[Gospel Lesson 4] Humanity Departed from God — Part 1

“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?”— Genesis 3:1 (KJV)

In the first three lessons, we saw that God created all things, that we come to know Him through His Word, and that God works in our hearts through His Word.

But this raises an important question.

If God created man for Himself, why is mankind now so far from God?

Why is there sin?

Why do we experience shame, fear, emptiness, and death?

And why does man naturally trust his own thoughts more than the Word of God?

To understand these questions, we have to return to the beginning.

Genesis 3 shows us where humanity's separation from God began.

To Solve the Problem, We Must Return to the Beginning

Imagine buttoning a shirt and accidentally putting the first button into the wrong hole.

You may continue buttoning the shirt all the way down, but eventually everything will be out of place.

What should you do?

Fix the last button?

No.

You have to go back to the first button.

The same principle applies to the spiritual condition of mankind.

We see countless problems in the world—sin, hatred, fear, broken relationships, addiction, violence, emptiness, and death.

But the Bible takes us deeper than the outward symptoms.

It takes us back to the beginning.

Genesis 3 shows us where humanity departed from God.

And once we understand where the separation began, we can begin to understand God's way of bringing us back.

The Serpent and the Beginning of Deception

Genesis 3 begins:

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.”— Genesis 3:1 (KJV)

Satan approached Eve through the serpent.

The Bible portrays Satan as one who exalts himself against God. Christian tradition has also connected passages such as Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 with the pride and fall associated with Satan.

Isaiah 14 contains these striking words:

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God...”“...I will be like the most High.”— Isaiah 14:13–14 (KJV)

Notice the repeated expression:

“I will.”

The heart of rebellion is the desire to leave the place God has given and take God's place for ourselves.

Instead of trusting God, the creature says:

“I will decide.”

“I will determine what is right.”

“I will determine what is wrong.”

“I will be the master of my own life.”

This is one of the deepest roots of sin.

Sin is not merely committing bad actions.

At its root, sin is departing from God and His Word and placing ourselves at the center.

When the Creature Takes the Creator's Place

Ezekiel 28 describes a heart becoming lifted up:

“Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness...”— Ezekiel 28:17 (KJV)

This teaches us an important spiritual principle.

The things we consider our strengths can easily become reasons for us to trust ourselves.

Our intelligence.

Our abilities.

Our experience.

Our appearance.

Our accomplishments.

Even our religious knowledge.

When these things cause us to think, “I know. I can do this myself,” our hearts move away from depending upon God.

On the other hand, weakness can sometimes reveal how much we need Him.

Paul discovered this when the Lord told him:

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”— 2 Corinthians 12:9 (KJV)

The issue is not whether we are strong or weak.

The question is:

Whom do we trust?

God—or ourselves?

Why Did God Place the Tree in the Garden?

This leads to a question many people ask:

Why did God place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden?

Genesis 2:9 tells us that two particular trees were in the midst of the garden:

“...the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Then God commanded Adam:

“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 2:17 (KJV)

God's command gave man a clear boundary.

Man was not created to live independently from God.

He was created to live by trusting God's Word.

The tree confronted Adam and Eve with a fundamental question:

Will I trust what God says, or will I trust my own judgment?

That same question remains at the center of faith today.

“Thou Shalt Surely Die”

God's Word was clear:

“...thou shalt surely die.”

Death in Scripture involves more than the eventual death of the physical body.

Sin brought separation between man and God, and Scripture ultimately speaks of final judgment and the “second death” as well. 

God was warning Adam about something far greater than losing physical life.

To depart from the source of life is to enter death.

God is the source of life.

Therefore, when man departed from God, death entered man's experience.

As Romans later explains:

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin...”— Romans 5:12 (KJV)

Satan's First Attack: “Yea, Hath God Said?”

Notice how Satan approached Eve.

He did not begin by telling her to eat the fruit.

His first attack was against the Word of God.

“Yea, hath God said...?”— Genesis 3:1 (KJV)

In other words:

“Did God really say that?”

Satan first introduced doubt about God's Word.

This connects directly with Lesson 3.

We learned that God works through His Word. Therefore, if Satan wants to separate our hearts from God, one of his primary targets is our confidence in what God has said.

If the Word remains firmly established in our hearts, Satan's lies have nowhere to stand.

But once God's Word becomes uncertain in our hearts, another voice can take its place.

Eve Changed God's Word

Listen carefully to Eve's response:

“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.”— Genesis 3:2–3 (KJV)

Compare that with God's original Word:

“...thou shalt surely die.”— Genesis 2:17 (KJV)

There is a difference.

God said:

“Thou shalt surely die.”

Eve said:

“Lest ye die.”

She also included, “neither shall ye touch it,” something not stated in God's command recorded in Genesis 2:17.

God's Word was no longer being repeated exactly as it had been given.

