Genesis 3:1-6 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, Yes, has God said… I. MAN'S FALL FROM A STATE OF INNOCENCE. Mark the steps of the transgression. She "saw": she should have turned away her eyes from beholding vanity; but she enters into temptation by looking with pleasure on the forbidden fruit. "She took": it was her own act and deed. Satan may tempt, but he cannot force us into sin. She "did eat": when first she looked, perhaps she meant not to touch, or if she took, not to eat; but who can say, So far I will go in sin, and no further? It is a downward road. Our only safety is to stop the first thought, the first beginning. She "gave also unto her husband with her." No sooner was Eve a sinner than, like the devil, she became a tempter. Adam, it seems, had joined her now; and he listened to her persuasion, "and he did eat." And will any dare to think the sin a small one? God had given him a plain and easy command; had made him with a will free, a nature holy and good. His act, then, showed unbelief in God's word, discontent with his state, aspiring pride; in a word, it was disobedience. He sinned against the clearest light, the highest knowledge, the greatest goodness, the dearest love. He turned aside quickly. And will any ask, as men do now, What great harm was there? II. THE UNHAPPY CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 1. Shame. 2. Fear. 3. Pride. Adam attempts to hide his offence from God. 4. Judgment. Sorrow, misery, death. Every sinner finds it so. III. THE ONLY REMEDY PROVIDED — in Jesus Christ our Saviour. God has stooped from heaven to redeem man. (E. Blencowe, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? |
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