Genesis chapter 3, I've got a
question for you this morning that I'd like to ask and hopefully
receive an answer to that question from the Lord. You see, any question
that's worth asking, we have to get an answer from Him. I
don't have the answers. I can tell you what they are
because He gives us the answer, doesn't He? But I've got a question
for you. What's wrong with man? What is
wrong with you? What's wrong with me? That something
is terribly wrong with us is not in question. It's self-evident,
isn't it? Any fool can see that we are
a race that is drastically flawed. Any fool can see that. The evidence
is in the newspapers. It's on the 6 o'clock news. The
evidence is seen in the words and actions of every one of us.
It's seen in our children. And when I say what's wrong with
man, you know I mean mankind. Men, women, boys, and girls. What is wrong with us? We're
in the business of killing one another. Why do we do that? It's not the killing itself that's
evil. It's man that is evil. Some are
so outwardly and violently evil that killing them is the only
answer. There's some that ought to be killed in this life. So
it's not the killing that's wrong. It's us. There's a problem with
us. What we do is evil because we're
evil. Why? That's the question. What's
wrong with you? Man can't be trusted. He'll cheat
you if he can, if he can get away with it. Man can't be depended
upon. He'll fail you if you depend
on him. That's why God said in his book, cease ye from man whose
breath is in his nostrils. Cease from him. Don't trust him.
You've got to protect yourself against man, don't you? You bolt
your doors and you're careful. You watch because he'll kill
you if it's profitable enough for him to do it. He'll kill
you. He may stand before God and solemnly vow to love and
honor and cherish another person, and then when it suits him, he'll
walk away and leave his family and never look back. A mother
may have a baby, a precious newborn child, and if it's not convenient
for her at the time to deal with it, she may throw it away, like
a half-eaten sandwich in the garbage somewhere. What's wrong
with us? What's wrong with man? And what
we've mentioned so far, just a few examples, and these are
just evils perpetrated by one man against another among men.
We haven't even talked about our evil toward God yet. How
does man feel about God? Oh, well, I've loved God all
my life. Is that right? We love our idea of God, don't
we? But we've proved what we thought
about God. When God came down here and became
one of us, and again, how we dealt with Him reveals, and it's
evident, that there's something abominable about us. God became
one of us. He came down here among us, took
our nature, and was one of us, with one exception. Whatever
it is that's wrong with you, wasn't wrong with him. That's
the only exception. He was one of us, flesh and bone. He was the one among us who did
not have the problem that we have, whatever that is. He could
be trusted. What he said could be explicitly
relied upon to be the truth. His love was and is unconditional
and infinite. He's not like us. Some say that
he came down here to be our example, and that we follow his example.
Is that right? He came down here to show us
how to live. Let me ask you another question. What was it about his
example, what did we learn from observing him as our example,
that caused us to beat him bloody and nail him to a tree? What's wrong with us? All truth
begins with this question. All of it. God dealt with this
issue in his book first, didn't he? You'll never know what sin is
until you know the answer to that question, what's wrong with
man? You'll never know what grace is until you know the answer
to the question, what's wrong with man. You'll never know what
love is. You'll never know what Christ
did on that cross and why he did it until you know the answer
to this question, what's wrong with man? This is a vital question,
a foundational question. And those who err with regard
to it, err with regard to everything else vital. So it's a good question,
isn't it? God asked this question in his
book and answers it for us quite clearly. Look at the first verse
of Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle
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? Did you notice the question mark?
