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well thank you for preparing your hearts through the music tonight and uh it's humbling to see each of you in the service and i'm thankful for this opportunity to meet together let's go back to genesis chapter 2 tonight and review our verse genesis chapter 2 and let's look again at verse 7 of this chapter and the lord god formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul god created man with an eternal soul as we found out this morning but the eternal destination of that soul is our choice our soul is designed and capable of making choices god did not create a robot god did not pre-program the soul he created the soul with a an ability to choose all of our choices have consequences when i was a small boy one of my tasks was to make sure the cow tank was always filled with water and the cow tank was located in a corral if you please around the barnyard there by the barn and it was uh right by the milk house and inside the milk house there was a faucet that you could turn on inside and water would come out and flow into this cow tank my father had given me instructions as a four or five-year-old boy that was my job make sure that cow tank is always full so i'd go out there and i'd check it out and and uh those cows they could drink a lot of water that cow tank could go down pretty quickly when they would come up from pasture and get ready to go in for milking and i remember one day i went out there and saw that the cow tank was a little bit low and went into the milk house and turned the faucet on and the cows were coming up for the milking time and i always enjoyed that to watch them come up into that barnyard and kind of mill around and many would come over to that cow tank and i i knew most of them by names we named our cows they came up to get a nice big drink of water and i climbed up on the corral fence we had a board fence a a a fence around that barnyard and and uh it was probably oh maybe six or seven feet high and several boards across there that i could climb up and sit on the top and just inside that board corralled fence there was an electric wire that also went around that barnyard well as i was watching these cows i got thirsty and so i climbed down went into the milk house because in the milk house we had a little tin cup that tin cup always hung on the faucet and my dad would get a good cold drink of water out of that tin cup and he would often offer me one as well and i climbed up got that tin cup down and got a nice cold full tin cup of water and i went back outside and climbed up on that board fence and sat there with my cup of water and watched those cows as they came to drink as i did i looked down at that electric wire and i thought i wonder if i can hit the wire with some water i hid it at the age of four or five i had not yet been taught that water and metal are a very good conductor of electricity that electricity from that electric fence came up that water through that cup to my hand the cup went flying i went flying we never did find that cup again if my dad did find it in the manure of that corral i'm sure he decided we would never use that one again i made a choice and you know what i've never made that choice again nor have i ever encouraged anyone else to make that choice that was a bad choice it had bad consequences when i was 18 years old i made a choice to go to bible college it was not my first choice it was not exactly what i wanted to do but god through some circumstances pushed me to make that choice in that bible college i got around some good and godly people who began to direct my life in the ways of god and it was in bible college where i met my wife it was in bible college where god called me to preach into the field of evangelism you know that was a good choice with some very good consequences and i have tried my hardest to influence others to make that same choice but these temporary choices pale in comparison to the eternal choice that god gives us in deuteronomy 30 and verse 19 god says i call heaven and earth to record this day against you that i've set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that thou mayest live you have made hundreds of choices today you made a choice to come to this service tonight you're making a choice to listen to the sermon or not to listen to the sermon but what kind of eternal choices are you making adam and eve are about to make a very critical choice the choice of this created soul here in genesis chapter 2 leads in genesis chapter 3 to the curse of sin and because of this devastating choice the need to declare the gospel has intensified so tonight let's scrutinize these steps that lead to the curse of sin notice first of all a discovered life what a beautiful place god created for this created soul named adam what a beautiful place god places adam into we see that it had a complete supply in verse number eight the bible says the lord god planted a garden eastward in eden and there he put the man whom he had formed and out of the ground made the lord god to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil and a river went out of eden to water the garden and from thence it was parted and became into four heads the name of the first is basan that is it which compasseth the whole land of havela where there's gold the gold of that land is good there's bedlam and onyx stone and the name of the second river is gahan the same is it that compasses the whole land of ethiopia the name of the third river is hedekal that is it which goeth toward the east of assyria and the fourth river is euphrates god takes this created soul and he gives him a wonderful life in this beautiful place called the garden of eden matthew henry wrote this about the garden of eden the place appointed for adam's residence was a garden not an ivory house or a palace overlaid with gold but a garden furnished and adorned by nature not by art the heaven was the roof of adam's house and never was any roof so curiously sealed and painted the earth was his floor and never was a floor so richly inlaid the shadow of the trees was his retirement under them were his dining rooms his lodging rooms his living rooms and never were rooms so finely hung as these not even solomon's in all of their glory were arrayed like any of them here was a complete supply but with this complete supply came a confident stewardship in verse number 15 the bible says in the lord god took the man and put him into the garden of eden to dress it and to keep it imagine god has created this beautiful