Tragic Failure and a Thousand Gifts

Grace on the Worst Day

(Genesis 3:1-24, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 6, 2014)

[3:1] 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’?” ... [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.

Genesis 3 begins with the account of what we call the fall and ends with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. In between these sections the Lord questions Adam, then Eve; and confronts the serpent, then Eve, and then Adam. At the center of this highly structured account of what went wrong on the earth is Genesis 3:14-15, the Lord's announcement of the defeat of evil through the provision of a man who will be injured as part of his great victory.

[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.

[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. …

[14-15] … enmity … he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” ...
[20] The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. [21] And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them....

After the woman listened to the serpent and ate of the forbidden fruit, and after man listened to his wife and did the same, the world changed. The first sign we have of that is in the shame of Adam and Eve who immediately sought to solve their angst with clothes of their own making. They did not trust God but did all that they could to hide from Him. After He questioned and addressed them, Adam showed that he believed the Word of the Lord by the name he chose for his wife, and the Lord clothed the first couple with skins that required the shedding of blood.

God questioned Adam first, and Adam blamed Eve. Then God questioned Eve, and she blamed the serpent. The Lord announced the coming of His judgment of futility upon creation. See Romans 8:20. A war against evil commenced. There would be pain in having children and struggles within marriage. The work of taking dominion over the earth would be full of toil.

Sin, misery, and death came into the world through the transgression of one man and through the judgment of the one God. But there is an even more important point that is revealed in Genesis 3. God will fix what man has broken, and He will do so through the suffering and victory of one man. Because of these good truths, there were faith, hope, and love on a day of tragic failure.

Put the Word to Work: See the first chapter of Ann Voskamp's A Thousand Gifts. Tragic failure. The worst day comes when our own failure yields dire troubles for ourselves and for others that we love. How can we survive a day like that? Remember Adam. The worst tragic failure of all time is described in Genesis 3. The Lord spoke of grace on that day, and His speech was fulfilled through the cross, when Jesus faced the tragic consequences of our failure.

Memory Verse from the Songs of Ascents—Psalm 121:1-2 – I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Gospel Reading—Matthew 13:10-17 – The purpose of parables