Did God Actually Say?

genesis chapter 3 is a heavy chapter there's nothing easy about genesis chapter 3 and as we consider this this morning we have to feel the weight of this we have to consider this as god revealed it to us you can't sugarcoat it it's awful this is the worst thing that's ever happened and when we consider it in that light when we see how bad things were we today should walk out of here praising God singing his praise that he's given an answer to the mess that we're going to study today okay Genesis chapter 3 the first seven verses let's give our attention to the word of the Lord now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made he said to the woman did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden and the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die but the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like god knowing good and evil so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was a delight to the eyes that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she gave and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate and the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word this morning. Well, we have seen in the news, even this past week again, some very disturbing things that have gone on. And in the past months, we can kind of tally up all the disasters and terrible things that have gone on, but especially the actions of men hating one another. The Boston Marathon bombings. Maybe some of you saw the story in Canada of Tim Bosma, which really shook up that community up there. A man who was just trying to sell his Dodge truck to men, take him, and they brutally murder him, and leaving a wife and children and a whole community in just devastation. You saw this past week a horror committed on the street of London for no apparent reason. A horror of somebody brutally murdered. everyone feels right now that these things are getting worse. And when these things happen, we just don't even know how to process this stuff. And I think one of the most shocking things that goes on is when we see these things among Christians is the statement of how could these things go on? I hear this repeatedly. How could somebody do this to somebody else? Why would a human being do this to another human being? And hearing all these statements, I stop and say, we've been saying it in the Christian church for thousands of years. Why people could do this to one another. And I fear that today we don't even know how to think through these things anymore. We're starting over in so many respects in the Christian church today. We're starting over with the basics. With the basic fundamentals of the Christian faith. And we can't take it for granted, even for those raised in the church. And that's why we go back to Genesis this morning. Genesis means beginnings. It means foundations. And we understand when we look at Genesis how all of this came about. God's telling us the story. And we get perspective on life and reality and what has happened and why things are the way that they are. and we can't cover it up even in the Disneyland that we've tried to create here in the United States we can't the challenge is for the preachers we don't like stories like this we don't like stories like this you know when I was a kid I I liked Clint Eastwood you know and I liked him with his cigar and his poncho and nobody could ever stop Clint Eastwood he was my hero i don't think i ever watched a movie where the good guy lost that's not our story that's not the movies that make the money we want the story of us winning the battle and that's why you can have all sorts of movies today when an asteroid's gonna hit the earth some guy's gonna fly up on top of the asteroid and blow it up you know we're gonna win we're gonna win if we're gonna listen to genesis 3 this morning we've got bad news really bad news and it should go without saying that if we don't understand how bad you never understand how good the lord has been to lift us out of it genesis 3 is the most important chapter in the bible because it tells the story from god's perspective it gives us the truth about man and then in the midst of all of this sadness when we see the fall and the ruin and the sin, we understand that without God's free grace, there's no good ending to our story. None. Paul said something to the Corinthians that I want to start with today as we approach Genesis 3. Paul was concerned that the Corinthian church would be taken advantage of by satan and it's interesting what he said he said we're not ignorant of satan's devices we're not ignorant as to what he does and i believe paul was thinking of the garden you can learn so much this morning about how the devil operates and what he is doing and his continual mode of operation how he plants seeds and what he does to twist god's word you can learn all of that right from these first seven verses in genesis chapter three and so my my purpose this morning in the sermon the text purpose is very simple for you the lord wants us to think about how this mess came to be what caused the fall and that we today in childlike faith would come to him and that we would praise Him that He's not left us in this, but that He's given an answer. That He's pulled us out by grace and that the praise of God should sound on our lips for it. Remember the scene. Adam and Eve are married. They're one. The two have become one flesh. Adam's been given all these great responsibilities in the garden. He's been given the responsibility to guard the garden, to tend the garden, to cultivate, and given a dominion mandate to the ends of the earth. But notice in verse 1 now what happens. We have a crisis that is unfolding. A crisis. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, did God actually say, stop? Satan takes possession here of one of God's good creatures that he called good and he enters the garden. He enters the garden and what is the first thing that Satan does in the garden? He attacks the Lord's word. What was the Garden of Eden? Remember two sermons ago? We looked at this. The biblical writers, and Ezekiel in particular, understood that what the Garden of Eden was was a giant linking of heaven and earth with a mountain. The earth being His throne, I mean the heavens being His throne and the earth His footstool. It was the first holy place. The temple mount was there. And notice what Satan does. He maneuvers right around Adam and in the most holy place, if you will, he approaches Eve. You'll notice he does a few things here in the first few verses. Has God indeed said, has God, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? What a scene. If you were putting together all the language in the Bible the beast has risen up out of the sea the little horn is speaking pompous words you have the very first abomination that causes desolation all of that language we see throughout history that Jesus even talked about first happened in the Garden of Eden and what we should notice here this morning is that the first satanic assault the first thing that Satan hit was God's word very first thing that tells us a lot doesn't it that tells us a lot did God actually say did he we study Satan's tactics here and you start by recognizing throughout history that every single assault that has gone on by the devil himself has always been on the word of God it has always been and notice how he does it i want you to notice the tactics here notice the first thing that he raises is the question of authority the question of authority and he's doing it by challenging the integrity and the good intentions of what god has said so he begins with did god really say you shall not not what notice how uh our translation has did god actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden eat of every tree in the garden and the perceptive reader for a minute stops and says wait a minute that's not at all what god said that's not at all what god said he's already twisted the word hasn't he he has already twisted it and and boys and girls think about how crafty this is what had god said well in chapter 2 verse 16 he said of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die you may eat freely of everything except one do you hear him you hear what the devil did we have all of these beautiful beaches in uh in southern california and you know the beach is a wonderful place to go just imagine that there is one beach that is off limits and let's just say it's an ocean side and that beach is polluted and that beach if you touch that water you will be in deep trouble. It will kill you. Do you hear what the devil just did? Did God say you can't use all the beaches in Southern California? God say you can't do that? Not true, Adam should have said, right? God's given one beach we can't go to. God's given us free access to all the trees of the Garden of Eden. No, but there's one we can't go to. And notice what Satan just did. It's no wonder Jesus said that he was the father of lies from the beginning. He twisted the words as subtly as he could and the first kind of seed of doubt that he was planning in Eve was planning a doubt in the good intention of God, his goodness. This would be like a teenager who's received the care of his parents. And there are rules. There are boundaries. There are laws. And because the fact is, the teenager doesn't make so good of choices right now. That's not why they're living on their own. So they need parents to watch over them and to see them. And so the parent gives them certain kind of freedoms. And he gives them more freedoms than they realize. And they're able to do many things. but imagine that if one event comes up and the parent says you cannot go to this one event because it's harmful to you and we're saying no it's dangerous a friend comes along and he begins to say man your parents are strict you know they're they're not letting you do this that's cruel and soon enough what does the teenager do he's bought into the idea that his parents are two too binding, that his parents are too restrictive. And what is the next thing that comes out? They won't let me do anything. You know that. The reality is they've been given all sorts of freedom. This is it. Satan, God has said you can't eat of all the trees in the garden. And right then and there, Eve starts to ponder it. This God is restricted. This God is restricted. This God's holding you back. This is an unreasonable burden that the Lord has leveled upon you. This God is way too hard. And so in verse 5, he adds to it. For God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes are going to be opened and you will be like God to know good and evil. Is God really good? Does he have good intentions for you? Well, the Lord had said throughout history. And everyone quotes Jeremiah 29, 11 today. It's the bumper sticker verse of our day. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. God said. Has God really said? He's not out for you. he doesn't wish the best for you what god really doesn't want you see what god really doesn't want to happen is for you to become like him if you rebel from him and you eat of this of this tree then you will become like god what does that mean what essentially is saying is you will become your own gods you will define things on your own you will define reality for yourself hey you're you're going to get your own autonomy you will be able to live now and know and understand apart from his revelation from what he has said because this god's inhibiting he's taking away from you what is yours and so notice here the temptation that he's hitting eve with is that she can define reality now she can define what's right and wrong now she can rule by the dictates of her own heart now which was the great charge in israel down throughout history you will become as him and that was the exact thinking you'll remember of the young prodigal when he was in the house and considering the house and he considered the house to be too restrictive and so he wanted the inheritance and he wanted out he wanted to run he wanted to go and do his own thing and define his life on his own terms. I'm constrained in this. You ever feel that? I'm constrained. I'm held. And so we're faced with this choice, aren't we? We're faced with a choice. Are you going to rule and do your own thing? Or are you going to submit to the law of God? And remember, in the garden, there were no room for mistakes. He didn't need grace because he hadn't sinned until the fall. This is the temptation, and I'm certain, young and old alike, right now many of you are being hit with this temptation. Right now. Right now. It's the issue of whose authority we're under. Will we live by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God? believing that is a light to our feet and a lamp to our path or will you pursue your own way of understanding? And so notice here, that's the first assault. That's the first assault on the word, planting the seed in her that this God is strict, that this God is not good, that he's overbearing, that he doesn't have good intentions. And if