Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3:1-7, Psalm 32:1-11, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11.
A). A WELL-STOCKED GARDEN AND A TERRIBLE FALL.
Genesis 2:15-17; Genesis 3:1-7.
I). Genesis 2:15-17.
The LORD God took the man, and put him in a garden. Having already introduced the ordinance of the Sabbath, He now introduces the ordinance of work. Created in the image of God, one part of that image is found in man’s creativity, and his capacity also to look after that which God has created.
Attention is drawn to the trees of the garden. Man is given a command whereby he may eat what he will, with the exception of but one tree in the midst of the garden. Can man keep just one divine commandment?
II). Genesis 3:1-7.
It is part of the proof of the common ancestry of man that wherever we go in the world there are stories of a flood, from which but a small number of people were saved, and prior to that a struggle between God and man involving a serpent or (in island communities) a sea-serpent.
That these stories should exist in some form in Babylon and in the near neighbourhood of Israel is not surprising. They could easily have a common source. However, early explorers and missionaries found variations of these accounts amongst tribes of people who dwelt at the very extremes of the earth.
Unlike in mythology, there are only two occasions in the Bible when an animal talks. The cunning serpent spoke for the devil. The stubborn donkey spoke for the LORD! Something was already out of sorts in the garden of God when the serpent spoke. In her innocence, maybe, the woman felt no surprise that such a creature should speak.
Perhaps our first parents did not know the history of the fall of Lucifer, the day star in Isaiah 14:12-21 and Ezekiel 28:11-19. But it did not take long for the cunning serpent to draw them into his pernicious scheme to undermine the LORD who made us. How susceptible are we to the devil's suggestions?
The serpent began his enticement of the primeval couple by casting a shadow over the gracious and wonderful provision of God. The question he posed was structured in such a way as to extract a negative answer. What the LORD had told the man was that he may eat of all except one tree (Genesis 2:16-17).
The tempter turned this into the negative, "Has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" (Genesis 3:1). A subtle twist, but please be aware that it is part of Satan's armoury to question the Word of God.
When we are enticed by the devil, we suddenly find ourselves leaping to defend the word of God. But the minute we begin to add to what God has said, we are on dangerous ground. Like Eve, we begin to lose sight of our covenant relationship with the LORD, speaking of Him as a "God" who is remote from our experience.
The woman refuted the devil's accusation against God, but added words of her own: "and neither shall you touch it" (Genesis 3:3). Then the serpent began to question the certainty of death, and accused God of holding back something necessary for our human existence.
It is not wrong to want to better ourselves, but it is never the case that the end justifies the means! Adam and Eve desired knowledge, but rather than growing into it in the God-appointed way they chose rather to listen to Satan's lies about there being a short cut.
Not only this, but the tree with which they were being tempted was good for food. Despite having all the fruit of all the other trees to choose from, why should we not eat the forbidden fruit? And the tree was, after all, part of the beautiful "all very good" creation of God.
The devil's lie concerning the certainty or uncertainty of death was taking root in their mind.
Let us beware of "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16) - "when the woman saw the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Genesis 3:6).
Adam was the representative head of the human race, and when he partook of the forbidden fruit he brought disaster and death upon all of his descendants. Spiritual death, separation from God, was immediate. Suddenly man and his wife realised that they were naked!
Physical death became an unavoidable prospect for mankind. Without the intervention of the LORD, there was nothing between man and hell. We thank the Lord that the story does not end here, but that Jesus came to save us. Amen.
B). A HIDING PLACE FOR THE REPENTANT.
Psalm 32:1-11.
The beatitudes of Psalm 32:1-2 remind us of Psalm 1:1-2, which describes the righteous man and proclaims him blessed. Yet, since the fall of Adam, no mere man has been born with original righteousness. The second Psalm leads us to the place where we can find this righteousness: in Jesus Christ (Psalm 2:12).
Psalm 119:1 speaks of the blessedness of the undefiled. Who are undefiled but those whom God has declared righteous in Jesus Christ? We cannot begin to walk this way without Him: but when we are clothed with Christ, God looks upon us and sees not our sins, but the very righteousness of Christ.
Before we can enter into the blessings which follow forgiveness (Psalm 32:1-2), we must first admit our sin (“not keep silence” Psalm 32:3), and acknowledge our responsibility before God (Psalm 32:5).
The testimony of King David (the author of this Psalm) is that unrepentant silence was detrimental both to his physical and mental health, and to his spiritual well-being (Psalm 32:3-4). So David confessed his transgression (overstepping the mark), owned up to his iniquity (distorting of the truth), and acknowledged his sin (violation of God’s will).
