We come today, Friends, to the third chapter.  Before we get into that, I moved rather rapidly through the last part of Chapter 2, and we were looking at the creation of woman that was indirect creation for God took her out of man and to reveal the fact that she is part of man.  And someone has put it like this.

For woman is not undeveloped man, but diverse.

Not like the like, but like indifference,

Yet in the long years, liker must they grow

‘Til at the last she set herself to man

Like perfect music unto noble word,

Distinct in individualities,

But like each other even as those who love.

And may I say that this is one of the most beautiful stories and the most beautiful record.  And we’ve seen now in Chapter 2 man’s kinship with God; man’s worship of God; man’s fellowship with God, man’s service for God, man’s loyalty to God; man’s authority from God, and man’s social life from and for God.  That is the great message of Chapter 2.

Now we come to what some consider the most important chapter of the Bible.  It’s conceded, I think, by all conservative expositors to be just that.  Dr. Griffith Thomas called Chapter 3 “the pivot of the Bible.” And if you doubt that, read Chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis, then omit Chapter 3 and read Chapters 4 and 11, and you’ll find out that there’s a tremendous vacuum that needs to be filled that something happened.  For instance, in Genesis 1 and 2, we find man in innocence.  Everything is perfection, and there’s fellowship between God and man.  But the minute that you begin in Chapter 4 of Genesis and don’t go any farther than Chapter 11, this first section, you find jealousy and anger and murder and lying and wickedness and corruption and rebellion and judgment.  And the question is:  Where did it all come from?  Where did it begin?  Where did all the sin originate?  Well, I don’t think it originated actually in Chapter 3 of Genesis, but as far as man is concerned here is where it began.

I’d like to read you a statement of another at this particular point.  And he’s speaking now of Genesis 3.  He says here:  “Here we trace back to their source many of the rivers of divine truth.  Here commences the great drama which is being enacted on the stage of human history and which well nigh 6,000 years has not yet completed.  Here we find the divine explanation of the present fallen and ruined condition of our race.  Here we learn of the subtle devices of our enemy, the devil.  Here we behold the utter powerlessness of man to walk in the path of righteousness when divine grace is withheld from him.  Here we discover the spiritual effects of sin, man seeking to flee from God.  Here we discern the attitude of God toward the guilty sinner.  Here we mark the universal tendency of human nature to cover its own moral shame by a device of man’s own handiwork.  Here we are taught of the gracious provision which God has made to meet our great need.  Here begins that marvelous stream of prophecy which runs all through the Holy Scriptures.  Here we learn that man cannot approach God except through a mediator.”  May I say this is a tremendous statement, by the way.

And we want to consider now Chapter 3 more or less in depth.  And we’re spending a lot of time in these opening chapters because they are all important, and God is covering a great deal of ground in a very brief period of space by the way.  In this first section here, we have the, I think, very obvious fact of the setting for the temptation of man.  Now let me read beginning with Verse 1.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Now this creature here, we find—well, we raise a question.  Why the temptation?  And, frankly, we’re going to have to go back to Chapters 1 and 2.  Man was created innocent, and man was not created righteous if you will notice.  Now what is righteousness?  Well, righteousness is innocence that’s been maintained in the presence of temptation.  You see, temptation will either develop or destroy you; do one of the two.  And the Garden of Eden was not a hot house.  Man was not a hot house plant.  Character must be developed, and it can be developed only in the presence of temptation.  And, therefore, man was created a responsible being and he was responsible to glorify, to obey, to serve, and to be subject to divine government.  Man didn’t create himself.  I don’t think anyone claims that.  But God created him, and God was not, I think, arbitrary in this.  God, you will recall, had said demands; “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it for in the day that thou eateth it thereof, thou shalt surely die.”  And it wasn’t the only tree to eat of.  It would have been a very arbitrary statement if man would have starved to death if he hadn’t eaten of this tree and then be told he’d die if he did eat of it.  There were an abundance we’re told of trees there that bore fruit, so that man didn’t need to eat of this tree at all.  Now will you notice that man appears here on the scene a responsible creature.

