Why is our world in such a mess? The only answer that makes any sense is the answer given in Genesis 3. In this message we explore Satan’s Schemes, Man’s Failure, and Christ’s Obedience.
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Christ – The Obedient Son
Genesis 3:1-6
It’s obvious to everyone that there is something terribly wrong with the world today. There is evil and suffering everywhere. Whether it is war, rape, sex trafficking, murder, or pride, selfishness, and bitterness, we see evil lurking in the heart of every human being. You can’t read a newspaper, or watch the news at night without seeing firsthand the evidence that something is horribly wrong the world. So, why is the world like this? At the end of God’s creation we find God saying that it was all very good. Well, we look around now, and can’t say that any more! It’s not all very good. In the first 2 chapters of Genesis we read that there was no shame, which means no guilt, which means no sin. There was no sickness, suffering, or death. Well, today, the world is full of sin, guilt, shame, sickness, suffering and death! So, what happened to change things? We have the answer in Genesis 3. If you rip this chapter from your Bible, the world will never make sense.
This morning we are going to look at 3 People: Satan – Man – Jesus, in that order.
1. Satan And His Schemes
Any good football coach will spend time studying his opponents’ game plan, so that he has an advantage in the game. A wise general studies his enemy’s battle strategy, so that he can be prepared in the ensuing conflict. Even so, we need to study Satan’s battle plan. 2 Cor. 2:11 says “in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” A “scheme” is a devious plot. If you don’t want Satan to take advantage of you, you need to make sure you are not ignorant of his devious plots against you. Well, how can we know the schemes of Satan? Very simply – study how he attacked our first parents. Satan is not very original. He keeps using the same old tactics, because he finds that they work so well.
Serpent: Either Satan appeared as a serpent, or he actually indwelt one particular serpent. We know that demons entered into pigs in the life of Christ, so it should be no big surprise if Satan were to indwell a serpent in the garden. Revelation 12:9 speaks of “the great dragon, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan.” So, the Bible links the serpent explicitly with Satan, the devil. Further, this serpent is also linked with the great dragon. That’s very interesting, because although dragons are mythical creatures, they have legs. Evidently, this serpent originally had legs and walked like other beasts of the field. As a result of the Fall, God cursed the serpent and said, “On your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life” (Gen.3:14). This implies that until the Fall took place the serpent did not go on his belly. So, originally, the serpent may have looked much more like a dragon than a snake. We think of dragons as ugly, grotesque creatures breathing out fire. That was probably not how the original serpent appeared. He may have been a very dazzling and beautiful creature. Interestingly, the word “serpent” in the original means a “shining one.” In fact in 2 Cor. 11:14 the Bible says that Satan even disguises himself as an angel of light. Not only apparently could this serpent walk, but he could also talk, for he speaks to Eve. This may not have been surprising too Eve, for she may have never encountered this animal before, and being newly created, she would not know that animals don’t talk.
Crafty: Make no mistake about it, Satan is cunning! 2 Cor. 11:3 speaks of his craftiness. Satan is cunning, crafty, and his art is seduction and deception. We make a grave mistake if we underestimate our enemy. Let’s look at six different ways Satan attacks us.
1) Satan Attacks The Vulnerable: He approached Eve. Why didn’t he approach Adam? Also, it appears that he approached Eve when she was alone. We don’t find Adam in this conversation at all. Adam doesn’t appear on the scene until verse 6, in a different time and place than what we have in 3:1-5. Satan must have believed that he could deceive the woman more easily if he could speak to her when she was alone. Remember that God had spoken His Word about the forbidden tree to Adam before Eve was even created. Adam must have told Eve about God’s command. But Eve is less sure about this word than Adam is. Adam had the word from God first hand. Eve got it second hand. Eve is less sure about God’s Word than Adam is. Satan will be more successful with those who are less sure of God’s Word. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I do enjoy watching the Animal Planet, where people have filmed wild animals stalking and hunting their prey. Over and over I’ve seen that the lion or the jackal or the leopard will attack the most vulnerable animals; the one who is injured so that it hangs back from the herd. My friend, beware of being by yourself all the time. There is wisdom and strength in Christian fellowship. If you isolate yourself from the rest of the pack and thereby become more vulnerable, don’t be surprised if Satan tries to pick you off! The Bible says that he is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. When you find yourself making excuses as to why you aren’t going to be in fellowship on Sundays or at your Missional Community during the week, watch out! Satan may be ready to pounce.
