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[0:00] Genesis chapter 3, and if you'll go ahead and find verse 6.

[0:16] I'm going to begin by reading verses 6 and 7.! We are going to make it a little further than that tonight. I'm not sure just how far I'll go with it.

[0:27] We'll not finish chapter 3. But let me just begin with this. Starting with verse 6, Genesis chapter 3.

[0:39] Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it.

[0:53] She also gave some to her husband. He was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked. So they sewed the fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

[1:08] Now, I read from a little different translation there. It's the Holman Christian Standard. Not a paraphrase, but more along the line of the NIV. But this is interesting, isn't it?

[1:21] Now, we've already been studying and looking at chapter 3 about how we got to this point, how Eve got to this point, and the serpent, and the temptation, and what all that was about, his lies, deception, and so forth.

[1:37] And so Eve is deceived, or was deceived by the serpent, the serpent that was possessed or inhabited by the spiritual serpent, Satan.

[1:52] And Adam joined in her sin, didn't he? He said he was standing there. Now, we don't know for sure if Adam was standing there when, you know, Satan approached Eve.

[2:06] Safe to say that he probably was. Maybe he was just a kind of casual bystander. Who knows? But when it came to her eating it, Adam was right there with her, and she handed it to him, and he took it, and he ate.

[2:20] And so, both of them disobeyed God, didn't they? I mean, it's very clear. God had said in no uncertain terms, this tree over here, that one, don't eat of it.

[2:36] You shall not eat it, and the day you eat it, you shall die. And so that was God's law. Both of them disobeyed. And that's sin. When you disobey God and God's word, no matter how maybe insignificant it may seem to us.

[2:53] Now, this is not insignificant, but sometimes we have a tendency to put sins on some kind of scale, from severe to not so severe. Maybe light sins, little sins, big sins.

[3:05] But with God, all disobedience to his word is sin. And it's an affront to him. And so both of them did it. Did it. They sinned against God and ate of that forbidden fruit.

[3:18] Now, you might be wondering, I don't know. You don't, some do, so I'll go ahead with it anyway. Who really is to blame him in this?

[3:32] Is it Eve? I mean, Bible, the record, starts with this conversation, dialogue between the serpents and Eve. And some would argue that Adam was there, but there's no indication from Scripture that he was.

[3:46] So Eve was the one that listened to the serpent, and Eve was the one that was deceived. And she took the fruit and ate it first. And so is Eve to blame? Or is Adam to blame?

[3:59] And it's, I think, an important question. Because the answer to that question leads us into a very, very important point of doctrine, point of theology.

[4:13] And so, we'll answer that question, who's to blame, with Scripture. And a couple of places that we can look at, and I'll just list these for you.

[4:23] No, I don't have any notes for you tonight. All right, we'll just leave it right there. Now, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, 20 and following, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

[4:37] For since death came through a man, you can just note there a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

[4:55] And we're familiar with that passage, aren't we? And then we can add to that Romans chapter 5, verse 12. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, and that word's more general, mankind, because all sin.

[5:20] Because all sin. Now, the question is, why doesn't the Bible say, in Eve all die? That's why I say this is important.

[5:32] Well, the question's important, but the answer's more important, because it leads us into a very important point of theology, biblical doctrine. And so when you ask the question, why doesn't the Bible say, in Eve all die?

[5:48] Or, why doesn't it say, sin entered the world through one woman? Why doesn't it say that? I mean, just a casual reading of this text in Genesis chapter 3.

[6:01] We might be led to think, well, there's something wrong here. It was Eve that was deceived. Eve that ate. Yeah, Adam ate also.

[6:13] And so how then do we come up with, in Adam all die, or sin entered the world through one man, when maybe it should be woman? And the reason it doesn't say that, that in Eve all die, or that by a woman sin entered the world, the reason it doesn't say that is because there's a principle taught in Scripture from the very beginning, right here.

[6:41] And then this principle follows through the entire Bible, and on into our day, and on into our lives. And the principle is the principle of headship.

[6:55] Headship. And it's taught throughout the Bible, and it started right here with Adam. The very first lesson of that is taught here with Adam, and it does not end. And this principle of headship applies in nearly every context.

[7:09] It applies, by the way, even in the context of the Holy Trinity, within the Godhead. And so you have the Father is the head, and we'll look at a passage here in a minute that says that very clearly.

[7:24] It works in the context of marriage, even though it is always played out that way, in practical terms.