What God says doesn't have a question mark on it. Unless he's asking
you a question for a reason. What God said, he put a question
mark on it. It's important that we realize
now that this was not a snake that was speaking to Eve. As
we know snakes. You've probably seen pictures
painted of the Garden of Eden of what is in corrupt man's mind. that represents the Garden of
Eden. And you've seen Eve talking to
a snake, you know, that's crawled up on the branch of a tree. That's
foolish. For one thing, God's curse after
this happened was that the serpent would crawl on his belly. So
he wasn't a snake at this time the way we know snakes. In verse
14 it says that. So we know for a fact that he
was an upright creature. because his curse was to not
be an upright creature when he spoke with Eve. And we tend to
think of a little slender thing when we think of snakes because
what we see more often than not around our yards and our experience
is a little garter snake maybe or a copperhead or something
like that. We think of a little creepy crawly thing. I've seen
snakes. on the nature channels that are
bigger than me, haven't you? That weigh more than I do. That's
a big snake right there, you know? That's a big snake. 40 foot long snake. So don't think of Eve sitting
there talking to a... she wouldn't have done that.
It would have shocked her to hear from a little creepy crawly
thing, somebody talking. That's not the way Satan appears
to man. He never has, and he does not
now. Why is it important that we talk
about that? What difference does it make? If you want to recognize
him now, you're going to have to know how he presented himself
then to Eve. You're going to recognize him
now. You've got to know how it is
that he deals with men, his tactics, the way that he appears. It is most likely that Satan
used a beast about Eve's size because he didn't want to be
huge and larger than her and be frightening or intimidating
to her. He wanted to endear her to himself. And he probably wasn't a little
creepy crawly thing because that would be contemptible to her.
She wouldn't listen. to some little creature like
that, she wouldn't have any respect for him. So he probably was about
her size, and we know that he was upright. And we know that he appeared
beautiful. The word subtle means crafty. And Satan always appears this
way to man. The root word for the word serpent
here is enchanter. he came to trick her, to enchant
her with himself. And so he, to his advantage,
he appeared. God said in his book that Satan
appears to men as an angel of light. And that's likely the
way he appeared to Eve here. Not as some kind of a slimy reptile. He comes as an impressive He
was a magnificent angel before he fell, and he is said elsewhere
in Scripture, as I said, to come to men as an angel of light,
though he is in reality the prince of darkness. You see, he doesn't
come and represent himself as what he is. He's the prince of
darkness, but Christ said he'll come as an angel of light, just
the opposite of that. But he was a magnificent, impressive
creature, and what he said would be designed to make perfect sense
and to appeal to her flesh. He won't present himself as the
fallen, evil, vicious liar that he actually is. Again, why is
it important for us to know that? You want to recognize him now?
You ought to know what to look for. You gotta know what to look
for. And as we'll see in the remainder
of this verse, we know that he's in the business of perverting
and subverting the truth of God. That's what he did with Eve.
He said, hath God said? Question mark? Where is that
going on today? Where is Satan right now? He's not in the drug dens and
the houses of corruption in our day. That's just the natural
manifestation of our depravity. Satan doesn't have to trick you
into killing yourself. That's what you do already. You
like to do that. Satan is in the pulpits of this
country and others. And he's saying God loves you.
Satan will give you everything you want. He said to Christ,
all this will I give you if you'll worship me. Satan will give you
a great job, a promotion on your job, a good cause to get involved
in. It will take all of your time
and attention, anything, to keep you from Christ. So understand
what the Bible teaches about Satan. And don't be deceived. And don't miss this phrase, which
the Lord God had made. Satan, the serpent, was the most
subtle creature which the Lord God had made. Satan was made
by God. And this book teaches, with regard
to Satan, that he is in the sovereign, perfect control of God. Is that not right? Did we not
see that in the book of Job? Satan can do exactly what God
allows him to do and nothing further. Satan does always and
only what God has purposed that he shall do. Wow, that doesn't
fit my theology. Well, you need to get a new theology
then, because that's all through this book. Revelation 4.11, I'll give you
one example. For thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. God created Satan and allowed
him to fall and do what he did in the garden because it pleased
him. We'll talk about that a little
bit more in a minute. Which the Lord God had made.
