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Devotions from Gospel Chapel Ministries HOME SERMONS SERMON NOTES
THE CURSE OF THE FALL
Genesis 3 is the history of the awesome event, which brought the entire human race under the curse of God. We know the history of how Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit; and in so doing, they slighted the authority of God’s Word. The test of Adam’s obedience set forth in this chapter was to prove their reverence for the authority of God’s Word. Satan beguiled Eve, and she began to question God’s authority. The authority of God’s Word is glorious and exalted above all things.
Man was brought under the curse of the broken law. Let’s examine the nature of that curse. The curse proclaimed upon the serpent was the proclamation of the gospel. Notice that the gospel was proclaimed before the curse because outside of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the curse was instant death. Verse 15 says, "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." That was the first prophesy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This prophesy was that the head of the serpent would be crushed by the heel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Death had now entered the world, but Christ would have the victory over death, the grave, hell, and the power of sin.
The next curse was pronounced unto the woman. "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee," GEN 3:16. We need to analyze this verse to understand it is a curse. On the surface it seems very unlike a curse. That a woman’s desire would be unto her husband would be a most blessed thing on the face of the earth if we could use the literal meaning of the verse. That would not be a curse. To gain a true knowledge of the meaning of the verse, we must go into the original to find the meaning of the word "desire." It comes from the root word "shuwq" in the Hebrew. It means a burning, yearning desire to overflow, to over run, to run over the top of.
Now we can begin to see wherein the curse lies. The woman shall have a yearning, burning desire to overflow, or run over the top of her husband; yet, he is to rule over her! The confusion that we see so predominant in the human race today is the curse of the broken law, "... and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." The women’s liberation movement and the equal rights movement are attempts to fulfill the yearning, burning desire to overflow, run over the top of their husbands. The confusion results from the second half of the curse, "...and he shall rule over thee." The confusion that automatically follows is the curse of the broken law.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is found, there is liberty from this curse of the broken law. The Spirit of the Lord will remove that curse when the woman is in total submission to her husband. She loses that burning, yearning desire to overflow him. The blessed state brought into marriage where the Spirit of the Lord is has been so beautifully illustrated in EPH 5:22-29, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself."
Satan’s promise was that man should be as God. Not only would he not need to submit to the authority of God, but also, man would decide what was right or wrong. We see so much of this curse of the broken law in the churches today. The churches, which are a type of the bride of Christ, want to be governed by a democracy -- a majority vote of what is right or wrong -- rather than submit to the authority of the Word of God. However, as the Lord works grace, He brings the churches to the liberty found in the Spirit of the Lord. In other words, there is a deliverance from the curse of the broken law. The curse is replaced with a loving desire in the heart of the church of Christ to come into submission under the service, authority, and headship of Christ.
We looked at the curse upon the woman. Adam also had his curse. He had to labor by the sweat of his brow. As it is to this day, the land brought forth weeds and thistles. GEN 3:17-19 says, "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Amen.
Our sermons and devotions are a ministry of Gospel Chapel located in Conrad, Montana. We also have a daily devotion. See also our sermon notes. We pray this devotion has been a blessing to those who read it. Thank you.