Then Satan directly contradicted God:

“Ye shall not surely die.”— Genesis 3:4 (KJV)

God said:

“You will surely die.”

Satan said:

“You will not surely die.”

Now Eve stood between two words.

God's Word and Satan's word.

Which one would she receive?

That is the spiritual battle we still face today.

“Ye Shall Be as Gods”

Satan continued:

“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.”— Genesis 3:5 (KJV)

This was the temptation:

“You can become like God.”

“You can know good and evil for yourself.”

“You do not need to depend upon God's judgment.”

This is what made the temptation so dangerous.

Satan was not merely offering Eve a piece of fruit.

He was offering her independence from God.

Before eating the fruit, Adam and Eve lived under God's Word.

God determined what was good.

God determined what was evil.

But Satan offered humanity another way:

“You decide.”

And that desire—to become the judge for ourselves—still lives deeply within the human heart.

When Eve Looked Again

After listening to the serpent, Eve looked at the tree differently.

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise...”— Genesis 3:6 (KJV)

Nothing about the tree had changed.

Eve's heart had changed.

Before Satan's word entered, God's command determined how she saw the tree.

After Satan's word entered, her own judgment determined how she saw it.

Now it looked:

Good for food.

Pleasant to the eyes.

Desirable to make one wise.

First John describes a similar pattern:

“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.”— 1 John 2:16 (KJV)

The fruit entered Eve's hand only after another word entered her heart.

This is important.

Our actions begin in the heart.

Before man sinned outwardly, man's heart first departed from God's Word.

Their Eyes Were Opened

Adam and Eve ate.

Then Satan's promise seemed to come true:

“And the eyes of them both were opened...”— Genesis 3:7 (KJV)

Their eyes were opened—but what did they see?

God's glory?

Greater wisdom?

A wonderful new life?

No.

“...and they knew that they were naked.”

They became conscious of themselves.

Before the fall, Genesis says:

“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”— Genesis 2:25 (KJV)

After the fall, everything changed.

Shame entered.

Fear entered.

Self-consciousness entered.

And separation entered their relationship with God.

They had wanted their eyes to be opened.

Now they could see themselves—but they could no longer stand comfortably before God.

Fig Leaves: Man's First Attempt to Cover Himself

What did Adam and Eve do after recognizing their nakedness?

“...they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”— Genesis 3:7 (KJV)

This is a remarkable picture of man's response to sin.

They did not know how to remove their condition.

So they tried to cover it.

Man still does the same thing.

When we recognize something wrong within ourselves, we naturally try to make ourselves look better.

We promise to change.

We try harder.

We perform good deeds.

We become religious.

We compare ourselves with people who seem worse than us.

We try to cover our shame.

But the Bible tells us:

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags...”— Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)

Even our righteousness cannot solve the fundamental problem of sin.

Fig leaves may cover nakedness temporarily, but leaves eventually wither.

In the same way, human righteousness cannot permanently cover sin before God.

We need a covering that comes from God.

And Genesis will soon show us what God Himself provides.

Sin Makes Us Hide from God

Then Adam and Eve heard God's voice.

What did they do?

“...Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”— Genesis 3:8 (KJV)

Before sin, God's presence brought fellowship.

After sin, God's presence produced fear.

Adam explained:

“I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”— Genesis 3:10 (KJV)

Notice the progression:

Sin → shame → fear → hiding.

This is what separation from God produces.

When people see their sin but do not understand God's heart, their instinct is often to hide.

They think:

“I need to fix myself before I can come to God.”

“I need to become better first.”

“God cannot accept me like this.”

So they hide behind their own fig leaves.

But something beautiful happens in Genesis 3.

“Where Art Thou?”

Adam was hiding.

But God came looking for him.

“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”— Genesis 3:9 (KJV)

God was not asking because He had lost Adam among the trees.

The question exposed Adam's spiritual position.

“Adam, where are you?”

Adam had once enjoyed fellowship with God.

Now he was hiding from Him.

Adam had departed from God.

Yet God was the One who came looking for Adam.

This pattern will appear again and again throughout the Bible.

Man departs.

God seeks.

Man hides.

God calls.

Man cannot restore himself.

God begins the work of restoration.

This is already pointing us toward the gospel.

Jesus would later say:

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”— Luke 19:10 (KJV)

Where Are You?

God's question to Adam reaches beyond the Garden of Eden.

“Where art thou?”

Where are you in relation to God?

Are you living by God's Word—or by your own judgment?

Are you resting in what God says—or trusting what seems right to you?

Are you standing openly before God—or hiding behind your own righteousness?

Humanity's fundamental problem began when man departed from the Word of God and trusted another voice.

But the story does not end with man hiding among the trees.

God came looking for him.

And as we continue through Genesis 3, we will discover something even more remarkable.

Man tried to cover himself with fig leaves.

But God would provide a covering of His own.

And that begins to reveal God's plan for salvation.