WEBVTT 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:06.160 Okay, I'll watch out for that mic. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:27.359 Well, for a number of weeks now, uh, we have been we've been listening to what God is saying in the early chapters of Genesis. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:34.560 We've been trying sincerely to understand what that means. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:40.079 And we've been seeking to sincerely apply it practically in our lives. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:42.560 That's the reason why we do this. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.799 That's what this part of the service is for. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:56.399 To listen carefully, to gain understanding, and then to discern what to do with it, how to apply it to our lives. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:11.920 Now, in the last couple of weeks, we looked at chapter two, an account of how God, actually, information about what God did on that sixth day of creation in chapter one. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:14.640 So evening and morning is sixth day. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:29.280 So certain things were said in chapter one, and then in chapter two, he expands on that, and there's a revelation of some further things about what God did as he created Adam and Eve. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:38.400 So we learned that God had a home for Adam and Eve. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:44.159 And we called the first part of that chapter home in God's garden. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:53.200 This was God's garden, and he created it intentionally as a home for Adam and Eve. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:56.400 We were meant to be home. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:58.959 We were created for a place. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:02.879 We were created to have a longing for home. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:07.359 At home in God's garden, not here. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:12.159 What we have here is the results of what we're going to read in this passage. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.199 That's not that for which we were created. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:19.120 We were created to be home, real home. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:32.240 Then we saw last week that God created Adam and Eve to be home in God's garden, but not to be alone in God's garden. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.879 Home, but not alone. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:42.719 It was always God's intent that we be at home in the place that He has created for us. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:47.120 But it's always been God's intent that we not be alone. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:51.599 And that's talking about more than simply the marriage relationship. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:54.960 It's talking about something that goes to the core of who we are. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:57.199 We need others. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:02:59.840 It's not good to be alone. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:05.599 And the reason for that is rooted in the very being of God. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:07.039 God is never alone. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:10.639 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a divine community. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:19.680 There's something in the Godhead that has to do with community, and he created us in his image, and it's not good for us to be alone. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.680 Home and not alone. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:31.599 And yet, what we have in this chapter is incredibly important. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:44.080 And what we find as we move from chapter two into chapter three is that something shocking happens. 00:03:44.319 --> 00:04:03.520 Something absolutely unprecedented, unexpected, incomprehensible, unthinkable, scandalous, something that should never have been, something of cataclysmic significance for the whole universe as well as for you and me. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.960 And that is what has been called the fall of man. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:16.720 When sin enters into the world, it had not been there before in the experience of Adam and Eve. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:31.680 So we talk about a fall, a fall from the pinnacle of innocence and intimacy with one another and with God to the pit of guilt and alienation and estrangement. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.399 Now we're looking at verses 1 through 7. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:41.519 I had Deb read the previous verse, which is unfortunately separated by a chapter break, which hadn't ought to be there. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:50.399 So the last chapter or the last verse of chapter 1, the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:57.360 And then something happens, and then we read verse 8 of chapter 3. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:01.040 They heard the sound of the Lord walking the garden in the cool of the day. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:07.199 The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.240 Now there's a startling contrast. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:13.279 They were naked but not ashamed. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:18.800 They were safe with one another as they were intended to be. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:21.519 Nothing coming between. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:28.319 They didn't need to cover up and protect themselves from each other, and they didn't need to cover up and run away from God. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:34.480 They were in complete intimacy with each other and with their creator, and that was very good. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:37.279 That's what God has intended for us. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:49.680 But now we find that when they encounter God, they hide, and now they are a threat to one another as well, and so they cover up and protect themselves from one another. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:57.439 This is an astounding, shocking, unthinkable kind of a thing that has happened here. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:01.199 We're perhaps too used to hearing it that we don't understand. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:03.199 Whoa, where did this come from? 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:05.600 How did that possibly happen? 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:21.360 And what we find, actually, is a simple, straightforward account of Adam and Eve going from the pinnacle of innocence and intimacy to the pit of guilt and estrangement. