"Temptation & Fall" Sermon: Genesis 3:1-13

“Temptation & Fall”
[Genesis 3:1-13]
September 21, 2008 Second Reformed Church

God is Good. And God can only do good. It is impossible for God to do evil. Do not forget that. And with it remember that our minds are finite – we cannot understand the Fulness and the Wisdom of the Mind and the Will and the Acts of God. We need to keep these things in mind as we look at one of the greatest tragedies imaginable. Today we are looking at the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve, and, if the Lord is willing, we will look at the effects of their sin next week.

Yet we need to begin before our text and consider Lucifer, Satan, the Day Star: the devil is a created being. God created him, an angel, a leader of angels, but merely a creature, not a god. But that was not enough for Satan, somehow, according to the Will of God and by Lucifer’s own choice, he filled himself with pride and launched a rebellion against God. Isaiah records what happened: “How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn How you are cut to the ground, you who lay the nations low You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15, ESV). God cannot tolerate sin, so He thrust Satan and his followers from heaven and damned them to eternal suffering.

Now Satan walks the earth, to and fro, seeking those he might destroy, those he might lead against God, not because Satan is a ruler, not because he can lead a rebellion or possibly usurp the throne of God, but in his pride, he now is the consummate sadist. The devil’s goal is to bring as many people into eternal suffering as he can.

In recent history, we have thought of Satan as the ruler of Hell, meeting out punishment on those who go there. But that’s not the case. Satan is just one more of the condemned. The only power he has is the power God allows him. God is the Ruler of Hell, as He is the Ruler of all creation. We see in the Scripture that the devil has to go to God to ask for permission for everything that he does (cf. Job 1:6-12). The devil has no power over anyone or anything except what God allows him for the moment. What the devil has, and all his demons – all those fallen angels who were cast out with him, as we will see in our text, is great skill and cunning. The devil is a consummate persuader, trickster, twister of the truth.

So, let us turn to our text: We read, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman...” Notice that the serpent is not condemned for being crafty. When we are told the serpent was crafty, we should understand that to mean that he was wise, a brilliant speaker, a persuasive orator, one who could argue his point well. This ability was a gift that God gave to the serpent. In fact that gift is held up and we, as Christians, are told to be like him – from the very mouth of Jesus, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:15, ESV).

The serpent’s gift was a good gift, given to him to glorify God with. But the devil came upon him and possessed him and used the serpent’s good gift and twisted it to present a perverse, but persuasive, argument to Eve. The devil inhabited the serpent to tempt Eve – to get her pride to well up in her – to get her – if for just a moment, to think of God, not Almighty on His Throne, but as a creature – which God never is. God always is, was, and will forever be. He created everything that exists, and He was never created but always existed. But the devil, in co-opting the skill and the voice of the serpent, calmly talked with Eve and put forth an argument until... It is at this point that many will throw out chapter three and declare it mythology. “Serpents don’t talk.” Why not? Is it impossible to believe that there was a time when all the created beings, humans and animals, all spoke the same language? Is that really so far-fetched? Baalam might have been surprised to hear his donkey speak Hebrew, but he didn’t question her ability to speak Hebrew, just what she was doing (cf. Numbers 22). We confess we believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. Why should we have trouble believing that the animals used to speak the same language as we? It is the devil who wants us to deny this truth; don’t fall for his lies.

So the devil co-opted the voice and the skill of the serpent and spoke with Eve. We probably only have a summary of the conversation in Genesis. But the crux of the argument was a question – see the devil knows the Scripture much better than we do, and he doesn’t usually just outright lie to us, he manipulates and twists and causes slight doubts – then, he thrusts his hooks in and pulls us down. And he asked Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” “Wow. What a beautiful garden. Now what did God say? That you are not allowed to eat any of this beautiful fruit? Not from any tree at all?”

Just a little nudge – just a little doubt. How much has God given you? Do you really think He is being fair? Do you think you might have misunderstood something? Maybe God really wants you to have everything. Maybe there are no limits. Doesn’t that sound more like the God you know? Don’t you think He would want you to go ahead?

No, God said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16b-17, ESV). God said they could eat from every tree in the garden, except one. God told them to tend the garden, in joy, with ease, in worship to Him, and He would cause the trees to be plentiful with food for them. “Just don’t eat from that one tree – or you will die.”

But he had gotten Eve to doubt, ever so slightly, so she adds to God’s Word, she makes it restrictive in a way God never said, “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.’” “Got her ”

We fall into this so easily – it is one of the sins of the Pharisees: they added to God’s Word. They added burdens and put heavy yokes on the people when they should have been showing them that through the Savior, their yokes are light A pervasive example in the New Testament are all the additional laws that the Pharisees put on the Sabbath day. God commanded that one day in seven be given to Him in worship and no work be done. However, the Pharisees took it to an extreme God did not intend, so they left out mercy and necessity. So, if their neighbor was deathly ill on the Sabbath, they would not get help for them, for that would mean someone would work. If an animal fell into a pit, they would let it die, rather than pull it up, because that would be work. And so forth, we add to God’s Word to our destruction.

We also subtract from God’s Word. Using the same example, we consider the Sabbath law today: we are still obliged to spend one day in seven in the worship of God. Well, how do we define a day? If we have a day off, that’s twenty-four hours. If we have to go to work for the day, that’s eight hours. If we spend the day in worship, that’s one hour. God is not stupid, beloved. But let us return to our text:

The devil, possessing the serpent, had gotten Eve to add to God’s Word, to admit the slightest doubt about God’s Word, and then the devil launched in full force: “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 he almost told her the truth No, they would not physically die the day they ate the fruit – though they died spiritually. Yes, they would know good and evil – they would know what it is to sin – something God had never done. But the direct lie was to say that this act of rebellion – this “cosmic treason” as Dr. R. C. Sproul calls it – would make them like God. We already saw that humans were created like God – in his Image, being sinless, having reason, and dominion over the Creation. In this act, they became less like God, they corrupted the Image that they had been created with and came to know the hell of being a sinner.

