One day, my son Jonathan came home from preschool with a picture of
Adam and Eve he had colored. He began to tell me the story of creation, and it
seemed as though he had his facts down pretty well. "Adam and Eve
disobeyed God because they ate the fruit God told them not to eat," he
explained. Impressed by how much he knew, I pointed to the picture and asked,
"What's this place called?" Jonathan replied earnestly, "The
Garden of Eating." --
Laura Groves, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Today's
Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart."
On Christmas Day 1968, the three astronauts of Apollo 8 circled the
dark side of the moon and headed for home. Suddenly, over the horizon of the
moon rose the blue and white Earth garlanded by the glistening light of the
sun against the black void of space. Those sophisticated men, trained in
science and technology, did not utter Einstein's name. They did not even go to
the poets, the lyricists, or the dramatists. Only one thing could capture the
awe-inspiring thrill of this magnificent observation. Billions heard the voice
from outer space as the astronaut read it: "In the beginning
God"--the only concept worthy enough to describe that unspeakable awe,
unutterable in any other way. "In the beginning God created"--the
invasive, the inescapable sense of the infinite and the eternal.
-- Ravi Zacharias,
"If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.
I do not feel obliged to
believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect
has intended us to forgo their use.
-- Galileo, Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 2.
Scripture
Text:
Genesis 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God
as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the
LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man,
"Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden,
and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." 11 And he said,
"Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I
commanded you not to eat from?" 12 The man said, "The woman you put
here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 13
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 14 So the LORD
God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are
you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your
belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will
crush your head, and you will strike his heel." 16 To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will
give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule
over you." 17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, `You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat
of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for
you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were
taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." 20 Adam named his
wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The LORD
God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the
LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and
evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree
of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from
the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After
he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden
cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the
tree of life.
God came for them.
Jesus came for us.
Hiding from the Lord.
Separated from the King, Creator, and Father.
They hid because they were
naked.
God Called for them.
God knows where you are and He calls your name. God calls your name.
His Holy Spirit speaks your name.
God wants them
to confess their sin. (I
John 1:9) who told you? Have
you eaten? Why do we hide from the Lord?
We must realize what we have done and recognize our guilt before the
Lord.
God confronts them.
Our sin brings shame and guilt.
Our sin brings blame and separation from one another and from God.
Our sin brings pain and death. What
have you done? Have you
recognized your sin and shame?
God gave the punishment
and judgment. Why
punish them? He punishes us
because He wants them back. If
they were allowed to live in sin then they would forever be without Him.
Therefore He forbids them to eat from the tree of life.
God gave the commands.
The commands are designed to
help the man find his way back to God. You
must leave the garden and not eat from the tree of life.
You must eat your bread by the sweat of your brow.
You must bear children in pain. Another
must rule you. You must crawl on
your belly. The man will crush
your head. These are God’s
guides to life. Have you followed
the Lord’s commands? Jesus said
if you love me you will obey my commands.
This is going God’s way in your life.
God gave the covering for
their nakedness, which is a result of their sin.
God gave the sacrifice from the
innocent ones for the payment for their sin.
This was a temporary covering. Jesus
gave the permanent sacrifice for all.
God knows that we know
good and evil.
He wants us to enjoy the blessings of God and not reap the wages of sin
which is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
The King comes back for
you.
He has not turned His back on you even though you have turned from Him.
He loves you and has made a way for you to live with Him forever.
Have you believed and received Him into your life?
He stands and knocks on your door.