Sermon Tone Analysis

Here’s where we are- Moses is writing down the stories the Israelite people were telling, which informed them of where they are from and what God is doing.

We looked at creation.

God speaking order into chaos during what is described as seven days.

Made it very good.

We looked at making humans in the image of God.

He made them male and female and gave the gift of relationship and marriage.

A relationship of mutual joy and help, completing the image of God and a symbol of his love and intimacy.

His desire was to rule the world with us, through us, sharing the world with us.

When he finished creating he rested and blessed that 7th day as a day of enjoying God’s gifts and stopping work.

A work God described as “very good”.

He gave us work to do, and rest to enjoy it.

So… what went wrong?

Check out Genesis 3:1

Snake or serpent, poisonous snake.

Nahash.

Hisser.

Crafty?

He’s sharp.

Astute.

So much so that he talks?

And Eve seems cool with it?

The way the passage is presented is very simple and a little frustrating for people like me who have so many questions and want to know the details.

Who is this serpent?

We have the advantage of reading other biblical writers to see what was known or believed about this serpent.

· In one of the oldest stories recorded in the Bible, the book of Job, there’s a character named Ha Shatan

שָׂטָן

The Accuser, Enemy

· In the New Testament 2 Peter 2:4 we are told that a bunch of angels rebelled against God or “sinned” (in Greek, “To miss the mark” or fall short of a goal of righteousness).

Their sin condemned some of them to a place translated “hell” – a prison of eternal darkness and torment.

Those who aren’t already there are called demons.

Their leader in the NT is called Diabolos or “devil”.

2 Peter 2:4 (ESV)

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell...

· No really clear origin story for him but it makes sense that if the demons are angels that rebelled, then their leader is the same.

Isaiah (14:12-14) in the OT talks about a human king falling from grace, rebelling against God with pride, and uses poetic language to describe him and during that description it sounds like an angel of great rank rebelling against God.

At the end of the Bible we get it all tied up for us.

He = an angel

· All this to say there’s a powerful supernatural being, in charge of many others, who seems to have set himself up as God’s enemy, and ours.

1.

We have an enemy.

He’s in the Garden now in the form of a serpent, talking to the woman, getting her to question God’s command: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

This is where it starts.

Questioning what was said.

What God meant by it.

Then comes contradiction.

2. Our enemy attacks our understanding of God and His Word.

a.

And he’s good at it.

He doesn’t come in looking outright evil.

He comes in making sense, looking reasonable.

Beneficial.

b.

Sin looks good but Satan’s a liar.

Sin keeps takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you want to pay! Look what happens:

d.

Did they die?

No.

But what did?

e.

The intimacy they shared.

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

(Genesis 2:25 ESV) In real intimacy they were completely open and complementary- differences made for harmony.

Now it’s dissonance.

Now they feel the need to hide from each other.

The first thing that died is the intimacy of human relationships.

Fear has entered.

Distrust.

f.

Their relationship with God experienced death as well.

h.

They hid from God too.

i.

But God doesn’t let us hide.

He comes after us.

k.

Wow.

Blame game.

More signs of relational death.

l.

God begins laying out consequences of sin that they hadn’t thought of yet… and offers some hope.

3. Sin’s cost is great, but God’s grace is greater.

a.

To the serpent/Satan:

ii.

A human being, a man, will come someday descended from the woman and will crush the head of the snake, and in doing so take a bite from the snake.

iii.

Translated: a man, the victim of your deception, will destroy you, Satan, but die in the process.

iv.

See how God pursues us?

He doesn’t leave us in the state we’re in.

There’s a planned solution.

Who is he?

The rest of the Bible is a search for this rescue from God.

In the meantime:

b.

To the woman:

ii.

Relational death.

Being fruitful and multiplying is wonderful but painful.

Marriage is wonderful but now has a power struggle.

c.

To the man: