Genesis 3:1–21

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" ²And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but 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.'" ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." ⁶So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. ⁸And 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. ⁹But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" ¹⁰And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." ¹¹He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" ¹²The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." ¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." ¹⁴The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. ¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." ¹⁶To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." ¹⁷And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; ¹⁸thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." ²⁰The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Did God really say? That was all it took. That is the word that killed you and me. Did God really say? He is the father of lies. He is the deceiver. He is the thief of thieves. He stole one thing: God's Word. All he has to do is to take the word away from us, to make us doubt the Word of God, twist the Word; distort its meaning and in the blink of an eye "You shall surely die." Satan has many tricks up his sleeve but they all amount to one thing: snatch God's word away from us. You have seen him in action in your own lives. Maybe he just makes you tired and sleepy when you read it or hear it. It just doesn't seem interesting. Maybe there just isn't time today, so put it off until tomorrow. Maybe he makes you want your sleep in on Sunday morning. Maybe he tells you it's too hard to understand, stay out of Bible study. Subtle, innocent little things, it's all the same. Get the word away from people and they will lose their faith, fall into sin, and die eternal death.

Did God really say? She doubted, her faith stumbled, she disobeyed. Seems like a small, insignificant act. Just eating the fruit of a tree, but it wasn't the act, it was the fall from faith, the turning away from fearing, loving and trusting God above all things. "Many died through one man's trespass." "Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned." (Romans 5:12, 15). "If you abide in my word you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." But if you don't abide in my word, your faith will crumble; you will die. And that's exactly what happened to the world we live in.

We sit here in the middle with our lives in turmoil, in the middle of human suffering all around us, fighting against loneliness, insecurity, fear of what the future will bring, anxiety over the direction of our lives, depression, and a feeling of emptiness inside and we wonder why is life like this. Well, the answer, my friend, is not blowing in the wind, it's staring us right in the face.

Satan took away the word then he twisted it. "You will not surely die...rather your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God..." Well that's something worth becoming. Be like God. Maybe we can be autonomous. We can do as we please without taking responsibility. We will have freedom of choice, independence, won't have to answer to anyone but me. We will raise ourselves up by the boot straps and accomplish the dream. The dream of independence, freedom to do as we please, freedom from accountability, to be successful. This is the path our American society has chosen, we especially like that freedom of choice idea. Even better, if we were like God, we could do great things, we could accomplish whatever we set our minds on. Maybe even do miracles, be like Jesus, do what Jesus did. After all he was a man just like us. If he could to it, we can too. This is the spirit that drives our culture today. This is the spirit that drives mankind: autonomy. I can do it myself. I don't need your help. And I'm not accountable to anyone for it.

On account of one brief moment of doubt, their relationship with God was broken. They were afraid, ashamed, guilty. They ran and hid themselves from God. They had separated themselves from the source of all good. They had separated themselves from the source of life, love, peace, harmony and from now on there would be disunity, illness, disease, broken relationships, lost friends, broken families, divorce, hopelessness, despair, and death.

They slapped God in the face and told him to get lost, but God is love. God loves his neighbor. God loves his enemy. He went searching in the garden crying out, "Where are you?" A cry of pain, of loss. The cry of a parent in the night when his son or daughter is lost. Not just gone away somewhere, but when their child has spurned their parent's love, lost their way in life, become lost in drugs, lost in sexual immorality. And you cry out, "Where are you? Come back to me."

Yes, God was hurt. He felt pain. He felt sorrow. He had to do something about it. The rest of Scripture is the account of what God has been doing and is doing today to get his lost children back. To get you back. To come into the world to search for you, to bring you home to him.

He made a solemn promise that day. He told Satan that Eve would have an offspring, the Seed of a woman, in other words the son of a virgin, a Son who would crush Satan's head, slay him, defeat him and undo all the damage he had done. A Son who by his death would destroy the one who has the power over death, that is, the devil. (Hebrews 2:14). He would overcome temptation, he would fulfill the command of God, he would take away the sin of the world, he would restore life to the world, he would take away the pain, right the wrongs, give hope to the depressed and hopeless, give joy to the sorrowful. He would restore the relationship between himself and mankind. He would restore the relationship between one man and another.

And then, in an act of love and mercy, God sacrificed the life of an animal, shed its blood, and made garments for Adam and Eve. Already we see that this Seed, the Son who would destroy Satan, would do so by becoming the sacrifice for sin and by shedding his blood and by covering your shame and guilt with himself—with his garment of righteousness.

This was the Son of God who partook of the same flesh and blood as you are that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death and deliver all of us who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14). He who was born of a virgin, a Son, came into the world to suffer. Lent is about his suffering. Starting from his temptation in the wilderness to his cross on Calvary the time of Lent is about this one act: Jesus saved you.

And so it was. This Seed of a woman, a Son born of a virgin, became a second Adam, however, in reverse. The opposite of Adam. For by the sin of one man, Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, Jesus Christ, the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19). Opposites. From a tree Adam in a garden was tempted and sinned. Adam was cast out of the garden into the wilderness of separation from God. And by his disobedience you were made sinners. So it was, that the Son was tempted in the wilderness, but did not sin. And from a tree shaped into a cross he made you righteous by his obedience and brings you back to the garden and reunites you with God.

Jesus' temptation in the wilderness was the beginning of his suffering, the beginning of our season of Lent. But he did not give in to Satan. When Satan again distorted the word of God, Jesus used the Word to defeat Satan. And so by the Word of God which Satan had distorted in the garden, Jesus overcame the temptations of the devil and was victorious. Only by the Word is the devil overcome, for we cannot stand against him by ourselves. It was a battle fought on your behalf. A victory he won for you. And his suffering came to an end on a cross where the sacrificed lamb shed his blood and covered you with his garment of righteous as he bowed his head and gave his spirit back to the Father—the end of our season of Lent.

And so a loving Father has found his lost children and brings them home. Lost in your own worlds of agony and despair. In a world of hurt, of pain, of depression. Lost in sin, immorality, divisions. Lost in your quest for independence and freedom of choice to do as you want without any accountability. Lost in a world of injustice, unfairness, sickness and death. He has come. He searches you out. He finds his children and brings them home in baptism. He finds his children and carries them on his shoulder to the banquet feast of heaven, the Lord's Supper.

He has overcome your death. When you hurt, come to him. When you are in sorrow, come to him. When you are heavy laden and burdened, place your burdens on him. When you are lost in life, call upon him and he will find you. The Father whose agonizing cry pierces the night, has found his lost child and his sorrow has turned to joy. Amen.