The beginning of obedience
Obedience • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We went through a month an a half of messages on why we can trust the person of God. For the next 10 weeks we will look at the lives of 10 Bible characters who were commanded to obey God. We will start in Genesis and we will go all the way to the cross. The next 10 weeks will give us a glimpse at those who obeyed and did what God told them to do, it will also give is insight into multiple times where God’s beloved creation did not obey. The goal in looking at the lives of each of these people is not to pick fun at them or to maintain a historical prejudice. It is for us to take their lives and compare those lives to our lives, a mirror of sort. To reflect on their choices and to see how they either mirror our choices and lives or are different. The ultimate goal is that we will grown in our obedience to God through looking at the times of obedience and disobedience in the Bible. Today we will begin with Adam and Eve. This seems like too easy of a place to start. The beginning of all disobedience in the world. Now I will continue to remind you of what I call historical prejudice. You will get tired of hearing me talk about this. It is vitally important though. It is important because it prevents us from having the mindset that we are better than they were and that we cannot make the same mistakes. One of the devils greatest tools is pride. If he can convince you that there is nothing wrong with you and that you don’t need to change anything then guess what? Thats right you wont change anything. So as we get ready for the next 10 weeks my first as is that you remember not to approach any of these scriptures with historical prejudice. The fact is that we have more to look back at and to say, well I probably should not live like that. They had no examples to look at. Even with our examples many of us still live in ways that are counter to the lives that God is calling us to live. Charles Wolf Jr was a senior economic advisor for the RAND corporation he said this,
Wolf's Law: Those who don't study the past will repeat its errors. Those who do study it will find other ways to err.
Charles Wolf, Jr.
Today we will be in Genesis. We will look at a few passages in Genesis. The first being in Genesis 2 verses 15-17. Then we will move to Genesis chapter 3. This morning we will see three things in this first example that we are presented in the Bible with. We will see the Setting, The Sin, and the Separation. Turn with me in your Bibles and let’s read together Genesis 2:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 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.”
Now we will move to Genesis 3:1-7
1 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’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 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.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 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. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Now turn to Genesis 3:20-24
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
The Setting
The Setting
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 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.”
In order to understand fully what went on with Adam and Eve we must first understand the setting in which all of the events took place. The First part of this setting is that Adam and Eve had no idea who they were up against with the serpent. Read it in Chapter 3.
1 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’?”
See that first part there? The serpent was more crafty than any other beast. We often times are very judgmental of Adam and Eve listening to the devil. We act like they just walked into it with blatant disregard. That is not the fact. The fact is that the devil was cunning and deceitful. The devil knew what he was doing when he approached Eve. The devil knew how to talk and Adam and Eve underestimated who they were dealing with. Do you live like that? How often are you underestimating the devil in your life? We often times get the image of the angel and the devil on our shoulder and we act like we are in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. In some ways those cartoons are the worst thing we can do. They convince us that the devil, well maybe he is not as bad as we think he is. Maybe he just tries to convince us to do things for the fun of it or because he has a bet with God and that what we are going to do is not all that bad. The problem is we have the scriptures we know who the devil is and what he is doing. Adam and Eve did not have this. Who is the devil?
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
There is nothing cute or humorous about the devil. He is seeking to destroy and devour. The devil is not a friend and is not a light hearted person. The devil will present you opportunity that looks good and great and leads only to destruction.
The second part of the setting is to understand that Adam did not fulfil his responsibility. God had created the world and He then set Adam in the Garden of Eden. God then commanded Adam that he should eat of every tree in the garden but not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because in the day that you eat you shall surely die. After God gave Adam this commandment He then created Eve out of the side of Adam.
Remember the scripture from earlier?
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 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.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
After this time in which God created Eve Adam would have been responsible to teach Eve the ways of God and the laws that God had given him. We often times discuss how Eve was the one who took the fruit then gave it to her husband to eat. We act like this is some type of vindication for the male species. The fact though is that this is not a vindication but is a condemnation.
Read Genesis 3:1
1 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’?”
Did you see what happened here? The serpent talked to the woman. The serpent did not talk to Adam but began talking to Eve and began to whisper to her.
