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Look at Genesis chapter 3 verse 14, Genesis chapter 3 verse 14, the Bible said And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed. The title for the sermon tonight is, Thou Art Cursed. And of course in this chapter, we see the fool of man, we see them harken unto the voice of the devil instead of obeying the commandments of God, and God brings a curse upon this world. So let's look at verse number 1, Genesis chapter 3 verse 1. The Bible says, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, have God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Now the first thing I just want you to notice here, that we're brought, our attentions are brought toward this serpent, okay. Now this was the literal serpent animal that was being used by Satan to tempt Eve here in the garden, all right. But there is a teaching, there's a lot of people that think this serpent wasn't Satan, it was just a talking snake. The reason we know that this serpent, well there's several reasons why we know, but one of the main reasons we know that this serpent is Satan, is because the book of Revelation, in Revelation chapter 12, it confirms for us, speaking of Satan, it says in verse 9, And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. So one thing that you'll notice in the book of Genesis, is that it starts off a lot of principles, a lot of doctrines, which the book of Revelation will complete, okay. And there's a lot here in Genesis chapter 3 that hearkens to the book of Revelation. I'm going to touch upon some of that as we go through this chapter, or verse by verse, okay. But notice that he goes to the woman, Satan, you know, or the serpent under the influence of Satan here, goes to the woman, and the first thing he asks this woman is, Have God said? Yea, have God said? You see, this is how Satan works. What he wants you to think, or what he wants from you, is for you to doubt the words of God, to doubt the commands of God. Did God really say that? Is that really in his word? Is that really his command? Is that really in the Bible? Hey, it's no different now, okay. There's no different in our time. We have our society, we have watered down churches, we have false prophets asking the same question, Yea, have God said? And you know, you don't need to be the smartest person in the world. You don't need to be filled with wisdom. You don't need to be the most eloquent preacher. All you have to do, all God wants from you, is for you to say, Yes, this is what God has said. You know, for you to be able to lift up your Bible and say, Yes, God said these things, I might not fully understand everything that God said, but whether I understand it or not, I believe it. I believe what God says, and I'm going to stand on his word. You know, many things God instructs us to do, because it will benefit us in life. Though we may not understand what that benefit may be, we know that God is looking after our good. All right? But Satan, that old serpent, you know, came trying to cause us to doubt the word of God. Verse number two, Genesis three, verse two. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is the midst of the garden, God have said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest ye die. Now, Eve is correct, okay, or partially correct here. You know, God did say not to eat of it, but God never said not to touch it, okay? I've heard some people make that an issue, you know, that she's added here to the words of God. I'm not sure about that. I think she's just been extra careful not to go and touch that thing, you know, otherwise the temptation may come to eat of it. Regardless, she knew the commandment of God. She knew that God had told her not to eat of it, okay? But we know in this chapter, she does eat of it, okay? What does that teach us about ourselves? That we can be Christians, we can be believers that know the word of God, we know the doctrines, we know how we ought to live our lives, but we don't do it. We disobey God's word, okay? When we commit sin, when we break the laws of God, we're no different to Eve here, okay? We know what God says. That's why the Bible says not to be a hearer only of the word, but a doer of the word. What Eve should have been here is a doer of the commandment of the word of God. You know, she knew it, but she didn't do it. She didn't keep the instructions. She wasn't obedient to the command of God. Verse number four. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. I mean, just an outright lie from Satan, isn't it? You know, God says you will die on this day if you eat of that tree. Satan says, the serpent says, you're not going to die, okay? Now, I've already covered this. I don't want to go too much into it. I've preached on it before. But the death that Adam and Eve suffered here was a spiritual death. They did surely die. They did die on that day, spiritually speaking, okay? Not physically, but spiritually speaking, they did die, okay? Satan had her thinking about the physical life, but God's intention of his commands was to have them thinking about spiritual things. Same thing again, guys. The devil wants us to be focused on the temporal earthly things, the fleshly things, yet the greater truths are the spiritual, you know? Working for our spiritual things, laying up treasures in heaven. This is why it's important for us to have faith because this life is temporal. This life is a vapor and God wants us our focus upon eternity. But Satan's intention is for you to be thinking about this life. Now, you should be thinking about eternal life, okay? If you're unsaved, you need to be thinking about how do I make sure I have eternal life? And if you have eternal life, you ought to be thinking, how can I make the most of my situation now to have the maximum treasures and rewards into eternity? But you see, Satan wants you focused on this flesh, on this earth alone. Now, this was a lie of the devil. It's probably the first time, I would think it's safe to say, this is the first time that Eve or anyone has heard of a lie, okay? Because anything God says is true. The Bible says in John 17 17, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. See, everything God says is true. Everything that's in your Bible is true. You can stand firm and you know this is right. But once again, even if you don't fully understand it, you know it's true. You know it's right. You can stand true on the word of God, all right? But Satan, he's the father of lies. Can you guys just keep your finger there and turn to John chapter 8, please? John chapter 8 verse 44. And it's a very familiar passage, John chapter 8. I mean, if you feel like just getting encouraged, getting fired up, turn to John chapter 8 and always have a read of it, okay? It's Jesus just brutally demolishing the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the day. But in John 8 44, he says about them, ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. So he lies for his own benefits, okay? Satan finds satisfaction