THE DISPENSATION OF CONSCIENCE
Genesis 3:1-13
God made man in His image and likeness. This is call the Age or Dispensation of
Innocence. Once man disobeyed God\’s command not to eat from the Tree Of Knowledge
and Of Good and Evil, he entered into The Dispensation Of Conscience.
Satan had fallen after the creation of the Heaven, but before the creation of the earth.
Job 38:6-7. Satan was originally created as angel. He fell from heaven because
of his pride. Satan show up in you life to steal, kill and destroy. We could say that
Satan came to steal your peace, kill your joy and to destroy your relationship with
God the Father.
The choice to disobey God and eat from the tree of Knowledge And Of Good And
Evil, introduced man to a conscience. With his conscience came decisions of the
flesh which opposed God\’s commands and led to his fall from grace.
THE FALL OF MAN: AN AGREEMENT WITH SATAN
V:1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, \”Indeed, has God said, \’You shall not eat from any tree of the garden\’?\”
A. Why did Satan start a conversation with Eve and not Adam?
1. Why did Satan start his conversation about the one command that God gave
Adam?
2. Let me suggest two reasons.
a. God\’s command was given to Adam before He formed Eve. Gen 2:16
b. Eve is the weaker sex. 1 Peter 3:7.
3. Let me also suggest that Adam was not present when Satan talked to Eve.
a. 1 Timothy 2:13-15 states,
\” For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and
became a sinner.
But women will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith, love
and holiness with propriety. \”
b. Adam sinned willfully.
B. The relationship between God and Adam could only be broken if Adam
ate from the tree He was forbidden to eat.
1. Satan would have wasted his time talking about trees with fruit
God told Adam to eat freely.
2. Satan didn\’t show up for conversation, he came to destroy.
STUDY THE BIBLE SO YO WILL KNOW THE TRUTH
V:2 The woman said to the serpent, \”From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, \’You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.\’\”
4 The serpent said to the woman, \”You surely will not die! \”
A. It is obvious from this conversation that Adam had taught God\’s command to
Eve.
1. Satan objective was to confuse Eve\’s understanding of God\’s command.
2. 2 Cor 11:3 states. \” But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent\’s
cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion
to Christ.
3. Satan called God a liar.
a. Satan led Eve to doubt her understanding of God\’s command.
b. In God\’s command was the consequence of disobedience.
c. The lie was that there was no consequence for her disobedience.
SATAN\’S DECEPTION; THE FATHER OF LIES
V:5 \”For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.\”
6 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. \”
A. If you can believe one lie about the Bible, you are subject to any lie.
1. The Word of God is the whole truth.
2. You cannot change one word in the Bible without affecting your interpretation
of every other word in the Bible.
3. Consider 2 Timothy 3:16-17;
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
B. Eve dishonored her husband and God by making a decision about the Word
without discussing it with them.
1. We should find it easier to talk to God than to a stranger.
2. We should believe God before we believe a stranger.
3. We should believe God before we believe ourselves.
C. Consider how the mind works.
1. Satan introduced into Eve\’s belief doubt of God\’s command.
2. Based on the wrong information, Eve saw with her eyes and believed in
her heart the lie Satan placed in her mind.
3. How could Eve know that the tree was good for food if she had not tasted it?
a. How could Eve know tree would make her wise?
b. The thoughts were introduced by Satan which she chose to believe
over the Word of God.
D. It is my belief that Adam was not presence when Satan was having his
conversation with Eve.
1. No where in the conversation does Adam repeat the command God
gave him about the Tree Of Knowledge and Of Good And Evil to
Satan.
2. No where in the conversation does Satan address Adam.
a. Satan had no problem opposing God before his fall.
b. Satan had no problem trying to temp Jesus in the desert after
His baptism.
3. I believe Adam show up after Eve ate from the tree.
a. Knowing that the damage had already been done, Adam willingly
ate what Eve gave Him.
b. Adam failed to consider his responsibility as head of the marriage.
c. Adam did not have to be a party to Eve\’s sin, but he chose to disobey
God\’s command.
d. Adam dishonored God by not discussing Eve\’s sin with God
before He ate the fruit.
e. In a way Adam did as God commanded; to cleave to his wife.
PERSONAL REEVALUATION AS A RESULT OF SIN
V:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
A. Notice Eve did not know she was naked until Adam ate the fruit.
1. Eve was ignorant of her sin until Adam ate the fruit.
2. The sin of creation is not on Eve, but Adam.
B. The fall of man had noting to do with Eve.
1. Romans 5:19: \” For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were
made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made
righteous.\”
2. Notice, Adam and Eve decided together to cover their sin.
3. Together, Adam and Eve eyes were open to their sin.
C. God is showing us that Adam and Eve should have decided together to
to obey His command.
