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FIVE
FIRSTS
Genesis
3:1-15
This is the first Sunday of the year.
As we begin a new year many of us are trying to make a new start in
different areas…from our waistlines to our finances, to how we spend our
time. We’re right at the
beginning and it feels right to make some changes.
Genesis is the “Book of Beginnings”. Nearly everything that we know about
mankind began in the Book of Genesis.
The beginning of the universe.
The beginning of time.
The beginning of man.
In Genesis 2 we see the beginning of woman, and in chapter 4 the
beginning of worship and also of death. As we proceed through the book we
see nations, governments, and kingdoms. We see another new beginning after
the flood. In this book we find
the beginning of slavery, of jealousy, and idol worship and so much more;
but there are five very important things that happen in Genesis 3.
As we begin today, consider one very important aspect of Bible Study
known as the “Law of First Mention.”
It says, basically, that the Bible reasons from the lesser to the
greater, from simple to complex, and if you go to the first mention of a
doctrine or concept, it will contain keys to understanding better what it is
all about, and you'll find principles to apply to later mentions of the same
doctrine.
I. THE FIRST MENTION OF SATAN - THE EVIL ONE
Gen. 3:1-5.
What can we learn about him from this first mention in Gen. 3?
1. He is
subtle. Vs. 1. It means:
“cunning (usually in a bad sense):--crafty, prudent, subtil.”
2. He is the
author of doubt. Vs. 1.
“Yea, hath God said...”
3. He is the
chief of liars. Vs. 4.
“...Ye shall not surely die...”.
4. He is the
enemy of God. He is ruler of a powerful kingdom standing in
opposition to the kingdom of God.
We try to teach our kids something:
That they are never more like Satan than when they lie and when they
rebel. He is the father of lies
[Jn. 8:48], and he invented the sin of rebellion, which is as the sin of
witchcraft! [I Sam. 15:23]
Satan is a liar. And if
Scripture will help Satan’s cause, he will use scripture. Notice how he
twists this passage. Gen 2:17
"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."
Satan twists the truth to say in Gen. 3:5…look at your Bible:
“....ye
shall be as gods,....”
That is not what the Scripture said.
C. For now Satan attempts to overthrow God, but will end up in the
lake of fire.
Rev 20:10
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented
day and night for ever and ever."
II. THE FIRST MENTION OF SIN
Their eyes were opened, but they did not become as gods; however, they
saw their nakedness. Adam and Eve lived thousands of years BC [Before
Clothing!] They had been naked
all along, but were not knowledgeable what being naked meant. Look at Vs.
9-11, God is saying to them, “Who told you that you were naked? Where did
you learn about nakedness?”
Sin Is Attractive.
Vs. 6, “... pleasant to the eyes.”
Don’t be deceived by sin. It will lure you, it will sway you; it will
blind you; it will cause you to fall.
Sin Is Pleasurable.
Heb 11:25
"…the pleasures of sin for a season;"
Sin Destroys.
1. Sin is a cancer that destroys the soul of man. James 1:15
"Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
If you are involved in the practice of sin, you are on the road to
death.
2. Notice what sin did to the family of Adam: Gen 4:5
"But unto Cain and to his
offering he [God] had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his
countenance fell."
Gen 4:8
"…and it came to pass, when they were
in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him."
Imagine the regret, the heartbreak, the sorrow that Adam and Eve were
going through as they buried Abel. Sin will always bring much sorrow,
heartbreak, and regret. Sin destroyed his family, brought remorse and
heartache all of Adam’s days.
Everyday as Adam tilled the soil he was reminded of his sin. Every time
he passed by the grave of Abel, he was reminded of his sin.
Sin is an offence.
[note spelling]
Matt. 18:7
"Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that
offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!"
“Offence” means =
a trap-stick (bent sapling), i.e.
snare (fig. cause of displeasure or sin):--occasion to fall (of stumbling),
offence, thing that offends, stumbling-block.
In jungle warfare they would take a tall sapling, bend it over with a
rope loop tied to the top of the tree. When the enemy would come by and
trigger that trap, it would hoist them high in the air. It was a trap.
Sin is an offence, a bent sapling trap. Sin will trap you.
And Satan would say that his best defense is a good “offence!”
Sin is the highway to hell -- main street to misery.
I'm glad Gen. 3 shows us some more 'firsts'...
III. THE FIRST MENTION OF THE SAVIOUR
Gen 3:15
"And I will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel." This is Satan and the
Saviour, and each will be bruised.
A. God’s Plan
Before Creation.
1. The plan has
always been Jesus Christ. Eph 1:4
"According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world…"
2. The plan of
God is not an afterthought. There has never been any other
plan. Did it ever occur to you that
nothing ever occurred to God?
3. The plan is
not an act of desperation. God has never lost control of the
universe, nor the destiny of mankind. God has never been nervous or
desperate. He has had this same plan for man’s redemption for all eternity
past.
He has always had a Saviour for man.
Before there was a sin, there was a Saviour.
Before there was the need, the plan was in operation.
There has always been a cross in God’s plan.
