Genesis 3:16-20 NKJV  To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”  (17)  Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.  (18)  Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.  (19)  In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”  (20)  And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

• This morning we see the conclusion to the creation of the universe and our time in the Garden of Eden.
  • In the first three Chapters of Genesis we have seen God create and bring into order all of the known universe.
    • We have seen God introduce Himself as the all sufficient God, YHWH Elohim which literally means “I am that I am God”
      • He provides everything good, everything holy, everything praiseworthy, every good and perfect gift comes from Him.
        •  He is that He is and that is all that we need.
    • God created Adam, and saw that He being alone was not good.
      • So God created Eve from Adam’s rib.
        • And together Adam and Eve tended the Garden, took care of the animals, and spent time with their Creator adoring Him, worshiping Him, and serving Him.
      • Then Satan comes into the picture…
        • And Satan tempts Eve to eat from the one tree that Adam and she are not allowed to eat from…Eve looks longingly at forbidden fruit… WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT EVE?!
          • And Eve does eat, and her husband with her eats… they commit the first human sin.
      • Ashamed and afraid, Adam and Eve try to cover their sin with fig leaves and they try to hide from God… stupid…
        • But of course that doesn’t work, God finds them, they play the blame Game… and now God is dishing our discipline to His fallen creation.
  • Through Satan’s sin we see the first ever prophecy of Christ’s coming… the women’s Seed will CRUSH the head of Satan.
    • Fun fact, this prophecy is known as the Proto-Evangelium… not sure why I wanted to share that, but there you go…
• Now, Satan has been cursed and God turns toward Eve and to Adam, it is now time for their curse.

• The Source of All Our Problems… Every problem you ever had, can be traced back to Genesis chapter three…
  • But the good news is that we also see in these verses the source of all our relief…
    • But before we get to the good news, let’s talk about the bad news…
      • And before we talk about the bad news… I think it would behoove us to pray.

• So the bad news, this morning, is that we have problems… and the source of all our problems is sin.

Point One – The Source of All Our Problems is Sin

Genesis 3:16-19 NKJV  To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”  (17)  Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.  (18)  Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.  (19)  In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

• Eve will have pain in Child bearing… every moan, every cry, every bout of morning sicknes, every contraction, ever push… it is a reminder of Eve’s sin… she rebelled against God, and now she will suffer.
  • It is why women suffer with painful periods, why breastfeeding is not always the joy it was meant to be, why three year olds yell out “YOU ARE THE DEVIL” to their moms (oh wait, was that only Hannah?) and why there is so much pain in a child who is prodigal.
• Not only that, but Eve will desire her husband but he will rule over her.
  • Why are there so many woman who stay with men who are abusive? Why is domestic violence so prevalent…It’s part of the curse.
    • I remember talking about this curse with a feminist Bible professor in college and she exclaimed that it proved that God was a misogynist…
      • I said “No it doesn’t! God would be a misogynist if He said to Eve “Let me bless you by making your desire be for your husband and he will rule over you” but that is not what He said… this is not a blessing but a CURSE.
        • God freely admits this sucks… it is a curse… a curse Eve brought on womankind because of her sin.
  • Now man, we are not found blameless… we tried to pass the buck to Eve “The woman You gave me Lord caused me to sin”… but God has none of it, and so God gives Adam his punishment.
• Because you listened to your wife and sinned, well now things are going to suck for you too…
  • You know the ground that produces all of your food… well for your sake it is cursed…
    • The food you eat can now make you sick, or it can make you fat.
    • It might rot, or be ridden with bacteria…
      • There will be droughts, and times where stuff just wont grow…
      • And when it does grow it will be only through hard labor and thorns, sweet and blood.
    • And by the way, you’re a dead man walking, Adam… from the dust you came and from the dust you will return…
      • Your cells will now begin to die off, and mutate, and fail… until you return to the state you were in before you were made.
        • Eve brought in pain, Adam brought in death… and they both bring in suffering…
• Everything wrong with the world is because of sin.