2) Satan Attacks The Inspiration of God’s Word: Notice how he speaks to Eve. “Indeed, has God said…” Eve doesn’t know the answer to that question, because she wasn’t around when God said it. Satan is deliberately trying to plant doubt as to whether God had really said this. He may have been insinuating, “Maybe Adam is wrong. Maybe he was just hearing things. Maybe he made it up to play a trick on you.” Satan does exactly the same thing today. He tries to plant doubt in our minds as to the inspiration of the Word of God. He gets us to question whether all of the Bible came from God, or whether it is just the words of men. Liberals say, “The Bible contains the Word of God.” The implication is that you can’t trust all of the Bible. Instead you need to sift and sort through it to find what is really the Word of God. You can’t really believe the stories of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish, or Israel marching through the Red Sea. These are just myths and legends of men. No! We must resist Him firm in our faith by knowing that all Scripture is God-breathed! We need to have absolute confidence that every word in our Bible came directly from God.
3) Satan Attacks Our Contentment: He gets us to focus on what we can’t have, rather than all that God has given us. Exactly what Satan said to Eve has been debated. The older translations say that Satan was asking Eve if God had said that man could not eat from every tree of the garden. Most newer translations say that Satan was asking Eve if God had said that man could not eat from any tree of the garden. So, which is it? Was Satan asking Eve whether God had said that man couldn’t eat from any tree, or just not from every tree? Originally I thought that there must be a textual variation in the different Hebrew manuscripts, but I discovered that is not so. The original Hebrew word has a range of meaning that can include every and any. Thus, it is the job of the translators to decide which meaning it has from the context. It seems to me that every is a better translation. If Satan had insinuated that God wouldn’t allow them to eat of any tree, his temptations wouldn’t have any power, because Eve knew that was blatantly false. Satan is far too cunning for that. When Satan is working someone over, he makes his message sound very close to the truth, so that he catches us off guard. Notice what Satan is doing. He’s causing Eve to think about the one prohibition God had given man. God had put the command positively – “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely.” But notice that Satan puts the command negatively – “You shall not eat from every tree of the garden.” By doing this, Satan was getting Eve to focus her attention on the one thing God had forbidden. It was though Satan was asking, “Why should God deny you that? Why should He minimize your pleasure? Why should He make your life miserable? He has no right!” Satan will do the same thing in our lives as well. He will cause you to dwell on that one thing that God has withheld from you, rather than focusing your attention on the thousands of rich blessings that God has given to you. Satan’s scheme is not to get you to focus on how thankful you should be to God for your health, spouse, children, home, job, possessions or church, he gets you to focus on that one thing that you want that God says you can’t have. Maybe for you it’s illicit sex, or drugs, or alcohol. You know that if you walk with God He won’t let you have that thing, and so you find yourself resentful and discontent with God. You know it’s Satan working in your life when you start focusing on the sins you can’t indulge, rather than all the blessings He has given you!
4) Satan Attacks The Danger Of Sin: Notice his next attack in verse 4, “You surely shall not die! Here Satan shifts from subtly trying to plant doubt and confusion in Eve’s mind, to a direct contradiction. God said in 2:17 “you shall surely die.” Satan said in 3:4 “you surely shall not die.” Eve is faced with a problem. She must either believe Satan or God, one or the other. She can’t believe both, because their statements are mutually exclusive. One of the things God does to keep us from running headlong into temptation is to lovingly warn us of sin’s consequences. Today you might decide not to do something evil because you might go to jail, get a venereal disease, have your reputation ruined, become addicted, or ruin your life. God lovingly warned Eve that if she ate she would die. Satan boldly lied and contradicted God’s Word. He told her that she could sin and get away with it. It is this deception that almost always leads to sin in our lives. We think we can sin and get away with it. The devil’s ploy is to reduce your estimation of the negative consequences of sin, so that you are convinced that the pleasure will far outweigh any penalties. This is Satan’s way of disarming you of your resolve to walk in holiness. “Sin takes you farther than you ever wanted to go. Sin costs you more than you ever intended to pay. Sin keeps you longer than you ever intended to stay!” Satan does the same thing today. He attacks and denies the danger of sin. Satan says, “There’s no such thing as Hell. Hell is just what we experience on this earth.” However, God says in Rev. 21:8 that “the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
5) Satan Attacks The Goodness Of God: In Genesis 3:5 Satan is basically saying that the only reason God told Eve that she would die if she ate the forbidden fruit is because He was manipulating her. God just didn’t want Eve to be equal with Him. He was holding out on her. He didn’t have her best interests at heart. Satan was saying that God was lying in order to make sure that Eve didn’t become like Him. The truth was, that if they ate of that tree, they would become like God, in that they would know good and evil. However, it was not true that that would be good for them. Actually, knowing good and evil was bad for them. It would lead them to become independent of God, and stray away from Him. It would cause them to know all the good that they had forfeited, and all the evil that they had inherited. So, Satan is attacking God’s goodness. He’s whispering to Eve that if God were really Good, He wouldn’t hold out on her. Oh, my friend, watch out when you begin to blame God! We are particularly vulnerable to this when God ordains suffering in our lives. This is a perfect opportunity for Satan to get you to begin doubting God’s goodness. Don’t do it!