you follow the history of Israel, this is what they always said. It's useless. Who can please this God? He's impossible to please. we're going to go do our own thing that's jeremiah and everyone pursuing a path of rebellion starts here starts right here and so immediately the the thing that begins to happen in eve's mind is she begins to question the commandment itself and question whether she's understood this commandment and that's the next thing that we do she says in verse two notice verse two and the woman said to the serpent. We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And so at the devil's instigation, did you see what she just did? She's now starting to ponder the commandment of self, and she's twisting it. She's twisting it. She's entertaining the thought that the devil has planted, that this God is being unreasonable, and now she's reinterpreting the commandment herself. She throws a slant on the command. We're not even supposed to touch it. Now, that's not what God had said. But she is already entertained, and this is the point. She's already entertained in her mind the idea that God is unreasonable, and so she's adding to this a burden that God had not put upon. And that's important to notice. She is building in her mind the unreasonableness of the command. Feeling like she's being hindered. And so right when Satan has her right there, notice what he does. Right when he has her right there, what's the next word that comes out of his mouth? You will not surely die. This is really important. The first doctrine to be openly denied in the Scripture. Do you know what it is? Did you see it? The very first doctrine that Satan denied in the Scripture is the doctrine of divine judgment. Threw it out. It's gone. He assaults the idea that there will be any consequence to actions. And with that, what did he do in Eve? He removed the fear of it. He removed any restraint. And that is the greatest lie perpetuated to this day. That you can go out and that you can live any way that you want to live. All of this being said under the banner that hey, you have the right to do what you want to do. I've got the right to do what I want to do. And no one can tell me how to live. No one should tell you how to live. You are the determiner of reality and there's no consequence to whatever you decide to do. God won't perform judgment. Come on, the guy is understanding. This is what we hear today. And the emphasis in our day is tolerance. I can almost hear the devil saying on the side, this is God's love. He understands. He'll accept you. Come on, He's a loving God and we feel this pressure today. The church is full of sinners, lest we be hypocrites. We shouldn't be legalistic in judgment, let alone discipline. And so what's the temptation? We're done with the doctrine of judgment. I don't know how many of you saw that thing that I posted by Penn Jillette, who's the atheist Vegas performer. And someone was trying to evangelize Penn outside of one of the Vegas shows and Penn was really taken by this. Penn was shocked by this. It's the first one he ever said that he felt was sane and kind in the approach. But what moved me is something that he said. He said something startling. I don't respect people who don't proselytize. This is an atheist. Hostile to Christians. If you believe there's a heaven and a hell and people are going to hell and you're afraid of being socially awkward or offending, how much do you have to hate someone to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them? If you believe a truck is bearing down on you and is going to take you out, there's a certain point at which I go and tackle the guy. And he says the Christian message and she claims to be a lot more important than that. And that was an atheist. And it made me think as I was listening to this atheist, because the message of judgment is gone today, do we believe a judgment's coming? I ask that sincerely. Do we believe anymore that a judgment day is coming? I recoil at the idea as much as the next guy. I hate to think about it. But all my hatred of thinking about it doesn't make it go away. And I should notice here that the very first thing that he outwardly denied in the garden was this. And I wonder if the reason no one preaches on this today is because we really don't believe it's going to happen. Our whole tendency is to downplay sin and make excuses and explain away God's commandments which are tied to His holiness and who He is and reflect His glory and you hear what the devil is saying. It's okay. It's okay. Don't be so judgmental. Do it. At the end of the day, don't let anyone judge you. You don't have to be judged because you're not going to be judged. I think one pastor laid out the pathology of this so clear. Satan offers a question based on the perversion of God's word and Eve then begins to question it herself. It's evidenced by her revision of God's word and then Satan is free to declare that God's word is wrong. He who has ears, let him hear. And so we read in verse 6, 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. And that becomes the defining path of apostasy throughout history. 1 John picks up on that. And remember the 1 John passage instructing us, it says that we should never love the world because the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father but are of the world. He looked right at Genesis, and he looked at Eve. She perceived that the tree was good for food, lust of the flesh. She entertained the lust, then questioning God's word. As she looked at the fruit, that lust grew, lust of the eyes. And desiring to rule her own life, becoming her own God, She perceived that it was a tree desirable to make one wise. That's the pride of life. And then before us, we have the fall. Now, by this time, do you think somebody's missing out of this scene? We all should be asking the question, where's Adam? What is he doing? I don't think they had lazy boys back then. god had created him to do what exercise dominion he was to guard the garden and he was to keep it from anything that offended he was a king he was a priest and so think of the scene this intruder slithers right on in possessed by the devil and he comes right up to his wife and seduces his wife and what you have is the first desecration of the holy place if you were using the language of second thessalonians the son of perdition has exalted himself above all that's called god or that's worship so that he sits in the temple of god showing himself that he is god that's what's happened this is satan and adam you understand why later the new testament says we're going to judge angels because of christ's victory adam should have judged the angels he should have cleansed the temple he should have crushed the head of the serpent. Remember, Adam was a specimen. He should have defended the honor of the Lord's name. He should have protected his family. He should have loved his wife. Oh, Adam, where art thou? And you know what's so shocking about the whole thing? He's there. Verse 6 says it. Eve took of its fruit and ate and she gave to her husband with her and he ate. She gave to her husband with her. The Hebrew here is interesting. When the serpent speaks, he speaks in plural, meaning he's speaking to both. Who's running the house? Oh, Satan knew just what to do. He hit positions. He hit positions. Adam was a lazy husband, soft, a bum. And the worst thing about it is when we look at the curse of God in the next section, God said, you want it, you got it. That's the curse. God often gives us what we choose. You want it, you got it. And what you've seen play out throughout history in the marriage relationship, and this is why we have books, people still can't figure it out. men are from where and women are from where i you get all these books saying this and so in the typical home today the men are completely passive they don't lead they're absent they're distant and in the typical home the woman has taken the head role and she's dominating so that we all know the little axiom when mom ain't happy nobody's happy were living out the curse and the reversal of roles, the complete emancipation of women from God and the complete abandonment of men to lead in their homes. And so you read the sad tragedy that as they ate, their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made for themselves coverings. Listen, whatever mutual love and harmony was there, the clothes are telling you they're now fallen. It's broken. It's shamed. And the clothes show that they were alienated from each other and from God. And the first thing they did, this is how you know it, the first thing they did was they go out and try to cover the shame of it all using their own clothing. And dear listener, dear beloved, this is the story of the fall. I don't know if you caught it, but the first recorded communion service was Adam and his wife participating at Satan's table. Together aligned with him in their own clothing. And that's our story. Now God could have ended this, but He is so merciful and long-suffering and gracious. I'd be wrong to leave the message here this morning, wouldn't I? Because we're about to come to the table and you'd say, how can I come? When the second Adam came, the Lord Jesus from heaven, he goes into the wilderness and he's met by Satan himself. First scene. It's a garden scene. Now it's only wilderness though. And every single attack that the devil leveled on Adam and Eve in the garden, he levels on Christ. And remember what the first attack was? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. And Jesus overcame. The word was his delight. And he went through speaking of the judgment to come. He wasn't passive about that. And then he goes to what the Bible calls a cursed tree. Why do you think the Bible's calling it a cursed tree? It's telling you, think of the garden. He goes to a cursed tree in the garden. And what happens? Reminding us of everything that happened. When Adam and Eve fell, the man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. After they sinned, what happened? They became aware of their sin. Their eyes were opened and they tried to cover with physical clothing. God did something wonderful for Adam and Eve that day. You know what he did. We'll get there. He clothed them. Take off your skins. I'm making my own. And we know throughout history that without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. He skinned something. Judgment in the Bible is represented as God uncovering and making naked. Adam and Eve to be clothed in true righteousness and holiness. Jesus had to be stripped. Jesus had to be stripped. And He took that on the cross. When they divided His lots and ripped off His clothing, He stood there, He hung there in shame, giving up everything that we might be made rich. He was stripped of dignity, and what a thought. He who had no sin became sin for us. He became naked, opened before the judgment seat of God. facing the wrath of God, bearing our sin, there, the open shame of our sin, He stood in front of the throne, taking on the curse to declare to you today that whosoever believes in Him will never be put to shame. 2 Corinthians 5. When we are clothed, we will not be found naked. There's the meaning. When he overcame in his blood, you know what he did for you? He secured the right to eat at a different tree. And that tree is yours. You know what tree that is, boys and girls? It's the tree of life. And you're going to get that when you die and are raised in the new heavens and the new earth. Today, the only way we come to this table is with different clothes, don't we? When we're reconciled to God, He covers us in the righteousness of His Son. And now you begin to taste the newness of life as it ought to be. I want to say to people who don't have it, do you really want to continue this way? Do you really want to go on this way? And if He reconciled us with God, guess what the fruit of that's going to be now for you? you're going to see it in your relationships with one another. This is why the Lord is constantly saying, if you're not forgiving, don't come to this table. If you have refused to forgive, you have to first be made right with God. And the beauty of it is, is when that reconciliation has occurred, it goes this way. And I begin to love my wife the way that I should, leading her. My wife begins to respond. My children should taste and see the Lord's goodness in their life. You say, how can I be sure how meaningful it is today that as we come to this table and He sets this out for you, you can come and commune with Him. You can come knowing that you're aligned with Him. If you're still buying the lie that Eve did, calling him to question God's word, not believing in his judgment, refusing to turn from sin. You're still at Satan's table. You don't want to come to this one. But all who've come to this Jesus, his arms are open. And they're saying, come to me. Feast. I've forgiven you. The invitation is here. It's prepared. Come, taste and see. I'm not a tyrant, says the Lord. I have good for you. Taste and see that I'm good. Amen.