Romans 5:12 NKJV  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

• Now before the events of Genesis Chapter three… before these verses, there was no pain, there was no sorrow, there was no sickness, there was no death.
  • There was no stress, no worry, no anxiety…
    • There were no prodigal children, there were no financial crisis…
    • There was need for governments, or armies, or police.
    • There was no crime, no hatred, no racism, no poverty…
  • Before Genesis three, there was no separation from God, there were no false religions, or atheists… there were no people who know anything other than the love and joy of an almighty and fully good God.
    • For mankind, before Genesis three… everything was good.
      • Then sin entered the picture… and sin changed everything…
      • So now, from these verses in Genesis three all the way to Revelation 21… we have to deal with these problems… that is 99.88% of the Bible where pain, and sorrow, and suffering are present…
        • 99.88% of the Bible dedicated to a people who know sin and the consequences of sin…
        • 99.88% of the Bible written to and about people who are acquainted with, and surrounded by sorrows and suffering.
• So this morning, let me remind you church, that the source of all of your problems is sin.
  • Every last one… the source of your problems is sin.
    • Not necessarily your sin… but sin non-the-less…
      • Jesus faced many problems, and He did not have sin… but the source of those problems, ultimately was still sin.
        • The sin of Adam and Eve.
        • The sin of Satan.
        • The sin of religious and political rulers.
        • The sin of Judas Iscariot.
      • Jesus never sinned, but the source of His problems were still sin.
    • So how much more for you, dear saints, for me… because WE DO SIN… hopefully a lot less than we used to… so how much more for us that the source of our problems is sin.
  • And I want to remind you of that, because sometimes we grasp for answers “Why are these things happening to me?!” And we search for answers and solutions outside of God’s Word… and that can lead to a state of despair, panic, anxiety, and depression.
    • Yes we reap what we sow, and yes we need to make wise decisions… but ultimately the only reason we could ever even sow a bad harvest is because of sin… before sin there was no such thing as a bad harvest.
• So there is a little bit of comfort here knowing that, in the end, I know where my issues come from…
  • Because yeah I probably got sick because I forgot to get a flu shot this year… or because I was in the airport around a lot of people… and I probably should work out more… and I should probably stop eating taco bell…
    • But there is little comfort in that line of thinking when you are in bed, in pain, in the midst of sickness…
  • But there is comfort in knowing “ultimately I know where this comes from, and ultimately I know it is not forever.”
• So the bad news is that there is sin in the world, and we live in the world… we sin, others sin, we come from a line of sinners… the curse is deep and wide… but God, even in His cursing, remains good… that brings me to point two, the Source of All our Relief is God.
  
  

Point Two – The Source of All Our Relief is God

Genesis 3:16-19 NKJV  To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”  (17)  Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.  (18)  Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.  (19)  In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

• Can I show you something about these verses, something that is easily missed… even in these verses, where all mankind is cursed, God gives relief… God’s goodness is shown… Even here we see that mercy triumphs over Justice, because if you read these verses honestly, you will see that not only are these judgments just… but that they are DRIPPING with mercy.
  • “To the woman He said “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring fourth children”.
    • Do you see the mercy in this statement? In pain you will bring fourth children… BUT YOU WILL BRING FOURTH CHILDREN.
      • Listen church, Eve was told “In the day that you eat of the forbidden fruit, the fruit of the knowledge of good an evil, you will surely die”.
        • An while she certainly did die that day, her morality died, her righteousness died, her holiness died, and her flesh that was designed to live forever died and was replaced with a cursed and corrupted flesh…
      • While she certainly died in those ways, she was still allowed to live… not the life she had before, that life is dead… but she would still live, and she would still bring fourth children.
        • It would be painful, but they would be there.
        • God had every right to END humanity right then and there, Snap His fingers and be done with mankind… Dog’s could be God’s new best friend, they never did anything wrong!
          • But no, God gives mercy, and His mercy triumphs over Judgment.

Psalms 127:3 ESV  Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

• Children are a blessing, a gift, a reward… not a curse. It sucks to get them now, that’s for sure… but in the end, they are a great thing, a perfect gift from God.
  • So in the same breath that God cursed Eve, He in turn promised her blessings, a reward, a heritage.

John 16:21 NKJV  A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

• So yes, our sin has brought suffering into the world… but God brings relief… a reward… forgetting the pain because of the joy.
  • And of all the people God could have made rule over Eve… it was her HUSBAND that she was bound to.
    • Why not Satan… you shall desire Satan and he shall rule over you… that seems more fitting, no?
  • But even in this curse, God says “But you will have a husband, you will have a partner, you will not be alone”
    • “And the person who rules over you, if he follows my ways, he will love you and cherish you and sacrifice for you.

