Genesis 3:1-3

The Craftiness of Sin

Introduction

Difference between what is true and what is false

Counterfeit bills, being students of what “right” looks like

An exercise in discernment

Importance today

Many false churches/doctrines

Secularism/worldliness

Spurgeon, “Discernment is not the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong; rather, it is telling the difference between right and almost right.”

First sin was partially a lack of discernment

Introduced the chaos of sin that we all know

Happened with questioning the goodness, steadfast love of God

Wasn’t a doctrinal dispute

Not a Synod

But on God’s goodness

We should not take God’s goodness for granted

Points

Text

Doctrine

Application

Text

Gen 3’s beginning is like the curtain opening to a new act

Gen 2 begins and ends beautifully

Theater lights in Gen 3 change to dark hues, reds, etc.

v. 1

Serpent

Name

“nakhas”

Connected also to Heb word for “bronze”

Connection with Moses and “bronze serpent” (Num 21.9)

Something about his appearance

Shiny, bronze hue, noticeable

2 Corinthians 11:14 “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

Drew in Eve’s attention toward him

Nature

“created”

“the Lord God created”

Satan is not a divine being

Not a cosmic struggle of good/evil between two gods

Recognizing that evil existed prior to disobedience

Adam was supposed to guard, what from? Evil

“character”

“crafty/cunning”

“naked” also “crafty”

Play on words back to Genesis 2:25 “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Other describing word “astute”

Hated God’s people

Unsure of the precise time of Satan’s fall

Perhaps around Gen 1.26-27.

He and his angels (Rev 12. )

Serpent knew God’s commands and knew how to twist them

William Gurnall, “The devil is a great student in divinity”

Bach, Mast, PhD, beyond in theology and Bible

Nefariousness

Twisting God’s words

Causing doubt, deception, and distrust

“Did God actually say”

Doubt

“you”

plural, Adam there

“shall not eat of any”

Deception

Exaggerates God’s prohibition

Distorts God’s goodness/benevolence

Sows a misrepresentation of God’s nature

God is spiteful, mean, etc., won’t let you eat

Forced God from beneficent provider to cruel oppressor

v. 2-3 - Subject

Adam’s error

Too quick to blame Eve

Adam as PPK, his responsibilities

Standing there

Failed as priest, king, and prophet (demonstrate)

Beautiful that where Adam failed to crush the head of the serpent, the Second Adam does it for us

Eve’s error

Responded

Also responsible as PPK, co-equal w/ Adam

Added to God’s Word

True legalism

Satan had a softball thrown to him

“neither shall you touch it”

Unsure why she adds

Could it be that the deception is creeping in?

Or just a misunderstanding?

Attempt to apply prohibition?

Doctrine

Free Will - Why did AnE sin?

We categorize “free will” in post-Enlightenment thought

Free to choose according to your nature

Humans cannot fly, not part of nature

Birds cannot write a book, not part of their nature

We are free to choose within our nature

Food analogy

This is why sin is so condemning, we only choose to sin being born in Adam

If you are born, you are in Adam

If you are in Adam, you are a sinner

If you are a sinner, you deserve judgment

Nature changed in Christ

Able not to sin

Romans 7 conundrum

Hope in New Heavens and Earth

“will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to do good alone in the state of glory only”

Still let with the reality of sin in our lives, fighting

Application - Conquering the prevalence of sin

Use 1. Repent

If you are not in Christ, repent of your sins and turn to Him

He who is willing and able to free you of your sins

He who bore the transgressions

Particular promises attached

Romans 10:9–10 “because, 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. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old [Adam] has passed away; behold, the new [Second Adam] has come.”

If you repent, you are guaranteed redemption.

Use 2. Recognize.

Sun Tzu, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Must know Satan and his strategies

2 Corinthians 2:11 “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

Make a checklist of Satan’s strategy, how he wars with you

Pre-deployment preparation, training in operational environment

Write out how you are tempted

Self-inventory

Examples

Starts with though

Pride in thinking you can overcome

Rejecting HS

I’m too mature in Christianity to need help

Bargaining with sin

God will forgive

Won’t be that bad

This sin really isn’t a sin

Conduct

Turning from Lord

Guilt

Satan’s victory ground

Reason he is an “accuser”

It is not his sin, it is yours

And his accusations are true

Write these out in your free time

Recognizing patterns

Why would serpent approach Eve and not Adam?

No direct answer

Eve was Adam’s greatest gift from God apart from God Himself

Satan was forcing Adam to make a decision

Either Eve or God

Satan used God’s best gift for Adam as a stumbling block

Often Satan uses the best gifts that God has given us as a place to sin

Who comes first in your affections?

The creature or the Creator

Fundamental issue

Romans 1:22–23 “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

Be proactive rather than reactive

Use 3. Resist.

James 1:14–16 “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.”

Sin conceived —> giving birth

Time in between is where he festers

Takes time to mature, grow

Stop it before it develops

Do not open the door to sin.

Eve entertained the serpent

Dialogued with him

Do not desire sin.

Easier said than done

Uses us like a prostitute

Promise given: Resist devil

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

How do we do this?

Look to Christ.

Hebrews 12:3–4 “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

Use 4. Rest.

In God’s goodness

Unlike AnE; know that He is good

“your will be done”

Know that His will is better than ours

It may change, but we need to conform to His will

Satan’s charge was God is too restrictive

Restrictions are good things

The Law of God is actually a good thing

Disagreeing does not mean the law(s) is(are) bad

The Law is a good thing

Points us to the need for Christ

Condemns us, but that’s a good thing

Realizing we are condemned is a Spirit gift

Enables us to turn to Christ

Its goodness to believers

Delight

Psalm 112:1 “Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!”

Psalm 119:35 “Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.”

Psalm 119:47 “for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.”

Psalm 119:92 “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.”

Discernment

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

1 Peter 3:15 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Psalm 119:1 “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!”

Daily exercise

Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Psalm 1:2 “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Psalm 119:97 “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

Use 5. Restoration

Even when we still sin, there is restoration in Christ

Grieve the HS, yes, but seek forgiveness

Often we are disciplined by the Lord for our sin

It is for our benefit

Hebrews 12:7–11 “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Probably add verses 12ff as well

Sin continues, but grace abounds

You may lose every battle, but Christ has won the war