Part II. Why did God create us?
Why does it matter whether God used evolution or creation to form man?
There are two major reasons this is a foundational issue. We are created in the image of God. Because we are the reflection of God, we have been created for the purpose of glorifying God. Unlike the beast of the field, we are stamped with the image of the Creator and given attributes of our Creator. If we are not in God’s image, then we are not accountable to God. A dog will not be judged for his choices, but we are all accountable to God. We were also created to have fellowship with God. Sin has created a breach between our Creator and us. Because God formed us by His image and created us for a purpose, He has the right to expect us to live within the glory He has created us to reflect. We are not gods, but we are the image of God. What we do reflects upon Him.
The other factor is the issue of sin. If all men did not descend from Adam, then we did not all inherit his sinful nature. Without sin, there is no need for a redeemer and Jesus did not have to die on the cross. Jesus referenced Adam and Eve as historical figures. He used God’s creation of male and female as the foundation of how God expected marriage to become a union. Without Adam and Eve, who has the right to say how marriage was to work? Jesus pointed back to God’s ordained union as the basis for marriage. Jesus pointed back to the first man and woman as the beginning of God’s plan through creation. If Jesus presented creation as the foundation of scriptural truth, how can we depart from that foundation and call it just a ‘moral story’?
The Original Sin
1 Corinthians 15
21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
It was Adam that introduced sin into the world. Lets look at the original sin given in Genesis 3.
Genesis 3:1 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.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."
11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"
12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
The original sin was not the fruit; it was what the fruit represented. All temptation works the same way. We are lured by the luster after the devil convinces us that there are no consequences to our actions. Absolutely nothing has changed since the first sin. The temptation process is the same and our reasoning is the same. Lets break down this passage and see how it is applicable today. There are three processes that we see in this passage. Satan’s deception, the process of temptation, and denying responsibility for sin.
Satan’s Deception
Let’s begin with the deception. Satan always begins by attacking our position. His first question to Eve was “what did God say?”. Those who are ignorant of the word of God are easy prey. The next easiest prey is the one who knows the word, but do not take ownership. We can’t ride the coattail of someone else’s vision. Adam heard the word and passed it down to Eve. Eve clearly understood the command of God, but it was not a conviction. Because of this, her understanding quickly fell to doubt when satan began to twist the word. Satan immediately followed up Eve’s testimony of God’s command by questioning her knowledge of what God really said. Eve confessed that God said, “You shall not eat it nor touch it or you will die” but satan added one word – ‘not’. “You shall not surely die”. The implication is that the word delivered to Eve was not true. She will not die but will gain from this fruit. The first step toward temptation is to doubt the word of the Lord.
The second step in satan’s deception is to appeal to our pride. All sin and every anti-God doctrine hangs on central phrase of verse 5, “You will be like God”. What does the ‘Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints’ teach? Follow our path and you will be like God. That is the ultimate goal of every dedicated Mormon. They believe the promise satan made at the beginning. You can be a god. What does Buddhism teach? Through enlightenment, you can achieve godhood. Re-incarnation teaches that you keep going around until you build up enough karma to achieve oneness with God (or their form of God). The New Age movement’s central theme is the god within you. Every cult and every sin is founded on the premise that I am a god. I know good and evil and I know better than anyone including the commands given by God. We become blinded to the consequences of sin by pride and our arrogance. Each sin does have consequence. Each time we willfully sin, our actions proclaim our arrogance and that we believe our ways to be wiser than God’s. He knows the physical and the spiritual consequences of sin. God created us and designed us to fit perfectly into His plan. He sees plainly what is on the path ahead of us. We can only see the moment before us but not the future or the application of our actions. In spite of this, we are easily deceived into thinking that we have wisdom beyond God’s. To be the god of our own destiny is the sin of pride and it will always lure us away from God’s perfect plan. Did Adam and Eve’s ways gain the greater benefit? When they departed from God’s plan, they also forfeited God’s best blessings that were a part of that plan.
