Genesis 2:15-17 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Can you imagine how many trees there were in the garden? It wasn’t just a random garden with a few trees to pick food from. It was an incredible place to live. The word, “Eden,” in Hebrew means “pleasure” or “delight.” Adam wasn’t struggling, friends. Picture the most beautiful vacation place you can, and it would pale in comparison to Eden. Scripture says that the trees were “pleasing to the eye.” There was beauty everywhere Adam looked. It was a fertile, fruitful place. The trees were “good for food.” There was no rotten fruit hanging off any tree in the Garden of Eden. No mold was growing in Eden. The climate was incredible in Eden. It was such a perfect climate, Adam and Eve didn’t even have to wear any clothes. True story! Adam and Eve were in their birthday suits, and they weren’t even cold. And they didn’t even need any sunscreen! It was Paradise!
While Adam was free to enjoy the garden, God did make one restriction. He did call one tree off limits. He told Adam there was a tree that he was not to eat from because it would bring death and destruction to his life. Why did God do that? Why even put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden? Why introduce something that was off limits? God wanted to give Adam and Eve a choice to obey or disobey Him. Friends, God wanted Adam and Eve, as free beings, to be able to exercise their will, to make decisions, and to be able to choose between good and evil. In order for Adam and Eve to truly be free, they had to have a choice. God had to set up some boundary so that they actually could make a choice about who they were going to serve.
I don’t believe Adam and Eve started to focus on the one tree that was off limits. I don’t think they woke up trying to figure out ways to sneak over to the one forbidden tree. They had so many delicious trees at their disposal. I don’t think they were thinking about what they were missing because they weren’t missing anything. Can I just stop and make this point? When you do life God’s way and enjoy the freedom He gives you, you won’t be missing anything!
I gave my life to Jesus when I was five years old, and I have never wished I hadn’t done so. I have never wished I could live for the pleasures of sin. Have I sinned? Yep. Has it been good for me? No. Do I wish I hadn’t? Yes. Has God forgiven me? Yes. But the point is, I have not missed out on anything that is good for me by following Jesus.
So, when did Adam and Eve start to have thoughts about sinning against God? It was when the devil got involved. He twisted God’s Words and got Eve to start questioning what was true. That is how the devil works. He gets in your head. He starts creating doubt or confusion. He jumbles your mind. He messes with your thoughts, and he starts to get your mind focused on the things God says are off limits. He wants you to feel restricted. He wants you to feel limited. Satan wants you to have FOMO. FOMO. Fear of missing out. He was like, “Eve, look what you are missing,” when in reality, Adam and Eve weren’t missing out on anything. They had everything they needed or could ever want but Satan wanted them to think they were missing out on something wonderful. There is nothing wonderful for us outside of the boundaries God has set. We don’t need to go on an exploration with sin to prove that, but we often do, don’t we? So much heartache could be spared if we would just take God at His Word and make the choice to obey Him instead of leaning on our own understanding.
Adam and Eve could have decided for obedience to God, but instead, tempted by Satan, they chose to disobey God. They trusted in themselves. They sinned against God. And when they took the first bite, everything changed. Verse 7 of chapter three says their eyes were opened. Their spiritual eyes were opened. What that means is that they immediately knew something was wrong. Instantly, something had changed. Before God even confronted them, before they were even “caught” they started to feel the consequences of sin.
Verse seven says they realized they were naked. What that means is they had lost the carefree existence they had enjoyed before they had sinned. They tried to make themselves clothes out of fig leaves to cover the awful feelings sin produced. They were exposed, embarrassed, and afraid. They felt awful, and they tried to cover themselves to ease the fear and dread they were experiencing. They were afraid of God.
They heard God’s footsteps, verse 8, and when they did, they tried to hide. But God came to find them, and He asked them what they had done. They had never hidden from Him before. They had never been afraid of God. They had enjoyed being with God. They had enjoyed living in the Paradise He had created, but not anymore. Notice that sin distances us from God. It causes separation from God.
And they did what we often do. They tried to excuse their sin by pointing fingers at each other. Adam blamed Eve. He said she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it. Eve said the snake had tricked her, and she ate it. Life as they had known it was over. Sin changed the way they viewed themselves, the way they viewed each other and also changed the way they viewed God.