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:32.560 Now, chapter three of the book of Genesis is one of those passages that, well, let me take you back to a previous day before everybody had devices and screens. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.360 You know, we used to have old-fashioned Bibles. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:53.439 And old-fashioned Bibles would, if you used them long enough, and if there were portions of scripture that were special to you and you kept going back to them, then your Bible, after a few years, would kind of automatically open up to those precious, important passages. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:55.600 It doesn't work that way with electrons. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:58.000 Really a bummer as far as I'm concerned. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:07.120 Genesis chapter 3 ought to be one of those places that your Bible just kind of automatically opens to. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:14.480 Because it helps us understand what we see out there in the world around us. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:26.879 It helps us understand what we see in the mirror, the world inside of us, and it helps us understand the alienation and problems we end up having with one another. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:35.199 You can only underestimate the importance of this section of the Bible. 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:38.959 We would not know this unless God had revealed it. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:43.360 We would be wondering, why is it like this? 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:44.399 Why am I like this? 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:45.920 Why are you like this? 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:46.879 Yuck. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:08:00.959 Problems, confusion, conflict, alienation, needing to protect ourselves from one another, finding ourselves attacking one another, a hostile world, a hostile community, a hostile heart. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:08.160 And the explanation of that is in the Book of Beginnings, the book of Genesis, in this chapter. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:16.639 And really, almost all of the rest of the Bible is an outworking of what we see and read here. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:34.720 Certainly the next chapter or two, and we'll be looking at some of that in the rest of chapter three and hopefully chapter four, and in a very real sense, the unfolding of all of the rest of Scripture, grows out of this fundamental, cataclysmic, atrocious, unthinkable thing that happened. 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:41.840 Now, also in the rest of the book, something else is revealed. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:44.080 And that's that God meets us. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.200 He does meet us in the garden in the cool of the day. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:49.600 And he walks with us and he talks with us. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:52.399 And he offers us a solution. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:57.360 A solution to the alienation, a solution to the problems within our own heart. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:01.120 The gospel is progressively unfolded throughout the rest of Scripture. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:11.519 God's resolution of this atrocious thing that happened here: redemption, forgiveness, restoration, renewal from within. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:17.360 A restored relationship with one another. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:23.840 And it goes further because there is coming a new home, a new heaven and a new earth. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:27.360 And heaven is our home, not this. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.080 And heaven will be on earth. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:35.519 We looked at this as we looked at the uh what really happens when you die a few months ago. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.879 The heavens opened and heaven came down to earth. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:40.879 There is a new heaven and a new earth. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:48.720 And many of the things we see in the original garden reappear in the new heavens and the new earth. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:10:15.200 So much of what we understand is an unfolding both of the awful realities and consequences of the verses that we're looking at today, and the incredible gracious message of hope and assurance and confidence of what God is doing to restore us to our true home and to true community with one another and with Him. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:20.960 So this is often called Paradise Lost. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.679 Paradise Lost. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:36.320 That powerful phrase comes from the massive epic poem that John Milton wrote about 350 years ago. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.759 I doubt anybody here has ever read the whole thing. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:43.519 It's very difficult old-fashioned English. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:11:02.240 Actually, it took Milton over 10,000 lines of difficult, unrhymed, iambic pentameter verse to recount what Moses tells us in ten simple, clear verses. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:07.840 Paradise lost, and in the gospel regained. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:27.600 The man listens to the woman. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.360 And nobody listens to God. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:36.080 That's at the core of sin. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:44.879 The woman listens to the man, the man listens to the woman, and nobody listens to God. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:49.519 And I want to try to unpack that thought with you this morning. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:57.200 So what we want to try to do is to bring the text to light, to expose it, to bring it to light, and then apply it to our lives. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:03.120 So it begins with verses one through five, which is a dialogue. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:06.240 It's a dialogue with the devil. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:09.120 A back and forth between Eve. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:12.080 Adam is there the whole time. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:20.960 Everything that the serpent says, he says in the second person plural, you, you both, y'all, you guys. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:24.960 This was not just directed to Eve, as though Eve was the only one there. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:30.240 She was the only one who spoke, unfortunately, and we'll talk a little bit about that. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:44.000 But this was a dialogue between the enemy of our souls, the enemy of God, and the people who were intended to be at home and not alone in this perfect place. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:55.519 So what we have here, and I want to take a moment to emphasize this with reason, we believe this is actual true history. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.000 This is not just a myth. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:02.240 This is not just a fable. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:04.720 This is not just an allegory. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:08.080 Now, I totally get why you would see it that way. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:09.440 I really do. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:22.240 If we didn't have the rest of scripture, we probably would be inclined to say that's a wonderful tale that tells us some true things that is very morally enriching. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:27.279 Kind of the way we approach the Chronicles of Narnia and Aslan and Lucy and so forth. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:28.080 It's great stuff. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:29.840 It tells us great truths. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:31.679 But it didn't happen. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:39.600 No, this is presented in the scriptures as factual history and truth. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:40.879 And how do we know that? 00:13:41.120 --> 00:14:02.159 When we go especially to the New Testament, there is regularly a direct link between Jesus, what he did on the cross, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and the consequences of that one act with what happened in the garden. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.159 In various ways, I don't have the time to go into it. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:20.639 If you're interested, make note of those two passages, Romans chapter 5, 12 to 21, profound truths, where just as in Adam all sinned, so also in Christ all are made alive. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:24.720 Through the sin of one, all of this other things happen. 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:26.639 From the sin of the other, this came. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:32.159 And they're both presented on the same, the same nature, the same reality. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:33.600 They're both true. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:47.039 I could understand, I would actually respect you, I wouldn't agree with you, but I would respect you if you said, this is allegory, it didn't really happen, and this is allegory, and it didn't really happen. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:47.600 Okay? 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:53.679 So if you just said that Jesus' story is a good story, moral man, wow, great. 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.559 Adam and Eve, interesting story, helpful. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:03.279 Take them both allegorically if you will, but to your peril, or take them both literally as historically true. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:13.440 You can't have, uh can't have it any other way than either it's true, it's true, it's allegory, it's allegory. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:22.320 So all I'm wanting to say is, just so that you know, um, I'm not usually unclear with what I'm trying to say, am I? 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:25.840 So uh I believe this is absolute historical truth. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:32.559 There is a real Adam, a real Eve, a real body, real serpent, real garden, real tree, and a real sin. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:40.080 Just as there is a real Jesus in a real garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, on a cross who died in time and space. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:43.519 Both are true, literally true. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:49.360 This church believes the historicity of both. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:16:07.120 Unfortunately, in Christendom, there is a constant tendency to begin to take this portion of Scripture figuratively or allegorically, and it logically leads to taking a whole lot of other things allegorically. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:10.960 I, and certainly this church, believes in the historicity. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:13.600 This really happened the way it's described. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:18.480 A lot of things we could say about it, but they go together. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:20.320 The work of Christ and the work of Adam. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.039 That's what the New Testament makes clear. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:23.919 All right. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:34.639 So what we encounter is a shrewd serpent who ends up being the mouthpiece of Satan. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:36.639 Uh, verse one. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:42.960 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God has made. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:17:10.880 And he said to the woman, we have here words, we have communication, we and the New Testament makes it really pretty clear that the serpent was the handiwork of the enemy, um, was the mouthpiece of that old liar, the devil, a murderer from the beginning. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:18.079 There's no truth in him, a liar and the father of lies, the devil, the deceiver of our whole world. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:25.039 So there's a lot more going on than just a snake. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:27.759 Now, I don't know how we should conceive this. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:34.799 Maybe the snake was Satan possessed, just like people and animals can be demon-possessed. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:35.359 I don't know. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:46.000 But the point being, this is the enemy of our soul and the archenemy of God who is speaking now. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:51.759 The liar and a murderer, that ancient serpent, the devil. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:18:04.480 What's especially brought out in the details of the text, and I want to emphasize that, it's always the details of the text that are important to us. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:09.200 And we will see that's incredibly so in this passage. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:11.119 The details of the text. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:23.920 One of those details that's not so evident in our English translation is a play on words that we find with verse 25 of chapter 2 and verse 1 of chapter 3. