Sermon Tone Analysis

Genesis 3:1‑7

!! Religious Lies

 

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

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erhaps we are fortunate that here in Dawson Creek we are relatively isolated and do not have access to “Christian” radio or television.

Discounting the Vision Channel (which though religious is certainly not Christian), was “Christian” radio available to us we would participate in the modern phenomenon of finding ourselves inundated with the latest heresies parading under the guise of the Faith.

Mass media of this day has become the great forum in which every deviant voice clamours for acceptance among a gullible populace.

Among modern heresies which have found acceptance in the minds of surprising numbers of Christians (even within evangelical churches) is one grave error which is at least as old as the serpent in the Garden—Word Faith.

Word Faith was first promoted in modern time by E. W. Kenyon.

Kenneth Hagin of Tulsa, Oklahoma plagiarised Kenyon extensively and in turn influenced a generation of younger advocates of this strange religion including his son, Kenneth Hagin, Jr.  Today we have Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Charles Capps, Robert Tilton, Paul and Jan Crouch and Frederick K. C. Price advancing the movement known as Word Faith.

Others advance the concept without directly aligning themselves with the movement, including such media luminaries as Oral and Richard Roberts, Paul Yonggi Cho, Benny Hinn, and Pat Robertson.

At its heart this movement advocates that man can be god.

Ultimately, following the tenets of this perversion of the Faith, adherents arrive at a position that they believe that they have the power of God.

They become convinced that what they say they receive.

This peculiar belief account for the descriptive name which many have applied to this movement of *Name it and Claim it*.

Some, speaking derisively, have said that the movement is best described as *Spit it and Get it* or *Blab it and Grab it*.

In this movement God is reduced to a servant of the man who is supposed to have discovered the secret of power through the spoken word.

The individual who has faith in faith can command the Living God to do his bidding, and the Lord God is powerless to do other than what the man wills.

The perceptive among us will recognise that this is essentially Gnosticism redivivus, which was in turn nothing less than a recrudescence of the revolt against God which the serpent initiated in the Garden when he seduced Mother Eve.

God knows that … you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

This was, of course, the subtle lie that Mother Eve accepted when it was presented by the serpent.

You will be like God.

All that the serpent had said to this point only served to incite open rebellion when this bold-faced lie was seized upon as something desirable.

To this day the essence of sin is the desire of man to replace God with “self” on the throne of life.

If God can be reduced to a set of rules and Himself be controlled through knowledge of those rules, then man becomes powerful beyond all imagination.

To think that I am master of my own life is the ultimate act of rebellion against the rule of the Living God.

Examine with me the satanic lies presented by the serpent, especially as they are dressed in modern garb in the damning movement of Word Faith.

You Will Not Surely Die.

We don’t know how the serpent obtained access to Eve without generating a response from Adam, though we have previously considered the impact of his failure to speak despite being present.

What is apparent from the divine account is that Satan did not address the man.

This should not be taken as meaning that men are not susceptible to temptation nor that men are divinely preserved.

We do know that God has said that woman is the weaker vessel [*1 Peter 3:7, nasv*].

This statement is not designed to insult women, but it exists to provide a warning.

Women appear more spiritually perceptive, more spiritually sensitive and even more astute in spiritual matters.

This heightened sensitivity brings with it a liability to deception.

Because of woman’s greater spiritual sensitivity she is also more readily deceived.

Thus, just as the tendency of man is to be silent and to invite ever-greater chaos, so woman’s tendency is to hearken to the voice of the spiritual seducer.

In what must be an abbreviated précis the Word of God notes that Satan raised the issue of God’s sole commandment issued to the couple in the Garden.

With this opening question *Satan questioned God’s goodness*.

Surrounding the couple were all sorts of fruit trees and Satan implied that God had said they could not eat from any of His fruit trees.

If God indeed had issued such a proscription He could not be good.

Of course we saw earlier that God had said quite the opposite from what Satan implied.

God blessed them [*Genesis 1:28*], and part of that blessing was the gracious permission which is recorded in *Genesis 1:29,30*.

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.

They will be yours for food.

And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.”

And it was so.

Were this gracious provision somehow insufficient, God had later said to the man you are free to eat from any tree in the garden [*Genesis** 2:16b*].

The beauty of the Garden was man’s to enjoy.

Just so, the bounty of the Garden was likewise man’s for his enjoyment.

God is not stinting in His provision.

God is good and gracious and gives richly to all who will receive His goodness.

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous [*Matthew** 5:45b*].

*The serpent questioned God’s fairness*.

The tenor of the question is incredulity.

Did God really say…?

The implication is that it is unjust for God to make such bounty and then keep man from enjoying His bounty.

Of course, God did not such thing.

Had God proscribed eating of the fruit of the trees, however, it would have been just since He is Creator.

Nevertheless, God is gracious to all He has made.

In the Psalms is a beautiful Psalm which speaks particularly of God’s grace and goodness.

The LORD is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and rich in love.

The LORD is good to all;

he has compassion on all he has made.

The eyes of all look to you,

and you give them their food at the proper time.

You open your hand

and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

[*Psalm 145:8,9,15,16*]

 

The woman responded to these opening remarks by supplying her own, unique assessment of God’s command.

We cannot know what was in her mind when she interpolated what God had said.

Perhaps she was trying to strengthen the Word of God, but she should have known that the Word of God cannot be broken.

God’s Word stands secure forever, and we can neither add to it nor subtract from it.

Thus Eve made a tragic and basic blunder when she tried to make the Word of God stronger still.

The woman’s attempt to strengthen God’s Word provided just the opening the serpent sought and he took skilful advantage of her error.

Don’t move through the account so fast that you fail to note the danger of adding to the Word of God.

That was the primary error of Mother Eve.

She agreed that they were not to eat of the tree, but she added the prohibition that neither could they touch the fruit.

Of course, God had said no such thing.

Touching or not touching was a neutral issue, but it provided the serpent with opportunity to question God’s truthfulness and accuracy.

I must pause for a moment to caution that we are each prone to do this very thing.

God condemns drunkenness, and we censure anyone who drinks alcoholic beverage.

Frankly, I think that alcohol is an exceptionally poor beverage.

Clearly it is the source of multiplied heartaches in this fallen world.

The one providing alcohol is condemned in Scripture [see *Habakkuk 2:15*], and that in itself should be enough to give Christians pause before purchasing liquor or beer.

According to the Wise Man,

 

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;

whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

[*Proverbs 20:1*]

 

The intent of a passage such as *Proverbs 31:4-7* seems clearly to serve as a cautionary note for those who bear responsibility over others to avoid wine and beer.

I would assume that likewise liquor should also be avoided if we wish to exercise wisdom in any oversight with which we may be charged, whether secular or sacred.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel—