1. The Lord God finished making all the wild animals, and the snake was the most clever. One day the snake said to the woman, "Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"
2. The woman answered, "We can eat fruit from the trees in the garden.
3. But God told us, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not touch it.  If you do, you will die.' "
4. But the snake said to the woman, "You will not die.
5. God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will know good and evil and you will become same as God!"
6. The woman saw that tree was beautiful, that its fruit was good to eat, and that the fruit will make her wise. So she took that fruit and ate it. Then she gave that fruit to her husband with her, and he ate it.
7. Then, their eyes opened. They understood they were naked.  They sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves.
8. Then they heard the Lord God walking in the garden during the cool part of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden.

The Lord God finished making all the wild animals, and the snake was the most clever. One day the snake said to the woman, "Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"  (Genesis 3:1)

"Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"

"We can eat fruit from the trees in the garden.
But God told us,
    'You must not eat fruit from the tree
        that is in the middle of the garden.
    You must not touch it.
        If you do, you will die.' "  (Genesis 3:2,3)

The Lord God made every beautiful tree and every tree good for food, growing from the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life and also the tree that gives the knowledge about good and evil.   (Genesis 2:9)

The Lord God commanded man, "You can eat fruit from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat fruit from that tree giving knowledge about good and evil. If you eat fruit from that tree, you will die!"  (Genesis 2:16,17)

"We can eat fruit from the trees in the garden.  But God told us, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not touch it. If you do, you will die.' "

But the snake said to the woman, "You will not die. God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will know good and evil and you will become same as God!"  (Genesis 3:2-5)

The woman saw that tree was beautiful, that its fruit was good to eat, and that the fruit will make her wise. So she took that fruit and ate it.  Then she gave that fruit to her husband with her, and he ate it.  (Genesis 3:6)

Then, their eyes opened. They understood they were naked.  They sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves.  (Genesis 3:7)

The Lord God said to the snake,
"Because you did that,
you will have a curse worse than all other animals,
        farm and wild.
You will slide on your stomach,
and you will eat dirt all during your life.
  I will make you and the woman enemies.
Your future children and her future children
will become enemies.
Her future Son will crush your head,
and you will bite His heel."  (Genesis 3:14,15)

"In heaven a war happened.
The good angel named Michael
    and his other holy angels together
fought against the Dragon,
    and the Dragon and his evil angels fought back.
But the Dragon was not strong enough.
    He and his angels lost their place in heaven.
That great Dragon, he was-thrown-down
    out from heaven.
He is that old snake called the devil or Satan.
    Now he tricks the whole world.
That Dragon with his angels
    was-thrown down to earth."  (Revelation 12:7-9)

That great Dragon... with his angels
    was-thrown down to the earth."
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying:
"Salvation and power and the kingdom of our God
    and the authority of His Christ
    have now come.
All day and all night in front of our God
    the Devil accuses our brothers and sisters.
The Devil has been thrown down.
And our brothers and sisters defeated the Devil
    through the blood of the Lamb - Jesus.
And they defeat the Devil
    through the message they preached.
They were not afraid to die for Christ.
Now rejoice, everyone living in heaven!
But terrible for the earth and the sea,
    because the devil has come down to you!
The Devil is filled with anger,
    because he knows he does not have much time."  (Revelation 12:9)-12

Genesis 3 - Part 3:

Genesis 3:16
Then God told the woman,
    " When you become pregnant,
        you will have much trouble.
    And when you give birth to children,
        you will have great pain.
    You will have desire for your husband,
        but he will rule [control] over you."

---

In Part 1 we saw Adam & Eve thinking about the Devil's lies,
    deciding for themselves
        what is right and
        what is wrong,
    the two of them becoming gods for themselves,
    and experiencing shame and guilt
        in their separation from God.

In Part 2 saw God's explain
    His punishment on the Devil,
    His promise for sending our Savior, Jesus Christ,
    and that war between Jesus and the Devil on the cross,
        that crushes the Devil's power.

Now in Part 3 we begin to see how sin touches our every-day life
    and how sin damages our union with other people.

Genesis 3:16

First God said to the woman,
    "I will cause you to have much trouble
        when you are pregnant,
    and when you give birth to children,
        you will have great pain."

We all know about pain women feel
    during natural childbirth.

A friend of mine asked a group of women,
    "Childbirth feels how?"

One woman answered, and told the man:
    "Grab your mouth lower lip."

The man did it.

Then the woman said,
    "Now pull your lip over your head."

Ouch!

