Don’t Feed the Serpents

Don’t Feed the Serpents

“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.”

Genesis 3:1-6 ESV

It’s easy to look at that passage and pass judgement on Eve and even Adam, but if we’re honest with ourselves it’s just like looking in the mirror. We have all been Eve, and we’ve all been Adam.

See, she hadn’t even considered that tree or it’s fruit yet, but the serpent made her look at it. Then the excuses started to come. Oh well it looks really good and fun and tasty. What could it hurt, right?

Genesis is a story of how we all fall from the grace of God. Adam, or Adama as it’s pronounced in Hebrew, just means man.

The first trick the Serpent plays is the old “Did God actually say?”

Eve actually comes right back against the serpent with God’s word, but he persists abd she crumbles. It’s more than just knowing the truth but living it too.

Then the serpent tempts her by questioning God. You shall not surely die. It won’t affect you like that. You’re too smart to get addicted. No one will find out. Any of that sound familiar?

The trees that affect different people are different. I’ve never had an issue with alcohol, but tobacco and weed both took hold of me and they held on tight.

The Devil said Thou Shalt Not Surely Die, and yet there I was lying to my wife about smoking cigarettes. It caused me to sin. Weed took a job from me.

Whether you smoke or not is not my business. What I want you to take from this is that we all have to, as Paul wrote in Phillippians 2:12, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

You noticed that she took some to Adam, too. How many people have sinned because someone they loved was sinning too? Like I said. This story is just like looking in the mirror.

How many times have we known that we were sinning and just kept right on?

We’ve all been Eve.

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Genesis 3:7 ESV

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Genesis 3:8 ESV

That’s always what comes next. The guilt, panic and shame that comes from our failures.

These are the things that the world is trying their best to avoid with what started as tolerance but now they want to force acceptance of things that most good reasonable people know to be wrong.

There we are again, covering ourselves with every excuse and reasoning we can about why we did what we did. Hiding from God in our sin, afraid to poke our head out and say here I am, because of the sin and shame that we brought down on ourselves.

Some people say that God wanted us to remain ignorant but I don’t believe that at all. I don’t think that anything that has happened is out of his control or knowledge. No, God knew Eve would take the fruit. He knew the Serpent would tempt her. So, why did God make us at all.

Why did God make us knowing that we would fall? I’ll answer that later.

Their sin had a lasting consequences in their lives. You could say that the serpent held on and held on tight. That his fangs were sunk deep into them and he had them right where he wanted them.

That is the story of humanity without Christ.

That is the story of all our friends and family, everyone that doesn’t know Jesus. This is why we Evangelize. The world has turned Evangelical into a negative buzz word for who we are as Christians.

“The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.”

Genesis 3:14 ESV

“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.”

Genesis 2:7 ESV

The Serpent was cursed to feed on us. This is why we are tempted. This is why he delights in our sin.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

When we let sin into our lives it will begin to consume us. The wages of sin are death. It always has been.

One time Ross, another friend of ours and I were helping to move a refrigerator or something for one of Ross’ dad’s friends from church. They were giving it to this sweet older lady. The house where we picked it up was super nice. High end brick house in a Benton neighborhood if I remember correctly. They had a boat and nice vehicles. The whole shebang.

I’ll never forget what my friend said. “Man, it seems like Christian people just have nice things. Maybe they are blessed.”

God got the glory in that situation from some guy’s nice bass boat. Bradley, Robert, there’s another excuse for y’all in you need one.

But Sam. There are plenty of Christians that don’t have much. That’s ok, too. Let me explain.

We are all different. Different experiences. Different goals. Different responsibilities. Different standards. Different hobbies.

The point is this. Jesus said that the wages of sin are death, but he also says that He is the way, the truth and the life.

The Christian lifestyle frees you from the chains of sin. Jesus frees you from the things that hold you down. The drinking problem. The drug problem. The gambling problem. Whatever sin you struggle with Jesus can and will break those chains if you just give them to Him. It doesn’t hurt any to have a brother or sister in Christ pray with you about it either.

