuing in Genesis Chapter 6, God judges the earth. God has Noah build the Ark, then seals Noah and his family inside, which is a picture of God sealing us (Believers) in Christ – away from his judgment. Then God judges the earth with a worldwide flood, and in essence, starts over with Noah and his family, and we would think, okay – God got his point across.
Certainly, with the effects of the flood fresh in their minds, this time around things would be different. Yeah, you would think. But… not so much. Genesis Chapter 10 is a list of the Nations of People that were all started from Noah’s sons and their wives. It’s a phenomenal list of clans that became nations. Just a quick count – I get seventy nations. And the last verse says,
Genesis 10:32 (NLT)
32 . . . All the nations of the earth descended from these clans after the great flood.
But it seems like immediately after those seventy nations are listed in Genesis 110, Mankind just wants to exercise its “God-Complex” again. In the very next Chapter (Genesis Chapter 11), again, Man so quickly decides he wants to be like God, just like back in Genesis Chapter 3. And guys, listen, please, at the root of your sin and mine, is the same desire – to be autonomous. To BE AUTONOMOUS means “to be self-governed, to act independently, to do whatever you want.” THAT was the root of the original sin, and THAT is the root of the majority of our sin today.
And that was at the root of the events that follow in Genesis Chapter 11. In Genesis 11, we find Mankind building the Tower of Babel. At the root of the Tower of Babel was Mankind saying,
We can do anything we want
However and whenever we want
and nothing (not even God) can stop us!
And God says… “Wanna bet?”
But this time God responds differently. God works, listen carefully, within man’s sinful choices to accomplish his purposes. That does not give you license to sin! It means, when you look back over your life and say “Whoa! I made so many mistakes! I chose my flesh over God so many times. I chose sin over God so many times.” I’m here to tell you, God was at work. God was at work in your life, and he was at work for good, even in the midst of your sinful choices. That doesn’t make the sin okay. It means that God is bigger and he can restore you and accomplish his plan in you. Here, in Genesis chapter 11, God uses the sinful desire in man’s heart to further disperse Mankind around the earth. As we saw in the last message, God again confers with the Trinity.
Genesis 11:7-8 (ESV)
7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language . . .
8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth . . .
I like the way God dealt with Man’s sin at the Tower of Babel because it shows how God can be at work for good in all things – EVEN in our sinful choices.
The Tower of Babel is the symbol of Mankind saying, we can rule the world without God. And it’s more than interesting today, that in the almost completely Godless federation of nations called the European Union (EU), their headquarters building is actually designed to look like a famous painting of the Tower of Babel. The EU has actually used the Tower of Babel to promote their power, and ability, and unity among nations. This is funny because those are the same things the nations were trying to prove with the original Tower of Babel. But it is a Godless Federation of Nations.
But God showed man WHO was actually in charge in Genesis 11, and he will show man again – you can count on it.
So, we’ve been flying through nine chapters of Genesis, and we’ve seen clearly the results of sin and the Fall. But, what about God accomplishing his plan!?
Let’s rewind to see God at work through all of this. Let’s start back in Genesis Chapter 3 – again. Right in the midst of everything bad in the Fall – in Genesis Chapter 3 – there is actually a promise of God’s plan coming to pass.
Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
15 I will put enmity between you (Serpent) and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he (women’s offspring) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
NIV says, he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel
The NIV uses that language because the image here is: a blow to the head is fatal – a blow to the heel is minor, and who is it that crushes the head of Satan while Satan bruises his heel…
Colossians 2:14-15 (NLT)
14 [Jesus] canceled the record of the charges against us (Sin) and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
At the cross, Satan bruised Jesus badly. But at the Resurrection Jesus crushed Satan’s head. And right there, in Genesis 3, verse 15, we have the first promise of God’s plan coming to pass in order to save us.
Then skip ahead to Genesis Chapter 6 and the Flood. Noah is a righteous man who walks with God after God tells Noah exactly how to build the Ark… God says to Noah,
Genesis 6:18 (NLT)
18 . . . I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives.
The covenant God made with Adam he now confirms with Noah. God seals Noah and his family away from his judgment, and then much of Genesis Chapter 9 is God confirming his covenant with Noah and his sons.
And then, what about the Tower of Babel incident? What do we see of God “continuing his plan” there? Well, flip over to Genesis Chapter 11, and look down at the very end. Remember, the Tower of Babel is at the beginning of Chapter 11. At the end of that chapter,
Genesis 11:31 (ESV)
31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
This Abram is who we know as Abraham
This Sarai is who we know as Abraham’s wife Sarah
This Canaan is what we know today as the Land of Israel
And next week we’ll see God’s plan really get moving with God’s covenant with Abraham.
But this week’s message has really been about the bad news. It’s about our sin, the Fall, and the result of our sin – not Adam’s sin – our sin. We did inherit the sin nature from Adam. But we must recognize we have also chosen sin, just like Adam and Eve did.
Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. But it must start there. It must start by you understanding that you are a sinner in need of God’s grace. And if you don’t understand that your sin has separated you from God and that you deserve God’s judgment, and that God is fair, and just, and holy to judge you – if you don’t understand that – you’ll never understand the joy of your salvation. Because you’ll think God saved you because you’re a ”pretty good” person. You were the scum of the earth (let me be straight with you). You were just in the mire of sin. And God saved you by his grace and his mercy and his unconditional love. And seeing yourself that way, causes you to see God in the right light.
If we refuse to accept and admit that we are cut off from God by our own sin, then we place ourselves in the company of those
who have rejected God
who have rejected God’s truths
who have rejected God’s authority
who have rejected God’s Word…
Don’t do that!
We tend to think too highly of ourselves and think that we can be our own god, and think that we can be autonomous. But when we understand that we’re sinners, we say “God, my only hope is your grace. My only hope is to come to your Cross, without deserving but freely receiving. To have you shower love on me instead of the judgment I deserve.” We have to approach God correctly.
God’s plan is a plan for your salvation. It’s a plan for your eternal life with him. In his presence – in his perfect and glorified creation – as it was intended to be in the Garden. But you and I cannot benefit from God’s plan… unless we first accept and admit that we’ve been separated from God by our own sin, and unless we accept by faith that our only hope…is to rely on God’s plan to restore us, and to redeem us – to himself.