Eve – The Mother of All Living

Honouring the First Mother

Genesis 2 and 3

 

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland

14 March, 2010  AM    Mother’s Day in Ireland

www.biblebc.com

 

I.       Introduction (Genesis 3:20)

 

A.     People are pretty convinced today that the Bible is a book of myths and fables. They make fun of Noah’s Ark, and Sodom and Gomorrah, and especially about two naked people in a perfect Garden. To most, it is just way too fanciful to believe in such things.

B.     And yet, absolutely everyone you have ever met has lived their entire life trying to get BACK to that Garden

 

1.      Trying to mould and shape perfect bodies

2.      Trying to find the perfect mate that just loved them as they were

3.      Trying to retire earlier and earlier and not work anymore, but just relax, and eat and sleep and have fun out in a “garden” paradise somewhere

4.      Trying to live without guilt and shame – so they spend thousands of Euros a year on “counselling” and Prozac and Vallium

 

C.     Modern Science has such a sad, foolish, unscientific theory to try to explain how we all got here – it is called Darwinian Evolution

 

1.      That we all just accidently burped out of some protoplasmic soup onto the rocks

2.      And from that moment began to crawl, and reach for the stars, discovering fire and tools, and then bows and arrows, and then canons and rockets.

3.      After billions of years of struggle and death and accidents and failures, ta da! HERE WE ALL STAND!

4.      What a JOKE!

 

D.     God says we are the product of a supernatural creative moment, 6,000 years ago, formed by the hands of a loving God, who moulded and shaped us for His purpose, and for His glory!

E.      So when you read Genesis 1,2 and 3, you are looking at our beginning – how we got here

 

1.      But we are looking more importantly at what we lost because of sin

2.      But thankfully, we are looking at what we CAN be because of Jesus

3.      So this morning, being Mother’s Day, let’s take a look back at the beginning, and see what we all have lost, and discover what every home can have once again because of a Lamb!

4.      The first Mother, Eve, sets the pace for mothers throughout history

5.      Eve will explain why it hurts so much to be a Mom, but also, how to just be a Mom!

 

F.      Let’s take a look at why Adam looked at his wife, and honoured her, in spite of all the disaster she had caused!

 

II.    Message

 

A.     The Background of Eve (Gen 1:26-28; 2:7-25; 3:1-19)

 

1.      Eve was not an afterthought.

 

a.       Not a patch-up job after God made Adam.

b.      Eve was part of the plan from the beginning. Male AND female.

c.       It’s just, Adam didn’t know that yet!

 

2.      The Setting

 

a.       Adam was created first – from the Dust (2:7)

 

1)      Not from gold, or platinum, but from common moist dust

2)      God brought Adam into a specially created garden in Eden

3)      And the two of them shared every moment together – in sweet fellowship

 

b.      Adam was created Incomplete

 

1)      As time went by, Adam began to notice something was wrong (2:18)

 

a)      How could that be possible?

b)      Everything that God had created had been “good” (1:31)

c)      But the fact was there: Adam was “alone”

d)      Adam had God, he had purpose, he had health, he had a home, he had fun, but he had no one around to share his life with

 

2)      God brought thousands of different animals to Adam to see what he thought they should be named (2:19-20). And Adam had fun naming the animals. But none of the animals were like him

 

a)      You see, God had made angels, but they were not like Him

b)      God had made galaxies, and nebulas and black holes, and star clusters, but none of them were like HIM

c)      That’s why God made man!

d)      And now Adam is having a moment where he doesn’t know what he is looking for, but he just knows that he hasn’t found it yet

 

c.       So God brings to Adam one more creature (2:21-22)

 

1)      God performed the first surgery (Gen 2:21,22)

2)      Caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam

 

a)      Dr Sir James Simpson in just 1847 read this passage and saw that God put people to sleep when he did an operation, so he figured a way to do the same!! Used chloroform

b)      Adam’s sleep is a type of “death” to produce his wife (see John 11:11; 1Thes 4:14)

 

3)      He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof

 

a)      Fifth rib was the place to KILL a man (2Sam 2:23; 4:6; 10:10)

b)      Christ had a spear forced into His SIDE

 

4)      And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman

 

a)      A Rib - A Bone

b)      Source of Blood is from the marrow of the bone

c)      A protecting bone – that covers the vital organs, especially the heart

d)      A man is a HE-man, and a woman is a SHE-man – both are mankind!

e)      Womb-man contracted in English

 

5)      And God brought her unto the man.

