26-0412p Transcript

(0:33) All right, tonight we’re going to close out chapter 3 of Genesis. (0:38) Good to see everyone.

(0:41) We are continuing our study of Genesis chapters 1 through 11. (0:45) Tonight we will be finishing up God’s pronouncement of punishment on Adam for his sin in Genesis 3.19. (0:54) And originally that’s all I was going to do tonight. (0:57) And I decided to continue on and finish the chapter.

(1:02) But remember that in addition to God and the man and the woman, (1:07) that also the host of heaven that witnesses what’s going on here. (1:15) I think that’s one of the keys to understanding a lot of the things in the Bible is who’s all watching. (1:25) And why did Jesus speak in parables in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 tells us that God’s wisdom was hidden.

(1:37) It was hidden for a purpose because if they had known what God’s plan was, they wouldn’t have crucified Jesus. (1:47) And so that was hidden. God’s plan was hidden.

(1:51) Even though he made all kinds of ways of showing what he was going to do, it was still hidden. (1:58) And so there’s a lot going on that helps with the why of what we see in the scripture. (2:05) So after the fall, God pronounced to the serpent that it would now crawl on its belly to move around.

(2:13) God also prophesied the demise of Satan by the woman’s seed in Genesis 3 verses 14 and 15. (2:23) The woman is told that her pain in giving birth, the means by the way, (2:39) that’s how her seed who will vanquish the serpent will come about through childbirth. (2:49) So her pain and childbirth will be increased from what it would have been had she not sinned, Genesis 3, 16.

(3:01) Then she’s told, according to the ESV version, that her desire will be contrary to her husband, but he shall rule over her. (3:13) And so there will be marital relationship problems for the woman and by extension the husband also. (3:25) Both for the serpent and for the woman, the pronouncements God makes against them is limited mainly to them.

(3:35) And I put in here, the woman’s may impact her husband also, which I just said before. (3:41) But the scope of their pronouncement is limited to them, the serpent, Satan, and the woman. (3:53) Now God makes a pronouncement against man, against Adam.

(4:00) The first thing he does isn’t to Adam himself. (4:05) The scope expands and the impact of Adam’s sin is extended to all of creation. (4:18) First we are told why the scope is going to be expanded at verse 18.

(4:23) Because you listened to your wife and ate, curse is the ground because of you. (4:29) Because Adam listened to a close, trusted voice and acted on that voice, (4:36) is given as the reason that he went ahead and listened to that, acted on that advice, (4:45) is the reason given why the ground is cursed. (4:49) But he listened to the wrong voice and Adam didn’t listen to God’s voice.

(4:54) So here we have plainly stated that God expects us to listen to him over even our most intimate spouse. (5:05) And because of that, God expands the scope of Adam’s sin to not just him alone, but to all of creation, will be punished. (5:16) Genesis 17b, second part of 17, through verse 18 we saw how this takes place.

(5:24) God curses the ground and eating will require toil all the days of your life. (5:30) We saw that this morning. (5:32) And the ground will now produce thorns and thistles.

(5:38) And that brings us up to our text tonight. (5:45) Where God pronounces judgment on Adam directly. (5:49) He says in Genesis 319, (5:53) By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, (6:01) for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

(6:09) The punishment continues, focusing, I find this interesting, (6:17) cursing the ground and then Adam returning to the ground. (6:26) Both of them centered around how they would eat. (6:31) They would eat and toil and sweat.

(6:39) So, the theme focuses on eating. (6:45) And food acquisition is going to be a major concern for people. (6:50) And if you remember on the Sermon on the Mount, one of the things Jesus talked about was, (6:56) don’t be concerned about what you eat.

(7:02) So that from this point on, finding something to eat isn’t just a given. (7:11) It will require toil and sweat. (7:16) But also now, finally, the death sentence is pronounced.

(7:20) It’s interesting that the most prominent penalty in the warning was, (7:25) if you eat this you will die. (7:29) But it’s the last thing mentioned when God meters out his judgment. (7:35) Just an observation.

(7:38) This is not an afterthought. (7:40) It’s the final crushing point of God’s pronouncement to Adam. (7:45) Everything else in the curse, thorns, thistles, painful labor, leads here.

(7:51) The penalty for eating the forbidden fruit is not merely hardship. (7:58) It is mortality itself. (8:01) Death is now on the horizon of human existence.