Sales training for many major door to door operations started with this line. “Win the wife sell for life”. Why was this line so important? Door to door salesmen would show up during the day while husbands were more likely to be at work. They would then discuss the problem that the wife faced. That old ragged vaccuum your husband bought you just is not doing the job. You need a better vacuum and it will cut your cleaning time in half. The conversations would often end with let me talk to my husband about it. After those words came out of the wife’s mouth the salesmen would politely see their way out knowing they had just won. The husband would come home and they would sit at the dinner table and the conversation would begin. The husband would be quick to shut it down but the wife persistent that the new vacuum would change her life continued. If the husband did not get it because it helped his wife he would get it to get her to stop talking about it.
The question is why would Adam have allowed this to happen? Why would Adam stand by and allow his wife to listen to this mess without stepping in? Some people say well he was not there, maybe he was not listening. The fact is that he was there and he was listening.
Read the scripture Genesis 3:6
6 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.
Adam was right there with Eve! God created Adam first and gave Adam the commandments and it was his responsibility to ensure that not only did he teach this command to all his family but to also ensure that they followed the command. God had a distinct order in which He allowed the new life on earth to form and part of this was giving the commands directly to Adam. Adam was responsible to lead and to ensure that the commands of God were being followed. Men are we properly leading our families? Not in fear and intimidation but in constant submission to God with our lives and the way we love our wives? Do your children see you being obedient to God? Are you fulfilling the commandments of God on men to lead our families? The setting in which disobedience entered our species is through the underestimation of the devil and the lack of leadership and following God’s design. Are you underestimating the devil in your life? Do you really think that some of the things you take part of are things that are just harmless things that he led you to? No if he took you to it he is going to destroy you with it. Are you following God’s design in your life understanding the responsibility to listen to His word and Spirit in our lives? Now we see the setting in which the devil takes advantage of in our lives, next we will see how the sin takes place in our lives after the setting is right.
The Sin
The Sin
1 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’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 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.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 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. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Wow what a plan. You see the devil got the man and the woman to sin because he convinced them that he was their friend and that God was trying to keep something from them. Then in the moment when they had convinced themselves that they wanted what God was hiding from them they took the steps to disobey God. Did you see what happened? The sin was that they believed that God was evil that God was keeping them from something that God was not giving them the best that could be given. The devil convinced them to disobey God by distorting the image of God in their mind. After the see of discontentment was sown in their mind the fruit was then good looking in their eyes.
6 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.
They both took part in something that looked good, smelled good, and even tasted good when they ate it. What they were taking part in is discontentment with all that God had given them. They wanted to see what life apart from God was like and the devil presented it well. If we do not prepare ourselves for the presentation of sin in our lives how can we avoid it? How can we push back and not follow through. If we do not make God the center of our lives and the priority in our lives then we can never defeat sin in our lives. Adam and Eve wanted what God was not giving them. They wanted more. God had given them everything they could ever want or need but it was not enough, they wanted more. They were not content in depending on God they wanted to satisfy a need on their own. The Bible explains to us how sin works
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Augustine said this-
Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him.
Adam and Eve wanted to fulfil a desire in their life and wanted to do it without God. How is the devil convincing you that what he can do for you is better? Is it instant gratification? Is it the sense of well being? It is funny all the things that we chase sin for are things that the Bible teaches us we can have if we find ourselves content in God and in the pursuit of a relationship with Him. This though is what sin ruins. Sin is not something that makes us feel or smell bad, it is far worse than that, sin separates us from a relationship with the Father.
The Separation
The Separation
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Sin does not just hurt you it separates you from a father who loves and cares for you. A father who wants to give you all you could ever want or need, but more than that wants to walk and talk with you. God created us for relationship. Of all His other creations He created us so He could have a relationship. God created us different from all other creation. God created us with a soul and a conscience, with the ability to make choices. What sin does is breaks this relationship and separates us from the only God who can satisfy and provide for us the security and relationship we long for.
Read these scriptures on what sin did
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
The result of sin was severed relationships, broken humanity. Your desire for sin in your life will lead to separation and despair. More damaging than the separation you will experience with others in your life is the separation you will experience from your heavenly father. Disobedience started in a place of underestimating the devil, not following God’s planned design. It lead to a heart and mind that though less of God. It resulted in separation from the only God who has the ability to bring true life and light into our lives. Are you living in a life of disobedience? How is it working out for you? Thank God that He did not leave humanity broken and destroyed. Than God He gave us the ability to restore those relationships and to understand His love for us.
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!
Renew our days as of old—
God has given us the ability to restore the broken relationships in our lives. While the relationships with each other are important God has given us the ability to restore the broken relationship that Sin ruined between us and Him. Do you want to walk daily with God? It starts with obedience.
