In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of the family and how it was created with a purpose by God. The fall of man is examined in relation to the family, starting with the separation of Adam and Eve. The speaker highlights the tactics of the enemy, who takes advantage of a divided family to attack. However, the sermon also emphasizes that through the redemption of Jesus, the family can be fully restored to its intended glory.

Last Lord's Day, there was a wedding. And because of that, we started to share in the morning something about family. We find that family is not a human idea. That is to say, it does not originate with man. Family is a divine concept. It comes from God. Because in the very beginning, when God created man, He created man with a family in mind. Because He created male and female. And the joining together of the male and female become the man of God's heart. And that is a family. God Himself is the creator of the family. And He Himself is the matchmaker. He brought Eve to Adam. And since we have started on the family, probably we should continue on. Therefore, this morning, we will continue on the family. Will you please turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 2? Genesis, chapter 2, verse 25. And we'll read on through chapter 3, verse 19. The man was more crafty than any animal of the field, which Jehovah Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, Is it even so that God hath said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, and ye shall not touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said to the woman, Ye will not certainly die, but God knows that in the day ye eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and ye will be as God, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a pleasure for the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to give intelligence. And she took of its fruit, and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed thick leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of Jehovah Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah Elohim in the midst of the trees of the garden. And Jehovah Elohim called to man and said to him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I feared, because I am naked, and I hid myself. And he said, Hold to thee that thou art naked. Hast thou eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee not to eat? And man said, The woman whom thou hast given to be with me, she gave me of the fruit of the tree, and I ate. And Jehovah Elohim said to the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. And Jehovah Elohim said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, be thou cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. On thy belly shalt thou go, and eat dust all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. He shall crush thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel. To the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy cavil and thy pregnancy. With pain thou shalt bear children, and to thy husband shall be thy desire, and he shall rule over thee. And to Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed be the ground on thy account. With toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life, and thorns and thistles shalt it yield thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, until thou return to the ground. For out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. After God created Adam with the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, man became a living soul. But God said it is not good for him to be alone. So God made for him a helpmate, his counterpart. Out of Adam, God took a rib from him, and with that he built the woman. He took the woman to the man, and immediately man said, This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. He shall be called a woman, because she came out of man. And the two were joined together into one. They were together in the garden of Eden. And we know that the word Eden means pleasure. They were together enjoying one another and enjoying the Lord. In the garden of Eden, the Bible said, they were naked, and yet they were not ashamed. All the living creatures that God made were clothed with either feathers or furs. How is it that God, in creating man, did not give man a clothing, that they were naked? Many believed that when God first created man, man was clothed with glory. Not with fur, nor feather, but somehow God must clothe man with glory. And because they were clothed with glory, they were not conscious of their nakedness. But of course, after seeing that glory departed, a man became conscious of their nakedness. But I think, here it is said, the man and the woman were naked, and they were not ashamed. I think there must be also a spiritual significance there. They were naked, and yet they were not ashamed. Why? Because their relationship, one with the other, was such. They were so open to each other. There was transparent relationship between the man and the wife. They were so one with each other. There was nothing to hide. Therefore, they were naked, and yet they were not ashamed. And that was the relationship between the man and the woman whom God had created. Adam and Eve, they loved each other. They were of one mind, of one heart, of one spirit, and they were together serving the Lord. They had nothing to hide from each other. Their relationship was perfect, was transparent. And this was not only so between the two of them. And the Bible said, God came to the garden to fellowship. You know, brothers and sisters, sometimes we think a family, the essential ingredients of a family is a man and a woman. And of course, the man and the woman made up the family. But sometimes we forget that a family has another important ingredient. And that important ingredient is indispensable to a family. And that is God. We tend to think a family is made up