Book of Genesis - Ch. 3, Vs. 17-Ch. 4, Vs. 5 (05/21/2000)

The Curse on Adam and the Consequences of the Fall

Open your Bibles now to Genesis, the third chapter, verse 17. We had just worked our way through the first sin and its consequences, and we saw the provision made for the seed of Satan to be born into the world.

Beginning now with verse 17, the Lord is speaking, And he said unto Adam, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake.

In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall I bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. This word hearkened, hearkened unto his wife. We find later on Abraham did the same thing.

The Hebrew word is shamal, and it means to hear intelligently, to hear with attention and obedience, to consent, consider, to be content, to give ear. Adam listened to his wife rather than to God. Now in order to do that, he had to exhibit unbelief in God.

Powerful lesson there, you cannot listen to both. Therefore, it is by belief that we again come to God. So we see how belief is so important. Adam, unbelieved. Now we have thorns and thistles that are going to come.

I've been asked many times, what about the thorns and samburs and all of this? Well, I really can't answer that because I wasn't there. But I know they did not cause pain as they do now. And just exactly how they all come about, I don't know.

It might have been that they were not yet in the ground. But at any rate, we know that everything now is on a downward scale. Prior to sin, time was moving upward, forward. Now it is moving backwards or downwards.

Everything goes toward deterioration. Everything goes toward decay and rotting. And it will until we get into the new kingdom and then it'll all turn around and go forward. Now in the 19th verse, he says to Adam, in the sweat of thy face, shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, or out of it wast thou taken, or dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

No if nor maybes. It's absolutely this way because he said so. And where it says the sweat of thy face, it's literally sweat of the bridge of your nose. Now this next summer, providing it gets hot here in Texas, and you're out working, tie a headband around your forehead to keep that from running down on your nose.

And then you work until the very bridge of your nose begins to sweat. And take note of how hard you have to work. That's the last place that'll give all perspiration is the bridge of your nose. So he's telling Adam, you will have to do labor as hard as man can stand for the rest of your life.

Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Bill, would it be safe to say that all human beings since Adam and Eve have come from one woman? Yes. You what? Yes. Science three years ago put out the statement that they had discovered that all life come from a woman in Africa.

One woman. I don't know whether it was Africa or not, but they did all come from one. Now, verse 21, and the most important incident here, unto Adam also and to his wife, both of them now, did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothes them.

Up to this point, there had been no death of any kind. David, in order for the Lord to get the skin off the animals, what did he have to do to the animal? Had to kill the animal. In the killing of the animal, do you suppose he shed any blood?

He did. So we have here the very first blood offering, blood sacrifice. The first shedding of blood was to cover the sins of Adam and Eve. It was at this time that the Lord instructed Adam, even though we don't have it spelled out, but we know that, or at least I think we know, that he taught Adam how to make the sacrifice of an animal.

Remember it like this. God killed two animals to get two skins to cover two sinners. And in the killing, he shed the blood and he instructed Adam on the proper way. Adam then in turn instructed his boys.

We know he did because we see later on where they come bringing an offering, one of them a blood offering. We'll get to that when we talk of that when we get over there. Any questions on this first shedding of blood?

Adam made a covenant, which most Christians never talk about, that there was a covenant made in the garden of Eden because of the shedding of blood and because sacrifices were taking place. So they think that there was a covenant made at that point in time.

Yes. Good point. All right. 22. And the Lord said, now he's talking to himself, to the Trinity. He presents it as though there's more than one. And please don't ask me to explain that because I can't.

The Lord God said, behold, the man has become as one of us to no good and evil. Now they knew about good and evil, but they didn't know good and evil. They knew about it in that they knew the tree was there and it was good to not eat of it.

And it was evil to eat of it. But now Roger, they have had experience and now they know good and evil man has no excuse because Adam ate of the tree. Therefore all men know good and evil. It is not society that makes you like you are.

We've seen that tested in court several times. And I think that it went through the court at one time, but that's impossible. The society might affect you, but it does not make you like you are. So he said, now man has become as we to no good and evil.

And now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. And there's a hiatus here. He never finishes that statement, but when he said, unless he put forth his hand and eat of the tree of life and live forever, Joy, what do you suppose he was referring to?

