Havasu Christian Church
June 28, 2026
Character studies in Genesis.
“Eating an elephant”
Genesis 1:26-31, Genesis 2:7-25, Genesis 3:1-24
INTRO: There’s an old question that Dads and third graders have been asking for a long time. “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer? “One bite at a time!”
Today, as we begin our series “Character studies in Genesis,” I’ve bitten off a bit more elephant than I can possibly chew.
Adam and Eve probably deserve their own series. There’s a lot going on. We first find Adam mentioned in Genesis 2:7-25. We see Eve join in in verse 22. We see the “rest of their story” in Genesis chapter 3:1-24.
That’s a lot of “elephant to eat!” I would urge you to read the first 3 chapters of Genesis later. But for now, we’ll grab a verse here and there. I hope we can get a good taste.
- Adam and Eve were real people!
- Genesis is HISTORY! It is not a Fairy tale!
- Adam is created on the literal 6th day of creation!
- “Evening and morning, the first day… the second day… the third day… the fourth day… the fifth day… the sixth day… On the seventh day God rested from His work.
- God cannot lie!
Hebrews 6:17–18 (NASB95) In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
- How could God have made it any plainer?
- Evening: a known measurement of time.
- Morning: a known measurement of time.
- Day: A known measurement of time.
- So, On day 6, God makes Adam.
- Everything else, God simply spoke into existence.
- I know, not so simple. Utterly complex!
- Adam, God takes His time.
- In a way, God “gets His hands dirty.”
- God creates Adam “in His own Image.”
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
- God “Breathes life into Adam.”
Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
- Again, this is only done for Adam.
- Man is formed. (In God’s image)
- God “Breathes him alive.”
- The man becomes a “living Being!
- At some point after that, God shows Adam that everyone else has someone, but not him.
- God has an animal parade for Adam.
- Right after that, Eve is made from bone and flesh of Adam.
- She is “the same stuff” as Adam!
- Adam seems pretty happy about it!
- They were the first people!
- 1 man, 1 woman for life!
- God made them to be a team, to become one!
Genesis 2:24 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”
(Is God speaking? Or is this Adam prophecying?)
- God takes some of Adam, and from that part, He makes Eve.
- When God brings them together, they are to be “One” from then on.
- We know people who have taken this to heart.
- My Mom and Dad were “Team Walton!”
- They had a perfect life!
- Two perfect people, in a perfect relationship.
- Without any genetic flaws.
- Without any mental flaws.
- There is no fear.
- Not of people, or animals.
- Nothing is going to try to hurt them.
- Nothing CAN hurt them.
- Their bodies are indestructible.
- There is no one to be jealous of.
- “Her clothes are nicer than mine.” No clothes!
- Adam is the most handsome man on the planet!
- Eve is the most beautiful woman on the planet!
- There is nothing to argue about.
- There are no neighbors to have trouble with.
- They have the absolutely coolest pets!
- Nothing is harmful!
They live in a perfect Garden.
Genesis 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- Plants are all beneficial!
- Poison Ivy was probably felt good to rub on your skin as a moisturizer. It was probably a house plant!
- No thorns on roses.
- Adam and Eve had all the genetic diversity in their DNA necessary to have all humans of all types as their descendants.
- When God confuses the languages after the flood, populations are separated, and certain genetic traits come out.
- On top of all that, these two perfect people get to “hang out” with their Perfect God.”
Genesis 3:8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Sounds like a pretty good way to live!
- They threw all that away!
Genesis 3:1–24 (NASB95)
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
- Eve is fooled, Adam is an idiot!
- Eve gets talked into disobedience by a talking snake! (I suspect a talking snake could be pretty convincing!)
- She sins first.
- But when Scripture talks about the first sin, Eve isn’t held responsible, Adam is.
Romans 5:12–15 (NASB95)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
- Adam willfully disobeys God, knowing full well what he is doing!
- And we’ve been following in his footsteps since that day!
- What follows is a bunch of blaming others.
- God asks some questions.
Genesis 3:9-11 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
- Eve gets blamed by Adam.
Genesis 3:12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”
- “The woman you gave me…”
- (I’m sure that came up in “discussions” for the next 900 years.)
- Adam blames Eve, but he is really blaming God for his own failure.
- The snake gets blamed by Eve.
Genesis 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- The Snake doesn’t get the chance to blame anybody.
- There are consequences.
- Consequences for the snake.
Genesis 3:14-19
14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
- He is cursed.
- He loses his legs!
- Women will hate him.
- But there is a prophecy here too.
- Someday, the Messiah is going to come and CRUSH his (Satan’s) head!
- Consequences for Eve.
Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
- Childbirth (which may not have happened to her yet) is going to be painful!
- She is going to WANT a husband.
- Not a “take it or leave it” kind of thing.
- We see this all the time where women will allow a man to use and abuse them, followed by another and another.
- The “biological clock” will probably be a part of this later.
- She will be “ruled over” by her husband.
- Again, many women choose a man who doesn’t have her best interests at heart.
- There are consequences for Adam.
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
- The ground is cursed.
- It’s going to take hard work to get a crop out of the ground from now on.
- Plants are going to change.
- Thorns, thistles…
- This will go on till you die!
- There are consequences for both of them.
- They are put out of the Garden!
Genesis 3:24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
- They will not be allowed back in.
- The garden may be there as a reminder until the flood?!?!?
- God made the first sacrifice for sin.
- He gave them clothes made from animal skins.
Genesis 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
- The first death in the world is because of, and on behalf of, Adam and Eve.
- Were these favorite animals?
- These animals were a reminder to Adam and Eve of how awful sin really is.
Conclusion: “Ok, maybe we’ve learned some history, but why does this matter to me today?”
- We still live under the curse, but not forever!
Revelation 22:1–4 (NASB95)
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
- There is also some practical advice for husbands and their wives.
- We should do our best not to get fooled!
- If we do, admit it and move on.
- Don’t willfully sin!
- This will cause lots of trouble.
- Choose a mate that will lead you the right way!
- If you do, you’ll be able to serve Jesus together, the way that He deserves!
- Don’t choose a mate that will drag you in the wrong direction!
- Doing this will hamper your service and your witness!
- Don’t throw each other under the bus!
- This leaves deep wounds.
- Become one!
- There is no better way to live if you choose the right person!
- Be grateful for what God gives you!
- Adam and Eve thought they were “missing out!” They weren’t!
- Satan tempted them to not trust God!
- We need to be careful of that as well!
- Don’t ever forget how costly sin really is.
- It destroys relationships.
- We lose the trust others place in us.
- Most importantly, sin separates us from God!
- Jesus DIED to bring us into a right relationship with God!
- Adam and Eve were clothes with animal skins.
- We are clothed with Christ!
