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[0:00] I decided a few years ago, if you have a Bible, turn to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3, I decided a few years ago that I was going to try a casserole. And I started mixing up the ingredients and getting them together.

[0:13] And it called for paprika, two teaspoons of paprika. So I reached in the spice rack and grabbed the red stuff. And I like, you know, paprika don't have much of a flavor, so you need a heaping.

[0:27] So I made them heaping, teaspoon, tablespoon, something like that. Put them in there and mixed it up. And found out that the red stuff was not paprika.

[0:39] It was cayenne pepper. And that dog never begged for food again. So... One thing good about recipes, if you go by them, it will work out good.

[0:54] If you don't, well, it may not. And when God made the earth, he made it right. He made it perfect.

[1:07] And he backed up day after day and looked at what he had done that day and said, it's good. When he created us to interact with each other, as well as in this world, it was a right mix.

[1:23] He did it right. I mean, when the Lord does something, he does it right. The problem wasn't until we came into the picture.

[1:33] And when we came into the picture, the minute we came in, maybe not the minute, but shortly thereafter, we tried to do it our way.

[1:44] And not his way. And that's when problems arose. And that's what Adam and Eve did. And I said we did that because we do the same things when we choose our way over his way.

[2:01] And the ramifications of that are tremendous. Sin always causes a lot more damage than you think it will.

[2:14] It always will. And in our passage today, the Lord is continuing to deliver the curses or the ramifications of sin.

[2:24] Continuing to tell them what would happen to them because they've sinned. It does not only affect the snake, and we talked about that last week. It affects all of us. And it's a horrible ripple effect that takes place.

[2:38] Not only when sin started, but as it continues. And I want you to see some of that today. It's in Genesis chapter 3, beginning in verse 16.

[2:48] It says this. To the woman, he said, this is the Lord speaking. I will surely multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you shall bring forth children.

[3:01] Your desire shall be for your husband. And he shall rule over you. And to Adam, he said, because you've listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it.

[3:15] Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field.

[3:29] By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. Till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken. For you are dust.

[3:41] And to dust you shall return. God intended for a shameless couple to live in a perfect garden and procreate and manage that garden and to be blessed.

[4:00] Freedom and contentment were to mark their lives. And with a right relationship with God all other relationships will be good but sin got mixed in.

[4:14] And when sin got mixed in unnecessary difficulties come along the way with that. These curses that we look at beginning in verse 14 that we talked about last week through 19 explain what now has taken place.

[4:31] We talked about the curse of the serpent last week and the fact that there will always be a battle between those influenced by Satan and the people of God.

[4:41] We will always have a battle between evil forces and people of God. There's always going to be that struggle. There will be many battles lost along the way and there will be many battles won.

[4:57] But be assured that the war has been won by Christ. And we can claim victory and we can live victoriously if we claim that victory. And if we live as God instructed us to live.

[5:09] However, not only do we have an eternal victory in Christ we can also have daily victory in the spiritual battles that we face.

[5:21] And we need to be victorious in those things. Losing sinful battles staying entrenched in unnecessary sinful struggles being chained down to spiritual strongholds that we have the ability in Christ if you're a Christian today if you've surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus Christ you have the ability in Christ and by the Spirit of God to walk away from sin that is completely uncalled for in your life and that cause a mess and the ramifications that enter into our lives when sin is mixed in are huge.

[6:04] The effects of our sins saturate all of our lives and those curses are examples that encompass much more than we first notice when we read them. And so I want you to see how it affects us.

[6:17] When sin whether it be our sin or whether it be somebody else's sin when sin enters in when it gets mixed in our blessings will come with burdens.

[6:32] Our blessings will become some burdens. To the woman he said I will surely multiply your pain in childbirth in pain you shall bring forth children.

[6:47] The birth of a child is a glorious experience. The anticipation of that child fills us with joy and yet what should be a glorious experience is instead one of agonizing pain for mom.

[7:02] a new mother still grateful when that child comes for a child is a blessing of God yet with that blessing the burden of delivery can be horrifying pain.

[7:14] The scripture does not say that pain comes from sin that particular pain comes from sin. It's obvious why it hurts. it does say that that pain will be greatly increased and that speaks of a couple of things.

[7:35] No doubt about it it speaks to an increase of physical pain that should serve as a reminder to us of how our burdens come with blessings due to sin.

[7:46] however it also surely speaks of pain that comes well after the delivery. I was told when Abby was born our first child you will never sleep soundly again.

[8:07] I went what? And I thought they were talking about sleepless nights of a baby is what I thought they were talking about. And we were blessed that our children slept through the night early on both of them.

[8:22] We thought it was excellent parenting until they woke up and then we realized it wasn't that. But anyway but we were blessed with that however that's not what they were talking about.

[8:38] I got a child on the road right now. I checked their location right before I got up. and I'll be honest with you while somebody walks up here for the closing prayer and I'm standing in the back I'll probably check and see where she is again.

[8:53] I'll never sleep soundly again. How can you ever fully rest again with children with grandchildren in your life?

