Our Problem: The Fall

Good morning. My name is Eric, if you don't know me. I'm the youth director here at Watermark Church.

And last week, we started looking at the story of the Bible.

And we said each of us has a story that we're living in.

And there are numerous different places and sources that try and influence and impact our story.

We looked at the culture around us, and we said that the culture has a story that it wants us to live.

You can see this if you go to the movies, you know, like The Hunger Games, this huge movie this past few years, actually.

And what is it? It's a story about this girl who fights against the evil authority and government in her country and is this great hero.

And what's the message? Culture wants us to be the hero who fights the authority, who stands up for what's right,

and to be this autonomous hero fighting against the evil powers of the world.

Our story can also be impacted by our past experiences.

You know, a lot of people who are super successful actually grew up poor.

They didn't know whether they would have food on the table the next meal.

And when they were children, they made a promise.

They said, my family, when I am an adult, will never have to deal with this problem.

They will always be well provided for beyond what we need.

And so they make this pledge to work hard, to rewrite their family's story, to make millions and billions of dollars

so that their children never have to wonder where their next meal is coming from.

And so our past experiences can shape our story.

And then we have friends and family and parents and spouses that speak things and say things

and live in certain ways that impact and influence the way that we live.

And the stories that we hear over and over again and the stories that we believe will shape the way that we live our lives.

And we said that God has a story.

It's in the Bible.

And God wants his story to shape our lives more than any other story out there.

He's given us this amazing story of a great, big, generous creator God

who loves his people, who made us for a relationship with him,

who wants us to know him.

But we as his people have rebelled against him.

And so the Bible is the story of him working to bring us back into that relationship with him.

And we said that if we know this story and live in our story, in this story,

then our lives will be following the way that God wants us to live.

But the problem is that many of us don't know this story.

We know the story of culture.

We know the story of our friends and our family.

We know what our past experiences have taught us.

But we don't know the story of the Bible.

Maybe we know individual stories.

But we don't know how they work together to create one big story that invites us to live inside of that story.

So we're taking 11 weeks as a church to look through the story of the Bible

to see how this big story comes together into something that can impact and shape our lives today.

And last week we started this story by looking at creation.

We saw that in creation, God establishes his good, generous rule through his word.

He speaks and it exists.

He creates man in his image and he speaks a word to the man to guide him and direct him

and shape the way that the man is supposed to live.

And then God establishes his special place.

We said that all of creation really belongs to God.

All of it is God's place.

But then he, within creation, took this one special garden.

And he said, this is my special place.

This is where I am putting the man and the woman that I have created in my image

and entering into a relationship with them.

And we said that in creation, God establishes his special people,

the man and the woman, in his image,

who live with an awareness of him and are called to live in a relationship with him.

And we said that their proper response was obedience.

When they saw how big God was, how good God was, how much God had done for them,

how he had provided for them,

their proper response then and our proper response now is obedience to God's rule.

And when we ended last week,

God looked over everything that he made and he said,

it is very good.

Very good.

And then we left and we went out into a world where every moment of every day since then,

we've had constant reminders that it is not very good.

I was looking at the news this morning.

There's a story about ISIS decapitating a Japanese man in the Middle East.

It's not very good.

There's another story in the news this morning about a girl.

They suspect that she's between age 12 and 14,

who's been caught on video stealing a 36 million Hong Kong dollar diamond necklace.

A child.

Grand theft.

Not very good.

Each of us have had conflict with parents or friends or neighbors or teachers or spouses.

Not very good.

On my way to church this morning,

I drove past the hospital,

a reminder that sickness plagues our world today.

I drove by a cemetery,

a reminder that death marks the world today.

Not very good.

Even sports,

the place that so many of us turn to get away from the brokenness of the world

and just get away from it for a little bit.

What's the big sports story in the world this week?

The New England Patriots,

an American football team,

are suspected of cheating

in their semifinal game

to give themselves a competitive advantage

in a game that they should have won easily anyways.

