There are certain sayings, or sage advice, that parents have been passing down from generation to generation. Lets' see how many you know? An apple a day..........? keeps the doctor away. Don't eat sweets before dinner, or you'll..........? lose your appetite. Don't swim for an hour after eating, or you'll.........? get cramps. Don't make me pull this....? car over. Money doesn't grow....? on trees. This morning we are going to see how fatherly advice given by GOD to Adam & Eve went unheeded and the terrible consequences it caused.
Two weeks ago, we read the first 11 verses of Romans chapter 5. This morning, we will start with Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— In Romans chapter 3:23 we were told that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Exactly three chapters later, in 6:23 Paul writes “For the wages of sin is death...(but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.)”
Paul does a great job in teaching that the law does not make a person righteous. He has then shown in great detail how salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Remember that the first century church had a high percentage of Jewish converts, so Paul doesn't go into much detail concerning the history of sin. The statements “All have sinned...&...the wages of sin is death” are powerful assertions that need further explanation. Paul's audience, being well versed in Jewish history, knew about sin, its origins & its implications. So we need to go back to Genesis chapter 3, to the beginning of sin. Please join me there, Gen 3:1-6.
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day 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, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
This passage is a familiar Sunday School lesson for children, and most of us have heard or read this many times before. Rarely do adults go back to it for further study, though. There is much more here than what we were taught as kids. Since Moses wrote Genesis roughly 2,500 years after the events described happened, some of the finer details are missing.
The first thing mentioned is the serpent. I am terrified of snakes so I tend to focus on them. Several years ago, my wife & kids heard what they thought was a young girl outside of our house shrieking & screaming at the top of her lungs. They ran outside to see what was happening. I had just gotten home & stepped my left foot out of the vehicle on the driveway as a snake slithered over my foot. The shrieking girl they thought they heard was me.
The serpent was created by GOD. It says so right there in the first verse. As part of the creation, it was made good & perfect. I don't know if this snake symbolically personified Satan, or if Satan literally took the form of the snake. The text is not clear. I do know that Satan is directly linked to this serpent. Rev 20:2 “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan....” So, whatever the actual form is, it is the voice & thoughts of the devil that we are dealing with here.
The next thought I have is Eves reaction to the snake. Or, actually, her lack of a reaction. After all, she is having a conversation with a snake!...... Was this a normal every day event? Did all animals in the garden of Eden talk, ….or was Eve possibly snacking on a few funny mushrooms growing in the garden? The text is not clear. What is clear is that Eve was oblivious to the danger she was in.
Temptation is not sin. Each of us face temptation everyday. The serpent did not force Eve to dis-obey GOD. There was not any physical contact nor were any threats made. Eves' action was done voluntarily. The excuse “The Devil Made Me Do It” doesn't hold water. But, the same tools the serpent used with Eve are still very much being used against us today.
First, the devil created doubt in Eves' mind. “Did GOD really say”.....? Satan is still clouding our thoughts. He still wants us to question GOD. The second was a false promise. “...you will be like GOD.” How many people are still falling victim to Satan's false promises every day? The third tool used was desire. “The woman saw that ...it was pleasant to the eyes, and...desirable.” Think of all the sin that desire alone brings. It is the root cause of stealing, murder, adultery, lies and so many more.
Do you see how easy it was for Eve to fall into the trap set before her? Lets' take this one step further. “You will not....die. your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” This could be, and likely is, the slogan for many of the New World religions that are popping up all over. How many cults promise that... You will never die, you are reincarnated countless times; Follow me on the path to enlightenment & illumination; Fulfill your full potential and realize you are a god? I can't read that last sentence and not be reminded of a certain Hollywood action star jumping up & down on a couch during an Oprah interview. That is literally the same exact belief system that actor has.
Next, this Satanic serpent was allowed to enter freely into the garden. Surely GOD could have forbidden the entrance of evil into this garden paradise, couldn't HE? But HE did not......And that is the key to understanding. Without getting into a Calvinist–Arminian debate over pre-destination versus free-will, lets just go with what we know. Genesis 1:26 says And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: .... Is GOD confined or limited in what HE can do, .....or is GOD free to do as HE chooses? So, if GOD is free to act as HE chooses & we are created in that image & likeness, are we not also free to choose?
GOD could have created us to be like robots. GOD could have sealed up Eden & forbid Satan to enter. GOD could have confined Satan anywhere but earth,....but HE didn't. We were created to be in fellowship with GOD, ....but We were created with the ability to either accept & love GOD, ...or to reject GOD. That statement is easy to say, but it is the single most important decision anyone will ever face.
God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, lest you die. When you look at the sad condition our nation is in, & when you look at the condition we find the world in today, it is hard to imagine that all of this was over an apple. That seems like a very harsh punishment for eating a piece of fruit, doesn't it? I've never heard any parent say “Clean your room, or you will surely die.” I've never heard any parent say “Brush your teeth, or you will surely die.” I think there is something else in this passage.
Shouldn't GOD have set the bar a little bit higher? Shouldn't the introduction of sin into mankind come at a much higher transgression than just eating a bite of fruit? What if GOD had said “Thou shall not kill”? Would that have worked? ....No, it would not. The first person born of this planet was a murderer. There is no limitation or line in the sand that GOD could have placed on mankind that would not have been crossed.
On the surface, it doesn't make sense to us that sin entered mankind in this manner. After all, What is the significance of one fruit over another? The plain & simple answer is that GOD is not interested in our intelligence. ...HE is interested in our obedience. 1 Samuel 15:22 So Samuel said:“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice... Deuteronomy 12:28 Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
GOD did not create us to live in fear. GOD did not create us to be a mind-less machine. GOD gave us free-will to either love HIM or to reject HIM. We have all sinned & fallen short of GODs expectations. Life is eternal, regardless of which path we choose. We are free to believe the lie, ...or we can choose to follow the truth. Is GOD is calling you this morning to follow HIS truth?
