The Deceiver & the Deception

This week schemes, plans and intentions have been in the news.

A year ago, the NFL had figured out that a weak offensive line made Patrick Mahomes vulnerable and 2 deep safeties limited Tyreek Hills speed from connecting with long passes. Last year the Chiefs’ front office invested in strengthening the line. This year salary cap realities means a shuffling of personnel throughout the league and teams are forced to plan for different playbooks in the fall.

Meanwhile, half a world away reports are filed daily about the maneuvering of troops and weapons, which we are reminded is “straight from the Russian playbook.” Which prompted leaders to pre-emptively meet and strategize against the next page of the playbook.

Schemes are not just an element of sports and world news. Schemes and plans are part of our spiritual conflicts.

Ephesians 6:12 reminds that people are not our enemies, but the plans that they and the invisible spiritual forces devise.

As early as Job 5:13, which occurred about the same time as Abraham entered covenant with God, we read of the schemes of evil men as being wily. Wily is defined as wrestling or to play a trick. Some people wrestle “dirty” (tricksters) and others wrestle well by exploiting the weaknesses of the opponent.

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and our New Testament, we can study the schemes of evil men.

Psalm 37:7 ESV:2016

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Ephesians 4:14 ESV:2016

14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Additionally, by the time of our New Testament these evil schemes had been connected to one person who is completely evil. Evil personified in our minds is wrapped up in the person we know as Satan or the Devil. We read of his schemes in places like…

2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV:2016

11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Ephesians 6:11 ESV:2016

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

While we quickly identify the serpent with evil personified in Satan, that mindset would not have been the first though for the Hebrews first receiving Moses’ Torah. And it SURELY was not the perspective of Eve.

Up until this point she had never encountered evil or deception or what we would call a lie. Everything she had ever experienced had been deemed by God to be good or very good.

If all you have ever tasted has been good, you wouldn’t even consider that something mom puts in front of you might be unpleasant. But the first time my mom offered Liver and Onions, I quickly learned that it is possible for mom to put something in front of me that would not be pleasant. This made me forever suspicious, and when she tried to offer calf brains, that was a hard “no” without ever crossing my lips.

We all have been disappointed or hurt by others and we have seen such wide examples of evil that it is not difficult for us to consider a person to be completely wicked. So seeing Satan in the serpent is intuitive for us, and is totally consistent with truth later revealed in Scripture!

But thinking historically, Moses’ audience would have recognized evil as rampant in many different people and religious. Eve had never seen a talking snake that we know of, but she had not seen all the snakes so it would be plausible that one could talk. Eve had never seen evil so the possibility that this creature may be saying something that could be harmful was also outside of her frame of reference.

My premise is that the Devil did not force Eve to sin or even introduce a new temptation, but he merely brought to the surface weakness that was already present.

Next week, Lord Willing, we will see how sinners try to blame others. But today I want us to be open to the idea that apart from Christ, every one of us has the same tendencies as Eve and would do the exact same thing: Substitute our judgment for God’s.

Transition: Temptation for us may not involve snakes and fruit, but every one of us is vulnerable to deception.

Contrary Proposals: Doubt & Denial (3:1-5)

External Influence (John 8:44, Rev 20:2)

1. The serpent is described as more crafty than any other beast.

I despise snakes of every variety. I know there are snakes that eat mice, which many consider a nuisance. But I do NOT want to see either the mouse or the snake! One thing I have learned is that a snake strike can be sudden. When the beast seems disinterested, he can strike in many directions. When the animal is coiled he may appear to only be able to strike a short distance, but if he uncoiled in that strike, his venom may reach much further than thought.

2. This word crafty is not always a negative quality. Jesus told his own disciples in Mt 10:16

Matthew 10:16 ESV:2016

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

a. Every outdoorsman learns to use camouflage. The hook has to be camouflaged as bait. The hunter must not be visible in the reeds as the ducks approach or in the thicket as the Tom or Buck draws near. Snakes have also been granted significant camouflage abilities.

b. Wicked or evil enticements often use this same camouflage—appearing to be pleasant, with a dangerous follow-up. Drugs offer the enticement of limiting anxiety, then addiction. Alcohol offers a merry spirit, then hangover. Sex apart from marriage promises good feelings, but generally ruins good relationships or prolongs bad ones.

3. By Jesus’ day evil had been personified and this external influence is named Satan or the Devil

John 8:44 ESV:2016

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Revelation 20:2 ESV:2016

2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

4. In today’s text, the serpent asks questions that get Eve to reveal her own thoughts, then he manipulates her thoughts.