of a man and a woman. And if only the man and the woman loved each other, the family would be very happy and successful. But according to the Word of God, a family, according to God, has another person there. And that third person is God. God came into the garden to fellowship with them. God was not only the creator of that family, God was one of the members of that family. Not only one of the members, but He was the Lord of that family. How Adam and Eve would look up to God, how Adam and Eve would together wait upon God, and allow God to tell them what they should do, you find that their lives together was a life under. There was perfect harmony between Adam and Eve and that family with God. It was a family under. And that is the original concept of the family. The reason why family today has become such a problem is because man forgets God as one of the family. And when you leave God out of the family, things begin to disintegrate. And even if on earth there be a family in which the husband and the wife love each other and they seem to be very happy together, is that family a success? From human standpoint, it is a successful family. But from God's standpoint, it has not arrived at the meaning of a family as God sees it. God is part of the family. He is the head, the Lord of the family. And because Adam and Eve look up to God, therefore, they can live together in such peace and harmony. So this was the first family on earth. Before sin entered into this world, the first family on earth was a happy family. A family according to God. But then something happened. One day, Eve was alone. She drifted away from her husband. Somehow she was found alone. And when she was alone, the serpent, Satan, the devil, came to tempt her. You know, the Garden of Eden was not a small garden. According to the description given in chapter 2 of Genesis, we can imagine that the Garden of Eden was a big garden, a huge garden. But Adam and Eve were always together. They worked together. They walked in the garden together. Everything they were together. And when they were together, the enemy could not find an opportunity to come in and to tempt. So the enemy was waiting for a time when you find that family was separated. Adam and Eve were supposed to be together and yet they were fine. And when Eve was away from Adam and Adam was away from Eve, they were not together. The opportunity of the tempter, a family divided, gave the enemy opportunities. When Eve began to take her independent course, or when anyone in a family begins to be independent, not rightly related as God designs it to be, the husband will go his way or the wife will go her way. And when they are not rightly related as partners of the grace of God and begin to take their independent actions, you find the enemy gets an opportunity to come in. Divide and rule. That is the tactics of the enemy. In Ecclesiastes, chapter four, you remember Solomon tells us, in verse nine, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. Two are better than one. Why they have good reward for their labor. Not only that, by working together their labor will be more prosperous. They will produce more. But in enjoying the fruit of their labor, they enjoy it better. Now to eat alone, or to eat together, there is a difference. Even if you may be eating the same thing, and yet if you share it with others, you eat with others, the fruit seems to be better. It is better for two to labor and to enjoy the reward of your labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and who has not another to lift him up. It is very human for us to fall. But if there are two, then when one slip, the other will lift him or her up. Now if you are alone, if you fall, you fall flat. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth. And if one... But how can one alone be warm? You have mutual support. Mutual help. And you receive the warmth there. And if a man overpower the one, the two shall withstand him, and the threefold cord is not easily broken, quickly broken. The enemy can attack one person, but the two can withstand the enemy. So brothers and sisters, God creates the family. It is his desire that the husband and wife should be one in mind and one in spirit, and be together, and rightly related one to the other under God. And when this is the case, no one can stand against them. But somehow you find Eve was away from that. Probably she was driven by curiosity. You know? I don't know if a woman is naturally more curious than a man. Probably that is true. You know, a woman is made with more emotional temperament. And being more emotional, you are more curious. And man is, generally speaking, is more of, you know, mind, therefore, is cold, not that curious. I wonder if it is the curiosity in Eve. She knew that God said, of all the trees in the garden you may freely eat, but there is one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. And Eve became curious. I do not believe that in the beginning Eve had the intention of eating that fruit. She was not thinking of eating that fruit. That would be awful, to think that she could rebel against God's command. It didn't come to her mind at all. She was just curious, that's all. Now why is it God does not allow us to eat that tree? What kind of a tree is this? So she just drifted away from the husband and had a good look of that tree. But while she was looking at that tree, Satan came in. She wasn't out. You know, curiosity, sometimes is good, but sometimes is very troublesome. You know, if we are curious and it leads us to that forbidden area, then it's really troublesome. So here you are, Eve. She was standing under that tree and was just curious about it. And while she was there, the tempter came in and said, Did God said, say, you cannot eat any of these trees? Now what does it mean? Men in the garden live by the fruit of the tree. That is their food. And Satan came in and threw an evil