Remsen Bible Fellowship; 11/12/2023
Introduction
What is wrong with the world? That’s one of the most fundamental questions we can ask. It’s also one that is thrust upon us every time we open up our web browsers or news apps and see what’s going on in the world. Where do the hatred and the evil come from? What clown show did some of our elected leaders escape from? What explains this chaotic mess?
The world hasn’t always been this way. For those who’ve been with us, you’ll remember that over the last month or so we’ve looked at the first two chapters of Genesis, and what we’ve seen is amazing. God, over the course of six days, created the world by his powerful Word. Light, galaxies, oceans, mountains: spoken into existence by the Creator. Then from and for that world he fashioned creatures, birds in the air above, fish in the waters below, and everything from ants to elephants for the earth. And then he did something special: he made man. He gave this man, Adam, dominion over all of the other creatures, authority over them, and over the earth itself.
But in Genesis 2:18 we met the first instance of something not good: it wasn’t good for the man to be alone. So God put Adam into a deep sleep, took a rib from his side, and fashioned from the man a helper fit for the man: woman. And when Adam awakes he sings the first love song in history. The chapter concludes with the man and the woman both naked and not ashamed. There was nothing to be ashamed of. The world was - completely, stunningly - beautiful and without blemish. But it didn’t stay that way for long.
Text
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.’ ” 4 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.” 6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Explanation of the Text
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.” We should feel the ominous note these words strike. The man and the woman are both innocent, but now they encounter a crafty beast. They have no category - yet - for craftiness, shiftiness, slippery-slimy-cunning. But they’re going to, soon enough.
We should note the oddity, as we read this, of the serpent speaking. I’m assuming you’ve never encountered a talking beast, and neither have I (at least this side of Narnia). The text doesn’t draw attention to this fact. It just leaves the statement of fact - that the serpent spoke - there for us to deal with. But as the narrative of Scripture unfolds, it is clear that we are supposed to see this snake as a tool, an instrument. Satan has taken hold of this snake and is speaking through him. Thus, as the Biblical story moves forward, Satan and those who follow his lead (both human and demonic forces) will be associated with snakes, sea serpents, worms, and dragons.
Snakes are not inherently evil - they were part of God’s good creation - but they take on a symbolic place in the Bible. And the symbolism is in connection with that fallen angel, Satan.
We should also ask, where is Adam? Why doesn’t he occur in the story until verse 6? The serpent approaches the woman, engages with the woman, and leaves the man alone. But here is what is damning: the man also leaves the serpent alone, and then follows his wife into sin. As we will see later in the sermon, and more in the weeks to come, it is Adam’s sin, not Eve’s, which proves decisive for humanity as a whole.
He stood by, listened to his wife being tempted, and did nothing.
The final note to clear up before we get to the main point of the message is this: why don’t they die? God had said to Adam in 2:17 that in the day they ate of the tree they would surely die. But when they ate in 3:7, their eyes were opened, and they hid from God.
It’s important to see a few aspects of this:
* they do spiritually die. They lost their innocence. They now knew they were naked, they felt shame, and they tried to cover that shame with fig leaves. That didn’t work, though, and in verse 8 they attempt to hide from the all-seeing God. We’ve been trying to hide ever since.
* They did not immediately physically die, but death is seen in Scripture as something which is introduced to the world by Adam’s sin. There was no death before the fall, and thus the decay and entropy that would lead eventually to physical death began on that very day.
* Nonetheless, we should see in this the mercy of God. As we’ll discuss next week, God’s immediate response to the fall is to promise a Redeemer. God is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. He did not kill them, because he was planning to save them.
Central Problem
That hope lingers in the background. But the central aspect of this text is the clear problem introduced: sin entered the world, and as Paul says, “death through sin.” Rather than subduing the chaos and disorder in the world, as was their task (Genesis 1:26-28), the man and the woman are now contributing to the chaos, the evil, the disorder. Sometimes we subdue. And sometimes we undo. It all started here in Genesis 3. So what was underneath the sin of our first parents, and what continues to be the root of so much sin? The disease of “Did God actually say?”-ism.
Notice how it works in the text.
First, the serpent asks a question: “did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden.’?” So he is starting with a question. But notice two things about the question:
* It’s factually inaccurate. And it’s inaccurate to the point of being ridiculous, honestly. Did God say you can’t eat any of this lovely fruit? If the answer was “yes”, then what exactly were they supposed to eat? Satan knows the answer to this question, but he asks it to introduce doubt. It’s dressed as a question, but it’s actually a lie. Which brings us to,
* It’s meant to produce doubt. Doubt in what? The kindness and goodness of God. By questioning an overstated version of God’s command, Satan introduces doubt into Eve’s mind about whether God has her best interests at heart.
And this is precisely how Satan’s temptations still function.
“Do not commit adultery” becomes: “Does God actually hate sex?”
“Do not get drunk with wine” and “the sin of gluttony” become:“Does God really want you to hate food and drink?”
