The Gospel & Salvation - Where Did the Problem Start

Where Did the Problem Start?

Genesis 3:1-7 

An Introduction

 Last week I introduced a new study that will be the focus of our worship time for the foreseeable future. We are looking at the gospel and the work of salvation. What I attempted to do last week was to demonstrate why there is a great need for this study. We must make certain that our spiritual lives are built upon a sure foundation. Satan is a deceiver and he has been successfully deceiving people concerning the work of salvation ever since there has been an offer of salvation from God. As we saw last week, nothing is as important as knowing we have believed a biblical gospel and that the evidence upon which we base our confidence in the work of salvation is biblical evidence. Our eternal destinies are the issue. No one is going to hell on my watch because they haven’t heard the truth of the gospel and been taught the truth concerning the work of salvation. 

In future messages we will have a lot to say about the meaning of salvation. But for now I want to give a brief overview of the gospel and salvation. The gospel is the good news that God has offered sinful man the gift of salvation. The salvation God offers is salvation from eternal death, sin, and the misery that accompanies sin. The basic meaning of the verb “sozo” (to save) is to rescue from peril, to protect, to keep alive. In the New Testament it is used to speak of preservation of life, either physical or spiritual. (It is not unlike the rescue of a drowning person, or a person rescued from a burning building, but in a spiritual sense.) When it is used in the spiritual sense, it speaks of the salvation of the soul as deliverance from death through Jesus Christ. Salvation is the rescue of the sinner from the wrath of God.

Does man need to be saved? Does man need salvation? I remember attending the funeral of a family member years ago. The pastor who preached the funeral did a good job of presenting the gospel and calling those who were there to respond and be saved. I remember getting into the family car to go to the graveside and another family member was in the car. This family member was of a different religious persuasion. She was angered by the message. She boldly proclaimed in the car that the Bible does not mention the need of man to be saved. She was convinced that was not a biblical idea, but rather a protestant fabrication. This family member had grown up in church. She obviously attended a church where the laity was not encouraged to read the Scriptures for themselves. If she were to read her Bible she would find the notion of “being saved” in many places. In fact, Jesus said in Luke 19:10 that He came to “seek and to save that which is lost.” Paul clearly states that we are saved by grace through faith in Ephesians 2. 

I recall reading an account of a man who wrote to his local newspaper after listening to a message at a Billy Graham crusade. He said he wanted nothing to do with a god who insisted his soul needed to be saved because he was a sinner. He believed himself to be just fine – not needing to be saved. He obviously did not believe what Genesis 3 says. This man is not unlike many others, even some within “Christian” circles.

From what do we need to be saved? This is an important question. We need to be saved from death. More specifically we need to be saved from eternal death. Unless the Lord returns before we die, no one here is going to escape physical death. We have all heard that the most reliable statistic is that 100 out of 100 people die. Why do we die a physical death? The certainty of physical death is a vivid reminder of the threat of eternal death. We die because of sin. Romans 6:23 makes it clear. “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” If sin causes death, it makes good sense to look at the Bible to understand sin. Salvation saves us from sin and its consequences. To understand salvation we need to understand that from which we are saved. We must understand that which is the cause of death, and that which places us in peril. This is sin.

Because the wages of sin is death sin is a serious problem for mankind. We cannot appreciate or understand the solution to our sin problem without fully understanding the problem itself. We need to understand our sin problem and the resulting consequences in order to fully understand and appreciate the salvation that provides the remedy. The better we understand our sin problem the more we appreciate the good news of the gospel. 

Sin is the root cause of every problem mankind faces. Back in my maintenance days, when something went wrong we were trained in doing a root cause analysis. By getting to the root cause of the problem, presumably you could put steps in place to prevent the failure from happening again. If you look closely enough at any problem mankind deals with in our world, your root cause analysis will always bring you back to one cause. That cause is sin. 