But a mother's pain for her children includes much more
    than labor during birth.

One popular translation for this verse says,
    "I will increase your sorrow,
        and your conception."

Not all women are happy about having a baby.
Many say, "I hope I'm not pregnant!"
Grief?  Yes!

Then after the baby is born, the emotional pain continues.
Birth really-is the easy part.
Raising children, teaching them to become good,
    that's the hard part.

And while parents raise their children, who suffers most?
    Mom? or Dad?   Yes, Mom.

One Bible verse in Proverbs says,
    A wise son makes his father happy - proud,
    but a foolish son makes his mother sad - grief.  (Proverbs 10:1)

If children succeed, Dad will brag about them.
And if children rebel, Dad knows how to let them go.
But mother holds her feelings,
    and carries pain for her children all her life.

Sin influences not only a woman's relationship with her children.
Sin also ruins her relationship with her husband.

The 2nd thing God told Eve,
    "You will have desire for your husband,
        but he will rule over you."

Now, be careful!  That verse is easy to misunderstand.

That first line: "You will have desire for your husband."
That word "desire" means what?

?Does "desire" here mean fall in love?  Sweetheart?
    Positive emotions?  Sex?

Sorry, no.

The Hebrew language has several different words
    that mean "desire."   

But the Hebrew word that we find here in Gen. 3:16
    appears only 3 times in the whole Bible.
The first time is here, God speaking to Eve.
The 2nd time is in the next chapter,
    in that story about two brothers, CAIN and ABEL,
        Adam & Eve's first two sons.

Maybe you know that story.
ABEL worships God with his sacrifice,
But his older brother CAIN only gives a sacrifice
    but he has no true faith,  no true worship.
CAIN becomes jealous against his brother.

God speaks His warning to CAIN.
    "CAIN, you are angry.  Why?
    Your face is sad.  Why?
    If you do well, I will help you.
    But if you don't do well,
        sin is near your door, crouching....
    Sin has desire for you,
        but you must rule over it."  (Genesis 4:6,7)

That's a clear picture!
God describes sin same as a lion ready to grab and kill a deer.
Or the picture is same as a gang of thieves hiding,
    waiting for a person to walk past them.

God told CAIN:
    "Sin is near your door, crouching.*
    Sin has desire for you."

Desire here means what?
    Fall in love?  Sweetheart?  Friends?  NO!

God tells CAIN: "Sin wants you for its lunch!"
    Sin has desire for you,
        but you must rule over it.

That's exactly the same way
    God uses that same word...

God said to Eve:       "You will have desire for your husband, but he will rule over you."

God said to Cain: "Sin has desire for you,   but you must rule over it."

Many English Bible translators misunderstand Gen. 3:16,
    and they incorrectly translate that verse.

God is not painting a beautiful picture about
    love between husbands and wives.
God is not describing here how a husband must become
    a loving serving leader in his home.
Many other verses in the Bible talk about that.  But not here.

The picture here shows
    anger, conflict, misunderstanding,
    struggle for control,
        all still happening in families today.
Why?  Sin.

Sin always has CONSEQUENCES.
Sin ruins love and fellowship in marriage.
Sin ruins love and trust between parents and their children.
Same-as sin ruins our love and fellowship with God.

But you know the way God made for us
    to connect again in fellowship with Him
        is through Jesus and His cross.

The way we experience God's love again
    happens in forgiveness.
The same way we show love in marriage and in family
    happens in our forgiving each-other.

Sin separates us from God,
    but the cross of Jesus is same as a bridge
        that connects us to Him, together again.

Sin separates husbands and wives,
    sin separates parents and children.
But the cross of Jesus is same as a bridge
    that connects our families together again.

Things that separate our families are
    disappointment
    hurt
    angry words
    mocking words and facial-expressions
    time we spend looking-at
        TV, computers, work, hobbies,
    instead of time that we need for looking-at each-other.

 All your sins, God nailed on the cross with Jesus.
And all those sins that other people in your family do,
    God nailed their sins on the cross, also.

Jesus makes possible for us to release our sins to Him,
And Jesus also makes possible for us to release to Him
    our hurt, our anger, our disappointment.
Jesus makes possible for us to release to Him
    all those sins that other people do against us.

When our love is gone,
    Jesus make possible for Him to show His love through us.

Same-as God told Eve,
    sin has broken our families.
But now Jesus heals our families
    in His love and forgiveness.

---

Genesis 3 - Part 4:

Now we learn about what God told Adam.