This is what the Lord says. They've become as us. And now lest he put forth, lest Adam puts forth his hand and eats of the tree of life and lives forever. And he doesn't finish the sentence. Can we finish this sentence?

Well, he didn't want them to live forever in that sin. All right. Unless they live forever in the state of sin. So it was the mercy of God that drove him out. Therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Now he becomes a farmer in a true sense. But 24 makes it a little bit stronger, David. He said he drove him out. So he sent and he drove. David, what would, what comes to your mind when he said he drove them out?

Well, it makes you think that they were not leaving willingly and he just made sure they were going to go out. Right. He had decreed that they do and they did. The word for drove is goresh. It means to drive out from a possession, cast out, drive away, out, make to leave.

So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. The tree of life in this case, in the garden represented who, Roger?

Right. Jesus Christ, the tree of life. Now, to keep the way, Bill, to keep it, make me understand what he meant. To keep it separate from Eden. Or to keep it, in this case, separate from Adam. All right.

To keep unauthorized people from ever eating of that tree. There are some in the world that have the authority to eat of the tree. Who are they? Chosen. They elect you and I. Now, if we could not eat of the tree, then what would happen to us even though we're chosen?

We wouldn't have eternal life. Why did he drive them out? Let's get back to that a moment. Why did he shut off their access to the tree of life? What did it have to do for us?

The fact that he shut off that, because we live in a state of sin. Jesus is the tongue of our sin. So to live in a world forever without, you know, life, without Jesus Christ, if we ate the fruit, we would live on and on and on and on, but we would still be in a world full of sin and we would still have to be fighting the temptation of sin.

Whereas we wouldn't want to do that. No one would want to do that. That would be, you know, that would be almost hell on earth. Especially if you're eternally separated from God.

He drove them out so we could sin. Sin? What? I didn't hear what you said. He drove them out so you and I could sin. Oh, I don't think you need to do anything to help that happen. Well, if we could not sin, what names some things we wouldn't know?

If sin had never been into the world, what would we not have known? Righteousness. Forgiveness. Eternal life. Mercy of God. Love of God. But since they sinned in the garden before they were driven out, they could still sin.

They still could have sinned there, right? Oh, yes. So they didn't have to be driven out to sin. When they were driven out, they continued to sin. Well, I guess I misphrased my question. Why were they?

Why did they be crucified? Well, that was so we could sin. And they were shut off from a tree of life so we could sin. They were driven out so we would not live forever in the state of sin. We were driven out so that we would know all of these attributes of God that we would not have known had he not had the plan of salvation.

Now, none of this that has occurred up to this point has surprised God. You cannot surprise God. Because, Fred, there's nothing that occurs except what he has ordained. And if he has ordained it, then that means that it is his will.

Brother Otis, would it have been possible for the creation to have ever known God's mercy or grace without sin? No. No, because the only thing you know is by contrast. And as long as we're humans, that's what it has to be.

Now, God knows his love without evil, but we could not. So, without the sin occurring, it would have been a world that, of course, was perfect, but it would not have been as it's going to be, and even as it is today.

Brother Otis, we think of Adam and Eve only, but if God left the abyss open, well, then we've got to think of Cain and Abel, and everybody else that would hate God for the rest of, well, it would be forever.

Closing access to the tree, not only we're thinking about ourselves, but humanity in general, would be, for Christian earth is our hell. Yes. For those that have rejected Christ, this is the best that we'll ever see.

They're just so much that in the wisdom of God that he shows us by giving us a little bit of insight to his thinking. Now, another question I'd like to ask is, why did he have to curse the earth? Apparently he did have to, because he did.

So he could make a new one. Well, did he curse it just so he could make a new one? Well, sin was upon the earth and everything is going downhill. Think with me for a moment. Adam is now a sinner. After the covering of the blood, his sins are covered.

The Old Testament never took them away. They simply covered them, rolled them forward one year until they rolled upon Christ. But if Adam in his sinful cursed state had been allowed to exist forever, or while he lived in a perfect environment, what would it be like?

Fallen man in a perfect environment. He wouldn't have much motivation to change. He would have none. So the mercy of God cursed the creation also for man. Any other questions before we get into the next chapter?

Cain and Abel as Twins and the First Offerings

Sure did. All right, come to chapter four, verse one. We'll just get this one opened a little bit. Now, time has moved on. We don't know how much, we don't know how long Adam was in the garden by himself or in existence by himself.

Well, he put him in the garden. We don't know how long Adam and Eve existed before sin. I rather think it was very quickly after the sin that the condition came and they were driven out. Verse one, and Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

What she actually said was, with the help of Jehovah, I have acquired a man. And she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

Abel went into the sheep business. Cain started out farming. Remember, everything now is still under the canopy of water. It is as close to a utopia as it can be with sin in the world. So now we see the time passes.

Word of caution, do not think that just because you can read several verses in a short length of time, that history followed the same clock. Adam and Eve now start their family. Just as any young married couple, and I say young, not knowing how old they were, they could have been 100.

We read later where Adam was 130 when Seth was born. Now we come to a little known fact. Some scripture I would like for you to go to is in Genesis 29. David, would you read in Genesis 29, verses 32, 33, 34, and 35?

Conceived, and bear a son, she called his name Reuben. For she said, surely the Lord has looked upon my affliction. Now therefore my husband will love me. And she conceived again, and bear a son, and said, because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me his son also.

She called his name Simeon. She conceived again, and bear a son, and said, now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore was his name called Levi. And she conceived again, and bear a son, and she said, now will I pray for him.

Therefore she called his name Judah, and left Barry. All right, these verses are by way of example to help you understand what I'm going to say. We find in these and in other cases that when you have a conception, you have a birth.

You have another conception, and another birth, and so forth. But in Genesis 4, 1 and 2, we do not find that. And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bear Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

And she added to bear her his brother Abel. No conception in between. And Abel was the keeper of the sheep, but Cain was the tiller of the ground. Cain and Abel were twins. I think a most fitting way for God to start the human race.

Cain was born first, the wicked one, then Abel. But they were twins. Make a note of that. Verse 3, in the process of time, anytime you see this statement, it means time has passed. And we don't know how much, but some.

And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground, and offered it unto the Lord. Well, he was a farmer, why wouldn't he bring it? You see anything wrong with that? What do you say?

Yes. But it's what he had produced, part of what he produced. But your point's well taken. Verse 4, and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering.

But unto Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect. Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. Now, in order for you to understand, in the fourth verse, you see the word also, and Abel, he also brought.

Little words are most important. I'd like for you to go to Hebrews.

11, 4. David, read that to us. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,.

By which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testified of his gifts, and by it, he being dead, yet speaking. You see the word gift? You see the S on the end of it? Making plural, his gifts that he brought.

Cain brought of the produce of his hands that he labored to bring. Heavy labor. Abel also brought blood. Abel brought what Cain did, plus blood. Abel brought an offering of the fruit of his hands. Now, what it was, I don't know, but that corresponds to us today.

Did you know that God still demands a blood sacrifice from each one of us? How can that be? Jesus, he is our blood sacrifice. Does it please God for us to give the fruit of our hands if it's the right spirit and motive?

Yes, but not wise. Our time, talent, work, whatever, tithes, that's the fruit of our hands. This is what Cain brought. Abel brought the same thing plus blood. That's why Abel was received and Cain was not.

Cain thought there was no significance to blood whatsoever. Now, I know this is the first time that we've been introduced to the boys, they're grown men now, and the sacrifice, but we know that their father taught them.

Whether they had observed it prior to this, I don't know. We're not told, but we are told at this time, this is what occurred. So, if you ever wondered why God received Abel's and not Cain's, it's because Abel brought the blood.

Cain did not. Abel brought gifts in Hebrews. He also brought, meaning more than one. He brought what Cain did plus blood. He understood the blood. Cain's attitude was wrong. Just as so many people today, their attitude's wrong.

The Bible teaches us that a blood-bought church cannot, must not accept any type of offering from the world. God does not need the world to support his church. You remember when David was bringing the ark back and he built a new wagon for it, and it looked like it's going to tip over because there's one wheel run down in a rut.

