Genesis 3:14-24

14 “The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which 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; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 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 to dust you shall return.” 20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

As I have shared with you on several occasions, while I was growing up in the Appalachian Highlands of Eastern Kentucky I had almost zero contact with (or knowledge of) anything to do God, or religion, or Church.

My Grandfather’s Mother went to a Primitive Baptist Church in the County Seat, and he often drove my Mom’s younger sister to the Church of God in the same town. I used to love to ride up town with Granddad in his old Pontiac and pick her up after Church.

Before I joined the Air Force at 19, I never saw either of my Grandparents in a Church building; and, I only remember seeing my Parents in a Church twice. (Once was my other Grandma’s funeral and the other time was some kind of a revival meeting – I think that is what it was – up in the mountains.)

I can recall a couple of other little things… including a small plaque (maybe 8” x 4”) that hung on my Grandmother’s living room wall. It was really old – probably Victorian – with these words written on it in calligraphy:

“Life is Short; Death is Sure; Sin the Curse; Christ the Cure!”

I barely noticed it; and, I barely remember it. At the time, I had no idea what it meant. I have only thought about it a time or two over the years. I have mentioned it once or twice in funeral sermons. I thought about it again this week when I started thinking about this sermon. Certainly, the last two lines form a natural outline for the message today. In these 11 verses, we clearly see two profound Biblical truths… “The Curse and the Cure!” 

First, we see the Curse!

In these verses, we will see the four-fold curse: upon the Serpent; upon Eve; upon Adam; and upon Adam and Eve together (and therefore upon the whole human race)!

Thankfully, we also see the Cure!

What is the cure for the curse? The cure is a Person and that Person is Jesus Christ. And the process by which the cure is applied is by the suffering of the Innocent One in the place of the guilty one!

2,000 years after Christ died on the cross that formula has not changed and it will never change!

I hope you will read over and think through these verses and these notes. I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!