Lessons from the fall – 1 | Genesis 3:1-6

INTRODUCTION

We all make mistakes in life. The good thing about a mistake is there are great lessons we learn from it and it makes us better people. The important thing is to never quit if you fail. We are going to see some lessons from the fall of man.

The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God then spoke all the plants, the trees, the beautiful animals, and birds into existence. God created Adam in his own image and placed him in the garden. The Garden of Eden was a beautiful place. Each evening God would come down, walk with Adam, and fellowship with him. Adam was a wonderful person but God found Adam to be alone, so God gifted Adam his wife Eve, a woman.

Among the beautiful creatures that God had created was the serpent.

Genesis 3:1 

Now the serpent was more cunning/subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

Most of us think that word cunning/subtil with an evil connotation – A trickster, cunning. That is a legitimate meaning of the word. We always are used to associate it with the serpent in this chapter because of how the serpent is used very shortly in the chapter. But let me remind you that sin had not yet entered the garden, so there is no cunningness.

Subtil has another meaning in the dictionary – Fine, refined, delicate, artful. In the true sense it is talking about the serpent’s beauty. So the serpent was refined, delicate, and very artful.

We do not know what the serpent looked like originally or before the fall. We know he did not look like the snakes which crawl on the ground today. That is part of the curse which was placed after the fall. So, prior to the sin and curse we can understand from the Bible that the serpent must have been very, very beautiful. He was the crowning glory of the animal creations of the Garden of Eden.

He was not only beautiful but had a wonderful personality and great artfulness to him before the fall.

So when you stop and meditate on it a little bit, it is not surprising that Eve paused and gave some time to this animal when it came by. So as this beautiful creature comes along and Eve stops and engages with it and suddenly it speaks.

Genesis 3:2

And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” The woman is taken by the glamour but the serpent is being used by the devil. He is coming so beautifully and articulately to deceive the woman.

1. Be careful of the devil’s schemes.

1 Peter 5:8

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

John 8:44

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Revelation 12:9

he great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

He will come beautifully and attractively and he will even quote scripture when he comes. At no point you can trust him because you will be deceived by him. Keep check on your life. He may come in various ways to deceive you.

The devil engaged Eve with this question and Eve responded:

Genesis 3:2-3

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

Now many people say that Eve went further than what God had said. Oh! Eve is sinning here. No, sin had not yet entered the garden. I am sure there were many conversations when God walked with them in the cool of the day. I think probably Eve was telling the truth. She is saying to the serpent who is being used by satan, “Oh! Yes, God gave us to eat of these wonderful fruits of everything but he told us we cannot eat of that tree in the midst of the garden and we should not touch it or else we will die.”

I probably believe God told them, don’t even go near that fruit, don’t touch it. My dear friend there is a great principle here. Young people, college students, children, older adults hear me.

2. Stay away from sin / the fall

Stay away from lust and passion of sin. Do not even go near. Never think that you can stay close to sin and stay clean. Stay away from the fall, that is the only safe thing to do.

Genesis 3:4-5

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, (a level higher than you are) knowing good and evil.” The serpent puts a spin on God’s word. We need to be careful about that.

3. Be careful of your doctrine.

We need to be very careful of what we hear and follow in our faith. Not everything that we hear in the Christian faith is true. The devil is using the serpent as his vehicle to spin the Word of God and deceive people even today. He is quoting scripture here. The devil quoted scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ many, many years after this some 4000 years later. Therein we find a lesson of the fall.

Be careful of what you hear – The devil may deceive you.

The ways we can be deceived in doctrine.

a. Prophesy.

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 // Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

Matthew 7:15 // Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

b. False teachers.

2 Peter 2:1-3 // But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.

c. Rationalize the Word of God.

Be careful about playing around or rationalize with the Word of God.

Genesis 3:6 // When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Now Eve’s act of eating the fruit seemed so small to her. It was just a matter of how you look at things. It is just a matter of passing some words. This looks like it is better for me she must have thought. Yes God has said these things but you know there are other ways to looking at it. But it seems like something that is unimportant. In committing this sin Eve did not murder someone directly. In committing this Eve did not commit some gross immorality. She looked upon it as a matter of little importance but disobedience to God is always a sin, it always makes us fall.

4. Disobedience is sin.

Romans 5:19 // …through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners.

1 John 3:4 // Everyone who sins breaks the law (disobeying); in fact, sin is lawlessness.

1 Samuel 15:23 // For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Conclusion:

Let’s commit our lives to God this morning. Let’s ask God to give us the wisdom to understand the devil’s schemes against our lives. Ask God to cleanse us from sin and protect our lives from falling from the grace of God.