We have set out together to build an altar of remembrance of the statues and testimonies of God, endeavoring to do so along the backdrop of the grand narrative of God’s story; Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation.
We looked at the first movement, Creation, in three parts, Creator God, Creation Out-of-Nothing, and Creation in the Image of God. Last week, We began looking at the ominous second movement of our grand story, The Fall. We did so by focusing on the context and events leading up to the Fall; that in the midst of the Garden of God’s provision and protection, two sermons were preached; the Message of the Law, given by God to Adam in Genesis 2 and the Message of the Lie given by the serpent to Eve in Genesis 3. In that, we saw a crisis of belief for our first parents. They had to choose which message to believe. And we saw that they chose to exchange the truth of God for a lie!
This week we will focus on the action of unbelief, Original Sin! Genesis 3:1-6 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 God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
And the woman said to the serpent, "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.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "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." 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.
I. Justifying Unbelief:
Eve chose to believe the serpent and justified it with her own eyes.
A. When the woman saw;
Like all the other trees in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was, as Genesis 2:9 tells us, “pleasant to the sight and good for food.” The irony is that somehow the serpent has made the woman discontent with the permitted trees, focusing her desire on this one.
1 John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
In warning against all that is in the world, John does not demonize the whole created order, which as we have seen was created good. Rather, he gives examples of what the believer should guard against. Human desires are part of God's creation and therefore not inherently evil, but they become twisted when not directed by and toward God. The enemy uses these three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, to entice us to sin.
Sin is any failure to conform to the moral standard of God (falling short of His glory) in act, attitude or nature. Just as much as our actions, sin consist in our attitudes that are contrary to the attitudes God requires of us. Scripture shows this process at work in the Garden.
B. The tree was good for food;
The idea behind the lust of the flesh is someone who lives to satisfy the desires of the physical body to the point of disobedience to God through habit, addiction or obsession. It is said that Eve took of the forbidden fruit when she saw that the tree was good for food. She thought about how good the fruit would taste, how it would satisfy her flesh. She went after the lust of the flesh.
C. The tree was a delight to the eyes;
The idea behind the lust of the eye is simply someone who lives to satisfy the desires of lust or covetousness that are provoked by visual stimulation, such as food, sex, cars, clothes, etc. It is said that she took of the forbidden fruit when she saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eyes. She saw how pretty and desirable it was, and it pleased her artistic sense. She went after the lust of the eyes.
D. The tree was to be desired to make one wise”
The idea behind the pride of life is someone who lives for superiority over others, mostly by impressing others through outward appearances - even if by deception. It is said that she took of the forbidden fruit when she believed that it was desirable to make one wise. Its deadly appeal to her, apparently, is its ability to make one wise—wise, however, not according to the “fear of the Lord.”
As we found last week, by their obedience or disobedience the human couple will come to know good and evil by experience. Experience gained by “fearing the Lord” is wisdom, while that gained by disobeying God is slavery. How smart the fruit would make her! How her husband would admire her! She went after the pride of life.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life: In these three things, John may have in mind the Eve’s first pursuit of worldliness.
II. Belief always results in Action:
Belief reveals itself in action. Just as much as our attitudes, sin consist in our actions that are contrary to the behavior God requires of us. James says that faith without works is dead. That is to say that we may claim to believe something, but if that belief does not produce action it is not true faith. When Adam believed what God said, he obeyed God and walked and talked with God in the Garden. When Adam believed the serpent, he disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil.
Belief equals obedience. When I believe that Jesus is who He says He is and that God can do what He says He can do, then I will follow Christ in obedience.
Unbelief equals disobedience. When I do not believe that Jesus is who He says He is and that God can do what He says He can do, then I will not follow Christ in disobedience.
Eve believed the Message of the Lie of the serpent, in effect disbelieving God, and that unbelief resulting in an appropriate action of disobedience, “Eve took of its fruit.”
A. She ate it - The first thing we need to see here is that when Eve exchanged the truth of God for a lie, she acted on the lie. This was no mere philosophical debate with the serpent. We find that the modern proverb is not true that says, “it does not matter what you believe as long as you sincerely believe something.” Belief is always accompanied by actions and as we will see next week, actions always have consequences.
B. She gave some to Adam - The second thing we need to see here is that misery loves company. Eve ate of the fruit and she did not die, but immediately she knew evil by moral experience. Now the fruit did not look so good, taste so good, and she felt shame, she was not so wise, her husband would not admire her. What could she do, but urge him to eat as well. “See, I did not die! Have some!” Folly is the fellowship of fools . . .
C. Adam was with her - The fact that Adam was “with her” indicates a failure to carry out his divinely ordained responsibility to guard or “keep” both the garden and the woman that God had created as “a helper fit for him.” In short The Man failed to be A Man. He was there, and the Bible does not record that he says anything! He says nothing to the serpent who is actively deceiving his wife. He says nothing to his wife who is actively being deceived. He does nothing to defend his garden against the spiritual and physical attacks of Satan. Our culture, and yes our churches, are full of men like Adam, who stand by and allow their homes to be attacked, their wives and children to be deceived, and not only do they say nothing or do nothing, they partake right along with them.
