170521 Did God Actually Say?

Genesis 3:1-3 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 God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

At the end of the six creation days God saw everything that he had made and announced that it was very good. We do not know how much time passed between Genesis 1:31 and the events in Genesis chapter 3. During that time, which may have lasted much longer than we would assume from reading the text, there must have been a rebellion in the angelic world with many angels turning against God and becoming evil. With regard to the human race the first sin was rebellion against God. Their sin struck at the basis for knowledge when Eve chose to doubt God’s word.

Today we live in a world that, by and large, no longer accepts the first few chapters of Genesis as historically accurate. Many biblical scholars believe that they can do away with the accuracy of these events without losing Christianity. It can’t be done! The importance of the events in chapters 1 through eight is much greater than most people realize. As we move forward through the message today I want to give you the information you need to understand the complications of Adam’s and Eve’s sin. This story cannot be a myth for all of salvation history depends upon it!

Eve’s sin, followed by Adam’s, was to replace God. Let’s look at Genesis 3:4-5. But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

In response to Satan’s question, “Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? ” Eve was not careful to quote God correctly. Her reply was, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, (so far so good) neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” So far as we know God did not say that they should not touch the tree. Eve’s response gave an opening to Satan who said to her, “You will not surely die.” And then he added, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The knowledge of good and evil does not cause us to be like God, instead, it causes us to feel guilty. “Knowing good and evil” does not characterize God in any way. The prophet Habakkuk speaks to God with these words, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong,” (Habakkuk 1:13) God is the author of everything good.

We do not know how long the man and the woman were in the Garden of Eden together. They were naked and not ashamed, nor afraid. The knowledge of good and evil comes from being tempted and falling for the temptation! James, our Lord’s brother, pointed out: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” (James 1:13) After that, for the first time, humankind felt a sense of shame. Until then the magnificence of the human form in its perfect condition surrounded them and they never sensed any reason to reject it.

When God called out to Adam, “Where are you?”, He was not seeking information. And when he calls to you and I, he knows exactly where we are and what we need to do to be conformed to the image of his will — that we could be born again.

It is very important that we insist on the historical truthfulness of the fall. If these things did not happen as reported we are still in our sins and we will never be able to pay the price. Remember…

These events were very real and they affect us personally. Let’s look at Romans 5:12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned —

Eve used her own judgment rather than trusting in God. She saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, beautiful to look at, and was a shortcut to reach their life’s goals. After all, God must have wanted them to be like him since the Bible is very clear that through faith we become the children of God. After all, isn’t that exactly what God wanted?

I can’t imagine the level of admiration these two people felt for the God who walked with them in the Garden! To be like Jesus! It surely seems that should be our goal!

Satan’s promise was a shortcut to God’s intended goal for them. That tactic of his continues to plague us today. New Christians are not usually taught that Christianity did not begin with them. In witnessing to an unbeliever Christians often say, “That’s all you have to do.” I submit to you that becoming a Christian is never a simple matter. And having come to faith in Christ there is no shortcut to godly living. The master of deception is still at work in our world. People are being deceived today just as…

Eve was deceived. Let’s look at Jeremiah 17:9-10. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

God’s word to Jeremiah spells out the condition of Eve when she stood before Satan in the Garden. When sin entered the world through deception it causes everyone to be born subject to being deceived while looking for a shortcut to heaven.

God will not leave us in our condition. He will surround us with grace and truth. God does not anywhere deny that unbelievers can do good in many ways. God simply denies that they can do any spiritual good or be good in relation to God. Without the work of Christ in our lives we, like all unbelievers, are darkened in our understanding and alienated from the life of God due to our hardness of heart. (Ephesians 4:18). Every person is born with a hard heart and in desperate need for God to replace that heart of stone with a heart of flesh. We should make this to be our prayer for our unsaved friends that God would soften their hearts. Opening them up to allow their actions to change from being totally unable to please God (Romans 8:8) to being children of God — rather than slaves to sin.

