R.C. Sproul (0:00)

It's a malediction when God condemns people to be separated from him, sent into the outer darkness to experience the complete loss of the benefits of his nearness. This is a powerful term, this curse that has radical consequences. And we see after the initial fall that God pronounces His curse upon the man, upon the woman, and upon the serpent.

Nathan W. Bingham (0:36)

What happened when Adam sinned? What was the curse that R.C. sproul just mentioned? His curse upon Adam, Eve and the serpent. This is the Friday edition of Renewing youg Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and I'm glad you're joining us today. No one likes hearing bad news, but when we understand the bad news, the curse of God, the good news shines as the amazing grace that it truly is. Today's message is the final one. You'll hear from Dr. Sproul's series the Promise Keeper, so be sure to request access to all 14 messages and a copy of the companion book when you donate before midnight tonight@renewingyourmind.org well, here's Dr. Sproul on the serpent's temptation and the Curse of God.

R.C. Sproul (1:28)

We have been looking at the Covenant of Creation, or sometimes called the Adamic Covenant, or elsewhere we refer to it as the Covenant of Works, wherein Adam and Eve were placed on probation in the Garden of Eden. And in our last session, we were going through some of the critical elements that make up the narrative of the Adamic Covenant. We looked at the Tree of Life as the principle of the highest potency of life. And we looked at the principle of probation in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And again, let me just comment on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because there is so much confusion and disagreement referring back to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, why was it called the Knowledge of Good and Evil? The standard reply to that is that people say, well, Adam and Eve didn't have any experiential sense of the difference between right and wrong until they experienced the shame that came from their sin. And so the idea was that the knowledge of good and evil would be that knowledge that would come only through sinning. However, Adam and Eve were created as moral creatures and were called to have an ability to discern between right and wrong. And God, as our Creator, certainly knows the difference between right and wrong, even though he doesn't have to experience evil to understand that it is evil. And so the idea here is not that we have a tree here that will only reap a certain benefit if somebody disobeys the commandment. Remember, the idea is that that tree of knowledge and good and evil, which is off limits, could also have a positive benefit associated with it. And again, the Bible doesn't explain to us exactly why it was called the knowledge of good and evil. But I think we get a hint to it by virtue of the other element that we encounter in the garden, and that is the serpent who comes as the tempter to our primordial parents. And now you remember how Satan lays his snare to seduce Eve and consequently also Adam. We remember that chapter three of Genesis begins with words that are ominous. There's a certain foreboding associated with them. Everything that we've read so far in the creation account has a positive note where God says, this is good and that is good. And then we read the opening to chapter three and the serpent was more crafty or subtle than all of the beasts of the field. And so the serpent is introduced by bringing forth a certain subtlety. And if you recall, the serpent comes to Eve with a question that is itself suggestive. The serpent says to Eve, has God said, you may not eat of any of the trees of the garden? Now in other series I've commented on on the subtlety of this question raised by the serpent, because the serpent was not stupid. The serpent knew very well that God had said to Adam and Eve, of all of the trees of the garden you may freely eat, but then put certain restrictions in the path of Adam and Eve. And now because of those restrictions, Satan says, well, did God say, you can't eat from any of the trees? And when I've commented on this before, I've called attention to what I find is an amazing parallel between the implication of the serpent and the philosophy in the 20th century of the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, who argues that God cannot exist because we exist as human beings. And he says that the essence of being human is found in freedom. And since we know that we are free, that we are moral agents, then Sartre comes to the conclusion, if man exists and is free, then God cannot exist. Because as long as God existed, man would not be autonomous. And let's keep that word in front of us, autonomous, autonomous, which means to be a law unto oneself, it's self rule. Now what the Bible says about our state in creation is that God creates us free but not autonomous, that our freedom is always limited by. By the authority of God only God is a law unto Himself. Now, as our God, he delegates to us all kinds of freedom like we see in the garden. Of all of the trees of the garden, you may freely eat. And so he grants a high degree or measure of freedom to the creature, but when the restrictions are put there, indicates that this freedom, however broad it is, nevertheless is limited. Now, Sartre's argument is that unless we are not just free, but totally free or autonomous, free to determine for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, then we're not