Genesis 3: Satan Is True to His Word

Satan Is True to His Word? (e)
Genesis 3:16-24
Jim Davis
I took my grandson, Dakota, to McDonalds for breakfast. When I ordered our breakfast I noticed that the word SENIOR came up in big bold letters on the cash register. I am not sure what that meant, but I think I got a free coffee . . . I'm still not absolutely sure . . . I was afraid to ask. I began to wonder if I really looked that old . . . it is actually a little bit early chronologically for me to be receiving a SENIOR's discount . . . if that's really what the cash register meant. I sat down and watched my grandson play. I was a little depressed. I reasoned that I had on blue jeans and an old black Florida T-shirt; and after all I hadn't shaved . . . maybe I just looked a little grubby . . . surely I'm not aging. But as I looked at my three year old grandson and thought about my oldest grandson, Roger, who will be eleven in April, I had to admit that maybe . . . . . but still . . . . it haunted me, how did they mistake me for a SENIOR CITIZEN! When I got home I asked my wife, "Are you considered a senior at 50 or 55?" She told me that it was at 55 . . . that sure didn't help. But I was afraid that she would say 60! Then I related the story to her . . . she did what any woman would do . . . she laughed . . . I reminded her that she wasn't that far behind me. (No, I didn't pay for the coffee . . . I couldn't convince myself that the word SENIOR on the cash register really meant I got it free? I didn't get a receipt, and honestly . . . I wasn't up to asking for one . . . I was afraid that I would embarrass the cashier.)
The temporal consequences of sin can be as subtle as the aging process that slips up on us with each tick of the second hand on a watch. This slowly decaying body I live in is a reminder of God's judgment against sin. Deteriorating eyesight, the spare tire, the wrinkled skin and the graying hair. Yet, God's temporal judgment also comes in many other forms. The subtle reminders are all around us, our shame, the prick of a thorn, the pain, the sweat of the brow, the broken relationships and even the clothes we wear are indicative of the temporal consequences of sin. Oh yes, these are indicators that sin and its consequences are real!
"If the fall of man were to have occurred in our times, one can hardly conceive the consequences. I would imagine that the American Civil Liberties Union would immediately file suit--against God and in defense of Eve and her husband (the order of the two is not accidental), Adam. The suit would probably be pressed on the grounds of an illegal eviction. 'And after all,' we would be told, 'this alleged sinful act was performed in the privacy of the garden, and by two consenting adults.' But most of all we would be told that the crime (if indeed there was one) and the punishment were totally out of proportion. Could God really be serious in what this account claims to report. Because of a bite of some 'forbidden fruit' man and woman are evicted and will suffer a lifetime of consequence? And more than this, that due to this one act the whole world and all mankind continue to suffer the evils all about us?" 1
Satan Is True to His Word?
Satan's promises have a backhanded way of coming true. Satan told Adam and Eve, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5) And Satan's word was true, "And the LORD God said, 'Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:' Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." (Genesis 3:22-23)
Although there is some similarity, there is a great difference in how we know evil and how God knows evil. A doctor can know of cancer by virtue of his education and experience as a doctor. He has read about cancer, heard lectures about cancer, and has seen cancer in his patients. He has studied cancer under a microscope. But the patient has experienced cancer as a victim. Both the doctor and the patient may know of cancer, the patient would wish that he had never heard of it. The patient's knowledge is the kind of knowledge that Adam and Eve came to possess about good and evil.2
Paul was experiencing a personal knowledge of sin as he wrote: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out . . . . O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:15-18, 24) Yes, we certainly know evil. Satan was true to his word!
The Way of A Transgressor Is Hard (Proverbs 13:15)
Satan was right about us knowing evil because the way of a transgressor is hard. It would be a grave mistake to forget the temporal and eternal devastation that sin has brought into each of our lives. Solomon said, "Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard." Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly. A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health. Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured. The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed." (Proverbs 13:15-21) Satan is true to his word!
