Genesis 3:1-6 | Sin & Truth
Introduction
Do you remember show-and-tell in school? I remember being in second grade, in Mr. Jensen’s class, on show-and-tell day. It wasn’t my turn, but in the second grade, that didn’t matter. Show-and-tell was that magical moment when everyone paraded out the coolest stuff they owned to share it with the rest of the class. Sometimes it was a pet rat, sometimes a ribbon or award, and back in the 70s and 80s in Idaho, sometimes it even meant you were allowed to bring in a special knife or gun. Different times!
On this particular day, Jennifer was getting to share. I don’t remember Jennifer’s last name (which is probably good for a sermon illustration), but she was a very nice girl, really kind to everyone, and full of energy. That morning, Jennifer brought in something I had never seen before—polished rocks! And these were cool, polished rocks. Agates and gems, all sorts of colors. Her family, and I think specifically her dad, was very into polishing rocks, and they were amazing. She passed a lot of them around, and we all had a chance to hold them, rub them to feel the smoothness, and look at them up against the light. I remember thinking how much I wished my family had a rock tumbler, and we could have cool, polished rocks at our house.
And then it happened. We were working on some sort of homework in class, and as I got up to sharpen my pencil (yes, we had those, too!), there, on the floor, were two of Jennifer’s smaller rocks. One was a small white, polished stone, and the other was a small grayish stone with cool stripes. Just sitting there, on the floor. I don’t know if Jennifer dropped them, if they fell out of a container, or if, when kids were looking at them, they fell and no one noticed. But there they were. And I picked them up—not to give them back to Jennifer, but to keep them. My heart pounded in my chest with both anticipation and a little excitement as I hurried back to my desk, pencil still not sharpened, and, as nonchalantly as I could, shoved the rocks way back into the back corner of my desk. Back with the folded papers and snack wrappers. I had polished rocks!
It didn’t take long for any of my momentary excitement to turn to mostly dread. Somehow, Jennifer noticed she was missing rocks. She burst out crying at her desk. Mr. Jensen came over to console her. The whole class got down on their hands and knees to look around for the rocks—a very smart move, had I not just picked them up a couple of minutes ago. Mr. Jensen asked if anyone had seen the rocks. I didn’t say anything. Mr. Jensen encouraged Jennifer that he was sure they would show up, and we went about our day, but I was no longer paying attention.
It was like a searing hot iron was inside my gut. What if someone looked in my desk? Maybe janitors look in desks every night? What if Mr. Jensen did an extra search because this made Jennifer so sad? The very thing that just minutes ago seemed like it could make me happy was now filling me with dread. It seemed so simple for a moment—here are some rocks on the ground. No one will notice. Jennifer has a lot of rocks; she won’t really care. I don’t have rocks. I think I really need these. Now, seeing Jennifer sad and knowing that I had done that, it wasn’t so simple anymore.
The Birth of Sin
I’m sure many of you can think back to a sin that you still carry around with you regularly in your memory. A moment etched in your memory because of its sinfulness. This moment has always stuck with me. Frankly, I’m glad I have a memory from second grade, so I didn’t have to think about and reveal any of the much worse ones I have from young adulthood up to today for a sermon illustration.
This morning, as we come to Genesis chapter three, we see the birth and beginning of something new. Up to now, we have seen the stars and moon, birds and mammals, and we have seen every kind of plant and tree all leap forth from God’s command and fill the earth and sky with everything we see and know. And now something else leaps forth—but not from God’s words. From the mouth of the serpent springs forth a different kind of words than God’s words. Words of deception. Words of cunning. Words that gave birth to sin in Adam and Eve.
At this point, Adam and Eve are living in perfection with God. They did not know sin; they did not see its effects around them; they only knew God and his goodness. And they had one law. God’s one command, one law, is not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And here, in Genesis three, we see the serpent and Adam and Eve bring sin into the garden.
Look at Genesis three again with me this morning:
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.
(Genesis 3:1–6 ESV)
The Serpent
“Now the serpent…” That statement should jolt us awake as we are reading Genesis. Out of nowhere, another character jumps into the story. A serpent. And this serpent is speaking to Eve.
