Have you ever noticed how things often just go wrong?
You wind your garden hose up and put it away neat and tidy, but when it comes out again it is all tangled. You tidy your children’s bedrooms and the next moment they are all a mess again. You do not have to work at making things go wrong, it happens all by itself. Or does it?
Somebody must have to do something. Your hose has been moved several times, the children played in the bedroom. It did not happen by itself. In the same way, things did not go wrong in our world just by chance, the world was messed up on purpose.
In our last study we saw that God created everything and that He made it by His word. We saw that He made the world because He had a plan to have a people to love and serve Him, and that it brought Him pleasure. We also said that because it all belonged to Him, He could set the rules we are to live by, and He will judge the way that we live, by those rules.
But, best of all we found that there is purpose in our lives. Everything was so good that at the end of the creation account it says
31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good…
Genesis 1 v31
So how did it all go wrong? That is the question we are going to answer in this study.
How it all went wrong
Genesis 3 v1-19
1. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4.And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11.And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12.And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17. And unto Adam he said, 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; 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Genesis 3:1-19
The Test
God had already planted a garden for Adam and Eve.
8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”
Genesis 2:8-10
God gave man a plentiful supply of food and pleasant work to do. He was to dress, or tend, the garden and he could freely eat of every tree of the garden.
15. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Genesis 2:15-16
But there was one exception to this; he must not eat of the tree that was in the middle of the garden.
17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 2:17
They must not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And if they did, they would die. God gave Adam and Eve a simple rule. They must not eat of one tree. JUST ONE. They could freely eat of all the other trees. Why should they not eat from that tree? Not because God was mean, but for their own good, so they would not die. This rule was a test, a test of their love and obedience.
The Temptation
We saw in the introduction that things do not just get messed up all by themselves, someone messes them up. It was exactly the same with the world. Adam, Eve and Satan all played their part in messing up the world. Eve was looking at the forbidden fruit, (Gen. 3 v6a “the woman saw that the tree was…”), Adam let himself be led astray, (Gen. 3v6b “…and he did eat”), and Satan, he tempted them into disobeying God. Let us have a quick look at how Satan tempted them. First, Satan questioned whether God had ever spoken,
1. Hath God Said?
Genesis 3:1
When that did not work he said that God was not telling the truth,
4. Ye shall not surely die.
Genesis 3:4
He then implied that God was mean and did not want the best for them. He hinted that God knew that the fruit would be good for them to eat, and that God was keeping it from them.
5. God knows that … ye shall be as gods
Genesis 3:5
Satan will tempt you in just the same way. He does not change his tactics much; he is still using the same arguments today. He is still questioning whether God has spoken and whether what God has said is true. But above all Satan is saying that God is mean and that going against God’s rules will be fun or good and that you ought to do it.
The Trespass
There is nothing wrong with being tempted to break God’s rules. God will not judge you because someone tempted you. It is breaking God’s instructions or rules that is wrong. As we saw in Study One, this breaking of God’s rules can be in word, thought or action. Adam and Eve were tempted to do wrong, but the temptation did not ruin the world. The problem came when they DID wrong.
6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:6
This is what the Bible calls SIN or sinning. Sin literally means ‘to miss the mark’, like an archer missing the target. In the Bible, sin is always missing God’s way of living. Sinning, is transgressing or going outside of the law of God.
4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1 John 3:4
The consequences of sin
Sin always has an effect. God said that if they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die, (Gen. 2 v17). This was more than just the dying of Adam and Eve’s bodies, though this began that very day. It was the death of the perfect way of life, which God had made for them. It also includes the death of innocents as from the time of Adam on, no one has been innocent. You do not need to teach a child to be greedy or to have a temper etc. it now comes from their nature. The Bible records the effect that Sin had on Adam and Eve. You will see the same effects in your life even today. They felt guilty, naked and had to hide from God and each other.
7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:7-8
Eve would have pain in child birth, and would be in submission to her husband.
16. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Genesis 3:16
Adam’s lot is trouble and hard work, even the nature of the earth changed, never before had there been thorns or thistles.
17. And unto Adam he said, 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; 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Genesis 3:17-19
The greatest effect was that death had entered into the world.
12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Romans 5:12
This death was in the relationship between God and man.
8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8
And the death of the physical body as well.
19. …till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Genesis 3:19
All the troubles of our world can be traced back to this one terrible day in history. Today we still suffer from the time when sin came into the world, through Adam and Eve. Not only do we live in a damaged world, but you are controlled by sin. Let us look and see what sin does to you.
The Bible teaches that all people are sinners.
23. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
This includes you. The Bible also teaches that we are controlled by either sin or obedience.
16. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Romans 6:16
We all start controlled by sin. Adam and Eve were told that they would die if they disobeyed. Still today the wages of sin is death.
23. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
(You might like to know that the name ‘Christ’ is the same as ‘Messiah’ and means “the anointed one” and was the one the Jews had been waiting for to be their saviour) In fact the Bible says that you already are dead in your sin.
13. And you, being dead in your sins…
Colossians 2:13
Because we are all sinners, we are all guilty and on our way to judgement.
27. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement
Hebrews 9:27
That includes you and me. In the next study we shall be looking at God’s solution to this problem, so keep going.
Home Task
Memorise
23. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Have a go at answering these questions. If you have any problems talk to your teacher or if you are doing this course on our contact page or you could leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
Q1. Satan questioned whether God had spoken, (Gen. 3:1).
Today lots of people will say that the Bible in not God’s word, whose propaganda do you think they are repeating?
Q2. If the Bible says that all have sinned, (“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23) what does this say about you, ……. and me?
Q3. What is the result of sin in your life and what is God’s answer through Jesus Christ?
Your memory verse should help you with this question. I do hope that this has been helpful and look forward to sharing the next study with you.