place with everything that man needs supplied there for him and yet god takes this created soul and places him in this garden as a dresser and a keeper of that garden a confident stewardship what great confidence god must have had in his creation to place adam over all that he had made you know god promises to meet our needs doesn't he he doesn't promise to meet our greeds but he promises to meet our needs in fact when we lack it is not a deficiency of supply but a dereliction of stewardship god promises that he will supply all our needs according to his glory in christ jesus here was a discovered life but with this life came law notice secondly tonight a declared law you see the creator had set some rules for all of his creation god had set the rule for the son to rule by day the moon to rule by night god had set a border for where the waters could come but no further god had set rules for reproduction everything after its kind god had set rules for the for the cattle and for the beasts of the field as to what their diet what they were to eat you see god with his creation also gave some law and for man here was a clearly stated prohibition look at verse 16 and the lord god commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it from the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die one simple clearly stated law didn't need interpretation didn't need to be debated or discussed or analyzed one clearly stated prohibition and with it came a costly sudden penalty in verse 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it from the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die no bulky policy manual here no 500 page student handbook no 6 000 page government regulation that nobody's read you know the thou shalt nots in the bible are not difficult to understand we want to debate god we want to debate the bible we want to debate truth but the thou shalt nots of the bible are not hard to understand thou shalt not bear false witness stop lying line is sin stop it thou shalt not steal that's tough one well i don't know what that means exactly thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not covet god hasn't given it to you stop wanting it amen it's not hard it's not difficult it's pretty simple and by the way the thou shalt aren't real tough either obey your parents this is right read your bible go to church pray tithe witness stay pure you do not need a degree to please god but you do need a desire to please god these laws of god are not difficult adam was not wondering i wonder what god meant i wonder if he really meant that maybe he meant something else no the law was clear a discovered life a declared law but now we see a deceitful lie in chapter 3 in verse 1 it says now the serpent who is this serpent the serpent well little study of the bible tells us that the serpent is none other than satan lucifer was his original name an angel in heaven he along with michael and gabriel one of the three most powerful angels in heaven according to ezekiel chapter 28 where it says the workmanship of thy pipes was performed in thee in the day that thou was created lucifer was an angel created to be in charge of the worship in heaven the music of heaven the adoration the worship of god and i believe that lucifer as a created angel had the very instruments that he used to praise god within his very being according to ezekiel 28 his job was to lead the adoration of god that the worship of god of those angels in heaven but we read in isaiah 14 of a disgraceful quarantine how art thou fallen from heaven oh lucifer sun of the morning howarth thou cut down to the ground which dits weak in the nations for thou has said in thine heart i will ascend into the heavens i will exalt my throne above the stars of god i will sit also in the mount of the congregation of the sides of the north i will rise above the clouds i will be like the most high this angel lucifer one day decided god is no longer going to be praised i'm going to be praised i'm going to rise to the level of worship i'm going to want the preeminence in my life to come to me and god disgracefully quarantined and lucifer fell now he comes in the garden as a serpent with a dangerous questioning verse 1 the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the lord god had made and he said unto the woman yea hath god said you shall not eat of the every tree of the garden and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. but of the fruit fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden god has said you shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest you die and the serpent said unto the woman ye shall not surely die for god doth know that in the day that you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil a dangerous questioning as human men and women as a created soul we know there's a god every person believes in god every person the bible says so in romans 1 the bible says that which may be known of god is manifest in them for god has shown himself unto them even his eternal power and godhead the bible tells us in john chapter 1 and verse 3 all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men that was the true light watch this that lighteth every man that cometh into the world every person in this world tonight knows there is a god god has revealed himself in you that he is real and the bible goes on in romans 2 to tell us that every man believes that this book is true for the bible says in verse 15 of chapter two in romans that god hath put his word on our hearts our conscience also bearing witness we know there's a god we know that what god says is absolute truth but satan will tempt us to question what god has already placed in us about himself the devil will tempt you and i to ask questions is god real can i know god can i trust god does he really love me is the bible really true is there really life after death is there really a heaven and a hell a dangerous question satan will not only stalk you with worrisome questions he will supply you with the wrong answers a deceitful lie and this deceitful lie here in genesis 3 leads to a disastrous look in verse 6 the bible says 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 she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat oh the devil gets a lot of traction out of distraction the devil's just trying to get us to look tonight he's just trying to get us to have a careless focus he wants us to get careless about where our eyes are fixed because he knows the bible says mine eye affecteth mine heart the light of