You remember that, anybody? And there was a workman there that rushed up to support the ark to keep it from falling over on defiled ground. David, what happened to him? He reached up and touched it, and God struck him dead.

He doesn't need the help of man to hold his church up. All right, the church does not need the world to support it. Even large donations should be thoroughly inspected. By accepting the gift of the church, by accepting the gift, the church is condoning the way and attitude of the giver.

There should not be any large gifts of money during the month of December. James 4, 17 said, therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is a sin. I once knew a deacon. He's no longer with us.

He made a visit to Las Vegas while he was out there, and he went to gamble, but he came back and told this on himself now. He said, I promised God that I'd give him half of my winnings if he'd arrange it so I could win.

There's a deacon in a good Baptist church here in town. Can you make deals with God? No. Why not? It's a sin. He doesn't need us. You're living in disgrace of God to think you can make a deal with him.

That's right. Cain's attitude was me first, me first. Russell here. Russell, tell me, how long did Cain hate his brother Abel? You don't know? Just as long as he was able. In six, and the Lord said unto Cain, why are you wroth, and why is a countenance fell?

As thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, and as thou doest not well, sin lies at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. This verse, these two verses are necessarily confusing and mixed up.

Next week, we'll try to make some sense out of them. Why was Cain angry? It's prideful. Prideful. Back of every premeditated murder is anger. Back of anger is jealousy. Back of jealousy is pride. So be careful when you get prideful.

It can lead to murder. We'll start with six and seven next week and try to... The problem here is that he's talking about not just one isolated thing. He's talking about several, and they kind of all run together and mixed up, but we'll separate all of it next week.

The East of Eden, the Tree of Life, and the Mercy of God

Is there anything from anybody? In chapter three, where it talks about they were driven out, and to any place at the east of the garden, I'm being the chair of a hunting story, I figure that in my mind, you know, if it's just a certain garden in the middle, or we're thinking of just one continent or something like that, was there a gateway or dam?

Well, then I'm going to go around going from the north. I meant to discuss that. I'm glad you wrote it up. There's lots of places in the Bible that it talks about the east. The wise men came from the east.

They were in the east, and here he's talking about eastward or on the east side. There's other places it talks about the empty spot in the north, and there is an empty spot in our sky in the north. I too have wondered, but I guess my best understanding is even though he pointed out on the east that there was no way for, with the cherubims and a sword there, for anybody to get to the tree of life, and it is given to us as though it were the gate to a city, and they can only come in and go out one way.

I don't know anything beyond that. Yes? In the valley of Megiddo, called Armageddon in English, but Megiddo is a valley in Israel, and to get to it, there's a narrow pass that goes through the mountains, and this was the trail from all of the east from Egypt, excuse me, from the west, to get to the east, to all the countries in the east, and this is the way that all the cherubims went, and if this was a valley, it was similar.

Oh yeah, that one place is the only place you can get to it, so it's very easy, like the valley of Megiddo. Well, it's like that, all right, but do we know where the garden was? Only self-righteous Jews know.

Well, I'm so glad you're here. Well, the sun rises from the east. God's sun rises from the east. There's lots of references, lots of illustrations, and lots of allegories that we can draw from directions, but so far I have not been able to decipher very much of it, just like numbers in the Bible.

I know a few, but not many. You know, it mentions several rivers. It could be that it's surrounded on all sides by rivers, except for the gateway on the east. Couldn't someone have built a bridge? Did you know that in this country, in the very, very early days, that if you were a church member and you wanted to build a bridge over a creek or a river, they'd unchurch you.

They'd put you out, because that was unnatural to have a bridge over a river. That was in this country. Well, let's stand, and David, would you discuss this, please? Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the word of God that's been shared with us this afternoon, and we thank you that you've given us some insight into your creation, and that you've shown us the fall of man, and you've shown us the state of man, and our need for the Lord Jesus Christ, and we thank you so much that you've shown us this in these beautiful pictures all the way back from the very beginning of time.

We thank you for the blood that was shed by you for Adam and Eve, which was a picture of Jesus Christ and his death for us, and may we contemplate that this week as we go out and watch over us and bring us back together next week, if it be thy will, we ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.