The brokenness of the world

goes into even the places that we seek to escape from brokenness.

And we look

and we see that story last week

where God said,

it is very good.

And then we look at the world today

and we say,

something went very, very wrong.

And today we're going to look at

what is it that went very, very wrong.

And to do that,

we're looking at Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

We're in this garden,

God's special place,

with God's special people

where he entered into a relationship with them.

A snake,

one of God's creations,

comes onto the scene

and he starts a conversation

with the woman.

He starts a conversation

tempting her

to disobey

God's command.

He starts out by creating doubt in her mind.

He doesn't come up and say,

you know, Eve,

God's a liar,

you shouldn't listen to him.

Right away, at least.

He takes what God has said

and he twists it

in the most subtle of ways,

in a way that you could easily see

how he could get that

from what God said,

even though it's not what God said.

He says,

did God really say

that you can't eat

from any tree in the garden?

It's like,

when we were a kid,

we used to play a game,

it's called telephone.

The kids here call it Chinese whispers.

And one person whispers something

into the first person's ear,

then that person turns

and whispers it

into another person's ear,

and then another person's ear,

and eventually you get

to the end of the line

and the starting message

sounds nothing like

the original message.

But you can see

some connection

of how they got

from the first place

to the last place

most of the time.

And you can see

how God's message

could become

Satan's message

through that game.

God says,

eat freely from any tree

in the garden

except this one.

Then the next kid

turns around

and he's like,

God said something

about how we can't

eat from that tree

and something else

about the rest

of the trees.

And then the next kid

says,

just don't eat

from any of them.

Right?

And Satan comes in.

It's a subtle twist.

But what does it do?

It creates doubt

in Eve's mind.

It makes her think,

hmm,

maybe God's not

that generous.

Maybe God's

not that good.

And Eve responds,

no, no, no.

He said,

you know,

we can eat from

any tree in the garden

except this one.

We can't eat from it

or touch it.

She's adding to God's command

or else we'll die.

And Satan now has her

engaged in the conversation.

He decides

to keep going,

to push harder,

to get her,

to take her eyes

off of God.

What does he say?

You won't surely die.

Come on,

God knows

the day that you eat

from this tree,

your eyes will be opened

and you will be like him.

God's not good.

God's not protecting you.

God just is power hungry

and doesn't want you

to be as powerful as him.

So he's told you

to stay away.

He creates doubt.

He gets her

to take her eyes

off of God

and then he tempts her

to sin.

As long as her eyes

are on God,

she's safe.

But as soon as her eyes

are off of God,

she's liable

or she's ready

to go

for that fruit.

She looks at it,

she sees

that it looks good.

You know,

in Genesis 1 and 2,

God's going

throughout creation.

He's making everything.

He's saying,

this is good,

this is good,

this is good.

And then he tells

the man and woman,

don't eat this fruit.

And she looks at it

and what does she say?

It's good.

She's looking at something

that God has said,

no,

and taking God's role

and saying,

it's good.

She looks at it,

she sees that it's desirable,

she listens to the serpent,

she eats the fruit,

and as a guy,

it's obviously tempting

to say all the problems

in the world

are the woman's fault

at this point,

but it's not.

We'll see that later

in the story.

She eats the fruit,

she turns and she hands it

to her husband

and she says,

here,

try some.

And he's right there

with her.

He's been listening

to the conversation,

he's done nothing,

said nothing,

he grabs it,

he eats it.

Now,

the Bible will tell us later,

Adam is not deceived

by the snake.

Eve is tricked,

Adam is not,

Adam just rebels.

Paul teaches us that

in the New Testament.

But do you see

what Adam did?

It's the classic

older sibling thing,

I'm an older brother,

so I know how

this trick works.

Mom and dad say,

don't do this,

don't go outside.

And you get your

little brother

and you say,

hey,

you should try

going outside

and see what happens

when you go outside.

And then,

either your little brother

goes outside

and gets caught

and you know

that mom and dad

are serious about the rule

but you're not in trouble,

or your little brother

goes outside

and doesn't get caught

and you say,

hey,

I can go outside too.