Now we have here the temptation and the fall.  And in this first verse I read, we’re introduced to the serpent.  And immediately the question can reasonably be asked, “Well, where in the world did he come from?  How did he get in the Garden of Eden?”  And I have something to say to you in this connection.  That as far as I can tell from the Word of God, Friends, the serpent was there not as a slithering creature and we’re not told how he came there.  We’re just told he was there.  You see, the Word of God leaves a great deal out, but he was a creature that could be used of Satan, and Satan used him.

Well, isn’t that exactly the method that he uses even today.  Paul said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11:14, “No marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”  And we find out that, especially in the book of Revelation, where more is said about him there than anywhere else, it is said, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”  (Revelation 12:9)  This creature was not a slithering snake as we think of it today.  That’s not the picture that the Word of God gives of him at all.  We’re told in Revelation 20:2, “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.”   So this is a creature with tremendous ability.  Now there’s no record of his origin here at all.

Now, I do not want to be dogmatic yet, but I am when we get to it.  Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 I think give us the origin of this creature and also how he became the creature that he was.  Now why in the world, and I want to read this next verse now and ask the question first.  Why in the world did the serpent approach the woman?  Why didn’t he approach the man?  Let me read.

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. (Genesis 3:2-3)

          Now, you see, woman was created last.  And she got her information from the man.  You see God had told Adam when he created him that he could eat of every tree of the garden but of this one he was not to eat of.  So the woman had gotten her information second hand; she got it from man.  And so he approached the woman first.  And, frankly, I think that woman was created in a finer way than man was created, but also one who probably was open to this type of thing more than a man would be.  Actually, I think a woman really has a nature that probably is more inquisitive than man.  Also she is the one today that you find goes into the cults and isms more than anyone else and leads men into it.  In fact, most of the founders of cults and isms have been women.

And the serpent knew—Satan knew what he was doing.  And you’ll notice what he did.  He had a very subtle method as he came here.  He asked her this question and he cast doubt on the Word of God.  And he excites her curiosity, and he questions the love and the goodness and the righteousness and holiness of God.  Notice what happened.  “Yeah, has God said ye shall not each of every tree of the garden?”  You see, he raises a doubt in her mind, excites her curiosity, and she answered, “Well, we can eat of all the trees but this tree God has told us ye shall not eat of it.” And ended– that’s all God said, but she added something:  “Neither shall you touch it, lest ye die.”  I don’t find where He ever said you’re not to touch it.  And then:

And the serpent said unto the woman,

And let me change our translation a little.  Instead of saying “ye shall not surely die”, he said:

Ye certainly shall not die.  (Genesis 3:4)

“Why that is just absolutely impossible.”  You see, he questions the love of God and the goodness of God.  If God’s good, why did he put that restriction down?  And if God is righteous—well, he says he’s not righteous because you won’t die.  And he questions the holiness of God.  You’re going to be gods yourselves….

 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 and evil.  (Genesis 3:5)

May I say to you that this is the thing that she did.  She added to the Word of God.  And the liberal and the atheist takes from the Word of God, and God warned against that.  And the cults and some fundamentalists, by the way, add to the Word of God.  And God warns against that.  And there are those that say that today we’re saved by law.  Oh, they say “Yes, faith,” but it’s faith plus something else, and they’re asked to come up with anything.  This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he has sent.  (John 6:29)  How important that is!

Now, you see here he very subtly contradicts God and he substitutes his words for it.  Remember we called attention in Romans to the fact of the obedience of faith.  Faith leads to obedience.  And disobedience leads to unbelief.  You see, doubt leads to disobedience always.  Now, will you notice:

And when the woman saw  (Notice that.) that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired 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.  (Genesis 3:6)

Now you notice the appeal that he made here is quite an interesting appeal.  It was an appeal to the flesh, but that’s not all.  That’s not really the thing that is really important.  “It was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise.”  It was an appeal to the flesh; an appeal, if you please, to the psychological part of mind, his mind, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, and that is an appeal to the religious side of man.

