We all make mistakes. Some of them are more embarrassing than harmful. I remember at our former church in Wisconsin, I typed up the bulletin with this announcement: "Ladies, please remember to pick up your bowels in the kitchen." It was supposed to be bowls. In fact, every Sunday a couple of the Junior High boys would compete to see who could find the most mistakes in the bulletin. I'm sure glad it is Barb, not me, who types the bulletins here. Some mistakes matter more than others. They are not humorous and can have serious consequences. Today we are going to look at the worst mistake ever made. The big mistake, when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden. We are in Genesis, Chapter 3. Now, don't be confused when I say Adam and Eve made a mistake. There are Christians who say things like, "Yes, I made a mistake and lost my temper, but it was not a sin, just a mistake." Wrong! Whenever we disobey God, whether we rob a bank or repeat gossip or lose our temper, it is sin, and it is a big mistake. What we are going to do today is try to learn from Adam and Eve's mistake, so we can avoid falling into sin. Let's pray God would help that happen today.
Let's start with some background. Adam and Eve are living in the Garden of Eden, Paradise. In Chapter 2:16,17 God has given them a simple instruction. Whenever I play a new board game, I always get a little frustrated because it seems there are 900 rules. In the Garden of Eden, however, it is very simple. There is only one rule. Do not eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As we come to Chapter 3, we are introduced to a talking snake. 3:1 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'?" This chapter does not tell us exactly who the snake is, but the rest of the Bible makes it clear. The snake is Satan. As Revelation 12:9 says, he is "the great dragon, the ancient serpent, called the devil, or Satan." Apparently some time before God had created the earth, He had made angels, beings who served Him in heaven. One of the most powerful of these angels was Lucifer who led the rebellion against God and was cast out of heaven. Many Bible scholars think Isaiah 14:12-25 describes this event. In Genesis 3, Lucifer, or the devil, indwells and possesses a snake with the purpose of enticing Adam and Eve to make the big mistake of joining him in his rebellion against God. As we read on, we see that that is what happens, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. We will look at the results of this next week. Today, however, I want to explore three mistakes Adam and Eve made that led to their big mistake. They are also three mistakes that will lead us to disobey the Lord.
#1) Not believing God's Word. This was really Eve's mistake. She doubted and distorted what God had said. Eve tells the serpent, "God said eat of the forbidden fruit and you will die." The serpent responds, "You won't die." It is unclear whether he means Eve had somehow misunderstood the Lord, or whether he is saying God didn't mean what He said and was just trying to scare them. Either way, he is contradicting God's Word, and Eve makes the mistake of believing him. Next Sunday, we will see how very wrong Satan was.
Friends, whenever we choose not to believe the Bible, which is God's Word, we make a mistake that leads to many mistakes. There is nothing wrong with asking ques-tions about the Bible and admitting there are parts we don't understand. But if we deny that what God's Word teaches is true, we make a serious mistake. There are many people, for example, who deny that what our text today says is true. They claim talking snakes and a tree of knowledge are parts of a fairy tale. One famous theologian, Karl Barth, was asked, "Dr. Barth, did the snake really speak to Eve?" He replied, "It doesn't matter if the snake spoke, what counts is what he said." Now, on the surface that sounds like one of those profound, opaque answers theologians sometimes like to give. But, when we stop to think about it, it is really just nonsense. If the snake did not speak to Eve, what he did not say is hardly important.
Some of you may be thinking, "So what, Pastor Dan? What difference does it make in my life today, if Genesis 3 is fact or fiction?" It makes a big difference. For one thing, if the Bible cannot be trusted when it tells us about events in the Garden of Eden, why should we believe what it teaches about other matters? If we make the mistake of thinking the Bible is not true, we will make many mistakes. Francis Schaeffer used to talk about folks who want to say the Bible is totally reliable when it comes to spiritual and moral issues, but really cannot be trusted when it speaks about history and science. He notes that this view would only last for one generation. If Mom and Dad don't believe the Bible is correct when it says the snake spoke to Eve, why should Junior believe the Bible is correct when it says sex before marriage is wrong? Since World War II, it has become obvious in our country that when people reject the authority of Scripture, biblical morality crumbles. Today this is evident in some mainline Christian churches. For years, these folks have ridiculed those of us who believe the Bible is totally true. Now, when practicing homosexuals demand to be ordained as pastors in their churches, though they are very uncomfortable with it, these people cannot say, "Homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says so." They have allowed the foundation upon which the church is built, the authority of the Bible, to crumble and thus have no basis to make moral judgments upon any behavior. It is easy for people to justify disobedience to God if they believe God never really said that they should not do something they want to do.
