We’re in part five today of a series called «Adam’s Family» as we look at the first family in the Bible to see what we can learn from them. You know,
Joel Osteen says before he preaches, «I like to start with something funny.» That’s him; I like to be funny throughout the message. He said, «I like to start with something funny.» You know what I like to start with? I like to start with my theme music! So, cue the music—hit it! Hey, hey, hey, yeah, I love it!
Genesis chapter 3, let’s get into the word of God. Genesis chapter 3, we’re going back to Adam’s family. If you have a Bible and want to follow along, I’m going to Genesis 3:1-7. If you are physically able, please stand with me as I read this passage. If you can do it without harm to yourself while standing, tell somebody, «I’m glad you made it to church today.» We’ll be done around three—amen! Now I know why you all come to this service—you don’t want to rush anyway, but amen! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!
Genesis 3:1, I’m using the Easy English Bible today; I like this. Listen to what it says, beginning at verse one: «The Lord God made many wild animals, but the snake was the most clever of them all. The snake asked the woman, 'Did God say you must not eat the fruit from any tree in the garden? Is that really true? ' The woman replied, 'We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden.' Verse three, 'But God said you must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden; you must not even touch it; if you do, you will die.' Verse four, 'Then the snake said to the woman, „No, you ain’t going to die; it ain’t even that serious.”' Verse five, 'God knows that when you eat the fruit from this tree, you will understand things; yes, you will become like God himself; you will know about good things and evil things.'
Verse six, 'The woman looked at the fruit on the tree; she saw that it would be good to eat, it was beautiful to look at; she wanted to eat it because it would give her something she didn’t have.' I can’t delve into that this week; that’s next week. It’s just that your deficiencies make you vulnerable to certain things, but that’s for next week! So, she took some of the fruit and ate it, and she gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he also ate it. Then they understood what they had done; they realized that they were not wearing any clothes, so they took some leaves from fig trees and tied them together to cover their bodies.“
I’m going to stop right there. Before you see it, let me give you my subject. I’m preaching today from the subject „Temptation.“ You may be seated. The Book of Genesis, particularly the story of Adam and his family, introduces to us a series of firsts: first the first marriage; they are literally the first family we see in their story, the first offering in chapter 4, and the first act of domestic violence happened in this family. We see the first temptation in this family and the first spiritual warfare as Satan showed up in the form of a snake and trapped them. It’s a bunch of firsts, but I want to make several observations in this passage today that are centered around temptation. That’s why I’m calling this message „Temptation.“
Whenever I don’t know what to call something, I just put „ology“ at the end of the word, and that just makes it sound fancy. The first observation I want to give to you is: first of all, whatever patterns we see—and there are patterns in this temptation that the devil uses on Adam and Eve that are similar to the patterns he uses with us. The whole purpose of studying this story is to see what we can learn.
What can we learn? The first move he made was to reduce God, to bring God down. Come on now, to dethrone the goodness of God. Because if I’m going to bring God’s child down, I’ve got to start by bringing the parent down. If I can minimize in your mind how much you reverence God, I have then started the process of deceiving you and luring you into disobeying God. Since he’s no longer high and lifted up, how does he do it? Look at how he does it. The first move he makes is to make God look stingy. He says in verse one, „Hey Eve, never said anything to Adam.“ He says to the woman, „Did God say you can’t eat of all this? Y’all got all this food in this garden! Put the garden up for me—this is the Garden of Eden!“ Psych! I just—this is what we call it, the Garden of Eden. „Y’all can’t have all that? You mean you serve a God that’s not generous? This ain’t all you can eat? Say it ain’t so, Eve! You must be playing! You mean God is that stingy? That he’s, watch this, withholding something from y’all? What kind of God is that?“
See, one of Satan’s moves is to tempt us when we think that God has not already given us his best—that God is holding something back from you, that he doesn’t want you to have his best.