The third step in satan’s deception is to question God’s motive. “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.” This is the biggest hurdle between us and temptation. Once we cross over this obstacle, it is a slippery slope the rest of the way down. It is hard to obey God when we think God is keeping us from what is good. When I think that God is a cosmic killjoy, I can’t trust Him. I have got to understand the love that God has for me. It is easy to say that God loves me, but until this becomes a personal conviction, I will not trust God completely. I must understand that God has a plan that He fashioned especially for me so that I will one day stand before God complete and fulfilled. God’s plan goes far beyond my immediate circumstances and into eternity. I am absolutely convinced that if there is any way to gain what God has without trials or suffering, God would do it. But we are ‘here and now’ thinkers. We mistake hard times as a negative. In reality, we can’t see the benefit God is working out for our good. Some may not understand until they stand before God. It is a fact that no one will stand before God and say that His plan was not right. But many will look back and regret they did not trust Him when the going was tough.
The same holds true for ‘missing out’. If we believe the lie and think that we are missing out because God is depriving us, we will not trust him either. The Bible says just the opposite. We deny ourselves so that God can fulfill us. I don’t deny myself so that I can be miserable; it is a matter of trust. The Bible says,
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
25 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
And the Bible also says:
Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
God told Abraham “I am your exceedingly great reward” and instructed him to leave his life behind and go to a place that God will show him. As we study the word and live it, we see the plan of God begin to immerge. It is a matter of walking by faith. I believe God, I trust Him, and I rest in the confidence of His love for me. Therefore, I am able to deny myself and take up my cross and follow Him. I know that I deny myself because I trust in His promises. God can’t give to me when I am clinging to what separates me from His will. God also can’t fill the arms that are already full. I lay down what I have believing that God is better. I can either pursue my life and gain all this world has to offer and find out it is a complete loss; or I can deny myself and trust God to fulfill me and to provide my satisfaction and fulfillment. His satisfaction enriches my life now, and stores up treasure in heaven as well. That is what the devil does not want you to see. He lures our eyes off God’s plan and points us to our immediate circumstances or immediate gratification.
The Process of Temptation
Deception is only effective if we respond to it. No one fools us; we choose what we will submit our minds and hearts to. There is always selfish motivation before deception. Have you noticed that the people are always swindled by thieves that appeal to greed or promising to fulfill self centered desires? If you put a prize on an advertisement, plenty of people will send their money in. A recent scam has taken and continues to bilk thousands of people each year. The scam is simple. A person is notified that they have won a large sum of money. Before they can collect on that money, they must first pay the taxes up front. They pay out the bogus tax bill and the thief disappears with the money. There are countless similar scams with different flavors. Some require a purchase, some require a checking account number to ‘wire the funds’ and the variations are innumerable. Why do the scams work so effectively? Because they target the greedy. If you promise someone what they desire, they will often lower their defenses.
That is how satan deceives. He appeals to our desires. We are not tricked, we are lured. Eve’s choice was a basic decision. God gave this command and its consequence, satan countered with promises to gratify her desires with the stipulation that she break the command. Who does Eve view as the most credible? Beware of any promise that centers around desire and bypasses responsibility.
Look at the steps Eve took and you will see that they are no different than temptation today. The process began by an appeal to Eve’s desires. Even then stopped and looked at the temptation. She imagined its benefits and lust took hold. She then took the fruit and once it was in her hands, the battle was lost. She did not have the strength to resist at this point.
The battle of temptation is not won or lost at the point of the temptation. It is won or lost at the moment we set the direction of our course. It is the moment of the first compromise that almost always wins or loses the battle. I go into the compromising process having already decided what my desire will be directed toward. If I can’t resist the first compromise, I will rarely have the will to resist when my momentum and desire is racing toward sin. We begin the same process as Eve. Satan appeals to our desires and we look. One thing I frequently mention is that where our eyes are, our feet will follow. If we recognize temptation and turn away, we will not be drawn. To resisting is to not be in situations that tempt. Almost all of us would agree that it would be foolish for alcoholic to go into a liquor store and try to resist the urge to drink. But we often are just as foolish. We usually fall to the same types of sin, but instead of making lifestyle changes, we keep doing the same things and expecting different results.
Proverbs 22:3 tells us that a sensible man sees evil and hides himself, but the simple minded (or short sighted) continue on and are punished. We usually find that there are many warning signs that we pass by before we reap the consequences. James 4 tells us that the process of resisting is to submit to God. We resist by drawing near to Him and He promises to draw near to us. It is a complete change of focus. When I am tempted or see what I know will tempt me, I am not to just resist, but must turn and focus on Jesus. It is hard to focus on temptation and resist. My strength will only carry me so far. I must turn and draw near to God and put my trust in His promise to draw me near to Him. Satan flees from God, not me or my resistance.
