A. GOD CREATED MAN ACCORDING TO HIS LIKENESS.
God's purpose was to rule the world together with humans. God also wanted to share His life and have fellowship with the human.
Gen. 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
B. GOD’S COMMAND
Man had such a great position to rule the world together with God. The only thing that man had to do was to obey God's command.
Gen. 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
C. MAN’S FALL
God tested Adam if he really loved God and if Adam wanted to obey God. Therefore God gave man a choice and we know from history that man disobeyed God.
Gen. 3:1-6 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
D. STEPS LEADING TO THE FALL
1. v.1 Eve was too close to the tree (stay away from sin)
2. v. 2-3 Eve had a conversation with the devil (don't talk with the devil)
3. v. 4-5 Eve listened to the devil (don't listen to the devil)
4. v. 6 She started to eat the forbidden fruit (don’t try)
5. v. 6 Adam listened to Eve
Conclusion: Adam and Eve should have stayed together and stayed in the position and authority given by God.
E. The results from Man's fall
The results are terrible, from light to darkness, from blessing to curse, from live to death, and from God to Satan.
See God's curse in Genesis 3:
- v. 14-15 God said to the serpent
- v. 16 God said to the woman
- v. 17-19 God said to Adam
F. BECAUSE OF THE FALL MAN BECAME:
1. SINNER
Rom. 3:10-12 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one."
Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Ps. 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
2. JUDGED
John 3:18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3. UNDER GOD’S WRATH
John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
4. CHILD OF THE DEVIL
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
5. BLINDED BY THE DEVIL
2Cor. 4:3-4 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
6. DEAD
Eph. 2:1-3 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
7. CHILD OF WRATH
Eph. 2:3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
8. DARKNESS
Eph. 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9. UNDER THE POWER OF DARKNESS
Col. 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
10. HELL AS DESTINY
Rev. 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Rev. 21:8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Conclusion: Man's position became terrible after the fall. But our next study will talk about our Lord Jesus Christ who came to save us from the curse and to bring us back from darkness to light.
1Cor. 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