[9:05] I mean you're to raise them protect them guide them provide for them all the while they are to put it nicely individuals you know the burden of raising a child the right way the godly way is an awesome and imperfect responsibility.

[9:26] The necessity of disciplining a child prudently is weighty and it's tough we live in a more permissive society today and one that somewhat condemns discipline in that way and so it makes it that much more difficult when scripture tells us to make sure that we raise a child where they know where they're supposed to go in the way that they ought to go the leading of a child properly is daily and it is sometimes difficult there's no doubt about that most of the pain of parenthood will come later in life and it will well surpass any previous felt physical pain and that's easier for me to say than over half the room I understand that but why is that because of sin the pain of Genesis 3 verse 16 that first part speaks of an injuring or a grieving type pain it speaks of a nagging pain that continues it is in fact the pain of mixed blessings there are wonderful highlights in life but due to sin due to our sin due to other people's sin we'll never be free from the hindering that sin causes and I thank

[10:47] God for the blessings in life I believe that if we took the time and we opened up that we could have a testimony time this morning speaking of the goodness of God that could absolutely amaze us if people would open up and share the goodness of God and how God has blessed our lives and given us so much at the same time I promise you there is pain on every pew every pew has got something they're dealing with always keep that in mind when you walk in this room and we're blessed to have the opportunity to worship together we put on our best face man we even took a bath you know either last night or this morning to come to church you know tried to get the wrinkles out of our clothes and do the best we could to get here but the reality is there's pain on every pew there is and we need to be gracious to one another we need to be welcoming to one another we need to be helpful to one another

[11:56] I believe that's some of the struggle that is talked about in this passage we have burdens and rather directly or indirectly those burdens come back to sin they come back to sin now I want to correct what I put on that screen a few moments ago if you'll go back it says our blessings will become burdens I didn't mean that our blessings will come with burdens you'll still have blessings and those blessings won't be burdens but with those blessings will come burdens second thing is this when sin whether it's our sin or other sin but let's be real it's both of them when that gets mixed in together our relationships will be marked with rivalry it says in the second part of verse 16 your desire shall be contrary to your husband but he shall rule over you the second part of this verse is difficult and it speaks to the difficulty that comes in marriage due to individual sin this verse is often either misunderstood or ignored so what is it saying it is saying that the cohesive complementarian nature of women made for man excuse me women made from man and for man cleaving to each other as Genesis 2 points out letting nothing come interrupt that at all is going to be difficult that's what this passage says that's going to be difficult

[13:45] God's saying that now that relationship is going to be strained she will love him and he will lead her but it's not going to be smooth because sin has entered into that dumb stuff is going to come into it because of sin we're going to listen to the world for one and we're going to value our own opinion number two and sometimes we listen to the world more than we do God and sometimes we value our opinion more than we do God and the desire that is spoken of here will become distorted the lead of men will lack the lordship of Christ and they will attempt to lord themselves which will not go well at the house men it won't she will steal the bliss excuse me sin will steal the bliss y'all are pitiful y'all are pitiful that's the sin I'm talking about you know how many times I've prayed over this lord just let me through this thing okay lord just get me through it and y'all ain't a bit of help so much for praying for you pastor but anyway sin will steal the bliss and sometimes that comes from her and sometimes that comes from him it'll steal the mutuality of that marriage listen God made us to work together and selfish sin destroys that that that that can be wrong toward each other and that obviously causes difficulty however what is often missed is when there is sin in our individual lives we often think that there's sin in our life that we can somehow compartmentalize and not let that sin affect anybody else it's just my deal it's just something I got to deal with and friend that's not true yes you have to deal with your sin but don't ever think that it's so separated and compartmentalized away from everything else that it don't affect other people because it does first John describes the common sins as the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the pride of life and when we fall for those it affects other people it affects especially affects those in our own home it especially of those in the home it especially affects our mate and there's a strain that comes with that and that's what this passage is talking about on one side you have love and desire on the other side you have authority and I want to be clear about something okay when it says your desire shall be contrary to your husband but he shall rule over you this is not ordaining a marital order here this speaks of a curse this is a result of sin somehow leadership can become some kind of ruling and that's not the same thing you can lead a family without ruling over a family but when sin enters in that's going to happen there's going to be conflict that comes along the way and that combo of love and desire and authority issues all those things is not good and it's real there's a rivalry that takes place and husband and wife start looking out for themselves instead of looking out for each other and that does not work and marital bliss will leave you fast

[18:23] I want you to understand that in Genesis chapter 2 they went from being naked and ashamed to in Genesis chapter 3 they are covered and pointing fingers at each other that quickly because of sin and God says this ain't going to be easy marriage is not easy it's much more difficult when our individual sins of pride and selfishness are mixed into that a successful marriage is when two are in it together committing to each other forgiving one another looking past the other's actions in the difficult times and listening to their hearts and the constrained times the apostle Paul said it's a mystery he said it's a mystery and he said it's a profound mystery and then he speaks of doing it the right way he says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 33 he says let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband that's not always easy because our relationship will be marked by rivalry and right here in the third chapter of a very large book with 66 books in it it's already telling us that folks so what do we do we become well aware of the challenge that is upon us and number two we respond correctly do we get it done 100% of the time by no means we don't so be reminded that there will be difficulty along the way and that we're to work at that difficulty and make it better not only that but he says this when sin gets mixed in our prosperity will be accompanied with pain he says in verse 17 through 19 and Adam he said because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which

