26-0412a Transcript

(3:15) Good morning, we’re going to be finishing up chapter three of Genesis this evening. (3:23) We’ll get partly there, mostly there. Well, not actually mostly but, we’ll get a verse and a half this morning and then we’ll close up tonight. (3:34) We are continuing our study through Genesis chapters 1-11 (3:41),

(3:42) Focusing today on Genesis 3, and specifically we will examine Genesis 3 verses 17 through 18 this (3:52) morning, where God pronounces judgment on Adam, cursed is the ground because of you. (4:01) This is a pivotal moment in Scripture.

It explains the why behind so much of what we observe in the (4:09) natural realm, the universe and the earth. Before we dive in, I want to contrast the natural realm (4:18) before this curse with the natural realm that followed it. Let’s start, let’s set the stage (4:28) first by reviewing what we’ve learned so far in our study.

In the beginning, (4:35) God created the heavens and the earth, but even before that, we looked at that act of creation. (4:44) We looked at the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that they had a plan. And long before the (4:52) plan, the Godhead itself existed.

God is from everlasting to everlasting. And this truth matters (5:03) deeply, especially today, for anything to exist now, something or someone must have always existed. (5:16) You cannot get something from nothing.

Robert Milligan and his, my favorite 19th century (5:26) author that I always go to, Robert Milligan in his 19th century book, The Scheme of Redemption, (5:32) observed that even God does not create out of absolute nothing. And since only the Godhead (5:41) existed before the beginning, God brought everything into being from the only substance available, (5:51) himself. This illuminates Paul’s words in Acts 17-28 where he says, (5:58) in him we live and move and have our being.

Nature itself shows it is not eternal. (6:07) It had a beginning. And this creates an insurmountable problem for any purely naturalistic (6:18) worldview.

If nature is all there is, nature must, it has to be eternal. Yet the scientific (6:29) consensus affirms that the cosmos had a beginning. And that means that nature is not eternal.

(6:41) There was a time when nature did not exist. Where did it come from? There is no reasonable, (6:52) nature-only explanation for the origin of nature. As Peter prophesied, scoffers deliberately forget (7:01) that by God’s word, the heavens came into being and the earth was formed, 2 Peter 3-5.

(7:11) They willfully reject the supernatural. On the other hand, the existence of God provides (7:19) sufficient cause for everything that now exists. Paul declares in Romans 1-20 that God’s eternal (7:28) power and divine nature have been clearly seen from what has been made.

And here we have the (7:36) two necessary ingredients, something eternal, God’s eternal power, and something beyond nature, (7:45) God’s supernatural spiritual nature. The question, where did the material universe (7:53) ultimately come from, a question that the naturalist cannot answer, (7:58) is contained and answered in a 2,000- to 3,500-year-old book. (8:06) The Bible supplies the answer, although scoffers reject it willfully.

(8:13) When God created the physical realm, he created it dark, I’m sorry, he created darkness first, (8:23) Isaiah 45-7. Then the physical heavens and earth were created within that darkness. (8:30) Prior to creation, there was no darkness, for God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, (8:38) 1 John 1-5.

God first created the heaven of heavens and its host, the angels, in light, (8:47) for that is where he dwells, and there is no darkness. Even after God spoke light into (8:56) existence in the natural realm on day one, separating night from day, darkness remained. (9:03) Today, the universe is still mostly dark, 95% of it.

Even on a clear night, shielded from the sun, (9:13) the sky reveals how much remains in shadow. The angels witnessed the foundations of the earth (9:20) being laid. When God questioned Job, where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation in Job 38-4, (9:30) the answer was clear.

Job was not there. But the morning stars sang together, and all the angels (9:38) shouted for joy, Job 38-7, as they watched God create the physical realm. They were there.

(9:48) Why did God create the angels first? Possibly as eyewitnesses? Once created, they exist eternally, (9:58) and have observed all of history. They form part of that great cloud of witnesses, (10:05) Hebrews 12-1 tells us. In the final judgment, we will have not only God’s word, (10:14) but the testimony of all of heaven’s host, eyewitnessing to everything, (10:22) even what we might consider the secret things.

These are plain historical statements from (10:29) scripture. Nothing here has been figurative. God creates a perfect world in water, as Peter says.

(10:37) By God’s word, the heavens came into being, and the earth was formed out of water and by water. (10:44) Again, 2 Peter 3-5. He created night and day, air to breathe, land and vegetation, (10:52) the celestial bodies for light and timekeeping, sea creatures and birds, land animals, and finally (10:59) man.

And when he finished, he pronounced his creation, very good. Then came the fall. (11:09) The serpent deceived the woman, but Adam was not deceived, yet still sinned.

He listened to the (11:18) voice of his wife and ate from the forbidden tree. Some religious traditions, such as those (11:25) emphasizing total depravity, or an inherited sinful nature from birth, suggest Adam’s sin (11:33) corrupted human nature in a way that renders people morally unable to respond to God without (11:40) what they call divine regeneration first. However, as articles from Apologetics Press (11:48) have carefully shown, scripture does not teach that we inherit Adam’s guilt or a sinful nature (11:54) that makes us unable to choose obedience.

We do not inherit Adam’s personal sin. Each person (12:06) sins individually and is accountable for their own transgressions. Ezekiel 18, 4, and verse 20.