 

a)      A tremendous ceremony

b)      A surprise to the man who probably had given up looking for what he didn’t know what to look for

 

6)      When the Lord brought the woman to Adam he didn’t say, “Wow, where did she come from?” or “who’s she?” No. He knew exactly what had happened.

7)      He knew that she was HIS counterpart – the other half of himself that was missing BY DESIGN (2:23)

8)      And boy were they delighted with each other (2:24)

 

d.      The first wedding ceremony (Gen 2:18-25)

 

1)      Adam and Eve became the example for all time of a Godly marriage

2)      To meet the need of two people who want to live for God better

3)      God brought the two together

 

a)      Part of God’s plan – not a guess, or stab in the dark – the perfect will of God

b)      Adam did not go out and try and FIND his Eve

c)      God brought her to him

d)     We need to know that when we get impatient, we are not trusting the Lord (Ps 27:14)!

 

4)      Adam recognized the other person as:

 

a)      A gift from God – not a possession to be conquered

b)      A match for him – his equal – not his servant, or a lower class animal as the Koran teaches

c)      A woman – not a man (so, don’t dress like one, act like one, or expect to be treated like one)!

 

5)      The two were to BECOME one flesh – their marriage enabled their union. The union of two flesh did not make the marriage

 

a)      The union of two flesh made for fornication and or adultery

b)      The honourable marriage of two people allowed for their union of two flesh

 

6)      The two would from that moment on CLEAVE – cling, STICK together – be bound until death

7)      Totally honourable – without any shame, or taint of sin – they could stand their NAKED looking at each other and not be ashamed of anything!

8)      Here is Eve…

 

a)      The first Woman

b)      The first Wife

c)      The first Mother

d)      Ah, but the story doesn’t end with, “And they lived happily ever after!”

 

3.      The Serpent (3:1) - This is still all background to Eve getting her name!

 

a.       Now, God had commanded Adam saying, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

b.      Subtle

 

1)      You know the story. A serpent who was described as being “more subtle, cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made,” came into the garden and created doubt about what God had command concerning the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

 

a)      More subtle than any other animal – sneaky, deceptive, even beautiful. Not totally truthful, or holding things back, sly, cunning, crafty, wily (Eph 6:11)

b)      Refers clearly to Satan

c)      He appears as a snake. Satan always appears in mask – never appears as he really is! He is a liar!

d)      Christ says the Pharisees were of their father the devil – a generation (descendants) of vipers

e)      This serpent is different to all the other animals – he SPEAKS!

f)       Rev 12:9  tells us that this creature is actually “the great dragon…, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.”

 

c.       Suspicious

 

1)      Satan asks, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

2)      The woman came back with, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” (3:2,3)

 

d.      Scoffs

 

1)      The serpent responds confidently, “Ye shall NOT surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

2)      The most satanic work today is not promotion of abortion, or politics, or oppression – it is questioning and correcting the word of God!

 

e.       Sows Discord - Satan then plants ENVY and BITTERNESS in the woman in (3:5)

 

1)      That God is actually holding you back, and limiting you from being “gods” just like Him

2)      That God was being SELFISH and not sharing His powerful position:

 

a)      Which was what he convinced Miriam and Aaron to believe (Num 12:1,2)

b)      And Satan convinced Korah and Dathan and Abiram to believe this also about Moses (Num 16:3)

 

3)      This was Satan’s problem (Isa 14:14), and he was spreading HIS own bitterness around!