1. Problems in the marriage began, when the two can\’t agree.
2. It may feel good to make decisions independent of others.
3. God made us dependant beings.
4. 1 Corinthians 11:11
In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of
woman.
5. There should be one voice in the marriage.
a. The two should be come one flesh.
b. There is no me or I, but we or us.
c. Amos 3:3: \” Can two walk together, except they be agreed?\”
THE GUILT OF SIN
V:8 \”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. \”
A. After eating from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve began to act as sinful beings
before God.
1. It take considerable more effort to be in a sinful state than to be innocence.
2. They began to see themselves differently.
3. They saw the difference between the center part of their bodies.
4. They became ashamed of their bodies which God made perfect.
B. Mentally, they put themselves on a guilt trip.
1. They had to find something to cover their gentiles.
2. As far as I know, there was no store to buy thread and needles.
3. As far as I know thread and needles didn\’t exist yet.
4. Fig leaves are small.
a, It would take many fig leave sown together to make a
covering for each of them.
b. They had to find something in the garden to serve as thread.
c. They had to find something in the garden to serve as a needle.
d. They had to learn how to sew.
5. Eating from the tree of knowledge and of Good and Evil gave
them knowledge they didn\’t need before in their state of innocence.
6. In their sinful state, Adam and Eve became creative to cover their
sin.
C. The concept of hiding from God was not in their previous state
of innocence.
1. The fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and Good and Evil awaken
in them the need to hid from God.
2. The knowledge in sin is never complete.
3. Sin operates in the flesh which lead you to a state of being irrational.
4. It is irrational to think you can hide in the trees from an all knowing
and all seeing God.
5. Knowledge without the Word of God is foolishness.
GOD\’S INVESTIGATION
V:9-10. \” Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, \”Where are you?\”
10 He said, \”I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.\”
A. Notice the judgment call from God is to Adam and not Eve.
1. Adam was the responsible party, He was the head of Eve,
2. 1 Corinthians 11:3:
\”Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the
woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.\”
3. We need to remember that Satan\’s conversation was with Eve and not the
head of the marriage.
a. Lucifer the Arch Angel, now called Satan had dishonored his head, God
the creator.
b. Satan\’s first objective was to get Eve to dishonor her head, Adam her husband.
c. Satan understood that by talking to Eve, that he was in violation of God\’s
covenant for marriage.
d. Satan\’s objective was to destroy the marriage and the relationship with God.
B. God\’s call to us is not that He needs knowledge, but He wants us to show
our knowledge and ignorance of Him.
1. Notice sin puts the fear of God into our lives.
2. Sin causes us to make up excuses for our actions.
a. Adam\’s first excuse for hiding was his nakedness.
b. Adam\’s second excuse for hiding was his fear.
3. Notice, Adam had never hid from God before his eating the forbidden fruit.
a. Adam\’s eating from the Tree of Knowledge and Good And Evil gave
him knowledge about good and evil.
b. God\’s question to Adam was for Adam to show his sin
through conversation.
c. All God had to do is hear Adams response to His question
to confirm that Adam had gotten this knowledge from
Tree of Knowledge.
d. God\’s question was for Adam to verbalize his sin.
ADAM\’S SIN: BLAME YOUR SIN ON SOMEONE ELSE
V:11-13, \” And He said, \”Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?\”
12 The man said, \”The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.\”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, \”What is this you have done?\” And the woman said, \”The serpent deceived me, and I ate.\”
A. The question from God to Adam require a yes or no answer.
1. God\’s question did not require an explanation.
2. Adam was quick to blame God for his sin.
3. Adam did not take responsibility for his sin.
4. He was quick give up his wife as the problem.
5. Adam was quick to forget that God\’s command
was given to him.
B. Eve followed Adam by blaming her disobedience on the serpent.
1. Eve did not take responsibility for her sin.
2. She followed the advice of Adam to cover up her sin.
3. She did not consult with Adam before she sinned.
C. To those who are married, you have a help mate.
1. Important decisions should be made together.
2. The husband and his wife are not perfect.
3. A married couple is better together imperfectly.
4. The head of a married couple is Jesus who
should be consulted in making a unified decision.
D. To those who are not married, you have a help mate.
1. Your help mate is Jesus,
2. You are the bride and Jesus is the bridegroom.
3. Consult with Jesus through prayer before you make
any decision.
THANK GOD FOR CHOOSING US.
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor of Greater Macedonia Church
5510 West Sam Houston Park Way North
Houston, Texas 77041
For more lessons, follow me on facebook and visit my
blogs: revmmitchell.com and goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com
