In this short sermon, Harry Pitts explains the biblical account of the fall in Genesis 3, emphasizing that Adam’s act was a treasonous rejection of God’s beautiful and ordered design. He describes how the serpent’s crafty deception—questioning God’s word, goodness, and boundaries—initiated sin, a pattern that persists in modern temptation. Pitts defines sin not merely as rule‑breaking but as a rupture in alignment with God’s loving rule, a choice of self‑rule over obedience. He argues that recognizing the seriousness of this fall makes the grace offered through Christ shine more brightly in believers’ lives.
Chapters
What Adam did was treasonous. If God's design was so beautiful and ordered, when you hear me say this, that the fall, sin, and distortion took place, you say, well, if God's design was so beautiful and ordered, what happened to the human condition? Now, scripture does not ignore sin, neither should we, because the point is not to magnify the enemy. Or leave anyone staring at darkness, but to understand the seriousness of the fall so that the grace of Christ shines all the more brightly in our lives. Now scripture says, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did not God actually say? This is what the serpent said in Genesis chapter 3, verse 1. Because at this point, the entrance of sin began with deception. The serpent questioned God's word, then God's goodness, and finally God's boundaries. This pattern still is still recognizable today. The enemy is still using the same pattern today. Temptation often begins by distorting how we hear God. If the enemy— listen to me— if the enemy can make God's instructions sound restrictive instead of loving, he can make rebellion appear wise. Instead of destructive. Adam and Eve chose independence over obedience. At the heart of sin, listen, is not merely the breaking of a rule. It is the rejection of God's loving rule. Sin is not only behavior that falls below standard. Sin is a rupture in alignment. It is a refusal of God's order in favor of self-rule. I want you to think about that.
