Genesis 3-1

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all having a blessed day this morning! I know I am…Right now we want to welcome our kids back to their teacher and they will get to learn and grow in their own discipleship…I love our teachers that dedicate their time to be able to teach the amazing kids of LRBC. I also want to welcome those of you that are joining us online on our podcast. We do have our podcast available on Google, Apple, and Spotify every singe week. While we are so grateful that the technology exists to enable us include you as part of our extended spiritual family, we would love to have you join us in person as part of our spiritual family here in Ogle County.

We have some pretty cool things going on over the next few months…I am really excited becuase we get to be right in the middle of this epic story that has been going on for centuries. This morning we get to read about the event that started everything…the moment that changed all of history and all of eternity. Today we get to read about the first strike in a war that has been waging on since the beginning of time. I hope I have hyped this up enough for you this morning becuase this is a fascinating story, if you realize the importance of what is really happening.

We are continuing on our series called, Genesis: back to the beginning where we are looking back at the beginning of everything. I mean, this morning we ar going to see a little bit of a twist in this amazing paradise that God has created for Adam and Eve. If you remember in Genesis 1 we saw the creation of everything. We saw the Earth, we saw the universe, we saw land and water and eventually we saw the creation of mankind. Then in Genesis 2 we focused in on the creation of paradise and why God placed Adam and Eve in paradise. We saw that God gave them everything…that there was literally nothing they wanted that they could not have.

When we read Genesis 2 we could see that God created man to work, to worship, and for community with other people. Remember God said it is not good for man to be alone. We also saw that the freedom Adam was given without the prohibition, or forbidding of something was a bit meaningless and that actually God gave Adam a place to worship by telling him he is not to eat of a particular tree. This was a very clear prohibition from God. remember in

Genesis 2:16–17 (ESV)

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

There is no confusion here between God and man…I think it is pretty clear what God’s expectations are. Have you ever had a conversation with someone and the end of that conversation you were left maybe more confused than when you started? I know I have had bosses like that. They would give me directions but after they were finished telling me what to do I was more confused than if I would have just figured it out on my own. Actually I had one boss who lived in California and I can remember flipping homes for him and he would have me send him a video and pictures of the house and then would proceed to try to tell me how to fix or repair certain things. I eventually told him to simply send the money that was needed for the project, tell me what colors he wanted and those types of things, but leave the actual work for me to get done, becuase he simply didn’t know the details of how to do the job. Maybe you have had experiences like that…This is not that. God could not have possibly been more clear than he was to Adam. There is no guessing or misunderstanding here. Adam had one job to do...

This morning we are going to be looking at a two part series for Genesis 3. This morning we are going to see how Adam puts

Paradise in Peril

Now, most of the time in a series like this you will expect a happy ending and everything get wrapped up into a pretty little package at the end of the story. However, remember that I said we are going to see the beginning of a war that has been waging since the beginning and will continue until the very end. You see, without Genesis 3 there would be no Scripture. There would be no need for the Bible, Jesus’ death would be meaningless. Why? Because all of the rest of Scripture deal with the aftermath of Genesis 3. All of the rest of Scripture shows us the consequence of Adam’s actions right here in Genesis 3. If you slow down and genuinely think about what is about to happen you will be able to better understand the rest of Scripture. You see, this passage that we are looking at this morning is that important...

Genesis 3 is not a myth as is told by some various religions. As I said, if these events did not happen, then the Christian faith is built on fables and tall tales, not fact. If these events did not occur then Jesus Christ did not need to suffer, which history and archeology tells us he did. From this moment until Revelation 21 we see this war raging between God and Satan, and we see God pleading with mankind to repent and return to the God that created everything…That is how important these events that we are going to look at today really are. Like I said, this is going to be a 2 part chapter so that we can more fully embrace what is happening here.

In order to get started though, we need to see...

The Enemy

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.—Genesis 3:1a

You know, we have seen pictures of Satan in movies, tv, books, comics, various other ways, but here we have the real deal. Here we have our first ever interaction with this enemy, and make no mistake, this is the enemy. This is where Satan makes his intentions known. Now, you should know that in this passage does not actually give us the proper name of Satan, but we do begin to see the picture of this enemy. The word “satan” occurs as a noun at various points in the Old Testament to designate a human opponent. It is translated in English Bibles as “adversary” or “enemy.” IN other words, Satan is an enemy....Satan is more than an enemy, Satan is THE enemy.

