Jump Start # 1864

Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from it’s fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

The Genesis account of the fall of mankind, Eve being deceived by Satan, begins with her conversation with the serpent. She engaged in a conversation with the serpent. He twisted what God said, added words that God did not say and created doubt about what God had said. Then the final punch was the tree itself. It was a delight to her eyes. It was desirable to make one wise. Eve took the forbidden fruit and ate it. She gave some to Adam and he followed.

All of this began because Satan got into Eve’s head. He deceived her. The starting point of this downward spiral was the credibility that Eve allowed Satan to have. She had no history with Satan. She had no reference point in her past that she could say, “He was right about that, he might be right about this.” Satan had not blessed her. Satan had not helped her. Satan had not been there for her. God had. God made Eve. God made the creation. God, it seems from the text, had walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. God had been good to them. God had talked with them in the past. Eve had a history with God. God had reference points in her past that she could say, “God has been right and good to us.”

It is troubling to see that Eve would believe Satan, when there was nothing to go on. And she would believe Satan’s doubts about God, when she knew how good God had been.

This Eve story is repeated again in Proverbs 7 when a man looks out his window and sees a young naïve man going down the wrong street at the wrong time of day and meets the wrong person. She is a prostitute. Her intentions are sinful and wicked. The implications are that they did not know each other. “With her many persuasions she entices him,” is what we are told. He has no history with her. He has no way of saying, “She’s been right before.” Like Eve, he has a conversation with a serpent. Like Eve, he listens. Like Eve, he throws out everything he knows that is good and right. And, like Eve, the naïve young man ruins his soul because he believed the prostitute over what God had said.

The Eve story is repeated today through books, college lectures and especially the internet. Someone casts doubts about what the Bible says. They put question marks where God has places exclamation points. They cloud the meaning of the text. They creation suspicion about what the Bible says. They propose alternative meanings, often that lead through the door of error that is not supported by the Bible. And suddenly, just like Eve, just like the naïve young man walking down the street in Proverbs 7, a Christian begins to doubt what God has said. They begin believing the poisonous error that has filled their brain and their eyes. Do they ever stop to think about the background of the person that they are talking to? Do they have a history together? Has this person helped them in the past? Could they say that they were right before? And with all of this, they completely forget about God. God has been right there for them. God has helped them, led them and been right all along. Yet, that is tossed out. A new thought. A new idea. A new way. Different from what the Bible says, and yet, it is followed, believed and accepted. The Christian now doubts the way he has worshipped. Not because of what he sees in the Bible, but because of what a college professor has lectured, or a book has stated or a website has grumbled about. The truth is tossed for a lie. For Eve, it was taking hold of the forbidden fruit. For the young man in Proverbs 7, it was taking hold of the prostitute. And for us, it is taking hold of a lie that the Bible does not teach. For all, the results are deadly. For all, the same steps have been followed.

Why believe serpents over God? Why believe prostitutes over God? Why believe a college professor, a website over God? Why trust their words? Why allow the sinister thread of doubt to be woven into our hearts? Why accept their words over God’s?

For the young person today, it may be a friend, someone they are dating or a roommate that weaves that doubt into a heart. Is this person right about other moral things? Is this person right about what God says in other areas?

For others, it may be a family member or a co-worker, who weaves doubt into our hearts. They speak as if they know God. They say things as if they know more than God. What’s their track record? Is there any reason to listen to them over God?

Talking to serpents is a dangerous thing to do. No history. No past. No credible evidence of goodness, accuracy or truthfulness when it comes to religious matters. God is holy and righteous and wants the best from us. Others, simply want us to back off of God and be more like them. Who are we going to listen to and believe? Who is right? Who has been there all along pleading for us to do right?

The language of serpents is deception, twisting words, creating doubt and confusing minds and hearts. If God wasn’t right about the forbidden fruit, what else was He wrong about? Could God be trusted about anything? This was more than eating something that was forbidden. This was about believing God. Eve had every reason to stay with God. He was good to her. She had no reason to believe that serpent. Yet, she did.

And too often, we follow in those same steps. Believing lies. Accepting things without proof. Allowing our minds and our hearts to be confused. Listening to serpents rather that holding on to what we know is true.

Eve should have known better. So, should we.