God made him. And God will do what He wants
to with His creatures. We know from God's Word that
it has always been God's purpose to have an everlasting kingdom
populated with men and women that are just like His Son. Did
you know that? You knew that. Hebrews 10.9,
it says, Then said He, Lo, the Lord Jesus speaking, I come to
do thy will, O God, and He taketh away the first. Christ took away
the first that He may establish the second. He took away the
first creation to establish a new creation. We talked about it
the other night. He's going to burn this world
up. The heavens and earth will pass away. And he'll create a
new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. He takes
away the old man that he may establish the second. The old
Adam. The old covenant. He takes away all the old that
he may establish the new. And that's what he was doing
in the garden. That's why he used Satan to do what he did.
Revelation 13, 7. And it was given unto him to
make war with the saints. To who? To Satan. It was what? It was given unto him to do that. By who? by God Almighty, and
to overcome them. And power was given him over
all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in
the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Did you hear what I just read?
Satan is given an ability by God to do evil in the earth.
The God who made him, our text says in Genesis 3, he was given
to do some things, but there was a book written before the
foundation of the world, and it had some names in it. Before
Satan ever did what he did in the garden, that book was written,
and all the names that are in there now were in that end. That's
what I'm talking about this morning. Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
before Genesis 3, before Satan did what he did in the garden,
before he deceived Eve and wrought havoc upon our race. that we
should be holy and without blame before him in love. How can God have an everlasting
kingdom populated with people like Adam and Eve? They didn't
last very long, did they? It wouldn't be an everlasting
kingdom, would it? How long did they last? I don't
know. But they didn't have any children until after the fall. That indicates it was a pretty
brief period of time. God instructed them from the
beginning to multiply and replenish the earth, and they had not begun
to do that when this happened. So how is God going to have an
everlasting kingdom with people like Adam and Eve?
He's not. He's going to do what happened in the garden. What
I'm saying is this, all of this is in the purpose of God, and
it's for the glory of His grace in saving the people by the righteousness
and death of His Son. Is that right? Listen to Revelation
21. This is what God, from the beginning, even in the Garden
of Eden when this bad thing happened, this is what God had in mind
from the start. Revelation 21.1. Turn over there
with me please. John said, I saw a new heaven
and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away. Why is God going to destroy the
earth? Because of sin. Isn't that right? And there was no more sea, and
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their
God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There
wasn't any tears before the fall. We've got tears now, but He's
going to wipe them away. You see, this was His purpose
from the start. And there should be no more death. There wasn't
any death before what happened in the garden. There is now,
but there won't be, because in God's eternal purpose, He hath
ordained it. Neither sorrow nor crying, what
brings those things about? Sin, my sin, your sin. There
won't be any more pain there. As long as there's an Adam and
Eve that is susceptible to fall, God could never say this, that
there won't ever be any more tears or pain or sorrow again. It could never be said. And He,
verse 5, that sat upon the throne, said, Behold, I make all things
new. He made the old stuff that He
might do away with it and make it new. Isn't that what the Scripture
teaches? I'll make all things new. And
he said unto me, Write, for these words are faithful and true.
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty
for God, for his word, for his glory? He said, It's done. I'll give unto him that's thirsty. What? Of the fountain of the
water of life. Who's the water of life? Christ
said, I'm the water of life. Skip down to verse 22. John said,
I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the
sun, neither did the moon to shine in it. For the glory of
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. That wasn't
true in Eden, but it will be. It will be by God's purpose and
design. And this fall, this deception,
this evil one and his subtlety is all part of that purpose.
And all the nations, verse 24, of them which are saved shall
walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth shall
bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall
not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.
And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into
it, and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth."
How is that going to be? Something that defileth entered
into Eden, sin entered in, but not in this place. Not in this
place. Neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie. Satan lied in Eden, didn't he?
Not going to happen then. But they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life, they're the ones that are going to enter
in. And he showed me, listen to 22 in verse 1, chapter 22
in Revelation verse 1. God showed me a pure river of
water of life, clear as crystal. Proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street of it, and
on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which
bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God no more
curse. God couldn't have said that to Adam and Eve from the
beginning now. He couldn't have said, there
won't be any curse. What He did say is, in the day that you eat
thereof, you're dead. But here, He's able to say, no
more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be
in it, and His servants shall serve Him. Adam and Eve did and did they.