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:32.240 The man and his wife were both naked, and the serpent was more crafty than any of the animals. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:40.400 And we don't hear it because it doesn't have that same focus in our language, but there's a play on word between naked and crafty. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.559 In the original, it's almost exactly the same term. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:45.839 It sounds alike. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:19:01.200 It's when when one would say in Hebrew naked, and then one would say crafty, it there's a it would be as though we said Adam and Eve were nude and Satan was shrewd. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:03.279 Nude and shrewd. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:06.079 That kind of thing. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:08.960 So there's it's it's it's very interesting. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:20.720 It is the insidious, sly, slimy, deceptive insinuation, questioning, is this really true? 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:22.640 Did that really happen? 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:32.559 That is woven throughout the incredibly sly, shrewd work of the enemy. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:41.359 And by introducing it with one was nude, the other was shrewd, we are prepared for what happens. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:44.880 But it's only found in the details of the text. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:50.559 I want you to keep coming back to the details of what the Bible actually says. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:20:12.400 Um we're prepared for this sly, pernicious insinuation, misrepresentation, half-truths that the tempter plants in the minds of Adam and Eve, and it's like a fisherman who baits his hook, dangles it in front of them. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:18.559 When that bait and that hook are taken, he then sets the hook and reels them in. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.240 That's what's going on here. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.599 It begins very attractive, very deceptive. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:25.839 Oh, you don't see the hook in this, do you? 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:27.039 You don't see the barb. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:29.359 You don't see this is going to be your destruction. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:31.599 And it gets more and more explicit. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:35.839 That's the strategy of the enemy that we will see here. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:39.039 Ephesians warns us against the schemes of the devil. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:47.359 There is no better text in all of Scripture to analyze the tactics of the enemy than in this passage. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:21:05.359 So what he does is cunningly insinuate, he doesn't say it quite outright, that Adam and Eve should perhaps reflect on what God is doing here, as though maybe, you know, did God really say that? 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:11.839 And even the grammar, the details of the grammar here, it's it's slippery. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:15.119 It's half a question and half a statement. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:20.079 Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:21.759 A question. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.880 And what you begin to see is that Adam and Eve started saying, uh huh. 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:31.839 I never thought about that. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:33.519 You see, never before. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:34.640 Oh my goodness. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:40.240 Never before has the text disappeared. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:43.039 There we go. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:44.880 Thank you, friends up there. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:54.079 Um but it's very sly and a half question, half reflection with a tone of incredulity. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:54.880 Really? 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:57.920 Did God really say this? 00:21:58.799 --> 00:21:59.759 Planting questions. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:07.440 It had never occurred to Adam and Eve to question God before. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:09.839 Why would they question God? 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:18.799 And with that questioning, there's we begin to place ourselves in judgment over God, his character, and what he does. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:26.720 It puts us in a high position where we begin to question what God says and what God does. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:36.319 That is a result of the sly, slippery insinuation and misrepresentation of what God said that we read here. 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:41.599 Did God actually say, You should not eat in any tree of the garden? 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.359 I wonder why he said that. 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:46.960 And Eve goes, yeah, that's really a good question. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:48.160 I hadn't thought about that. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:49.680 I wonder why. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:23:23.680 Now, what should have happened at this point, actually, is that as these seeds of doubt were being planted, he, Adam or Eve, instead of toying with these deceptive, seductive thoughts, should have probably run away and said, No, no, no, a thousand times, no, I don't want to hear this. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.960 One of my questions is, where was Adam in all of this? 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:31.200 He's there. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:34.880 It clearly says Adam was with her. 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:36.720 Verse five or six. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:37.519 Six. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:45.519 Um and Adam probably, he should have probably manned up. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:48.240 He probably should have said, but wait. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:59.759 And you see, that's exactly what God does when I seem to be out of sequence here. 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:06.640 It's right, I'm wrong. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:13.440 So what we find is in uh. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:28.079 What did he do? 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:31.119 He said, It is written. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:32.480 He was tempted again. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:33.359 And what did he do? 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:34.559 He said, It is written. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:35.440 What did he do? 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:38.160 He was tempted again, and he said a third time, it's written. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:41.359 He went back to what God actually said. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:48.720 And you see what is portrayed here in the words of Satan is not what God said. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:25:08.319 If we look at chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, what we read is the Lord God commanded them, saying, You may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day in which you eat it, you shall surely die. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:25.759 What's going on here is that Adam and Eve are hearing a message that is not at all what God was actually saying. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:32.000 So did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.559 Is that what God said back in chapter 2? 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:35.200 No. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:40.160 He said, You may eat of every tree in the garden save one. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:26:05.359 So focusing on the negative, ignoring the gracious provision of God, selectively choosing a thought here, a word there, and coming up with a conclusion and an intimation of who God is and what he's doing and why, that is absolutely not correct. 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:23.519 So he slyly, with malice aforethought, with premeditated purpose, misquotes and sows seeds of doubt in the mind of Adam and Eve. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:50.240 Now, unfortunately, instead of running away, protesting, Adam manning up, as Jesus did, there we go, as Jesus did in Matthew chapter 4, she now, in turn, begins to misstate and misrepresent what God actually said. 00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:58.720 Satan began it, and now she's misstating and misrepresenting what God did say. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:06.079 So in verses 2 and 3, the woman said to the certain, We made of may eat of every fruit of the trees in the garden. 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:16.880 And what he actually said as you may eat of all of them except one, but she says, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:35.279 He said, You may eat of all of the trees in the fruit of the garden, under or minimizes what the generosity, the gracious provision of God, and then says, But God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:37.599 Where did that come from? 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:41.359 That was not what God said in chapter two. 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:48.000 So she goes along and she minimizes God's provision. 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:58.559 And it wasn't just in the day that you eat it, you will die, which is what she said, but what he said is in the day that you eat it, you shall surely die. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:04.640 So she's playing around with the words of God. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:09.759 We always get in trouble, friends, when we play around with the words of God. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:16.799 So then in her turn, she actually adds to what God actually said. 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:18.799 Do you see the progression here? 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:21.279 How insidious this is. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:42.880 The question had never arisen in their mind to question God, and suddenly they're standing and they're making judgment over God, and now they're, along with the enemy, misquoting what God said, and now she's adding to what God said and making it something quite different from what God's actual commands are. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:53.359 The intimation of all of this is that God is withholding something, something good. 00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:01.200 You're not allowed to have that, not even supposed to touch it. 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:10.799 And so the woman listens to the serpent, man listens to the woman, and nobody's listening to what God actually said. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:15.680 And what God actually says is found in the details of the words. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:21.839 Not just the general message, the very words of God which were spoken. 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:38.720 Part of what's happening here is that first Satan and now Eve begins to play fast and free with God's words by ignoring certain things, not emphasizing other things that are there, and then stating things that are not there at all. 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:42.240 That's where we easily get led. 00:29:45.440 --> 00:30:04.880 So the serpent then, um, the serpent does something that is bold, it is shocking, there is a frontal contradiction, an outright denial of the truth of what God said. 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:06.799 Listen to this. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:09.359 She said, You shall not eat of the fruit. 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:10.480 God said you shall not eat. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:17.039 Verse 3, God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the middle of the garden, neither should you touch it lest you die. 00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:18.160 Added, touch it. 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:19.920 That was not part of what God said. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:21.680 But then what does Satan do? 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:30.240 He says, No! No! You shall not surely die. 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:34.880 Now he didn't begin with a direct contradiction with what God said. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:52.640 Began by sowing seeds of doubt, then taking liberties with what God did say, and then finally the baited hook has been taken, and now he sets that hook and reels them in. 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:57.599 And so he says, you will not surely die. 00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:06.240 For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:11.920 There is in this passage a blatant denial of God's goodness. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:12.960 Do you hear what he's saying? 00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:14.480 No, that's not true. 00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:18.319 He's actually withholding some good thing from you. 