The result was immediate: “you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5; cf. 2 Samuel 12:13). When the Prodigal Son determined to return to his Father, with pleas for forgiveness and offers of penance: he found that the Father, in His love, was already running out to receive him (Luke 15:18-20). All at once David’s transgression was forgiven, his sin was covered, and his iniquity was no longer counted against him (Psalm 32:1-2).
The Apostle Paul tells us that this ledger was balanced with the crediting of righteousness on account of faith (Romans 4:5-8). Furthermore, David’s spirit was purged of guile: the kind of cunning deceit which seeks to cover one’s own sins and hide them from God (Psalm 32:2). Now David’s hiding place was in God Himself (Psalm 32:7; cf. Psalm 130:4).
Repentance does not just belong to the beginning of our Christian walk, but is an ongoing activity in our lives. Both Scripture and experience remind us that we need to be vigilant (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:12). Faith and repentance are twin graces, and they both need exercise.
So even though we now may reckon ourselves as ‘godly’ or ‘undefiled’ in God’s sight, yet we still need to ‘seek the LORD while He may be found’ (Isaiah 55:6). We might spare ourselves some of the pain spoken of by David if we do (Psalm 32:6).
When we take refuge in Christ we find we are not alone: He surrounds us with others, whose cheerful songs of deliverance we share (Psalm 32:7).
The songs of praise now give way to instruction. The “you” in Psalm 32:8 is in the singular, and may in the first instance be the LORD speaking to David.
However, David soon passes the message on to others: the “you” in Psalm 32:9 is plural. This is in keeping with his own promise when he first asked for forgiveness after the Bathsheba affair (Psalm 51:13).
If we are numbered among the forgiven then we also have, not only a testimony to share, but also a message to proclaim. Those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7:47). The exhortation to others is that they too would put their trust in the LORD (Psalm 32:10).
The Psalm ends with praise from those whom the LORD has declared righteous, and shouts of joy from those whom He has made upright through the work of Jesus on the Cross (Psalm 32:11).
C). ADAM AND CHRIST.
Romans 5:12-19.
1. THE ENTRANCE OF SIN.
In Romans 5:12, Paul tells us that sin came into the world through one man. That man was our first father, Adam, the representative head of the human race and ancestor of us all. This is the teaching of the Bible, and needless to say the Apostle held such teaching to be true. On the basis of this doctrine Paul rests his whole argument in the verses we are now studying, where he compares and contrasts Adam and Christ.
Within families it is the father who is held responsible for what happens. If the family is at fault, ultimately the father must shoulder the responsibility. However, the consequences of such fault or sin are shared by the whole family. Conversely, when Joshua made his famous declaration of faith, he spoke for his whole family (Joshua 24:15).
This principle is older than the family of Israel. It dates back to Adam, our first father, as demonstrated in Romans 5:12: “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men.”
Adam was accountable for the eating of the forbidden fruit, and we all also suffer the consequences of that first sin, just as surely as if it had been ours. The result of one man’s offence was condemnation for all men, and one man’s disobedience made many sinners (Romans 5:18-19). We cannot understand this working of God’s justice, but who are we to question God?
There is a little rhyming couplet that says:
“In Adam’s fall, We sinned all.”
2. THE WAGES OF SIN.
Paul tells us in Romans 5:12, “Sin came into the world, and death through sin.” Later he adds, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
This was just what Adam had been told by God (Genesis 2:16-17). When Adam ate of the forbidden fruit he died a spiritual death, and became liable to physical death.
(i) Adam forfeited a life of fellowship with God.
(ii) God’s anger turned against His beautiful Creation, and He cursed the ground (Genesis 3:17).
(iii) Death entered the world.
“Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). In Adam, all die (1 Corinthians 15:22).
(iv) Man became inclined to all kinds of evil.
Man was evil before the flood (Genesis 6:5) “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Evil remained even after the Flood (Genesis 8:21).
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma of Noah’s sacrifice and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.”
Solomon in his old age testified, “This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).
3. THE FREE GIFT.
In comparing and contrasting Adam and Christ, the Apostle Paul does not leave us dead in our sins, but balances our predicament with what he calls “the free gift” (Romans 5:15).
Death became necessary as soon as man sinned, but Adam and Eve were not struck physically dead on the day of their sin. God was making provision for their salvation. He promised that the woman would have a descendant who would crush the devil, and that descendant was Jesus, “born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4).
So Paul argues here: “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many” (Romans 5:15). Jesus is introduced as the new representative head of the human race.
“Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:18 -19).
D). THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS.
Matthew 4:1-11.
The wilderness (Matthew 4:1).
When God created man, He placed him in a garden (Genesis 2:15). The world when it was created resembled something more like a garden than it does today. God created all things ‘very good‘ (Genesis 1:31), but man’s collective disobedience has ushered in the principle of death. The garden is turned into a wilderness of destruction, disaster, and disease.