There has always been a Sacrificial Lamb of God to take away the sin of
the world.
The plan of redemption is not something that God had to come up with
after Adam sinned. Adam’s sin just put the wheels into motion, but the
wheels were already there in the form of the free-wheeling free will of man.
B. God’s
Promise To All Who Believe.
If you are not a Christian; what I am saying right now is for you.
John 3:14
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:"
John 3:15
"That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life."
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:17
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that
the world through him might be saved."
John 3:18
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God."
John 3:19
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
If you will believe, you will be saved…and saved from sin.
Not from sinning altogether, but from sin’s consequences, and the God
can begin to take you down the road of victory over sin.
C. God’s
Procurement For His Children.
Rom 8:32
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
That’s the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And after its first mention, it was brought up time and again in many
different packages in every book of the Bible, and it’s still the way to be
saved today!
IV. THE FIRST MENTION OF SENTENCE
(Judgment)
Ill.—A
little girl chattered away about her Sunday school lesson on Adam and Eve.
Her dad thought he’d test her. “Did you know Adam and Eve sinned?” “Yep.”
“What did God do to them as a punishment?” Her answer was immediate and
matter-of-fact, without even looking up she said: “He made them have kids.”
Gen 3:16
"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." (let the women’s
organizations yelp all they want to. God says, “Man shall rule over you.”
Now, don’t take that wrong.
Don’t kill the messenger … God said it!
The Bible teaches servant leadership on the part of man. We are to
submit to one another, but in the end, God set up one head to make final
calls, especially in spiritual matters.
[Ruth and Boaz]
And male leadership is not as much of a privilege as a
responsibility...and Adam suffered his consequences as well...
Gen 3:17
"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;"
Gen 3:18
"Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt
eat the herb of the field;"
Gen 3:19
"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."
Gen 3:23
"Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till
the ground from whence he was taken."
A. Every Wrong Must Be Made Right.
B. Someone Has To Pay For Every Wrong.
C. Judgment Is A Necessity.
If God compromised in matters of sin, then His holiness would be lost.
God must require judgment. If He
accepted sin without sacrifice His holiness would mean nothing.
Adam hearkened to the voice of another rather than the Word of God. Vs.
17. Don’t permit anyone or
anything to cause you to reject the Word of God. Adam did, and it cost him a
great judgment. A judgment that was hard, sorrowful, and damning.
Adam lost all that he had - Judgment takes all away. Vs. 24. Gen 3:24
"So
he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of
the tree of life."
Imagine with me, as Adam leads his wife out of their home and out into
the vile wickedness outside of the garden’s protection.
God's judgment takes all. Sin will cost you everything!
Our nation has moved away from judgment for wrong doing, and so has the
church. We excuse sin. But God still demands judgment. Oh yes!
God still judges sin.
The law of first mention makes it clear, there is a death sentence
for sin. Hell is real, believe
it now, or when you are thrown in.
God has not changed His mind just because man has decided hell isn’t
politically correct!
And Christians need to realize something—that though their sin is
forgiven, and Christ took their death sentence for them, there still are
consequences for sin. If you
think you can treat your salvation like fire insurance, and a license to
sin, you are sadly, badly mistaken.
Some imagine a line with forgiveness at one end and consequences at the
other. They think the closer
they move to forgiveness the further they move from consequences.
But forgiveness and consequences co-exist!
They are on separate lines.
God forbid that Christians wilfully, knowingly sin just because they
are forgiven.
V. THE FIRST MENTION OF SACRIFICE
Gen 3:21
"Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins,
and clothed them."
God who was sinned against made the sacrifice for the sinner. The sinner could not make his own sacrifice.
God, Who is perfect, made sacrifice for the perpetrators.
It is God’s grace which allows sacrifice for the guilty. Without God’s
sacrifice the guilty would be doomed and damned forever and ever.
God took a 'living being' and made a way to cover Adam and Eve’s
nakedness. In doing this,
God was showing the
world that a Heavenly Sacrifice would one day be given for the
covering of man’s sin.
That Heavenly Sacrifice was born in a manger, grew up in a hostile
society that was motivated by religious prejudice, and controlled by man’s
desire to do his own will. That
society ignored the teachings of the Lamb of God, and when the fullness of
time came He was placed on a cross of sacrifice. There He gave His life a
sacrifice for man’s sin that started in the Garden of Eden. That sacrifice
was the culmination of the sacrifice that was made in Gen. 3:21. That
Heavenly Sacrifice once and for all made payment for all sin.
All of these OT ceremonies were just pointing to the lasting sacrifice
that was to come.
Heb 10:10
"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all."
Heb 10:12
"But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;"
Heb 10:14
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified."
Your Bible is full of truth from beginning to end…and Gen. 3 has shown us
for the first time Satan, Sin, and the death Sentence, but thank God also in
the same passage we meet for the first time the Saviour and see His
Sacrifice for us!
Let me invite you to come to the place of sacrifice - The place where the
Lamb of God gave His life for you. The place where sin was once and for all
defeated. The place of Calvary.
Won’t you come?
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