Our emotional problems are all related to sin. (worry, fear, anxiety, depression, bitterness, mental disorders, etc.) Our social problems, such as prejudice, hunger, and poverty, divorce, corporate corruption, corruption in government, pornography, sex trafficking, and crime of every sort all result from sin. Our physical problems including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and even our old age issues are all the result of sin. Our relationship problems such as conflict in marriage or sibling rivalries all have roots in sin. The political divisions of our nation have their roots here. Every problem and every issue that brings conflict, pain, and misery to mankind can be traced back to sin.

We are going to spend some time in Genesis, in the passage where sin first appears in the Bible, to deepen our understanding of sin. The book of Genesis is essential to an accurate worldview. Genesis will give us an explanation of the problem of sin from God’s perspective. If we understand our sin problem from God’s perspective, we will quickly realize the need for God’s solution. If you try to explain mankind’s problems from any perspective other than God’s, you end up with a distorted view of the problem and a solution that will not solve the problem. Man’s attempts to explain the problem lead to man-centered solutions to the problem. Man’s solutions do not work.

Psychology is one of man’s feeble attempts to explain what is wrong with man. I am not willing to condemn everything psychology offers, but it doesn’t get the sin issue right, and for good reason. Psychology is the study of man from man’s perspective. Man looks at man and attempts to explain man’s problems from a purely human perspective. A far better approach is the biblical approach. Biblical anthropology is the study of man from God’s perspective. Who knows us better than our Creator? Whose perspective has more credibility? God’s perspective provides the only reasonable explanation for all the problems man deals with in this life.

The biggest issue with man’s explanations of man’s problems is that man’s explanations tend to make man the victim rather than the source of the problem. Man’s study of himself leads to flawed conclusions because it starts with a flawed premise. Man will not properly diagnose his problem because man has a fundamentally flawed understanding of himself. When man analyzes himself and his problems, he begins with the premise that man is inherently good, or at worst is born as a clean slate, neither bad nor good. A person turns out either good or bad depending upon what is written on the slate. Therefore, man’s problems don’t originate from within himself, but are the result of his experiences with his environment. According to man’s analysis, man’s defects are the product of his lack of education, or a lack of opportunities, or genetic deficiencies. These are just a few of their varied explanations.

Did you hear Oprah’s explanation of obesity this week? I learned that my fat belly isn’t my fault. It isn’t the result of a nightly bowl of ice cream or the consumption of large quantities of fatty foods. I have a fat belly because it was written in my genetic code. She says that people aren’t obese because they eat too much. They eat too much because they are obese and their obesity is written in the genetic code. I’m so happy and relieved to learn that my fat belly isn’t my fault. I’m not at fault. I am a victim.

That all flows out of a mindset that seeks to blame my problems on someone or something else. If it is out of my control, then I am not responsible. I am a victim. If I am a victim I am not accountable for what I do. This is another manifestation of the blame game we will see play out in Genesis 3.

We have seen this for years in man’s approach at dealing with drug and alcohol addictions. The medical profession and psychologists call alcoholism a disease. If it is a disease it is no more your fault than cancer. The biggest problem I have with that is that alcoholics become alcoholics because of the decisions they make and their own choices. If you open the wrong bottle often enough and drink enough of it for long enough you will become addicted to what is in the bottle. You make the choice whether or not to open and drink what is in the bottle. If it is a disease it isn’t your fault. You will never be delivered under that premise.

I am going to encourage you to look closely and listen intently to God’s explanation of what is wrong with man. Genesis is God’s explanation of how the problems all got started. This is the only reliable explanation. It is the only explanation that makes sense. God gave this explanation to Moses and Moses recorded it for us exactly as God revealed it to him. This is the one and only true account of this monumental event in human history. This is exactly what happened.

