Eyes Wide Open
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
In Genesis 3 we have the painful account of Adam and Eve falling into sin.
When God created Adam and Eve he told them they were not allowed to eat of the three of knowledge of good and evil.
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.”
Both Adam and Eve understood this command and prohibition as something God did not want either of them doing.
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.’ ”
Now something important must be seen here.
There is a difference between understanding something right or wrong and something is good or evil.
A child can learn very quickly that mom and dad have said something like touching the hot stove is wrong, because every time they try to do it they get in trouble.
A child can even understand that lying is wrong when they are young because they realize they will get in a lot more trouble for lying than telling the truth.
However, that is a far cry from understanding something is “good or evil.”
A child simply cannot understand the difference between good and evil as they are not developed enough mentally to do so.
39 And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
Now here is the interesting thing about Adam and Eve before they ate of the forbidden fruit.
They were like little children in the sense that they were unaware of the difference between good and evil.
They certainly understood the difference between right and wrong as seen in Eve’s response to Satan.
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.’ ”
Both Adam and Eve understood it was “wrong” for them to eat of this fruit.
However, they did not know why it was evil to do so as we see God pointing out later in the chapter, that it was only after they ate that they gained the knowledge about good and evil.
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”
Brothers and sisters, we know that Adam and Eve, unlike little children, had the compacity to understand good and evil as they certainly were able after eating of the fruit.
So, why didn’t they know the difference between good and evil?
Because God had not taught them that there was such a thing and if Adam and Eve had never eaten of the fruit and continue to do the “very few things asked of them” they would never of had need of it.
But that isn’t what they did.
No Adam and Eve ate of the fruit and made their “Eyes Wide Open” to the reality of 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…
So what was the difference?
They difference was “knowledge.”
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.
Because God gave man the ability to choice obeying him or not, this outcome was inevitable even if it had not been Adam and Eve who did it.
Why, because as soon as “mankind” learned of good and evil that meant they by necessity had disobeyed God and learned the difference between obedience and sin.
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
The cat is out of the bag so to speak.
All of humanity has the knowledge given them concerning “good and evil.”
We now have “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
We now have the complete “perfect law of liberty” (James 2:12).
We now have the “complete mystery revealed” concerning good and evil (Romans 16:25-26).
So what does that mean for you and I?
We must go into each day with our “Eyes Wide Open.”
We open our eyes wide open by…
Consuming God’s Word
Consuming God’s Word
Reading & Studying Biblically
Reading & Studying Biblically
We must be constantly reading God’s word every day to be filled with God’s word.
Many people read their bible every day, but they do so out of obligation not progression.
By that I mean they feel they “ought to read” but they aren’t necessarily doing it progress their knowledge of God’s will.
We must have purpose behind our daily bible reading which is to gain greater knowledge of God’s word i.e., be filled more with God’s word.
This is done through daily bible reading to “learn to fear the LORD.”
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them
This is further accomplished by taking that daily bible reading and meditating upon it the rest of the day and into the night.
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Though daily bible reading and meditating is a form of studying for sure, what I’m really talking about when talking about studying, is diving into God’s word in order to understand God’s word.
This means scrutinizing the scriptures.
11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining [scrutinizing] the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Not just scrutinizing the scriptures but doing so so that we “understand” what God is meaning through the scriptures.
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Summary
Summary
Consuming God’s word opens our eyes to the knowledge of good and evil.
Reading, as Paul stated, “you shall not covet” allows us to know that covetousness is “evil” and not “good.”
Even though consuming God’s word opens our eyes to the knowledge of good and evil it doesn’t not compete what is necessary for righteousness.
No, we must also then learn to…
Distinguish Between Them
Distinguish Between Them
The Difference Between Good & Evil
The Difference Between Good & Evil
When Adam and Eve gained the knowledge that nakedness “could be evil” they set out to make clothing for themselves.
Many have asked the question, if it was sinful for Adam and Eve to be naked why did God not cloth them until after he removed them from the Garden of Eden?
The answer to this question is simple, it was not sinful for Adam and Eve to be naked because they were married and alone.
Adam and Eve covered up because they had gained the knowledge that nakedness “could be sinful and thus evil” but they had not yet learned to discern between good and evil concerning nakedness.
This is where maturing in both our knowledge and understanding of the scriptures comes in.
The more we mature in these areas the more we learn to distinguish between good and evil.
14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
We must keep in mind though that this is something we “learn.”
15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
15 He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.
Summary
Summary
Being able to know the difference between what makes something evil or what makes something good is where truly open eyes are found spiritually speaking.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We need to have our eyes opened to the knowledge of good and evil.
But to become faithful to our God and stay faithful to our God we must have our “eyes wide open” by learning to truly distinguish between good and evil.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
