The story of the World

Part 2: Fall of Man: Sin Entered the World

We are continuing our series “The Story of the World”. It is a series of understanding life
and this world according to the Bible. We understand that although the Bible is a collection
of books, a library of books, with many authors, it has one Big Story because it has one Main
Author – Who is God.
This Big story of the Bible is like one Big Stage Play.
Every time the curtain opens with new scenes, new stories, new characters we shall see that
it is all connected. Stories of Adam to Abraham to David to the prophets and to Jesus are all
connected and it is part of one Big Story.
And this Big Story of the Bible is connected also to our lives. This very old book has the
answers of life’s big questions today.
Last month we looked at the first chapter of Genesis, and it answered two important
questions in life: Where did I come from? And why am I here?
Today is part 2 and we will answer another important question in life.
Why is there pain and suffering in the world?
This question is asked by many people. Everybody understands pain, everybody experiences
suffering. Be it physical or emotional, everybody knows pain and suffering whether a person
is young or old, rich or poor.
But this question is especially true in Christianity.
Because Christians believed, as what we learned in Part 1 of the Series, that we all come
from God. The opening chapter of the Bible, the opening scene of this big stage play is - God
is the Creator.
And it painted us a picture of who God is. God is all powerful and an ever good God, who
has good purposes for us.
But if God created the world good, then why is there pain and suffering in the world?
That is what we shall see and hopefully answer as the curtain opens for scene two of this
stage play.
Let us pray.
The title of this message is: The Fall of Man: Sin Entered the World
The main text of our study is Genesis Chapter 3: and it is a story of how the woman was
deceived by the serpent and how man disobeyed God and how death came as
consequences of their action.
Verse 1 of Chapter 3 reads, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the
field that the Lord God had made.” งูนนเป็
ั ้ นสัตว์ที่มีเล่ห์เหลี่ยมมากกว่าสัตว์ป่าทังหลายที
้ ่พระเจ้ าพระ
ยาห์เวห์ทรงสร้ างขึ ้น ปฐมกาล 1:1
We are introduced to the serpent, and there’s a lot of mystery and things we do not know
about this serpent. But we know from the Bible that this serpent is Satan. And we can read
that it is one of God’s creature. Meaning to say, that the serpent is not and never will be
equal to God. It tries to be, it rebels against God and wished to have a kingdom of its own,
but will never be and can never be equal to God.
And here we can read that the serpent first talked to the woman and this is what it says:
“Did God really say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” “พระเจ้ าตรัสจริ งๆ หรื อว่า ‘เจ้ า
ต้ องไม่กินผลจากต้ นใดๆ ในสวนนี ้’?” ปฐมกาล 1:1-2
Notice that the serpent knows about what God has commanded:
We can read in Chapter 2 the command of God:
“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[d] of it you shall surely die.”
“เจ้ ามีอิสระที่จะกินผลจากต้ นใดๆ ในสวนก็ได้ แต่เจ้ าต้ องไม่กินผลจากต้ นแห่งการรู้ ดีร้ ู ชวั่ เพราะถ้ าเจ้ ากินผลของ
มันเมื่อใด เจ้ าจะตายแน่นอน” ปฐมกาล 2:16-17
The serpent knows about God’s command. It knows enough to confuse people of God’s
word. But what the serpent was really doing here is giving malice. It wanted to suggest that
God is a selfish God and that God does not want His people to enjoy God’s creation.
And the woman replied:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the
fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
“พวกเรากินผลของทุกต้ นในสวนได้ แต่พระเจ้ าตรัสจริ งๆ ว่า ‘เจ้ าต้ องไม่กินผลของต้ นไม้ ที่อยูก่ ลางสวน และเจ้ า
ต้ องไม่แตะต้ องมัน มิฉะนันเจ้
้ าจะตาย’ ” vv.2-3
The woman has rightly corrected the serpent when she said, “we may eat of the fruit of the
trees in the garden”. Of course, they can eat, it is for them to enjoy.
But then, she was not completely correct when she said that they are not to eat of the tree
in the midst of the garden. For there are two trees: one that is forbidden – the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, and another one is given for them to enjoy – the tree of life.
Eve was like saying, all other fruit you can eat except for that one in the very middle, the
most special tree we cannot eat, we can’t even touch it.” She even added something God
never said. As if God is, as the serpent suggests, selfish and bad contrary to scene 1 in
Genesis 1 that God is good.
