Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080330.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part II: Explaining The Fall Of Man Into Sin, Genesis 3:1-24
A. Explaining The Satanic Temptation And Fall Of Man
(Genesis 3:1-6)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

The Bible informs us in 1 John 5:19 NIV, ESV that the whole world system is under the influence of Satan, and this statement hardly needs clarifying to the observant believer today! The immensity of evil woes faced in the wars, greed, criminal deeds, etc. as felt by all men in our era abounds in today's media!

However, much like many Third World peoples, we in New England face a particularly potent dose of angelic conflict evil: godly Bible teacher and former Professor of Bible Exposition at the Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost, told my wife and me before we took this pastorate of his own brushes with spiritual evil in our area. He has traveled many places in the world in his Bible teaching ministry, and he reported that whenever he got onto a certain highway out of New York City in southwestern Connecticut to reach a destination for ministry somewhere in New England, he always noticed a negative suppression come upon him in the spiritual realm. So, upon hearing that we were set to take this pastorate at Nepaug Church in New Hartford, Connecticut 26 years ago, Dr. Pentecost told my wife and me about his personal observations of the spiritual pressures he had faced in our area, and concluded: "The Lord is sending you to do a work where His flock is in great need!"



Thus, we do well to understand the wiles of Satan, and the first temptation of mankind in Genesis 3:1-6 offers us great insight into Satanic temptation for our discernment and victory over it . . .



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "If we face a heavy dose of Satan's pressure, what Scripture may I use comprehensively to discern and so overcome his wiles?!"
  1. Genesis 3:1 claims a serpent tempted Eve, but other passages reveal it was SATAN who in some way did this, Rev. 12:9; 20:2; Jn. 8:44.
  2. Thus, we study Genesis 3:1-6 to EXPOSE Satan's wiles (as follows):
    1. Satan's temptations are often very appealing: the serpent was the most clever (Gen. 3:1) of the animals, so Satan used it to impact Eve to sin!
    2. Satan's temptations are often marked by the unusual: serpents do not naturally speak, so Eve should have been wary of this one, Gen. 3:1!
    3. Satan's temptations often violate God's chain-of-command order:
      1. God had established the man to rule the woman (Genesis 2:22-23), and the man and woman to rule the animals, Genesis 1:26-28.
      2. However, in insubordination of that order, Satan came as an animal to lead Eve to sin so that she might lead Adam to sin, Gen. 3:1, 6.
    4. Satan's temptations often counter trust in God's true messengers:
      1. From Genesis 2:16-17 and 2:20-23, we note that God's prohibition of the forbidden tree was not spoken to Eve, but rather to Adam!
      2. So, Satan's Genesis 3:1 question to Eve re: what God had actually said left her open to question Adam's truthfulness as to character or accuracy in his ability in relaying God's Word unto her!
    5. Satan's temptations thus try to sabotage upright ties, Eph. 5:22-6:12.
    6. Satan's temptations counter God's Word, Gen. 2:17; 3:2ff; 1 Jn. 2:14b.
    7. Satan's temptations often counter man's confidence in God's character:
      1. Satan's Genesis 3:1b question to Eve was formed to direct Eve to focus only on God's prohibition of the one tree instead of His great goodness in letting her eat of every other tree, Genesis 2:16-17!
      2. This question meant to imply that God was too limiting to be good!
      3. When Satan then said God had denied Eve from eating the banned fruit out of jealousy (Gen. 3:4-5), he slandered God as being evil!
    8. Satan's temptations often counter clear evidences to the contrary, for his charge that God was evil is clearly false: (1) God had attentively put man in an ordered garden, (2) He had kindly given him rule over all the animals and (3) He had even made the tree of life accessible to counter the death of the banned tree, Genesis 2:8-20; 1:26-31; 3:22!
    9. Satan's temptations often begin by hinting at untruths and conclude with brazen lies: his initial word to Eve questioned what God had said (Gen. 3:1b), but he finished with the brazen lie that she would not really die contrary to what God had expressly stated (Gen. 3:4; 2:17).
    10. Satan's temptations often urge undue risk: his claim that Eve would not die in eating the banned fruit opposite God's warning suggests she risk her life on his word against her Creator's word, Genesis 3:4; 2:17!
    11. Satan's temptations often impress one to drift from God's Word by propaganda: in reply to Satan's hint that God was not good, Eve told of God's Genesis 2:16 statement about the trees from which she could eat, but, in doing so, she left out the word "every" to lessen God's bounty in giving her a vast diet, Gen. 3:1-2! (Ibid., Leupold, p. 148)
    12. Satan's temptations often lead to legalistic additions to Scripture that further unjustly misrepresent God and foster rebellion against Him: in further responding to Satan's hint, Eve added the legalistic lie that God had harshly forbade her even to touch the tree (Gen. 3:3; 2:16f)! This meant she had shifted closer to outright rebellion against God!
    13. Satan's temptations often try to erode the effect of a good conscience and God's Word so as to get man to function by lust: the lure of the forbidden tree's fruit did not impact Eve to eat of it until Satan had led her to distrust God's Word and disrespect His character, Gen. 3:1-5, 6.
    14. Satan's temptations often lure man toward selfish ambition, to aspire to occupations or achievements opposite God's initial assignment:
      1. Satan lured Eve to be as God by eating the banned fruit, Gn. 3:5-6.
      2. Yet, God had not called man to become like God, but to keep the garden, to rule the animals and to fill the earth, Gen. 1:26-28; 2:15.
    15. Satan's temptations often open one up to impact by the world's lust of the flesh: after Satan had misled her, Eve sinned in yielding to her lust of the flesh to desire the fruit to eat as food, Genesis 3:6; 1 John 2:16.
    16. Satan's temptations often open one up to impact by the world's lust of the eyes: after Satan had misled her, Eve sinned in yielding to her lust of the eyes in desiring the fruit for its beauty, Gen. 3:6; 1 John 2:16.
    17. Satan's temptations often open one up to impact by the world's lust of pride: after Satan had misled her, Eve sinned in yielding to the pride of life as she desired the fruit to become wise, Gen. 3:6; 1 John 2:16.
    18. Satan's temptations often lead one to sin by peer pressure: Adam ate of the fruit in line with his wife's giving it to him to do so, Gen. 3:6.
Lesson Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as Savior to be delivered from Satan's power into the kingdom of God's dear Son, John 3:16; Col. 1:13. (2) Then, may we watch for Satanic activity as exposed in Genesis 3:1-6, and rely on Scripture in God's leading to overcome him (1 Jn. 2:14b, 20, 27) with prayer, Matthew 26:41.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