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:24.079 Shocking, except it's all part of our thinking if we're not careful. 00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:28.000 So there's this blatant denial of God's goodness and care. 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:38.720 There's a blatant denial in this of so many verses and texts and passages of scripture that tell us of the goodness of God, of the faithfulness of God. 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:46.319 He's not only on the throne this day, he is good, and he is trustworthy, and he does well, and he is good. 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:50.720 So this is a denial of Psalm 119, verse 68. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:53.279 Good he is and good he does. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:58.799 That's what David said in the midst of his despair and at his deepest moments. 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.480 He declared, Good you are, and good you do. 00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:10.400 And so Satan, in effect, is saying, selfish he is and abusive he does. 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:12.400 He's withholding something from you. 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:20.319 He knows that if you just took of that fruit, then you would have something he's withholding from you, and it would be good for you. 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:25.759 The prohibition is turned into something that has an evil intent to it. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:30.880 That's what happens when our minds begin to move in these directions. 00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:39.279 Genesis 50, verse 20, Joseph said to his brothers who had done him such evil, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:47.119 Satan, in this sense, would turn that around and say, God meant it for evil. 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:49.759 He's withholding something good from you. 00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:53.599 But I'm telling you this for your good. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:56.400 Just the reverse of the way things are. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:33:03.279 Or Jeremiah 29, 11, I know the plans God has for you, plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. 00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:11.039 The tempter here would say, I know the plans God has for you, plans for bad and not for good to keep you from your future and your hope. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:12.240 Just follow me. 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:17.119 Just an utter black is white and white is black. 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:20.960 Blatant denial of God's goodness and care. 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:25.519 This is an enticement to autonomy. 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:34.319 Do what you want to do, say what you want to say, go where you want to go, do what you want to do with whoever you want to do it with. 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:37.839 Mamas and Papas, 1967, I think it was. 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:43.440 The call to autonomy, it's very deeply ingrained in me. 00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:49.039 Do what you want to do, go where you want to go, be what you want to do, do whatever. 00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:56.559 Don't restrict yourself to these horrible strictures, these horrible prohibitions. 00:33:56.960 --> 00:34:03.039 They're only keeping you from that which is good, whereas God gives prohibitions for our good. 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:24.320 We talked last week or the week before, I don't remember, about uh going down the Autobahn 160k an hour in Germany, going across a bridge with a chasm about a thousand feet there, and you could go a hundred miles an hour across that bridge with confidence and security because you had a good car, but also because there was a guardrail. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:26.559 You knew exactly how far you could go. 00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:38.800 Remove those guardrails, which are for our good, and then if if I were there going across that bridge without the guardrail, I would hug the center line and go about two miles an hour and creep my way across. 00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:41.519 With those guardrails, you have protection. 00:34:41.840 --> 00:34:46.719 The limitations are for our good and not for evil. 00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:51.840 And yet we begin to think that what God is doing in our lives, does He love us? 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:53.679 Why doesn't He do good for us? 00:34:53.840 --> 00:35:04.719 And we fail to recognize even the things that we don't like and the things that hurt may well be precisely what we need and that are truly good. 00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:12.639 So it's just this is a horrible, horrible story. 00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:20.239 And what he's doing is as cruel and as enslaving as offering this nice stuff. 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:25.280 We call it crack cocaine, but we're not going to mention it to you as a 10-year-old. 00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:31.599 Utterly, utterly enslaving and damaging and abusive. 00:35:33.679 --> 00:35:38.719 That's what Satan is doing in this passage. 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:47.840 Let's uh quickly spend just a make a couple of comments about the descent into the pit in verses six and seven. 00:35:48.239 --> 00:35:54.159 Um what I want to say, well, let me first just read that. 00:35:54.400 --> 00:36:03.679 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight for her eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise. 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:06.239 That's not what God said, that's what the enemy said. 00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:14.400 So when she was so enlightened, she took of the fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:24.880 Then both of their eyes were opened, they knew they were naked, they sewed figs leaves together and made themselves loinclaws, and then in the very next verse they run from God and hide. 00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:28.800 That's the result of being so wise. 00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:31.519 A couple of thoughts. 00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:34.960 Uh two very brief observations. 00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:43.440 Uh first of all, I've said it before, but this is very clear in the second part of verse six. 00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:52.239 She took, she ate, she gave to her husband, and he ate, and none of them paid any attention to what God said. 00:36:54.320 --> 00:37:09.039 After all, the words of God had been watered down, the words of God had been taken not literally and seriously, and the purposes of God had been called into question, the goodness of God had been called into question. 