Peril in Paradise

Once upon a time, there was a little five-year old boy whose mother had just baked a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. Now this little boy just loved chocolate chip cookies, but his mother told him that he couldn’t have one because it would spoil his supper.

She had to leave the kitchen for a couple of minutes, but when she came back, she found her son up on the counter beside the plate of cookies, munching away on one of them. He knew that he had been caught red-handed, so he blurted out by way of explanation, “Mom, I just climbed up here to smell the cookies and my tooth got caught in one.”

When we last saw Eve, she was being tempted by the serpent. I’d like to ask you a question at this point. Where in the Garden of Eden do you suppose Eve was while Satan was tempting her? I believe that she was probably standing right next to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because verse 6 tells us that she was looking at it, and she merely had to reach out her hand and take it.

The reason I stress this is that temptation always is strongest at the boundary lines of our lives. When we are living within the will of God, and we’re not out on the edge of the limits God places on our lives, it is more difficult for Satan to reach us with temptation. But when we begin to wander, and our fellowship with God is not all that it should be, then we soon find ourselves running into the limits that God has placed around our lives for our good. And who meets us there? Satan of course.

The temptation of Eve would not likely have been as strong were she not already in a place she shouldn’t have been.

A long time ago, back in the 1970’s, there was a show on television called the Flip Wilson show. Flip was the first African-American comedian to become really popular as the host of his own TV show. In some of his comedy sketches, Flip played a character named Geraldine Jones, a sassy woman who had a jealous boyfriend named “Killer”. Geraldine got herself into all kinds of situations each week and her favorite explanation was “The Devil made me do it.”

That may be good comedy, but it’s terrible theology! Satan can tempt us, but he cannot make us sin. We can never say to God “The Devil made me do it.” We sin of our own free will - that’s why God holds us accountable for it. Sin may involve our emotions and our intellect, but it springs primarily from our will. We sin because we choose to. And that’s why God holds us responsible.

Genesis 3:6 tells us that Eve based her decision to eat the forbidden fruit on three rationalizations.

1. She saw that the forbidden fruit was good for food

All of us have been born with inner physical needs. The need for food is one of them. We also have a need for security, for happiness and pleasure, a need for sexual fulfilment, and so on. One of the areas in which Satan tempts us is in the area of our physical needs. The devil would like us to operate under the assumption that because we have a physical need, that need should be satisfied right then and there.

When Satan came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, this where he made his first effort. Jesus was hungry. He had been fasting for forty days. He had a physical need. So Satan tried to get him to use his miracle-working power to turn the stones into bread in order to feed himself and meet that need.

Satan tries to get us to rationalize sin on the basis of a false assumption. The assumption is that if we have a physical need, we must satisfy that need in whatever way we can.

This is how Satan enslaves people to physical addictions. The bondage of alcoholism, nicotine addiction, drug addiction, even addiction to sex through pornography, are all the result of Satan’s suggestion that you meet your physical needs in ways which are counter to God’s will. He whispers in your ear “You have a physical need. God made you that way. He, of all people, will understand that you have to satisfy that need. So go ahead and do it.”

Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food. This is what 1 John 2:16 calls the lust of the flesh.

2. She saw that the fruit was pleasing to the eye—that it was beautiful to look at.

This may seem fairly innocent. What could be wrong with wanting something because it is nice to look at? Yet this is an area in which Satan operates with a vengeance. God created us with the ability to appreciate beauty and order and design. This is part of the image of God in us. We appreciate nice things.

But Satan comes along and says to us that in order to really appreciate something that is beautiful and excellent, you have to possess it, you must have it, you must make it your own. Doesn’t matter what it takes, or what else you must sacrifice in order to get it. The false assumption is that beauty must be possessed in order to be appreciated.

This is the second way that Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness:

Luke 4:5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.

Satan showed Jesus the world in all its beauty and said “All this can be yours if you just worship me.” This is what 1 John 2:16 calls the lust of the eyes.

3. Eve saw that the fruit was desirable for gaining wisdom.

Satan has already suggested to Eve that God has deceived her. Not only would she not die if she ate the forbidden fruit, she would actually become like God, knowing good and evil. She would become more alive, more alert—more wise and discerning and godlike.

Her self-esteem, her sense of self-worth would be enhanced if she just ate of this fruit.

This is what 1 John 2:16 calls the “pride of life”.

When Satan tempted Jesus a third time, he took him to the temple. He took him up to the pinnacle of the temple and said to Jesus “Jump. God will miraculously save you, and that will prove to everyone just how important you are. Everybody will know that you’re somebody special.”

Satan appealed to Eve through:

1. the lust of the flesh - she saw that the fruit was good for food

2. the lust of the eyes - she saw that it was pleasing to the eye

3. the pride of life - she thought it would enhance her personal worth if she ate it

So she made a decision: she took the fruit and ate it.

James 1:14-15 ..each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

This was a fateful decision she made. She disregarded the authority of God’s Word in her life. She doubted God’s goodness. And she decided to go her own way. And the world has never been the same since.

Now what about Adam? The last part of verse 6 tells us that “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Now from verse 1–5, Adam isn’t even mentioned. While Eve is being tempted by the serpent, Adam apparently isn’t around.

But now here he is, and the Bible just says “she gave some to her husband, and he ate it.” No temptation. No persuasion. No coercion. She gave it to him and he ate it.

Did you know that what Adam did was even more serious than what Eve did?

He hadn’t been deceived by the serpent like Eve had. 1 Timothy 2:14 tells us that “Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived…” She had believed the lies of Satan. She was operating under false assumptions, but Adam wasn’t. He went into this with his eyes wide open.