Now, in all honesty, we don’t fully understand the origin of Satan. I mean, later in Scripture we see this story about how 1/3 of the angels were swept away from the Lord, but we don’t know all of these details. What we do know is that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and there is only one who can withstand him…that one is not Adam as we will see moving forward.

So how does this all play out…What is

Satan’s Strategy

You know, if we can figure out and see Satan’s strategy here, maybe it will help us as we attempt to live a life pleasing to the Lord. So, let’s look at this together here,

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “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.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “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.” —Genesis 3b-5

So the first thing we see is that...

Satan disguised himself.

Right off the bat we see that the enemy is pretending to be something that he is not. You see, Satan is pretending to be one of God’s creations, you know one of the ones that God has already pronounced as good. Satan disguises his true character in a way that can confuse us becuase he looks so good, and right. The fact that Eve was not scared of this creature tells us that there was nothing out of the ordinary here. Maybe she thought she just hadn’t seen this one yet, but that God had given it the ability to talk. There’s nothing wrong with that. It looks right, it maybe even sounds right...

You know, Satan still works that way today. Satan routinely disguises himself in a way that looks good and looks right and you may not really see the true character at first. For instance, there are various cults all over the world that look ok, at least at first. I mean, we all think about the really famous ones like the Vicki Weaver who had dreams of the Apocalypse and took her family to Ruby Ridge, or David Koresh who claimed he was Jesus and led the Branch Davidians to a horrible death in Waco, or the Westboro Baptist Church, or even the Perfect Church right here in Oregon. However, there are many all over that are pretending to be a Biblical church that many people do not realize are false churches. For instance you have the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, you have the Jehovah’s Witness, you have the Progressive Christian church. All of these would seem like good churches with good and clean morals, however, there is something off with their teaching.

I was once told by a mentor of mine about a church that he was a part of for a short time. In this church the pastor taught what was in Scripture, and over time that pastor eventually began telling the congregation that they did not need to read their Bibles on their own. Then later he began to tell them they don’t need to read their Bibles even on Sunday, that he would pass out what they needed. Eventually this pastor was telling this congregation that they should not read their Bibles becuase only he could interpret the Scriptures and God was speaking to him personally and so he would be teaching from these new words of the Lord. This was a slow change over time and many people didn’t see what was happening becuase it all sounded…right. You see, this is the way that Satan works, he gets in and he impersonates Scripture…What this pastor did, as well as all of these others that I have named this morning, is exactly what Satan does next. You see,

Satan questioned God’s Word

Did you know that the Mormon church started becuase they did not believe that any other church was reading God’s word correctly. Then after Joseph Smith “realized” that no other church was reading Scripture right he was led to these special plates that had the rest of God’s word on it. Of course the rest of God’s word contradicts God’s original word, and we know that God is the same yesterday today and forever…so that can’t be right. This is also what the Jehovah’s Witness do. They print magazines that are the rest of God’s word’s which just so happen to add a tremendous amount of extra things to Scripture.

You see, when Satan spoke to Eve he was attacking her mind and confidence in the Word of God. Satan questioned what God said...By questioning what God said, Satan raised doubts in Eve’s mind concerning the truthfulness of God’s Word and the goodness of God’s heart. “Do you really mean that you can’t eat from every tree?” was the import of the subtle question. “If God really loved you, He would be much more generous. He’s holding out on you!” Satan wanted Eve to forget that God had said.

Satan works in the same way today…You really don’t think God would want you to be unhappy, do you…Do you really think that God meant that he forgave you, and everything you’ve done…no that forgiveness is for everyone else, but what you’ve done is kind of unforgivable. Eve responded by altering God’s word herself. If you compare you’ll see that she omitted the word “freely,” added the phrase “neither shall you touch it” , and failed to say that God “commanded” them to obey. Eve also copied the enemy further when she spoke of “God” (Elohim) and not “the Lord [Jehovah] God,” the God of the covenant. Finally, she said “lest you die”—a possibility—instead of “You shall surely die”—an actuality. So, she took from God’s Word, added to God’s Word, and changed God’s Word. We can see that she was starting to doubt God’s goodness, becuase the enemy has question God’s word. Then,

Satan denied God’s Word.