Eve's mistake also shows us that what we don't know can hurt us. In Verse 3, Eve tells the serpent that God said they must not eat or touch the tree of knowledge. How-ever, back in 2:17, the Lord says only they must not eat. He says nothing about touch-ing. It is possible that Eve purposely added to God's Words, which is certainly a foolish and dangerous thing to do. But I believe her mistake is that she just was not paying careful attention to what God said. This reminds us that it is very difficult for us to know if a pastor or someone is denying or distorting what the Bible teaches, if we don't know what God's Word really says. A few years ago there were six American soldiers serving in Germany who went AWOL and headed for Florida because someone told them to go there and wait for Jesus' return. Now, whatever your belief about the details of Christ's second coming, certainly the Bible does not teach that we have to be in Florida when He returns. Friends, we need to know what God has said in His Word, so we recognize false teaching when we hear it.
The second mistake is believing human beings can be equal with God. Adam and Eve learn a lesson the hard way. 3:5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Of course, part of what the devil said is true. They do learn something by eating the fruit. Before, Adam and Eve only knew what was good, what God had provided for them. But because they disobeyed God, they will experience the reality of evil. They learned the hard way. How much better it would have been if they would have just trusted God. They are like a child who doesn't believe his mother when she says the stove is hot, so instead, he learns it is hot by touching it and getting burned. How much easier and better it would be to simply believe Mom when she says, "Don't touch." How much better it is when we believe God when He says that sin is only fun for a very short time.
But, the big question we need to ask is: Do we ever try to make ourselves like God? That is the idea Satan raises in Eve's mind: "If I gain this knowledge of good and evil, if I become like God in this way, then I will be like God." This is very similar to what Lucifer says in Isaiah 14:14, "I will make myself like the Most High." How foolish! No creature, no matter how hard he or she tries, can ever be equal to the God who created the universe and is Lord of everything that exists.
Yet, many false religions and cults latch on to the serpent's deception and promise that human beings can become like God. That is really what is at the core of the New Age movement. As Shirley McLain says, "Of course I believe in God. God is in each one of us, each one of us can become God." That idea is found in many places in our society. For example, in one of the Star Trek movies, the crew of the Enterprise goes to a planet seeking to find God. When they arrive, they find that the being on that planet is not God at all, so Captain Kirk concludes that "God must be inside each of us."
Thinking we have become like God is also a mistake that leads to other mistakes. A survey of high school students found that 16% said they make moral decisions based upon what God or the Bible says they should do, but 45% said they make moral decisions based on their own experience. Deciding to set your own moral rules is pretty much making yourself like God. Maybe we even make this mistake in our own lives. We think, "I know God wants me to do this, but I don't want to do it. I know God says I should be generous in giving money to the poor and to the Lord's work, but I am going to use my money the way I want to." Friends, whenever we choose to defy God's Word in this way, we are treating ourselves as a god. We have then fallen for Satan's lie and are believing our authority is equal to the Lord's. When that happens, we either think we are far greater than we really are, or we think that God is far less than He really is. It is a mistake to think that we can be equal with God.
The third mistake is basing decisions merely on physical appetites. Adam and Eve's philosophy seemed to be "If it looks good, eat it." 3:6 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. The fruit seemed good, it looked good. When I was growing up in northern Wisconsin, we would find these berries which my Dad would call "poison berries." I don't know what they were. They looked like big blueberries, just a little lighter blue. I don't know if eating "poison berries" would give you a slight stomach ache or if you would fall over dead after the first bite. I never tried one. I believed my Dad when he told us not to eat them. But, I remember they looked so good, so delicious, even though they were poisonous. "If it looks good, eat it," was the ancient parallel to our modern idea of "If it feels good, do it." Both philosophies can get us into a lot of trouble.