Being free from sin allows you to flourish into the best version of who you are. It pushes those stumbling stones out of your path and gives you a straight and narrow path to follow. Straight and narrow isn’t the hard path y’all. Most people just don’t have the discipline to walk a straight line.

We see it on a national level, too. When a government is built on Judeo-Christian fundamentals it produces a society of productive, patriotic and loving people that all want to help each other. Love thy neighbor as yourself. If we just do what God says, he will give us a life that is abundant.

“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 10:9-11 ESV

Brother Witt had many great things to teach the Sunday before last but one thing that stuck with me is when he alluded to the story of the Apostle Paul stranded on the Island of Malta

“When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.”

Acts 28:3-5 ESV

This is both a true story and a parable for the power we have in Christ to be bitten by the Serpent, but just shake him off into the fire where he belongs.

We’re going to mess up. God knows that. He’s always known it and there will be real and lasting consequences for our mistakes.

But what does God do when we fail him?

“But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?””

Genesis 3:9 ESV

He calls out to us. Where are you? Come here, let me do what’s best for you. Let me make you clothes. Let me give my life so that I can resolve this mess you made. Come back prodigal sons and daughters.

Don’t feed the Serpent. He feeds on the evil that we do. He feeds on our flesh and when we die in sin he has won.

But God!

God gives us a way out in Jesus. The way the truth and the life!

Now I’ll answer the question I left unanswered earlier. It’s one I wrestled with God about for a long time.

Why did God make us knowing that we would fall?

Because without our fall, how could we know how much we need Him to make us whole?

“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.””

Luke 7:47-48 ESV

Jesus came to save those that could never save themselves. He came to break us free of the chains that hold us.

That is a victorious message. Even with those chains broke, that snake keeps trying to bite you.

I woke up one day and realized that who I am in Christ is nearly unrecognizable from what I was before and instead of feeling that victory I was weighed down with something else.

Who am I now? How much of me did I lose in the process of cutting off all of those things that that were keeping me down?

Jesus uses the vine and the branch in his parables and I think that illustration will work well here.

Imagine the Vine. That’s Christ. That’s where we draw the life that sustains us.

Than the branch. It has leaves on it but they’ve got brown and black spots on them and the fruit hanging there looks like like a saggy earlobe. No one wants to eat that.

Then the farmer comes and puts the shears at the base of the branch and he’s just about to cut it off, but he sees one good leaf hanging there and he can tell that the branch is still alive. So he trims the dead and diseased leaves and all that’s left of the branch is the stick and one good leaf.

That’s where I was or that’s what it felt like. Like there was nothing left of me. But then a bud popped up and another leaf sprouted. Another and another then a nice juicy grape.

It is because you’ve been pruned that you can ever grow into the branch you were meant to be.

Now, maybe Jesus has led you down the path of righteousness so long that you don’t even remember the last time you fed that filthy snake. You’re starving him out and he hasn’t had a taste of you in a long time. We might get to walking around looking down on our brother who’s still fighting his drinking problem or looking at stuff on his phone that he knows he shouldn’t. We might start to think that we’re on that next level. Untouchable.

That’s a dangerous place to be. You might stand right up there on pride rock and think you’re somebody for a while. You might be writing a message out to preach to your church on Wednesday when God reminds you of who He is.

“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.””

Luke 23:39-43 ESV

Even though Jesus has worked miracles in me and many if not all of you there is still nothing we can do to deserve what He did for us.

The thief didn’t have his salvation worked out. He hadn’t worked out his own salvation with fear and trembling. He was on the cross for his sins. Death was his wage and all he did was ask the King of Kings to remember him.

Just remember me Jesus.

I’m going to ask the prayer team to come up here.

Is there something in your life that’s hanging there like a rotten fruit? Is there an old dead leaf that isn’t doing you any good but you just can’t let it fall?

The word says

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

James 5:16