And there was nothing they could do to fix it. They couldn’t just lay low and hope that God would never find out. They were now in conflict with each other. They had enjoyed each other before they sinned against God. Sin introduced relational conflict and stress into the mix.
But God took action. He first dealt with Satan and pronounced a curse on him. He declared that He would deal with Satan in a future showdown where on the cross and through His resurrection from the dead, Jesus would seal Satan’s fate. Satan was the one who wanted to be like God. Satan was the one who wanted to be worshiped as God, and on the cross as Jesus would die for the sins of the world, He would prove His ultimate righteous status and through His resurrection from the dead, He would prove His ultimate authority. The cross and the empty tomb would point to the only One who is worthy of all honor and glory and praise and Satan would be crushed and doomed to Hell’s flames in eternity.
While Adam and Eve did have to still deal with the physical consequences of sin, God took away their shame and forgave them. We read about how God covered them. Those fig leaves were a human attempt to cover themselves. Human attempts to cover sin will never be enough. We can’t do enough good deeds to be accepted by God. The Bible says that our righteousness, our good deeds, are like filthy rags before a holy God, Isaiah 64:6. We can’t work hard enough to impress God. We don’t have what it takes to save ourselves from sin, but the good news is, the One who created us is the One who offers to cover our sin.
And we see in Genesis 3:21 that even though God dealt mercifully, compassionately, and graciously with Adam and Eve, it still required a sacrifice of blood. Covering them physically with clothes made of animal skin still required the shedding of blood. God wanted Adam and Eve to understand how costly sin was. It was going to require blood as payment. He wants us to understand the same. That’s why Jesus died. But here is the wonderful news. Jesus went to the cross willingly so that we didn’t have to deal with the humiliation, the embarrassment, the fear, and the condemnation of sin. He took the place of every sinner when He offered His life’s blood to pay the debt that sin had created. Humanity created the problem through disobedience to God. He offered the solution by sending Jesus to give His life as a ransom for us. That is how much God loves everyone He has created.
Adam and Eve tried living on their own apart from God. They tried doing life on their terms. They tried being in charge. It didn’t work. It won’t work. Even though God covered them and forgave their sin, there were physical consequences that made their life difficult. Sin makes life difficult. It never makes it easier or better.
It’s true you have free reign to live the way you want to, but once you choose a life of sin, you lose that freedom because sin begins to reign in you. Sin begins to call the shots. Sin becomes the master of your life. You can’t stop when you want to. You can’t just do it once. You can’t just do it on the weekends. You can’t just walk away. No, sin sets up house in you. Sin begins to control you. The Bible says sin has dominion over you when you are on the throne of your life. Isn’t that sad? We were made to have dominion, but when we choose to disobey God, the life we choose begins to have dominion over us. Sin dominates us.
But it is not too late to be released from the bondage of sin. When you turn away from self and turn toward God and ask Him to cover your sin, He will. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
And in addition to being cleansed of sin, you can be given power to resist temptation, to trust God, and to do life His way. You can be set free from the penalty of sin, but you can also be free from the presence of sin through the power of God!
How? You come by way of the cross. What that means is that you recognize that your sin is an offense to God. Your sin cost Jesus His life. Your sin separates you from God. Your sin changes who God created you to become. Your sin puts you on the throne of your life, and you want God to be on the throne of your life instead. You want Him to rule you. You don’t want to rule yourself. You don’t want sin to rule you. And by the power of the cross, you want God to evict sin from your life and give you power to live holy as God is holy.
The truth about sin is that it is DISOBEDIENCE to God.
The truth about sin is that it DISTORTS who we were created to become.
The truth about sin is that it causes spiritual DEATH.
The truth about sin is that it makes our lives DIFFICULT.
The truth about sin is that you can’t manage it. It will DOMINATE you.
BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS THIS:
The truth about sin is that you can be DELIVERED from the power and presence of sin in your life.
I’m choosing the way of the cross. I’m choosing to let Christ lead my life. I’m choosing to be covered by the blood. I’m choosing obedience to God over sin. I’m choosing to be crucified with Christ and to allow Him to live His life through me.