in seeing the people of God or just mankind in general disobeying or doubting the word of God. So Satan's the complete opposite to God. Every word of God is true. You know, we're sanctified, we're cleansed, we're set apart with his word. It's what gives us the power to walk in his ways. And Satan here is called the father of lies. Why? Because he's the first liar. You know, he brought this into practice. Like, you know, people did not know what a lie was before then, okay? Satan's the one that caused the lie. What does it mean to lie? It means not to tell the truth, okay? To be against God's truth. So he's the father of lies. And those that, you know, live a life of lies, habitual lies, you know, you could be like these Pharisees and fall into that idea that, you know, you have the devil as your father. Now, I'm not talking about believers here, but I do believe this is talking about reprobates, where somebody who's unsaved can live such a life of lying. I mean, I've met people that all they do is lie. They can't help but lie. And they lie so much that they believe their own lies. Have you ever... I mean, look, I've told lies. And I know when I've tried to cover up that lie, I've had to create another lie and another lie, okay? And it's a vicious cycle. It's a really bad place to be. But there are people that just lie, you know? That's all they do. And I think I've given you an example of one lady I used to work with. She just decided not to be at work for a while. And nobody could contact her. And she comes to work one day with a cast on her leg. She said, look, I had an accident. I'm sorry I couldn't, you know, I was in hospital. I couldn't reach. We found out later it was all a lie, you know? I mean, she put her own cast. She got a cast from somewhere, put it on her own leg and convinced herself that she was injured, you know? I mean, there are people that can be such bad liars that really they become a child of the devil, okay? I won't go into all that right now, but look at verse number five. Go back to Genesis chapter three, verse five, please. Genesis chapter three, verse five. And we should be reminded, you know, that we should strive to tell the truth always, you know? Because when we lie, we're following after the father of lives, you know, the devil there. But verse number five, verse number five, it says, for God doth know, this is the devil speaking, for God doth know that the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. So what's the temptation here? If you eat from that tree that God said not to, you're going to be like a god, okay? You'll know good and evil. You see, at this point in time, Adam and Eve, all they knew was the goodness of God. They only knew what good was. Hey, what's evil? Evil is harm. It's doing things, or sometimes not always, but sometimes doing things that are wrong, especially now we understand that it's against the word of God. And of course that brought them harm, okay? It caused them to sin, it caused them to fall, and obviously requiring Jesus Christ to come and die for us. But I want you to notice that if you guys just keep your finger there once again and turn to Isaiah 14, please, the book of Isaiah. This one's pretty important to turn to. So if you can please go there. Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. So we see the devil tempting Eve here that you can be like a god, okay? And isn't that what a lot of people believe these days? You know, when you ask them, do you believe in God? Well, I believe in some power. And you know, maybe we're all gods. You know, maybe I'm a god, you're a god, God is all in us. You know, we're all part of this one, you know, evolutionary or natural mindset, you know, mother nature, and maybe we're all God. And that's the kind of teaching that I find some people quoting here, you know, when we go door to door soul winning. They like to think of themselves as God, or they like to think of themselves as their own god. You know, I don't need God to judge me, I can judge myself by my own actions. You know, I can live according to the way I want, and in a sense, you become your own god. But look at Isaiah 14, please. Isaiah 14 verse 12. And this is a record here of when Satan fell from heaven, okay? And what was it that caused him to fall? Look at Isaiah 14 verse 12. You guys already know that Satan, we looked at this in the last chapter, that he was, you know, that perfect cherub, that beautiful cherub that walked in the Garden of Eden, okay? But now what we see happen here in Isaiah 14 verse 12, it says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Okay? So what did Satan want for himself? He wanted to be like God himself. And then verse 15, Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pits. And of course, we know that hell was created for Satan and his angels, all right? So we see the problem here that Satan had. He was filled with pride, okay? You know, he thought too highly of himself, and he wanted to be like God. He wanted to be worshipped like God, all right? And that reminds us of when Jesus Christ was in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. What was the climax of the temptation there? When Satan says, you know, bow down and worship me. See, Satan wants to be worshipped as God. He wants to be in the place of God, which is why ultimately in the book of Revelation, we read about the man of sin, we read about the beast, you know, how the devil possesses that man and he's worshipped. You know, that beast elevates himself as God. You know, Satan kind of gets his way for a time period in the latter days, all right? But one thing, it's not just that they would be like gods, but if you go back to Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 5, you know, Satan was basically saying to Eve that there was hidden knowledge that God had not revealed to them, okay? There's hidden knowledge that you don't know about, you know? And this is going to make you wise to know because you're going to know good and evil. You see, Satan made Eve think that God was holding back on her. You know, that there was something more than what she already knew that was the evil, you know, and she needed to be made aware of that so she could have a greater knowledge, to have greater wisdom. And we need to be careful as well, guys, okay? We should fill our minds, our heads with the wisdom that God gives us in this book, okay? Be careful. I'm not against going and getting other information, learning about other things, but be careful of what you learn, okay? You might be, you know, learning information of things that God does not want you to think about. You know, satanic things. Wicked things, exceedingly wicked things. You know, if you want to know about Satan, well, God tells us about Satan in his book. You know, we can see the wickedness of man in the Bible. We don't need to go to the resources, the books that these wicked people publish to know more about, you know, their wicked practices. Now, be careful with what you fill your mind with. And Eve here was tempted with the knowledge of evil, all right? Now, look at verse number six. Verse number six. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, see, the knowledge of good and evil, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. So there's a few things here. The first thing I want you to notice is that their eyes were opened, okay? Their eyes were opened and they realized, so there was an awakening. Satan had told them some truth, okay? They had come to understand that, you know, beyond goodness, they had come to understand evil to some extent and they recognized about themselves that they were naked. Now, in the previous chapter, we see that the husband and wife, Adam and Eve, were naked before one another, okay? And again, I just repeat that, there's nothing wrong with nakedness as long as it's in the boundaries of the marriage bed between husband and wife, okay? Now, one thing that's interesting here is when they committed sin, they became ashamed, okay? They became ashamed and even though it was an inward work, even though they died spiritually inwardly, it still came out in their physical bodies. They still realized their nakedness. There's some type of correlation between our physical nakedness and the shame that we feel when we sin. You know, this is no different. I have lots of little kids, right? And little kids sometimes commit sin. They disobey mom and dad, all right? And they think they can hide. Either they hide themselves when they break mom and dad's rules or they hide the evidence of what they've done or try to hide the evidence of what they've done, all right? Why? Why do they hide? Because they feel shame. They know they've done wrong. And that's a good idea, that's a good way for you to know whether I should be smacking my kids is when they start hiding things from you, they know they've sinned. And they need punishment. They need punishment so they know that there's a punishment for doing wrong. But this is sort of just a, it's not just little children. We all do this. When we all sin, we should feel a sense of shame, all right? About what we've done. And your natural reaction is to hide it, okay? God does not want us to hide our sins. God wants us to go to him, confess those sins so he can forgive us and we can continue to walk in fellowship with him, all right? So there's something about this, about being naked here and the shame they felt and they wanted to cover themselves. And in the efforts to cover themselves there in verse number seven, it says they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. Now I don't know what kind of aprons they made. I don't think it was a good job whatsoever, okay? They got some fig leaves together and tried to cover their shame. Now this is the first time that we see a workspace solution to cover sin and shame, all right? The first things that Adam and Eve thought about, we're naked, we're ashamed, we've committed sin, we've disobeyed the words of God, we need to be covered, okay? Now that's a good thing to think about, to feel shame. I know I've sinned and I need to be covered. I need to be forgiven, you know? Because I can't stand before God in the way I am. Hey, that's a good thing. This is why when we go door to door, we tell them for all have sinned and it comes short of the glory of God. So they realize I'm a sinner and I need a covering. I need something. I can't stand before God in this sinful state. That's a good thing. No, they came to realize something true, something good, but they went about it the wrong way. Instead of going to God and asking God how do we cover ourselves, they thought we'd work this out. You know, they start working their way to heaven. They start working their way to cover their shame and sinfulness and what they did, they got fig leaves together, tried to cover themselves with aprons. Later on in this chapter, we see that these aprons were insufficient, okay? We'll have a look at that later on. But I do want you to think about, you know, how this correlation with nakedness and the shame of sin, all right? Now, there are some people that basically have no shame in the nakedness. You know, strippers. You know, people that go to nudist colonies or nudist beaches or you know what, not even the nudist beaches. You go to any standard beach out here, you're going to see a lot of nakedness, okay? And that's wrong, okay? The Bible tells us that when we're naked, our natural reaction is to feel shame. Our natural reaction is to cover ourselves. So what does that tell you about people that feel free to flaunt their nakedness to the public? You know what they're saying? I have no shame. I have no sin is what they're flaunting. You know, maybe they're not aware of that, but subconsciously, that is what they're proclaiming to God. That's what they're proclaiming to the world. I have no shame. I have no sin. I don't care if I have to stand before God in the state that I am. You know, think about the way you dress when you go out. You know, should you be at these beaches where it's full of nakedness? You know, I try to be careful with where we go. You know, I'm not against beaches. I'm not against lakes and rivers. I think it's wonderful, you know, to enjoy the creation that God has given us. But be careful where you go, you know what I mean? We have kilometers of beaches. You don't need to go to the main beach where it's full of nakedness. You've got plenty of other beaches to go to, to enjoy yourself. Just be mindful about that, okay? You don't want to stand in front of people that have no shame of their sin, okay? Let's keep going. Verse number eight. Verse number eight. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. That's always interested me how this is worded in verse number eight. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden. What was walking in the garden? The voice of the Lord God walking in the garden. That just immediately reminds me. And by the way, obviously they saw God here. And we know that no man has seen the Father. So who did they see? It was Jesus Christ, okay? It was Jesus Christ that was walking in the garden. And of course, Jesus Christ, one of his titles, one of his names is the word of God. So it seems interesting to me that here he's referred to as the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden. It says in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. You see, their works-based efforts of covering their sin and shamefulness was insufficient, okay? They still had to hide themselves from the presence of God. Verse number nine. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree? Where have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? So I want you to notice here that God goes to Adam, okay? He doesn't go to Eve. He doesn't go to the serpent. He goes straight to Adam and says, What's going on, Adam? You know, where are you? Why are you hiding? Have you eaten from that tree? Have you committed sin? Have you disobeyed my commands? And we need to remember, men, you know, as husbands, as fathers, as the head of our house, we are accountable for our families, okay? It was Eve that committed sin first, okay? But Adam had to answer, okay? So even if there's sin within your own family, your wife commits sin, your children commit sin, you're accountable. You need to fix those things. You need to take a strong stance and put corrective action. You need to go to the Lord and pray not just for yourself, but keep, you know, be praying for your family, for your wife, for your children. Verse number 12, how does Adam respond? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. So Adam here, in his shame, is unable to take the blame, unable to take responsibility for the actions of his family. Who does he blame? Well, he blames Eve directly, and he blames God indirectly, okay? What does he say? And the man said, The woman, okay, Eve, the woman whom thou gave us to be with me. God, you gave me a faulty wife, is what he's saying, you know? Instead of just putting his hands up and saying, Yes, Lord, I've sinned. Yes, Lord, I'm responsible. He blames his wife. He blames the Lord, okay? And look, we can't, again, it's a natural reaction when you sin, all right? You need to grow up and be mature enough and say, Look, Lord, I've sinned. I'm accountable for my actions, okay? Instead of blaming other people. I hate it when I see people who are to blame, who know they've done wrong, blaming some occasion, blaming some situation, blaming other people, all right? I hate when I see that. Why can't you just own up for your mistakes? You know, I try really hard these days to own up to my mistakes, even when I feel like, Is that really my mistake? Hold on, what am I blaming? I think it was my mistake. I think it is my sin. You know, I'm more willing these days, because obviously growing, maturing in the Lord, and seeing these examples, these bad examples in the Bible, I don't want to be that way. You know, and I found when you sin, when you've done wrong, the best way to overcome it, the best way to overcome that shame is to fix it straight away. Just own up to the mistake and fix it, okay? And usually, you know, the punishment will come down, will be much less severe than it would be if you just try to hide it or blame other people, you know? Let's keep going, verse number 13. And the Lord God said unto the woman, so now it goes to Eve, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. So who does Eve blame? She blames the devil. And I'll hear people say, The devil made me do it. That's wrong, Eve. You did it. Yes, the devil put it in your mind, but you're the one that saw it pleasant. You're the one that thought he was going to make you wise. You're the one that took of it, ate of it, and gave it to your husband. Eve should have just said yes, but she's like her husband. Looks like Adam didn't set a good example here. He blames Eve. Eve then blames the devil, you know? The devil made me do it. I'll just read to you from James chapter 1, verse 14. It says, But every man is tempted when the devil makes him tempted. No, when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed, and when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Listen, your sins, you can't blame the devil. You can't blame another man. Your sins are your fault. It's your own lusts that come from your heart. Verse number 14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. All right, so it's quite interesting here in verse 14. So a curse falls upon Satan, or here in the form of the serpent. And all of the serpents are punished for the acts of the devil. Now I remember as a child when I read this, I think that's a bit unfair to the animal. I mean, it was a devil, right? It was a devil. But see, even the animal's to blame here, okay? Even the animal, you know, in what sense I'm not fully aware of how much an animal can be, you know, led astray by the devil. But obviously, the Lord punished the serpent here. You know, I'll give you my reason why I think that is in a minute. But it seems like prior to this event, or definitely prior to this event, the serpent did not go on its belly, okay? It looks like then the serpent had limbs of some sort, you know? Was it arms and legs like some other creature? Wings or something? I don't know. But you know, it had some type of limbs. And because it was cursed above every creature, then the serpent would go about it on its belly all the days of its life, okay? And also something that's missed by a lot of readers here, it's not just the serpent that's cursed. All the animals were cursed. Look at it again. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, okay? And above every beast of the field. So it's like every animal here was cursed. This curse of God has fallen upon all of creation. But the serpent took most of that curse upon itself and lost its limbs and would go upon its belly all the days of its life. Now, the reason I think this is the case, guys, is because when we see a snake, I think the Lord wants to remind us. When we see a snake slithering on the ground, okay? It's not that the snake is evil, okay? But it's just to remind us that, wow, you know, this reminds us that man has fallen against the Lord. You know, look at the curse of the snake, how it goes about it on its belly. You know, it's to remind us, wow, you know, we have sinned against the Lord. And to be aware that the devil is out there seeking to deceive us, seeking to cause us to doubt the word of God. That's why I think the Lord allowed this animal to be cursed is just for that reminder. We see that a lot in the Bible, you know, like the rainbow. That's to remind us of the wrath of God, how God had destroyed the earth, and he had promised not to do it again. You know, there's a lot of things in the Bible that the Lord does just to remind us. You know, it's like after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, he still had the nail prints. He's in his resurrected body, but he still had the nail prints in his hands. You know, why? So we can look upon him and remind us for all eternity the sacrifice that Jesus Christ has done for us, all right? Now, we're going to skip verse 15 for now, because I've got a lot to talk about in verse 15, which was your memory verse. I forgot to ask you guys. But anyway, let's go to verse 16 for now, verse 16. The Bible says, answer the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shall bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. So here we have God cursing the woman and all women following that, okay? Now, don't misunderstand. Don't misunderstand. Having children is not the curse. Don't understand. Don't misunderstand. Having the head, your husband as your head, is not the curse, okay? Because when we read chapter two, God already instructed Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, or that was chapter one, be fruitful and multiply. So God already, before the fall, before the curse, he already told Adam and Eve to have children. That's not the curse, all right? And he already told Adam that Eve would be a help meet for him, okay? So she was already, before the curse, under his authority, okay? He was, you know, to be the helper to the man. So what's the curse then? Well, let's put it like this. The Lord is saying he's going to greatly multiply the sorrow of conception, okay? So it was already supposed to be challenging to have children, but God would multiply that sorrow, that conception, the difficulty of having children. That's why, you know, giving birth is not a simple process. It's quite complicated, and it's quite painful for mothers to give birth to children. So remember, when I spoke to you guys last time, I said God has given man and woman these roles and responsibilities, and it's only by fulfilling these roles and responsibilities that you're going to find satisfaction. You're going to find fulfillment in life by meeting these things. So the curse makes it more difficult to find fulfillment, makes it more difficult to find satisfaction in these same things that God had already instructed them to do, okay? So I hope that kind of helps you, or helps clarify that. Now, keep your finger there and turn to, please turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2, please. 1 Timothy chapter 2. And while you're turning there, again, the woman was always meant to be subject to the man, okay? She was created to be that help, which was all good. But now, because of the curse, it says here that her desire will be to her husband, and he shall rule over thee, okay? So there's a greater desire, you know, for the man to rule over, or for the wife to be ruled by a man, okay? Because it takes greater effort to find that fulfillment and satisfaction under the authority of a man than it did prior to the curse, all right? So let's go to 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 11. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 11. Because this is an important principle that we learn now in the New Testament. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 11. It says, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. So this is in the case of a church, that when the teaching time, the preaching time is happening, that women are to learn in silence with all subjection. You're to be subject to the preacher, okay, at that point. Not to stand up here and preach, but to be silent. Verse number 12, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to accept authority over the man, but to be in silence. Why? Is this sexist? Why? No, verse 13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. Okay? And so, look at this, verse 13. For Adam was formed, then Eve. So already just by the way they were created, man first, then the woman, automatically the woman is under the authority of a man, prior to the fall. But then verse 14, for Adam was not deceived and added to the fall, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. All right? So what does this teach? Why does God prevent women from being a preacher, from being a teacher in church, from being a pastor? Why? Because women are easier to be deceived. Okay? Just like Satan deceived Eve, women preachers don't listen to them because they're deceived. I mean, they couldn't even read this passage and realize they're not supposed to teach in church. So what do you think you're going to get out of them when they preach? They're already deceived by Satan. Am I saying that men will never be deceived? Of course not. All of us are capable of being deceived, okay? But it's just that women, you're the weaker vessel. That's why as men we're instructed to look after you, to be accountable to you, to protect you, okay? But as the weaker vessel, you're more likely to be deceived than a man. The Bible says here that Adam was not deceived, right? What did it say in verse number 14? And Adam was not deceived. So he willingly took part of that fruit knowing that he was wrong, knowing that he was breaking God's laws, knowingly not deceived, okay? It's an interesting thought there, okay? It's almost like he just went along with his wife. And if I'm going to read to you from 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3, you guys can go back to Genesis 3 now. But 2 Corinthians 11 verse 3, it says, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Okay? For he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. You see, Paul was concerned that the church would be deceived just like the devil deceived Adam and Eve in the garden, or as he deceived Eve, it said here, through his subtlety. You know, as a church, we need to be careful, we need to stand strong in the Jesus that we know, Jesus the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, right? We need to make sure that we preach with the power of the Holy Spirit, not have some other spirit that enters this church, and we always stand true on the true gospel, which is salvation, available to us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, not of works, not of works, okay? We can't bear well with people that come with another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel, all right? We take strong stand. If we allow that, the Bible tells us we're being deceived by Satan, just like he deceived Eve, all right? Back to Genesis chapter three, verse 17, Genesis chapter three. So I hope you can see as we go through this chapter, there's a lot of doctrine here, okay? We're thinking it's just a story, but a lot of the Bible is built upon what we see happening here in chapter three. Verse number 17 now. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. So again, the misconception or the, you know, bad teaching here is to think that working, that a man having to work is a curse. No, no, no. Again, remember chapter two, God created man to twirl the ground, okay? God created man to work and to provide for his family. Working is not the curse. Again, working is what gives a man fulfillment, gives him satisfaction. Again, remember, keep those things in mind, all right? But what about the work was going to be, was the curse? That it's going to be more difficult, it was going to be more challenging than what God originally planned for man to have, okay? By the sweat of his face, he would have to provide for his family, all right? Work, instead of it being a pleasant job, it's going to require some effort. You know, it's going to take more labor than it did before, okay? So work in of itself is not the curse, but the curse is that it takes greater effort to have that fulfillment, that satisfaction that God intended, just like Eve. You know, her punishment wasn't, the child bearing wasn't to be undermanned, but the effort it would take to go through that, okay? Now, I'm going to read to you, just again, look at verse 17. And unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife. Now wives, please don't get offended at this, all right? But I'm just talking to the men here, or if you're listening online, men, we need to be careful, because when our wives speak to us, we love our wives. You know, they're