Adam or Eve: The Child in All of Us 2/22/98

Genesis 3:1-7
Page 1 Come Alive Bible

JESUS CHRIST, a literal historical figure, is called “the second Adam.” The first Adam was also a literal historical figure. There was an actual historical homo sapien named Adam who had a helpmate named Eve.

The word “Adam” is used in the Book of Genesis generically for “mankind,” such as in Genesis 5: 2. However, it is also used as a name of the individual man first created by God.

Gay Rights Activists try to twist this verse to imply unisex. As used in this verse, it is a generic term for mankind. God created them Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.

The name “Adam” meant “of the earth,” a reference to God making him from the earth. Adam gave a name to his wife (3:20). He chose “Eve” which means “life” or “life giver.”

Scripture says God “formed” Adam from the “ground.” The Hebrew word for “formed” is YASAR (2:7). It describes the work of an artist. Mankind was made from the earth by a divine plan. The Hebrew word for “ground” is ADAMAH (3:17). The Hebrew word for “man” is ADAM. Thus, man, ADAM, came from the ground, ADAMAH.

The Lord God took approximately fifty- eight pounds of oxygen, two ounces of salt, fifty quarts of water, three pounds of calcium, twenty-four pounds of carbon, some chlorine, phosphorous, iron, sulphur, and glycerine from the earth and made Adam.

The average person has enough fat to make seven bars of soap,
—Enough iron to make a medium-sized nail.
—Enough lime to whitewash a small building.
—Enough phosphorus to make 24 hundred matchtips.
—Enough magnesium for a single dose of “Milk of Magnesia.”
—Enough potassium to explode a toy cannon.
—And a little sulphur added.

The chemical components of a rocket scientists, brain surgeon, migrant laborer, or third world peasant are worth approximately $10.00. That will deflate your ego.

Skeptics scoff at the idea of God creating. Some conscientious inquirers are confused over the complex arguments opposing this concept. I believe, and I believe with reason — God created.

The intent of this message is not to deal with the concept of creation vs. evolution, but I want to share one simple reason why evolution is impossible.

Creditable evolutionists say for life to evolve from non-life over 30 billion years would have been required for the simplest life form to evolve: 30 billion years. They speculate it took over 250 million years for human beings to evolve after that. An old earth is essential for evolution to be possible according to studious evolutionists.

Consider our sun. It burns up about four billion tons of itself every second. Knowing its mass and this rate of consumption scientists estimate it will burn out in about five million years.

Using this same rate and reversing this process by adding four billion tons a second the size of the sun can be estimated. It would have been twice its size one million years ago. With a surface temperature of 6093 degrees Celsius, that would have boiled any primordial soup on earth. Remember 30 billion years would have been required for life to evolve from non-life and another 250 million years for human beings to evolve.

If four billion tons per second were added to the sun, 250 million years ago it would have been one Astronomical Unit (AU) larger. That would have made it large enough to fill the space between where it is now and where we are on Earth.

The clock of time has run out on evolution. This is but one of many indications the universe is not old enough to support the theory of evolution. There is no way to prove creation or evolution. Either concept has to be accepted by faith. Though creation not evolution can be proven scientifically there are ways to disprove evolution.

One basic difference in creationists and the evolutionists is that a creationist believes what he reads in the Bible and an evolutionists believes what he thinks.

The Lord God placed His created human beings in a Garden named Eden. Eden is a Hebrew word meaning “delight.” Eden was a place of absolute delight. God gave them an ideal environment.

In our consideration of what happened to Adam and Eve in this setting we will see mirrored our own nature. The drama of their lives is a representation of your life.

God’s first commandment is recorded in Genesis 2: 16. As with all subsequent commandments, it contained a negative prohibition and a positive blessing. God, thus, made man by special design with the capacity for moral decisions.

The “serpent” is identified in Revelation 20: 2 as Satan in disguise. The word of God brought life and harmony. The word of the serpent brought chaos and death. God spoke and produced the cosmos. Satan spoke and it resulted in chaos. Satan came in a disguise. Temptation always does. Satan is a liar (John 8:44) and his big lie is that you can sin and get away with it.

The story begins with – – –

I. THREEFOLD ANARCHY
A. It starts with a questioning of authority. The Bible does not indicate Adam had any contact with the tempter. The serpent that beguiled Eve was not a slithering snake in the form we know them today. The Bible describes the creature used to beguile Eve as beautiful. In Genesis 3: 1 the serpent is described as “cunning.” The Hebrew word literally means “prudent.” The New Testament notes “the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety” (II Cor. 11:3). With trickery he cunningly out smarted her.

In three gospels Christ gives us signs of the end of the ages. We are impressed with such things as Israel’s return to the land, earthquakes, wars, the rise of Russia, etc. However, the first sign mentioned by each of the gospel writers was “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24:4; Mark 13:5; Luke 21:8).

Three things are definite about the serpent: 1) it was created by God, 2) it was intended to serve man, 3) Satan used its brilliance for his own nefarious purpose of deception.

The tempter began by questioning the authority of God’s Word. “Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (3:1).

A loss of respect for the Word of God is a principle cause of the erosion of respect for any and all authority today.

Satan has the authority of the Bible under constant attack. He began with an assault on Genesis, and he is still keeping up his pressure on it. There are those who declare the first seven chapters of Genesis to be a mere allegory.