Eve believe the subtlety of the argument, she bewitched herself, she saw that the fruit was good to eat and pleasant to the eyes and she wanted that wisdom – that knowledge, so she ate of the fruit, and she gave some to Adam and he ate it as well.

And it’s very American to say, “It’s always the woman.” But listen, Eve allowed herself to be deceived by the serpent’s argument and sinned, but Adam purposefully chose to turn his back on God and submit to Eve and join her in her sin. Both are guilty, but Adam’s sin certainly seems the worse.

We are susceptible to the same things today. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, who were being mislead about one thing after another, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed to you one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (II Corinthians 11:2-3, ESV). And before we call Paul a chauvinist, he wrote, “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 – “ (Romans 5:12, ESV). Understand, Eve was deceived, but Adam effectively gave God the finger and followed after his wife. Paul warns us, we are prone to deception, and there are times when we blatantly turn our backs on God.

“Then the eyes of both were opened.” What a gentle euphemism for the horror that descended upon them as they realized the full impact of what they had done for themselves and all of humanity. Their very nakedness, which was a gift and a joy for each other became something they felt obliged to hide from each other. And they tied fig leaves to cover their nakedness and hid in the bushes, because they heard God walking in the cool of the day – and surely, the Almighty God would not know what had happened, nor would God be able to find them if they hid.

Bill Cosby has a sketch called “Brain Damage,” in which he explains how children must be born brain damaged to do and say the things they do. For example, and this may have happened to one of you, if you break a lamp or a vase, rather than admit what you did, you hide under a table, thinking that that way, your parents will never know. Or you clean it up and throw it out, thinking that your parents will never notice it’s missing. One from my youth: there were times when I was being punished and told I could not have dessert. Somehow, I believed if I snuck into the kitchen and quickly ate some cookies from the cookie drawer, my parents would never be able to figure out what I had done – despite the chocolate on my lips and the smell of cookies on my breath.

Adam and Eve did the same thing: they knew the Almighty God, the Creator. They had been in fellowship with Him. They knew there was nowhere they could hide from Him. They knew that He knew everything and knew their sin. Still, they covered themselves and hid.

Now God would have been perfectly within His Right as God to blot them off the face of the earth. He could have come upon them, told them He knew what they had done, and “boom” – gone. But God’s Plan, which they did not know, was to show compassion and mercy – this was all a set-up for the coming of the Savior, as we’ll see. You see, God confronts us about our sin, not because He doesn’t know – God always knew what we would do and He knows what we have done – but He wants us to understand what we have done and come to repentance.

So God called out, “Adam, Eve, where are you?” “Oh, we’re here, God, hiding, we heard You and didn’t want You to see us naked.” “Oh. And who told you you were naked? Did you eat of the tree which I commanded You not to eat?” God knew. And it was all part of His Plan, but in order for there to be forgiveness, there must be confession and repentance. But that’s not what happens. If there was any doubt of their sin – their pride against God – it roars up with a vengeance as God confronts them with their exact sin: Did you eat of the tree which I commanded you not to eat?

How does Adam answer? “The woman that You gave me, God, she gave me the fruit ” Notice, Adam doesn’t say, “it’s the woman’s fault.” He blames God – “the woman that You gave me – if You hadn’t given me this woman, I’d be fine.”

How does Eve answer? “The serpent that You created, God, and made so cunning, deceived me ” Notice, Eve doesn’t merely say that she was deceived by the serpent, but there is implied in the text the accusation against God – “the serpent that You created so crafty, so cunning – if You hadn’t made him such a persuasive speaker, I’d be fine.”

They had been tempted. They had fallen. And they were dead; they were destroyed. “In the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17b, ESV). God obviously didn’t mean physical death, because He didn’t put them to death on that day. But they surely died spiritually on that day.

The results, Lord willing, we’ll look at next week, but a few verses as a prequel: David wrote, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). And again, Paul wrote, “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 – “ (Romans 5:12, ESV). And, “...[you] were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3b, ESV).

It is a deeply tragic and hellish truth of the human race that our first father and mother were tempted and fell into sin and died spiritually. Yet, it was not God’s Plan to leave us in that spiritual death, thanks be to God. No, Paul continues in his letter to the Ephesians, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – “ (Ephesians 2:4-5, ESV).

If the Lord is willing, we will look at this more next week, but for today, know that God had a Plan from the beginning to send His Son to save all those who would believe in Him Alone for their salvation. If you confess that you have been tempted and fallen and you are dead in your sins, unable to help yourself, and you confess belief in Jesus as your only Savior, He will save you and raise you from your spiritual death. He will forgive you and make you His son or daughter. Without Jesus, we are damned with the devil. So turn to Jesus, believe in Him and live.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, it is a terrible and difficult thing to talk about the Fall of humanity into sin. Our own pride wells up and we become angry with our first parents, but, surely, we would have fallen just like them. We rejoice that this is not the end of the story and that You are a Merciful and Gracious God. We ask that You would cause us to be wise like serpents, so we would quickly see and deny the arguments of the evil one, and we ask that You would cause us to quickly run to You for forgiveness when we do sin. For You Alone are the hope and the future of us all. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.