This is not fiction, or myth, or an allegory. When the writers of the New Testament speak of Adam and Eve and this event, they were fully convinced that they were writing of actual historical people who were exactly as they were described in this book. Critics of the Bible create ways to discredit this account and attempt to find other ways to explain why man is the way he is. If the Fall of man into sin can somehow be explained away, then man’s condition which resulted from the Fall can be dismissed. If man’s condition as a sinner can be dismissed, or somehow explained away, then man doesn’t need a Savior. 

For a little background to the Genesis 3 account we need to back up into chapter 1 and 2 for a moment. Chapter 1 gives the details of creation from day one to day six. In verse 27 of chapter 1 we read, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” He gave them instructions to be fruitful and multiply, and in verse 29 the text reads, “Then God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.” It is worth noting verse 31. “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” This is important because when we get to chapter 3 and the account of man’s disobedience, it won’t be because of any external factor. Man wasn’t desperate for food when Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit. 

Chapter 2 contains the details of day six and the creation of man and woman. God formed man first out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. (v. 7) Verse 9 tells us again, “Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Now look at verses 15-17. “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of  good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

The rest of chapter 2 goes on to give the details of the creation of the woman. God gave the instructions regarding what was permissible to eat to Adam before Eve was created. Verses 18 through the rest of chapter 2 give the details of the creation of the woman and the establishment of the marriage covenant. Verse 25 concludes with, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

They were not ashamed because there was no sin to cause shame. They were pure. They were innocent. They were untainted and unaffected by anything sinful. They didn’t know evil. They were naked and unashamed because they didn’t know that sexuality could be used for selfish, sinful purposes. There were no perverse thoughts running around in their heads. We have shame because we have perverted ideas that pop into our sinful minds. This statement at the end of chapter 2 is important because it tells us that there was no inward propensity to evil. There were no temptations to sin. The enticement to sin did not come from within either the man or the woman. There was no selfishness and therefore no conflict in the first marriage relationship. They enjoyed perfect harmony and unity and intimacy and fellowship with one another and with God. Everything was very good. But that is about to change.

In Chapter 3:1-7 we have this account of the most tragic event in human history. Read these verses. This explains the human dilemma. This explains how we could go from Genesis 1:31 where God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good, to the world in which we live today which is full of violence, hatred, conflict, disease, and misery of every imaginable sort. Something caused mankind to go from a world of perfection to a world of pain and problems. This is the explanation. Something caused the man and woman to go from being naked and feeling no shame, to shame related to their nakedness. Shame is a function of guilt. Guilt is the product of sin. This is the account of the origin of sin into God’s perfect world.

One thing the biblical record does not tell us is the timing. We don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden before this event occurred. We do know that the fall into sin happened before there were any children born to them. In chapter 5 we read that Adam was 130 when his third son Seth was born to him. We are not told how long it was before Cain and Abel were born. It may have been that Adam and Even had enjoyed life in paradise, free from sin, for quite some time. 

It is interesting to note that while this is the account of the original sin, the word “sin” does not appear in this text. We call this the account of the Fall of man and the word “fall” does not appear in the text. But the insight we gain from the rest of Scripture tells us that this is the original sin involving man. We also know, based on the verses we read from Romans 5 in our Call to Worship, that this sin had far reaching implications and consequences that have impacted every person who is a descendant of Adam. Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

At the onset let’s acknowledge the first thing I think this passage reveals. God is not responsible for the evil that is found in this event. It is the creatures whom God created who are responsible for the evil. Scripture affirms that God is good and everything He created was declared at first good and then ultimately “very good.” God is not responsible for evil or sin. The creatures of God, those creatures whom God made, they are responsible.

The biblical record affirms that God is not responsible for sin. Speaking of God, Habakkuk 1:13 says, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor.”  First Corinthians 14:33 says, “God is not a God of confusion.”  Confusion is a product of sin.  First John 1:5 says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”  James 1:13 says, “God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”  First John 2:16 says, “All that is in the world,” all evil categorically, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not from the Father.”  Psalm 5:4, “You are not of God who takes pleasure in wickedness, no evil dwells with you,” Psalm 5:4. The origin of evil starts somewhere outside of God.