B. The second aspect of this anarchy was Adam doubting God’s sense of justice. God demanded of Adam and Eve justice. In effect He said, “You take the Tree of Life and I will take the Tree of Knowledge.”

In creation God made every creature to operate in a limited sphere. To the birds He granted the sphere of the atmosphere with the limiting boundaries of the stratosphere and the solid earth. To the fish He bequeathed the waters as an environment limited by the shoreline. Adam and Eve had a virtually unlimited boundary but there was nevertheless a boundary. Adam and Eve questioned the justice of such limitations. Adam and Eve questioned God’s sense of fair play.

The fact was the tree didn’t belong to Adam and Eve. Much of mankind’s misery today begins at this point. A lack of respect for property rights creates much misery.

C. The third factor involved in this anarchy was a lack of obedience.

This questioning of God’s Word resulted in a – – –

II. THREEFOLD AMENDMENT
A. They added to the Word of God.

Eve said God said of the tree “…you shall not touch it…” (Vs. 3). Not so! They could have climbed up in it, tied a rope to it, and made a tire swing from it and God would not have cared. God simply said “don’t eat of it.”

The Bible P-L-U-S anything as a final authority is wrong.

B. They altered the Word of God.

God has said they would “surely die” if they ate of the tree. Eve said God said, “lest you die.” The expression means “you may die.” God’s “surely” was changed to a “maybe.” The serpent picked up on this at once and took it a step further saying “You shall not surely die.” (Vs. 4). This promise was a lie that never came true.

C. They omitted part of the Word of God.

God’s “surely die” was now omitted from the record.

Minimizing the result of sin is an encouragement to sin. The least doubt about the consequence of sin makes one more bold to sin.

III. A THREEFOLD APPEAL
A. An appeal to the body – “the tree was good for food.”

B. An appeal to the soul – “pleasant to the eyes.”

C. An appeal to the spirit – “to make one wise.”

This appeal to be like God has always been an allurement to mankind. The New Age movement today is capitalizing on it. It is the primary thesis of their beliefs. Genesis 3: 5 “…you will be like God” is the ground of their philosophy. This lie never came true. Satan’s promises never do. Wisdom is never obtained by disobeying God’s Word.

By restricting one tree God is revealing there must be a limitation to the gratification of the senses. As servants, our senses are blessings. As sovereigns, they are a burden.

We should be cautious about any organization, institution, or event that appeals primarily to the senses. Satan always has a connection with it.

The fact our senses yield pleasure is an evidence of the goodness of God. Monitor our body and enjoy the many normal pleasures you most often overlook, such as, a warm shower, the first sip of cool water, taking off your shoes, sitting down after standing for sometime, etc. Seeking our primary source of pleasure through our senses is an evidence of depravity.

IV. A THREEFOLD AFFECT
There are two words in our vocabulary that often get confused. “Affect” means “to act upon.” “Effect” means “the end result.”

The affect of Eve’s decision, that is, how it acted upon them is distinct. It affected their – –
A. Head
“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2: 14).

B. Heart
Having been deceived they now developed a wrong impression of God. They thought He hated them so they sought to hide. Satan promised them they would be gods, but their disobedience actually caused them to flee and hide from God.

Mankind’s heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17: 9).

C. Hands
They sewed fig leaves together to make coverings for themselves (Vs. 7). Ever since then man has been trying by his works to make himself worthy of being in God’s presence.

Notice verse 21, “the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” That verse is hard for animal right’s activists to explain. Animals don’t have rights, they have worth.

This provision of clothing is symbolical of the spiritual truth noted in Romans 3: 21 – 26 where we are told that based on the atoning sacrifice of Christ He clothed believers in righteousness.

V. THREEFOLD EFFECT
Remember, “effect” means the result.
A. They died spiritually immediately.
B. They died soulfully progressively.
C. They died bodily ultimately.

When God saves us He saves us:
Spiritually He justifies us immediately.
Soulfully He sanctifies us progressively.
Bodily He glorifies us ultimately.

To do this there is required a – – –

VI. THREEFOLD ATONEMENT
What followed in Eden is a picture of Calvary.

A. Salvation is a gift of God not a labor of man’s hands.

“We conclude that man is justified by faith without the deeds” (Rom. 3: 28).

B. Salvation is by the substitutionary death of an innocent sacrifice. “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53: 6).

C. Salvation is by blood.

“The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1: 7).

It is important to observe the Word of God came to Adam. The prohibition by God was spoken to Adam before Eve was made.

Satan came to Eve. She only had the Word of God second hand. It was not personal to her.

With a first-hand knowledge of the Word of God in mind Satan knew he could not successfully tempt Adam. Without it he knew Eve was vulnerable.

I Timothy 2: 14 notes an important fact: ‘And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”

Adam was not deceived but knew what he was doing. Why did he do it? After disobeying God Eve was a fallen sinner. At this point Adam was not. Thus, sin had separated them as it had Eve from God.

Redemption of Eve, as is true for all humankind, must come from the seed of woman. Therefore, Adam willfully and with full knowledge took the fruit from the hand of Eve and ate. He took part in her sin that he might be a party in providing the redemptive seed of woman which ultimately was Jesus Christ.

Likewise, Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, on Calvary willfully and knowingly took our sin.