We Reap What We Have Sown (Galatians 6:7-8)
Satan was right about us knowing evil because what we reap makes it crystal clear what we have sown. My parents used to tell their five children, "If you make your bed hard you will have to sleep in it." They used to warn us, "You had better be careful, your chickens will come home to roost." Paul says all of this in another fashion: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." (Galatians 6:7-8) I must admit that I have reaped what I have sown . . . I have slept in a hard bed or two . . . I have had some chickens come home to roost too. So have you! Satan was true to his word!
Paul says, " The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden." (1 Timothy 5:24-25) All of life is a sowing time! Every day we are planting by thought, word, and deed for a future reaping. Although a period of waiting usually separates the reaping from the sowing, the harvest is sure. Some sheaves will be gathered before we die, and others will be reaped in eternity.
A rich man who had grown old deeded all his property to his only son and planned to live with him the rest of his life. But after a while the daughter-in-law got tired of having him around and told her husband his father would have to leave. The son, unwilling to part with the wealth he'd received, decided to put his dad into the cheapest nursing home he could find. About a week later, the two men walked slowly down the road to the place where the elderly gentleman was to live. Stopping to rest for a moment, the father began to weep. The son's conscience started to bother him, so he made some weak excuses for what he was doing. Finally, the rejected man controlled himself enough to say, "Son, I'm not crying because you're sending me to this rundown old home for senior citizens. I'm crying because of my own sins. Forty years ago I walked down this same road with my father and took him to this same place. I am only reaping what I sowed!"
We must remember that we also reap the good seed we have sown. Solomon says the way of the transgressor is hard but in almost the same breath, Solomon says that the righteous shall be repayed with good. "Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard." Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly. A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health. Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured. The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed." (Proverbs 13:15-21)
There are returns to living a righteous life. The story was told of a car dealer who went out of his way to give a foreign student an honest deal on a new automobile. Fifteen years later, the young man had become the sole purchasing agent for the Iranian Contractors Association. He showed his gratitude for the kindness he had received by placing a multimillion-dollar order with that dealer for 750 heavy dump trucks and 350 pickups. "It's unbelievable!" exclaimed the businessman. The good he had done was rewarded years later beyond his wildest imagination. Doing right also extends delayed returns.
Just as that salesman's reward came later, so too God will commend us in Glory.
Your Sins Will Find You Out (Numbers 32:23)
Satan was right about us knowing evil because our sins find us out. In the book of Daniel, Belshazzar threw a feast and brought in the sacred vessels from the temple of the Jews that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. He wanted everyone to drink from those vessels in mocking defiance of the stupid Jews God. Immediately he saw the hand writing on the wall and immediately his royal knees began to knock. He called for Daniel and Daniel told him: "And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." (Daniel 5:25-28) Belshazzar died that very night! Sometimes the temporal judgement of God for our sins may be more subtle and slower in coming than the hand writing on the wall for Belshazzar. But Moses said, "Your sin will find you out." (Numbers 33:23)
Columnist Bob Green of the Chicago Tribune has a theory about what's wrong with the world. He blames it on what he calls the "Death of The Permanent Record." He recalls that grade-school children once lived in fear of having their bad behavior noted on The Permanent Record. Because of this, people learned in their youth to stop before they did something deceitful or unethical. They didn't stop because they were so good, but for fear of having their actions written down.
Today, according to Bob Green, people have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a permanent record. In fact, they believe no one has a right to keep track. Green says that with today's emphasis on our rights of privacy, if a school child were ever threatened with something going on his permanent record, he would probably file suit under the Freedom of Information Act and gain possession of his files before recess.
Behind Green's humor is an excellent point. Where there is no fear of a lasting record, people tend to do what they think they can get away with. The problem for mankind, however, is that a permanent record does exist--and it is kept by God.
The Soul That Sinneth It Shall Die (Ezekiel 18:20)
Satan was right about us knowing evil because it brings a heavy personal burden. When Adam was approached by God concerning his sin, Adam said, "The woman you gave me "gave me the fruit and I ate it." When God approached Eve she said, "The serpent deceived me." In placing the blame, the Israelites in Ezekiel's time put it another way, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge." (Ezekiel 18:1-2) So the prophet made them face their responsibility saying, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." (Ezekiel 18:20) Satan was true to his word!