And you go outside

and you know

you're free and safe.

Adam looks at God's command.

He hears what the serpent's saying

and is sort of curious,

kind of wants to see

whether this fruit

will make him like God.

So he lets her take a bite.

Figure it's better

for her to die

than me, right?

It's better to see

if God's serious

on a guinea pig

than to risk my own life.

So he lets her take a bite.

She doesn't die.

God must not be serious

about these consequences.

She's offering me some?

Sure, why not?

And he takes a bite.

And when he takes a bite,

it says

that their eyes

are open.

Part of what

the serpent said

was true.

Their eyes are opened.

But they don't become

like God

when their eyes are open.

No.

When their eyes are open,

what they see

is that

they are naked.

Rather than being elevated

to being deities,

they're filled with guilt,

they're filled with shame,

and they try to hide.

This perfect relationship

that we talked about

last week

where they were naked

and unashamed

didn't have anything

to hide from God,

from each other,

from themselves,

all of a sudden

it's gone.

And their first response

is to run

and cover themselves up.

They grab leaves

and create loincloths

to cover themselves

so that Eve

can't see Adam's nakedness

and Adam can't see Eve's

because now

they know

that they're naked.

They're scared

of their nakedness.

And then they hear

God coming.

And they run

and they hide

from God.

God comes into the garden

and he says,

where are you?

Now interestingly,

in English,

we only have one word

for you,

whether we're talking

to you as a guy,

you as a girl,

you as a group,

it's you.

If you're from down south

in America,

they'll say y'all

for a group,

but I don't say that.

But in the language

the Bible was written in,

they had different words

for you

if you're talking

to you as an individual guy,

you as an individual girl,

you as a group of people.

And when God says,

where are you?

He's talking to the man

individually.

God comes into the garden

and he says,

Adam is the one

primarily responsible

for this.

I am looking for him.

He's the one

that I'm going to hold

to account

for this sin.

God comes into the garden

and he says,

where are you?

It's not like he's clueless

and he's like,

oh no,

I lost him so fast.

No,

he's giving them

a chance to repent

for what they've done.

Adam and Eve

come out of their hiding

and Adam says,

well,

you know God,

sorry I hid,

but I knew

that I was naked

and I was really afraid

for you to see me naked.

And again,

God responds

with a question.

Great technique.

Who told you

you were naked?

Did you eat from the tree

that I commanded you

not to eat from?

He's giving Adam,

again,

a chance to repent.

He's not playing

Sherlock Holmes

because he's trying

to piece the clues together.

No,

he knows.

He's giving Adam

a chance to repent.

And rather than own up

to his action,

Adam blames God

for his sin.

Adam says,

well,

you know that woman

that you gave to me?

She gave this to me

so I wouldn't have eaten it

if you hadn't given her

to me in the first place

so it's really your fault.

God turns to the woman

and he says,

what happened?

She says,

well,

the snake,

it tricked me.

It's not my fault.

I was tricked.

And God,

knowing the story,

turns to the snake

and doesn't ask

any more questions

but begins handing out

punishments.

He says,

the snake is cursed.

It will go on its belly

forever and eat

the dust of the earth.

It will be the enemy

of the woman's offspring,

the ones who are created

in God's image

and giving the responsibility

of caring for it

are now its enemies.

But even more,

there's going to be

a cosmic battle

where one offspring

of this woman

will crush

and defeat

the serpent forever

and we'll get back

to that later.

Then he turns to the woman

and every woman

since Eve

has cursed her

because of this

and he says,

you will have pain

in childbirth.

Interestingly,

and I know

when I say this,

every woman in this room

is going to look at me

with that look

of confusion and anger

but I'll explain it.

This is a curse

that comes

with a blessing.

Think about it.

What did Adam and Eve

deserve as the punishment

for their sin?

Death.

God had told them

the day you eat

from the tree

you will die.

But what is he

promising them here?