Prohibitions on fornication and homosexuality become: “Does God actually want you to be lonely your whole life?”
Warnings against trusting in riches become: “Does God really want you to be broke?”
The answer to all of these questions, when faced clearly on the merits, is a resounding “no.” But Satan uses those kinds of nagging, overstated questions - which, if you aren’t listening closely, sound plausible - to plant the seeds of doubt about God and his goodness.
He’s crafty. He’s sly. He’s cunning. And so he takes the grain of truth, mixes in the yeast of evil intent, and serves you a loaf of questioning God.
And Eve ate that loaf. Once she’s on her back foot, she doesn’t know what to do. She replies, “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, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
We’ll discuss where her response went wrong in just a minute. But note for now that she offers one response, and then Satan follows up his sly lie with a bold one: v4, “you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And now, having first questioned God’s goodness, she now ponders the fruit of disobedience. It really looks good for food. Becoming wise like God - well - that sounds pretty desirable, doesn’t it? So she took, and she ate. Did God actually say? How could he say something like that? Wouldn’t he want what’s best for me? Don’t I know what’s best for me? This serpent is making so much sense. I think he has some hidden knowledge, and he’s telling me it’s mine for the tasting.
Was Eve wrong to desire food? Or knowledge, wisdom? Of course not. But she was a fool to think that the serpent had a better path to these than her God did.
Bad Solutions
So where did Eve go wrong? What in this situation could have been different? When reading biblical stories it’s not enough to simply criticize the characters if they’re in the wrong. We need to ask the further question: what should they have done? This serves two functions. First, it will actually show us that sometimes they weren’t wrong. Sometimes things that seem wrong to us (the slaughtering of the Amalekites, certain lies that are told in the Old Testament) offended our modern sensibilities, but when pressed with this question, we find out that we’re the ones who are wrong, and we need to learn how to act like the biblical characters.
But in this case, it’s pretty clear that this is a catastrophic error on the part of our first parents. So we need to ask, “what should they have done?”, in order to know how we can face temptation in a more successful manner.
So, what went wrong?
Let’s begin with this: the woman accepts the serpent’s question. The first step to fighting temptation is often to identify when the questions aren’t sincere. Always be skeptical of the skeptical question, whether it’s coming from someone else, or from inside your own head. How sincere is the question? If the question is attempting to lead you away from God’s word, that tempting question probably is loaded with lies that you just haven’t yet identified.
The proper response to “did God actually say you can’t eat any of the food he surrounded you with?” would have been, “are you really that stupid, Mr Snake - or do you believe that I am?” Be skeptical of skeptical questions.
The second problem in Eve’s response is this: her response added to God’s word. In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But here in verse three, the woman quotes God as saying, “you shall not eat, neither shall you touch it.” We don’t know why she added to God’s word. She had not received the command directly from God - the Lord gave the command to Adam before she was created. So maybe he had added that component when he passed the command along to her. Or maybe she added it herself, either as a security measure, or simply because the snake’s goal of causing her to question God’s goodness was already starting to work as she thought about the command. Whatever the case, her answer adds to God’s word.
And let’s be honest: the addition makes sense, right? After all, if you ought not to eat, probably best not to touch. While that would, indeed, seem to be the course of wisdom, the error comes from putting our wise (or less-wise) ideas in the mouth of God and making them laws. That seems like a good idea. But those rules (so long as you keep them) only make you feel better. They don’t actually make you more godly. Because a heart inclined toward God doesn’t creep up to the line or the edge of sin or the edge of the rules, rather, it is moving in the direction of holiness.
Colossians 2:20-23: 20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Value God’s word, and obey it no matter what. But know that you will be judged on that word alone, not by your own rules, or the rules of any other mere human, no matter how wise you think they are.
So the woman should have been more suspicious of the serpent. And she shouldn’t have added to God’s word. But what about the man?
Adam’s error in this story is passive silence. One of the most damning lines in all the Bible, which is incredibly easy to miss, is in verse 6: “she gave some to her husband who was with her.” This man had been charged by God to tend the garden, and keep (or protect) it. The woman had been given as his helper in this task. And now here she is, engaging with this crafty serpent. And Adam stands idly by, doing nothing.
This describes so many marriages. The woman is struggling: juggling the responsibilities of work and home and social life and doesn’t know what to do. His wife is concerned with the spiritual state of the family and is trying to figure out what steps to take, what influences do the kids need, and so on. And the man, the husband, stands by and just lets her do her thing. She’ll figure it out. I’ll just go along with whatever she decides, I don’t have too strong of an opinion on any of this stuff. She’s smart.
Adam silently stood by, and watched his wife be deceived by the serpent. And he - who was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14) - decides, rather than confront the snake, and rather than confront his wife, to passively just take the fruit and eat it as well. His silent complicity in the temptation of his wife led to the entire human race being plunged into the bondage of sin.