thought and said, Did God say you cannot eat any of these trees? In other words, God was very hard in heart. He didn't want you to live. And Eve said, No, no. God said we can eat all, any of the trees. But this one tree God said, we cannot eat and we cannot touch it. She was tempted. God only said you cannot eat. But she ate it and said, you cannot touch it. In other words, she took in the temptation and was beginning to doubt God. God, after all, was not that lovely. He kept back something from us. He was not as good. He was hard. So Satan came in and said, No, you will not die. You will not die. On the contrary, if you eat that tree, your eyes will be opened and you will be as God. And Eve looked at the tree. It was good to look at. He will give her wisdom to know good and evil. She will be as God. You'll find immediately she forgot God. She was only thinking of herself, how to make herself God. She was tempted. She took the fruit and ate it. Not only he, she ate it. She gave to her husband and he. And immediately they discovered they were naked and they were shaved. So they took the fig leaves, make an apron to cover themselves. Now, brothers and sisters, we often think of the fall of man in terms of individuals. In other words, how does man fall into sin? But this morning we would like to see how did man fall as a family? The fall of man in relation to the family. First of all, you'll find the fall begins with the separation of the husband and the wife. It begins with Eve taking her own course. They were divided. And that's the beginning of the fall of the family. When a family is divided in heart, when one goes to one direction and the other goes to the other direction, and Eve takes his or her independent action, that is the beginning of the fall of the family. A family should be together under God. And that is the protection. That is the glory of the family. But when a family becomes to be divided and Eve going off his or her own way, you'll find that is the beginning of the fall of the family. God sets a divine order in the family. Adam being created first, he was the head of the family. He was created, was made, was built out of Adam. He was to be the body of the family. Adam was set by God as the head of the family. Eve was set by God as the body of the family. The head without a body couldn't do anything. The body without a head had no direction. So here you'll find Adam and Eve were together as the man, as the family. That was God's divine order. But here you'll find in the fall that divine order was upset and reversed. When Satan tempted Eve, and Eve did not say, well, I'll go back to Adam and consult with him and see what he said. If she did, she would not be deceived. But she took it upon herself. She was independent. And more than that, she took the initiative. She ate the fruit and she gave the fruit to her husband to eat. That order was reversed. Instead of Adam being the head, Adam allowed Eve to be the head of that family. So you'll find in the fall there was the reverse of the divine order. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, we are told, it was not man who was deceived. It was Eve who was deceived and fell into transgression. But when you come to Romans chapter 5, verse 12, it says, seeing entered into this world by one man, and that one man was not Eve, was Adam. Was Adam. So far as history is concerned, the woman was deceived and fell into transgression. But so far as God's interpretation, God's judgment was concerned, God held Adam responsible. Eve was deceived. Adam was not deceived. Adam ate the fruit with his eyes wide open. He knew it was a violation, a rebelling against God. He knew that. But she did it anyhow. Why? She loved Eve. He was willing to give up God, but not give up the woman. Do you call that love? Later on you'll find this is selfish, this is not love. See, he wanted Eve for himself, not because of Eve, because of himself. But anyway you'll find, when Adam sinned, he sinned deliberately. Eve was deceived, but Adam was not deceived. He sinned deliberately before God. And being the head of the family, God held him responsible. So brothers and sisters, you'll find, this is the story of the fall of the first family. What happened there was, there was the independence, and there was the reversal of the divine order. And these things bring in, immediately after they did it, the glory departed from them. They saw they were naked. And they tried to cover up. And in the cool of the day, God came into the garden. But they hid themselves among the trees. Why, even the fig leaf, the apron of fig leaves, could not hide their nakedness from God. So God said, Man, where are you? And Adam said, We are here, hidden among the trees, because we are naked. God said, Who told you you are naked? Have you eaten that forbidden tree? And then you notice what happened. Instead of Adam standing out and said, I'm sorry, I did it. He said, Lord, the woman that you gave to me, he, she gave it to me to eat. Is that love? A man, being the head of the family, is supposed to protect the woman, to give his life for the woman, she he loves. And here you'll find, when it comes to a real issue, God began to inquire, Now, what has happened here, Adam? He said, Oh, that's the woman. That's the woman. Is that love? No. It showed that when he ate the fruit, for Eve's sake, actually it was his selfishness. He wanted Eve for himself. Whenever sin enter into the world, you'll find there is separation. Sin not only separates us from God, sin separates the family from each other. Not only the glory that they were clothed with was lost, the love that cemented them together fades away. Man becomes selfish, trying to protect his own self or her own self. And love is very much lacking in that family. God asked the woman, What did you do? And the woman tried to put the blame on the serpent. It is the serpent that has deceived. And of course, God