Of course God isn’t like some overly strict mom who shouts “NO!” to everything. God didn’t
create trees and shouts, “No, climbing of trees!” God created trees that bears fruit for them
to enjoy as well with the rest of the creation.”
And so what Eve said gave an opening to the serpent, and the serpent strikes and attack
with a lie, and directly contradicts God’s word saying: “you will not surely die.” The serpent
attacks the good character of God. The serpent is like saying, “God is lying, God is not really
good and God does not really want what is good for you, God is not giving you the best.
Take and eat and you can be like God, you can now decide what is good or bad for you.
This is the deception of Satan. Satan wanted to be like God or even greater than God, but
instead Satan was casted out and fell down. Now Satan deceives man into believing that
they can be like God so that instead of bearing the image of God and be God’s
representation and representative, man would be now followers of Satan unto death and
destruction.
Now we read that the woman was deceived, she ate it and she gave also to her husband to
eat, and he did.
Paul wrote, “…Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived…” -1Tim.2:14
อาดัมไม่ได้ ถกู ล่อลวง แต่หญิงนันถู
้ กล่อลวง -1 ทิโมธี 2:14
And so Eve was clearly deceived, but the man was worse for it was for Adam a willful
disobedience.
For remember, God first gave the commandment to Adam.
And the commandment was just one. Only one. The world was given to Adam to name, to
have authority, to enjoy. They can do anything: they could run, and climb and swing on trees
if they want, they can eat all the fruit except one. There is just one command, “Don’t eat
from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” And Adam ate it. It wasn’t a hard difficult
commandment, but Adam just chose to disobey.
There is a common question here: Why would God plant a tree that God would also
prohibit?
Some people would say, this is like a father putting a gun on the floor and telling his son
“don’t play with the gun”.
And I honestly don’t know why God put the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. God
has His own reasons that is too wise for us to understand. But it could be that God wanted
His people from the beginning of time itself to live by faith and obedience. That man will
learn that by believing and obeying God, they will have life and joy. That if only Adam
believed and obeyed they would have life and joy. Except that he disobeyed and his
disobedience brought death.
But why would death be the consequence of Adam’s simple disobedience?
It may seem like a simple disobedience, but at the heart of every disobedience against God
is idolatry. You put up yourself against God. And you made yourself a god. And so this
simple disobedience is actually a serious offence against God and its consequence is death.
But did Adam and Eve died when they ate the fruit? Yes, they died spiritually. They have
separated themselves from the Author and Sustainer of Life. That when they heard the Lord
God walking in the garden, they hid themselves.
Sometimes people would say we cannot know God because God is hiding away. The Bible
says the opposite. The truth is, people don’t know God because man is running and hiding
away from God. Man is, according to the Bible, have become spiritually dead.
And because man is now spiritually dead, he is also slowly physically dying. God’s
punishment to man is that man “shall return to dust.”
เพราะเรานำเจ ้ามาจากดิน
เพราะเจ ้าเป็ นธุลด
ี น
ิ
และเจ ้าจะกลับคืนสูธ ่ ล
ุ ด
ี น
ิ
This is true not only to Adam but to all the children of Adam, that means to every human
being.
As the Bible says, “…sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and
so death spread to all men[a] because all sinned” –Romans 5:12
ฉะนัน ่ เดียวกับทีบ
้ เชน ่ าปเข ้ามาในโลกเพราะมนุษย์คนเดียวและบาปนำความตาย
มา และโดยทางนีเ้ องความตายจึงมาถึงมวลมนุษย์เพราะทุกคนได ้ทำบาป โรม 5:12
Like Adam, we all have sinned, we all have disobeyed, and death awaits all of us.
So now, when we are asked … If God is good, why is there so much pain and suffering in the
world? The short answer is because man disobeyed God. You and I have disobeyed God, we
wanted to be the center. Man has become self-centered and following his own desire
instead of the purposes of God has for man and it all resulted in pain and suffering.
This is a very tragic story but it does not end without hope, because God is good. In the story
we can see God calling out and searching out for Adam and Eve, we can see God covering
the shame of Adam and Eve. And even in the punishment God gave man also a promise that
someday, from a woman shall be born a savior to crush the enemy’s head.
So let us not doubt the goodness of God even when we see the pain in the world, because
even in these consequences of sin, God is still good.
God is calling out to you. Don’t hide away from God. God will cover your shame and take
away your sin. Let us come to him in faith and obedience.