Eve’s sin was her fault. She was making her own choices. But God held Adam responsible. And God held him responsible because his God-given job was to protect the garden, and to lead his wife. He failed at both, and instead allowed the snake in and then followed his wife into sin. And we still bear the consequences of that fateful decision.
Right Solution
So, we’ve identified the problem: engaging in “did God actually say”-ism can have deadly consequences. But if you can’t fight it by trying to answer all the objections, or by adding some religious rules to keep us safe (Eve’s strategies), or by just coasting and hoping someone else deals with it (Adam’s strategy), what can you do? How do you face the temptations of Satan, which are even stronger today?
You must know what God actually did say. You must know the Bible. But you don’t just need to know a bare list of rules from the Bible, you need to understand the biblical teachings in their biblical context.
We see this from Jesus’ own Adam moment, his temptation in the wilderness. Three times the tempter comes to Jesus, saying “if you are the Son of God, then…” And in the middle temptation (Matt 4:6), Satan even quotes Scripture to support his temptation (see Ps 91:11-12). But Jesus recognizes that Satan is misusing the Word of God, and is able to refute him.
How was Jesus able to do this? We can be quick to say, “because he was God, duh.” But as a man, Jesus learned and grew - not only in stature, but in wisdom (Luke 2:52). Which means, he learned the Bible the same way we do: by hearing it read and taught. As he got older we know he learned to read (a privilege many people did not have), and so we can perhaps guess that he even had the opportunity to read the scrolls for himself. But his primary place of learning would have been in gathered synagogue worship, hearing the scrolls read, and then taught as a Rabbi would explain its meaning and the men would discuss. He engaged the teachers of the law in the temple courts (see again Luke 2).
For us, this means we need to be committed to gathering with God’s people to hear the word of God read and taught. In 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul tells Timothy to watch his life and his doctrine (or teaching) closely - for in doing so he would save both himself and his hearers. If you want to fight temptation, win the battle against Satan and sin, and walk faithfully with Jesus, the first step is trusting Jesus to forgive your sins based on his finished work at the cross. The second step is committing to the local church, and placing yourself regularly under the teaching of God’s word and accountability and fellowship of the fellow sheep in Jesus’ flock.
This means that the preaching must be centered on the word of God, and shaped by the priorities and concerns of the Word as God gave it, not by every wind of culture. Preaching and teaching must not be governed by fads, or by my own personal hobby horses. My ideas aren’t going to protect anyone from sin, guard their souls from hell, or lead them to faith in Christ. But the word of God will. So commit yourself to hearing the word taught, and keep me accountable to teaching it.
This commitment as a congregation should lead to fruit in the lives of you as individual Christians - going home and reading the word, and more than just reading it: laboring to store it in your heart. Jesus didn’t have a scroll out there in the desert with him when Satan came to tempt. But he had three texts from Deuteronomy near at hand, stored up in his heart that he might fight temptation, and not give in to sin. Psalm 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Do you have verses that readily come to mind when you face temptation? I would challenge you this week, think through the two or three most consistent areas of sin you fall into, the temptations where your defenses are weakest. And then think about Scriptures that might help you fight those temptations. And then try to memorize just those 2-3 verses over the next month. If you can’t think of any verses to fit, don’t rush to google for help. Instead, ask another friend who is a Christian. Maybe bring those issues for prayer on Wednesday night and we can brainstorm together what verses would be most helpful. You can always reach out to me with those kinds of questions and I would be glad to help. You need God’s word stored in your heart.
Finally, this commitment to knowing God’s word - knowing what God actually says - must be led by the men. So often the spiritual fervor in churches is to be found entirely with the ladies. And that is no knock on the women at all. But frankly, so long as that’s where all the energy resides, the spiritual health of those families and churches will lag behind where God wants it to be. God tasked Adam with the job of leading. He calls men in the New Testament to the same task (see Ephesians 6), and it is no different in the church: men need to set the spiritual thermostat, to take up the mantle of spiritual responsibility which God has entrusted to them. Start by leading yourself and taking your walk with the Lord seriously. If you are married and have kids, a big part of that then is thinking through how this shapes the way you interact with and treat your wife and children: how are you washing your wife in water with the word and bringing your children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord? And as men grow in maturity in these roles, God will call some of them to take leadership in the church; to accept responsibility beyond their own homes, and to be fathers for the flock as well.
Who is sufficient for these things? No one in their own power. But while you were born under the curse of Adam’s sin, and condemned by your own perpetuation of that sin; through faith in Jesus you can be free of both the eternal consequences and earthly bondage of sin. Which means that by his grace, you can grow in your knowledge of his word. He will enable you to resist the devil. Men, he will help you to lead in your household. Don’t buy into the lies of the world. Don’t listen to Satan’s lies, or entertain his deceitful questions. There are plenty of good questions to wrestle with, without wasting time on deception. I want to finish this morning by reading from Moses’ farewell sermon in Deuteronomy 30:11-20:
11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