[7:35] But from God's perspective and viewpoint, the man is the head of the wife. Whether he takes that lead as he ought to, or even if he's not a believer in Christ, he's still head of the woman.

[7:49] And so the principle is there. It works in the church, pastor, elder. And then God has established, then, this principle of headship. So according to the Bible, then, if I'm back up, the husband is the head of the wife.

[8:05] That's the situation we have here in Genesis chapter 3. The husband is the head of the wife. Let me give you a passage. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 3. But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man.

[8:18] And the man is the head of the woman. And God is the head of Christ. Now, the father, head of Christ. Now, the husband, then, is the head of the wife.

[8:31] As God is the head of Christ. And so, the husband becomes the responsible one. Whether he desires that responsibility or not.

[8:43] Whether he sees it as his responsibility or not. Whether he believes it to be his responsibility or not doesn't make any difference from God's sovereign viewpoint.

[8:55] And this is the way he has established it from the very beginning. The husband becomes the responsible one. That's God's design. Headship is in the man. The man bears the responsibility.

[9:06] responsibility. Okay? That's not Don Coleman speaking. That's Scripture. That's the way God designed it. And so, when we talk about the sin that brought about the fall of the human race.

[9:18] And that's what we're talking about here in Genesis chapter 3. That's what we're discovering here. Then we know it goes back to Adam. And why is that again?

[9:29] Because he is the head. He's the head. Now, that doesn't lessen, by the way, it doesn't lessen Eve's guilt. She's not off the hook.

[9:41] Innocent bystander. It's Adam's fault. And so, you know, Adam will be cursed and Eve won't be. No, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't lessen her guilt. By the same token, it doesn't increase Adam's guilt.

[9:56] We're not talking about the measure of guilt here. We're talking about the responsibility. And it's just the fact that when referring to the fall of man, the responsibility rests upon the head of the family.

[10:11] And that's Adam. Now, the most important thing to understand, though, here in this text is that when Adam and Eve ate of that fruit of the tree, whatever that fruit was, the important thing to note is they sinned against God.

[10:27] They sinned against him. And at that very moment, the moment they took a bite out of that apple, whatever it was, at that very moment, well, they didn't know it, you know, didn't feel it.

[10:44] Well, in a sense, something certainly changed that was perceptible to them, and we'll get to that in a minute. But at that moment, the whole human race was plunged into sin.

[10:58] The whole human race. Everyone that was born out of Adam and Eve and then born out of their kids and born out of their kids' kids and so forth, all the way up to those of us who are living and breathing and walking around this planet today.

[11:12] we've been plunged into sin. And so whenever you refer back to that event, you always refer to Adam because Adam is the head and it takes, by the way, and this is Gloria's part, it takes the work of the second Adam in order to undo what the first Adam did.

[11:34] And who's the second Adam? Jesus Christ. And that's the message of Romans 5, verse 12. And let me read that verse. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, that's Adam, and death through sin, and I read this a moment ago, in this way, death spread to all mankind, to all mankind.

[12:00] And why? Paul says, because all sinned. Now, let me tell you what this verse is simply saying. It's simply saying that one man sins.

[12:13] It's Adam. That's how all that started. He is the head of the human race. And the sin of Adam, as the head, is how sin enters the entire world.

[12:26] And it enters the world through Adam, and with it comes death. Death in triplicate. What I mean by that is, spiritual death first.

[12:40] That's how Adam and Eve died first. Spiritually. Physical death next. And Adam and Eve did experience the physical death.

[12:52] And then the third that has come upon the human race, this death in triplicate, would be eternal death. Eternal death. And that's come upon all of the human race.

[13:03] Now, Adam and Eve did not experience the eternal death because God saved them by his grace. We'll get to that a little bit later. Alright, so, that death spread to all human beings from Adam on, and the reason why it did, because that would be the next question we would, I think, want to have answered.

[13:25] Might be able to say, well, I see how Adam is responsible. He's the head. Now, how does that make me a party to it?

[13:38] You know, I wasn't there. And that's what Romans 5.12 says, because of all sin. And you say, well, that doesn't make any sense.

[13:49] You know, how in the world did we sin? We all sin there in the garden. Well, we sinned because we were there.

[14:00] You say, well, I don't think so. Now, that was, what, maybe 6,000, 7,000 years ago. I certainly wasn't there. I hadn't been born yet. But you were there.

[14:12] We were all there. And where were we? We were in Adam. We were in him. And we were there in Adam's blood.