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:17.199 Um Eve followed the serpent, Adam followed Eve, and nobody here followed God. 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:19.440 A lot more I could say. 00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:20.719 Verse six. 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:23.360 First part of verse six. 00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:36.719 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to their eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took eight and gave it to her husband. 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:50.960 Now, what's going on here is she has come to the conclusion that something other than what God has given her was what she really needed and really desired. 00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:53.119 That's what sin does within us. 00:37:53.280 --> 00:38:07.440 It causes us to think that what God has given us is not enough, that who God is is not enough, that God is not as good as he ought to be for you and for me. 00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:11.920 And God hasn't provided what I think I need. 00:38:12.800 --> 00:38:15.119 That goes to the core of sin. 00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:23.519 It's a sense of I know better than God, I know what I want when I want it, and I want what I want when I want it. 00:38:23.679 --> 00:38:24.880 And I ought to have it. 00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:26.400 And so I do it. 00:38:28.079 --> 00:38:42.239 And ultimately, at its core, um it is an understanding that there's something other than God's gracious provision that is really better than what I have now. 00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:46.079 Um what do you do with that? 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:49.840 Well, I uh a practical thing comes to my mind in this. 00:38:50.719 --> 00:38:51.519 Sorry. 00:38:51.920 --> 00:39:00.719 I have a uh a picture in my mind of myself someday in the future. 00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:02.320 I'm getting older. 00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:06.320 Some of you would say, buddy, you're really old already. 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:11.679 Getting older, and things aren't working the way they should, and so I project this into the future. 00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:13.840 And if I'm not careful, here's what I do. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:39.840 I project myself in room 306 in some healthcare facility, incontinent, unable to get out of bed, can't see, can't remember what happened this morning, and that man in 306 is a grouchy, crockety, crotchety, angry old fill-in the blank. 00:39:41.119 --> 00:39:47.840 And no one on that floor, none of the caregivers, want to go into room 306. 00:39:49.920 --> 00:40:00.639 Now, if I keep holding on to what I don't have and what I can't do that I think I ought to have and I think I ought to be able to do, then that's what I turn into. 00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:16.159 What I want, what I want is for God to so work in my life, if it comes to that, that I could be, it's almost embarrassing to say it, sweet. 00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:25.920 Have a sweet spirit, it could be pleasant, it could be someone that the caregivers actually enjoy being around. 00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:36.880 Because I'm willing to see that I want this and I don't want something else I've got, but God, you are good. 00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:42.400 Good you are, and good you do, and I leave it at that. 00:40:42.719 --> 00:40:48.639 I embrace where you have me and what you have for me now. 00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:58.800 If I'm not doing that now, if you're not doing that now, why will you do it differently in room 306? 00:41:01.039 --> 00:41:05.440 You see, we don't really believe that God knows what's best for us. 00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:08.079 We really believe we need to help God out. 00:41:08.239 --> 00:41:16.239 And when God doesn't uh accept our help of giving us what we think we need, then we get ticked off at him because we think he doesn't love us. 00:41:16.559 --> 00:41:20.000 This is as much in my heart as I know it's in your heart. 00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:24.079 Don't, don't, don't look at me as though you have no idea what I'm talking about. 00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:25.599 I know better. 00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:28.320 Because it's there for me as well. 00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:41.679 It's at the core of sin to come to a conclusion that I want something or need something that God and his goodness has not chosen to provide for me. 00:41:42.639 --> 00:41:52.239 Can I or can I not accept that God does things I don't like for my good and for his glory? 00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:55.039 Can I or can I not accept that? 00:41:56.719 --> 00:42:03.199 And if we can't accept that here, peer into room 306 of your own. 00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:07.679 Two things by way of application. 00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:10.079 That wasn't my application, really. 00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:11.599 Two simple thoughts. 00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:19.199 One, we must be careful to pay minute attention to the actual words of the Word of God. 00:42:20.559 --> 00:42:22.079 The actual words. 00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:29.280 The meaning of what God said is found in the words, the grammar, and the context of what he has said. 00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:36.159 That's why we spend our time in the Bible, not just superficially, but what is God actually saying? 00:42:36.320 --> 00:42:42.880 And the more we can mind the truths of that and understand it correctly, the better off we are. 00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:50.480 We must have a firm commitment to the details of God's words. 00:42:50.719 --> 00:42:55.119 And I'm making that plural because the word of God consists of the words of God. 00:42:55.280 --> 00:43:04.639 And if we start playing fast and free and we don't pay attention to this and we add that, we go the way of Satan invariably. 00:43:04.800 --> 00:43:06.719 That's the nature of sin. 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:14.880 So that's one reason why I am a firm believer in Bible exposition. 00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:17.599 I don't do it as well as I would like to. 00:43:17.840 --> 00:43:21.119 But in saying, what is God really saying here? 00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:28.159 And if he's saying some hard things, then it's my commitment to say those and try to figure out what I'm to do with them. 00:43:28.960 --> 00:43:37.920 Bible exposition, paying close attention to the text, staying close to the text is not popular in evangelicalism today. 00:43:38.239 --> 00:43:53.760