5. Eat/touch is eve’s exaggeration (v.3)

6. Surely die was Satan’s addition. (v.4)

Transition: These additions and exaggerations are amplified by the voices in Eve’s mind.

Internal Voices

1. God cannot be trusted – Satan’s proposal

2. God is withholding something good – Satan’s implication

3. God is not good – Eve’s conclusion

4. As these internal voices broadcast on the public address system of Eve’s mind, she encounters doubt and the denial that God knows best.

Transition: From the messy attic of Eve’s internal musings, she discovers a hidden treasure, a treasure that is standard equipment in the human psyche.

The Problem of Humanity: Desire (v.6)

Sometimes we desire the wrong things and sometimes we desire good things at the wrong times.

Malicious Desires

1. Until now God has been the arbiter of good. If He judges anything to be good, it is good.

2. Eve convinces herself that the ability to discern for herself what is good and what might be “not good”, was a desirable quality.

How many parents here ever had a child with a boyfriend/girlfriend whom you did not approve? Perhaps your child was just lacked the maturity for a healthy relationship—what he she was seeking in a special friend was not what lasts. Perhaps you had that intuition that this is not going to end well and you wanted to preserve your baby from that pain. But your child insisted, “it is better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all. So apart from your blessing or better judgment, the relationship sprouted, soured and ended with unnecessary pain.

3. The same happens when we go into debt thinking this trinket will make us happy, until the payments become unwieldy. The business opportunity makes promises until we are left with a garage full of make-up, cookware, or supplements. The for-profit “school” promises a career, but 2 years later all you can show is tuition payments.

4. We should never underestimate our own ability to convince ourselves that something is good, without the counsel of others.

Mis-timed Desires

1. Many have asked why God created The Tree of knowledge of good and evil if He was only going to prohibit it.

2. It may eventually have been a good addition to their diet.

3. I deduce that God wanted them to learn to discern good from evil by dwelling in relationship and fellowship with Him.

4. In Jesus’ temptation, Satan enticed Jesus to obtain worship by taking a shortcut around obedience.

· Some have pointed out that a car can be a very useful item, but we don’t give them to 12-year-olds. · A gun can be a very useful item, but we don’t give them to 5-year-olds. · Sexuality is a beautiful gift within marriage, but before/ outside of marriage creates manipulation, shame, and unintended consequences. · I know this is a dated illustration, but How many teens thought Joe Camel or the Marlboro Man were cool pursuits, but didn’t have the ability to correctly think about addiction.

Transition: Our doubts about God’s goodness paired with malicious or mis-timed human desire leads to a destructive product.

The Product of Arrogance: Disobedience (v.6d-7)

· Disobedience has 2 faces.

Willful disobedience

· Every single person in this room or watching online can truthfully admit that we have chosen to substitute our desires for the commandments of God.

Caleb – Pots and Pans is learned by imitation. I watched as Dad instructed Caleb to leave the drawer closed, and with his eyes squarely set on Dad’s face, he smirked as he pulled on the drawer. Without any anger or malice on dad’s part, action was taken to communicate with Caleb that willful disobedience is not acceptable. · Dog training – sit is a preventative, positive command · Huge Snake on a branch Illustration

Passive disobedience (Numbers 30:6-8)

Her husband who was with her, and he ate.

A phrase that can be traced to an ancient Latin proverb has become prevalent in the era of social media. “silence is complicity”. We are expected to state an opinion on events before allowing all the facts to emerge.

Sometimes delaying judgment is wise, but Adam ended that option when he ate!

Adam kept silent during the temptation, and in so doing he gave a certain degree of “tacit approval”[i]

While Americans may not be able to define what makes a she a “she” or a marriage a “marriage” Ancient Jewish law gave veto rights to a husband if his wife entered a contract.

Numbers 30:6–8 ESV:2016

6 “If she marries a husband, while under her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, 7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. 8 But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. And the Lord will forgive her.

Conclusion: We live in a world where God has indicted sinners, but individuals choose to substitute their own judgement for the discernment of God.

What God calls arrogance, rebellion and disobedience, many choose to deny as sin or minimize the consequence.

To this day in our own county people choose to doubt what God has said and substitute their own sense of reward or punishment.

God has said ALL have sinned and fall short. And the wages of that sin is DEATH (or separation from God). But kind and generous good, old boys refuse to accept what God has said.

We must listen to the voice of Truth!

Truth says that man IS guilty, but God provides a remedy for all who will place their trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus as full payment for their sin.

This gift of salvation is our reason for celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

Song of Response #252.... “Sweet, Sweet Spirit”

Benediction: Revelation 22:21 (ESV) — The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

[i]Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham, eds., “Genesis,” in The Moody Bible Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 46.