I used to always joke with my children as they got older that one of the fascinating things to me about Genesis 3 is that nowhere does Eve exclaim, “Ahhh! A talking snake!” I think that would be a fairly normal reaction for all of us if we had this encounter. It’s hard to say why that is. Perhaps Adam and Eve, in perfection, were able to see the heavenly beings like angels, seraphim, and cherubim. This is one of those beings (Satan), so perhaps he is appearing directly to Eve, and we are just being told his name. On the other hand, Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that most Jewish teachers, up through Jesus’s day, believed that many pre-fall animals could talk. Much like in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. So perhaps this is a literal snake, a serpent, speaking to Eve, but influenced by an angelic being towards evil.
This is probably one of those questions we will have to ask Adam and Eve in the new earth someday, but Scripture does tell us who the being speaking, either directly or indirectly through the snake, really is. The fullest answer to the question “Who is this serpent?” is given in Revelation 12:9:
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
(Revelation 12:9 ESV)
The serpent in the garden is the ancient serpent in Revelation 12. He is the devil (which means slanderer), and Satan (which means accuser), and the deceiver of the whole world. Jesus calls him “the evil one” (Matthew 13:9) and the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). The Pharisees call him “Beelzebul, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24). Paul calls him “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).
Importantly, Jesus says of him in John 8:44:
He [the Devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
(John 8:44 ESV)
Where God has been telling Adam and Eve only truth and goodness, here comes one, the serpent, the devil, the deceiver, who “speaks out of his own character,” as Jesus says. He is going to lie by his very nature.
I’m not going to spend much more time this morning on Satan. It’s interesting to note how little time Genesis spends on him. He pops into the story, works his evil, is judged, and then is not much of a part of the story. Of course, we know he is there. Other Scripture passages address him, but he is not discussed often. I think that should tell us something as believers. Yes, Satan is a very real being doing very real work and telling lies all the time. But the more important aspect is not to know more about him, but to know more about God! The antidote to Satan is not to study him, but to study and know God and his Word better.
Additionally, you and I have a different reality from Adam and Eve. Because of their choices, you and I are born with a nature to sin. As Paul says,
Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned.
(Romans 5:12 ESV)
Now, our reality is what the Psalmist says:
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
(Psalm 51:5 NIV)
We are no longer only fighting a war against sin and deception attacking us directly from Satan externally, but we have a nature within us that is looking to sin as well. That means you and I are fighting a thousand-front war, one from every direction in every aspect of our life—sometimes directly from Satan, but often simply from our own desire to sin. Which means we need to look to God to define our truth more than looking to our own internal desires or Satan’s temptations.
That is why I find the beginning of Genesis 3:1 so important:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
(Genesis 3:1 ESV)
Satan was crafty in his presentation of his lie. So too, today, our hearts try to deceive us with smooth self-talk and seduction. Whether it is Satan or my heart, sin tries to seduce its way into my desires that I might be mastered by sin and not God’s truth. Over the next couple of sessions in Genesis, we will be looking at sin. And today we start with this idea of seeing:
Sin & Truth
Adam, Eve, Satan Sin
Me & You Sin
Jesus Truth & Holiness
The first thing we need, as we are considering both Adam and Eve’s original sin and our sin—sin that originates from our hearts or from Satan—is to pit sin against God’s truth. We need to focus on the truth of how we should all act, rather than on the sin.
That is the trick here in Genesis three. We want to look and see what happened with Adam and Eve, the Serpent, and God. We want to examine the true account of how sin entered the world. And we want to see ourselves. I think we often are tempted to look at the Garden and the temptation of Adam and Eve and say, “Well, if I had been there, I wouldn’t have done that.” That is not only untrue, but we prove in our lives—sometimes daily—how we would and do succumb to the exact same problems. As we look at Adam and Eve and their sin, we also want to see ourselves—how we would and do make the same choices.
But we don’t want to only focus on the sin. We want to see what the true way to live should have looked like for Adam and Eve. How it should look for us today. And again, you and I are so blessed. On this side of the cross, we can look at Jesus and know exactly how this exchange with the serpent should have gone. Jesus, the new and better Adam, replayed this exact scene for us so we could know God’s answers to Satan. In Matthew 4, right after Jesus is baptized by John, we see Jesus go into the wilderness and face temptations from Satan. This is an exact, one-for-one replay of Genesis chapter three. Satan is going to tempt Jesus in the same ways he tempted Adam and Eve, and we will see how Jesus rightly points us to God in each instance.