Genesis 3:17-19
¹⁷ Then God said to the man,
    "You listened-to your wife,
        and you ate fruit from that tree
            that I ordered you: Don't eat.
    Because you did that,
        now I will curse the ground for you.
    From now on, during all your life,
        you must work hard with pain for your food.
 ¹⁸ The ground will grow thorns and weeds for you,
        and you will eat plants from the field.
 ¹⁹ You will sweat and work hard for your bread,
        until you go back in the ground.
        Remember, I made you from the ground.
    You are dust,
        and you will become dust again."

---

If we can summarize God's punishment for Adam in two words.
    Those two words are work and death.

But Question:  Before Adam began sinning,
    Adam lived in the Garden of Eden doing what?

Adam was doing work!

Remember, God told Adam,
    "You work and take care of that Garden." [Gen. 2:15]

God first planned for Man to work.
Work before sin.   
Work after sin.  
What's different?

Remember, in Genesis chapter 1
    God made Man and Woman perfect.
        They had no sin.
And the Bible also says that
    God made Man and Woman
        "in His IMAGE."
That means their
    thoughts,
    ideas,
    attitudes,
    actions,
    and feelings
were same as His
    thoughts,
    ideas,
    attitudes,
    and actions.

The Bible says that during those first six days,
    God worked,
        creating,
        and making the world.

Then God gave Adam responsibility
    for taking care of His world.
And Adam's work also was creative and wonderful.

But when sin began,
    that world became broken.
And man's work changed.

Adam first worked
    for God,
    for his wife,
    for the animals.
But now Adam must work for himself.

Adam first worked,
    for giving pleasure to God,
and for serving other people.

Now Adam must work for staying alive,
    and for feeding his family,
    and for supporting his wife and children.

God made His world good and perfect.
But Adam's sin broke His world.
Now everything that Adam makes, also will break.

God's first plan for our work really never stopped.
Work that creates,
    serves,
    and satisfies,
is always best.

But that work now must have 2^nd place.
Work for staying alive, now that's first.

Work becomes ruined with sin.
Now our focus is-not working for giving.
Now we focus on work for getting.

God told us, we must take care of this world.
But our work often ruins part of His world.

Adam wanted to become smart as God, right?
Now we are stuck, trying to do for ourselves,
    work that God first planned
        for Him to do for us.
Adam & Eve wanted to become gods.
Our broken world proves that we are lousy gods.

Now, please notice again
    what God told Eve,
    then what God told Adam.

We see in HIS description
    about sin's influence in our lives,
those things that give us most pleasure,
    now give us most grief.

Maybe you notice that men and women
    think and act differently.

When men meet for the first time,
    they talk about what?
        Their work.
When women meet for the first time,
    they talk about what?
    Their families and friends.
Men identify themselves in their jobs, their professions.
Women identify themselves in their relationships
    with other people.

Now notice that in God's description about sin's influence,
    sin gives women most pain, where?
    In their families - with children and husband.
And sin gives men pain and frustration where?
    In their work.

Also notice that where we have our greatest strength,
    we also have our greatest temptations.

Men often focus on work so much, they ignore their families.

Many famous old men successful in business
    answered this question:
        "If you can change anything in your life,
            what will you change?"
No one says, "I wish I had worked harder."
No one says, "I wish I had stayed in my office more hours,
    working more over-time, working more weekends."
No one says, "I wish I bought more things."

Most men say, "I wish I had paid attention to my wife.
    I wish I had given more time to my children."

For man, work is both a blessing and a curse.

If our goal for work is getting more things,
    we will always have disappointment,
    and we will never become satisfied.

God first gave Adam and Eve everything they needed for life -
    BASICS.
The Bible teaches that we also can become satisfied
    with the things God already gave us.
And we can trust Him for everything we really need,
    while we give our lives in service to Him
        and serving other people.

Because we have sin,
    now we must work to earn our food and our homes.

But one thing we can never earn:
    our home in heaven.

Work for that is finished.
Jesus did that work for us,
    in His suffering and death on the cross.
Now Jesus invites us to rest in Him.

That is really important, because God told Adam
    that sin not only ruins our work.
God also said, sin destroys our life.
If we do sin, we will die.
We all sin.  Therefore, we all will die.

God said,
    "You will sweat and work hard for your bread,
        until you go back in the ground.
        Remember, I made you from the ground.
    You are dust,
        and you will become dust again."

Where do we often see those word?
If you go to a funeral,
    the pastor maybe say that verse
        over the body in the cemetery.

