Black: Rebellion, Sin, and Stumbling in Darkness
Genesis 3
We used to play this youth group game that was absolute chaos. Five teams, ten kids each, racing through an obstacle course. Simple, right? Except everyone had to do it blindfolded. And only one person per team could yell instructions.
It was manageable, until someone on the team decided the designated instructor was doing it wrong and started yelling over them. Then other teams thought, "If they've got more people yelling, we should yell too."
We ended up with 50 people yelling instructions at five blindfolded kids stumbling around. It was hilarious. No one completed the course.
Before eating the fruit, Adam and Eve lived in the light. They could see the obstacle course of life clearly. Then they decided things were too easy and chose to complicate everything. When they ate the fruit, they went from seeing clearly in the light to stumbling in darkness.
How Sin Enters
Genesis 3 doesn't start with violence. It doesn't start with murder or war or even oppression.
It starts with a question: "Did God really say?"
That's doubt. And this is how sin enters our lives: not with outright rebellion first, but with suspicion, with questioning. Can I really trust God? Is God actually good? Or is God holding out on me? Is there something better He's not giving me?
In Genesis 2:16, Adam and Eve were free to eat from any tree except one. Freedom came before boundaries. But what does the serpent do? He reframes it. He makes God look like the fun police, all about restriction and control.
Every Action Has a Consequence
When Adam and Eve doubted God and listened to another voice, one working against them, not for them, the consequence was certain death. Death enters the world when they eat the fruit. The ultimate consequence of rejecting God.
This wasn't a misunderstanding. It wasn’t an accident. It's not like they fell over and their mouth wrapped around a piece of fruit. They didn't trip. This was active, blatant disobedience.
The Bible calls this rebellion sin.
The Heart of Sin
Here's the question: Why didn't God want them to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
Isn't that a good thing? Don't we work hard in schools, homes, and church for people to know what's good and what's evil? What's right and what's wrong? It's not just about knowing what's right and wrong, it's about deciding what's right and wrong.
Everything God made was already good. Genesis 1 says so. If something's good, you don't touch it. But Adam and Eve wanted to be the ones who decide what's good and what's not. They turned to God and said, "We want to make up our own minds about what's good."
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, it wasn't just breaking the rules. They wanted to be the rule makers. And that's the heart of sin: declaring that we want to make the rules for our lives.
Time and time again throughout the Bible, we see how this works out for humanity. Spoiler alert: not good.
Three Broken Relationships
God takes sin seriously. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, three perfect relationships were shattered in one bite.
First, their relationship with each other broke. Genesis 2:25 says Adam and his wife were both naked and felt no shame. That's how they were created. God said it was good.
But Genesis 3:7? The moment they ate, they realised they were naked. They'd been naked the whole time, but suddenly they realised how vulnerable they were to each other's gaze. Trust evaporated. Self-protection took over. "I don't know if you're a safe person to be around anymore. You need to cover up. I need to cover up."
When they declared they wanted to be like God, and be gods themselves, they realised how lonely it is to be a human god.
You know that kid at school who brings the ball and says, "My ball, my rules"? As soon as you don't keep to the rules: "I'm taking my ball and going home." That's a lonely place,clutching your ball at home, showing them, but not actually playing.
Adam blames Eve. Eve blames the serpent. There’s a constant passing of the buck.
Second, their relationship with God broke.
When God came to walk with them in the cool of the day, He asked, "Where are you?"
This wasn't cosmic hide and seek. It wasn't like Adam fell off a table and rolled under a bush. This was a relational question, like when you knock on someone's door and ask, "Can I come in?" God came as a friend: "Where are you? I've come to hang out."
Before they sinned, God's presence was a joy. Now it was a threat. They hid. Fear replaced joy. Suspicion replaced trust. Distance replaced closeness.
Third, their relationship with creation broke. The ground that once yielded fruit freely now resisted. Work became painful. Childbearing became costly. Life became hard. One bite threw everything good out the window and replaced it with what they wanted to be good, in their own understanding, rejecting God's way of life.
Our Story Too
If you're thinking, "That's Adam and Eve, what's it got to do with me?
Everything.
We're all rule makers who rebel against God. We say, "I don't want to live your way, I want to live my way."
Even as Christians, we sometimes just want God to do His thing and let us do ours.
What Adam and Eve did back then is the same as what you did this morning. In those quiet moments when we reject God's way and seek our own, not loving God, not listening to His word, not loving others as ourselves but putting ourselves first.
That's sin.
Hope on the Horizon
But God doesn't leave us without hope. Right here in Genesis 3:15, when God is putting judgement on Adam, Eve, and the serpent, He says:
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
This points to the serpent crusher: our King, Jesus.
Right at the beginning, even though things look bleak and it's dark, hope is on the horizon. Jesus said, "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness."
God doesn't ignore sin. He confronts it and does something about it, not by crushing us, but by sending His Son ,Jesus our Saviour, who crushes sin and death and brings forgiveness and rescue for all who trust in Him.
Don't Stay in Darkness
If you trust and believe in Jesus, take your sin seriously. Flee from it. Run to God's Word, to God's arms, to Jesus, to the forgiveness and salvation you have in Him.
If things aren't going right, don't blame God. Drop to your knees and ask, "How can I get through this in your strength? Show me what you have to teach me."
And if you haven't put your trust in Jesus, don't wait. You don't know what will happen between now and next week. There's no moment like now to step out of the darkness.
This sermon is part of the Colours of Life series, telling the gospel story in five simple colours. Soul Revival Church gathers across the Sutherland Shire [Kirrawee, Yarrawarrah, Miranda, Cronulla] and Ryde.