What’s Your Poison?
Genesis 3:1-7 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 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 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
-Was it the act of eating from the tree that was the BIG problem, or was it the sin of disobedience, doubting God’s character and not trusting His words? The poison was not so much in the fruit but in the heart! Seeds of doubt will fall into the soil of our hearts, but we don’t have to make a garden of them! Deal with them. Ask the hard questions, but ask in faith, trusting that God is who He says He is! Doubt plays an important part in our faith development! Don’t dodge the doubt, deal with it! Face it! Set your heart and mind to believe, but be brutally honest with the facts. God is not threatened by questions and working through the areas where we are weak in our understanding.
Some people are derailed in their faith by things like the suffering and injustice in the world. But some are derailed b/c they think God is too hard on people and is a cosmic killjoy. They have this idea that God is vindictive and harsh, even though verses like John 3:17 show us that God didn’t send Jesus to condemn us but to save us!
God hates evil b/c He is good. He judges evil b/c He is good! Hate can simply mean to be in opposition to. A doctor hates disease. He is opposed to it and will actively oppose it in order to save human life. Parents hate anything that poses a threat to their children. We put the Yuck stickers on bottles with toxic ingredients so our kids won’t ingest the poison. We are in opposition to anything that threatens their safety and well being.
God hates evil b/c of the damage it does to His children. He opposes it and will judge it. He puts the Yuck stickers on the things that will threaten our safety and well being. When we choose to ignore His warnings, not only are we disregarding His love and concern for us, but we are disregarding His authority. Both areas of failure are significant! Yet, so many people believe the lie that God is holding out on us. Gotta get me some o that poison! It’s fun! I’m missing out if I don’t have it! God just wants to take away my fun! So we eat and drink from the poison of disobedience and immorality, and greed, and selfishness, and arrogantly think we know better than God.
I came across an interesting perspective of Adam’s sin, written by another pastor. He believes that Adam ate from the forbidden tree for a different reason than Eve did. Eve ate because she was deceived by the serpent into believing that God had lied to them (you will not surely die).
1 Timothy 2:14 says “Adam was NOT the one deceived…”
Well, if Adam wasn’t deceived, why did he take of the fruit?
God said that the day they ate of the tree they’d die.
So… Eve eats of the tree.
And what’s going to happen to her? (Adam believes she will die, whatever that is).
Adam was going to lose Eve. He’s going to lose this woman whom he said was “... bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh...” Genesis 2:23. He loves her and now he’s going to lose her.
Adam may have reasoned in his heart: “I don’t want to lose her.
But God will kill her for this.
God’s doesn’t UNDERSTAND how important this woman is to me.
And I can’t trust Him.
I can’t trust Him to take care of this the right way.
I can’t trust Him to fix the problem... so I’ve got to do it myself.”
So perhaps Adam reasoned:
“If I eat the fruit too... God won’t kill both of us. He might take one of us, but not both because He loves us too much to lose us both. So I’m going to force God to fix this problem on MY TERMS.” And so Adam may have tried to force God into a corner so he could keep this woman that he loved.
Adam and Eve lost their closeness with God because they didn’t trust God.
And that’s one of the major reasons we fall into sin. We want something but we’re not willing to trust God to supply what we need. That’s one of the reasons God’s Word has the command “do not fear” 365 times. That’s why the Bible stresses so heavily that we need to “wait upon God” and why it repeatedly tells us that God cares for us and has a plan for our lives.
Not trusting God leads many people to do sinful things to attempt to what God would have done had we only been patient. (Jeff Strite, sermoncentral.com)
Quickly, I’d like to share 4 areas affected by the poison of not trusting God (Fruits of Faithlessness)
Lack of trust poisoned their thoughts (Thinking- maybe God is holding out on us)
Lack of trust poisoned their relationships (Feeling/Loving- self-preserving vs. giving)
Lack of trust poisoned their choices (Choosing- what’s in it for me vs. right thing)
Lack of trust poisoned their actions/behavior (Doing- acting out, hiding, sinning)
“Sin will always take you farther than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you intended to pay.” When we do not trust God, it will affect our minds, our hearts, our will, and our behavior. However you slice it, it’s not a good result! Body, soul, spirit, and mind are all negatively impacted by lack of trust in the One who created us to love and trust Him!
-Adam and Eve both sinned because they stopped trusting God.
Mankind’s downfall was not trusting God’s words or His heart! Mankind’s salvation involves trusting and believing God’s words and His heart! How does a person find forgiveness from sin? They start trusting God! By grace you are saved through faith. Without faith (trust) it is impossible to please God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. “…whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
-When trust is restored, the tree of life is freely given! Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden after they sinned so that they could not eat from the tree of life in their sinful, un-trusting condition.
Genesis 3:22-24 22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
-But look what happens to those who put their trust in God and accept what Jesus did for them on the cross: Revelation 2:7 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 22:14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”
-Those who believe and trust God will gain access to the tree of life and the city of God!
-So, what’s your poison? What is keeping you from trusting God with your life, your future, your eternity? Has someone poisoned your mind to believe that God has lied and is holding back what is good for you? Therefore, you don’t think He can be trusted. Or has someone convinced you that He can’t be trusted b/c He doesn’t exist? Some people accuse Christians of drinking the cool-aid, indicating that our minds have been poisoned to believe in God. Yet, the poison comes from not believing and not trusting in the God who has made Himself known throughout history! There is plenty of tainted cool-aid in our culture and world, and too many people are chugging it down, certain that they have a handle on everything.
-Is it possible on some level to believe in God and yet, not really trust Him? If that is where you are today, my prayer is that you will begin to look a little deeper. As you look into His word and talk openly with Him from your heart, you can come to know the God who has never ever been unfaithful! It is not within His nature to be unfaithful. You can know the God who has never failed, never forsaken, never let down those who have placed their trust in Him! My prayer is that you will renew your trust in Him today!
