Valley View Baptist Church Pastor Curt Audet
6N656 Route 25 May 24, 2026
St. Charles, IL 60174 vvbcil.com
“The Effect Of Evil” (Genesis 3:7-24)
12th in the message series Harbors For Our Soul
BI: When Man used their moral capacity to take the temptation-bait, death immediately manifested in the human experience.
In terms of human moral choices Good and Evil can be seen as this simple:
Good – Obedience to God’s Command.
Evil – Disobedience to God’s Command.
Opportunity to sin and pursue evil has always been available to the Man and the Woman since Creation. Part of being a Christ-follower, is realizing we are no longer the master of our lives, and we affirm Jesus Christ as our Savior, Lord, and Master. We face an internal battle of our own heart against patterns of evil, so we increasingly seek God’s rule , surrender to the Holy Spirit’s work in us and glorify God in in our lives.
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame . . . 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13)
Last week we primarily answered two questions from Genesis 3 and other passages. I encourage you to visit the website any week that you miss a message. There you will find the video and a transcript of the message to read and study from. Beginning June 3, our 6pm Wednesday small group will discuss the messages given the previous weekend. To participate, you will need to sign-in on the back table letting me know you will be ready. Other small groups can be formed closer to your area—maybe in your home!
When did evil enter God’s good world? Between Creation and the events of Genesis 3, evil entered this world when the angel Lucifer (aka, Satan) was cast down from heaven to earth because of his pride and rebellion toward God. Since then, he serves the dishonorable use of leading a rebellion-of-disobedience against God among demons and humans.
When did evil enter the human experience? Circle or highlight Genesis 3:6 in your Bible. This is the moment when Man and Woman embraced evil. They made a morally evil choice to disobey God. This is what we know as ‘sin.’ This immediately began the effect of evil upon humanity. And this is the subject of today’s message.
Here’s what happened in Genesis 3:1-6,
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
I. The Consequence (3:7-13)
Question: So, did the Man and the Woman die as God had warned them?
What do you think? The Satanic Serpent boldly contradicted God mocking, “You will not die!”, when you eat of this Tree. Sure enough Adam himself lived to be 930 years old when he died (Genesis 5:5). He and Eve’s children and grandchildren shared similarly long life spans. When Man used their moral capacity to take the temptation-bait, death immediately manifested in the human experience. The bodies designed by God to live forever began to die. We see it ourselves, do we not? Age. Health problems. Accidents. All together contributing to the dying cycle.
Having read and studied Genesis 1-2, arriving at verse 7 should both provide answers about what is wrong in our world, as well as remind us of decisions we made ourselves and some devastating consequences.
Their eyes were opened to shame of sin suddenly in their nakedness. (v.7) The perfect relationship between the Man and the Woman was now broken. They were just beginning to understand why. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Quick, inadequate coverings.
They experienced instant separation of relationship with the Lord. (v.8-10) The precious walks with the Lord in the cool of the Garden were lost. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” God called out to them from a new distance. The first time in recorded history fear entered the human experience. And, tragically, fear of their Maker, their Heavenly Father. A new broken normal.
They began to backbite and blame-shift rather than take responsibility. (v.11-12) 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Implying God’s culpability!
They refused to own their moral sin and repent. (v.13) 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Again, God’s culpability!
II. The Curse (3:14-19)
Q: How did life change for Creation and Humanity from that point on?
A Strong Word for the Satan-possessed serpent. (v.14-15) Satan was the only player here with manipulative and malicious intent. His aim was to destroy the humans and add them to his army of hell-bound rebels. This remains his goal. “Satan” means “deceiver”. The most unfortunate player was the snake whom Satan possessed. Snakes likely were not slithering through the Garden before this turn of affairs.
14The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
God promised a war between Satan and the people that seek and pursue God’s forgiveness and redemption. Know this: Satan cannot make any one of us sin. He does not have this power. And as Christ-followers, we have the Holy Spirit now leading to victory over this Serpent! I’ll Have more to say on v. 15 in a few minutes.
A Strong Word for the Deceived Woman. (v.16) The Woman was deceived within a few feet from her husband. The Serpent came to her, leveraging the small distance between her and Adam. He then twisted the Word of God which the Woman had heard from her husband. 16 To the woman he said,“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” The so-called ‘curse’ is the horrible outcome of making the moral choice to do evil. From this point on—and no children have been born to them. Eve is called the ‘mother of all living’; in this is hope, but in the process of childbirth the outcome of sin is pain. Furthermore, the impact of evil in human relationships promises that bitterness toward her husband will come easily, as well as his perhaps unkind desire to control her. Brokenness that we see and live every day.
A Strong Word for the Rebellious Man. (v.17-19) Adam bore the brunt of the Curse because he bore the brunt of responsibility in this matter. God made him before He made Eve. God prepared him to lead his wife and to protect her. In this scene the Man catastrophically failed. He wasn’t deceived. He was complacent. He wasn’t tricked. He was rebellious. He stood by while hearing Satan’s lies! He allowed his precious wife to be deceived within his hearing.
17And to Adam He said,“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall ore the eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Take note that his failure was NOT ‘listening to the council of his wife’, but listening to the poor suggestion of his wife without discernment! Your wife will be likely your best counselor and friend. But her words cannot override the commands of God. Also note, God clearly indicates that in time—unnatural until evil entered the human experience—the Man and Woman would one day die and be buried in the dirt with which God made them.
III. The Cross In The Garden (3:15, 20-24)
Q: How did God respond to the human willful choice to sin?
God immediately responded with a plan formed in eternity past of Rescue, Reconciliation and Redemption. Genesis 3 is the ‘First Gospel’ in seed form. How?
The Promise of the Woman’s Seed Crushing Satan (v.15). 15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Here God speaks to the serpent and promises a war between the serpent (Satan) and the people of God, particularly One known as the “seed” of the woman. This is a first reference to Jesus Christ born of a Woman to both seek and to save the lost! This is pointing to Jesus: One day Jesus would sustain a mighty blow from Satan, but in response Satan will be defeated and destroyed. Satan would “bruise His heel” — in Christ’s crucifixion. Christ would crush the serpent’s head decisively defeating Satan through His death and resurrection. The cross appears here in seed form in the suffering victory and the triumph through apparent defeat. This connection is echoed in:
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (Romans 16:20)
[Humanity] shares in flesh and blood, [Jesus] Himself likewise partook of the [flesh and blood], that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14-15)
“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
The Covering of Adam and Eve (v.21) “20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Notice the promise of life in v.20?Their own fig leaves were inadequate. God provided a covering through the death of an innocent animal.
In this, we see foreshadowing of Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice as the ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” His blood shed was the payment of sin. In Christ we are given His righteousness in exchange for Him bearing our sin. This looks to the cross for ultimate fulfillment: Jesus dies in the place of sinners, and believers are “clothed” in His righteousness.
Exile from the Garden and Redemption Through Christ (v.22-24) 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
The Trinity Council (Genesis 1:26-27) determines to rescue Adam and Eve through expulsion from the Garden and the Tree of Life which. If the Tree of Life were to be eatenfore their reconciliation with God would eternally seal their—and our doom. In time the cross opens the way back. Reconciliation with God becomes possible, eternal life is restored in Christ. Revelation 22 completes the story begun in Genesis 3 access to the tree of life is restored, the curse is removed, God dwells with His people again. Genesis 3 the first rays of redemption that ultimately point to the cross of Jesus Christ.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
You know the pain of separation from God; learn the joy of redemption!
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