4)      Satan puts the idea in Eve’s mind that her eyes were really closed to all this and that “he” was just being a true friend and HELPING her out with all this information

5)      Satan implies that knowing good and evil was safe, and enlightening, and liberating

6)      THAT’S WHY the liberals in government and in universities and in religions work so hard at forcing the teaching of sex education, and the homosexual agenda

 

4.      The Sin

 

a.       Then Satan let’s SIN do its work (3:6)

 

1)      James 1:14,15

 

a)      Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

b)      Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin

c)      And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

 

2)      1John 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

 

a)      The lust of the flesh, “when the woman saw that the tree was good for food”

b)      The lust of the eyes, “it was pleasant to the eyes”

c)      The pride of life, “tree to be desired to make one wise”

 

3)      Satan cannot force you to sin, but he can make it very attractive, or very pushy and constraining

 

a)      She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat

b)      And gave also unto her husband; and he did eat.

 

b.      Eve experiments with sin

 

1)      Eve touched the fruit, and didn’t die – handled it

2)      Eve then ate of the fruit and didn’t die

3)      Eve now was convinced by her own experiences that God had lied to her, and that the Serpent was right, and that neither she nor her husband needed God anymore!

 

c.       It was at THAT moment, when she ATE, that she disobeyed God and died inside!

 

1)      There was no sin in being tempted – Jesus was tempted

2)      There was no sin in debating

3)      There was no sin in struggling

4)      But when you ACT in defiance, in disobedience, KNOWING the consequences, then you have sinned!

5)      Even though she was tricked and deceived, she was doomed under the wrath of God

 

d.      Probably, Eve feared losing her husband, and he getting another wife after her death, so she determined to cause him to disobey God so he could die with her!

 

5.      The Side-Effects! So what were the results?

 

a.       Well, earlier in the story, in chapter 2, God brings the woman to Adam. They were both naked and were not ashamed. Now watch what happens after they have disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the tree that was forbidden.

 

1)      The eyes of both of them were opened (3:7)

 

a)      When I know that I have done wrong there is no denying, reasoning,  or rationalizing. I know that I have done wrong. I have sinned. My eyes are open.

b)      My eyes have been so OPEN TO SIN – I now want my eyes open to God, His Spirit, His blessings, His Word

 

2)      They tried to cover it up (nakedness, sin, shame) (3:7)

 

a)      My first instinct is to cover it up. Not necessarily from God, but, from people. And there is certain sin in my life that only God knows about because I am too ashamed to reveal it. I keep it covered up.

 

3)      They hid from God (3:8)

 

a)      When I have committed sin, especially ones that I consider my worst, I don’t want to be around the people of God. I don’t want to hear or read the Word of God. I don’t want to hear music singing His praises. It is not because I my feelings about Him have changed. It is because I feel naked, I feel ashamed. I feel unworthy and unclean. And yes, I feel afraid like Adam and Eve and hide from His presence.

 

4)      They were afraid (3:9)

 

a)      Of facing Almighty God

b)      Of dying

c)      Some things we all STILL fear to this very day! Or at least we ought to!

 

5)      They No longer cared about each other – only about protecting themselves – they began to pass the blame around!

 

b.      So, The Consequences of Sin are…

 

1)      Fellowship with God is broken

2)      Fellowship with each other is broken – passing blame

3)      Curses came upon them and their world

 

a)      Upon child bearing – much pain

b)      Upon child rearing – much sorrow

c)      Upon the ground – lots of bugs, and little harvest

d)      Death passed upon them and their descendants

 

4)      Driven from the Garden – no longer going to live in paradise

5)      Death would win in the end

 

6.      So, Why Is She The Mother Of All Living? We’re getting there. I promise.

 

B.     The Praise of That Name – Eve (3:20)

 

1.      Adam turns and faces his wife, and instead of seeing the woman who brought death into the world, and would one day die herself, Adam looks at her, and confidently calls her a new name – Eve!

 

a.       He calls her “The Mother”

b.      Not a sinner, not a killer, not his downfall, but part of his hope!

c.       Adam and Eve had gotten some hope from somewhere !

d.      He looked forward to children, and what God would do in spite of their own failures and sins!

 

2.      Hey! It is a high honour to be a Mom – to be like Eve!

 

a.       Not just a baby birther, but a MOM!

b.      It is great to be a sister, but awesome to be a mother! Gen 24:60 “And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.”

c.       God says protect Moms and honour them!

d.      Epitaph on a tombstone in a churchyard, inscribed by a husband after 60 years of wedded life: “She always made home happy!”