D. Adam ate the fruit - The fact that Adam knowingly ate what God had forbidden indicates that Adam's sin was an act of conscious rebellion against God. Adam believed the serpent and his wife and disbelieved God. The resulting action was declaring war between God and the human race, of whom Adam was the representative head. The disastrous consequences of Adam's sin cannot be overemphasized, resulting in the fall of mankind, the beginning of every kind of sin, suffering, and pain, as well as physical and spiritual death for the human race.
III. Every Action Reveals What We Believe:
God cares about what we do, or do not do, only in that every action reveals what we believe about Him. He cares intensely about what we believe about Him. Paul said that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” in Romans 10:9. That is that we believe that God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do. If we chose to believe God, we will obey. When we obey, it shows we have chosen to believe God. If we chose to disbelieve God we will disobey.
When we disobey, it shows we have failed to believe God. Their eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil is in many ways typical of sin generally, in at least four ways.
A. Sin strikes at the basis for knowledge - Their sin gave a different answer to the question, “what is true?” Where God had clearly said they would die if they ate from the tree, the serpent said they would not die. They decided to doubt the veracity of God’s word and conduct and experiment to see if what God said was true. They believed that what God actually did say is not what is actually true, so they believed a lie. We also sin when we doubt God’s word and test to see for ourselves what is true; we exchange the truth of God for a lie.
B. Sin strikes at the basis for moral standards - Their sin gave a different answer to the question, “what is right?” Where God had said it was wrong to eat of the fruit of the tree, and right not to do so, the serpent said it was right to eat of the fruit of the tree. They trusted their own evaluation of what was right and good, rather than allowing God’s words to define right and wrong. They believed that it was good, so they took and ate. We also sin when we trust our own evaluation instead of God’s standard of right and wrong; we call evil good and good evil, darkness light and light darkness, bitter sweet and sweet bitter!”
C. Sin strikes at the basis for human existence - Their sin gave a different answer tot eh question, “who am I?” Where God had said that they were creatures of God, made in his image, always dependant on Him, and subordinate to Him as their Creator and Lord; the serpent said God that God was jealous of them, not for them, and did not want them to be like Him. They succumbed to the temptation to be “like God” instead of the “image of God.” They believed a creature rather than the Creator, so they exchanged the image of God for the image of Satan.
We also sin when we succumb to the temptation of idolatry and pride instead of trusting God’s best; we exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man.
D. Sin strikes at the basis for rationality - Their sin is like all sin in that all sin is ultimately irrational. It really did not make sense for Satan to rebel against God in the expectation of being able to exalt himself above God. It really did not make sense for Adam and Eve to think there could be any gain in disobeying the words of their creator.
These were foolish choices! Like Israel desiring to go back to Egypt an suffer slavery because they preferred onions to manna, they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal serpent! It really does not make sense for Satan to persist in his rebellion against God even today, knowing his defeat is complete and sure. It really does not make sense for any human being to persist in a state of rebellion against God, knowing the consequence is death. Psalm 14:1 says, it is not the wise man but the fool who says in his heart, “there is no God.” It really makes no sense for those who say they believe in God to continue to act in disobedience to what God has said, proving they have not believed.
Take These Stones Home
Read Genesis 3:1-6 as a family and discuss the importance of obeying everything God says.
Discuss this definition of Sin with your children and talk about how both our attitudes and our actions hurt God.
Sin; any failure to conform to the moral standard of God (falling short of His glory) in act, attitude or nature.
Desires of the Flesh;
Talk with children and explain to them that just because something feels good does not mean it is good.
Use examples like eating too much candy or getting a sun burn to make the point.
Desires of the Eye;
Talk with children about how our eyes make us want things that we do not need.
Craft Project - have your children cut pictures out of magazines of things they would like to have and glue them to a poster. Share with them about how advertising is designed to make things look good so we will want them, but things are not always as good as the appear.
Maybe share about a time when you suffered buyers remorse.
Pride of Life; Talk with children about how pride can cause us to do things that are wrong in order to please or impress others.
Tell the story of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream from Daniel 4:19-34 and how it was pride that caused this to happen to Nebuchadnezzar (5:20).
Play a Board Game with your children. Take special care in reading the instructions aloud to them. Ask the children if they believe the instructions are true.
As you play, point out when you obey the rules and talk to them about how when we believe something we obey what it says and when we do not believe something we disobey what it says.
As you play, obviously break the rules. When your children complain, or point out your violation, talk with them about how our actions reveal what we believe. Ask them what breaking the rules revealed about how you thought about the rules.
Share with them, "when we obey, it shows we have chosen to believe God, and when we disobey, it shows we have chosen to disbelieve God."
Make sure they understand that while it is very important to obey, it is most important to show that we believe God, because we love Him. Ask your children if they believe God has their best interest at heart and will do what is best for them.
Read with them Romans 8:28, Ephesians 3:20-21, Jeremiah 29:11.
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