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from the Bible
Genesis 3
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
While reading Genesis 3, we learn many things, like for example, animals talk. However, perhaps it's even more alarming to learn that the woman, Eve, talked back!
We learn many other things which we will lump together in groups of three:
A. We learn about the "modus operandi" of the serpent, i.e., the way Satan, the deceiver, operates.
2. He tells half truths ("You will not surely die.")
3. He explains what God means ("For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.")
2. He shows what is attractive ("pleasing to the eyes"), and
3. He holds out a promise of superior knowledge ("desirable for gaining wisdom").
(Notice that some of these same techniques were used with Jesus in the wilderness temptation, and are very much in use today.)
2. When we sin, there is a conscious awareness of guilt and shame ("realized they were naked"); and
3. When we sin, there is an urge to hide from God ("they hid from the LORD").
(Adam and Eve instinctively covered themselves. However, this does not mean, as interpreted by some, that they were guilty of sexual sin.)
2. He understood the origin of their shame (disobedience - "Have you eaten from the tree?"), and
3. He requires an accounting of their actions ("What is this you have done?").
F. Finally, God pronounces a sentence on all of them, in the order of their blame, for they all are blameworthy.
2. The woman will give birth with pain, and defer to her husband; and
3. The man will be doomed to hard work, hindered by a cursed ground, with no promise of retirement ("through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life").
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1. He questions what God says ("Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?")
B. We also learn what is the basis for Satan's temptations.
To get us to disobey God,
1. He provides what appeals to the appetite ("good for food"),
C. Also in this chapter, we learn what are some immediate results of sin.
1. When we sin, we will influence other people ("gave some to her husband");
D. But we also learn some important lessons about God.
1. Wanting fellowship, God went looking for Adam and Eve ("Where are you?");
E. Then there's the "blame game": man blames woman (and God - "the woman you put here with me"), and the woman blames the serpent.
1. The serpent will do the belly walk and eat dust (How did he ambulate before?);
But we are focusing on verse 15:
2. The primary conflict is between Satan and Jesus; and
3. Jesus wins!
Within the church world there is a variety of ways people think about Satan.
Of these, we may identify a "left", "right", and "center". At the "left" are those who totally deny the existence of a personal devil. For them, evil is an impersonal force created in the minds of collective society which needs to police its own behaviors. The evil ("d"evil) is whatever runs against the prevailing acceptable behaviors. These same people will probably tout a theology which also leaves out a personal Almighty God who is the creator of all that exists, and who stands outside and above His creation.
On the other extreme, the "right", are those who subscribe to "dualism", the belief that there are in the cosmos, two equally powerful forces, good and evil, god and devil. According to this concept, all the forces of good are to be rallied in hopes of eventually overcoming the forces of evil, but no one know for sure what the outcome will be.
Then there is a more balanced, "center" position which acknowledges the reality of a personal devil, but does not attribute to him independent, or unbridled powers. Yes, Satan is real, and the Bible likens him to a "lion", the most fierce of beasts; but if he is a lion, he is a lion on a leash.
To put it another way, we do not want, as Paul said, to be ignorant of the ways of the evil one (II Corinthians 2:11 - ". . . that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.") At the same time, we don't want to succumb to paralyzing fear. No, Christians are not paranoid, we really do have an enemy.
Listen to what Peter writes: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." (I Peter 5:8-9)
At the risk of trivializing this, let's liken it to having squirrels in the attic. Not only will their running around keep you awake at night, they can do real damage to your house. Perhaps they will even chew through the insulation of your wires, cause a fire and burn down your whole house! You really do want to get rid of them.
Matthew Henry wrote, "Heaven and hell can never be reconciled, nor light and darkness; no more can Satan and a sanctified soul, for these are contrary the one to the other. "
II. The primary conflict is between Satan and Jesus.
When God, speaking to the serpent, referred to "your offspring and hers", He was clarifying, or making more specific the enmity that would exist. Be careful to notice that God does not refer to the offspring of Adam and Eve, but that of hers alone.
Adam Clarke puts it this way, ". . . the address is not to Adam and Eve, but to Eve alone; and it was in consequence of this purpose of God that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin."
Very often we are too quick to join with Adam in placing blame on Eve for this "garden variety" sin of disobedience. But let's remember too that the remedy for sin would come through the woman. Through the accomplishment of child-birth, even with great pain, ultimately a woman would bring into the world, without the participation of a man, the very Son of God who would lead the charge and win the fight against the devil and all he can muster.
Adam Clarke goes on to say, "Jesus Christ died to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and to destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil."
This brings us to the third statement,
III. Jesus wins.
Listen to the promise, "he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel".
We understand that the same word stands behind "crush" and "strike". The word is "shoof", which means "to overwhelm, to break, to bruise." What differentiates between what Jesus does and what Satan does has to do with where the wound is afflicted. To bruise the head is to destroy the power and mastery of Satan - it is to provide a mortal wound. On the other hand, to bruise the heel, although a real and perhaps painful wound, only affects the walk.
Satan has power only to bruise the heel. He has no power over the mind, or the heart, or the hands - only the heel. Perhaps he can slow us down, but he cannot knock us out.
How we love the words of Paul, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body." (II Corinthians 4:8-11)
Just a few verses later, Paul writes, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (II Corinthians 4:16,17)
Then before he finishes this letter, Paul relates that he had what he called his "thorn in the flesh". Notice that he calls this affliction a "messenger (angel) of Satan". He said, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (II Corinthians 12:8-10)
It's almost as though Paul is here snickering in the face of Satan, "You dummy! You think you're inflicting this terrible wound on me by giving me this thorn, but God is using it for my benefit, and I'm actually the stronger for it, for now I'm trusting God more than ever."
Yes, there is an enemy - God stated that it would be so. While we must take him seriously, we must never fear defeat at his hands. Bumps and bruises of course will come, but no defeat. As it is confidently stated in the New Testament, "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." (I John 4:4)
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