“You will not surely die”…Satan directly objects to the word of God. You see, Satan has started by looking good, and then questioning until he completely denies the word of God and substitutes his own lie as truth. Evan sat with the enemy here listening to this lie and allowing it to settle in her mind. You see, she could have reminded herself of God’s Word and left the serpent, but instead she lingered in this place of temptation. Have you ever done that? You know what is true, but you begin to convince yourself that its really not that bad and then you think about it for a little bit and then you sin…This is what Eve was faced with, and she made the wrong choices here. Satan gave Eve a very simple lie, and it is the same lie that humanity has faced ever since this moment, and it is the same lie you and I are faced with today. I love the way Warren Wiersbe says it,

What is “the lie” (singular) that has ruled civilization since the fall of man? It’s the belief that men and women can be their own god and live for the creation and not the Creator and not suffer any consequences. —Warren Wiersbe

You see, this is the lie that Eve believed, and this is the lie that Adam believed as well. We have seen the enemy’s strategy, so now we need to see,

Satan’s Success

Man this is one you really don’t want to think about isn’t it? Man was made to believe. There are only two options in any scenario…Either you believe the truth, or you believe the lie. That is it…And, if you believe the lie, then you have agreed to the consequences of that lie. This is where we find Eve now. We find her believing the lie of Satan, and now she will act upon that lie, and therefor agree to the consequences of rejecting God’s truth. Eve was disobedient, she took the fruit and ate it. However, this is a problem becuase throughout Scripture we read that Adam sinned first and brought sin to all of man. Adam brought sin into this world, so where is he in this story? Let’s read what happens here

Genesis 3:6–7 (ESV)

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. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. —Gen. 3:6-7

Well, listen men, becuase this is important. We know that Adam is the one that is said to have commited the first sin ever..so what is that sin? Where was Adam when all of this is happening? Men, this is important…Adam was with Eve. Adam was not far off in another field doing something for himself, he was right there with her. How do we know that? Vs 6, “she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” Do you remember when we discussed the creation of Adam and Eve. Do you remember the quote that we read from Matthew Henry,

“She was not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” —Matthew Henry

Adam was placed over the entire creation and was charged with naming and protecting all of creation, and then Adam named Eve, meaning that Adam accepted his role to protect her as his equal. Was Adam protecting Eve as he sat and watched her have this conversation with Satan? No, Adam at any time could have said, Eve, we need to go now…However, he chose not to do that. He choose to willfully sin and shirk his responsibility that was given to him from God. Men, let me be very clear here…You are the spiritual leaders of your home. I don’t care who does the finances, or who chooses the paint, or who makes more money…However, men…do not shirk your responsibilities of leading and protecting your family spiritually. You are the Spiritual leader of your home. It was when Adam ignored his role as the spiritual leader that their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked. This is when their conscience convicted them and they were afraid of the words of the Lord. In other words, it was then that Satan’s strategy was successful.

However, their conviction and guilt did not lead to confession, did it? When they were face to face with God and had the opportunity to repent and acknowledge their own sinfulness…what did they do? They played a game...

The Blame Game

Have you ever played this game? I 100% played this game probably like daily when I was a kid. I mean, I would get caught doing something and I would immediately respond with, but he/she/it, something or someone else caused me to do this, or they did it first, or they did it worse, or something to try and get the focus and attention off of me. Does that sound familiar? Im sure if mom was here in Leaf River she could tell you some stories about all of the blame that I put on others, or at least attempted to put on others…I assume mom and dad knew alot more than I realized when I was a kid. You know there is this thing that mom and dad did, Im sure your parents did it to you. They would ask me questions so that I had the opportunity to confess and maybe make the punishment a bit less. They would always tell me something like, “If you tell me the truth it will be easier for you”. Of course I pretty much always assumed they didn’t have anything on me, so I would deny deny deny. You know, I think I would have to admit that I am still like this today. I mean my first inclination is to defend myself, right…take the focus off me and onto another. So, let’s see if Adam and Eve were any better...

Genesis 3:8–13 (ESV)

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. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 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.”

Look, as God was walking through the garden and came face to face with Adam and Eve, he began to question them. Not because he didn’t know what happened, but becuase they were being given the opportunity to confess and repent. However, what did they do? They immediately began blaming others to take the pressure off them. Is what they said a lie? No, When God asked Adam he was honest when he said that Eve gave it to him. However, was that a reason for him to sin himself? No? When Eve was asked she did not lie when she said the Serpent deceived her...but did that mean she had to sin? No...

