Genesis 3:14-24

            {Prayer}

            Ever been told by someone not to do something … but then you go ahead and do it anyway? Like, don’t stick your finger in a box fan when the fan is on? Or, don’t hold onto an electric fence? Or, don’t put so much hot sauce on your burrito? Or, don’t cut toward yourself with a razor blade? Or, don’t light a campfire with gasoline? The results of such actions can be painful for a while, they can leave a permanent scar, or they could be deadly.

            But what usually happens when someone tells you not to do something? We’re like “Oh, nothing will happen if I grab this electric fence.” “Oh, I can handle a little hot sauce.” There’s an old saying, “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.” The first half of that saying is warning one to be careful of the dangers of an unnecessary investigation or experimentation. The second part though … “but satisfaction brought it back”shows that the risk just might be worth the reward.

            “Oh, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4-5). God had told them, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). But “when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and at it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Gen. 3:6).

            I know I shouldn’t do it, but man that fruit look so good, and I’ll gain wisdom too! Oh, a little bite, just one little bite can’t be that bad right? Just one look, just one little lie, just one thought, just one little drink, just one little fling … nobody has to know … it can’t be that bad right?

            The half-brother of Jesus, James, writes, “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death” (1:14-15). Giving into temptation, giving in just one time … it’s like opening a can of Pringles. Once you pop, you can’t stop. You reach up and grab the container off the shelf, open it up, reach in for a few, and you eat those. Then you take the can and sit in your recliner watching a show and the next thing you realize, the can is empty. They were good, but you’re hungry for more. Knowing you shouldn’t, you pause your show, get up and go back to the cupboard to see if there is another can.

            This is the same way sin works. Adam and Eve were by the tree they were told not to eat from. Tempted by the serpent, by Satan, Eve reached up, grabbed the eye pleasing fruit. Wanting the wisdom it could provide, she bit into it. Realizing how good it was, she gave it to Adam who was there with her, and he ate.

            They were told not too … but they did it anyway. “Don’t hold onto the electric fence.” You grab hold and get shocked. “Don’t put too much hot sauce on your burrito.” You put half the bottle on and your mouth is burning. Later your gut is burning. One look at pornography turns into another. One little fling with another person while your spouse and kids are at home turns into a broken marriage. One little lie turns into a whole story of lies. Everything we do … there is a consequence that follows. For every sin we commit … there is a consequence that follows.

            God had told Adam, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Adam and Eve didn’t listen, they disobeyed, they ate … consequences followed. Consequences followed immediately and they were severe. The consequences for their actions didn’t just affect them but all of humanity. And not just all of humanity, but all of creation.

            The serpent is cursed and forced to crawl on its belly and eat dust. The woman experiences pain in childbirth and conflict within her relationship with her husband. The man faces toil and hardship in his work. The man and woman will die. The creation itself is cursed with thorns, thistles, and natural disasters.

            And the sour cherry on top … Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden. They are losing the close fellowship they once had with God. God said, “Do not eat of it or you will die.” Just like touching an electric fence, loading your burrito with hot sauce, having an affair, trying a drug, telling a lie … sin has consequences. Disobeying God … that leads to suffering and separation, even eternal separation from Him.

            But did you notice … amidst all the darkness, amidst all the consequences … there was something God said that provided a little hope. “I will put enmity, I will put personal hostility, between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heal” (Gen. 3:15). This statement, this promise from God … it’s like a little light shining in a dark room, it’s a ray of hope in the midst of the darkness, in the midst of chaos and fallout of the first sin.

            The consequences that God lays out … they’re real, they’re painful, and we are still feeling the pain of them today. But God promises that they will not last forever. God promises to Adam and Eve that a Savior will come. A Savior will come and will crush the head of the serpent, defeating sin and death forever.

            This is the Gospel, this is the good news! Even though our actions have brought about horrible consequences … God has not left us in our sin. God comes to us, He provides us with a way out, He provides us a way of redemption that goes through the promised offspring, that go through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

            While we have this promise … we still experience the reality of our actions. Whether it’s the results of poor decisions, harmful words, or sinful behavior … we all face the painful consequences of our actions. God’s law confronts us with the truth that our sins have consequences. Because of our sin, we experience broken relationships, damaged trust, separation from the life God desires of us, as well as death. Just like Adam and Eve, we often find ourselves facing the consequences of our choices.

            But notice, the story of Adam and Eve … it doesn’t end with their banishment from the Garden. There is a lot more of God’s story to follow. The story doesn’t end with consequences. For “when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). Just as God had promised, He sent His Son, not to condemn the world but to save it.

            Jesus, born of the virgin Mary, grew up to be a man just as you and I grow up. Jesus lived the perfect life, a life without sin … and yet He faced the consequence of sin. Jesus took the punishment that you and I deserve. He took it upon Himself, bearing the full weight of sin’s consequences, the full weight of God’s wrath while hanging on a cross by only three nails. On the cross, Jesus would crush the serpent’s head and the serpent would strike His heal.

            But then … three days later in the stillness of a quiet garden … Jesus would rise from the dead and breathe the breath of life. Jesus’ resurrection is the proof and guarantee to us that sin and death have been defeated. Forty days later, Jesus ascended into the heaven to go and prepare a place for those who believe in Him and who die in the faith. Filled with the Holy Spirit, you and I have a great divine promise that this life we are living is not the end. To be sure, until we are called to heavenly home, we are going to still experience the reality of consequences … but we live with the hope of redemption.

            We come here, to receive that divine promise and to be filled with God’s grace and mercy. Through Christ, the consequences of sin are not the end of the story. In Christ, we find forgiveness, restoration, and the hope of eternal life. Let us live in the light of this divine promise, trusting God’s grace as we navigate the consequences of our actions. Amen.

            The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.