He's saying

your species

will not go extinct

because of your sin.

There will be

more life

that comes

through you.

It's not going

to be pleasant.

It's not going

to be easy.

It's going to hurt

but I'm not

cutting you off

completely.

I'm giving your species

another chance.

You're going

to have children

in pain

but you're going

to have children.

It's a curse

that comes

with a blessing

that he will not

just wipe them out

and destroy them.

Then he tells her

you will long

for your husband

but he will rule

over you.

There's going

to be conflict

in marriage.

This relationship

that was supposed

to be good

and beautiful

and perfect

will now be marked

by competition

and strife

and fighting.

It's not all

going to be

butterflies and roses

like you want

it to be.

Sorry Disney.

Then he turns

to the man

and he says

you

because you

listen to your wife

the ground

is cursed

because of you.

Notice God

doesn't curse

the man.

That will happen

in Genesis 4

when the first

murder happens

when man acts

out against

God's image.

God curses

creation

the ground

because of the man

and the man

has to live with

and suffer the consequences.

The ground

is going to grow

thorns and thistles

and the man's work

that he had been

doing pleasantly

in the garden

is going to become

difficult.

It's going to be

painful.

It's going to be hard.

There's one

paraphrase of the Bible

called the message.

I found this hilarious.

You can tell

that it was written

by a man.

It says

your pain

in working the soil

will be like

the woman's pain

in giving birth.

Obviously written

by a man.

But God says

you're going

to work in pain.

It's not going

to be pleasant.

It's not going

to be fun.

And

after this life

of hard work

and pain

you're going

to die.

You're not going

to live forever.

It's going to be

rough,

brutal,

hard work,

suffering,

death.

That's your punishment.

That's your punishment.

God finishes

handing out punishments.

Adam names

his wife Eve.

It says

because she is

the mother

of all the living

which is a kind

of ironic name

because of the role

that she played

in bringing death

to the species.

But it's a name

given in hope

that God will be

faithful to his promise

that he will

use her

to continue

the species

to give

more life

to the earth.

And then God

makes garments

for them,

clothes out

of animal skins

to cover

their nakedness.

God looks out

over the garden

of Eden.

He sees the tree

of life.

He knows

that if they eat

from it now

that they are sinners

it will keep them

separated from him

forever.

And so in an act

of love and grace

that is incredibly

painful

for the man

and woman

he kicks them

out of the garden

posts an angel

there for their

protection to keep

them from getting

back in and eating

from the tree

of life.

And that is how

we got from the

very good world

of creation

to the broken

messed up world

that each of us

lives in today.

And as we look

at this story

what we see

is that man

by rebelling

against God's

good rule

lost his home

in God's special

place

and moved

from being

God's special

people to being

separated from

God.

The three themes

we saw last week

God's rule

man rebels

against it

God's place

man is kicked

out of it

God's people

are separated

from God

and this may

seem like

an extreme

punishment

all they did

was eat a fruit

it's not that

big of a deal

is it?

