Genesis 3:1-6 - The Fall and Satan's Method

Tom Shrader provides an introduction to Genesis 3, focusing on Satan's appearance as the serpent and his method of temptation. He explains how this chapter provides the ultimate explanation for human suffering, sin, and the human condition, while also giving background on Satan's nature and fall from heaven.

“When you understand Genesis chapter three, not just Scripture, but for sure Scripture opens up, but all of a sudden your understanding of the world changes.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Genesis

Recorded: November 21, 2002

Duration: 42 min

Themes: temptation, sin, suffering, evil, deception, rebellion, fall, serpent, questioning suffering, struggling with doubt, new believer, seeking answers, facing temptation, understanding evil, wrestling with faith, exploring christianity

Scripture: Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:31, Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3:1-6, John 8:44, 1 Peter 5:8, 1 John 3:8, Ezekiel 28:11-15, Isaiah 14:12-14, Romans 5:12, Luke 3:38

Theological Themes: hamartiology, sin nature, satanology, demonic warfare, theodicy, suffering origin, biblical worldview, genesis interpretation

Full Transcript

How old are you? Let me tell you what happened last week. It was last Thursday, a week ago today. I went to Borders and I was buying a book. There's a new Reagan book that's out called Reagan's Ward. Really an interesting book. I'm probably about a third of the way through it. It would be a great Christmas gift for somebody who's thinking. So you all probably don't know anybody you could give the book to. Anyway, it's really a good book.

So I'm checking out and I go up and there's a young lady there and she seems uncomfortable. I give her the thing and she said, "Can I ask you something?" I said, "Yes." She said, "Today is Senior Appreciation Day at Borders Books and Music. You get 20% off your purchase if you're a senior." I said, "Okay." I'm making her ask. She said, "Well, are you 60?" I said, "No, honey, I'm 52." She said, "Oh, I'm so embarrassed." I said, "Well, don't be embarrassed. It's no big deal." She apologized profusely. I walked away and she said to the guy next to her, "I'm not asking anybody that question anymore today." I've talked to three or four guys who've gone through the same thing at Borders. So they must have had them all staffed up for it last week.

Our Study of Genesis 3

At the request of someone in one of the studies, we're going to take a little detour here and not start a new series. We've got this week, then three weeks before Christmas. So we're going to take a little time and look this week and then two weeks from today at Genesis chapter three. Somebody asked to go back because we keep mentioning it. We haven't talked about it in a long time.

I used to have somewhere a boatload of notes on Genesis chapter three. I have no idea where they are. So I ended up having to go back and start over again, which is probably better anyway. We're going to look at Genesis chapter three. Not much of it today. We may get out a little bit early because I don't want to get too far into it. We'll finish it up in two weeks and then do two weeks in preparation for Christmas.

I would say to you, if you've got somebody—and this is the time of the year when often you have people who are looking for the meaning of Christmas and all that stuff that goes with that and trying to figure out life—this is a week to invite them to join us because it will be stuff that will be evangelistic in its nature, and it should be a great time for them. If you attend a church that is not accustomed to study verse by verse, we want to expose you to this kind of teaching.

The Importance of Genesis 3

Of this chapter, Ray Steadman writes this: "We come to Genesis three with a heightened sense of anticipation. In many ways, this is the most important piece of information ever conveyed to man. Here is the ultimate explanation for the tension this morning among the nations of the world. Here we have the answer to the eternal why that arises in our hearts in times of tragedy or sorrow. Over a hundred centuries of human heartache, misery, torture, blood, sweat, and tears. Here's the reason for the powerful fascination that drugs hold for young people today. For the passion of power and the lure of wealth and enticement of forbidden sex to young and old alike. Here is the only reasonable answer for the existence of these things in this world."

I love this chapter. The reason is very simple. When you understand Genesis chapter three, not just Scripture—but for sure Scripture opens up—but all of a sudden your understanding of the world changes. Genesis chapter three explains the human condition.

It is not at all unusual for me to have somebody say, "Why would..." and then it doesn't even matter what comes after it. Ultimately, when we're trying to figure out why do babies die and why is there suffering and why do good people lose jobs and why do companies go broke and people get hurt and why is there suffering and pain and hardship? Why do spouses leave? Why do kids rebel? Why does this happen? The ultimate reason is Genesis chapter three. It's sin. Now that's going to work itself out in a specific sense in different ways. When we get a hold of this chapter right here, we begin to understand the human condition.