(8:05) So let’s look carefully at these verses and listen for the Hebrew wordplay (8:12) that makes God’s sentence stand out even more. (8:16) And to tell you the truth, I had no idea there was any kind of wordplay going on. (8:24) I guess I can’t say that.

(8:26) Because you get the idea that there might be wordplay when Adam says, (8:34) I’ll name my wife a woman because she was taken out of man. (8:40) But you don’t see it in English. (8:43) But there is a definite Hebrew wordplay going on.

(8:49) And except for this study, I wasn’t aware of it as much. (9:00) So the man is called Adam. (9:03) The ground is called adamah.

(9:05) And they sound almost identical because they are intimately related. (9:10) Adam was taken from the adamah. (9:14) Now, because of sin, he will return to the adamah.

(9:19) The very name Adam carries the reminder. (9:22) They come from the same root word. (9:25) So his name carries the reminder of his origin, (9:29) and now it will carry the reminder of his destiny.

(9:34) He’s not some exalted independent being. (9:37) He is earth man or dust man. (9:41) You are dust, God declares, and to dust you shall return.

(9:47) The wordplay drives it home, Adam from adamah back to adamah. (9:55) The ground that once gave him life will one day reclaim him. (9:59) And every time his name is spoken, the curse echoes.

(10:05) From the sweat of your face before the fall, the ground yielded its fruit almost effortlessly. (10:15) Adam’s work was worship. (10:17) Now work becomes toil.

(10:20) The same soil, adamah, that once served him now resists him. (10:26) Bread, once the simple gift of paradise, must now be earned with aching muscles and blistered hands. (10:33) Every loaf carries the taste of the curse.

(10:37) This is not God being cruel. (10:39) This is God being honest. (10:42) Sin always turns blessings into burden.

(10:46) And second, till you return to the ground, till you return to adamah. (10:52) The word till is a death sentence with a clock attached. (10:57) We have an expiration date.

(11:00) You will work and you will sweat, and one day the ground, the adamah, that fed you will swallow you up. (11:09) The very dust from which you were shaped will reclaim you. (11:13) The Hebrew is blunt.

(11:15) adamah, or ground and soil, and Adam are forever linked. (11:20) It’s a pun, a play on words, and that pun is relentless. (11:26) I’m not going to go into the English equivalent.

(11:30) I talked to Jim, and was it you, John, this morning? (11:33) And if you want to have some idea what that’s about, go talk to him. (11:39) Third, the divine diagnosis for you are dust. (11:45) God does not say you will become dust.

(11:49) He says you are dust. (11:52) And that was always true, even in innocence. (11:56) The difference now is that the breath of life no longer holds death at bay.

(12:01) The image bearer is now mortal. (12:05) The glory of Eden cannot hide the frailty underneath. (12:10) And this is the carrying out of the penalty God warned about in Genesis 2.17. (12:15) And the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

(12:39) Spiritual death happened the instant they ate. (12:42) Fellowship with God shattered. (12:44) They hid themselves from God.

(12:47) They couldn’t stand to be in the presence of God. (12:50) Physical death was now guaranteed. (12:53) It just hadn’t arrived yet until God pronounced it here.

(12:58) Genesis 3.19 sets the appointment. (13:01) From this moment forward, every human heartbeat is a countdown to your expiration date. (13:09) This verse is not ancient history.

(13:11) It’s your biography and mine. (13:15) We still eat bread by the sweat of our brow. (13:18) You know, I tried to find that.

(13:21) But on the app that I have, every Bible translation I looked at, (13:28) even the King James and the American Standard 1901, (13:34) they both showed everything said by the sweat of your face. (13:38) And I’m sure it used to say, by the sweat of your brow. (13:44) Do you remember that? (13:46) Just wondering.

(13:48) Okay, but anyway, so we still eat bread by the sweat of our brow. (14:00) We still bury our dead. (14:01) We still feel the ache in our bones that whispers, (14:04) Dust you are.

(14:07) Cancer, car accidents, old age, the AGE that Walter would talk about. (14:14) Every obituary is an echo of Genesis 3.19 and the Adamic wordplay. (14:24) The ground is patient and it waits for us all.

(14:28) Yet even in this dark pronouncement, grace is already stirring. (14:31) God does not leave Adam in despair and watch how the chapter closes (14:37) and notice the tender wordplays that shine through the judgment. (14:41) Chapter 2 and 3 are just full of these Hebrew wordplays.

