Genesis 3:4–5
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One of the buzzwords in books about leadership and management is listening. Good leaders listen well and they communicate well. The Lord created us with the blessing of being able to listen and to communicate. I'm reminded often of this truth, of this blessing, as I talk on the phone with my parents. My dad, often, he says that it is a blessing to hear my voice.
He's happy to hear my voice when I talk with him on the phone. On the other hand, my mom, she's struggling with dementia. And she's losing the ability to listen well, to communicate, and to associate and comprehend and connect words. Peter Drucker said that the most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't being said.
That's probably an overstatement. But there is truth in that, isn't it? Our text tonight talks about how our ancestors, Adam and Eve, listened and followed Satan's words instead of God's word. They should have heard what Satan wasn't communicating. They should have picked up the lies that Satan threw at them.
The context of our text tonight starts in the first two chapters of the Bible, Genesis 1 and 2. God created Adam and Eve in his image, and he commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Then in Genesis 2, 16, 17, God commanded a 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. This sets the stage for our text. we dropped into our conversation between a talking serpent and Eve.
So open your Bibles to Genesis 3. It's on page 2 if you're using one of those red pew Bibles around you. And it's also in front of your bulletins. So Genesis 3, I'm going to start reading on verse 1 and you can follow along. 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 the 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. And here's our text. 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.
Here's the main idea of the text and therefore the main idea of our devotional tonight. Listen to the words of Satan and follow him and you'll die. Listen to God's word and trust in him and you'll live. Again, listen to the words of Satan and follow him and you'll die. Listen to God's word and trust in him and you will live.
The Bible does not give us 100% clarity and data regarding when and how Satan and the angels fell into sin. But as we approach Genesis 3, we know that they had already fallen. But as we read this text in light of the whole Bible, we know that this speaking serpent here is, in fact, Satan. the devil. For instance, Revelation 12, 9 gives us the clues that this ancient serpent is, again, Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. It says, 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. So back to our text, we clearly see
that this serpent, Satan, is more crafty than any other beast of the field. And Satan deceives Adam and Eve by lying to them about God's command and God's character. Did you catch that? Again, verse 4, you will not surely die. That's a direct lie and contradiction of what God had said. He said that if they would eat of the fruit, they would surely die.
Then verse 5, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil. Satan, again, this is a direct assault on God's character. Satan is portraying the current life of Adam and Eve without any sin, in joyful communion with God, as if they were missing out on really having the knowledge of good and evil and being like God.
As the kids nowadays, they say, FOMO, right? That's what Satan threw at Adam and Eve. Now, maybe some of you are scratching your head. What is FOMO, Alisson? F-O-M-O, fear of missing out. That is a translation for you. So Satan was saying to them, hey, you are missing out. Here is a greater wisdom that you do not have.
But just take a bite of it. And you'll get it. You really know more stuff. And be like God. Well, if you're here this morning, you know the rest of the story. And I'm not going to take the time to go through the rest of the story in a lot of detail. But if you could just keep reading the text, you'll see that Eve took the fruit. And she ate it. And then she gave it to her husband, Adam.
who also ate the fruit. And the rest of the book of Genesis makes it clear that they died spiritually, and eventually they also died physically. In the remaining short time that we have, I want to meditate and draw out some applications from this text with the following points. So point number one, you will be tempted to disregard God's word and calling. in your life. You will be tempted to disregard God's word and calling in your life. Again, brothers and sisters, Satan's temptation to Adam and Eve was marked by a complete disregard and violation of God's commands. We already saw that in the text, but I also want to point out to you that besides embracing Satan's lies, Adam and Eve disregarded the words of their creator.
Remember, they were to subdue and rule creation, including the serpent. And yet, they failed in their calling. Instead of listening and following their creator and the role that the creator gave to them they listened and followed the creature brothers and sisters be aware that when the temptation comes knocking on your door you will also be tempted to disregard god and his word and his calling your life the lord has given us the ultimate calling which is to love Him above all things, in what ways are you tempted to love yourself, other things, other people in the place of God?
Perhaps you're facing a period of suffering in your life right now, and you're being tempted to doubt God's character and trust in his promises and his word. Maybe things are going well for you, and you're tempted to disregard God and his words by idolizing money, work, studies, your girlfriend, your boyfriend.
Again, beware, brothers and sisters, and don't disregard God, His Word, and His calling in your life. Number two, you will be tempted to minimize the consequences of sin. You will be tempted to minimize the consequences of sin. Did you hear the whisper? You will not die. And by the way, you be like God.
Hey, it's not a big deal. Just do it. Hey, nobody's watching you. Hey, it's okay. It's okay to have fun. Just keep going. Here is the irony. Adam and Eve were the pinnacle of God's creation. They were made in His image.
In some ways, they were already like God. So Satan's temptation promised a lot. And yet, it's under-delivered. What did they gain? Death, the knowledge of sin, and shame. You know, the nature of temptation reminds me of when I learned how to fish in Brazil. So, we didn't have a lot of fancy stuff in Brazil.
My dad would take me to the river. I had just a bamboo, cheap fishing pole with the line, the sinker, and the hook, and the bobber. One of the things that my dad taught me was that I had to make sure as we would dig and grab worms from the ground, I had to make sure that the worms would cover well the hook so that when the fish would see in the river, they would see the worm and be lured to grab that hook.
And the end, obviously, would be death for the fish. Thomas Brooks, he said this, Satan's device to draw the soul to sin is to present the bait and hide the hook, to present the golden cup and hide the poison, to present the sweet and the pleasure that may flow into the soul by yielding to sin and hide from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin.
Point number three. Christ conquered temptation, sinned the devil, and death. Listen and trust in him, and you will live. Christ conquered temptation, sinned the devil, and death. Listen and trust in Him, and you'll live. We saw this morning that Christ is the true and better Adam. He did not listen and follow the ancient serpent's words when he faced temptation.
Instead, he clung, he embraced God's Word. You see, just like Adam and Eve, just like Adam and Eve, we have been tempted. And we have failed to trust God and his word. We have rebelled against God. But God, being rich in mercy, he sent his only begotten son to live the perfect life, to fulfill the law, to die for us and for our sins. He rose again victorious over sin, Satan, and death.
And all those, all those, all everyone who turns away from sin and go to him in trust, have eternal life. So friend, entrust yourself to Christ. Turn away from your sin and go to Christ and you will live. Brothers and sisters, unlike the portrait that Satan gave of God to Adam and Eve, here is the truth.
Here is the truth about our great God. Psalm 1611, you make known to me, God, the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Peter said this to Jesus in John 6. Jesus, you have the words of eternal life. John 15, Jesus, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.
Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Beloved, listen to God, to his promises. Embrace his word. Trust in him. And you will live life to the fullest. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your grace.
Apart from you and your grace, we are just like Adam and Eve. We fail in the temptations that we face in our lives. And yet, we praise you, Lord Jesus, that you again, you crushed the serpent's head for us. and for our sins.
And it's through you that we have forgiveness of sins and new life. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Holy Spirit. We pray that you help us to live for you and to cling to your word. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.