 

C.     The Price of That Name – It cost something to give her that name

 

1.      That name was no flippant word.

 

a.       “Woman” was her scientific designation

b.      Wife was her occupation

c.       But Eve, Mother, was her Name!

 

2.      God’s Promise of a Fight (Gen 3:15)

 

a.       Look at verse 15. What is the Lord is doing? “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

b.      This is the first Gospel Message of the Bible!!!

 

1)      I will put enmity (warfare, conflict) between SATAN and the woman

2)      I will put enmity between SATAN’S seed and her seed

3)      Eve’s seed shall bruise SATAN’S head, and Satan shalt bruise the Messiah’s heel.

 

c.       This is this why women have suffered so many cruel injustices throughout history! This why they have been treated as 2nd class citizens. Enmity between the devil and the woman. Satan is behind all that women have suffered throughout history. Why? Read the last part of the verse: ..between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.. This is understood to be a prophecy of the Messiah, Jesus.

d.      Ever since that moment there has been warfare between Satan and anyone who tried to live for God!

e.       But, through a virgin a perfect Son would be born who would finish the fight!

f.       It was not through the seed of man that the Messiah would come. If you know your biology you know that a woman does not produce a seed. She receives seed from a man. So how can this verse be fulfilled, and, a woman produce the Messiah?

 

3.      God promised a Lamb (Gen 3:21)

 

a.       God then provided a SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH in the place Adam and Eve

 

1)      Someone HAD to die (Gen 2:17; Rom 6:23a)

2)      God killed two large lambs right in front of Adam and Eve

3)      Skinned those animals – blood everywhere

4)      Made COATS (not apron sized) out of those skins

5)      Helped Adam and Eve put on those coats

6)      They would wear those coats as a reminder of the cost of sin

 

b.      NOTE: Salvation only follows awareness of condemnation

 

1)      Whether from our own conscience

2)      Or from the law of God in His word

 

4.      Real Repentance

 

a.       Shame and Repentance – at seeing the blood pour out

b.      To be saved from the wrath of God, a person MUST understand and accept the fact that they are lost and condemned and without hope without God intervening!

 

5.      Adam and Eve just needed real faith:

 

a.       Confident Faith

b.      Accepting the free gift that has been offered by God

 

1)      God made…

2)      God clothed…

3)      All they could do was drop their own flimsy leafs, and RECEIVE it!

 

D.     The Pattern of That Name - Eve

 

1.      She was a Gift to Adam, not a Burden

 

a.       She was GOD’S gift to Adam – not an accident (Mt 19:4-6) God brought you together

b.      And believe me, Adam needed Eve

c.       It is not good for a man to be alone (2:18)

 

1)      Not just alone, but alone without a wife

2)      Man was made incomplete – designed that way

3)      Man was made with some deficiencies!

 

d.      Adam was not created self-sufficient, but designed to need a wife

e.       So God supplied Adam’s need – and He will do so for you too! If you’ll patiently trust Him!

f.       So Mom’s be that gift again to your husband!

 

2.      She was an Help

 

a.       What a needed truth today!

b.      She was a help to Adam – meeting his needs, not being a hindrance

 

1)      But, more than a helper, a sustainer

2)      And, more than a companion, a friend

3)      Eve was a HELP to Adam

4)      1Co 11:8,9  For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

5)      Modern concept of 50/50. Joke: “At my house we share fifty-fifty. I tell my wife what to do, and she tells me where to go”

6)      The perfect Help is described in Prov 31

7)      A helper is never a hinderer, and a helper is never BOSS – at least not in any job I’ve ever worked at

8)      The wisest man who ever lived said, it was better to live in the corner of a house top our in a tent in the wilderness than with a brawling, angry, contentious woman (Pr 21:9; 25:24)!

 

3.      She was an Equal

 

a.       She was meet for Adam meaning fitting to Adam specifically

 

1)      Someone who is MEET or fit for him – just right for his needs

2)      Not a lesser being than Adam, but his match, his equal

3)      Aren’t you glad that God knew just the person who would best fit with Adam?

4)      You should not just “marry” anybody ladies or gentlemen!