Satan was right, when we choose sin, we come to know death. Paul said, "God forbid that we continue in sin that grace may abound" (Romans 6:1), because its consequences are devastating. We witness temporal judgment against sin all about us. The death of the unborn child. Child abuse. The child born out of wedlock. Single mom's. Derelict fathers. The death of a drug addict. The dysfunctional homes. The broken promises and vows. The broken homes. The filled prisons. The sexually transmitted diseases. Have you ever stopped and thought about how much of the pain today can be traced to illicit sex. But Satan says, "stolen water is sweet; and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."? The longer we continue in sin the worse the consequences.
Paul said , "But she that liveth in pleasure (or sin) is dead while she liveth." (1 Timothy 5:6) Sin destroys joy, happiness, peace, the very things that make life worth living. This is why God is calling each of us to a higher way of living.
Sin Opens Our Eyes to Goodness
Satan is true to his word because in a backhanded way we learn about goodness as we long for our innocence. It is our death defying struggle with sin's temporal and eternal judgment against sin that makes grace so great. I understand that it was in a prison cell on a ship that John Newton finally came to the end of his rope and looked up and wrote "Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me! I was blind but now I see!" Suffering the consequences of his wrong doing and facing his inability to help himself finally made him look up to discover God's grace!
The goodness of God makes it possible to boast in our infirmities. In Eden we see the gracious hand of God taking animal skins and clothing our nakedness. God in Eden, in dreadful anticipation, knew what was in store for him as he killed and skinned that first animal to clothe his children. For every animal sacrifice from Eden to Christ pointed to the day that he would come in the flesh as the Lamb of God experiencing and knowing sin from a victim's perspective. He too must die, He too must know sin, He who knew no sin must become sin for each of us. (2 Corinthians 5:21) How painful the journey from eternity to the cross must have been.
Satan was right, I come to know evil as I seek to hide my shame. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
God's judgment against sin in the garden of Eden may seem like cruel and unusual punishment but it was essential. But think for a moment. What would have happened if God had not driven Adam and Eve from the Garden? You can answer in one word . . . hell. Hell is giving men both what they want and what they deserve.4
In Revelation an angel is portrayed crying out "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve." (Revelation 16:5-6) John says that those who shed the saints' blood got what they wanted, in that they desired to shed their blood, and God made sure that they got what they deserved.
This is the greatest fear for our country. A country where people have everything they want and are going to get every thing they deserve.
Paul encourages us to choose life as he writes, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee." (Titus 2:11-15)
Our disobedience manifests God's goodness. It is not the obedient child that test our patience and endurance, it is the disobedient one. The disobedient child demands more attention and a deeper love. God demonstrated the depth of his goodness in his willingness to save us.
The goodness of God's grace not only forgives, it also gives me strength to deal with the powerful devastating consequences of my personal wrong doing. Paul indicates that grace is a bitter sweet experience. Paul wrote, "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
In her book The Hurting Parent, Margie Lewis tells of a father who received a phone call one night from his daughter at college. She had been expelled for breaking the rules. After a long silence, that wise father said, "Well, Cindy, I guess you'd better catch the next plane home." He paused, trying to think of a meaningful way to convey the lesson she should learn. Then he said, "Remember, when you stand back a distance from a picture, it's usually the dark lines that give it character and beauty."
Paul prayed that as you face your spiritual death that, "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1:18-23)
It is through God's grace, power and sovereign protection that I can receive the strength to salvage my life through the teaching of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Romans 5:6-10
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Conclusion:
Ezekiel said, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Yet he said in the same breath:
Ezekiel 18:30-32
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
Ezekiel 33:11
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Paul wrote, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7:24-25)
Jesus came to deliver us as Lord of our lives. Jesus came to give that we might have "life and have it more abundant." (John 10:10) Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt 11:28-30)
Don't keep chosing death over life by refusing to accept your responsibility for your sin. God has a robe of righteousness awaiting you to cover your sinful nakedness.
Revelation 7:9-10
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
Galatians 3:26-27
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Footnotes:
1. Robert Deffinbaugh, Genesis Series, Lesson 4: The Fall of Man ,Genesis 3:1-24, http://www.bible.org/
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.