The alternative is to see temptation and be drawn toward it. In this case, we have already made our decision, but we have not gotten to the point of justifying it in our minds. We are masters of self-deception. The process is that we see, we want, but we are too ashamed to jump right it. So we give in with baby steps. The devil will gladly take us by the hand and walk us down that road. After we begin to look, we begin to imagine the benefits and soon question the reasons why we should resist. Then we begin to lust in our heart and take another step closer. Once temptation is in our grasp, it is almost impossible to resist and we will bite. Where was the battle lost? When we took the fruit of temptation? I believe that we can clearly see that the battle was lost long before we committed the action. James 1:4 tells us that we are tempted when we are drawn by our own desires and enticed. We resist by turning toward God and putting our focus on Christ, but we give in by turning toward temptation and being drawn away from God. You can maintain fellowship with God and pursue sin at the same time.
One point I should make is that gratifying our desires will not and cannot satisfy us. There is a big difference between gratification and satisfaction. We can gratify ourselves, but only God can satisfy. Gratification is when we fill our desire to the saturation point. It is when we have quenched our desires to the point when we no longer desire and sometimes we are sick of the very thing we desired. As the pleasure fades, the longing for fulfillment returns. Trying to find fulfillment through gratification is like forcing a square peg into a round hole. You can make it fit, but you can’t fill in the gaps. God has created us and we are designed to be fulfilled by Him. Only God and His plan can fit perfectly into the missing part of our life. We can temporarily cover it, but the gaps will always rise to the surface.
Satisfaction is different. God is our reward and He satisfies completely. The Bible says that when God gives pleasure, He adds no sorrow with it. When God becomes our desire and we place our hope in Him, He satisfies and fulfills. God does not offer instant gratification. God requires us to walk by faith. We obey because we love and trust Him. God’s promises are fulfilled through faith and patience. To gain the blessings of God, we go where God is blessing. Blessings are a natural outflow given to those who are faithful to Him. It is also important to understand that the blessings of God do not fulfill. It is the relationship with Him that is our exceedingly great reward. His blessings can’t replace the One who blesses. God may not give instant gratification, but He does give immediate satisfaction and fulfillment.
It is when we believe the deception that there is something God is keeping from us, that we will grow discontented and take our eyes off of God. When we take our eyes off God, we will lose focus and miss the fulfillment He gives. Satan’s goal is to get your focus off of Christ. He is willing to concede church and religious activities if he can get your focus. How far off does our aim need to be to miss the target? When I was in the military, we had to qualify with our rifles so that we were always battle ready. Before qualifying, we would adjust the sites on our rifles. We did this by shooting a paper target with grid lines. We would then adjust our sights based on where the bullet hit the target. We would test fire again until we were consistently hitting the center of the target. Then we could confidently go out on the qualifying range knowing that our sites were perfectly lined. That is exactly what the word of God does. It is the guide that aligns us with the will of God so that we can be absolutely confident that we are aiming and hitting the plan He has for our lives. Without His word, we have no way of knowing if we are truly in line. How far off target do you have to be to miss the mark?
Whose to Blame?
Have you ever been around people who were living contrary to your values? When someone is openly living a sinful lifestyle, they can’t tolerate those who are not doing the same. A moral life speaks volumes and those living contrary fall under conviction. Several years ago I read an article about a golf game Billy Graham played with a group of men. At the end of the outing, one of the men slammed down his golf clubs and in a rage he protested that he was sick of Billy preaching at him. Everyone was shocked because the topic of conversation was never on religion or anyone’s lifestyle. It was not the words of Billy Graham that was preaching, it was his lifestyle. Misery loves company. Why are the radical groups attacking the Boy Scouts? Why are Bible believing Christians and organizations demonized? Because when we see someone living godly and we are not, we will feel convicted about our lifestyle. We must either reject them, convince them to live as we are, or make changes in our life. There is a reason why our religious liberties are under a constant threat; people who love the dark, hate the light. Jesus put it this way, “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:20). Philippians 2:15 tells us that we are lights to the world. We reflect the grace and love of God. Because of this, we need to understand that if God’s light is unwelcomed, we who carry that light will be rejected as well.