Roger

Jump Start # 571

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

We continue our look at Adam, Eve and the garden of Eden. Our verse today is the pivotal sentence in the fall of man. The results would be devastating. Adam and Eve would be driven out of the garden. Their world changed. Weeds, pain and death became the norm for them. Things were different in their relationship with God. A person wonders how many nights after that event did they lay awake wishing they could have a do-over. If they could just go back and not do it, things would have turned out differently. The consequences of sin often last longer than the sin itself. And for all the fun that sin brings, the pain and sorrow that follows it are enormous. Consider the man who is bored with his marriage and he carries on a brief sexual fling with a co-worker. It’s nothing, he thinks. It won’t last and it’s purely physical. His wife finds out and divorces him. Now he sits alone in a small apartment regretting how foolish he was. Or, the teenager who has smoked some dope with his friends after school. One night they introduce him to meth. Later that night he is rushed to the hospital with a drug overdose. His world changes because of that one time. He wishes now, he never tried it. Or, the man who is facing serious financial issues at home. He switches some numbers at work, transfers some money into his personal account. Before the month ends, he is caught. He loses his job. He is arrested and may face prison. He wishes now that he just found a part time job somewhere. His world has changed because of the choices he made.

Sin does that. It takes our eyes off the Lord and the consequences that comes with disobedience.

Our passage today illustrates the transition that takes place from the heart to behavior. Up to this point, Satan and Eve had discussed the forbidden fruit. Satan has misquoted God, adding a word and planting doubt in Eve’s mind. Had Eve walked away, she may have been confused and uncertain, but she would not have done wrong. Sin always begins in the mind and the heart. It’s that way with forbidden fruit, sexual temptation, greed and rebellion. Jesus said out of the heart comes forth these wrong things. This is why location often doesn’t change things. There are times when parents may have to get their kids away from bad influences, but the far county, to which the prodigal journeyed to, is often within the heart.

Eve moved from talking about the forbidden fruit to looking at the fruit. That didn’t seem to last long until she moved to taking the fruit and then eating the fruit. Do you see that transition? Thinking about it…looking at it…taking it…eating it. These final steps come quickly once the discussion and debate is over in the mind. These are the same steps that the man takes when he has a sexual affair. This is the same path the embezzler takes. This is the same path the drug user takes. It’s the same path for all of us. The path is well worn.

All that Eve believed and trusted about the Lord went out the window when she reached up and picked that fruit off the tree. She was now committed to doing wrong. There was no turning back. Emotion, excitement, desire, lust all race through the heart and reason, logic, and righteousness are shoved out of the way.

Eve gave to Adam and he ate. There is a difference in what happened. There seems to be little discussion that took place. The Scriptures record no conversation between Adam and Eve. Later, the NT reminds us that Eve was deceived. It states that Adam was not deceived but the woman was. Adam just jumped in without thinking. He followed Eve’s lead. Eve did it. I will do it, was Adam’s thinking. There was no misquoting of Scripture. No adding words to what God said. No changing the meaning. It was simply the blind following the blind.

Adam failed as a husband and a leader here. He turned off his spiritual radar. He wasn’t thinking, which was the problem. Too often, far too often, instead of helping our mates spiritually, one will join the other in doing what is wrong. See if this sounds familiar. It’s Sunday morning and it’s a rainy day. It’s time to get up and get down to the church house for worship. One in the marriage, rolls over in bed and says, “let’s not go today. It’s rainy and cold.” The other agrees. Instead, the other ought to have gotten out of bed and said “I’m going, with or without you. You need to rethink what you said. It will be ok. We need to think about our example to others. We both need more of worship.” Adam didn’t stand with God. We often don’t stand with God. Men, you especially have been chosen by God to lead your family to Him. Too often it is the men that drag their feet, don’t want to do what is right and come up with the lame expression, “Do we have to go?” The answer is YES. If you went more often, you wouldn’t be saying that!

Marriage can be a great spiritual blessing. Help each other do what is right. When one is offering forbidden fruit, don’t just take it. Think. Remember. Help them get back on board with God.

Eve takes most of the hits in this story because she was tricked by Satan. I get more disgusted with Adam. He just went along with it. He wasn’t tricked. He wasn’t deceived. He was just Dumb (and that’s with a capital “D” in my book). When caught, God addressed Adam.  He immediately pointed his finger to Eve and blamed her. God didn’t buy that. They were both punished. They were both at fault. There was no spiritual leadership here. There was no reproving and rebuking and contending for what is right.

Your greatest spiritual help or you greatest threat can be the one you are married to. Compromising to make peace doesn’t work. It doesn’t work with Russians and it never works with Satan. Remember the song we often sing, “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus.” That’s true in your marriages as much as it is with the world. Help your mate get strong in the Lord. It will make a better marriage. Help them choose right over wrong. Pray together. Read Scriptures together. Talk things through. Listen. Consider. Walk with the Lord.

Adam and Eve—what a pair. You’ll notice, their names are missing from Hebrews 11, the great Hall of faith. The first man, the first woman are not there. They are not examples of faith. They didn’t walk by faith. They listened to Satan and that will get you in trouble every time.

Roger