[20:49] I commanded you you shall not eat of it cursed is the ground because of you in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for you are dust and the dust you shall return we have an opportunity in our lives to be productive prosperous people I'm not talking about fame or glory I'm talking about lives of purpose lives of meaning lives of direction we have that opportunity but nothing interrupts our productivity nothing hurts our potential nothing hinders our purpose more than individual sin can nothing will come in the way much more than that verse 17 and 18 speaks of the most basic example of productivity it really applies to all that we do however because when sin enters in opportunities are lost when sin enters in productivity is slowed vitality is struggling and the prosperity is restricted this garden of vibrance and vitality is gone and now thorns cause toil and thistles cause turmoil in our lives we're now at odds with the ground the very place that man came from we're now at odds with it because of sin thorns and thistles here serve as God's illustration to us of the pain and the toil that sin causes and now due to sin life will be lived by what he says in verse 19 by the sweat of our face

[22:46] I want you to think about this our mistakes make our rose bushes have thorns and I mean that both physically from what he said but I mean that much more spiritually the things that ought to be rosy in our life become thorny because of sin our sin makes our lives more difficult why is life such a struggle of sinfulness is what it is it invades all of our lives every part of it it invades our soul and there's a spiritual battle that takes place and the serpent is ever pursuing he didn't stop in the garden he's ever pursuing they're now relational battles sin even invades how we survive we face struggles until we turn to the ground but I want you to be clear about something we will never be able to live our lives to what God intended for us to be if we are sinful if we are selfish if we have hindering strongholds in our lives and that's what this warns us of so what can we do about it stop living our own lives stop leading our own lives you can't handle it

[24:06] I can't handle it we gotta let the Lord lead our lives we've got to submit ourselves to God and let him lead we'll never be sufficient we'll always have difficulties and that would really stink if that's where I had to end today but thank God we don't stop there because God knew all of our sin God knows the messes they cause he knew all of that when Christ went to the cross and when Christ died for our sins and because of Christ thank God this is not all there is and because of Christ we don't have to stay in sinful patterns we don't have to continue to live like that we're still gonna feel some junk that comes from it because we're surrounded by it folks I mean we're surrounded by it if you win victory over a stronghold in your life and you walk away from something that you need to walk away from you'll still have difficulty in your life because you're surrounded by folks if not with that problem some other problem we can be surrounded by it but we don't have to be guilty of it we don't have to fall for it we don't have to stay in sinful patterns that hurt we don't have to stay in sinful patterns that strain we don't have to stay in sinful patterns that cause difficulty and because of Christ we can now have harmony those thorns of our those thorns that our sin caused let me tell you what else those thorns did it was those thorns that he brought about in a curse of sin that they made the Lord's crown out of and placed it on his head as he went to the cross what does that have to do with it because he went because of our sin he died for our sins he died to take the ramifications of all those things away from us to help us to walk away from that we're free from all of that we're only free from that in him we're only free from that if we continue to surrender our lives to him and I believe that's a daily deal and

[26:41] Jesus agrees with me on that we got to deny ourselves daily we can walk free from that we have hope even when sin is mixed in we have hope because of him and so let's live our lives for him let's ease the difficulty that we face in this sin torn world the world needs Jesus folks have you picked up on that yet we're in desperate need of the Lord but you know what you know who needs Jesus it ain't all those folks out there I mean it is but it's not just them it's right here we all need Christ in our lives and if you've never asked the Lord Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to come into your life and to cleanse you and to change you

[27:44] I got news for you you're missing out on the best thing that you could ever have is the forgiveness of God the eternal life that he gives the way that he changes our lives is powerful if you will bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment you may be here and you know you're a Christian but the reality is there's sinful strongholds in your life that you need to give over to the Lord let's first look inside ourselves and see what's going on with us what do we need to deal with and then when we do that let's think about those others that we have burdens for that struggle that we need to have a prayer commitment to pray for them God would strengthen them God would give them all they need maybe you're here and you got a sinful burden you need to lay before the Lord you can do that where you are you can do it at this altar maybe you're here and God's drawing you to this church you feel like this is the place where God would have you to plant your life and I encourage you to come

[29:08]  I'll be happy to guide you in that process maybe you've made a private decision for the Lord but you've never been baptized as a believer you've never surrendered publicly let others know what God's done in your heart privately we'd love to guide you in that too I have no way of knowing what God's doing in your heart and life right now I don't know but I'll tell you you can trust him you can trust him he'll save you he'll cleanse you he'll lead you he'll guide you if you'll just follow him Lord Jesus I ask that you'll lead us today to simply be obedient to do exactly what you'd have us to do right now oh God I pray in Jesus precious name amen