(3) Lost in Paradise, Genesis 3:1-5:5

Genesis 3:1-5:5

We (Adam and all of mankind, since we are one) had Paradise in the palm of our hands. We were supposed to live forever. We were supposed to be in a world protected by God and walk with Him all of our days but we couldn't do it. But, we had to eat from the wrong Tree.

• 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
• 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
• 3 but God said 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
• 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
• 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
• 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
• 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

The first sin was not the fact that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. The first sin dealt with our own desires. If we follow our own desires that means we have disobedience of God's Word. Disobedience causes guilt. When we feel guilt we tend to do irrational things. Disobedience separates us from God.

Adam irrationally tried to cover his sin and shame. We know that only God can do that. Notice when God did the covering, He used animal skin not fig leaves. Animal skin lasts. It can be washed. It can stand the test of time way longer than a leaf. This action shows us how our ways are always worse than His ways. This also is a foreshadowing of the shedding of blood for the covering of sin, because an animal had to be sacrificed in Eden and give it's life for us so we can be covered. Wouldn't it be amazing if the skin that covered Adam and Eve was lamb?

Because of this we are separated from God. We are now in need of some factor that will bring us back to Paradise. There needs to be another Lamb to cover our sin and shame.

Man's walk with God was no longer side by side. We now have to walk on our knees. Our walk with each other now is strained. The perfect union of man and wife is now a life journey of trying not to hurt each other. The Tree of Life was taken away from us. We now die. We now rot. We now toil; sweat, blood, and tears. Instead of living forever we now have to reproduce to keep on living. We pass down traits of ourselves and since we are imperfect beings we pass down our imperfection as well. Cain killed Abel in the next generation. Cain also tried to cover his sin. This time by denial. But we know God is all-knowing. Cain's denial was needed because he didn't want to blame himself for his own destruction. Like us, he blamed God for the scenario of his life.

One sin leads to another, leading to another, leading to another. Our desire breeds in our minds. It gives birth to sin and sin brings death. We have a natural desire in us. It's not wrong to have desires. The problem is we let it breed. We need to bring every thought into captivity under the obedience of Christ.

There is only one way to get all of what we lost back...Jesus Christ.