Temptations

(I gave this sermon on 19-11-2013 in Danish mission hospital Chapel, Thirukkovilur)

Today we are going to look into Gen 3:1-7 as a portion for our devotion.

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 opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Gen 3:1-7)

This is a familiar portion which we would have read many times in our life. Still God’s word is alive and active, so let us dig deep and find out the depths of treasure packed in this part of the Scripture.

We know from Gen 1 and 2 that God has created everything, heavens and earth and all that in it and finally He created man as the ultimate crown of creation and all that so far has been good (Gen 1:31). With this in background, let’s see how Satan is tempting Eve in this occasion. Verse 1 says, serpent was cunning when compared to other creations. Let’s look at the question to find out how he was tempting Eve. “"Did God actually say:”  Let us look at this part for now. Notice the word ‘actually’. Through this phrase inclusion in the passage, we see that, Satan has cunningly brought up the ambiguity of God’s word. Did God really say that you will die? Or is He cheating you?  And not only he brought the ambiguity to God’s word but also he clearly wanted to deceive Eve by conveying falsely that God is suppressing them. God is not giving the freedom they deserve. So many times, when we sin, we think obedience to God is like being under slave. But that’s the same deception as Eve faced. But are we really oppressed? Is God not gracious to us? Has He not been faithful to us in our lives? Aren’t we also faithful to God for what we have got? Eve had entire Eden garden for her to enjoy except that tree of good and evil, yet she was not satisfied by it. Are we also like Eve? When we face difficult situation, we tend to think we are let down by God. But God never promised us that difficulties of life will never come. What God has assured is that if we are faithful to Him, He will be with us and deliver us from those trials. Read Exo 18:19, Deu 11:13, 1 Sam 12:14, Deu 4:6-8 to see how God promises His mercies and grace daily in a life of Christian. If God is good and gracious of us, what does He expect of you, Christian? David was not promised by God that he would never face Goliath but on the contrary he was promised that God will be with him even when he is facing Goliath. Are we having the faith of David?

Verse 2-3, we look at this reply of Eve: “"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.'"  If you see Gen 2:17, we look at the commandment of God, “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”. But Eve added an extra saying they were prohibited from touching it also. She added her own words as a commandment of God. God never said she will die when she touches the fruit of it. Many times, we fall into sin because these ‘extra words’ and traditions of men and think it’s God’s word.  And so many false teachers also make us fall into sin by the same technique. This technique has been continually followed by Satan till now. During reformation, Catholic church said, “Bible + Church Tradition” as God’s word. Luther opposed it and said “Bible alone” is sufficient for godly living and reformation was born because of it. But even now there are false teachers in India, who sell ‘prayers’ for 2000 bucks in the name of ‘prayer partner’. Where is it given in Scripture that we should ‘sell’ prayers for money? Are we like Eve to believe in these ‘extras’? Bible says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2Ti 3:16-17)”, Scripture is sufficient for ‘God’s man to be competent and equipped in every good work’.  Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." (Joh 14:21). Only those who obey God’s (and only God’s) commandment, he really loves God. This also means that those who obey these ‘extras’ are not loving God.

Verse 4 to 7, where in Verse 5, Satan lies saying “They will be like Gods”. Satan is a liar. And Eve falls for his temptation easily. Here we notice that Eve found that fruit to be a ‘delight’ to her eyes. Many times, sins are too tempting for our eyes. We think that those sins are so nice and good but in reality they are bad and destroy our lives. Are we delighting in those mirages of sinful pleasures and leaving the ‘living waters which will never be emptied’? We see Adam not in the whole plot. But he takes the fruit from Eve and eats. Maybe he would have watched the entire conversation and maybe he would have observed whether Eve dies immediately as soon as she ate the fruit. And he might have ‘scientifically’ concluded that Eve did not die and so he would have also tried a bite of it. But in reality, as God promised, they received the curse and they immediately faced spiritual death and eventually physical death. Are we like Adam, doing sin just because other sinners are ‘enjoying’ life? Are we lying because the other liars are not punished? Are we lazy because our friend is also lazy? Are we thinking that they are not facing the curse of God, so we can also do sin? Let us not forget that their wrath is coming soon (Psa 73)

We find that Adam and Eve failed miserably and fell in the trap of Satan. Thankfully, the Second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, born as a human in virgin womb, overcame similar temptations of Satan (Mat 4:1-11) like our first parents faced and lived a life of complete obedience and died on the cross facing all the wrath of God for our sins and imputed His righteousness on us, so that we can live forever glorifying God (Rev 4:11). We don’t have first Adam as our spiritual father, but Christ, the last Adam, as our father (1Cor 15:45-50). And He had defeated our enemy Satan in the cross and is now seated in the right hand of Father and ruling all things with absolute authority. We are not serving Satan like our fathers but Christ. We are not slaves to sin but to righteousness. And in righteousness do we have real freedom (2Cor 3:17). Are we free in Christ? Did you really experience the freedom which Christ gives you? If not, repent. Turn to Jesus lest you die as a slave to Satan and sin. May God bless you all.

If you have liked this article, you can also read Overcoming habitual Sins