After
reading the story of Adam and Eve to our young son and daughter, then 5 and 4,
I asked what the story told them. "Not
to play with snakes," my son replied without hesitation. -- Mrs. Ervin Handel, Billings, MT, The Christian Herald Magazine, Sept/Oct, 1989, pg. 19
Scripture
Text:
Gen. 3:6 (KJS) 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.
I.
When God Came:
1.
God came to his own creation. God created us for his pleasure.
God enjoys being with us. He
enjoys walking in the cool of the evening.
e HeWe were created by
Him and for Him. God chose to
plant the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
He wants you to choose him.
2.
God came down to spend some time with his children.
(God came over for a visit.) He
wants to see you and know you. (Rev. 3:20) He wants to walk with you and talk
with you. He wants to put the children on his lap and love them as he
has loved you.
3.
God Came unannounced. God
came uninvited. God came
unwelcome. God came.
He comes knocking at the door of your life and wants you to invite him
in. Have you invited him in?
Will you? He wants to give
you himself, so that you will know him forever.
He wants you to live with him throughout all eternity.
II.
When God Came, how did He find his children:
1.
They had eaten from the tree of the forbidden fruit.
They were guilty.
2.
They were ashamed and tried to cover themselves.
They were hidden.
3.
They were afraid, because they had not trusted God.
4.
They had forsaken their Father and been deceived by the devil.
5.
They blamed the other. They
did not want to accept their own responsibility.
III.
When God Came, what did He do:
1.
He protected them from eternal death by expelling them from the
garden. They may have eaten from
the tree of life and lived forever in the sinful state.
2.
He punishes them to keep them from self-destruction.
Pain and punishment serves a useful purpose.
It prevents use from irreparable damage.
3.
He provided for them clothes that were sufficient for their need
by giving them animal skins as coverings. He will provide all that we need throughout our lives.
4.
He promises final deliverance from the deception of the serpent.
The serpent will bruise the heel of the woman’s child and the child
will crush the head of the snake. Thus
we know we will one day be completely delivered from the temptation of the
devil to lure us from God.
When
God Came to the Fayetteville Baptist Church:
Is God any different now than He
was then? He came today because
he wants to spend some time with His creation.
He wants to know you and you to know him. He is a wonderful Father who cares enough to allow us to
choose to love and know Him. Have you chosen him or have you been deceived to
think that you don’t need him?
Are we any different from them?
Aren’t we still guilty? Don’t
we still try to hide from the Father? Don’t
we still try to blame someone else for our own sin?
It is a part of our sinful nature that we have inherited from our
great, great grandfather Adam. It
is our nature to go away from the Lord. Our
inclination is to sin and then to hid and blame it on someone else.
Doesn’t God still come to us
as he did to them? He still loves
and cares for us, so He comes again and again.
He calls out our name. Where
are you hiding today? Why not
come out of the bushes and see whom He is?
He won’t kill you or hurt you, but he will prevent you from
destroying yourself. He will
protect you from eternal death. He
will provide for you a protection and a covering for your sin.
When Adam and Eve sinned, God took the life of an
innocent animal to pay for their sin. God
has given the life of his only begotten Son so that we may have new life in
Him. God’s grace began when he
created us in his image and planted the tree that the children would choose
over him. His grace continued
when he planted the tree that would become the tree that his only begotten Son
would be sacrificed on for the sin of all the children.
This grace is what brings Him here again today to call us to know him
and to love him as he loves us.
When God Came to You: Will you say yes to the Father who long ago said yes to you.