(14:50) Genesis chapter 3, verses 20 through 24. (14:57) The man called his wife’s name Eve or Abba because she was the mother of all living. (15:08) And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them.

(15:14) Then God said, the Lord God said, (15:20) Excuse me. (15:22) Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. (15:27) Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.

(15:37) Therefore, the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground, the adamah, from which he was taken. (15:51) He drove out the man and at the east of the garden of Eden, he placed the chair of him and a flaming sword. (15:59) And that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

(16:06) And earlier in the story, when the woman was first presented to him, Adam had said, (16:13) This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. (16:17) And she shall be called a woman, ishshah, because she was taken out of man, Ish. (16:25) This is a beautiful pun.

(16:28) Ish and ishshah, man and woman, sound alike and belong together. (16:33) And they are corresponding partners made for one another, bone of bone and flesh of flesh. (16:39) And the word play celebrates their unity as husband and wife.

(16:45) But now, after the fall, Adam gives her a new name, Eve. (16:52) Or in Hebrew, Chavah. (16:55) The text tells us why.

(16:58) Because she would be the mother of all living. (17:02) Chavah sounds like the Hebrew word for life or living. (17:09) Even as death has been pronounced, Adam looks at his wife and names her life.

(17:19) He believes the promise of Genesis 3.15 that through her seed would come the one who would crush the serpent’s head. (17:29) In the midst of the dust and judgment, he clings to hope. (17:34) Chavah becomes a declaration of life amid mortality.

(17:40) Then the Lord God himself becomes the first tailor. (17:43) He takes innocent animals, sheds their blood, and fashions garments of skin to cover the shame of the naked sinners. (17:54) Blood is spilled so that nakedness can be clothed.

(17:59) This is the first picture of substitutionary atonement in Scripture. (18:06) But grace does not cancel judgment. (18:08) The man and the woman are exiled from Eden.

(18:13) The ground, adamah, still calls to Adam. (18:16) The tree of life is guarded by cherubim and the flaming sword. (18:20) Eternal life on fallen terms is the worst possible outcome.

(18:25) God will not permit it. (18:27) Humanity must feel the full weight of the curse before the full weight of redemption can be received. (18:34) So the chapter ends with the two exiles.

(18:38) Walking east, away from the garden, away from the tree of life, (18:44) carrying the memory of what was lost and the promise of what will be one day restored. (18:53) Adam returns to the adamah in toil. (18:56) ish and ishshah face life together as husband and wife.

(19:02) And Chavah carries the hope of life. (19:06) My friends, Genesis 319, with all its Hebrew wordplay, is not the end of the story. (19:13) It is the honest diagnosis that makes the gospel sweet.

(19:17) Because the second Adam, Jesus Christ, came from heaven to earth. (19:23) He was not made from the dust, but took on our dust-like frailty, (19:28) lived in life of perfect obedience, and then swept drops of blood in Gethsemane. (19:35) He hung, cursed, on a tree, his body torn by thorns, and he cried, (19:42) It is finished.

(19:43) And on the third day, he rose, dust reversed. (19:48) The grave could not hold him. (19:50) His body, David prophesied, would not see decay.

(19:56) One day, for all who trust in him, the curse of Genesis 319 will be lifted. (20:04) The Adam-adamah connection will be redeemed, and the sweat of the brow will give way to rest. (20:11) The return to dust will be answered by resurrection.

(20:15) ish and ishshah will enjoy perfect unity, and Chavah’s hope of life will be fully realized. (20:21) The cherubim will step aside, the flaming sword will be sheathed, (20:27) and the redeemed will eat from the tree of life forever, (20:31) and a garden city where death is no more. (20:35) Until that day, we work and we sweat, we bury our dead.

(20:41) But we do it with hope. (20:44) We do it knowing that the one who wore our dust has conquered it. (20:49) We do it as people who have been clothed, not with animal skins, but with the righteousness of Christ.

(20:58) And this makes a lot of sense of the passages that talk about Jesus coming bodily and dying bodily on the cross. (21:10) He took on, he put on our flesh, became dust like us. (21:16) A dust we are, but by grace, dust we loved.

(21:23) And one day, by grace, dust redeemed, when the last Adam makes all things new. (21:31) And that’s the sermon. (21:33) So the invitation is being extended now to anyone who is subject to it.

(21:38) Come, while we stand and sing.