You see, God gave Adam and Eve the opportunity to confess and come into the open, but they hid becuase they were ashamed of their sin. Once Adam and Eve came out of hiding, Adam confessed their shame (they were naked) and their fear (they were guilty). Without saying a word, Adam was admitting that they had eaten from the forbidden tree. However, when God asked him pointblank if he had eaten of the tree, Adam never said, “Yes, I did!” Instead, he blamed both God and his wife! When God asked Eve, she blamed the serpent. (She didn’t say, “The serpent that You created,” but perhaps she thought it.) There were excuses, not confessions.

There is an old evangelist called Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was one of the great preachers of the early 1900,s. He actually was a professional baseball player, and quite skilled, but in the 1880’s Billy Sunday gave his life to Christ and left baseball to be one of the most influential evangelist in the early 20th century. Well, in one of Billy Sundays sermons he said,

“An excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.” —Billy Sunday

Not only did Adam and Eve eat from the tree God told them not to, the they started making excuses and blaming others. Listen, When people start making excuses, it’s evidence that they don’t sense the enormity of their sins or want to confess them and repent. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says,

If sinners can find some loophole, they’ll run through it as fast as they can! --Pastor Warren Wiersbe

Ok, listen, I know Ive been talking for a long time, but this is important stuff this morning. You see, this morning we are shown how Satan operates, and he is still operating the same way today, isn't he? And, if Satan is still operating in the same way, then now we know his playbook…Now we know what to look for, right? If I know what to look for, then I can be watching so that I am not deceived by the enemy, right?

So, what can I do, practically speaking in order to resist temptation? Well, let’s look at Satan’s strategy and then look at how to prepare for that.

Satan disguised himself…You know I was watching something the other day, or talking to someone, I don’t remember how I got this information, but here you go. When bank tellers and law enforcement are seeking out counterfeit money, they do not study all of the possible counterfeits, they spend som much time with the real deal and understanding the real deal that they can spot a fake all day long. If you are going to spot the fake all day long, you have to

Spend time in the Word

Satan questioned God’s Word… Again, we have a problem where Satan looks good and starts to deny God’s Word. Now, I’ll admit sometimes it can be easy to get confused, cant it. I mean if you hear some preacher telling you something like, Doesn’t God want you to be happy? Isn’t the only reason God wants you to worship him becuase it makes you happy…God’s ultimatly purpose is to make you happy. Now, you and I will sit here sayin, there no way thats true, that’s not in Scripture, that seems to be a little different from what Ive read before, but this preacher is saying this so maybe I just didn’t understand…This is a real thing that someone has said from a pulpit in one of the largest churches in the world. So if Satan is going to question God’s word, I better be ready with an answer to that question right? That means I better

Spend time in the Word

Satan denied God’s Word…This is the ultimate goal of Satan in this whole process isn’t it. This is where he was heading from the first word he said, and here we have Satan still doing this. When you have a pastor saying things like, When Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb he was calling us all out of the closet and giving us permission to live our queer lives out in the open. God has called us out to live free in a homosexual and transgender lifestyle today brother and sisters…Again, this is a real thing that a pastor actually said in a sermon recently. So what happens if I find myself worshiping in a church that says heretical things like this? Well, I better leave, but how do I know if what is said is actually heretical?

Spend time in the Word

You see, had Adam and Eve relied on the Word of God, they would not have found themselves to be naked and afraid…So what about you? Are you relying on the Word of God or are you naked and afraid attempting to hide your sin? Listen, whether you have been here 1 time or 100 times I want to challenge you this morning to spend time in the Word. I want to push you and encourage you to spend more than the daily verse from the Bible app, although that is a great start…I want to encourage you to spend real time every day with the Word so that when Satan tries to deceive you…you will be ready for it. Listen, if you are here this morning or online and you are curious about what it means to spend time in the Word, or maybe you don’t have a Bible of your own, please reach out and lets make a connection together and get you what you need so that you can spend time int he Word.

I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but thats because this stuff is actually life changing if you will allow it to change your life. I was an angry, hate filled young man that should have been killed or in prison, but something happened in my life and now I have a relationship with the Lord and I am no longer angry and hate filled. That happened only becuase of what we read in God’s Word. If you are here and you are stressed or worried, or hateful and you are ready for a change in your life…reach out and let’s have a conversation about God’s Word. For now, let’s close in prayer and I want to ask each of you here this morning. No question this morning, but I want you to spend some time in confessional prayer this morning. There have been times you have been deceived, so take a moment this morning and go to God in repentance realizing the enormity of your sins…no excuses, just repentance...

Prayer