gentle, they're soft, hopefully. We could hearken or listen to our wives instead of listening to God, okay? If Adam did that, we too could make that same mistake, okay? This is why God puts you as the leader of your house. It's because your wife will say things that are convincing, that sound good for the family, but it's against the word of God. And you're going to have to make that decision. Do I upset my wife, or do I upset God, okay? And let me tell you now, even if you go along with your wife to make her happy, it's going to cause problems into your family. It's going to cause problems in your marriage. You might as well just upset her this one time, show her where God said, no, we can't do this, this is how God wants us to do it, and just follow the ways that God said, it'll protect your relationship, it'll protect your family, okay? But these stories are here so we can learn, because there's going to come times when your wife comes to you and it's wrong, and you might feel, I'm just going to go along with it because I don't want to upset her. No, it's wrong, okay? Adam made the mistake, let's not make the same mistakes, and you will, you will in life make the same mistakes, but you need to learn and grow from this, okay? And then I'm going to just quickly read to you, just to show you how wives can turn the hearts of men. And we know the story of Solomon, and Solomon's a really bad example, it's an example, you know, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, and the Bible says in 1 Kings 11, 4, for it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David, his father, okay? So just to show you how wives, I mean, look, first of all, don't have multiple wives, all right? But even one wife, Eve, was able to turn Adam's heart against the commandments of God, all right? So be careful, men, and ladies, you know, be careful what you ask of your husbands, make sure it's aligned with the word of God, okay? Verse number 20, verse number 20, and Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. So that's important for us to look at later on, but I just want you to notice that she was called Eve, and the meaning of Eve is that she's the mother of all living, okay? In other words, Eve is all our mothers, okay? This lady who sinned, she's our mother, okay? And because we're born down this, you know, this lineage, we're all born in the sinful nature. But are we gonna blame Adam and Eve for our sin? That's what Adam did, that's what Eve did. They blamed others. No, no, no, you blame yourself because you've committed your sin. The sins you've committed is because of your own lusts, okay? Not because, you can't go in and just blame Adam and Eve, your own sins, you're accountable for them yourself, okay? Let's keep verse number 21, verse number 21. And to Adam also, and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them. So was God satisfied with the aprons of works, of the fig leaves? Wasn't good enough, okay? They knew it wasn't good enough. They were still ashamed. They were still hiding from God. They knew it wasn't good enough. So God, what did he have to do? He had to make coats of skins, meaning he had to kill an animal. He had to kill a creature. He had to shed the blood of an animal to be clothed, physically clothed in the skins of that animal. This shows us immediately what God requires. You know, what is it that covers sin? It's the shedding of blood. It's the shedding of blood. Now, of course, we know that the shedding of blood of this animal did not save them from their sins. We know that it was symbolic. It was a picture. It was a type of the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the land slain from the foundation of the world, okay? So, but it's there to teach them a lesson. The shedding of blood, death is required for sin to be paid for, for sin to be covered, all right? Symbolic of Christ's death for us. Verse number, so now we're going to go back to verse 15. Let's go back to verse 15, okay? Verse 15 is the first prophecy that we get in the Bible about Jesus Christ coming to die for us. It's the first prophecy, okay? Look at verse number 15. So this is after God curses the serpent, all right? Which is the devil. Verse 15, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shall bruise his heel. So let's keep your finger there. Let's go to the book of Revelation now, Revelation chapter 12, Revelation chapter 12. So verse 15 has a few interesting things here. It's got the woman who's obviously Eve, the woman. We know that Eve is what? The mother of all living, right? It has the serpent, right? And it has the woman's seed, the woman's seed, all right? Go to Revelation chapter 12, please. And verse number nine, I already read this one to you earlier on, but Revelation chapter 12, verse nine. So Revelation chapter 12 starts off with this symbolic representation of a woman, okay? And a lot of people struggle with this chapter of the Bible, okay? Now, I do struggle with some aspects of it, but I believe Revelation chapter 12 is the fulfillment of Genesis 3.15, okay? The ultimate fulfillment of that, the ultimate picture of what was prophesied. Because in verse number nine, Revelation chapter 12, verse nine, look at this. It says, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent. So this is the only other time in the Bible that tells us that Satan was that old serpent, as it were, in the Garden of Eden. So it's hearkening back to Genesis chapter three. It says, called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. So he deceived Eve. Now it's saying he deceived the whole world. What was Eve? The mother of all living, right? So he's deceiving the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. So we have the serpent in this story. Verse number 13, verse number 13, Revelation 12, verse 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast onto the earth, he persecuted the woman. It's interesting. So we have the serpent and now we have this woman, which brought forth the man child. And of course that man child, if you know your Bibles, was Jesus Christ, okay? That man child was Jesus Christ. And I don't have time to go through all of this, but of course the seed of the woman would also be the seed of Abraham, which we know was Jesus Christ, okay? So the seed of the woman is a reference to Christ, which makes sense for her in the story to bring forth the man child, okay? But let's look at verse number 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent, all right? So here we have this woman and guys, this is all symbolic. This isn't a literal woman going into a wilderness, okay? This is a woman who is fleeing from the serpent and she's nourished or looked after for a time and times so a time is one, times is two, times one to one, then times is three and half a time, that's three and a half. So this is the end times. This is the final seven years that we know about, the 70th week that's still to come during the tribulation time, the wrath of God, all these kinds of things. And so we see that this