Sin & Truth
Adam, Eve, Satan Sin
Me & You Sin
Jesus Truth & Holiness
So this morning, as we look at Genesis three, we are going to see how Adam and Eve and the Serpent brought sin into the world. We are going to see how you and I act the same—we choose sin as well. And we are going to see Jesus, the better Adam, and the ways that did NOT fail as he faced the same temptations.
As we look at Genesis 3 and Matthew 4, we will see at least four main ways you and I are tempted to sin, along with Jesus’s response to each. These have been the same temptations from the beginning of creation, from Adam and Eve through all of God’s people up to today. Surely there are other sins, but I don’t think any of us can say these four don’t play a major part in our lives.
As Satan talks to Eve, we see several sins:
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
In Eve’s temptation, we see the sin of the Lust of the Flesh—Eve’s desire to have something that will provide for her physical needs. And we will see, in Jesus, the right answer is to trust in God’s physical provision for his people. We also see the sin of the Lust of the Eyes—something we desire or covet for our emotional or spiritual enjoyment. And again, we see in Jesus the answer should be to trust in God’s spiritual or emotional provision for us in every way. And perhaps as the climax with Eve, we see Eve tempted to trust her own wisdom over God’s wisdom. And clearly, Jesus shows us to trust God’s wisdom through God’s very words, for our direction and wisdom in life.
But that isn’t all. Perhaps most tragically, we see in Adam:
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
Silence. Adam says nothing. In case you have been tempted to think that sins of omission, or sins of silence, are small things, that is not at all how Genesis 3 paints the picture. Adam’s silence is one of the most tragic parts of the fall in Genesis. We see in Jesus, in Matthew 4, that in each instance of Satan’s temptation, Jesus is not silent—he speaks directly against the sin and temptation Satan is presenting. He is not the silent Adam; he is the speaking Adam, taking dominion even over Satan.
We see all these sins summarized nicely in Genesis 3:6:
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.
(Genesis 3:6 ESV)
Lust of the flesh.
Lust of the eyes.
Lust for wisdom.
Silence.
Lust of the Flesh
Let’s start with this idea of the Lust of the Flesh. It is one of those sins that is written in between the lines of this story. We don’t know if Eve was on her way to pick some fruit to eat, or if the conversation that the serpent started with her may have made her think about eating. What we do know is that by the summary of the account in Genesis 3:6, Eve is surely thinking that the fruit on the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil looks like it would taste mighty good!
What is only hinted at in this Genesis account is directly dealt with in Matthew 4. As soon as Jesus goes out to the desert, he is fasting for forty days. The first temptation Satan gives him is the same temptation for the lust of the flesh—to eat. This is what happens there in Matthew 4:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
(Matthew 4:1–4 ESV)
Jesus is looking back to Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses and God are reminding God’s people of all that God has done for them as they are getting ready to go into the promised land:
And he [God] humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
(Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV)
Jesus is looking back at Genesis, at the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness, and he is reminding Satan that God can and always does provide. Even if it has to be through miraculous means—like with a weird flour substance whose name “manna” literally means “what is it?” coming down directly from heaven overnight like dew over the fields. God can and will provide for his people’s physical needs.
When Satan says to Eve:
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
The temptation behind Satan’s question is to doubt if God will provide for Eve. Notice that his question implies they might not be able to eat ANY of the trees in the garden. That is clearly a lie, but it is the worry that Satan wants to get into Adam’s and Eve’s minds. Does God really want to provide for your physical needs?
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
I was surprised as I thought about these four categories this week and how much of my life and my sins are covered by these categories. As an American, I may not often think about whether I will have food on my table, but I definitely wonder whether God will give me the kind of house I think I need. Or the right clothes, the right car, or the right health. Almost every commercial you will see online, on television, or in apps is geared at sowing the same seed of doubt in each of these physical areas that Satan tempted Eve with. Will God really provide for you, or do you need to take control yourself?
Let’s be honest, some of the most damaging sins we all know come from this category. Lust that leads to pornography or adulterous sex comes from not trusting God’s plan for your life and your sexuality. Stealing that seeks to possess what we haven’t been given comes from not trusting in the possessions we have been given. People even murder to try to get someone out of our way so we can find what we think we are missing. To have something more or better:
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people!