So where does sin originate? Where does sin come from? What is its source? When God created angels and God created humans, He gave them intelligence, He gave them reason, and He gave them choice.  Intelligence gave them the ability to understand things.  Reason gave them the ability to process that understanding toward behavior.  And choice gave them the freedom to determine that behavior.  Intelligence, reason, and choice.  With what they knew, and with the ability they had to process that information, they would be brought to a choice.  And whether angels or men, they would have the choice either to obey God or not to obey God. 

This account of the first sin makes one thing very clear. The first sin was the result of the choice made by the creature, man. Obviously, God must have given man the freedom to choose between obedience and disobedience. God did not create robots. God created us as free moral agents with the ability to understand right from wrong, the ability to reason, and the freedom to choose whether to do what is right or what is wrong.

Now, the question then comes up: why would God allow sin? There are some who question the existence of God based on this question. If God is a good God, and He is sovereign, meaning He is in control of all things, then why would He allow this event to happen? Why would a good God allow His perfect creation to be so adversely affected by sin? He had to know what the result would be? He is all-knowing. So why?

I am deeply indebted to Dr. John MacArthur for the answer to this important question. He writes, “I can only speculate.  There’s no specific statement, but I think you can make a fairly reasonable speculation.  And it is this, what did sin coming into the world bring about?  Sin coming into the world brought about three things.  And these are the three reasons why I believe God allowed evil.

Number one, it brought about the salvation of sinners. God had to allow sin; God had to decree sin in the plan though never the author of it, in order that He might save sinners.  Well, why did God want to save sinners?  To put on display attributes that otherwise never would have been manifest, right?  How is God going to show grace if there aren’t any sinners?  How is God going to show mercy if there aren’t any sinners?  That was a part of God’s nature that God wanted to display for His own glory throughout all eternity.  So, God provided a means by which He could demonstrate grace. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:5-6, “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

God wanted to put His mercy on display. God also wanted to show love, love that is so far reaching that it can reach even His own enemies who hate Him.  How is He going to show that if He doesn’t have any enemies? We read that in Romans 5 this morning. While we were the enemies of God we were reconciled to Him through His Son. So, God allows evil in order that He might demonstrate grace and mercy and forgiveness and salvation.  

Secondly, He allows evil in order that He might display His wrath, in order that He might put His wrath on display, His anger on display, His judgment on display.  How would God ever reveal that part of His true and eternal nature if there were not an opportunity to judge sinners?  And so, all you can do is look at redemptive history and you see the salvation of sinners and the damnation of sinners and that is what goes on and you see ultimately a place prepared for those who are damned and a place prepared for those who are saved and you must conclude then that the eternal purpose of God was to save some and judge some in order that He might demonstrate both His grace and His wrath.

And then, I like to throw a third thought in there.  I believe that God allowed sin in order that He might forever destroy it.  As long as His creatures have any measure of freedom, as long as His creatures have intelligence, that is they can know and reason, that is they can process that knowledge toward behavior, and choice, that is they can choose what to do, as long as they have that capacity there is a potential for them to fall short of the standard.  Right?  To make the wrong choice.  Well, it didn’t take long for them to do it.  

God allowed evil to come to the surface so that He could deal with it and eliminate it completely. That’s what’s going to happen when the whole of redemptive history is complete, when all the saved are saved and all the lost are cast into the lake of fire, then death and hell are thrown into the lake of fire.  What does that mean?  No more death and no more hell and no more judgment.  Why?  Because there won’t be any more sin.  And when you go to heaven, there’s no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more sin, no more dying, no more death.  So, I think God decreed evil within His plan without creating it for those three reasons: to save sinners, to judge sinners and to once and for all and forever destroy evil.  

This was the introduction. There is a great deal to understand about sin. Next week we will dig into Genesis 3 to examine the text and all it reveals about this, the most tragic, most destructive, saddest event in human history. Let’s pray.