Keith Battle - It's A Trap - Part 3

I started a series a few weeks ago called «It’s a Trap.» Today, I want to continue that series with Part Three. Today, it’s a trap! For our biblical focus, I want to turn to Genesis Chapter 3. Genesis Chapter 3, the first book in the Bible, shouldn’t be too hard to find. Genesis Chapter 3. This is my assignment for today. If you have access to the Bible and want to read along, please do so. If you are physically able to stand without difficulty and you are at one of our locations, please stand with me now as we read God’s Word together. Genesis Chapter 3. I just want to say hi real quick to my wife, my girlfriend, my babies, my kids—loving them, amen! She doesn’t play about that mask; I need to wear one more, amen!

Verse 1: Genesis 3, New Living Translation. You all ready? The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day, he asked the woman, «Did God really say you must not eat from any of the trees in the garden?» Oh, here we go! Somebody said, «It’s a trap!» Of course, we may eat from the trees in the garden, the woman replied. «It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says you must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.»

Verse 4: «You won’t die,» the serpent replied to the woman. «God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.» No, no, no, no, no! Somebody say, «It’s a trap!»

Verse 6: The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious. She wanted the wisdom it would give her, so she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it too. Bruh, cry.

Verse 7: At that moment—if you have a Bible, you should underline that—it changed the world. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves up. Here we go. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. They used to love that voice; they used to love that presence of God. Now they’re hiding from the Lord. You know you’re trapped when you’re hiding.

They heard the Lord God among the trees. When the Lord God called to the man, «Where are you?» he replied, «I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid; I was afraid because I was naked.» «Who told you you were naked?» the Lord God asked. «I already knew you were naked the whole time! Who told you?»

Let me get back to that. «Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?» The man replied, «It was the woman you gave me. I wouldn’t even be in this situation if it wasn’t for you! I didn’t pick her; I took a nap, and when I woke up, you had already done all that! She gave me the fruit, and I ate it.»

Verse 13: Then the Lord God asked the woman, «What have you done?» She said, «The serpent deceived me; that’s why I ate it.» Then the Lord God said to the serpent, «Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. I will cause hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.»

Verse 16: Then he said to the woman, «Here come the trap, y’all! I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain, you will give birth.» It wasn’t supposed to be like that, y’all; this is a consequence. «Your desire will be to control your husband, but he will rule over you.» I know somebody is saying, «I know one boy would be like that!» This is all a consequence of the fall.

To the man, he says, «Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life, you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow, you will have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust, you will return.»

Oh my God, the meal is not worth the bill! The meal is not worth the bill! The meal is not worth the bill! The meal is—let me—I’m coming back today; I’m going to finish the chapter. You know, every now and then, I’ve got just a quick confession because I don’t want to forget it later. When I take my wife out on dates and we go to a restaurant, sometimes the servers will say what’s on the menu, and then sometimes they will say, without me asking, what stuff costs. I’ve got to admit, especially with my wife, I get a little in my feelings about that. Why are you telling me what it costs? Are you saying I can’t afford it? You know the lobster tails will be $44, like something like that!