Ep. 43 | GENESIS 3 | The Story of the Gospel: Where the Mess Began (the Fall part 1)

When Adam and his wife chose to do things their way (eat the fruit the Lord said not to eat ), sin entered the world and stained the very fabric of reality.

Then, they covered thier nakedness and hid.

But could they remedy their sin by fig leaves and ducking behind trees?

Of course not.

This episode, meditate on the account of the Fall and consider how our hearts are not too different than Adam and Eve.

This episode helps prepare our hearts for the beauty of the Gospel as we walk through the story together.

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Transcript

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Today we continue our journey together through the Story of the Gospel in our Creation and Fall series, and we come to the part I rather just skip over, the part where sin and shame and enters the fabric of existence and stains the threads of reality with the die of rebellion that no mere human can remove.

The stain of sin seeps into every fiber of reality in the realm of the earth and humanity, and everything becomes not well. But in order to experience the fullness of the beauty of the gospel, we have to also experience the depth of despair.

I will read Genesis 3:1-8. Before I read, take a deep breath and invite the Holy Spirit. 

Come Holy Spirit, come. 

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

What did you notice? Dwell on this for a moment.

The first move Satan made toward the woman was to make her question what God said. Did God really say? Then questioning God's character, making God out as a not good God to keep man and women from knowing good and evil like himself. When Satan is really the liar, the snakes question implies that God kept something from the man and woman, however.

Rather than God keeping something from the man and woman, God kept something for them: only the good. 

They had the gift of not knowing evil. They also already had the gift of being like God. Genesis 1:27–28, they were made in God's image, fully good, fully loved. Satan not only tempted the woman to disobey God's command she received through her husband, we assume, but to also depend on her own understanding as if her perception of the reality of wisdom was greater than God's.

Listen to Genesis 3:6–8 again. What does the spirit highlight for you this time?

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

What came to mind this time? Dwell on this for a moment.

The woman saw and the woman determined the fruit was good, pleasing and desirable, so she took some, her partner, husband did not step into warn or remind, and he ate some too. 

She determined what was good, apart from what God said was good. He said, “Do not eat.” She said, “It is good to eat.” Rebellion crashed into reality like a drunk driver behind the wheels slamming into a house, and the man and woman fractured their home and the world forever.

In a world of shifting definitions of what is good in our time, where your truth is your truth, and my truth is my truth. Genesis three reminds us. That when we define for ourselves what is good, apart from what God's word says is good, we too bring fracturing and brokenness into our own homes, into our own lives.

We live in a generation where everyone is doing what is good in their own eyes. Self is the supreme God and happiness is the idolatrous pursuit. Have you fallen prey to these lies? Do you seek what you think is good rather than depending on the truth of God's words sometimes.

Are you living like eve in the garden, choosing for yourself what is good rather than what God says? 

Take a moment to reflect and pray. 

In what ways might you be like Adam or Eve pray about this or anything else the spirit brings to mind? Let's pray. 

Father, son, holy Spirit one and only true God, please forgive us for depending on our own understanding and the voices of the world, which tells us that what we think is good is good, no matter what you have said about it. Help us to see what is good and not good according to your good, pleasing and perfect will taught to us through the Scriptures. 

In Jesus' name, we pray a amen. 

Thank you for joining me today on the podcast. Next week we will continue to explore the fall of humanity in Genesis three.

The story of the gospel will pick up the pace after we finish with Genesis three, but this chapter is teaching us the cosmic problem of sin and will help us see the reality with clearer lens as we look forward to the promises of God yet to be revealed. I can't wait to get there with you. So if you have not subscribed to the Well Soul, see the link in the show notes to receive weekly emails at that compliment, that compliment the material you'll hear on the weekly podcast, as well as the Well Soul Monthly Digital Newsletter with bonus teaching and resources.

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