[14:23] Adam's DNA. Adam's genes. And so, when Adam and Eve had children, every child they produced would be sinful.

[14:37] And that would continue on until our day today. We talk about it and call that original sin. Adam was the head.

[14:49] And we were in Adam. And so, and Paul, by the way, in Romans chapter 5, if I could just read another portion of it, he says this over and over and over.

[15:01] And his point is this, verse 17 of Romans chapter 5, since by the one man's trespass, that's Adam, death reigned through the one man, that one man.

[15:13] How much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ? Now, we're going to, I'm going to make a statement about this here in a minute.

[15:27] So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, everyone, that's all of us, so also, through one righteous act, there is life-giving justification for everyone.

[15:40] But just as through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

[15:50] The law came along to multiply the trespass, but where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[16:05] Now, that's an amazing passage, amazing truth, and it's giving, you know, Paul's giving a comparison here of the first Adam with the second Adam.

[16:18] Adam, the one who was created there, there in the garden, and the second Adam being, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul is saying in Romans 5, it is possible for what one man does to affect many.

[16:35] It's possible for that to happen. Adam sinned and we all sinned. We all sinned in him. And somebody might then naturally say that's not fair.

[16:45] Not fair. You know, and that's usually our reaction. That's something like that. Not fair. I mean, how can I be held responsible for Adam's sin when I was not there?

[16:57] And how can sin in Adam, how can we sin in Adam when we weren't there? But think about it this way, and this takes us back to what I just read in Romans 5, 17.

[17:11] Now listen to this. If we cannot be held responsible for what the one man, Adam, did, then we cannot be saved by what the one man, Christ, Jesus, did.

[17:29] That's what Paul is saying there in Romans 5, 17. And so the answer is we are responsible for the one man's sin and we can be saved by the one man's righteousness, the Lord Jesus.

[17:41] And that's the way God designed it and that's how God designed it for his glory. Now getting back to chapter 3, let me make at least one other observation here tonight. We've got plenty of time.

[17:56] Verse 7 again says, Then the eyes of both of them, well, I haven't read verse 7 yet. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked.

[18:07] I did read this a moment ago. They knew they were naked. And so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. That's an interesting verse.

[18:18] And we're going to come back to that later, not tonight, talk about what this represents, them, you know, sewing their own clothes together to try to hide themselves to really in effect hide their guilt.

[18:34] We're not getting into that tonight. But get the logic here as if you think back over the last couple of weeks as we've been moving our way through Genesis chapter 3. We started with the serpent.

[18:47] Then we saw his strategy which led to the seduction of Eve. She was seduced, tempted and seduced, which led, of course, to her sin.

[19:00] And then what happens after that? Their shame. Their shame or guilt. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew then that they were naked.

[19:14] That's interesting. Their eyes were opened. What did they see? Well, for the first time, as you just, the way it reads, the first time, for the very first time, they saw that they were naked.

[19:30] And, but really, in a spiritual sense, for the first time, they saw evil. Sin. As we looked at one another. They were aware at that point of their sinfulness.

[19:46] Their wickedness. This was a brand new experience for them. In fact, it was a new experience because prior to this, there was no wickedness, no sin. So the first time their eyes were opened to their wickedness, they knew they were naked.

[20:00] That's what that is referring to. But now, they had been naked before, right? For, who knows how long. I don't think, actually, we're talking about very much time transpiring from when they were created to when they sinned.

[20:17] I think it happened pretty quickly. But, however long it was, they were naked and they knew in some sense that they were naked in some sense of the word.

[20:28] And so, now, all of a sudden, they're ashamed. And so they, you know, do something rather ingenious. I'm not sure how they did it. You know, sewing fig leaves together.

[20:40] I'm not sure how they came up with that idea. And they did that and they sewed them together so that they could cover. This is why I've used this translation. They covered themselves with loin covers.

[20:54] Loin covers. Now, why do you think they did that? I don't want to go too far with this because, you know, I get embarrassed.

[21:04] but, this is kind of bizarre, you know, really when you think about it. Why didn't they put masks on to cover their faces?

[21:17] Why didn't they, well, why didn't they just cover their entire bodies? And the Bible specifically says they covered their loins. Why did they do that?

[21:29] Why didn't they just cover their feet? I'm just kind of throwing this out, but you think about it a minute. What's going on here? Well, see, this is what sin does.

[21:45] Because, once their eyes were opened to personal evil, and their eyes were opened to that, their sinfulness, not just eyes being opened to an act of sin, but eyes were opened to their own sinfulness, personal sinfulness.

