The last question God asked in Eden: “What is this that you have done?”
God has asked the questions and now proceeds with his judgments. Now we will begin to understand the catastrophe of the fall.
So much of Genesis three is very simple and very complex. Many layers. Here is the key. God makes very clear what we need to know to obey and honor him. God does not answer all of our questions, and he does not seek to satisfy our curiosity. Yes, he leaves questions unanswered, hanging in the air. He is God.
A huge part of what we need to know from Genesis three is how our world changed after the disobedience and rebellion of Adam and Eve. Those things God does answer as they are vital to understanding our lives and our salvation some 6,000 years later.
In view of the subject of freedom and liberty this morning, we are going to look at a greater freedom, our freedom in Christ. A freedom which knows nosocial or political boundaries. A freedom that crosses all cultural and geographical lines.
This freedom is the greatest freedom of all, given by God, purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross, and always safe and secure in the promises of God. That is the freedom that will have our attention today.
A position of freedom that Jesus Christ states to be “free indeed.”
Free indeed means free forever. For eternity; for all future time; for always; an endless time; without ever ending; eternally; for everlasting time. And, as Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story fame would proclaim, “Freedom to infinity and beyond.” Limitless freedom in Christ, boundless, never-ending, impossible to measure or calculate; having no boundaries or limits; immeasurably great or large.
Freedom from everything that constrains us on this Earth. In Christ we are free from our sin and everything that sin would blemish and stain in our lives, including our emotions, our intellect, our spirituality, our relationships. Freedom one day even from the physical restraints of this life: our bodily limitations, sickness, general frailties that go along with being a human who was born on a planet that is under the judgment of God because of our rebellion.
What Paul warns us about and exhorts us to stand firm against in our text this morning is not primarily concerning the cults, such as Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons, or the mystic religions such as Hinduism or Buddhism. He is not even speaking here primarily against Islam.
He would oppose all those religions, but here they are not his emphasis. In our text this morning he warns us about those groups who would call themselves Christian and even Bible-believing. The groups who believe in a gospel that is close to being scriptural, in fact, in some instances very close, but with one major, fatal error. They require some human work for your salvation to be complete.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
(John 8:36 ESV)
We are indebted to our servicemen and servicewomen who have made sacrifices great and small to secure the freedoms we enjoy in this great country in which we live. And we do want to show them this weekend (and always) our appreciation and honor.
However, there is a freedom which knows no boundaries of any social or political structure on Earth. A position of freedom that Jesus Christ states to be “free indeed.”
This freedom is the greatest freedom of all, given by God, purchased by the shed blood of Christ, and always safe and secure in the promises of God. This is the freedom I would like to examine today. This freedom has its roots and foundation in the only true gospel. The gospel that comes to us by grace through faith and not of works.
Free indeed …
Freedom forever: For eternity; for all future time; for always; an endless time; without ever ending; eternally; for everlasting time.
Freedom to infinity and beyond: Limitless, boundless, never-ending, impossible to measure or calculate; having no boundaries or limits; immeasurably great or large.
Freedom from everything that constrains us on this Earth: In Christ we are free from our sin and everything that sin would touch and stain in our lives, including our emotions, our intellect, our spirituality, our relationships. We also will one day be free from the physical restraints of this life: our bodily limitations, sickness, general frailties that go along with being a human who was born to die while living on a planet that is under the judgment of God because of our rebellion.
In an instant the original couple passed from life to death, from sinlessness to sin, from harmony to alienation, from trust to distrust, from ease to dis-ease. It did not take a day. It happened in a millisecond! [Hughes, R. K. (2004). Genesis: beginning and blessing (p. 76). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.]
Message Title: Four Questions Everyone Needs to Ask!
We could almost say that the Man (Adam) and the Woman (Eve) had no chance against their adversary.
Almost … But they did have very clear instruction from God himself.
Yes, they were overmatched as the devil used the crafty serpent to spark their rebellion against God. And they made the same mistake we sometimes make. They took their eyes of the very clear line of obedience that God had given them.
“Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Clear and plain.
Kenneth Mathews makes this comment: “… the participant structure of Genesis 2–3 shows implicitly the hierarchy of creation: God, the man, woman, and animal (serpent). But this was reversed in the fall: the woman listens to the serpent, the man listens to the woman, and no one listens to God. [Mathews, K. A. (1996). Genesis 1-11:26 (Vol. 1A, p. 220). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.]
And think about this. The Woman was deceived. Her husband was not deceived.
(2 Corinthians 11:3 ESV) But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
(Genesis 3:13 ESV)Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
(1 Timothy 2:11–14 ESV) Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
So why did the husband eat the fruit?
I guess you will have to listen to the message. Audio will be posted shortly.
