God's purpose is Enough

“God’s purpose for His creation gets twisted when Satan enters the garden.”

Genesis 3:1–13 ESV

1 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. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

NOTE: Everything that God has done up to this point is good. After every creative work it is deemed good by God. The garden of Eden was a place of beauty, a place of amazing bounty, and a place that was unmarred by the crippling and polluting effects of sin. It was the birth place of marital intimacy between a husband and his wife and intimacy with the creator of the universe. Everything say’s that God, was “good.” He is good in his essence, good in his purpose, and good in his glory.

“If Genesis 1-2 was paradise then Genesis 3 is the loss of paradise.”

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

PROBLEM WITH THE TEXT

Adam and Eve already had an understanding of “good and evil” Eve was fully aware that she should not eat of the tree before she took the fruit.

Adam and Eve are already made in the image of God so why would their eyes be opened and to be like God?

What kind of dad sets up their kids for failure. “You can do whatever you want but don’t touch this tree.”

Adam called Eve woman at the beginning of creation then after the fall he gives her the name Eve.

Of all the things that could have happened after eating of the tree is the realization that they are naked.

God’s first question to man was “who told you that you were naked?”

NOTE: Hebrew Naked (Arowm) Nakedness (Erowm) Crafty (Eruwm) all of these are derived from the same root base they are almost indistinguishable.

El-SHADDAI: Rabbis have looked at the consonants of the word and have purposed that it means “The God who knows when to say enough.” “The God who has the power to achieve his purposes.”

BIG IDEA: We need to know when to say Enough.

1. DISTORTING GOD’S WORD LEADS TO DOUBT AND CONFUSION

Satan’s strategy is to get us to doubt the reliability of God and His word.

When he first put him in the midst of the garden. Whether the man actually relayed to Eve exactly what God had said and Eve changed the narrative or the man gave Eve a false narrative we do not know. God had instructed Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge good and evil, because on the day he ate of this one special tree he would surely die. First, Eve put’s the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden, and she adds that she cannot even touch the tree or she will die.

Notice that the snake is walking talking and reasoning. (notice the emphasis)

“Did God really say that you must not eat from any tree in the garden”

Illustration

Landon comes to me and tells me......................

“Joe came to me yesterday and said that he really wants to become a vegan”

Did Joe really say that?

Satan’s strategy is to get us to doubt the Goodness of God and His word.

Even though Eve got the gist or main idea of the command, Satan used it to his advantage by asking the question, “Did God actually say, ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden.’” “Are you sure you heard God right?” Notice how Satan is baiting Eve. The goal of Satan is to get humanity to doubt God and his goodness.

A Character Assassination on God

Of course God had not forbidden Adam and Eve to eat of the other trees in the garden. Adam and Eve were free to eat from all of the other trees in the garden. Satan takes one small restriction placed on us for our good and gets us to doubt the character of God. God is always trying to spoil your fun. What is the matter with such a small sin? Doesn’t God want me to be happy and to enjoy life?

2. Distorting God’s word leads to denying the Judgment of God.

Satan’s strategy is to get us to sooth our own conscience

The devil said to Eve in 3:4 Sin isn’t that big a deal, the devil tells us. “OK, god said don’t eat from the tree. But come on now, do you really think that he is going to kill you over such a small thing. God ahead, you know he will forgive you. We know that God hates sin and the devil has been and always will be a liar, for “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23)

Most people in culture today do not want to think about the Judgement of God on the world. The problem is not so much the prospect of judgement as the prospect that some people will receive a verdict of eternal condemnation. The question most people wrestle with is how can the idea of eternal punishment be reconciled with the love of God.

How can people be happy in heaven if they know that some are imprisoned in hell? Why should God reject as worthless people those who have lived good lives? Would it not be a defeat for God if some human beings fail ultimately to find a place in his kingdom? Would it not be unfair of God to condemn people who have not had adequate opportunities to understand and respond to Christ.

Before you try and wrap your head around the problem of judgement let’s consider what it would be like if there were not judgement. In the Ancient Near East they wonder how God can be just when the righteous suffered at the hands of the wicked. Job and Ecclesiastes wrestle with this same problem.

UNDERSTANDING GODS JUDGMENT ON HIS CREATION

1) By the choices we make

Romans 1:18–19 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

There is a crucial factor to judgement in the New Testament’s description of judgement which men bring on themselves in the present. It is not final. This Godlessness is experienced so long as people refuse to repent and enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:19f ESV

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

Note these are the choices we make, by the way we respond when confronted with his gospel, we bring judgement on ourselves.

2) We must all be judged.

2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

All people will be judged. He is coming to judge the living and the dead. When Christ comes finally to make all things new he is bringing with Him the just and righteous judgement on men’s lives.

Is God’s judgement fair. In many peoples minds, fairness is everyone receiving exactly what he or she things they deserve. Of God were completely “fair”, by this definition, we would all spend eternity in hell paying for our sin, which is exactly what we deserve. We have ll sinned against God and are therefore worthy of eternal death. The Grace of God is that He does not give us what we deserve which is death. He could have killed Adam and Eve right there and then, however, he showed them grace.

The synonym used for fair in the Bible is Just, and yes God is unequivocally just.