He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that this was the forbidden fruit. You can’t say that Eve gave him this fruit without telling him what it was or where it came from. In other words, he didn’t eat it in ignorance—he knew exactly what it was. And because of that, God held him accountable for eating it.

Adam deliberately disobeyed the commandment of God without any inducement to do so by the serpent. And because he did, and because he was the spiritual leader of this relationship, he is the one that God holds accountable for introducing sin into the human race.

Romans 5 tells us that “sin and death entered the world through one man—Adam. Not through Eve, but through Adam. It talks about what he did as a trespass—a deliberate going beyond the boundaries that God had set.

And this is how sin entered the human race. This is why we are all sinners—because Adam sinned. He passed on to us this positive tendency to disregard God’s will and to disobey God’s command. We all have this inborn tendency to go our own way. And it started back in the Garden of Eden.

Now look at the effects of sin in verse 7:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The first effect of sin is that it makes us ashamed of ourselves. Before they sinned, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. They were completely open with each other, transparent, sharing their most intimate selves.

But as soon as they sinned, they desired to conceal themselves. They became painfully aware of the fact that they were physically different, and they wanted to cover up. They wanted to conceal themselves. There was now a kind of a chasm—a division—between them that made it impossible for them to relate intimately the way they once had.

So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. You can just visualize them with trembling hands anxiously trying to sew these garments together—something they had never done before; something they had never needed to do before. It’s a sad picture.

And the fig leaves were not just an attempt to make themselves presentable to each other; they were an attempt to make themselves presentable to God. You see, because of what had happened, they didn’t feel comfortable in God’s presence anymore—they felt they had something to hide. They had broken God’s commandment. They were guilty in his sight. And they were ashamed of themselves. These fig leaves represented their effort to somehow cover their sin—to make themselves fit to be in the presence of God.

All the way down through history, it has been the same. Man has been frantically trying to sew together fig leaves to cover his own guilt and sense of shame. The fig leaves take many forms. Performing religious rituals and duties. Rites of purification. Going on pilgrimages. Doing penance. Trying to live a moral life. Going to church.

But God says “There’s nothing you can do to cover your sin. There is only one covering for sin—and that is the blood of an innocent substitute—Jesus Christ the lamb of God.”

You notice later on in this chapter, in v. 21, that “the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” The fig leaves that Adam and Eve had made weren’t good enough, you see. God had another solution; and His solution meant that an innocent animal had to die—and it was probably a lamb. And this was in anticipation of the Lamb of God who would die to take away the sin of the world.

2. Sin makes us afraid of God:

Genesis 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

They had been accustomed to having fellowship with God. But now that fellowship was broken. And rather than running to the Lord when he came into the Garden, they ran away from him. They hid among the trees. They didn’t want to be with him, because God is holy and they were sinners.

How foolish it is to run from God. Francis Thompson wrote a poem called “The Hound of Heaven”.

I fled Him down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him down the arches of the years;

I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind: and in the midst of tears

I hid from Him

The Psalmist wrote…

Psalm 139:7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me”, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

What does God do with Adam and Eve at this point? Does he come into the Garden in anger and judgment? Does he expose them and blast them with his holiness? No. He comes calling gently for them.

Genesis 3:9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

This passage reveals God’s posture toward sinners. God gently seeks out Adam and Eve and He asks them four questions: Where are you? (v. 9) Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree? (v. 11) What is this you have done? (v. 13)

Why does God ask these questions? Doesn’t he already know the answers? Yes, he does, but he asks the questions in order to draw out Adam and Eve. He wants them to admit what they have done. He wants them to confess their sin, because it is only when we confess our sin—when we agree with God concerning our sin—that we can receive His help and forgiveness.

But how does Adam respond to these questions?

Genesis 3:10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” In other words, “You scared me, God, so I hid.”

Genesis 3:11 And God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

In other words, it’s Eve’s fault. And it’s your fault, God, for putting this woman here to make my life miserable.

Genesis 3:13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

In other words, “the devil made me do it. And it’s your fault, God, for letting the serpent into the garden in the first place.”

You see what they’re doing? They are blaming each other and they are ultimately blaming God for their sin. This is another one of the effects of sin. Sin makes us accuse others.

Have you ever noticed how quick we are to excuse ourselves and blame others for the way we are? We blame our parents, we blame our background, we blame our teachers, and our employers, we blame our environment, we blame our luck, and ultimately, we even blame God, because He’s the one who allowed all those things into our lives.

Sin makes us want to defend ourselves—to turn the searchlight away from ourselves and on to someone else. As sinners, we act like cornered animals.

But it is only when we come to our senses and realize that we are sinners because we have chosen to go our own way—we have chosen to turn our backs on God and run our own lives—that God can do anything with us and for us.

As sinners, we ought to be running toward God, not away from him. But our sin makes us want to run away from him.

Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, and they both blamed God, but ultimately, they both confessed. In the end, they both admitted “Yes, I ate the forbidden fruit. I sinned.”

When they reached that point, that’s when God could do something for them. And it’s the same throughout the Bible. When Jacob reached that point, God could do something for him. When David reached that point, God could do something for him. When Peter and Paul reached that point, God could do something for them.

I wonder this morning, have you ever reached that point? Have you ever come to the place where you’ve finally been willing to admit “I’m a sinner. Plain and simple. No excuses. No rationalizations. No blaming other people or circumstances for why I am the way I am. I’m a sinner because I’ve gone my own way. I have turned my back on God.”

Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Forgiveness begins with confession.