the body is the eye if the eye be single the whole body is full of light but if the eye that is in thee be evil the whole body is full of darkness and if the eye there is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness and tragic story after tragic story in the bible reveal that it all began with a careless focus when eve saw that the tree was good for food when achan saw a babylonious garment and a wedge of gold and shackles of silver when samson saw a woman of timnass when david saw a woman washing on the rooftop tragic story after tragic story are revealed in the word of god because of a careless focus where's your focus tonight where are your eyes where are you looking set your affection on things above not on the things of the earth oh the devil wants us as christians to look here and look there and look at this and what about that and all of these things and all the devil has to do is get us to look and god said no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of god he didn't say no man having put his hand to the plow and going back but going back starts with looking back and if the devil can get our eyes off of jesus christ if the devil can get our focus a little bit off of what it where should be he's got us we are commanded to look unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith thou keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon thee because he trusteth in thee trust you in the lord forever for the lord jehovah is everlasting strength this careless focus results in a condemning fall god said thou shalt surely die well adam and eve took of the fruit but they didn't die they didn't die physically but immediately they died spiritually immediately they were separated from god immediately a wedge had been driven between god and man remember god created the soul for fellowship with him and now sin the curse of sin has separated that created soul from god this act of sin plunged the entire human race into a curse wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned all have sinned and come short of the glory of god there's none righteous no not one there's none that seeketh after god they're all gone out of the way they're together become unprofitable there's none that doeth good no not one we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags we all do fate as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away there's none that calleth upon god there's none that stirth up himself to take hold of god all we like sheep have gone astray in this one choice by the created soul the curse of sin falls upon mankind and we see fifthly a defenseless lament suddenly sin leaves an emptiness it leaves a horrible void something is now missing in this created soul we see a hasty recognition of this in verse 7 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 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 immediately adam and eve knew that they were shamed before god that they were separated now from god because of this curse of sin and they tried to cover they tried to hide but it was obvious to them and to god can then he hide himself in secret places that i shall not see him do not i fill the heavens and the earth neither is there any creature that is not manifested in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do this hasty recognition leads them to a hopeless rationale in verse 9 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 he said who told thee those naked it's interesting they were only supposed to listen to one voice god's saying whose voice are you listening to who told you you were naked i created you i'm the one that gives instruction i'm the one that loves you who told you adam who are you listening to i ask you tonight created soul who are you listening to you are god's creation but some of us are only in tune with the deceiver who told him that thou snaked verse 11 hast thou eaten of the tree where have i commanded thee saying thou shoulders not eat and the man said the woman whom thou gave us to be with me she gave me of the tree and i did eat and the lord god said unto the woman what is this that thou has done and the woman said the serpent beguiled me and i did eat the blame game begins here adam what's going on what's what's happening here adam you ate of the fruit well the woman whom thou gave us to me god it's your fault you gave me the wrong woman eve what's going on here the serpent beguiled me and i did eat the blame shifting the victim of circumstance someone else's fault but understand the soul that sinneth it shall die there's no blame game with god there's no shifting of blame there's no excusing of sin we see a harsh reality in verse 14. the lord god said unto the serpent because thus 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 god goes right to the source of the problem he goes right to the serpent he goes right to satan satan's losing streak is about to get a little longer he's been cast out of heaven because of his pride because of his selfishness because of his his denial of who god was and the worship that he deserved he was cast out of heaven here in verse 14 he is cursed now because of this deceitful lie jesus calls him out in john 8 and verse 44 he says he was a murderer from the beginning and a bold not in the truth for there's no truth in him he is a liar and the father of it the serpent will be conquered he will not win the devil may be ahead on the scoreboard tonight but he's not going to win he's already been conquered his desire for death of the created soul jesus said i am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though you were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die the last enemy to be destroyed is death o death whereas thy sting o grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to god who giveth us the victory through our lord jesus christ the serpent has already conquered and one day he's going to be cast out into hell forever and ever and ever and ever the devil that deceived them was cast into a lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet are and he shall be tormented day and night forever and ever the devil knows all of that by the way but what about us what about us we're caught in the middle the created soul adam disobeys god and now the curse of sin comes upon adam but now it is passed to all men for the wages of sin is death and from this curse of sin from this choice of adam comes a persistent destruction in verse 16 unto the woman he said i will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee and unto adam he said because thou has hearkened to 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 shall eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy face shalt to eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it was thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return a persistent destruction he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul woe unto their soul they have rewarded evil unto themselves but not only a persistent destruction of painful displacement verse 22 the lord god said behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever therefore the lord god sent him forth from the garden of eden to till the ground from whence he was taken so he drove out the man and he placed at 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 this beautiful garden this complete supply is now off limits as there's a painful displacement man because of sin is removed from all the perfection that god had created you see your iniquities have withholding good things from you your iniquities have hid his face from you that he will not hear this is the curse of sin but ah notice in the midst of it all there's a promised deliverer look at verse 15 we skipped it god is speaking to satan and he says 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 here is the first prophecy in the bible of the messiah the seed of the woman oh satan you're going to do some bruising of the heel but the seed of the woman is going to crush your head there's a savior coming there's a messiah coming there's a jesus coming and he will be the promised deliverer in verse 21 unto adam also and to his wife did the lord god make coats of skins and clothe them god saw the sin of man here in the garden of eden but god took an animal perhaps a lamb and he slew that animal the blood was shed and the cults were taken from off of that animal and placed around adam and eve to cover them and one day this was a prophecy that a another lamb would come to redeem us when the fullness of time was come god sent forth a son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons she shall bring forth a son and thou shall call his name jesus for he shall save his people from their sins behold the lamb of god which taketh away the sins of the world the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us as it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree the created soul fell under the curse of sin but thank god there is a savior a deliverer from sin god commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us he died for you he took your curse he took your judgment he took your death your hell he took it all because he loves you this is the gospel this is the gospel this is the good news the world tonight is under a curse but there's a savior his name is jesus he's the only hope that can take your curse he's the only remedy to the curse of sin he's the only salvation if he trusted him i was preaching in a small church in a university town the church had a great ministry with those college students across the street the pastor and his wife did not have children of their own so they opened their home to those college students night after night late into the night those kids would come across that street fellowship in the basement wreck area of the pastor's home playing ping pong eating popcorn letting that pastor and his wife minister to them when the pastor was killed in a motorcycle accident in his mid-40s at the funeral many of these university students showed up who had been reached in that ministry in fact there were over 200 of them who had not only been saved and discipled but had finished their education at the university and then went on to seminary and were now pastors and missionaries amazing that sunday night as i stood to preach there were probably 20 or so of these college students in the crowd the invitation one of them stepped out came to the front he greeted the pastor with a handshake and he he said i want to talk to him he pointed at me the pastor at him sit on the front row and after the invitation song the pastor said brother getch there's a young man a college student on the front row i don't know him it's his first time here we'd like to talk to you i gladly went and sat beside him on the pew his name was jim i said how can i help you jim he began to weep he began to weep uncontrollably i slipped my arm around him i said jim it's okay you go ahead and cry the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart oh god doubt not despise i'll stay i'll listen i'll wait as long as you need go ahead and cry after a few moments he got some composure and he said mr gatch i uh i i'm a homosexual i was sitting on the front row of a baptist church with my arm around a 20 year old college student who has just told me he's gay i wasn't sure exactly what to do first but kind of in reaction my arm came around from behind him and he looked at me and he said you hate me don't you i said no jim i don't hate you god doesn't hate you amen god loves you he hates your sin but he loves you i'll never forget what he said next he said they ought to stone me they ought to just take me out in the parking lot and put me to death my sin is an abomination to god i don't deserve to die to live wow i thought this young man recognizes sin he's the perfect candidate to be saved i said jim no no someone's already died for you i opened my bible to first corinthians chapter six no enoch the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers or effeminate or abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of god god in verses 9 and 10 give a little sampling of sin that condemns man one of which the abusers of themselves with mankind as romans chapter 1 says man with man working that which is unseemly leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lost one toward another man with man homosexuality but i said jim look at verse 11 but such were some of you but you are washed you are justified you are sanctified in the name of the lord jesus and by the spirit of our god in that corinthian church there were drunkards and there were idolaters and there were the opposite sex-like and the abusers of mankind there were the thieves and the murderers they were there but bless god they found a savior for the curse of sin jesus that's the gospel that's what you need tonight is the gospel to save you from the curse of sin and bring you back into that relationship that god so covets for you and christian the curse of sin only intensifies the motivation to declare the gospel