woman was being persecuted or being chased by the serpent for three and a half years, three and a half years. And of course, we know that at the midpoint of the three and a half or at the development of the three and a half years, at the midpoint of the seven years, we know that's when the antichrist comes up and who does he persecute? He persecutes the saints, he persecutes the believers, okay? Look at verse number 17, verse number, oh sorry, verse number 16, verse number 16. And the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth. So we know this is all figurative because the earth doesn't have a mouth, but the earth somehow opens her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. Look at this, and the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which kept the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So we see Revelation chapter 12 have the elements of the prophecy in Genesis 3.15, the serpent, the woman, and the seed of the woman, not just Jesus Christ, but it says here that this remnant of the seed, so those that are still there during this time period are called the woman's seed, okay? And what's special about this seed is that they keep the commandments of God, they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So these are believers, okay? These are believers that have been called the seed of the woman, and this should immediately remind us of Galatians 3.29, which says, if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and as according to the promise. You see, as believers, we can be rightly called the seed of Abraham or even the seed of this woman. Why? Because we're in Christ. Christ was that seed. If you're of Christ, you are also the seed, all right? So just, I don't wanna obviously go in great depths there in Revelation chapter 12, but what I believe Revelation chapter 12 is about, you might have disagreements, a lot of people have different thoughts of who this woman is, but I do believe this woman represents Eve. I'm not saying it is Eve. I'm saying it represents Eve. In what sense? Because Eve was the mother of all living. So I believe this woman represents everybody on the earth, being persecuted by the serpent for the first three and a half years. Why is that important? Because when we know Revelation chapter five and the opening of the seals, there's wars, there's famines, there's pestilences. The whole world is at war. There are billions of people dying on this earth. It's like Satan's trying to destroy the world, but he doesn't succeed in doing it. So three and a half years into it, instead of going after the whole world, he turns his attention, the fifth seal, we see the saints of God being beheaded, and we see the saints of God being persecuted, being killed, and this makes perfect sense here because the serpent is going after the seed of the woman. So I believe that Genesis 3.15 is being fulfilled here in Revelation chapter 12. Again, the woman is not Eve, but is representative of Eve as the mother of all living. So I hope that gives you some things to think about. If you have any questions about that, please ask me after the service. Please go back to Genesis chapter three now. Genesis chapter three, verse 22. Genesis chapter three, verse 22. And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. And let me just, before I say that, what did they learn? What did Adam and Eve learn? I mean, Satan was so deceptive, Satan's like this hidden knowledge of evil, but only once they've sinned, they realize they're the ones that committed evil. They're the ones that broke God's laws. You know, they were on this search of knowledge only to find that they were the ones that had to commit sin. They're the ones that had to do evil in order for them for their eyes to be opened and know what evil was. How deceptive, you know? Satan did not tell them, you will do evil. He said, you'll just know evil. But to know evil was for them to do evil, for them to harm themselves. But here it says that God says, that man is become as one of us in the knowledge of good and evil that is, and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. So God did not want man, once man was in their fallen state, he did not want the tree of life to be accessible by man. He did not want man to live forever in a fallen sinful state. Which goes perfectly with Romans 3 23. Or Romans, sorry, 6 23. For the wages of sin is death, okay? The punishment, the payment for our sin is to die. And that's why God had to restrict access to this tree of life, because if hypothetically they could access it, they could live forever in a fallen state. I mean, think about that. You know, man already in the short 70, 80, 90 years that we live, we're already very sinful creatures. Could you imagine if we could live forever? How much sin and evil and destruction we could bring upon this earth? You know, God had to cut down this time. God had to allow man to die, not just spiritually, but physically as well. So to prevent Adam and Eve from going to that tree of knowledge of good and evil, sorry, of the tree of life, in verse 23, it says, therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden. So he kicks him out of the garden to till the ground from whence he was taken. All right, so now let me just quickly cover this. If you guys can go to Genesis chapter five, please. Genesis chapter five in verse number two. Because how long did it take for them to be kicked out of the garden after creation? And I said to you guys on Sunday or the previous chapter, that it could have been several days later, it could have been several weeks later, it could have been even 100 years later, okay? And the reason I said that to you is because when we go to Genesis chapter five verse two, Genesis five verse two, this is the first time we get a reference to time. And this is when Seth is born of Adam and Eve after Cain killed Abel. But look at Genesis chapter five verse two. It says male and female, yeah, sorry, here we go. Male and female created he them and blessed them and called their name, am I reading the right thing? Sorry, guys, let me just check this out. Yep, my apologies. Verse number two, male and female created he them and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day they were created. And Adam lived at 130 years and beget a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth. So this is the first time we get a period of time. We know that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born. And we know that Seth was born after Cain killed Abel. How old were they? Let's say they were 20 years old, I don't know. So if they were that age when Cain killed Abel roughly, then we can see how easily they could have been in the garden for 100 years, then kicked out and obviously then had children after the fall of man, okay? Now, I'm not sure why it took 130 years or such a long time for Adam and Eve to have children. I don't really know why, okay? But we know that, and some people teach well, maybe because they were not physically, you