Sermon Tone Analysis

*How Temptation Attacks God’s Truth (Gen 3:1-6)*

/Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church, November 4, 2007/

www.goldcountrybaptist.org

/ /

This past Wednesday was Reformation Day (Oct.

31), when exactly 490 years ago a German monk named Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation, which before long would spread the recovered gospel through Europe and turn much of the Christian world upside down.

For centuries God’s truth had been attacked in many ways:

-          keeping people from it (not available or in their language)

-          only super clergy had access to it or could study it

-          tradition and ceremony were on par with it and had even replaced the Word of God; this showed *doubting* that the Scripture alone was really sufficient for God’s people

-          they moved from doubting to *distorting* scripture, twisting it to say things it did not say, taking away from things it did say (commandment against graven images), or softening its strong statements that interfered with their establishment; they added to it teachings like purgatory or indulgences by their dogma and canon law and papal decrees and even adding apocryphal books officially in the 16th century

-          what began with doubt and distortion now moved to actually *denying* what scripture says (Christ our only mediator, His sacrifice was once for all - not continual, Mary herself said she needed a Savior, after man dies he faces judgment rather than purgatory, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, etc.)

-          they moved from denying scripture to *defying* the author of Scripture, with blatant idolatry and sacrilege and blasphemy and worship of images and saints and relics and praying to Mary rather than God, and on it went (and still goes)

 

By the way, we will see the same pattern and progression in basic form in Genesis 3.

 

It was against the empire of Rome that Luther stood his ground and said his conscience was bound by scripture alone, and that his arguments could only be silenced by scripture, as his conscience is bound to the Word of God, not the words of men and councils.

He was greatly concerned that God’s truth not be treated as a “wax nose” which people could shape and mold to fit their preferences.

The glory of the Incarnate Word was at stake, and Luther’s weapon was the written Word of God.

The Reformers were willing to die for truths that the Christian church in our lifetime has given up without a fight, sacrificing God’s truth on the altar of pragmatism.

From the beginning, God’s truth has been under attack.

And the serpent of old has been using the same strategy that:

-          he used in the garden, as we’ll see today

-          he also used in the lives of the original readers of Genesis

-          he uses the same strategy on all God’s people

-          he even tried it on our Lord Jesus Himself here on earth

-          you heard how it played out in Roman Catholicism

-          you see how it plays out in the modern world and church

-          you felt how it played out in your life this week

 

The basic strategy hasn’t changed – the main difference is that Adam and Eve didn’t originally have a sin nature whereas we do, and the devil’s had a few more thousand years of practice today.

So we have all the more reason to read and heed this passage intently and to plead for God’s help in fighting temptation in our daily lives

 

The New Testament reminds us that our ultimate struggle is not against flesh and blood, it is spiritual warfare with our spiritual arch-enemy and his invisible army.

We have to take every thought captive because the battlefield is our mind.

We must not be ignorant of his schemes as the New Testament says.

*1 **Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.*

It’s true the actual word “Satan” does not appear anywhere in this passage, and neither does the word “sin” or “the fall” but this passage has been rightly understood as being all about those things,  the first temptation, and the first appearance of Satan who has been trying to draw people away from God and His Word ever since

 

2 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB95) \\ 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

\\ … 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

\\ 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

\\ 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

\\ \\

Satan doesn’t come with a pitchfork and horns and a red felt suit, he comes as something attractive and beautiful and seeming to be knowing what’s best for us, as our friend who loves us and has a wonderful plan for our life.

But the truth is he hates us and God, and Satan has a hellish plan for our life.

Satan is not an “it” – the Bible describes the devil as a person, he is not a force.

How do we know who this serpent in Genesis 3 is?

Revelation 12:9 (NASB95) \\ 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Matthew Henry writes: ‘Multitudes of the angels fell; but this that attacked our first parents was surely the prince of the devils, the ring-leader in the rebellion: no sooner was he a sinner than he was a Satan, no sooner a traitor than a tempter, as one enraged against God and his glory and envious of man and his happiness.’

“the serpent” in Genesis 3 was a likely a literal serpent, but more than just a serpent – this creature was an instrument of Satan who speaks through it.

We have other occasions of fallen angels possessing bodies and speaking through them – we even have another occasion in scripture where an angel causes an animal to speak (Balaam’s donkey in Numbers 22).

There’s also another occasion in the Bible where animals are possessed by demonic spirits – in Luke 8, demons are cast out of a man, and they beg the Lord not to cast them into the abyss but to instead give them permission to enter some pigs.

He does and they enter the pigs, and immediately they rush the whole herd into the water and drown them.