If you go to Ash Wednesday worship,
    when you get your ashes
the pastor says to you,
    "Remember, you are dust,
        and you will become dust again."

And Adam could never forget that,
    because his name ADAM means "ground."

God invented life.
Sin destroys life.
And Jesus let our sin destroy His life.
His death pays our debt.

Sin leads us to hell.
But now Jesus made heaven open again,
    for all who will give-Him their sin,
        and trust His promise.

Amen!

---

Genesis 3 - Part 5:

Our study began, seeing Adam and Eve eating fruit from the tree
    that gives knowledge about good and evil,
    that tree God forbid them to eat.  

But remember, the Garden of EDEN had two special trees:
    [1] the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil, and
    [2] the Tree of Life.

Four-weeks-ago, our study began focusing-on the first tree.
Now our study ends focusing-on the second tree.


Genesis 3:20-24

²⁰ The man named his wife EVE [meaning "life"], because she became mother for every person that since lived.
²¹ Lord God made clothes from animal skin for the man and his wife, and God put-clothes-on-them.
²² Then the Lord God said, "Man has[finish] become same-as Us; he knows good and evil. Now, if Man eats fruit from the Tree of Life, he will live forever.  He must not do that."  
²³ The Lord God forced the man out from the Garden of Eden, to go work the ground, that ground God took and made man.
²⁴ After God forced the man out [finish], God put an angel, protecting the Garden of Eden, on the east side.  And God put there a sword of fire.  That sword turned every way, protecting [blocking] the way to the Tree of Life.

---

Two trees.
    One tree gives life.
    The other tree gives death.

Adam & Eve first choose which tree?
    Yes, the tree that gives death.

Today we see people still making that same choice.
    Often, when God offers-us life,
        we choose death.

Now, Question:
After Adam & Eve sinned,
    God didn't-want them eating fruit from the Tree of Life.
God blocked their way to that tree.
Why???

God said,
    "If Man eats fruit from the Tree of Life,
        he will live forever.  He must not do that."  

God first made man and woman perfect, having no sin.
God's first plan for us, means life forever.  No death.

But now we are perfect no more.
We all sin, and sin leads to death.

If we understand this Bible verse right,
    that Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden
    can stop physical death, only.

Yes, God's judgment against Adam & Eve
    blocked their way to that Tree of Life.
But also, that was God's mercy.
Imagine, living forever in sin!

I don't know about you,
    but I am happy that God limited our time
        for struggling against sin.

In Genesis chapter 6,
    God says He limits the number of years for our life,
    because person living a long time can invent much evil.
God said,
    "My Spirit will not struggle against people forever,
        because they are sinful flesh
    From-now-on, they will live only 120 years."

But, you know-that here in Genesis chapter 3 is not the last time
    we see the Tree of Life.

We see that Tree again in the last book of the Bible, REVELATION.

The Bible often compares
    the Garden of Eden
    and heaven.
        The Hebrew word for "garden" is "paradise!"

Also, we see the Bible's description about heaven
    includes the Tree of Life.

Relation chapter 2, in the first letter to 7 different churches,
Jesus said:
    "My Holy Spirit now speaks to your churches.
    Every person must pay attention.  
    Every person that wins,
        I will give-him the right to eat fruit
        from the Tree of Life,
            that tree God's garden."

In REV. 22, the last chapter in the Bible,
    JOHN saw the Tree of Life,
        "that gives healing for the nations."

Then Jesus said,
    "Happy are people who wash their robes.
    They will receive the right to eat the fruit
        from the Tree of Life.
    And they can go through the gates into the city."

Yes, God kicked Adam & Eve out from the Garden of Eden.
    But not forever!
Yes, God block their way to the Tree of Life,
    but only for a short time!

Our way back into God's Garden is how?
That verse in Revelation explains two steps.

The first step is "washing our robes."
The Bible often uses that picture meaning
    washing away our sins.
That already happened
    when Jesus died on the cross for us
    for taking-away our guilt.

Remember in Genesis chapter 3, after Adam & Eve sinned,
    they tried to cover their shame using fig leaves.
But that didn't succeed.
In our story today, we see God covered them, using animal skins.

Those animals that died to cover Adam & Eve's bodies,
that becomes a picture for Jesus, God's perfect Lamb,
    sacrificed for us,
        covering our ugly sins in His perfect blood.

If we want to enter heaven, we must be covered in Christ Jesus.

The second step for entering heaven, Jesus said,
    is eating fruit from the Tree of Life.
But what exactly does that mean?