We're going to spend a lot of time here in setup this morning and a little bit of time in the text. We're going to be introduced today to Satan as He appears here in Genesis chapter three.

The Bridge Between Chapters

Just a couple of general observations. If you look at Genesis chapter two, the last verse, it says this: "The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." So here's what you have at the end of Genesis chapter two. You have innocence and peace and harmony, unity, fellowship.

When you get to Genesis chapter four, you have Cain and Abel and within just a few verses you have murder, strife, guilt, anger, hatred, separation. So you've got chapter two ending with peace. Chapter four begins with guilt and war. If you don't have Genesis chapter three, all of a sudden you're asking, "What in the world happened here? How did we go from both were naked and unashamed and innocent to now we've got murder and all of this guilt?" Genesis chapter three explains it.

Genesis chapter three also explains the profound truth that Paul writes about in Romans five. Paul writes this: "Just as through one man, Adam, sin entered the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all men have sinned." Genesis chapter three provides the answer to that.

There's something else about Genesis chapter three. It's not explicit, but it's implicit and gets involved in every discussion.

I've ever had about this chapter is, do you really buy this Adam and Eve thing? Ultimately, Genesis three really forces us into some sort of a discussion on the creation of the world and whether this book is a book of fables, a book of stories that are written for simple-minded ancient people who aren't nearly as bright and sharp as you are and they just needed a little story, a myth to try to somehow explain the complexities of life to them.

Again, I know there are many who resist this, but I think creation is relatively easy to understand because Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." That's enough. I've had people say, "Oh, that's so simplistic and what do you mean that's enough? You've got to explain more." Okay, I'll explain more in that context. The Scripture doesn't struggle. The Scripture begins with the assumption that God is real. In the beginning, God doesn't talk about where He was, what's going on. He created it. That's how it started.

The Creation Debate

As you well know, these debates continue to rage on between creationism and evolution and creation, evolution and all that goes with it. Any account other than the Bible account, we reject. Either this word is true or it isn't.

As you well know, science, as it begins to apply Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, and it takes minds way greater than mine, I wouldn't pretend to be able to do this, but as you take scientists and they look at Genesis 1 and 2, they will come again and again and again and again to the fact that it's true. We quote Dr. Hugh Ross all the time, although I would disagree with Hugh because he would believe in the old earth. He would say the earth is millions and millions of years old, and we would say, no, it's about 10,000 years old, something like that. But Hugh at least would go and say, this is the process, this is the sequence that's absolutely critical for creation to take place.

There are all sorts of problems that come into play there, but you see that. That's what I want us to see. Although we're looking at Genesis chapter 3, and I want to apply it to your life and mine even bigger, perhaps, is what's at stake is the accuracy of Scripture and the story of creation, and they all fold together.

The Critical Importance of Genesis 3

One other author writes this, and then enough background, and we'll jump into chapter 3 verse 1: "Remove this chapter from the Bible and the rest of it is absolutely incredible. Ignore the teaching of this chapter in history and the story of humanity becomes impossible either to understand or to explain."

The most striking thing, and I hope you get this, the most striking thing about this chapter is we find ourselves. I was just with a lady yesterday whose husband of three months has decided to leave. He needs to go and to find himself. Who is he? Where you want to find out who you really are, you want to understand who you really are, you don't need to go to the Boulders to do that. You don't need to go to Vail to do that. You don't need to go up to Sedona and think about your yin and your yang. You don't need to go to Maui.

Here's where you find yourself: Genesis chapter 3. Here's what this author writes. So good. You can't read through this story without feeling that you've lived it yourself because of course you have. This is the account of the temptation and the fall and it's reproduced in our lives many times a day. We have all heard the voice of the tempter. We have all felt the drawing of sin. We know the pangs of guilt that follows.

That is why many have called this story a myth in the sense that it's a timeless truth. Perhaps that word applies, but there are other implications in the term myth which make it unsuitable. It's because it is timeless in the sense that it is always happening to mankind, but it is timeless only because it's also a fact. It actually did occur. It happens continually because it did once happen to our original parents and thus we, their children, cannot escape it.