And if you’ll check this—and I’m taking time to deal with that today—you’ll find out that’s the exact temptation that Satan brought to the Lord Jesus. (See Luke 6.) First of all, make these stones into bread (good deeds) and then he told him I’ll give you the kingdoms of world.  I tell you what an appeal that is and he showed him the kingdoms of the world.  Pleasant to the eye; an appeal to the mind.  And then a tree to be desired to make one wise; cast yourself down from the temple.  And do you know that today I don’t think he’s changed his tactics. He uses the same tactics with you and me, and I think the reason that he still uses the same tactics is because it works.  He doesn’t need to change his tactics.  We all seem to fall for the same line.  And John wrote that, “For all that is in the world–the lush of the flesh (that’s it, good to eat), the lust of the eyes (good to look at), and the pride of life (Cast yourself down from the temple).  These things are not of the Father but of the world.”  (I John 2:16)  Now this is an appeal that he makes.

Jesus said that these sins of the flesh, though, come out of the heart of man; way down deep.  And this is where he’s making his appeal, you see; that’s where he’s going in after man in a very definite way.  And it’s this method, frankly, that he’s using here in order that he might reach in and that he might lead mankind astray.  Well, he did it.  You see, they were told they’d know good and evil.  What happened?  Well, we have the results of the fall of man.

 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.  (Genesis 3:7)

          Well, what do we have here?  Well, we have their eyes open.  That is their conscience.  You see, man before the fall did not have a conscience; he was innocent.  Innocence is ignorance of evil. Man did not make conscience.  May I say that there’s an accuser that each one of you and I have; lives on the inside of us.  The psychologist says today that we all have a guilt complex.  A leading psychologist in a university here in Southern California, who is a Christian, said to me that the guilt complex is much a part of man as his right arm is, and he could no more get rid of that guilt complex in a psychological way than you get rid of the arm except by amputating it.

And they knew they were naked.  These fig leaves concealed, but did not cover really.  And they did not confess.  They just attempted to cover up their sin.  The eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons…

And they heard the voice of the Lord God 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.  And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?  (Genesis 3:8-9)

Have you ever noticed that the tree that is here?  They sewed fig leaves together, and that’s the only tree that’s mentioned.  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not an apple tree; I don’t know what it was, but I’m almost sure it wasn’t an apple tree.  They sewed the fig leaves; they were not ready to admit their lost condition.  And that is the condition of man today in religion.  He goes through exercises and rituals, and he joins churches, and he become very religious.  Have you ever noticed Christ cursed the fig tree?  Quite interesting.  And he denounced religion right after that, by the way.  He denounced it with all of his being.

You see, Satan in this temptation wanted to come between the soul and God.  In other words, he wanted to wean man from God.  Win man over to himself and to become the god of man.  The temptations, you see, of the flesh would not have appealed to man in that day anyway.  He wasn’t tempted to steal or lie or covet.  He was just tempted to doubt God.  What was the trouble with the rich young ruler?  Didn’t believe.  You have the parable of the sower; the seeds didn’t fall on good ground…or the parable of the tares.  You see here are those that would not believe God.  Satan’s method, you see:  First, saw it was good for food.  Second, it’s pleasant to the eyes and to be desired.  He works from the outside to the inside; without to within.

And God begins with man’s heart.  Have you ever noticed that?  Religion is something you rub on the outside.  God doesn’t begin with religion.  And may I make a distinction here!  Christianity is not a religion.  Christianity is Christ.  There are a lot of religions.  And the Lord Jesus, he went right to the very fountainhead.  He said, “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)  And then he said to the Pharisees who were very religious on the outside.  He says, “Make the inside of the platter clean.”  Well, he said, “You’re just like a mausoleum, beautiful on the outside with marble and flowers, but inside dead men’s bones.” (Matthew 23:27)  What a picture!

Their eyes were opened—their conscience—and they knew they were naked.  May I say to you there’s no really new style in fig leaves.  Men are still going to church and going through religious exercises and good works.  And what happened?  And when they heard the voice of the LORD God in the garden, they ran from God.  Religion will separate you from God.  And Adam’s loss:  The LORD God called unto him and said, “Where are you Adam?”  Adam’s loss:  It’s God seeking him.  And not man seeking God.

There’s no confession on his part, will you notice that?

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:10-12)

The important thing there is not so much that he blamed the woman or, as we’d say in common colloquialism of the day “pass the buck,” but there’s no confession of sin on his part.

Now we’re going to see next time the judgment of the fall.  He will first ask the woman:

And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

My, here’s some more of that so-called buck passing.  Next time we see the judgment of the fall.  And you may find it’s a little different than maybe you really thought it was.  So until next time, may God richly bless you!