We find the answer
    in the Greek word the Bible uses for "tree."

In English we have only one word: T-R-E-E.
And in ASL we have only one sign:  tree.

But the Greek language, has two words:
    [1] DENDRON
    [2] XULON

The first word, DENDRON, means a living growing green tree.

For example, Jesus said,
    "Every good tree - DENDRON - grows good fruit,
    but a bad tree - DENDRON - grows bad fruit" [Matthew 7:17]

That is the word the Bible most often uses for naming a tree.

But the Bible also uses the other Greek word, XULON,
    meaning WOOD.

For example, Peter on trial for preaching about Jesus,
    Peter told the judges,
    "You killed Jesus by nailing Him on the Tree - XULON." [Acts 5:30]
        ...meaning the cross.

Later Peter wrote in his first letter,
    "Jesus carried our sins in His body on the Tree - XULON -
    so we can stop living for sin and start living for what is right."
    [1 Peter 2:24]

And in several other verses, the Bible uses that word XULON
    for naming the cross where Jesus died.

Now, guess which word Jesus uses for naming the Tree of Life
in the last book of the Bible.  ??
       [1] DENDRON - a living, growing, green tree?
or    [2] XULON - the cross?
    Which?

Yes #2.
The Tree that gives Life forever
    is the cross of Jesus Christ.

In His death that happened in our sin-filled world,
    we receive life forever in His perfect world.

Sin kicked us out from Eden,
    but Jesus and His cross leads us back in.

An angel and a sword of fire blocked the way to the Garden.
    Now Jesus stands blocking our way to hell.

The tree that gives knowledge about good and evil
    brings us death.

But Jesus' cross becomes the Tree of Life,
    that makes possible again
        God's first, beginning plan for us,
    when He made our world good and perfect.

Now in Christ, we can live forever!
Thank you, Jesus!   Amen!

I got some practical firsthand experience with this problem at a student conference in New Jersey some years ago. There I met a fellow, a salesman, who literally worshipped baseball before he became a Christian. He would slave away all winter long so that he could be completely free for his god in the summer months. For something like twelve years he hadn't missed a single game in Philadelphia. He knew every batting average since 1910. He slept, ate, drank, and breathed baseball. Then he met the Savior and gave up his idol, leaving it at Jesus' feet.

 Toward the end of our rugged and somewhat exhausting conference, this fellow overheard me suggest to another staff member, 'Say, after the conference let's go to Connie Mack Stadium and see the Phillies. They're playing the St. Louis Cards.' The salesman was staggered. Incredulous, he stared at me and demanded, 'How can you as a Christian go to a baseball game?' Now, I've heard a lot of taboos in Christian circles, but this was the first time I'd heard baseball banned! I was flabbergasted and didn't know what to say. When he asked a second time, 'How can you and Fred claim to be Christians and then go out to a ball game?' Fred and I starting thinking and discussing the situation. As we talked to the salesman we uncovered his problem. Here was a man like the Christians in Rome, a former idol worshiper. Baseball had been a big thing to him; now he assumed that anybody who saw a game (ate meat), however removed from idolatrous intents, was worshipping baseball as an idol.

Fred and I canceled our baseball date since our going would have needlessly disturbed our friend at a sensitive stage in his Christian life. But we also talked and counseled with him, and he gradually realized that not all Christians find baseball a problem. With his background, baseball will probably be a dangerous temptation to him for the rest of his life; this he knows. But later he also saw that he couldn't legislate for Christians who have no problem with the sport. It heartened us to see him begin to mature in his attitudes.

---

Part 5 (Tree)

Other NT verses that use DENDRON for green, growing tree:
    Matt. 3:10
            7:17-18
            12:33
            13:32
            21:8
    Mark 8:24
    Luke 3:9
            21:29
    Rev. 7:1-3
            8:7
            9:4
 

Verses that use XULON for the "tree" of the cross of Christ:
    Acts 5:30
            10:39
            13:29
    Gal 3:13
    1 Peter 2:24


What is the Hebrew word for "tree" in the Genesis texts?  The Hebrew word ETz is the word for "tree" most freqently used throughout the OT, including the Genesis texts.  That word also refers to virtually anything made of wood - timbers and planks in houses, fire wood, gallows, wood carved into idols, etc.

What about the Septuagint? How does it translate "tree of life?"  Surprise!  Three hundred years before the crucifixion of Christ, the rabbis and scribe who translated the Septuagint also chose the Greek word XULON, rather than DENDRON, when translating "tree" in the Genesis 1-3 texts.