We can illustrate how this sermon can be effectively applied by showing its pertinence to the troubling "contemplative movement" that is hitting so many evangelical Christian churches and organizations.

In his book, The Healing Epidemic, Pastor Peter Masters of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, positively reported that occult healing built the world's largest church (The Biblical Evangelist , v. 23, no. 4 [4/1/89]). He had read many charismatic books only to find that many of them had been influenced by Paul Yonggi Cho, Pastor of the Full Gospel Central Church of Seoul, Korea, the world's largest church. (Ibid.) Well, Pastor Cho's book, The Fourth Dimension explains how he had obtained important healing results by adopting yoga meditation and attending Soka Gakkai, a Japanese Buddhist sect (Ibid.) He felt that if such powers were available to Satan's people by way of visualization techniques, he should bring them to his Christian Church to give such power to Christians! Thus, "numerous" evangelicals have come regularly to hold "Christian yoga" classes in the "contemplative movement" ("Spirits of the Lie," The Berean Call, Nov. 2003, p. 1) and practice what is dangerously close to witchcraft and Satanism!

This perilous deception could have been averted had Christians, especially their leaders, heeded Paul's word in 2 Timothy 3:13-4:2 rather than neglect Scripture to try to build big churches! That passage calls us to avoid being deceived by such error through sticking to the truths we have already learned, through sticking to the truths we have already been assured are true, and through sticking to those truths that have come down to us from godly folk who discipled us (2 Timothy 3:13-14), and through sticking to what written Scripture teaches (2 Timothy 3:15-17) as it provides ALL the information we need for effective life and ministry in GOD'S estimation, 2 Timothy 3:17! Heeding this Scripture would have led pastors to focus on expounding Scripture, a truth revealed in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, and that would have warned them against false, demonically influenced doctrines of the latter days as Paul noted in 1 Timothy 4:1-5, and against false experientialistic miracles about which Moses warned in Deuteronomy 13:1-4! This would have neutralized the "contemplative movement" that now impacts so many Christians, and sets them up for defeat!

May we thus heed the Word of God for victory over Satan's wiles to continue to enjoy God's blessings, cf. 1 John 2:14b.