5)      They need to be God’s choice so that you get the right one for your needs

 

b.      The two had become one

c.       So, Gentlemen,

 

1)      Honour your wife!

 

a)      Like honouring your parents

b)      Listening to, considering – you better have a very good reason to disregard

c)      Verbally honouring her, and publically honouring her

 

2)      Prefer your wife: Above your hobbies, work, career, friends

 

d.      Mom’s!

 

1)      Live as an equal, not as a rug!

2)      Yes you are to submit, and yield, but Godly submission guides your husband as someone who is desperately needed by your husband to make right choices!

                                                                                              

4.      She was Different

 

a.       She was SUPPOSED to be different than Adam

 

1)      Notice that one is made MALE

2)      And the other is made FEMALE

 

b.      She was Special for Adam, not like anything else in the world

c.       God brought all the animals before Adam so he could see that only God’s supply was right. Adam could have sought companionship out of any thing in creation, but found nothing that was like him!

d.      Adam’s naming of the animal kingdom allowed Adam to evaluate every creature and see what it offered the world, but none offered what HE needed – an equal

e.       If God had just made Eve at the same time as Adam, he would have just seen her as part of creation, separate from him, but Eve needed to be seen as PART OF HIMSELF!

f.       Ladies, look and dress like a woman please – not like a man!

g.       Be different – talk different than a man! Love different than a man!

 

5.      She was Costly

 

a.       Eve cost Adam

b.      Eve didn’t come from the ground as he had

c.       Adam had to lose something to gain her

d.      You say, only a rib

e.       Surgery, removing a RIB is very dangerous, very bloody, VERY vulnerable. Adam now was more vulnerable

f.       Realise that you are priceless! I hate how the devil constantly downgrades women’s view of themselves! It is wicked!

 

1)      If you are a women, you are more important than a man! Example of Women and children first!

2)      If you are a wife, you are more important than your husband! We men need to get back to living that way!

3)      And if you are a mother, you are the most important person in the world!

 

6.      She was Beautiful

 

a.       The bride approaches the husband, brought by her father

b.      What a presentation! This is how a wedding is performed!

c.       As it still is today – SIDE-BY-SIDE at the altar

d.      Adam likes what he sees!

 

1)      There is nothing wrong with a woman’s body!

2)      But you should not “see” it until marriage

3)      Men like seeing women! It is wired into us!

 

e.       Eve is soft, and gentle, meek and quiet

 

1)      Not loud and obnoxious

2)      Not bitter and angry

 

f.       Hey Moms: are you STILL soft and meek and gentle towards your husband? The first Mother was, and because of Jesus Christ governing your life, you can be too!

                                                                                                         

7.      She was Flawed Too!

 

a.       She, just as Adam, needed God!

b.      She was not more spiritual than Adam, and did not need God’s word, and God’s direction in her life!

c.       Sin took root in her a whole lot easier than it actually had in Adam’s heart!

d.      Don’t forget ladies, that you need to have that quiet time with God, and firm dependency upon His word and His strength!

e.       Why? because the devil is very subtle, and very good at lying!

 

8.      Sin has tainted all the above, but Jesus Christ has the power to restore it all

 

III. Conclusion

 

A.     The one MOST attacked person in the world today, is the mother

B.     The woman who seeks to be like Eve

C.     Oh, she may fall, and mess up, and succumb to the lies around her, but a woman who sets her course to be a Mother is going to face hell on earth because the serpent STILL rages against such a treasure!

D.     So when you read Genesis 1,2 and 3, you are looking at our beginning – how we got here

 

1.      But we are looking more importantly at what we lost because of sin

2.      But thankfully, we are looking at what we CAN be because of Jesus

3.      So this morning, being Mother’s Day, let’s take a look back at the beginning, and see what we all have lost, and discover what every home can have once again because of a Lamb!

4.      The first Mother, Eve, sets the pace for mothers throughout history

5.      Eve will explain why it hurts so much to be a Mom, but also, how to just be a Mom!

 

E.      Adam was able to at his wife, and honour her, in spite of all the disaster she had caused!

F.      Moms! Please take Eve as your example!