In that sense there is no chapter in the Bible that's more up-to-date, more pertinent to our situation than Genesis chapter 3. And again there's an inference in there. You go back and you meet your original parents. If you look, and we won't, in Luke chapter 3 Luke gives us the genealogy of Christ beginning with Jesus and then tracing it all the way back and he concludes, I believe, I didn't write it down, I believe it's verse 38, he concludes in verse 38 tracing this genealogy all the way back to "Adam, son of God."

So we are coming from the perspective right away that we believe Adam is a real man and that this is a real story.

The Serpent: First Character in the Drama

Here we go. If you got your Bibles, open those babies to Genesis chapter 3 and we'll start to work our way through these first five or six chapters, something like that today. We aren't going to get very far before we take another little pause here because we meet the first character in the story.

It's so interesting when we think of the fall, we talk about Adam and Eve, yet look at the first character we meet, chapter 3 verse 1: "Now the serpent." Now the serpent was more crafty. I'm reading from the New American Standard. James, I think, says more subtle. The original word has with it the idea of the shining one or the beautiful one.

Let me just read you verse 1: "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God has made. And he said to the woman, indeed has God said, you shall not eat from any tree in the garden?"

Here's what I want you to see. Along comes the serpent and Eve doesn't run. Eve isn't repulsed by him. Eve doesn't seem to even have any trepidation about engaging in a discussion. Verse 2 says, "And the woman said to the serpent..." He is not a repulsive figure but in fact an attractive figure. It's as though she's opening to listen to what he's got to say, thinking perhaps maybe this is even a messenger from God, perhaps. Who knows?

I want you to see that. We think of this serpent and the first thing we do...

Satan's Three Manifestations

When we're introduced in Scripture to Satan, we find him mentioned in one of three ways: the subtle serpent (that's right here in Genesis 3), the angel of light, and the roaring lion.

I'm going to take five or ten minutes and talk a little bit about Satan. The reason is we have a hard time getting an accurate view of him. I have people all the time who tell me they're convinced Satan is attacking them. You've got to understand something: there's seven billion of us and one Satan. He's not God. He's not omnipresent. I doubt that you've ever been attacked by Satan—that's my call. Maybe a demon, but most likely just your own selfish flesh is enough.

What Scripture Tells Us About Satan

In John chapter 8, verse 44, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and He says, "You belong to your father the devil. You want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to truth, for there is no truth in him."

When we think about mankind, Jesus gives us a little insight here. There's a myth running around that we're all children of God, that we're all part of this universal fatherhood of God and this universal brotherhood of man. Jesus makes a distinction. He says to these guys, "You are of your father the devil." We are not all children of God. You're either for Him or against Him. Not everyone in this world is a child of God. That's the point that He makes.

In 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8, Peter writes this: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour."

Just with those two passages, we start to get a little more accurate view of Satan. He is a murderer. He is a liar. He is a roaring lion and his desire is to destroy. He hates righteousness.

Two Dangerous Extremes

Here's what I've discovered, and you may be the exception: most of us have a hard time getting our arms around an accurate view of Satan. We go from one extreme to the other.

We've got one extreme that sees him everywhere. "Satan made me do it. Satan caused this. Satan was behind this." We've got the other extreme that's as though he doesn't exist. I've shared with you before—don't hold me to the exact number—but something like 75% of born-again Christians do not believe Satan is real.

There's one extreme. What an advantage that is. Satan, all of a sudden, has a free reign. It doesn't even occur to you that Satan would be working in your life or tempting you, because you don't even think he exists, and that is a huge mistake.

Equally dangerous, I think, is to go the other extreme and see him behind everything. He gets responsibility for all things.

Real-Life Examples of Misattributing Satan's Work

I've shared these two illustrations with you before. I was invited one night to speak at a church, and I go in, and it's a little bit of a loose church for me, but I'm there. I get up to speak, and the sound is all messed up—it's echoing, and it's not working. The guy comes up and says, "Hey, Brother Tom must have a powerful message tonight, because Satan—look at what he's doing. Satan's trying to..."

