Evil Unveiled

Evil Unveiled

(Genesis 3:1-11)

Yearly Theme:  “Goodness is… Great”

Series Title:  “Breaking Bad:  The Consequences of Sin”

February 18^th, 2024

Something to think about:

Evil and darkness pervade this fallen world.  There seems to be tragedy and heartbreak around every corner of the world.  And we have to ask, is there any end in sight of our current maladies?  Is there any hope beyond the broken?  To that, the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”  Christ came once and for all time to deal with the problem of evil by taking the world's sin upon His shoulders and receiving the punishment and wrath for humankind.  However, there is often another question that persists:  “What is evil and where did it come from?”  Did GOD create it?  Is it really just an illusion? 

If you remember from last week, we read in Genesis 2:9, that GOD warned Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The actual Hebrew word in this verse for evil means:  “the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice.”[1]  How evil entered the world, as we shall see, is a direct result of the first humans’ violation of GOD’s directive not to eat this particular fruit from this particular tree.  Their violation of GOD’s command was morally wrong in principle and practice.  Let’s take a look: 

Turn in your Bible to:  Genesis 3:1-11

Key Point:  “When the line between good and evil is crossed, everything changes.”

The line between good and evil is doubt in GOD that leads to active rebellion to His will.  The following observations in this passage are, what I believe to be, universal steps in crossing that line:

•  with the  .

Genesis 3:1-2 (NLT),  The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made.  One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”   “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.

•  from  .

Genesis 3:3 (NLT),   “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.  God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ”

•  that there is more than what GOD has to  .

Genesis 3:4-5 (NLT),  ⁴ “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.  ⁵ “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

•  against GOD.

Genesis 3:6 (NLT),  The woman was convinced.  She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.  So she took some of the fruit and ate it.  Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

•  in  .

Genesis 3:7-11 (NLT),  ⁷ At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.  So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

⁸ When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.  So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.  ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.  I was afraid because I was naked.”

¹¹ “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked.  “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

Something to take home:

Paul writes in his letter to the Romans that “All have sinned and fall short of GOD’s glorious standard.”[2]  This statement in and of itself leads to great despair.  If this is true, that all people have sinned, then we must come to grips with the fact that all people have committed evil in some form or fashion by the sheer fact that they have rebelled against GOD’s good commands.  All of us have at one time, like the first man and woman, felt guilt and shame because of the wrongs we have committed.  All of us stand guilty before an all-Holy GOD.  What hope does any of us have?  Our only hope is that GOD so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son (Jesus), so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but receive everlasting life.[3]  And we can see this kind of love from GOD even in the beginning of time; even after the first humans failed GOD by rebelling against Him. 

Not long after they had sinned against GOD, we read in the same chapter of Genesis that…

Genesis 3:20-24 (NLT),  ²⁰ Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live.  ²¹ And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

²² Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil.  What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it?  Then they will live forever!”  ²³ So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.  ²⁴ After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden.  And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

GOD’s goodness, even in punishment, provides a way for us rebellious people.

[1] Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible.

[2] Romans 3:23.

[3] John 3:16.