Temptation

Genesis 3 The Temptation Introduction: The sudden and unexplained arrival of a cunning serpent presents a challenge of immense importance to the human couple. Their choice is to disregard God’s instructions, an act of willful rebellion that has terrible consequences for the whole creation. As a result, God’s creation is thrown into disorder, with chaotic effects which disrupt all the harmonious relationships that God had previously established. We’ve been studying the subject of the fall for the last few weeks focusing on the devastating affects it has had on God’s creation. I think it is important for us to see how this unfolded and what exactly it was that caused Eve and her husband Adam to rebel against God and doubt his goodness and love for them. The account of the temptation of Adam and Eve seems to be a pattern or a picture repeated throughout scripture. That picture is of God intending good for his people but his people being weak in regards to their faith in him therefore keeping themselves back from the great blessing God has for them as they continue to seek him and place their trust in him. Eve’s temptation was the first but it wasn’t the last. Temptation plagues everyone one of us. We are constantly being tempted by that same serpent, the devil. He’s very crafty and he plays upon our natural desires turning them into gods of sort, that are to be sought after and worshipped. Whether it is in the area of pride, self righteousness, covetousness or sexual immorality, dishonesty, theft, anger, hatred, self gratification through drugs and alcohol, or greed. 1. The Tempter - the serpent, the devil. a. The serpent is a remarkable illustration of temptation: subtle, fascinating, approaching noiselessly and with an appearance of harmlessness which throws us off our guard. 2. The first phase of the attack- subtle. a. The serpent’s initial question sounds quite harmless, although he deliberately misquotes God as saying that the couple must not eat of any tree in the garden. He puts the command of God in a negative light, portraying God as essentially prohibitive. b. God had said that the man and woman, “may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” c. The serpent twist God’s word and ignores God’s good gifts of plenty of food. He makes God’s command sound unreasonable. Casting doubt on God’s goodness. i. The devil seeks to do the same thing with us. The nature of his temptations are to come between us and God. He seeks to portray God as a kill joy or to portray him as prohibitive, as if God is keeping us from what God knows will truly please and satisfy us. He seeks to cast doubt on God’s benevolence and particularly his care for us as his people. d. The woman answered, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 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.’ ” i. Eve over corrects the statement, magnifying God’s strictness. 1. God never said anything about touching the tree. a. This is important for us to note, on the one hand, fearing even to touch, the woman, will be less likely to eat; on the other hand, should touching produce nothing, the woman will then be encouraged to eat. e. Eve’s first mistake was tactical. She should have never answered the serpent. She should have silenced the Serpent or ignored his questions. i. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. ii. When the devil attacks us with thoughts of doubt about God’s goodness and love we simply reject those thoughts and make them our prisoners. 1. The big mistake is to enter into dialogue with the devil, he is very crafty, he knows human nature well, and he is also able to twist the scriptures. If he can get us to linger at temptation, he can get us to succumb. He must simply be resisted! a. 1 Peter 5:8-9 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith” b. James says, the same thing. Resist the devil and he will flee from you! i. But if he can find a listening ear he will linger, therefore he must be ignored, and resisted! 3. The second phase of the attack- blatant, aggressive. a. He says, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” i. Now that the serpent has Eve dialoguing with him he can launch his full attack! ii. The serpent cast aside his subtlety and flat out contradicts God calling God a liar! iii. Now it is the serpent’s word against God’s. 1. Notice, the first doctrine to be denied in the history of the world is divine judgment. iv. The serpent accuses God of being selfish and self-preserving. 1. He suggest that God has not been generous with them, creating them only in his image. They can do much better they can be "like God." It's as if God made them blind. But if they eat of the tree they can be like God and judge for themselves what is good and what is evil. 2. The Serpent’s statements are a direct challenge to the theme of the narrative of chapters 1 and 2: God will provide the “good” for human beings if they will only trust and obey him. v. The serpent has done what he came to do. He has put a barrier, a seed of distrust between the woman and her creator. Now he steps back and allows the woman’s own desires to have their way. 4. The three snares. a. The desires of the flesh - she saw that the tree was good for food b. The desires of the eyes - that it was a delight to the eyes. c. The pride in possessions - and it was desirable to make one wise 5. The Sin of Eve and the Sin of her children. a. Eve listened to the creature rather than the Creator. Eve’s sin is not only disobedience of God’s command, but her sin is the sin of self fulfillment. Taking for herself what God had prohibited. i. God had forbidden Adam and Eve from eating of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil, because God is the one who desires to give to Adam and Eve, his beloved creatures that are made in his image, the knowledge of good and evil. b. God treats Israel exactly the same Deuteronomy 4:32-40 Deuteronomy 8 God tells the nation to listen to his voice, to remember him and his mighty works, to keep his commandments, and to not imitate the surrounding nations, God says, as you do this I will bless you. As you do this you will experience the good. c. This is the same thing that God has done with his church, he tells us, to listen to his voice, to not imitate the world, to not love the world, to not listen to the world, or hold the wisdom of the world highly. He wants us to look to him, to imitate him, to seek him for wisdom and understanding. d. Now, we follow the pattern of Adam and Eve every time we sin. We choose to believe something else rather than God's word. We believe that God is holding something, some good thing back from us, and so instead of waiting patiently for the Lord to bring about these things in our life, we take them for ourselves. e. Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” i. The reason we sin and fulfill our own lust (desires) is because we do not believe God’s goodness to be what he declares it to be and we do not believe his word. 6. Jesus and temptation a. The Devil tempted Jesus in the same way. Yet Jesus was not in a garden, he was in the wilderness, Jesus was not surrounded by the many fruitful trees of the garden of Eden, but he was hungry having fasted for forty days. It was at this time when he was weak and hungry that the devil came to tempt him. b. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” i. Notice, he is casting doubt on the word of God. Jesus has just come from his baptism where the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. c. Jesus answers, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” i. Jesus is showing that he trust the Father, that he depends upon the Father. ii. He shows that he holds God’s word to be the final authority and the word that he is to live by. d. The devil again seeks to cast doubt on God’s word saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, (then he quotes scripture) for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” e. Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” f. “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” The devil has cast aside all subtlety once again and shows what he’s really after. - Worship g. Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” i. This passage shows us that to yield to the devil’s temptation is actually to worship him. It is to obey or yield to his word rather than the word of God. 1. It’s a worship issue Conclusion: When it comes to temptation we must look to Jesus as our example. Jesus did Two Things: 1. Jesus Submitted to God. a. We must have the “Mind of Christ”! And the mind of Christ is imparted to us by the Spirit of God. We must be in dwelt with the spirit of Christ. b. The “Mind of Christ” is displayed for us most clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane and in the 2 chapter of Philippians. i. In the garden, before Jesus was going to the cross, he prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” ii. Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 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. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” iii. Both passages show Christ mind to be set on submission to the Father. iv. He knows the Father, he knows how much the Father loves him and he knows the good things the Father has in store for him as he submits to his will. v. Likewise for us, the main way we overcome temptation I believe is by knowing who God is and what He’s done. If we really understand the character of God, we know that he is benevolent, one who desires to give good gifts to his children, a God of compassion and mercy, the God who “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” 2. We must stand upon the scriptures as the final authority for our lives. What God’s word says, we will obey. We should disregard whatever our flesh, the world or the devil might tell us and tempt us to do.