really free. And I find it fascinating because that's basically the same argument that the serpent gives to Eve when he says, has God said, you may not eat from any of the trees in the garden? And again, the subtlety of this has been discovered by every person who's ever been a parent. I've used this illustration before where your teenage son comes to you on Monday night and says, can I stay out this evening? I want to go to the movies with my buddies. I know it's a school night, but this is movie playing. I want to go see. And you say, okay. So he goes to the movie Tuesday night. He says, our friends are going out for pizza and they'd like me to go along. Can I go? And you say, okay, you may go. Wednesday night, he comes home and he says to dad, dad, can I borrow the car tonight? You say, sure, okay, go ahead, but be home in a reasonable hour. Thursday night, he wants to go on a date, and you say, okay. Friday night he wants to go roller skating, and you give permission for that. Then Saturday night, he wants to go somewhere else with a car, and you say, not tonight, son. And the normal response that that teenager gives at that point is what? You never let me down. Anything. If you say yes five times in a row and then finish that sequence with a no, all of a sudden you're a tyrant. You have given no freedom. That's the suggestion that the serpent is giving here to Eve. Well, did God say you can't eat from any of the trees in the garden? Of course God didn't say that. He said, of all the trees in the garden, we may freely eat. But see the implication, the subtlety here is he may as well have. If he put one restriction on you, the only thing you're going to be looking at all day long is the restricted area. He's going to create a desire in you for walking over the borders by the very fact that he put those borders there. So he's really taken away your freedom. And so the serpent comes with the temptation, and he begins with this subtle attack. But then he switches quickly from the subtle suggestion to a frontal attack. Clearly contradicting what God had said. Because God had said to Adam and Eve, the day that you shall eat of this tree, you shall surely die. And the serpent says, you will not die, but you will be as gods, knowing good and evil. Now, the temptation, the seduction, is that man can be elevated to the very highest possible level of reality, to the level of God himself, to know good and evil as God knows good and evil, presumably to establish the standards of good and evil, presumably to decree what is good, to do what is right in your own eyes, which is for the creature, the very essence of sin, to do what is right in your own eyes. And so we see that in the Fall, the thing that destroys this covenantal foundation of our relationship to God is the human quest or grasp, I should say, for autonomy. The promise that is held out by Satan is deification. And when they fall into this trap and are seduced by the serpent, then of course, the covenant of works or the covenant of creation ends in complete disaster. Because the probation, you recall, carries with it that fourth element, that punitive element, the promise of impending death to all who violate the covenant. Now, I think it's important for us to understand that God set forth as the consequence of disobedience to this covenant not simply death at some point, but the point was, the day that you shall eat of it, you shall surely die. Let me say that again. The punishment for breaking the probation of the covenant of creation is not just death, but immediate death. Now, what do we do about that? Since God doesn't follow through with his warning, some people say, well, the very moment that Adam and Eve violated the terms of the covenant, they did suffer death that day. They suffered spiritual death from which they could only be resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, that's true that they suffered spiritual death that day, but I think that more than that is in view in the warning and in the consequence. The idea that sinning against God would bring death carries with it the idea of the physical dissolution of the body thanatoth biological death, the death that we understand attends every mortal person. Now, the fact that Adam and Eve are not killed by God on the day that they sinned does not make God a liar. It simply makes him gracious that he allows Adam and Eve, who are now spiritually dead, to continue to be alive biologically. By postponing their execution, he provides for them redemption, which from the third chapter of Genesis through the rest of the Bible, is indeed the story of God's work. That all of the future covenants, all of the rest of God's activity with us is wrapped and cased within the idea of redeeming us from the fall. Now the penalty of death that comes upon Adam and Eve is also extended to all of their descendants. And that's why the New Testament tells us through one man's disobedience, death comes into the world. And that we all die because we all participate in, in this fallen nature that is a result of our original parents transgression. So what follows then in the record of this covenant and this violation of covenant is the negative sanction that is imposed upon the players. And that negative sanction is called the curse. If only we had the time to develop the use of that concept throughout Scripture, it would be, I think, valuable for us because the whole idea of the curse in the Bible is the antithesis, the exact opposite of the divine blessing. It's a malediction when God