(James 4:2–4 ESV)
Ouch. That is often what I do. That is often what we do. And Jesus’s answer to Satan is simple. Trust in God’s timing and provision for your physical needs. And he says that on day 40 of fasting. Jesus, fully God and fully man, knows better than any of us the needs that he desperately wanted yet had to trust God for. Time after time, Jesus tries to withdraw from the crowds to get just a moment's rest, only to find the crowds are there whenever he gets to the next place. Jesus does not give Satan and us this answer from a place of comfort and ignorance of our situation. He does it from a place that understands better than any of us.
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
How often have our sinful choices—regardless of whether they come from our heart or Satan—end up connecting with our desire that doesn’t really trust God will give us what we need? That is the first sin we see here in Genesis. Lust of the Flesh—wanting what we want, when we want it, the way we want it. That problem underlies Eve’s responses and is part of her struggle with God and his ways here in Genesis 3. And Eve and Adam ultimately give in to this desire.
Lust of the Eyes
Yet it doesn’t stop there for Eve. Having begun the process of questioning, Satan gets Eve to take the hook and respond. And what she says back to him is a problem:
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.’”
(Genesis 3:2—3)
That is not true. That is not what we have recorded in Scripture. Just before this, in Genesis 2, we have God’s words recorded to Adam:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.”
(Genesis 2:16–17 ESV)
God doesn’t say anything about touching the tree. That is new information, and it seems to be something Eve has added. Perhaps it was really Adam, in relaying what God said to Eve, who added this piece in. Perhaps Eve, in already beginning to think about what Satan is saying, is feeling frustrated by the idea that she may be kept from even emotionally examining the fruit. That God wouldn’t even let her have proximity to or pondering of the tree. Not just don’t eat it, but don’t go near it, touch it, or look at it. We can’t know for sure, but something is already going on in Eve’s heart.
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
It’s interesting how this second category of sin, Lust of the Eyes, often leads us as Christians to tweak Scripture. “Did God really say…” As though part of the problem is not the specifics of what we are told to do or not do, but that we can’t trust God’s character. That we can’t trust his overall heart of love for you and me, and his desire that we find ourselves fulfilled. That is a different problem than Lust of the Flesh, which worries about our physical experience and provision. This temptation cuts to the core of value. Are we as valuable to God as we might think?
Eve seems to be struggling with that question in how she reframes God’s commandment. Clearly, she is struggling with that as she chooses to sin, and we see the phrase “pleasing to the eyes.” That is trying to help us see that the temptation for Eve was more than merely her pure hunger, but also about her emotional desire for the fruit.
Satan tempts Jesus exactly the same way. In Matthew 4, after Jesus deals with the temptation to provide food for himself, Satan tempts him again:
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
(Matthew 4:5–7 ESV)
Note the real temptation here. Jesus is on the very top of the temple. This is about 150-450 feet above the valley floor below the temple and outside of its walls. That is about a 15- to 30-story drop for Jesus. But the temptation behind this is embedded in the passages Satan quotes. They are passages that say God will care for Jesus. That God will protect Jesus until his time comes. Satan is not challenging Jesus on a purely physical level of God’s protection to keep him from dying; this is a heart question about whether Jesus believes the Father really cares for him. This is a question of love and belonging.
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
That is what the sin of the Lust of the Eyes plays on. It is a temptation to desire something and not ONLY try to provide physically for yourself in ways you shouldn’t, but to doubt the goodness of God in your having that thing. It is an emotional and spiritual question first.
I don’t know about you, but I find that often what I might at first think is Lust of the Flesh is really a problem with Lust of the Eyes. It’s not that Jesus hasn’t provided for me with good food, I just want the food I want to eat, whether it is good for me or not, and I wonder if God really knows how stressful a day I have had, and does he really want me to wait to cook the healthy food? It’s not that I am not physically comfortable, but if I had THAT specific jacket or car or cool electronic item, then I would be REALLY happy. It’s a heart question before a practical question.