Romans 9:14 ESV

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!

3. Distorting God’s word leads to Beautifying sin.

Satan’s strategy is to get us to see sin as freeing not enslaving.

“God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” Satan said that the forbidden fruit is actually the missing element of truth. Satan was actually convincing Eve that sin would actually enable liberation and self-actualization. Satan is still telling the same lies today: “Go ahead and separate from your wife. You will finally be free. Go ahead and take out your frustrations, you will feel much better. God ahead and vent your anger towards God.” All lies.

FRUIT: Notice that the first sin begins with the forbidden fruit then God turns the narrative to give us the fruit of the spirit. What is the last fruit mentioned in Galatians 5? Self-Control the very thing that separates us from the rest of God’s creation.

Satan’s strategy is to get us to act like animals not images of God.

Desire is the defining marker of the story. Satan’s lie to Eve tells her you are just a beast, you have these desires that need to be acted on in order to be happy. You will never see a deer pass on food and say, you know I need to shed a few pounds and pass on this meal. The difference between humanity and the rest of creation is that we have the ability to say Enough. God’s purpose for me is good enough.

Note: This whole story is what it means to be human. What does it mean to be made in the image of God?

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

NOTE: “Where are you” where is this thing, Hebrew word that assumes something should be where you put it. “God saying Adam and Eve you are not where you are supposed to be.” Adam’s response, well we were naked and afraid, “Who told you that you were naked, this was never a problem before.” The bigger question that God was asking is what other voices have you been listening to that have told you to be ashamed of God’s purpose for His creation.

Satan’s strategy is to get us to leave our first love.

Revelation 2:4 ESV

4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

The Church at Ephesus had great orthodoxy, but they had lost their first love for Jesus. They showed up for Bible study and debated the heretics, but lost their pure love and zeal for the Lord. They stood against evil in their midst, but tolerated a sluggish love towards God and each other.

REMEMBER: We must remember when God first awakened our soul. It happens as a slow fade when we take up other idols in our life. For Eve it was the prospect of God keeping some greater knowledge from her and her husband. It was the prospect of freedom. Did you once run to prayer not to take your spiritual dose of medicine, but because your Great Love waited there for you? It’s much they way you experience your first romance.

REPENT: Do you daily go before the throne of God and repent or do you see yourself as basically good, and have everything in control. How did the slow fade start for Adam and Eve. We do not know how long the process took for Eve to begin to build up idols in her heart and doubt the goodness of God. The beauty of our relationship with Him begins to be replaced with naval gazing at ourselves as being in the righteous right position. Remember there is no one righteous not one.

RETURN: God’s call is for us to return to where we once fell. He does not call us to make up for lost time and be a mile ahead of where we used to be. He calls us back to that fresh fire of love towards him and neighbor. It is a call to action It is a call to return to the habits of grace. It is a command to keep ourselves in the Love of God.

Jude 21 ESV

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Here is the Problem:

Brad Bigney “Gospel Treason”

We are trapped and deceived and continue to make ourselves miserable because we have made a functional god of something or someone other than the one true living God, which leads to misery and chaos every time. The difficulty with the battle is that we do not recognize the idolatry we have brought into the relationship.

We recognize the misery and the chaos, so we ramp up the prayers and usually the complaining but after a while, when we are still miserable, we start to doubt God’s faithfulness and the power of prayer because he is not helping to get us what we want.

But unlike us God sees perfectly. We do not see that what we are asking God to give us is an idol but he does. He sees that we have shifted from the gospel and our Savior as our sole source of joy and purpose. God will not help you to chase after your idols, not matter how just you think it is.

Isaiah 42:8 ESV

8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

Note: Idolatry is a life long battle that you will face. Be careful that you do not think, “great this is the day I slay the idols of my heart and all is good.” We all continually have the propensity to go back to the tree and desire to eat the forbidden fruit.

THE GOOD NEWS: But here is the good news.

“God allows joylessness to snap us out of treating him as a hobby.”

You can have a sweet relationship with God in Christ again. He has given you more breath so that you might use it to seek him, cry out to him, wait on him.

Here is where many of us get stuck. We tend to deflect and take ownership for our own failures. We live in a culture today that loves to deflect rarely takes ownership for our own actions. Look at 3:11-13 it is interesting that the first question God asks Adam and Eve is “who told you that you were naked.” Now nakedness is going to be a theme throughout the rest of scripture to describe our shame before a Holy God.

Basically God is saying up to this point in our relationship being naked had never been a problem before now. What has changed in the relationship. The deflection comes on the second question by God that he already knew the answer to, “have you eaten of the tree that I have instructed you not to eat.” The response that Adam and Eve give to God is the first time we see the deceptiveness of man’s heart that seeks to hide the darkness of their heart from God.

Think of the first time your child became deceptive, or tried to hide something they were doing that they knew to be wrong. Where did this knowledge come from? How did they know it was wrong. The effects of the fall and deceptiveness of man’s heart is bent towards evil all the time.

Isaiah 53:6 ESV

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

CLOSING

God cries out to us today from the depth of the garden, “Where are you?” “What voices are you listening to?” “Who told you that you were naked.”