condemns people to be separated from him, sent into the outer darkness to experience the complete loss of the benefits of his nearness. This is a powerful term, this curse that has radical consequences. And we see after the initial fall that God pronounces his curse upon the man, upon the woman, and upon the serpent. And in pronouncing the curse upon them, man is given the task of labor and of toil and of seeking his livelihood from the earth. But now the ground is cursed, so that when the man uses the labor of his hands to produce his livelihood, the ground will only yield its fruit reluctantly. Because now along with the growing of the foodstuffs, the vegetables and so on, come the weeds and the thorns that make it difficult as the land becomes parched and barren, and so on. So that now the effort required to survive becomes much more severe because of sin. Now that's important. We understand that labor itself is not the curse because God put Adam and Eve to work in the garden prior to the fall, imitating God, who is a working God. But it's now the struggle, the difficulty, the frustration, and oftentimes our experience of futility in our labor, that that is a part of the curse to the woman is given the exceeding pain associated with childbirth, she will still have the singular privilege of being able to bear the highest fruit that a human being could possibly bear, and that is another human being. And men are not given the privilege of actually bearing children. And sometimes women don't think that's such a great privilege after all because of the pain associated with it. Yet at the same time, if you talk to women, they'll tell you, despite the Pain. There is no higher privilege, no higher, more sanctified moment in human existence than giving birth to a child. And though men cannot identify with that experientially, I think we get some hint of it by being there when the child is born. I mean, I will never, as long as I live, forget laying eyes upon our firstborn child and how the emotions swelled up within me toward my wife, that my wife had brought this daughter into the world. It was a fantastic moment. As I said, I'll never forget. Well, then, the third curse that comes here now is the curse on the serpent, where God says that the serpent will be on his belly in the dust all of his life. But then added to that is the prophetic judgment of God that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Now, this is not seed, plural, but this prophecy indicates one specific individual that will be a descendant of Eve, who at some point will come and crush the head of the serpent. But in the process, the one who is the seed of the woman will have his heel bruised. Now, in that metaphorical description of the curse, we have what we call in theology the proto evangel or the first Gospel. The protoevangel, the first Gospel. And the irony is that the first promise of the gospel comes in the middle of a curse. And the first promise of the gospel comes while God is placing his curse on the serpent who will crawl on his belly. And this of course, anticipates the defeat of the serpent by the Christ, who must suffer and die as he vanquishes the one who seduces Adam and, and Eve. Now, the one other thing that I think is important here, that we understand that along with these curses, and we have this first promise of redemption, the first act of redemption comes also at this time when, if you recall, the immediate response of Adam and Eve to their transgression, to their sin was an awareness of and a shame connected with their nakedness. We were told, you know, at the end of chapter two, that they were both naked and unashamed. But when they sinned, they suddenly became aware of their nakedness and went and sought refuge by hiding in the trees. Desmond Morris, who wrote a best selling book several decades ago called the Naked Ape, looking at mankind not as something specially created in the image of God, but as just one more animal in the animal kingdom, said, there are 80 some different subspecies or species of primates in the world. And he included humans as one of those forms of the primates. And he titled his book accordingly the Naked Ape and made a big deal out of the reality of all of the monkeys and gorillas and apes and primates in the world, only one of them, in fact only one animal in the whole animal kingdom produces artificial coverings to use as clothes. Again, looking at us as an animal said we're the only animal that has a garment industry. Everybody else wears the clothes that the Creator gave to them and that the rest of the apes are naked. But we can't stand to be naked, really. Although there's still a sense in which the marriage context is a place where God is still reserved for people to be naked and unashamed once it's cloaked in commitment and promise and so on everywhere else. For the most part, people are normally afraid to be exposed physically to the watching world. And so we have this original human embarrassment and shame about being naked. And the very first act of redemption is that God stoops down and personally makes garments to cover the nakedness of his sinful creatures. See, we're beginning to see already the covenant of grace starting to unfold here, that where we failed in obedience to the law of God, God nevertheless does not just annihilate Adam and Eve, he does. He gives them a promise of future redemption, and he covers their nakedness, which again foreshadows the ultimate covering of our nakedness that comes from the garments of the righteousness of Christ.