6) Satan Attacks The Glory Of God: Notice what Satan is doing in verse 6. He has effectively convinced Eve that the fruit is bigger and better than God. The woman saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. Her desire for the fruit became greater than her desire for God. She began to see the value of the fruit as greater than the value of God. She saw more glory in the forbidden fruit than she saw in the person of God. So, how did Satan cause Eve to value the forbidden fruit over God? He appealed to the same 3 things that he is still appealing to today. 1 John 2:15-17 says that the lure of the world consists of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Satan showed her that the fruit was good for food – the lust of the flesh. He showed her that it was a delight to the eyes – the lust of the eyes. He showed her that it was desirable to make one wise – the pride of life. HHHHHH
So, having seen Satan and his schemes, let’s turn now to Man and his failures.
2. Man And His Failures
1) Eve Took Away From God’s Word: Compare what God had said, with what Eve said. God had said in 2:16 “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely.” Eve said, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.” Notice that in not saying exactly what God had said, that Eve was minimizing her blessings. God gave her the privilege of eating from any tree freely. However, by taking away from God’s Word, this unspeakable privilege was lessened in her mind.
Furthermore, notice how what God says in 2:17 compares to what Eve said in 3:3. God had said, “for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Eve simply said, “lest you die.” The word lest means “for fear you might.” Eve is watering down the consequences of sin. Death was not a perhaps. It was a black and white certainty. Beware of watering down the Word of God. Beware of listening to preachers who water down, candy coat, and compromise the Word of God.
2) Eve Added to God’s Word: In 3:3 Eve adds “or touch it” lest you die. Now, God had never said that if she touched the fruit she would die. Perhaps, with good intentions, she had decided that if she never touched it, she would never eat it. It’s one thing for Eve to say, “I don’t want to ever eat of that fruit, so I’m never going to even touch it.” However, Eve said that God said if she touched it she would die. The person who that binds others to man-made rules and regulations that are not part of God’s Word, is a legalist. Oh, beware of legalism! It’s legalism to say a Christian must never smoke or drink, or play cards, or go to movies, or dance, or have a tattoo. Now you might decide that you won’t do some of those things because you find them a hindrance to your relationship with God. But don’t bind other people’s consciences to your own personal convictions without a “Thus says the Lord.”
3) Eve Believed Satan’s Lies: Eve believed that she wouldn’t die. Eve believed that it was a desirable thing for her to know good and evil. Eve believed that God was not good, so she had to find her fulfillment and satisfaction in other places rather than in God Himself. Oh friends, sin always starts by believing a lie about God. Holiness consists in believing the truth about God and walking accordingly. Here are four great truths about God that we must fight to believe constantly:
- God is good so we don’t have to look elsewhere
- God is great so we don’t have to be in control
- God is gracious so we don’t have to prove ourselves
- God is glorious so we don’t have to fear man
Do battle with Satan, by believing the truth about God. Don’t let Satan cause you to doubt God’s goodness, greatness, graciousness or gloriousness!
4) Eve Wanted to Be Equal To God: This was the part of Satan’s temptation that hooked her. The Devil held out this juicy worm. You can be equal with God! When she bit, death was inevitable. Satan has been using this particular temptation from time immemorial. Satan has hooked the Mormons by seducing them into thinking they are going to become gods. Many different eastern religious groups as well as the New Age Movement have a variation on the idea that we are God, or that we need to learn to tap into our Christ consciousness. It’s all a rehashing of Satan’s temptation to man that he can be God. No, we will never be God. The very first thing we need to learn is that there is 1 God, and it’s not you or me! We need to be content to humble ourselves before this great God, submit to His will, and serve Him all our days.
