The Bite
Points of No Return! • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Open with reminding that we are in this series .....
..... there are two events founded in our Christian faith that has taken place and has caused us to never return to the way it use to be.
We find the first event in Genesis 3:1-7
Genesis 3:1–7 (ESV)
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, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (end on verse 7)
(Stop Reading)
The second event is found in Matthew 3:16-4:11
Matthew 3:16–4:11 (ESV)
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
The reason I mention these two events together is because these are the two most significant events in HISTORY!
These two events have had an affect on ALL of mankind.
Both of these events changed the world as they knew it.
Over the next few months we are going to be looking at .......
The similarities of the two events!
The contrast of the two events!
What does this mean to us?
Before we do this though lets look at these two events individually.
Two weeks ago we looked at the Fall of Man (Gen. 3:1-7)
So what happened in the garden with Adam and Eve?
What happened to cause Sin to enter into this place of such beauty and tranquility?
How did this all go south for mankind?
Genesis 3 gives us insight to how everything went south.
The Absence of His Presence (Wrong Acquaintance)
Wrong Location
Wrong Desire.
This week we are still going to be looking at the Fall of Man.
We are going to look at what took place after “THE BITE!”
The fall of man is such a tragic story.
When it happened it changed the course of mankind.
We were not going to go back to the way it was before this event happened.
Some people might say, “Why do we need to keep talking about it?” “We can’t go back and change it!”
You are absolutely right, “We can not change what took place.”
What did take place?
Mankind sinned and was banished from the Garden of Eden. (Out of the presence of God)
Separated from God.
You want to know what Hell is ....... the separation from God.
Sin is what does this!
So we are reminded of this fact.
The Fall of Man story helps us to remember this so that we may never do it again (SIN).
The past is a great teacher of the future.
I love what Matshona Dhliwayo (Modern Philosopher of today) states, “The past is your teacher. The present is your opportunity. The future is your reward.”
If you want to know how you have arrived to where you are today (Separated from God) you need to know where you came from.
What took place in your past!
If you have your Bibles turn to .......
Genesis 3:8–13 “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””
Remember what we are looking at over these next few weeks ......
This is an event that changed the world as they knew it.
Adam and Eve were never to return to the way things were before the “BITE.”
There is so much to unpack here.
Have you ever heard people say, “What I do is My Business!”
When it comes to sin ....... “They only one that is affected by my sinfulness is ME!”
I want us to understand that Sin has a rippling affect.
Like a stone that is tossed into the middle of a lake, the ripples moved outwardly
For some ripples they can cover the entire lake (Due to the size of the rock).
These ripples are called, Capillary waves, which are formed when a disturbance, such as a stone being thrown into the water or a gust of wind, causes the water to move in waves.
It is said that the wave will die down over a period of time due to the tension (resistance) in the water.
These waves can move fast.
Just like the waves moving outwardly, sin has the same affect.
I want you to notice just how quickly sin permeates outwardly (Ripple effect).
What we find in this pericope is the ripples of sin.
It goes from guilt (hearing God), to shame (hiding from God), fear (afraid of God), blame (She gave me … The serpent deceived me).
I want to make sure we understand that what we are talking about is in reference to those of the Faith.
Those who know Christ
Have a personal relationship with God.
When Sin takes place, ....... When we bite, ....... we can find a sequence of events that takes place for Adam and Eve.
Some might call this the human reaction ......
GUILT
This “sets in” the moment they heard God. (Vs 8 “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking”)
I want to make sure we understand, God was present for the whole thing (He knew what had happened; omnipresent).
There is nothing God doesn’t know about ......
There is nothing God doesn’t see ....
There is noting God doesn’t hear ....
When Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden (A position they should have been in instead of around the tree and the Serpent) they instantly became aware of their guilt.
We Have Sinned!
Some of you might be thinking “Instantly?”
Remember when you were a kid and you were doing something you should not have ben doing?
Instantly when you heard your parents voice, or you heard them coming, what did you do?
That voice, that sound, brought you out of the sin and made you realize what you had done. (GUILT)
You know how this works ....... many of us can relate!
Guilt sets in when you heard your mothers voice, your spouses voice, your bosses voice, the Voice of God!
With Adam and Eve, once Guilt entered in them a reaction followed ....
SHAME
(vs 8 the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God.”)
Once Adam and Eve heard God in the Garden and guilt set in they instantly HID themselves.
If you are a good student of the word you probably find this funny ..... Hiding themselves from God.
What’s interesting is that they hid among the trees of the Garden.
The very place they should have been before the sin, is the place they now try to hide from God because of their sin.
You have a desire to go back and act like nothing happened but you can’t.
The next thing that took place for Adam and Eve was FEAR.
FEAR
Genesis 3:10 “And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.””
They weren’t afraid of God, They were afraid God would find out what they did.
Don’t you find it interesting that God didn’t ask them “what they did” first!!!!!
He asked them (Genesis 3:11 “He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?””
God knew who they were talking to and He knew what they did.
What we read next is very interesting .....
Genesis 3:12–13 “The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””
BLAME
What we see now is what will be repeated throughout time ..... BLAME!
CONCLUSION:
What we must understand is that Sin has a rippling affect.
It just doesn’t affect you.
So how can we not find ourselves in this situation we have read about Adam and Eve?
Believe the WORD of GOD
Stay close to GOD
This may be the human reaction to sin but there is a safe guard to what happened to Adam and Eve.
Side note ....... for some people they get stuck in one of these 4 actions.
Some get stuck in their sin and don’t move toward a sense of guilt, a sense of shame, a sense of fear, nor a sense of blame.