City Life Starter

I. The Word: Genesis 3:1 – 7

3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

II. Study Questions

1. How would you define sin?

2. How did the Serpent deceive Eve?

3. How did Jesus overcome the temptations?

“Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.” Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith.

Everything was perfect.  Everything was in a perfect order, where creation was in perfect line fulfilling the perfect intent of the created by the Creator.  Adam, created in the image of God, was the headship of the created, ruling and having dominion over the created.  Then, in that faithful day at the garden, a single choice would be made that would change the course of history, perfection becoming imperfect, perfect order turned into chaos, and ultimately the great separation that would take place, Adam would no longer walk with God.  A single act that changed history between God and man forever.  Sin destroyed the perfect union between God and man.

In today’s text, we discover the details of how man was separated from God, one single act that changed the fate of humanity.  Perhaps we can blame how deceptive Satan was, but that would grant him too much credit, which I dislike.  What Satan does to deceive Eve is something out of a predictable hypothetic textbook that would be called How to Turn One Away from Authority: by usurp God’s divine authority through questioning God’s Word and Order by Satan.  “You will not surely die,” says the Serpent to Eve, by having her believe in a lie that was not based on God’s Word but in a lie that “seems right,” that perfects the words in Proverb:

“There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death.” Proverb 14:12

Through the deception, Eve went on to consume the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This is how it came about:

1. The serpent aka satan came to Eve

2. Deception through lies

3. Usurp God’s authority by questioning God’s Word

4. Believe or convinced of the lies

5. Committing the act

Recently I came across a book that touched on this issue:

“To realize the full meaning of this, let us remember how it was through the body sin entered. ‘The woman saw that the tree was good for food,’ this was the temptation in the flesh; through this the soul was reached, ‘it was a delight to the eyes;’ through the soul it then passed into the spirit, ‘and to be desired to make one wise.’ In John’s description of what is in the world (1 John 2:15), we find the same threefold division, ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.’ And the three temptations of Jesus by Satan correspond exactly: he first sought to reach Him through the body, in the suggestion to satisfy His hunger by making bread; the second appealed to the soul, in the vision of the kingdoms of this world and their glory; the third to the spirit, in the call to assert and prove His divine Sonship by casting Himself down. Even to the Son of God the first temptation came, as to Adam and all in the world, as lust of the flesh, the desire to gratify the nature and lawful appetite of hunger. We cannot note too carefully that it was on a question of eating what appeared good for food that man’s first sin was committed, and that the same question of eating to satisfy hunger was the battleground on which the Redeemer’s first encounter with Satan took place. It is on the question of eating and drinking what is good and lawful that more Christians than are aware of it are foiled by Satan. To have every appetite of the body under the rule and regulation of the Holy Spirit appears to some needless, to others too difficult. And yet it must be if the body is to be holy, as God’s temple, and we are to glorify Him in our body and our spirit. The first approaches of sin are made through the body: in the body the complete victory will be gained.” Andrew Murray, Holy in Christ.

Let me share a few thoughts about sin…

Sin is the single most deadly and destructive thing that I have seen in this world.  It is through sin, man commits the unthinkable against another, whether they are strangers or to loved ones, sin destroys lives.  Sin doesn’t discriminate or show favoritism, but can single-handedly destroy everything on its path.  You see, sin can come to those who are the closest, most righteous, and holiest person that ever lived on earth.  Adam walked with God, but he was not safe from the temptation of the enemy.  Even the Son of God was tempted by satan, and if you really think that enemy is somehow going to leave you alone, simply because you call yourself Christian, you are self-deceived.  Though He was tempted by Satan, our Lord defeated every temptation through the Word of God (not by cursing or binding), but simple saying “It is written.”  Do you know God’s Word?  JY