God had established

his rule

he was

the king

of the universe

and not just

of the universe

on a grand scale

but of Adam

and Eve's lives

individually

he was the king

who was also

a father

who was also

generous

who was also

good

and loving

who provided

for everything

that they

needed

and established

his rule

in their life

and when they

reached out

to grab the fruit

and eat it

what they were

saying is

we don't want

God as our king

we don't want

God giving us

commands and rules

we want to be

our own kings

what they did

is they committed

cosmic treason

they rebelled

against the

authority that

was over them

and just as

earthly treason

deserves death

cosmic treason

deserves

death

but God

in his grace

and in his love

gives them

another chance

but there are

consequences

that go

with their actions

they re kicked

out of God's

special place

because this

tree of life

that had been

given to them

as a good

gift

now becomes

an object

of unthinkable

danger

Adam and Eve

were created

for this

relationship

with God

they were created

to know him

to love him

to be his people

and then in their

act of sin

of rebellion

they separated

themselves from him

they cut themselves

off

from that

relationship

with him

and if they

ate the fruit

of the tree

of life

yeah their

bodies would

continue living

forever

but the source

of life

that were

meant to live

on that

relationship

with God

would continue

to be

broken

physically

they would

live forever

but spiritually

they would

just be living

a continual

constant death

and so God

in his love

removed them

from his

special place

and they were

separated

by their own

choice

from being

his special

people

and this story

I know

it's one that

happened

who knows

how long

ago

but it's one

that impacts

our lives

in every way

today

we live

in the world

that's the

result of

this sin

the world

today

is no longer

that very

very good

place

we now live

in a world

that's broken

where things

break

where people

die

each of us

has hearts

that follow

in Adam

and Eve's

example

rebelling

against God

sinning

saying God

we don't want

you as our

king

we want

to be

king

of our

lives

and of

our world

each of us

in our

hearts

on a

continual

constant

more than

daily basis

follows Adam

and Eve's

example

by committing

cosmic

treason

against the

king of

the universe

each of us

like Adam

and Eve

says to the

king of

the universe

you're no

good

you're not

reliable

you're not

trustworthy

you're withholding

you're power

hungry

I know

better than

you

because you're

not actually

wise

I'm going

to be my

king

I'm going

to make

my choices

and each

of us

like Adam

and Eve

deserves

death

but like

Adam and Eve

God

doesn't

give up

on us

he's given

us the

bible

he's given

us his

story

to show

that

to us

and there

are ways

that this

story can

actually help

us

in our

attempts

to live

for him

to turn

from our

rebellion

and our

treason

and to

follow after

the proper

king

one way

is by looking

at this

conversation

between the

serpent

and Eve

the serpent

is indwelt

by Satan

Satan is

speaking

through the

serpent's

mouth

and he

follows

this

pattern

in tempting

Eve

that he

follows

today

when he

tries to

get any

of us

to sin

I've been

reading

the art

of war

recently

it's a

classic

Chinese

book

on battle

strategies

and in

the book

he says

if you

know the

enemy

and know

yourself

you need

not fear

the result

of a hundred

battles

if you know

yourself

but not

the enemy

for every

victory gained

you will also

suffer a

defeat

if you know

neither the

enemy

nor yourself

you will

succumb

in every

battle

a better

knowledge of

ourselves

and a better

knowledge of

our enemies

will help us

to fight

when temptation

comes

and obviously

there's some

exceptions to this

rule because

our hearts

sometimes no matter

how well we

know ourselves

and know our

enemy

we just

want to

do the

wrong

thing

but a

clearer

knowledge of

Satan

and who

he is

and how

he works

can help

us know

how to

fight back

against him

so let's

take a minute

and look

at what

he does

here

there's

three steps

in his

conversation

with Eve

that lead

him towards

tempting

her to

sin

first he

creates

doubt

in her

mind

he twists

God's

words

he doesn't

come out

and say

God

is bad

turn

from him

no then

she'd be

like

why should

I listen

to you

he takes

God's

words

and twists

them

he leaves

a little

bit of

truth in

there

so that

it's

plausible

but he

creates

doubt

by what

he changes

next he

causes her

to take

her eyes

off of

God