And in thinking that way, I begin to tweak what I know about God. I know what God has said about this specific issue (trust him for my food, clothing, etc), but my issue is more unique, my need quite different than everybody else’s need. Sure, I shouldn’t steal from Jennifer, but Jennifer has many rocks, and I have no rocks—surely God wouldn’t want there to be that kind of discrepancy in our possessions? Sure, I have a car that gets me from point A to point B quite well, but how much better would it be if it were self-driving?! Wouldn’t God want me to have that? I don't doubt just God’s physical provision for me, but I doubt God’s GOODNESS for me.
Lust of the Flesh points to our temptations with our very real physical needs. Lust of the Eyes points to our temptations in our desires. Our understanding of our value and God’s goodness for us! Eve gives in to this temptation. You and I give in to this temptation. And Jesus’s answer to this temptation is simple. What may seem confusing to us in the moment, in our temptation, is ultimately a moment in which we have to decide whether we are going to “test” God. Jesus says, " Don’t do that. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” is what he quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16. Again, a story from the wilderness where Israel didn’t trust God at Massah, doubting God’s goodness to them. They claim that God and Moses only brought them out of Egypt to kill them in the desert. Their real problem isn’t only that they don’t have water to drink at that moment, but that they claimed God is not good towards them. They doubted God’s heart.
We would think that a fruit could never be a real temptation to sin, but if you and I are honest, we are tempted by much less, much more often. We have a tinge of jealousy toward a co-worker who gets recognized for their work in ways we didn’t. We wish we had a plastic toy our friend had, or worse, polished rocks. Lust of the eyes is quite prevalent in our lives.
Lust of Wisdom
And it’s at this point that Satan pushes the question even further.
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.””
(Genesis 3:1–5 ESV)
Satan makes his own declaration. Satan shares his own wisdom. “You will not surely die.” Listen to me. Listen to your own heart and your own wisdom. I, Satan, should be your source for wisdom because I know what you really want and need, and I will give it to you. You should listen to your own heart and wisdom, and be your OWN God, determining for yourself what is good and evil. Open – Outright – Rebellion.
I wish I could say that is the sin I don’t ever get to, but I get there far too often and far too quickly. This is exactly the same temptation Satan gives Jesus.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
(Matthew 4:8–10 ESV)
Jesus did come to rule all things. Jesus came to be King over his kingdom and see his reign and rule over the entire earth. That is often the temptation behind seeking our own wisdom. Satan and our own sinful hearts want to believe God doesn’t want good for us, but we ALSO want to believe that God will NEVER give that to us. That God’s “not yet” or “not this way” is him saying “never.” That’s not true—not yet, and not this way doesn’t mean never.
Adam and Eve were not told they would never receive wisdom from God. In fact, everything in the account and their mandate to rule and have dominion should make us believe that God would continue to teach them, grow them, and help them understand more and more. They were just told not to get wisdom from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan wants them to believe that “not this way,” and “not yet” meant “never.” That is the same temptation he presents Jesus with. That if Jesus would just use another wisdom—Satan’s wisdom—he could get NOW what God promised he would give to Jesus, but through a much more difficult and painful path…through the cross.
Jesus’s answer is the right answer. “Be gone, Satan!” There is only one path to true wisdom, and it is through submission and trust in God and HIS wisdom. That is not what we see happen in Genesis 3:
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.
(Genesis 3:6 ESV)
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
And us? Where do we get mad at God’s “not yet” or “not this way” in our lives and presume it means “never,” so we take things into our own hands? Where are we not trusting God’s wisdom and looking to his word instead of our own or Satan’s wisdom?
The Silence of Adam
Which finally leads us to our last category of sin that we see in Genesis—the silence of Adam. That phrase is taken from a book I read when I was much younger, by the counselor Larry Crabb, by the same title (The Silence of Adam). He was the first author I read who pointed this out, but it is something pastors and scholars have noted for generations.
We know for certain that Adam had been given God’s commandment about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam, even more than Eve, had seen how God had provided for his every need, even the physical need of a partner and a wife when he didn’t even know he would need it. God provided for Adam's emotional and spiritual need for companionship, as Adam examined the animals God created and brought before him to find a partner. What God gave him was woman—bone of his bone, he said. Flesh of his flesh. Adam knew and had seen God to be good in all the ways that Eve was wondering and being challenged by Satan. Adam knew how to trust God’s physical provision, his emotional and spiritual provision, and his wisdom in all things, especially timing.