Eve immediately tempted Adam with the same sin. This is another powerful tool satan uses – the power of influence. Just because everyone is doing it, does not make it ok. Many fall to temptation because those around them don’t seem to be bothered by it. God does not grade on a curve. God’s measurement is His word. The world calls the Bible a 2,000 year old outdated book. The world measures right and wrong based on the culture around it. As the culture declines, everyone following it will slide as well without even realizing it. When abortion was legalized, most of the culture was appalled. Now most are apathetic. When prayer was banished from school, Madalyn Murray O’Hair was called the most hated woman in America. Now, thirty years later the culture has slid to the point where those who promote prayer in public are considered the offenders.
Just because the culture says that abortion is ok does not change the evil that is being committed. Just because the culture says that the traditional family is no longer valid does not change the fact that God designed the family in the beginning of Genesis and He has not changed the standard. The culture has moved the lines of honesty, integrity, morality and every value established by the Bible. These values have not changed, but our culture has. The world now demands that our values reflect the moral state of the culture or we will be labeled as intolerant and evil. The Bible warns us not to follow this trend. Look at the warning found in Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Do we see this today? I think it is self-evident. Larry Flint (the publisher for the pornographic magazine Hustler) is called a hero and a defender of free speech and James Dobson is called Hitler because of his stance on family values. It is important that we are aware of the influence of others or we will subtly adopt their viewpoints without thinking about what worldview these ideas are based upon.
The next thing we can draw from this passage is our response to sin once we have committed it. If we don’t understand that God’s first choice is grace and forgiveness then we will run from God. We find Adam and Eve hiding from God when only God can redeem them. We often do the same thing. When we know that we have let God down, we often react by hiding from Him in shame. We recognize our unworthiness and feel like God has rejected us and is far from us. In reality, He has not moved, we have; and God is never shocked at our sin. He knew beforehand the path we would choose. We may miss out on God’s desire to bless us fully, but God still provides restoration and healing for our sins. The Bible says, “He redeems the soul of His servants”. God does not condemn us, but redeems us. There are still consequences to sin. Adam and Eve lost the privileges that were taken for granted. They lost the benefit of God’s first choice for them but God still loved them and provided the option of forgiveness.
Denial of Responsibility
The final part of the process is finger pointing and denial of responsibility. Adam began by blaming God and Eve. “The woman that you gave me to be with deceived me”. What is the implication? If God hadn’t blessed my life, this temptation would not have been here? When I was going to school, I worked part time for a credit card company. When people charged their credit line to the maximum, they would call in and request more credit. Many times, we would need to check their financial information before we could authorize more purchasing. When additional credit was declined, inevitably they would say, “who are you to tell me how much I can afford to charge on my card?” Ironically, when people fall behind on their payments and fall so far into debt that they can’t keep up, they would take the opposite approach. I was frequently told, “If you hadn’t given me so much credit, I would not be in debt. It’s your fault”. Denial of responsibility is a common human reaction. Eve responded by blaming the serpent. Finger pointing and dodging ownership of our actions is tactic satan uses to keep us from repentance.
I can’t recognize God’s mercy and His gift of forgiveness until I recognize I am a sinner, I am responsible for my own actions and there is nothing I can do to cover my own sin. I am 100% dependent on the redemption provided through Jesus Christ for my redemption. Ducking responsibility will not cleanse my sin. Making up for it in works will not cleanse my sin. Only God has the power to forgive because only God had paid the price of the debt created by my sins. We have all descended from Adam and are all sinful by nature. Anyone who doesn’t believe we are born into sin should just observe a child. I did not have to teach my children how to be greedy, stingy, selfish, how to hit, how to throw fits or how to disobey. By nature my kids knew how to do these things and many other misbehaviors. We learn to mask our behavior with manners, but we can’t change our nature. There must be a new nature. This new nature is born when we become a child of God in Christ Jesus. The rest of our life here is learning to live by the new nature (living spiritually) and departing from our old nature. It is a growing process and a life-long mission. Which nature we invest our lives is a vital decision. What is invested in this life will be lost, but what is invested in the spirit will benefit now and last for all eternity.
*** This sermon can be downloaded as a Word document by following the link at http://www.exchangedlife.com/Sermons/sermons.htm
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