Ephesians 5:25 NKJV  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

• Now men, our curse came with our labor… Before our work was to tend the garden and to take care of the animals.
  • It was not stressful, it was not laborious… there was no such thing as sweat, we had never seen blood before.
    • There was no worry about whether we would make enough to provide…
    • There was no anxiety about job security.
      • Work was fulfilling, enjoyable, and rewarding. It was perfect.
        • NOT ANY MORE! Now work is hard and laborious…
        • There will be sweet and blood.
        • You won’t be sure if you will be able to provide for your wife.
        • And even when you do, it will be though thorns and thistles, and your food will be grown from cursed ground.
          • Ground, by the way, that you are going to be buried in…

Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV  Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.  (18)  Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.  (19)  In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

• Do you church, now see the mercy in these verses?
  • Cursed is the ground for your sake, in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life”.
    • But you SHALL eat all the days of your life.
      • God had every right to say “You will never eat again”
      • But instead God covers His judgment with mercy “You shall eat every day… it won’t be fun, its going to be hard… but you hall eat.”
  • In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread… But you shall eat bread…
    • Was it not Jesus who taught us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread”.
• You see what I want you to understand church is that there is relief for the pains of this world, and those reliefs come from God.
  • Not from drunkeness, not from fornications (which is sex outside of marriage, not from weed or meth or any other drug…
    • There is releaf from the curse, but it does not come from gossip or greed, lust or lies…
      • No these are the things that CAUSED our problems and continue to cause us problems…
      • But the relief comes from God.
• Some people blame God for these issues, they say “He is the one who placed these curses, it is His fault there is pain and sorrow in the world”.
  • But no, God is Just. That means that law breakers must be justly punished.
    • God did not cause us to sin, nor did God fail to warn us of the consequences… God did exactly what God said He would do… and even in so doing… even when giving out the curses… He provides hope and relief.
      • That is because God is good all the time!
        • Even in His cursing, God is good.
• So then, what do we do with this information… what do we do in times of suffering… that is my conclusion this morning… Be thankful in the Midst of the Curse.

Conclusion – Be Thankful in the Midst of the Curse.

• When I had my last Secular job, my last non-church job, I worked in an office near Seattle, Washington.
  • And I did not like my boss, and I did not like my job… but it was paying the bills for me and my wife, in our townhouse in a very expensive city to live in.
    • It was around Christmas time where I found myself complaining about my job a lot. The people, the work, the stress, the exhaustion…
    • And it was then that I believe God put on my heart to read “A Christmas Carol” by ol’ Chuckie Dickens.
      • I think God put it on my heart because I don’t read much, other than scripture and commentaries… and I certainly didn’t care about A Christmas novel.
      • But I read it… in just two sittings… and it brought me to tears…
        • It was when I read about Bob Cratchit’s Christmas prayer… he prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for Ebenezer Scrooge, his boss who was an awful employer.
          • His wife protested and asked “Why would you give thanks for such an awful man?”
          • And Bob said “He is the founder of this feast, God provides through this family through him, and for that I am thankful”.
            • Man when I read that conviction went all through my body… and I immediately repented to my wife for my sour attitude toward work, and I prayed, thanking God for my boss and for my Job.
              • And when I did that, things began to change… and I hated my job so so so much less.

Philippians 4:6 NKJV  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

• Sin brings pain in Child bearing… but praise God that He still gives us children.
• Sin brings pain in gathering what we need for bread… but praise God that He still gives us our daily bread.
  • Be thankful for what you have, not complaining…
    • Kids making you mad?
      • I get it, my kids drive me crazy sometimes…
      • But shame on me if I complain about my children, instead I should cry out to God “Thank you God for the blessing of my children! You have brought me so much joy in them and through them, please help me to raise them right”.
    • Job got you down?
      • “Thank you Jesus for the Job that I have, through it you provide my family with daily bread. Help me be the best employee that I can be and be with me as I struggle through the many challenges of my job.
    • Whatever your struggle, find the blessing God has given you in that struggle, and thank God for it… then make your request known to God.
      • Because even in the curse, God is good.
        • God is good all the time!