DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE
GENESIS 3:1-19
I believe that we’re living in a time where acceptance plays a big part in our society… We’re living in a time where everybody is looking for an excuse to do what they want to do… We’re living in a time where everybody wants the green light to act according to their will and their way… We’re living in an ‘anything goes, just let it flow’ society… We want what we want so bad, that we’ll do just about anything and listen to just about anybody to get it… And nowhere is this more evident, then here in our text for tonight…
For in our text we see that in spite of the fact of what God had already said (Gen 2:16-17), mankind (Adam & Eve) had already set his sights on what he wanted and all he needed was justification to act on it… But I need to tell you tonight, that it doesn’t matter who’s trying to convince you move contrary to what God has already said, don’t do like Adam & Eve…Don’t get caught up in the madness… Don’t get caught up in the drama… IOW, Don’t Believe The Hype…! You can’t get caught up in The Hype: (Half-truths, misinformation)…You can’t get caught up in what the enemy would have you to be in… (3 Reasons…) When you start to Believe The Hype, you’ll find yourself in the midst of…
I. THE SET UP (Gen. 3:1-6)
Satan is subtle (cunning: crafty, calculating, shrewd, and sly)… (John 8:44) “For he is a liar, and the father of it.” One of his main objectives is to convince you to do something you shouldn’t do… (v 1b) And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, ’You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
When you listen to the devil, he does two things:
1. He makes you question God’s Word…
2. Makes God look harsher than He is…
You need to understand that in the Garden they had only one rule: don’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil … There were hundreds of trees to eat from but they passed them to get to this one... The devil will try to set you up for a fall but (Title)… (Hype is nothing more than Deception…)
Eve begins to make her conscience feel better by justifying her actions: “He (God) said don’t eat of it he didn’t say not to touch it…(v3)” The enemy will convince you to think negative about God… He’ll make it seem like a burden to follow God… “I can’t do _____, my parents, my church, or God will not let me…” Instead of saying, “that would not glorify God so that’s why I can’t do that...”
Understand that it’s all a Set Up… And the problem is that when subtlety stops working the devil flat out calls God a liar…!
(v 4) Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 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…” The enemy will entice you and hook you with half-truths... He wasn’t lying, he just showed Eve the pleasurable things but left out the end results… (Point) Sin may be pleasurable for a season but the end thereof is death… And the truth of the matter is that the devil will show you:
The pleasures of drinking, but not the results of… Alcoholism
The pleasures of illicit sex, but not the results of… HIV/AIDS
The pleasures of drugs, but not the results of… Addiction
But I need to tell tonight, (Title)… Don’t get caught up in the trap… In the Set Up… Because one who gets trapped in the Set Up will eventually Sell Out…!
(v 6) They make a moral decision based on physical lusts instead of spiritual law… In essence they said, “If it feels good do it…!” A recent survey stated that High school teens found that 16% said they make moral decisions based upon what God or the Bible says they should do, but 45% said they make theirs based on their experience… But Don’t Believe The Hype… Because when you decide to make your own moral rules based on what you think and not what God says, it’s like making yourself God…
Understand that as human beings we have appetites: For things like: food, power, money, popularity, and sex… These appetites aren’t wrong to have but we must control them… (Picture) Every time I go into a restaurant I know I don’t need the dessert but I want it any way… But it’s up to me to control my appetite… But the Bible says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it…(1 Cor. 10:13)” (Point) Don’t Believe The Hype… Because the hype will do nothing but led you to a Set Up…
II. THE COVER UP (Gen. 3:7-13)
(v 7)Covering up your sin may hide it from others but not from God…(v 8) “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden…”
They tried to hide behind things:
a. The fig leaves: covered their sin
b. The Trees: Allowed them to hide their sins behind the good things that they did (tending the Garden)… We hide behind…
That’s why God has to expose and convict us when we when try to Cover Up… When we hear His voice in our daily prayer, at church, or just when our conscience is being pricked… So God says, (v 9) “Adam…Where are you?” It wasn’t because God had no idea where he was… It was because He wanted Adam to know where He was… And because his Set Up has caused him to run, hide and Cover Up, it’s now going to be hard for Adam to come out...
(Why?) Because when you fall for the Set Up, God must expose your Cover Up to bring you back into the place that you need to be in Him… But instead of coming clean, Adam did what we all do; he began to blame others for his mistake… (v 12) “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate…” He blamed the woman… He blamed God… He said, “Well if you God put it here he must want me to have it…”
(v 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…” Understand that Cover Up is nothing more than an excuse for your actions…
1. The Devil made me do it…
2. My parents didn’t raise me right…
3. I’ve got so much peer pressure…
4. Every body else is doing it…
You see it’s never about your gossiping tongue it’s about the horrible thing they did… It’s never about that lie it’s about how you couldn’t trust that person with the truth…Eve started it but Adam was standing there when God said not to eat of that fruit… He made a personal choice to disobey God… (Trying to say…) Don’t Believe The Hype… Because believing in the Hype will cause you to be Set Up by the enemy… And the Set Up will lead to you the Cover Up… But for every Set Up and every Cover Up… There will always be…
III. THE PAY UP (Gen 3:14-19)
Understand tonight that nothing in this life comes without a consequence… The Bible says, (Gal 6:7-8) “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap... For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life…” When you get caught in The Hype of the world you’re destined to be Set Up by the devil and lured into all kinds of sin… And as result of your Set Up, you’ll find yourself in the midst of a Cover Up to hide what you’ve done… But the day will surely come when it’s time to Pay Up…! (Text…) IOW, whatever’s done in the dark will come out in the light…
But aren’t you glad that we’re not under the same penalty of Adam & Eve… Aren’t you glad that God provided a way of escape for us… Aren’t you glad that God provided what it took for us to be delivered from the price of the Set Up and the Cover Up… For the Bible says (Romans 5:8-10), “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him… For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life…” I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that God sent His Son to pay the price and the penalty…