[22:04] And once that happened, a whole new way of thinking entered into their minds and they were shocked by it. They were naked and they were evil and they were embarrassed and they felt it and they felt guilty and they were gripped by new emotions, new desires, wicked desires, evil desires, perversion, lust, shame, all of that came flooding in.

[22:36] Someone has written this, these insightful words, let me just read it to you. I believe it was John Piper, but I forgot to put down who it was. But anyway, listen to this.

[22:47] This was a grotesque anticlimax to the dream of enlightenment. The reason why he says this is because this was what Satan duped Eve into desiring, to be enlightened, to know.

[23:03] And this is the anticlimax to that desire, that dream, as sin always is. they were in the same garden as before, nothing had changed there, same garden, looking at the same spouse in the midst of the same creatures under the same sky, but all of the sudden into their pure world of relationship, into their sexual innocence came perverse evil thoughts and sin clung to their innocence and they felt it strongly and they felt exposed and they felt shameful about feelings they had never felt before.

[23:52] Their purity was marred. They were shocked by thoughts that were wicked and impure. Even that pure gift of marriage was so polluted as to make them feel that they needed to hide their nakedness from God and from each other.

[24:08] that very part of their body, which was the source of joy and the source of life, became a source of guilt and a source of shame and they were embarrassed to be naked and they did an appropriate thing.

[24:21] They sewed big leaves together and made themselves loincloth coverings. Interesting observation. And so this was obviously a feeble effort to cover their shame and cover their guilt and we could from this point but I'll come back later and let me just say this represents taking care of your sin, trying to take care of your sin, your guiltiness through human effort, through works.

[24:52] They're going to cover their own guiltiness and make for themselves their own coverings and it won't work. It's not acceptable to God and we'll get to that later.

[25:04] In fact, it would be acceptable until there was a blood sacrifice and God would then make a covering for them later and this is when we get into their, I think, their salvation.

[25:15] Alright, so it was a feeble effort for them to cover their shame and their guilt and yet they could cover their bodies but they couldn't really hide their guiltiness.

[25:27] they couldn't hide that, couldn't do that with fig leaves and again we get to verse 21 and we'll look at that. So let me sum this up here, we'll get done a little bit earlier because I don't want to launch out into the next portion of it because that will take longer than we have left.

[25:46] But to sum it up here in Genesis chapter 3, like Lucifer before them, because it happened to him first, Adam and Eve fell from God's grace.

[25:57] Adam and Eve fell so far into sin that there was nothing good in them. I mean that happened immediately.

[26:10] See, it doesn't take time or generations, even though we live in a generation that is wicked, more wicked from our observation than previous generations and as we look at things it looks pretty clear that in the next generation is going to become even more wicked.

[26:30] But from God's perspective it doesn't take any time to become wicked before him. And Adam and Eve sinned and they were plunged into utter wickedness.

[26:44] Nothing good in them. And they fell so far that they were absolutely embarrassed, ridden with guilt, full of shame.

[26:57] And when they fell, someone has described it this way, a never ending avalanche of sin was loosed upon the creation. Their sin had pulled a stone from the mountain and the fatal rock slide they started would bury all humanity as well as its environment in a dirty and rubble, in the dirt and rubble of sin.

[27:23] And so, I hate to end it this way, but Satan had done his work. He had accomplished it. And so, what now? Well, to give you just an indication of where we're going to go next time, by the way, it won't be next Wednesday.

[27:39] Lee will be teaching next Wednesday. I know you'll enjoy that. But then, Wednesday after, when I get back, we're going to look at, I think, what is clear to me, I think you'll agree with me, the very first revelation of God's plan to save man from the curse of sin.

[28:01] And really, the next few verses in this chapter, we're going to see the gospel. I mean, just clear. A clear presentation of the good news and the very first gospel message is preached then here in Genesis chapter 3.

[28:18] And it's the same message we preached today, by the way. And we'll see that. And I'll just sum it up this way, this message, and I get this from Adrian Rogers.

[28:30] I've quoted this, I don't know how many times, just perfect. Now, he may have stolen it from somebody else, but, you know, Adrian is with the Lord now, and so I can't question him about that.

[28:41] But this is what he said. He said, here, it's all summed up. Life, is short. Death, is sure. You might want to drop this down.

[28:53]  Life is short. Death, is sure. Sin, the curse. Christ, the cure.