The Intention of Good

Introduction

When I was a kid I never had a 4 wheeler. My mom thought they were too dangerous. I had a go kart that was awesome and I rode it all the time. I loved it! Yet, with all the fun I had on my go kart I wanted to ride my friend’s 4 wheeler. We had woods all around my house and I would sneak off and swap rides with my friend. One day we were out riding and I got caught by my dad riding the 4 wheeler, without a helmet I should mention, while my buddy was doing donuts in my go kart. Safe to say I was in big trouble. Now I had every reason to just enjoy what was given to me. It was a great situation for a 10 year old! The 4 wheeler was fun went fast, and could sling mud just like my go kart, the only difference......I was allowed to ride the go kart.

Perfect Circumstances

Eden was the perfect set up for Adam and Eve to succeed in obedience.

Genesis 1:28-2:3 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

Genesis 2:5-9 “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 2:15-22 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “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 that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.”

Genesis 2:24-25 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Obedience was available and accomplishable.

God had orchestrated a perfect situation, had given clear boundaries, and, most importantly, was with them.

God-given Responsibility

God had given the command of not eating the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil to Adam. We later find out that Adam was passively standing by.

Misguided Focus

Eve did not disobey because she hated God or even wanted to be rebellious.

Eve took her attention off of the one to be obeyed (God) and placed her attention on her own gain.

Genesis 3:1-6 “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.”

Eve set out to better herself.

Good for food

Delight to the eyes

Desired to make one wise

Fact vs. Truth

“Truth” defined

being in accordance with the actual state of affairs

conformable to an essential reality

being that which is the case rather than what is manifest or assumed

“Fact” defined

a piece of information presented as having objective reality

something that has actual existence

the quality of being actual

“Discerning truth is a matter of interpreting the facts”

Truth is external and fixed. Fact is internal and fluid.

The truth is what supports the facts in that it is the underlying foundation that the facts rest on to be accurate. The facts are that Jesus came to earth, born from a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, and rose three days later. The truth is he is God. Facts are completely dependent upon observation and experience. Facts are how we relate to the truth. Facts are facts because they represent what happened according to what is true.

Did you clean your room?

Fact: Yes

Truth: It’s all under the bed

Are you done with your school work?

Fact: Yes

Truth: I did all that I’m going to do

Eve used facts to justify and excuse her sin for a good thing. Yet it clearly was not the truth!

Application

How often do we shape and morph the facts to communicate the truth how we want?

God has positioned us Christians to succeed in obedience.

2 Peter 1:3-11 “3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”