This shows the deadly nature and desire of demons if they are let to have their way, and of course the devil is called by Jesus “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44)

 

We don’t have a lot of details given to us in scripture about how demons work, or the origin of evil or even much on Satan’s fall

-          arguably Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 refer at least indirectly to Satanic attitude and fall

-          Rev 12:4 suggests 1~/3rd of angels were led astray by Satan

-          Jesus said He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven (Lk 10:18)

 

That’s all the information we need to know (we are not to obsess about Satan) but if he can that quickly influence that many perfect angels to rebel against God, if he can this quickly influence originally perfect man and woman in the garden to sin, we need to take heed lest we fall!

 

*/HOW TEMPTATION ATTACKS GOD’S TRUTH/*

For God’s people, temptation does not succeed necessarily because of an absence of God’s truth, it’s how God’s truth is handled.

*Now the serpent was more crafty*

NKJV uses “cunning” (KJV has “subtil”), idea of shrewd or clever

 

The clever strategy of Satan is revealed in 4 parts, all of them begin with “D” to help us remember them, and all relate to God’s Word

 

#.

*___Doubting___** God's Word – v. 1 *

*And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”*

He does not begin by saying brazenly “there is no God” – he is not that foolish, he is much more subtle, cunning, and crafty and clever

 

He comes like a fellow believer in God seemingly seeking the truth by means of dialogue (sound anything like liberals ~/ false religion?)

The devil believes in God.

In fact he believes more strongly than most humans – it even has a strong effect on him.

Of course that doesn’t mean he is saved and going to heaven in the end.

James 2:19-20 (NASB95) \\ 19 You believe that God is one.

You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

\\ 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

\\ \\

The devil and his demons not only believe in God, they believe Jesus is the Son of God (we hear them exclaim this in the gospels numerous times).

Based on Genesis 3:15, some would argue that Satan knew the coming Messiah would be born of a virgin.

Demons in the gospels clearly believe Jesus is Almighty God and has all authority and that judgment is coming and he could take them out at any time (ex: the demons beg Jesus not to send them to the Abyss before the time).

Demons go to church – did you know that?

Read Revelation 2 & 3 and 1 & 2 Corinthians and you can see that Satan and his demons are at churches.

Jesus sometimes was preaching when a demonic encounter took place.

Paul’s letter to the churches warn against Satan’s subtle infiltration and temptation in their midst.

The devil can even quote the word of God with the best of them.

We see this here and we also see this when he tempts Jesus in the wilderness, he quotes Bible verses.

Before we go any further in this text, let me remind you that if you believe in God, and if you believe Jesus is the Son of God, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re saved and on your way to heaven.

You can believe in God, know exactly who Jesus is and that He was born of a virgin, have a right theology of the Trinity and end times and future judgment, you can believe in God strongly enough that it makes you shudder in fear, you can go to church not just on Easter and Christmas but you can go to a good church every week where the Bible’s taught, you can memorize all kinds of Bible verses and even be able to quote them; you can do all those things and not be going to heaven.

To do all of those things doesn’t make you any better than Satan, and knowing and believing those things may only qualify you to go to the place where he’s going.

To know and believe the right facts and doctrines about God doesn’t make you any better than a demon, according to the book of James.

Faith that has no works is useless, it’s dead - it is not true saving faith.

As we heard last week, not everyone who “says Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Many will tell Jesus on that day all these things that they have done but Jesus will tell them he never knew them in a saving way and they will spend eternity apart from him.

But Jesus began that same sermon talking about repentant people who are poor in spirit, “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Forgiveness is for those who repent, turning from their sins and following Jesus as Lord and who have fruit in their life evidencing true salvation.

Salvation is by faith alone, not a so-called faith that is alone.

Don’t ever think for a moment that merely believing the right things about God and Jesus is enough

 

Now the serpent here, doesn’t begin with a lie from the pit of hell, he begins by talking the talk about God, but with a clever strategy that he’s been using ever since.

Notice how he casts doubt on God’s Word:

NIV “Did God really say?”

ESV “Did God actually say?”

He acts like he’s sincerely interested in the truth, and wanting to verify what he’s heard, but those few simple words start things rolling down a path that would eventually snowball and become nearly unstoppable.

That’s what temptation can do.

The serpent misquotes God *‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”* \\ \\

If you read Genesis 2:16 God tells man he may eat of “every tree freely” except for one – God’s overwhelming generosity has been undermined as this question suggests instead that God has overwhelming stinginess.

Eve knows he doesn’t have it quite right, but her attention has been drawn to the fact that God did make a prohibition, and this gets her mind processing.

The subtle assumption is that God’s Word is subject to our judgment, that our sense of how things should be legitimizes our questioning of God, and He owes us justification for whatever He does.

The temptation casts doubt on the Character of God.

At this point only a seed of doubt is cast, but it will soon bear fruit.