Sermon Tone Analysis

!!!!!! Genesis 3-4

 

"Now the serpent was more subtle..." (cunning) "...than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made, And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

(Gen.3:1-3).

Satan came in the form of a serpent which is translated in the Hebrew as "The shining one."

Whether or not it was a snake, as we think of snakes today, it's difficult to ascertain.

Surely, it's not the snake that we have today, because this creature was cursed that it would crawl on its belly, and in the Garden it probably had a method of propulsion of itself through the air.

There are suggestions that it was actually in the form of a dragon.

The Bible speaks of them.

Just where do we get the concept of dragons?

It could be, at one time, that there was such a creature upon the earth, but now extinct.

Maybe as a result of the curse it couldn't survive in the dust of the earth on its belly, without the other method of propulsion through the air.

They use dragons in Chinese parades and it takes many people to make up the dragon.

Someone wears the head of the dragon and the rest of the people become the body with a long brightly colored cloth over them and they move as though floating down the street.

It is interesting that the great dragon is a name for Satan.

Literally, in the Hebrew, it means "The shining one."

Satan so often disguises himself as a shining one.

Many times, in our concept of Satan, we make a serious mistake in thinking of him as being some horribly repulsive figure.

The classic idea of Milton's Satan was a man with horns, dressed in red, carrying a pitchfork with a glaring look on his face.

We think we would never be susceptible to that kind of a person, but Satan will come as an angel of light in order to deceive.

Satan comes as something attractive and beautiful to the eye.

The Bible tells us that Satan was perfect in wisdom and beauty.

Ezekiel 28:15 says, "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

When Satan comes and brings temptation, it isn't something that is repulsive to us but it's appearance is attractive.

He makes sin look inviting.

It is important to dismiss from your mind the classic concept of Satan with the horns and glaring face, because he does not approach us in this way.

He came as a "shining one" to Eve.

He came, first of all, questioning the word of God.

I would like to suggest that Satan has not ceased that type of attack and is still questioning the word of God.

He is trying through questions to cast doubt on the word of God and on the nature of God.

The question that Satan asked Eve, in the Garden, was designed to suggest that there was an unfairness in God because He was holding something back from her.

That something was desirable and it really wasn't fair of God.

Satan, even today, comes challenging the word of God and in his questioning is the intimation of unfairness.

God's holding back from you, something that is desirable.

"Did God say, 'You can't do that,' "Oh my, what a shame!

If you could only do that, it would be so exciting."

There is that suggestion of unfairness in God's word.

Today Satan has expanded "Hath God said" to "Did God really say that or not?"

The modern Bible critics: the liberals, the modernists, the infidels, all question whether or not the word of God is, indeed, the word of God.

Then they tell you which scriptures are God's word and which scriptures are not God's word.

They try to divide the Bible as to inspired and uninspired portions.

The moment any man stands up to tell you what scriptures are inspired or uninspired, he replaces the authority of God and then he becomes the authority.

God's word, no longer being authoritative, man will tell you what to believe.

Look out!

You're in big trouble anytime you put your trust in man.

Satan has three basic areas of attack: the word of God, the deity of Jesus Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

"And the woman said unto the serpent..." Eve made her first mistake when she entered into a dialogue with Satan.

The moment you enter into a dialogue with Satan, you're opening the door for trouble.

The moment you open your mind to begin to entertain a suggestion of Satan, getting into a dialogue over issues where God has spoken specifically, you're opening the door for some real problems.

"And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

Now, she's not really quoting what God said.

God said to them that they should not eat of it and in the day that they ate of it, they would surely die.

Eve didn't make that plain, she said, "...lest ye die."

She added to what God said by saying they weren't to touch the tree.

There is nothing recorded that God said they couldn't touch it just that they weren't to eat of it.

The woman changed God's word a little bit but even slight changes of God's word can lead to some real difficulties.

In verse four, Satan directly contradicts the word of God.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die."

(Gen.3:4).

Satan knew what God had said and while Eve didn't quote it correctly, saying, "...lest ye die," Satan quoted it more correctly in his contradiction.

First of all there is the questioning of the word of God and then the contradicting of God's word.

Satan follows the same pattern of questioning God's word, contradicting God's word, and then defaming God's character for he goes on to say, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

(Gen.3:5).

Satan was suggesting that God's motive for forbidding them to eat of that tree was because He was jealous and fearful that they would become like Him.

So, Satan is saying that God is withholding something desirable from you that you should have because He doesn't want you being like Him, knowing good and evil.

You have now the basis of temptation and these are the tactics that Satan follows to the present day when he comes to us to tempt us.

The questioning of the word of God, the contradicting of the word of God and the challenging of the nature and character of God.

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

(Gen.3:6).

John, in summing up the world through which Satan comes to us to tempt us, said, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

(I John 2:16).

The lust of the flesh for the food; the lust of the eye, delicious to look at; and it was desired to make her wise as God, the pride of life.

The Bible tells us that there are three forces against us, working in concert, and they are the world, the flesh and the devil.

Here we find all three working against Eve.

Her flesh; Satan's temptation, using the world around her as the area of temptation; and the fruit that was forbidden.

The question arises, Why would God put this tree in the Garden?

Why would God allow Satan to tempt her?

If God had not placed this tree in the Garden, there would have been no occasion for temptation; yet, how would God know that you truly loved Him unless you had a choice?

How would God know that you truly wanted to obey Him unless you had a choice?

How can you have a choice if there isn't something to choose?

So, choice is necessary.

We were made in the image of God, self-governing, but there has to be a choice; so, God placed the tree in the Garden.

It had to be attractive and desirable or there is really no choice involved.

If it weren't appealing there wouldn't be any temptation.

So it had to be pleasant to look at, it had to look very luscious and there had to be that stimulation to the pride; "Hey! its going to make you wise like God" and it was all there.

As we look at the temptations in this passage, we find that Satan followed the same patterns when he came to tempt Jesus.

The first suggestion of Satan to Christ was, "If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread."

(Luke 4:3).

He came to Jesus when he was hungry, after He had fasted for forty days.

The suggestion was that by abiding by the laws of God, God is withholding from you something that you need and is desirable.

Why don't you move outside of the law of God, use your power, and turn that stone into bread.

God is withholding something that is good for you.

When he took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple he said, "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence; for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."

(Luke 4:9-11).

Therein was the suggestion that you can violate the natural laws of God and not be hurt.

You won't die, go ahead and jump and as he said to Eve, "...Ye shall not surely die."

You don't have to obey God's laws, you won't die.

The third suggestion, as he took Jesus to the high mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the world, was, "And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it, If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine."

(Luke 4:6-7).

The idea was you can have immediate fulfillment without following God's path to the Cross.