Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

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.

The Fall

3 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

(2016).

().

Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

It may come a surprise to some of you who don’t know me (other who do maybe not so much).

But I take a very structured and academic approach to Scripture.

Some may think this takes away from the work of the HS.

But I believe just the opposite is true.

I believe that the HS uses what he has to work with.

So the more we know and understand about the Bible.

The more the HS has to work with.

It is really just that simple.

That is why I like to teach.

Unfortunately, the church today has become increasingly anti-intellectual.

It's a sad fact of reality, something that continues to be a burden on my heart.

The only solution for this dilemma is for Christians to seriously reevaluate why they believe what they believe, and earnestly seek to find themselves in the examples set forth by ancient Christian intellectuals of the past, because all of them were classical scholars.

Why?

Because the Christian faith encourages intellectual rigor, since the Christian God took on the title "Logos".

The results of a recent survey about the role of religious faiths in America, conducted by the Barna Research Group, are disturbing.

Half of the adult Americans interviewed agreed that

“Christianity is no longer the faith that Americans automatically accept as their personal faith.”

By a three-to-one margin adults noted that they are “more likely to develop their own set of religious beliefs than to accept a comprehensive set of beliefs taught by a particular church.”

The margin was only slightly less among evangelicals (61%).

What this means is that a growing number of people are essentially their own theologian or pastor.

It is therefore no surprise that many Americans, even evangelical Christians, are embracing a motley and contradictory body of beliefs.

While this is a funny story.

There is also a serious side to this.

God allows things that are often used to get our attention.

When we read our Bibles, there is much that we miss.

We need to learn to get back to what I call the “naked unfiltered Bible”.

We need to learn to read our bibles again for the first time.

And I have resolved that I am no longer going to protect people from their bibles.

And if the church will start learning to think biblically and theologically.

We may not reverse the course of the culture (although that has happened in history), we can at the very least be a voice of clarity.

And learn to speak with clarity on things.

So this message maybe a hard one to take in.

But the role of the HS is conviction not comprehension.

But I think it speaks to both men (and that will be the primary focus of the message today) But also to women (man Sunday) and us at the church in term of what we are called to be.

Therefore, when we do read our Bibles, there is often much that we miss.

We need to learn to get back to what I call the “naked unfiltered Bible”.

We need to learn to read our bibles again for the first time.

And I have resolved that I am no longer going to protect people from their bibles.

And if the church will start learning to think biblically and theologically.

We may not reverse the course of the culture (although that has happened in history), we can at the very least be a voice of clarity.

And learn to speak with clarity on things.

So this message maybe a hard one to take in.

It has been a hard one to write and deliver.

But the role of the HS is conviction not comprehension.

But I think it speaks to both men (and that will be the primary focus of the message today) But also to women (man Sunday) and us at the church in terms of what we are called to be.

she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

WTherefore,

When we read our Bibles, there is much that we miss.

We need to learn to get back to what I call the “naked unfiltered Bible”.

We need to learn to read our bibles again for the first time.

And I have resolved that I am no longer going to protect people from their bibles.

And if the church will start learning to think biblically and theologically.

We may not reverse the course of the culture (although that has happened in history), we can at the very least be a voice of clarity.

And learn to speak with clarity on things.

So this message maybe a hard one to take in.

But the role of the HS is conviction not comprehension.

But I think it speaks to both men (and that will be the primary focus of the message today) But also to women (man Sunday) and us at the church in term of what we are called to be.

So what does that have to do with the verses we just read?

Tradition seems to have always taught, and I had always assumed, that Eve was alone when the serpent approached her.

This scenario, embraced by many Bible teachers, assumes that after she was deceived and had eaten some of the fruit she then went in search of Adam to induce him to share in her sin by eating some of the fruit.

When you look at the original language….

The Word of God is quite precise in stating the case that Adam was actually present when the serpent tempted Eve.

“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, (imah) and he ate” [].

What is not apparent in various English translations, but is obvious in the original account, is that the serpent employed the plural throughout his seduction indicating that Adam was both present and silently permitting this seduction to proceed.

Think of that!

Adam was with Eve when she was tempted by the serpent!

That should blow away all our categories.

Paul asserts that the woman was deceived []; and we draw conclusions which are unwarranted from that knowledge.

We tend to blame Eve for getting us all into this present mess, even though we know that technically Adam was responsible.

But what if Adam was standing right there the whole time that Eve was talking to the serpent?

This knowledge sheds new light on just how responsible Adam was for what happened.

It gives us insight into the responsibility men bear before God.

This puts a whole new twist on .

What does this say to us about not doing anything when we are not sure exactly what we should do or say?

It sure makes inactivity look more sinful to me.

If Adam was there, then why didn’t he say something?

Why didn’t he tell the serpent to get lost?

Why didn’t he correct Eve when she misquoted the command not to eat of the tree?

Why didn’t he suggest they go somewhere else to talk about the situation?

Why didn’t he stop Eve when she reached for the fruit?

Why was Adam silent?

Though I’m not going to answer that right now, I think the answer will become obvious as we work through several concepts.

Anyone who has raised children.

Knows that this isn’t that surprising.