Yet Adam said nothing.
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
It is interesting that we do see Jesus being quiet at different places in Scripture. He is silent as he is being led to the cross and before his accusers. Yet before Satan and his lies, Jesus is not quiet. He even thunders, “Be gone, Satan!” as he confronts the deceiver’s many versions of twisted and perverted wisdom. Jesus knows God’s word and has it hidden in his heart that he might answer Satan truthfully. Jesus, the true and better Adam, rightfully claims dominion THROUGH God’s promises and rebuts Satan’s woeful wisdom.
Where do we see sin and remain silent? Yes, you may see it in other people’s lives, but more importantly, do you see it in your own life? It is easy to hear that idea and quickly think, “Yes, so and so is sinning, and I should post more on social media, I should talk more about it, I should make sure everyone thinks about their mistake.” But what about you? Will you call your sin, sin? Will you confess what you have done and be honest that you, like Adam and Eve, have rebelled against God and his good ways? Are you willing to name YOUR sin, not someone else’s, that you might rightly walk with God?
I never confessed my sin to Jennifer. In fact, that evening I sneakily put those rocks in my pocket, took them home, stuck them in a box in my closet, and never looked at them again nor talked about them. It was more important to me that no one knew I sinned than even enjoying those rocks. Years later, as a teenager, I threw those rocks out. What I desired so much one day as a second grader only lived like a monument to my sin in a yellow plastic box in my closet. I found no real joy in those rocks.
Jennifer, if you ever hear this sermon for some reason, I’m sorry. I sinned against you and against God in taking those rocks. Please forgive me.
Conclusion/Application
Friends, as we come to Genesis chapter three, the most tragic thing happens—humanity chooses ourselves, our wants, our desires, over God. We rebel. And it wasn’t just Adam and Eve, but you and I do the same thing in our lives again and again, showing that we would have made the same choices had we been there instead of Adam and Eve.
Lust of the Flesh Trusting in God’s Physical Provision
Lust of the Eyes Trusting in God’s Spiritual/Emotional Provision
Lust for Wisdom Trusting in God’s Wisdom in God’s Word
Silence Speaking Against Sin
We see in Adam and Eve the sinful choice of Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, Lust for Wisdom, and Silence. All sins. All sins I pick. All sins you pick. Our clear application from Genesis three today is to ask ourselves, “Where am I sinning against our holy and good God like Adam and Eve sinned?” Where am I following the lust of my flesh, the lust of my eyes, my lust for wisdom, or even being silent in my sin?
And let’s admit it—no one likes looking at sin. This feels hard. One of the hard things about coming to Scripture is that it is filled with many examples of sin—our sin. Things you and I ought to do as perfect image bearers, and the ways we fail. That can feel weighty if we only stay in the “should” and the failure, never seeing the gospel!
But even in the Old Testament, when God repeatedly reminded Israel of their sin, he paired it with his promises. God alone will solve their problem! God will make sure we can all rightly worship him again by changing our hearts and minds, giving us HIS spirit so we can rightly walk with him.
I want to invite the worship team up to join us as we take a moment after this sermon to think about how it should impact us. How should we think deeply about Adam’s & Eve’s sin in Genesis three?
As we said, it should remind us of our sins. How are we sinning in the same ways as Adam and Eve? But this morning, as you think about the sins of Adam and Eve and your sins, I also want us to remember Jesus. Jesus, perfect Adam for you! The perfect Adam for Sharon, for Kyle (however you spell it), and for Ryan. For everyone here who puts their faith in him. Jesus did what you and I could never do, so that God might see us as perfect in Jesus now! And in doing so, Jesus gave us his very life and righteousness for us to walk in now. Part of the beauty of what Jesus did at the cross for us (as we talked about last week) is that he not only took away our sins but also gave us his righteousness. As we see sin coming into the account in Genesis three, we can see ourselves as well. But we don’t have to stop there!
This morning, as you look at the ideas and sins we see in Genesis and think about how they may be true of you as well, you can approach them with honesty and boldness because Jesus has already dealt with them for you. You can think clearly about all of these because Jesus is the perfect Adam for you!
Communion
Benediction
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
(Jude 1:24–25 ESV)
