Genesis 3:6-13

⁶ And 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. 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. ⁸ 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. ⁹ And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? ¹⁰ And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. ¹¹ And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? ¹² And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. ¹³ And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

God is the sovereign and perfectly holy Creator of the universe. Therefore, all of us are accountable to Him and owe to Him our utmost affection, love, worship, and obedience. When we consider the magnitude of how great our God is, we have to conclude that responding positively to His Word is of the highest importance. He has revealed Himself in His Word and to reject His Word is to reject Him. We have seen the schemes that are used by the devil and the world to confuse, change, and contradict the Word of God. Now, we must examine, in the remainder of Genesis 3, the consequences of rejecting God’s Word. We will find four truths from the Fall about what happens when you and I do so. We will examine two of these truths this week in verses 6-13.

The first thing we must understand is that rejecting God’s Word is sin. To sin is to disobey the commands, laws, or will of God. 1 John 3:4 defines sin for us, “for sin is the transgression of the law.” In this case, Adam and Eve were given one command: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it” (Genesis 2:17). They both eat of the tree and break the law, or command, of God. We need to grasp the nature of our sin. In the Garden of Eden, a creature that was formed from dust, given life, and given the most amazing purpose defied the infinitely holy and powerful Creator of the cosmos. When you and I sin, we are not just harming ourselves or others. Our sin is ultimately against Almighty God (Psalm 51:4)!

The second thing we must recognize is that rejecting God’s Word brings shame. Adam and Eve did gain knowledge that day. It was not the omniscience that God had but, instead, was the awareness of guilt. They had lost their innocence and, for the first time, they were aware of their nakedness (Genesis 2:25).  They sewed fig leaves together in an attempt to cover their nakedness on their own and had to hide themselves from the presence of God. When God comes to them as He had apparently done daily, they are hiding and seek to blame their sin on someone else. Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent, but both were guilty. Adam ultimately blames God who gave him Eve. We have been doing the same ever since. We blame our circumstances, our upbringing, the devil, and anything else we can use as an excuse. James 1:13-15 makes it clear that our sin is our responsibility and no one else’s. Romans 2:6 tells us that God “will render to every man according to his deeds.” Ezekiel 18:20-23 makes it clear that our sin and punishment for our sin will be an individual responsibility. We must acknowledge our sin, own up to it, confess it, and repent of it. We must trust in Christ who died for our sin individually.

God’s Word is to be obeyed above all things. Obedience to the Word of God always brings the blessing of God, but rejecting God’s Word brings sin and shame. God sent His Son into the world to die on the cross for our sin so that our sin might be paid for and shame might be removed. Whenever you and I are faced with the temptation to deny or disobey God’s Word, we must humbly submit ourselves to it instead. The good news today is that there is forgiveness in Jesus. Sin brought death, but Jesus came to give eternal life to all who believe on Him. His Word tells us all about Him. Will you surrender to Him today?