This mistake shows us the importance of self-control. All of us have probably experienced the tension of knowing in our head something is wrong, but on the inside wanting to do it anyway. Every time I go into a restaurant, this happens. I know I don't need dessert, but I want it. As human beings we have appetites for food, sex, money, popularity, and power. These appetites are not wrong to have, but we must control them. We cannot let them control us. We live in a society where many folks want to attribute all of their bad habits and behavior to addiction and disease, rather than admitting we are simply failing to exercise self-control over our appetites.
Friends, I don't know about you, but I think whenever I disobey God, it is usually not because I deny or doubt God's Word. It is usually not because I question God's authority as Lord of my life. Rather, most of the time, it is because I choose to do what I want to do. There are times, even though I know it is wrong, that I repeat gossip just because that is what I feel like doing. There are times, even though I know it is wrong, I choose to spend my time watching TV when I should be reading my Bible, because that is what I feel like doing. Even though I know it is wrong, I sometimes snap back at Nancy or the boys, because that is what I feel like doing. How important, how essential it is that we don't make choices based on what we feel like doing, but that we exercise self-control of our appetites, and make choices based on what God has revealed to us in His Word.
Genesis 3 is the story of the biggest mistake ever made. But before Adam and Eve made that big mistake of disobeying God, they made three other mistakes. They doubted God's Word, they thought they could be equal with God, and they made a decision based merely on their physical appetites. What is God's message to us from this text? Well, there are two questions we need to ask ourselves. #1) Do I take responsibility for my sin? My guess is that those of us in this room have many times made these same mistakes that Adam and Eve did. We are sinners. We have failed to live as God says we should. But, we need to admit that. In Verses 12 and 13, we see that when Adam and Eve are confronted with their sin, Adam blames Eve, and then tries to blame God. "The woman you gave me made me do this." Eve tries to blame the serpent who, of course, did not have a leg to stand on. In reality, God is not to blame at all for their disobedience. Yes, Satan is guilty of deceiving Eve, but the bottom line is Adam and Eve are each responsible for the mistake they made in disobeying God, and the other mistakes made along the way. Friends, whenever we disobey God, whenever we sin, we need to say, "The buck stops here. I am responsible for what I have done or failed to do." Then, as 1 John 1:9 says, we need to confess our sin to the Lord, we need to agree with Him that what we have done is wrong, and then we can experience the free and full forgiveness He offers us through Jesus Christ.
#2) Have I learned from Adam and Eve's mistake? Our focus today is that when it comes to sin, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure. From Adam and Eve's mistakes, we learn that we need to believe what God says in His Word. We need to acknowledge that we are not God's equals, but that He has the right to tell us how we should live. And we learn that we must have the self-control to decide to make decisions based on what God says in His Word, rather than just following our physical appetites. If we avoid those mistakes, we have a much better chance of resisting the temptations that the world, the flesh, and the devil use to try to trip us up and turn us away from God.
Friends, we live at a time and in a society where it is becoming more and more difficult to be a Christian and faithfully follow Jesus. There are so many temptations out there, and so many voices are saying it's OK to give in to those temptations. We need God's help not to make that mistake. In the evangelical church we correctly emphasize that we are all sinners and that salvation can only be by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We correctly teach that none of us can achieve any type of sinless perfection in this life and that we must always rely on Christ's righteousness instead of our own. Yet it is a mistake, a very serious mistake, to think that means it is OK if we give in to temptations and to sin. In C. S. Lewis' science-fiction novel, Perelandra, we find Satan on Venus tempting the first woman on that planet to disobey God. In the story, the woman resists the temptation, doesn't make the big mistake, and that planet lives happily ever after. That, of course, is fiction, but as Christians, our goal too should be to resist to temptations that come from the world, the flesh, and the devil and make good choices. Yes, we all sin, we all sometimes give in to temptation, we all make those mistakes. But, as believers in Jesus Christ, our goal should be to choose not to lose our temper, not to repeat gossip, not to look at pornography, not to be selfish with our money, not to neglect our Bible reading, not to fall into any of the other sins we are tempted to commit. We need to frequently ask God to deliver us from temptation and to help us avoid those mistakes that can do great harm to our souls. I close with a very precious promise from God's Word for believers in Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
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