When mother Eve sinned…

God held Adam accountable. Let’s look at Genesis 3:9. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

From the very beginning of the human race God has looked to men as being responsible for spiritual leadership. I would guess that most men think that this is an option they can turn down. Many men sing the old hymn, “Take my wife and let her be consecrated Lord to thee.” When they should be crying out, “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee”

I’ve been very pleased with most of the men in our church who are stepping up to lead their families to trust in God. In recent months there has been spiritual and numerical growth in the men in this church.

When Eve sinned God required the man to admit his condition. When God asked, “Where are you?” He was not seeking information for himself. God was seeking the heart of the man that included a confession of his condition. When the story of the Fall is told there seems to be an assumption by most people that Satan caught Eve alone and deceived her. The Bible is very clear, “she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6)

He was with her, she wasn’t alone. Throughout the ages men have shirked their responsibility to be the spiritual leaders of the home. It could be said that many men stood aside and watched their wife be deceived into sin. Guys pay attention when it comes to a time of reckoning you will not be standing aside while your wife pays the price. God will speak to you as being responsible for her. You don’t have to act responsibly to be responsible. In God’s eyes men are to lead their home in spiritual matters. This truth is maintained from the Garden of Eden to the end of the world. It seems very difficult for us to understand that this man and woman could walk and talk with God every day and still fall into Satan’s trap! These events very likely had happened after several months not the couple of days it looks like in the Bible. Think about all the things that had happened. God had built a man out of mud and breathed life into him. He had brought thousands of animals to the man to see what he would call them. God had allowed the man to experience aloneness. This whole process would have taken a long time. Adam experienced a personal relationship with God unlike any other in history except that of Jesus Christ. Twice in the entire history of the human race an absolutely perfect man existed. Adam, until the sinned, and Jesus all his life.

When Adam was presented with the woman that was taken out of his side he recognized her relationship to him and now the two of them could walk with God. How long? I don’t know but it wasn’t just a few days. These people were not subject to forgetting their relationship with God after all they did want to be like him.

I’m reminded of Peter who spent about three years following Jesus from place to place only to tell a serving girl “Woman, I do not know him” when Jesus was being tried.  How could he do that! Jesus had even told him it would happen! There are some encouraging words in Jesus’ warning. He said to Peter, “when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32) Jesus certainly knew that Peter would repent and be restored to a right relationship with God. Following after Jesus or walking with God in the garden should have led to a strong faith.

We don’t recognize that the sin in our life is rebellion against God. In fact we usually don’t even consider sin to be sin. In Wayne Grudem’s, Systematic Theology, sin is defined: “Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.” (page 490). Such failure is always an act of rebellion and…

Rebellion against God is foolish. Let’s turn to Psalm 14:1. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

This must be an important passage of Scripture because it is repeated in total in Psalm 53. All sin is foolish nothing good can come of it. Throughout the book of Proverbs it is always “the fool” who indulges in sin. People will often persuade themselves that they have good reasons for sinning. A careful examination of our actions will show that in every case sin just does not make sense.

Adam and Eve exercised the highest level of foolishness in listening to Satan, and then letting him deceive them. The consequences of their sin reaches down through the ages because…

When Adam fell into sin he condemned mankind. Let’s look at Ephesians 2:1-3. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Thinking back to Romans 5:12 we are reminded that sin came into the world through one man — and that man was Adam. If Adam did not exist then the initial sin of mankind does not exist and Jesus’ death on the cross means nothing! If there was no original sin then there is no inherited guilt. If there is no inherited guilt there can be no inherited righteousness.

If it is not fair for us to be represented by Adam it is equally unfair to be represented by Christ and to have his righteous given to us by God. Think about that!

When King David committed the sickening sin of adultery, followed by murder, he was confronted by Nathan the prophet. A part of David’s repentance is shown in Psalm 51. There he said that he was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin his mother conceived him. So we see that Adam, the perfect man and David the king, a man after God’s heart, had a lot in common. They both suffered the consequences of their sin and paid the price ordained by God. In each of our lives there comes a time when we must choose to believe God, and therefore obey God, or we choose to rebel against God and suffer the negative consequences. When we do rebel against God we must come to him in repentance. Of first importance is the need to be a child of God. We must receive Jesus and believe in his name and submit ourselves to him as Lord. This can be your day of being freed from the bondage of sin.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society