They served Him for a little while. until it became, until
the time came that it was to their advantage not to serve
him. But then, that's why there's
not going to be any more curse because we're going to serve
him and we're going to keep on serving him. You know why? Because
we're going to have then the righteousness of him who said
when Satan tempted him, Satan tempted the first Adam and Adam
gave in, didn't he? He fell. Disobeyed God he didn't
believe God he believed the voice of a lie because there was a
lie in his heart And rather than believe in the word of God what
did the second Adam do Satan came and tempted him, too? and
he said To him if you'll just bow down and worship me. I'll
give you all of this and what it are our Second Adam say it
is written It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and Him only shalt thou serve." We're going to be in His righteousness
then, and we're going to serve God, just like He did. You see
that? And they shall see His face,
and His name shall be in their foreheads, and there won't be
any night there. They don't need any candle or
light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light. And they
shall reign forever and ever. This was always God's purpose.
And what happened in the garden was necessary that he might bring
it to pass. And then Satan, in the last part
of verse 1, he questions God's word. Hath God said? He's doing
the same thing from pulpits right now as we meet here this morning. You tell me what the difference
is between saying, well, that doesn't mean that. That wouldn't
be fair. and saying, hath God said? Did God say that salvation
by grace through faith, and not say that's not your faith, that's
the gift of God? That's not fair. Did he say that
before either Esau or Jacob ever did anything right or wrong that
he chose Jacob and not Esau? That's not fair. Hath God said
that? You see, He suggests that God
is not fair to deprive such wonderful people of this great privilege
of eating of this tree. And from the pulpits of this
world, his tactics are exactly the same. A true God wouldn't
want you to be deprived of anything. You deserve prosperity and perfect
health. being the superior creature that
you are. You're God's greatest creature. He wants you to prosper
and be healthy and do all these things. It's the lie of Satan,
isn't it? If you'll just listen to me and
bow down to me and worship me, and you won't even know you're
doing it, I'll give you whatever you want. I'll say whatever you
want to hear. Let me tell you about a God that has a wonderful
plan for your life. Just listen to me, and I'll tell
you about a God who gives everybody a chance to be saved. He loves
everybody. He's trying to save everybody.
His son died in order to save everybody. You see how Satan
works? That's what we want to hear.
That sounds so good to the ears of depraved men. They flock by
the thousands to hear that message. God will be fair. I know there's
some talking about that God that, you know, chooses whom he will.
Let me tell you about the real God. He wants you to have your
way. Then look at verse 2. The woman
said unto the serpent, what was her response to this question
mark on God's word? She said, 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. Eve started out good, didn't
she? She quoted the word of God to him. She said, God hath said
ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it. lest you die. Eve hasn't fallen yet. She's
holy and innocent and she resorts to and leans upon the word of
God. Is that an example to you? Eve,
when she was perfect, she relied upon God's word. What are you
going to do when you hear a lie? When you hear something that
doesn't sound right, that's not according to God's book, what
are you going to do? Listen to it and say, well, it sounds reasonable.
Or say, here's what God said. She's saying, in effect, you
are questioning what God said. Let's review what he said. Isn't that what we do? Here's
what he said. Let's imitate her in this. Isn't
that what the Master did there in Matthew 4, where we read a
while ago? When Satan came and tempted him, three times he said
to Satan, what? And that's what we want to do,
what we try to do in this church. We don't have any programs for
you or entertainment, but if you want to know what God said,
if I can find out, I'll tell you. And he tells us, doesn't
he? He reveals it to us. Eve sinned
with Satan. Here's what God said. Now, some
have commented here that Eve added to the Word of God and
that she was wicked in doing that. She said, neither shall
you touch it. We don't find that when God spoke to them originally.