(12:17) The true impact of Adam’s sin was far broader. It affected not only humanity, (12:25) but the entire created order. Listen to God’s words to Adam in Genesis 3, 17 through 18.

(12:38) Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which (12:46) I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat from it. Cursed is the ground because of you, (12:56) and toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow (13:03) for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

Take note that there is a powerful (13:10) Hebrew wordplay here. The man’s name, Adam, and the word for ground or soil is adamah. (13:23) They are intimately connected, masculine and feminine forms sharing the same root, (13:34) often linked in the idea of red, as in reddish earth or clay.

God formed Adam from the dust of (13:43) the adamah. Genesis 2, 7. Now, because of Adam’s sin, God curses the adamah because of you, (13:53) or for your sake. Adam is not personally cursed here in the same direct way as the serpent.

(14:00) That comes in the next verse that we’ll talk about tonight. Instead, the ground or adamah (14:07) from which he was taken and upon which he depends is cursed on his account. This is poetic justice (14:17) and a tragic irony.

The very source of his life and sustenance now resists him. A curse invokes (14:26) supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment. When God curses, he is that supernatural power.

(14:36) And up to this point, the pronouncements on the serpent and the woman affected only them directly. (14:43) But Adam’s judgment extends outward. The adamah itself is cursed because of you.

(14:52) This harms the ground to punish Adam and, by extension, all who come after him. (15:00) However, how is the ground cursed? In a way that now afflicts hardship. (15:11) In toil, you will eat of it.

And toil means extremely hard, incessant, constant, never-ending (15:18) work. Food acquisition, once effortless in the garden, now demands sweat and struggle (15:27) all the days of your life. It reminds me of Paul’s later command where he says, (15:33) if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

2 Thessalonians. Verse 18 clarifies the nature of (15:41) this toil. Both thorns and thistles that shall grow for you, and you will eat the plants of the (15:48) field.

Thorns and thistles were not part of the original very good creation. Whether these features (15:56) were latent and now activated or newly created, the result is the same. Agriculture became difficult (16:04) and dangerous.

Thorns puncture and cut. Thistles prick. Handling plants now risks pain and infection.

(16:15) Before the fall, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, freely eating from its trees, (16:22) except, of course, for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (16:26) Now, soon to be expelled from that paradise, they must eat the plants of the field, surrounded by (16:34) thorns and thistles. The adamah, once cooperative and fruitful, now produces resistance and (16:43) hardship.

So why curse the ground? Why expand Adam’s punishment to impact more than just himself? (16:56) Why curse the ground, the adamah, and by extension all of nature, affecting every living thing? (17:05) That is a massive judgment. The answer, I believe, lies in God’s justice and original learning. (17:15) In the day that you eat from it, you will surely die, Genesis 2.17. And Adam must die physically.

(17:25) God did not strike him with lightning, swallow him in the earth, or send an angel. Instead, (17:32) he subjected the entire natural realm to mortality so that the penalty could be honored (17:40) consistently for every sinner who would follow. Before the fall, the physical realm operated in (17:48) the state of immortality.

Nothing wore down, rusted, decayed, or died. This is the only (17:56) kind of nature in which something like naturalistic evolution could theoretically function. (18:03) Eternal, except we know it’s not eternal, it has a beginning, (18:07) with no death, perpetual motion, spontaneous generation, and no increase in entropy.

(18:15) But the evidence shows otherwise. The second law of thermodynamics declares that entropy, (18:21) disorder, and randomness always increases with time. Death, decay, and extinction are now the (18:31) rule.

Romans 8 captures this reality vividly. Creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, (18:41) but because of him who subjected it, and hope, Romans 8.20. The whole creation groans and (18:49) suffers the pains of childbirth, waiting to be set free from its bondage to corruption (18:56) when God’s children are revealed in glory. Thorns, toil, pain, and childbirth, aging, disease, (19:03) and death all trace back to this curse on the Adam, because of Adam.

So what do we inherit (19:14) from Adam? According to Romans 5.12, sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin. (19:23) And death spread, not sin spread, but death spread to all because of sin, because all sinned. We do (19:33) not inherit Adam’s guilt or predetermined sinful nature that renders us incapable of response.

(19:41) We inherit mortality. Physical life is now brief, and we return to dust, as we’ll see tonight. (19:52) The adamah from which we came.

Each of us dies spiritually because of our own sins, (19:59) not Adam’s. Yet the good news shines brightly. Salvation is offered to all.

Righteousness (20:06) comes through faith to everyone who believes. The path is narrow, and few find it, but the (20:13) invitation is universal, not limited to a predetermined few. Through the last Adam, (20:21) Jesus Christ, we can be made alive, and one day the curse will be lifted, and creation (20:29) will be liberated, and the groaning will give way to glory.

So, my friends, the curse on the (20:37) adamah, the ground explains the world we inhabit, full of toil, thorns, and death. And it also (20:46) points us to the Redeemer who bore the curse for us on a wooden cross, crowned with thorns. (20:54) Let us respond in faith, working out our salvation with fear and trembling, (21:01) knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.

May we live as citizens of the coming (21:08) renewed creation, where there will be no more curse, no more death, and God himself (21:15) will wipe away every tear. And that’s the sermon. We are extending the invitation now (21:22) to anyone who is subject to it, whatever your need, come while we stand and sing.