proclaimed His judgment upon the serpent. But after that, you'll find God pronounced His judgment on the family. Because of the fall of the family, the loss of glory, the loss of love, that family was thrown up, you know. And God began to pronounce His judgment upon the family. But dear brothers and sisters, notice one thing. Even when God pronounced judgment upon the family, He did not take away from the family His original. Thank God! God is a God of purpose. And when He purposed a purpose, He will never change. No matter what happens, He will never change His purpose. He may change His ways, but He will never change His purpose. Now, His ways with Adam and Eve were changed. But you'll find even in the judgment, God's purpose was not changed. How do we know? God told the woman, Because you have sinned, therefore you shall bear children. You shall bear children. You shall have pain. In Cordell and in Pratt. When God first created man and woman, God said, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth. In other words, in order to be fruitful, to multiply and to fill the earth, that is, of course, the work of the husband and the wife, but the woman bears the responsibility. She is to conceive, she is to prevail, she is to give birth to a child. That is the work that God has given to the woman to fulfill. And in fulfilling it, to fulfill the work of God. God did not take that away. God didn't say, Now from now on you are barren. You will not serve your purpose anymore. No. The woman is still to conceive and to prevail, to be pregnant and to give birth. Still to fulfill the original purpose Because God has put upon the woman a work to be fulfilled. But in the Garden of Eden, if man had not sinned, there would be lots of birth, but no pain. But because the woman was deceived, she was independent. Therefore God put pain upon the woman when she traveled. And God said, You will desire after your husband, and he will rule. Because the divine order, as God first set among the man, between the man and the woman, was upset. In the fall. But God comes in now, in clear words, that divine order is still to be maintained. Somehow God put in the woman a desire for her husband. In other words, even after the fall, God put in the woman a desire for her husband. And if you desire for a husband, in other words, you give your husband the chance to rule over you. In the beginning, the divine order between the husband and the wife was so, what can I say, it was there. Nothing was there. But it was there. And out of love that order was maintained. Eve had no need to be told, You are to submit yourself to your husband. She did it. She did it. Out of love. But when love was lacking, then God came in and proclaimed it, as if put the woman under a kind of obligation. Naturally, the woman would desire after her husband, and the husband shall rule over her. Not so willingly, but it was to be done. That order was still to be kept. Number three. Because the woman was deceived and fell into transgression, salvation shall come from the woman. The seed of the woman shall crush the serpent's head, and the serpent shall bruise his heel. And we know who the seed of the woman is. Christ. Out of the woman. In the fullness of time, God sent his Son to be born of the woman, under the law, that he might deliver us out of the curse of the law, and might bring us into sonship. And here you find the promise was given to the woman, and it was to be fulfilled through the woman. In judgment there is mercy. How gracious is our God. Even though God put woman under his judgment, and yet it was not hopeless. It was just to restore her to the place where God first has... God's judgment is not for destruction. God's judgment here is for restoration. That the woman may be restored to the place that God has first meant her to be. Isn't that beautiful? And then God turned to the man and judged him. Because he sinned, God said, the earth shall be cursed for your sin. With toil you shall eat your bread. The earth will grow thorns and thistles, and you have to labor hard in the sweat of your labor. You can earn a living. I wonder whether it was because... You know, the work in the garden before the fall, the work is a pleasure. It's not a toil. You work in the garden and it's a pleasure, you know? But now work is to be a toil. You have to sweat to earn a living. God did not take away the duty of the husband. On the contrary, God put upon him the duty. You have to work to support yourself and your family. And by doing that, he may still be the head. So dear brothers and sisters, you'll find that even in God's judgment, God does not put aside his purpose. But on the contrary, he is trying through the judgment to bring both the man and the woman back to the family that God has in his mind. So dear brothers and sisters, thank God. When you come to the New Testament, you'll see that man is to be restored as the head of the family, to provide for his family, to bring up the children in the discipline and admiration of the Lord. And the woman is to be restored to her place in the family as a helpmate to build up. And you'll find the family life is to be fully restored in the redemption of our Lord Jesus. So this morning we'll just stop here and just have a very brief view of the first family, its fall and its judgment. Our Heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou dost create it, family, and Thou dost have a purpose for that family that through the family the earth might be subdued and Thy kingdom may come upon this earth. O Lord, how we praise and thank Thee Thou dost love us so much that even if our families have fallen, but in Thy redemption Thou art to restore it to its glory. Oh, we just praise and thank Thee. May Thy words sing into our hearts and be very living and operating in us and in our families. We give Thee all the praise in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.