He said you should not eat of it. He didn't say anything about
touching it. Was Eve here, was she adding
to the word of God? Some have some bad things to say about
Eve there. It's not possible. It's not possible that she was
adding to God's word. She was sinless. You don't add
to God's word when you're holy. It's not possible. She did not
fall until after this. So what she's saying is she knows
you've got to touch it to eat it. If you're touching it, you've
already eaten it in your heart, haven't you? She knew what God
said. She not only knew the letter of it, she knew the spirit of
it, didn't she? Because she was holy and perfect. What are you
doing touching it? You've already broken God's law,
right there, before you ever take a bite of it. Because you've
eaten it in your heart. Isn't that right? That's what
the Lord's teaching us there. It's not possible that she sinned
in that. She was sinless and perfect.
She was true to and dependent upon God's Word. And so Satan
does what? He directly attacks the Word
of God. Verse 4, And the serpent said
unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. Now there has never
been a more perfect contradiction to the truth of that right there.
God said exactly, ye shall surely die. Satan added one word to
it, not. And again, the word of God, now
there are mysterious things in this book that I can't give you
the answers to. But who God is, what a sinner
is, and how God saves a sinner, God has clearly laid out in his
book. And men are standing, and women
too, are standing in pulpits this morning and directly contradicting
what God said. It's Satan doing it. Even when Peter was contrary
to the eternal truth of Christ, the Lord Jesus said, Get thee
behind me, Satan. He recognized the voice of the
serpent in Peter now. You shall not surely die. Satan here introduces something
into God's paradise that has never been there before. But
ever since, it's been common. Common. For man, that's something that is so common for men to
take up the word of God and then say, well, that doesn't mean
that. How do you know of that to say that doesn't mean if it's
not saying that? Am I saying what? What it said?
Is that what you're saying? It doesn't say what it says? Well, something's not necessarily
true just because it says that in the Bible, you know. That
doesn't apply to us anymore, you know. They stoned their children
in the Old Testament for disobeying. We don't do that anymore. So
God don't hate homosexuals anymore, you know. That's old news. Has
God said? It's still wrong to disobey your
parents, and God still hates sinners, all forms and fashions
of them, outside of Christ. And it takes many subtle forms,
this life, Satan, but it's still echoing from the lips of men
and always will, as long as this world stands. The Bible is not
to be taken literally. You heard that one? And just
another way of saying, has God said? I believe God can say what
he means, don't you? Well, I know the Bible says that,
but it doesn't mean that. You don't believe God will really
kill you, do you? You're not going to kill you.
He just created you. You're his chief creation. He's
not going to kill you. You won't surely die. That's
ridiculous. I've heard people say the truth
of God and saving sinners by his sovereign grace is ridiculous.
And Satan suggests that here. He uses reasoning and logic,
notice that, to combat simple, clear, undeniable truth. Well, I know what God said, but
here's what he meant by that. Here's what God meant. Who are you to say what God meant
by what he said? for God does know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. You shall
be as God's, knowing good and evil." It's not that you're going
to literally die. What he meant was that it'll
be as though you were dead because you'll be something else entirely
now. You're going to be a much more noble and higher creature
if you eat of this tree. He just meant that you won't
be like you were before. It'll be like you died and were
reborn. into a new and nobler existence.
You won't just be normal humans anymore, you'll be as God. And
I don't want you to miss that word knowing good and evil. It does not mean, it cannot mean,
that they'll know the difference between good and evil. They already
knew that, didn't they? Did they not? God showed them
what was evil and what was good. There wasn't but one evil. Don't
eat that tree. They already knew that. What
that word means is this, to perceive and see, find out and discern,
to discriminate and distinguish between good and evil. You see
what he's saying? In other words, you'll be able
to determine what's good and what's evil. You won't have to
rely on God to tell you anymore what's right and what's wrong.
You can determine that for yourself. And that's what we've been doing
all along, haven't we? And you know what? Evil is good,
and good is evil to us. There won't be any more misunderstanding
like this tree thing that happened. You misunderstood what God said,
but then you'll know what's right.