know, intimate. I don't think that's true, because God gave the command to be fruitful and multiply. And if they weren't doing that, they would be breaking the command that God gave. So I don't have the answer to that, but I do believe they were physically intimate in the garden, okay? And then obviously, they had children after the fall of man. And then obviously, after they were kicked out, that's when they had children. I don't have an answer to that, but that's what the Bible teaches you, okay? So if we can go back to, why did I, oh yeah, for the time period. Let's go to Genesis chapter three, verse 20. Genesis chapter three, verse 24, please. Genesis chapter three, verse 24. Sorry guys, I think I'm getting a bit tired. There's a lot in this chapter. I'll start wrapping that up now here, okay? But verse 24, it says, so he drove out the man and he placed in the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. So we see God puts these cherubims, that's more than one cherub, and a flaming sword that prevented Adam and Eve and other human beings from going to this garden and eating of that tree of life, all right? That's interesting that cherubims are used because the Bible says that Satan was that anointed cherub as well. So Satan was one of these, was like one of these preachers prior to his fall. And so we don't have access to this tree of life physically speaking, okay? But if you guys can go to the book of Proverbs, please. Proverbs chapter three, Proverbs chapter three. We do, as believers, we do actually have access to the tree of life, okay? But it's not the physical tree of life that was in the garden of Eden at this point in time, okay? Spiritually speaking, there is also a tree of life that we can partake of, all right? Proverbs chapter three, verse 18. And I'll just show you a few instances here. We're just gonna look at every reference in the tree of life in the Bible, but Proverbs chapter three, verse 18, speaking of wisdom. If you guys remember what wisdom is, it's the correct application of knowledge. Again, it's being the doer of the word, not just a hearer. You hear knowledge, you know about it, but then to actually put that into practice, that's wisdom, okay? And he's speaking of wisdom in verse 18. It says about wisdom, she is a tree of life. To them that laid hold upon her and happy is everyone that retaineth her. So the Bible calls wisdom, getting the wisdom of God. You know, reading the Bible and gaining knowledge, doing the word that God has given us, he calls that the tree of life, spiritually speaking, okay? So we can actually partake of it, you know? As you learn the word of God, as you listen to preach and you read the word, you grow in knowledge, God calls that the tree of life, spiritually speaking. All right? Go to Proverbs chapter 13, verse 12. Proverbs chapter 13, verse 12. Proverbs chapter 13, verse 12. Speaking of hope, okay? Speaking of hope, it says, hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. You see, being a hopeful person, being positive minded, the Bible calls that also a tree of life, okay? A tree of life. When you have hope and that hope comes to be, the Bible calls that the tree of life. Again, this is not a physical tree of life, but it's a spiritual tree of life, okay? And we should be people seeking to be positive, to be hopeful, to hope for the resurrection to come, the coming of the Lord, which would be people that wanna eat of the wisdom of the tree of life that God wants to give us through his word, okay? It's just as important, it's just as important to us as eating literally from that tree of life and living forever. You know, having wisdom, having a hopeful spirit will cause you to live a much fuller and fulfilled life. All right? And of course, we all know this one, Proverbs 11, verse 30. Proverbs 11, verse 30. The Bible says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that win of souls is wise. You see, winning souls, when you see a soul saved, the Bible calls that the fruit of the righteous, okay? You're being fruitful as a righteous person and this is a tree of life. You know, when you open the gospel to a lost person and they receive Christ, you know what they've done? They've taken from that tree of life and eaten of it, okay? Again, not physically speaking, they're not going to live forever in the physical body because it's fallen, but spiritually speaking, they can live forever, live forever. They're born again, the spiritual man, the inner man has spiritually speaking eaten from that tree of life and he can live forever. If you guys can go back to Revelation now, Revelation chapter 22, I'm almost done. Revelation chapter 22, verse two. Revelation chapter 22, verse two. This is about the new heavens and the new earth, okay? And God has a tree of life or several trees of life here. Look at Revelation chapter 22, verse two. It says, in the midst of the street of it. So this is the new heavens and the new earth after the millennial reign of Christ. We already have our resurrected bodies, okay? It says here, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bear 12 manner of fruits and you don't have fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Now this is an interesting passage here, but in the new heaven and new earth, we're going to have access literally to that tree of life once again, okay? Say, why is that important? I don't fully understand it, okay? I don't fully understand it, but here's why. Remember how I said when God cursed a serpent, it's so when we see that serpent, we're reminded of the fall. We're reminded to beware of the deceitfulness of Satan, okay? Well, when we see this tree of life here, look at verse number three. It's to remind us of this, verse number three. And there shall be no more curse, okay? But the throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him. So in the new heavens and the new earth, I don't believe we're going to have to keep eating from the tree of life to have eternal life or something like that. I don't believe that's true. We already have our resurrected bodies, okay? Which has the imputed righteousness of Christ. And that's the best thing we'll ever have. And the way it's worded here in verse number two, it says, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. It doesn't say it is, or this ongoing process of healing of nations. It says it was. That was the purpose of it in the past, as it were, okay? But obviously we have our resurrected bodies. We can live forever, but it's there to remind us. Why couldn't we access the tree of life that we read about in Genesis? Because of the curse that fell from God. The curse upon all animals, the curse upon the earth, the curse on Adam and Eve, the curse on Satan. And when we see the tree of life in the new heavens and the new earth, we're reminded once again why. We have access. You know, we can eat of that fruit because the curse has been lifted. And I praise God. I'm looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth. I hope you are too. Let's pray.