he feeds

her

lies

about

God

that seem

plausible

in the

story

that he's

telling

and once

she has

doubt in

her mind

once her

eyes are

off of

God

he tempts

her to

sin

and this

is the

same

exact

thing

that he

does

in our

lives

today

imagine

this

hypothetical

scenario

where Satan's

talking to a

Christian guy

who's trying

to follow

God's

sexual

ethic

who's trying

to follow

God's

commands

about

sex

God

says

sex

is good

but because

it's so

good

it should

only be

used

in the

context

of

marriage

imagine

Satan

comes up

to this

guy

and he

says

did

God

really

say

that

you

can

never

have

sex

and

the

guy

responds

well

you know

he

says

it's

bad

so we

can

only

do

it

in

marriage

and

Satan

responds

is it

bad

come on

it's

actually

good

and

it's

actually

fun

and

God

knows

that

if

you

do

it

you'll

have

fun

and

he

doesn't

want

you

to

have

fun

because

he's

like

that

so

you

should

go

do

it

and

so

the

man

looks

he

sees

that

the

girl

is

hot

or

delightful

to

the

eyes

he

sees

that

it

would

be

pleasurable

and

he

sins

what

happens

here

Satan

comes

in

he

starts

by

twisting

God's

commands

God

says

sex

is a

good

thing

but

because

it's

so

good

and

because

it's

so

powerful

it's

only

to be

used

in

the

right

context

which

is

marriage

between

a man

and

a woman

but

Satan

takes

that

small

restriction

and

expands

it

and

says

did

God

really

say

you

just

can't

have

sex

with

anyone

creating

doubt

in

the

mind

the

Christian

responds

well

you

know

it's

just

that

it's

bad

so

we

have

to

do

it

only

at

certain

contexts

what

happens

some

well-meaning

parent

or Sunday

school

teacher

or youth

leader

tried to

scare

the kid

away

from

making

sexual

mistakes

and

taught

them

that

sex

is

bad

and

so

stay

away

until

you're

married

and

Satan

hears

this

and

jumps

on

it

he

takes

the

misinformation

that

this

person

has

received

and

mixes

a

little

bit

of

truth

to

correct

that

error

with

lots

of

lies

about

God

and

his

character

well

you know

sex

actually

isn't

bad

it's

a

good

thing

it's

pleasurable

it's

fun

God

knows

that

if

you

have

sex

you

will

have

fun

true

things

but

then

watch

what

he

goes

to

God

is

withholding

God

doesn't

want

you

to

have

fun

no

that's

not

the

truth

the

truth

is

that

God

loves

us

God

wants

to

protect

us

God

wants

us

to

do

this

in

the

right

context

for

our

own

good

and

protection

so

that

we

can

get

the

maximum

pleasure

out

of

it

but

he

twists

that

he

gets

us

to

take

our

eyes

off

of

God

to

question

God's

goodness

and

then

once

our

eyes

are

taken

off

of

God

he

tempts

us

to

sin

it's

the

same

process

today

as it

was

in

the

garden

of

Eden

he

gets

us

to

create

doubt

in

our

minds

he

gets

us

to

take

our

eyes

off

of

God

and

then

he

tempts

us

to

sin

so

we

need

to

know

Satan's

tactics

and

we

need

to

know

how

to

fight

against

them

we

need

to

know

God's

words

so

that

when

Satan

tries

to

get

us

to

take

our

eyes

off

of

him

we

can

be

reminded

of

his

goodness

we

need

to

know

Satan's

tactics

so

we

can

fight

against

them

and

there

will

be

times

when

we

fail

and

in

those

times

we

need

a

savior

who

can

be

there

with

us

you

know

the

story

introduces

us

to

the

brokenness

of

the

world

and

in

the

world

today

there's

lots

of

brokenness

there's

lots

of

theories

about

where

that

brokenness

comes

from

what's

responsible

for

and

each

different

theory

proposes

a

savior

to

fix

the

problems

in

the

world

some

people

they

look

at

the

fact

that

so

many

people

are

starving

in

the

world

today

and

they

say

the

biggest

problem

in

the

world

today

is

poverty

if

we

could

just

get

rid

of

poverty

then

everything

in

the

world

would

be

better

and

so

the

solution

the

savior

is

creating

more

NGOs

getting

the

government

to

do

more

poverty

relief

programs

volunteering

our

time

and

giving

our

money

to

get

rid

of

poverty

in

the

world

other

people

look at

the

problems

in

the

world

they

see

that

children

are

being

abducted

off

the

streets

and

sold

as

sex

slaves

and

they

look

at

this

brokenness

and

they

say

the

solution

is

education

people

do

the

wrong

thing

because

they

don't

really

know

the

right

thing

to

do

so

the

savior

is

build

more

schools

create

more

adult

education

programs

so

that

people

can

know