It is fitting, then, that it is “into the wilderness” that the Spirit leads Jesus right at the beginning of His public ministry, to confront the devil.
1. The first temptation (Matthew 4:2-4).
Jesus had been fasting for forty days, and He was hungry.
Many centuries before, Moses had fasted for forty days, partaking of neither food nor drink before receiving the Words of God, the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28). Likewise, Elijah the prophet had taken a journey of forty days into the wilderness on the strength of the food he had before leaving (1 Kings 19:8).
After centuries of deceiving man, the devil’s approach is still exactly the same: he wishes to undermine who God is, and what He has said. The devil’s approach to the woman in the Garden of Eden was, ‘Did God say..?’ (Genesis 3:1). To Jesus he says, “If you are the Son of God…” (Matthew 4:3).
It is still his method today, seeking to undermine the Word of God, the Bible, and to induce us to disobey the commandments of God. ‘Has God said..?’ ‘If you are really a Christian then…’
Given the real humanity of Jesus, the nature of the first temptation was understandable enough. ‘You are hungry. Why not use your God-given gifts to satisfy yourself?’ (Matthew 4:3).
Jesus’ ministry was not primarily concerned with self-satisfaction. ‘For the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45). God’s gifts are not to be used for selfish ends.
Every answer Jesus gives is based in Scripture. This too is how we must answer temptation in our own hearts and lives. Even when God gave the gift of manna to the Israelites in the wilderness, it was so they might know that ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD’ (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Later in His ministry, Jesus would teach, ‘The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world… I AM the bread of life’ (John 6:33-35).
It is important that we yield ourselves to Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. He gives us life, and His teachings help us to live for His glory. A right knowledge of Scripture enables us to overcome the temptations which so frequently assail us.
2. The second temptation (Matthew 4:5-7).
If the first temptation had to do with self-satisfaction, the second had to do with self-glory. Jesus was tempted to undermine the providence and rule of God by doing something totally irrational and dangerous, which would serve no other end than to set Himself up as some sort of wonder-worker. Or to hasten His death!
It is part of the seeming reasonableness of the devil to assert some part of Scripture (out of context) in order to justify us in doing what God has not commanded. This again is where it is necessary for us to be well acquainted with the Scripture, and to seek to understand things in the context in which they are written.
“If you are the Son of God,” he says again (6), “throw yourself down!” To you and I, he says, ‘If you are Christians, then surely this or that is permissible - after all, has God not promised to look after you?’
In quoting Psalm 91:11-12, however, the devil is only using that part which seems to suit his purpose. Had he cared to read the next verse he would have seen his own doom: ‘the serpent you will trample under foot’ (Psalm 91:13). It was as a serpent that he had first tempted Eve.
Yet Jesus does not quote the next verse, but another part of Scripture altogether, which served His purpose. “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” (Matthew 4:7; from Deuteronomy 6:16).
The children of Israel had tempted God in the wilderness, putting Him to the test and saying, ‘Is God with us or not?’ (Exodus 17:7). The Psalmist warns against this attitude: ‘Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as on the day in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me and put me to the proof…’ (Psalm 95:7-9). We too must be wary that we do not tempt God, nor provoke Him to anger.
3. The third temptation (Matthew 4:8-10).
The audacity of Satan is seen in its true colours in the third temptation. Unable to entice Jesus to satisfy Himself, or to tempt God, he tries promising Him comfort and riches which are really not his to give! “All this I will give you,” he says (Matthew 4:9), “if you will fall down and worship me.”
We are constantly tempted with this world’s riches, but at best they prove to be an elusive thing; at worst, a snare which takes us away from God. ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches,’ says the wise man (Proverbs 30:8-9), ‘lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.’ Yet the devil still presents a picture of worldly wealth and comfort if we will only sell our soul to him! Much better the teaching of Jesus, who says, ‘Seek first God’s kingdom’ (Luke 12:31).
Again Jesus answers His adversary from the Bible, as must we. He quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13-15, which speaks of serving God only, and not following other so-called gods. For the LORD, our God is a jealous God, and is angry at such disloyalty. Whatever enticement there may be to worship other gods, or to fall down before Satan himself, we must heed the Apostle John: ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols’ (1 John 5:21).
The sequel (Matthew 4:11).
(a) “The devil left Him.”
For the time-being, the devil left Jesus, vanquished from His holy presence by the Words of His mouth. We too may overcome the devil in the midst of our temptations as we use the Word of God, the Bible, against him.
(b) “Angels came and ministered to Him.”
Having battled with Satan and overcome him, Jesus was now ministered to by angels, strengthening Him to continue in His ministry. Thus we are strengthened and renewed when we stand firm in the gospel, and overcome the enemy of our souls with the words and acts of Jesus.