5) Eve Found More Glory in the Fruit than in God: Notice these adjectives “good”, “delightful”, “desirable”. She was captivated by this fruit. She was lured by it. She felt she had to have it. The fruit had become bigger and better than God. The fight of holiness is the fight to value God as bigger and better than your sin. If you find God to be better than sin, sin loses its power over you! You aren’t tempted by something that is inferior.
3. Jesus And His Obedience
There are only 2 people in the Bible who are ever referred to as “the son of God.” Jesus is referred to as the son of God 40 times. The other person is Adam. He is referred to as the son of God only once, in Luke 3:38. We’ve already seen the disobedience the first son of God. Now, let’s focus on the obedience of the 2nd son of God, Jesus Christ.
Adam Is A Type of Christ: In Romans 5:14 we are told that Adam is a type of Him who was to come. A type is something in the Old Testament that foreshadows something else in the New Testament. Usually we see similarity between the type and that which it foreshadows. In this case, we see a contrast between Adam and Christ. Let’s look at the areas of contrast:
1) The Place: Adam was tempted in a perfect Paradise, a beautiful garden. He was a perfect person in a perfect environment in fellowship with a perfect God. Christ, on the other hand, was tempted by Satan in a desolate wilderness.
2) The Conditions: Adam and Eve had full bellies. They ate anything in the garden they wanted. The scenery was one of beauty. The temperature was ideal. Everything was perfect for them. Jesus was tempted after not having eaten for 40 days. The conditions for His temptation were anything from ideal. He was tempted when He was at His weakest.
3) The Law: In Adam’s case, there was only 1 law to obey. In Jesus’ case, He must obey all of the Old Testament laws. This would include all of the 10 Commandments, as well as all the sacrifices, ceremonies, and festivals required under the Old Covenant.
4) The Outcome: Whereas Adam and Eve fell and broke God’s Law, Christ perfectly fulfilled God’s Law in its strictest extent. Both Adam and Christ represented a people. Adam represented all of those descended from him by physical birth. Christ represented all of those descended from Him by spiritual birth. What each one accomplished was put to the account of all that they represented. Adam’s actions brought sin, condemnation, and death to the entire human race. Christ’s actions brought obedience, righteousness and life to all the elect. That’s what Paul was saying in Romans 5:16-18, “The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification. For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.”
Life Application:
Let’s draw all of this great truth down to some practical application. This world fell through Adam’s rebellion. It fell, and it fell hard. We are all ruined and wrecked by the Fall. And we can thank our Father Adam for that. We are shot through with sin. We are born slaves to sin. We are condemned because of sin, and will die because of it.
However, that’s not the end of the story! The last Adam, Jesus Christ, has come to reverse the effects of the first man. His actions cast us out of Paradise. Christ’s actions bring us back into Paradise. Adam’s actions bring us under a divine curse. Christ’s actions bring us under a divine blessing. Adam’s actions bring us death. Christ’s actions bring us life. But how? Jesus had to come into the world, and undo the travesty of the first man’s actions. The way He had to do this was by facing temptation like Adam, but obeying God in the midst of temptation. Jesus had to do this not once, but every moment of His entire life.
Jesus Christ not only died for you. He also lived for you! This is a truth of the gospel that we often overlook. If Christ hadn’t lived for you, you could never be saved. His perfect obedience unto the Father is what justifies you. You see we are saved by works – just not our works. We are saved by Jesus’ works. We call this the Active Obedience of Christ. Jesus was perfectly loving, perfectly obedient for His entire life. At the end of His perfect life, He died and rose, and now God can credit His perfect works of righteousness to your life and mine through faith. All of us need a perfect righteousness by which we can stand before God. Well, we don’t have it, and we never will! But Christ does have it, and is willing to give it to all who trust Him. Aren’t you glad that there was One willing to live the life we could not live?
Sinners – those here who know they are sinners who need a better righteousness than what they have, there is Good News – Christ is our righteousness! Come to Him and be clothed in Him, not having a righteousness of our own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.
Saints – rejoice in your perfect and permanent standing in grace today! And beware of making the same mistakes that Adam and Eve made in the garden. Trust your Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your paths straight.
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