No, you bought really cheap equipment, and when you buy cheap equipment, it doesn't work. You bought junk. Plug the thing in. It'll work. Satan doesn't have to get in there.

Here's another one: One night, I'm watching Christian television. A guy comes on—I won't identify him, but I'll give you his initials, Oral Roberts. He comes on one night, and this is years ago now. Paul and Jan are there, and of course, they're happy to have Oral there. They say, "What's new? What's happening?"

He said, "Satan really got me today. What happened?" This is what he said—true story. "I'm playing with my grandkids, and I got on the bike, and I started riding the bike, and I'm having fun. I haven't ridden a bike in a long time. I'm riding along, and all of a sudden, I realize that it's not like my old bike, where you push backwards on the pedals and the brakes come on, but there's brakes up in the handles, and I'm not sure how to stop it. I'm riding and coming to a hill. Now, I'm going down this hill faster and faster and faster, and I really don't know how to do this. I don't know how to get this stopped, and all of a sudden, there's cars going the other way, and I'm coming to this intersection. I realize all I can do is kind of slow it down the best I can and just jump off into the grass. Satan is really out to get me."

No, you're stupid. You got on a bike you don't know how to stop. Satan didn't do anything there. He doesn't have to. But you see how we do this? We either give Satan all this credit, like he's out there working all this time on little old us, or we've got him over here where he doesn't exist.

Finding the Biblical Balance

All I'm saying is, maybe we could get an accurate view. I think Martin Luther had an accurate view. He said this of Satan: "He has no equal on earth. He's bigger than you. He's stronger than you. He's more powerful than you on your own, but now, when the Holy Spirit indwells you...greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world." Therein lies the struggle. You see that? Therein lies the tension.

God's Original Assessment of Creation

Let me give you just a little bit more about Satan. Look at Genesis chapter 1, because Genesis chapter 1 ends with a great benediction. Genesis chapter 1 verse 31: "And God saw that all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day."

In Genesis chapter 1 verse 31, God looks around at all creation, and He says...

All creation is very good. By Genesis chapter 3, we have Satan. What's happened? Well, obviously, Satan has fallen. He is a beautiful creature. Let me just read to you from Ezekiel chapter 28 verse 11. In verse 12: "You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you," and then he lays these out. "The settings and the mountings were made of gold. On the day you were created, they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for I so ordained you, and you were on the holy mount of God, and you walked among fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till wickedness was found in you."

Remember what we said? That word "crafty" there means "shining ones," and literally he was.

Satan's Fall and Motive

What was Satan's problem? What was the wickedness that was found in Satan? Let me give it to you from Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12. Isaiah writes: "You have fallen from heaven, O morning star." It's the very same phrase that Jesus uses to speak about Satan, recorded for us in Luke chapter 10. "You have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn. You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations. You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.'"

There is Satan's motive. Did you hear it? Five times in two verses, here's the phrase: "I will. I will. I will. I will. I will." I'll take you on God. I want my way, not your way. What becomes the motive behind the fall of Satan becomes really what's the motive in our lives each and every time we sin.

Satan falls. He takes angels with him, and now he begins to attack mankind.

God's Response and Christmas

God does not simply stand by, though. First John chapter 3 and verse 8, John writes this: "He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the work of the devil." See how perfect that leads into Christmas? The reason the Son of God appeared—who's that? Jesus. Why did Jesus come to this earth?

You have so many spiritualists running around today who say Jesus is a great teacher, Jesus is a role model, Jesus is this, Jesus is that. Jesus came to earth to destroy the works of the devil, to break the bondage of sin. That's what Christmas is all about. When you get Pat McMahon and all these other guys, they're going to run around—they do it every year—try to figure out the meaning of Christmas, and "Christmas is about giving, giving." No, it isn't. Christmas is about receiving. It's about receiving the Son of God into the world and embracing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. There's Christmas right there. The rest of this stuff, that's just good for the economy. The reason for Christmas is that story right there.

Satan's Deceptive Appearances

When we see Satan, and now we're done with this little discussion—the long introduction here—when we're done with this little discussion, we see Satan as subtle serpent, that's what we see here, or a roaring lion, or an angel of light. I believe he's very powerfully using the angel of light argument in our context here. We've got lots of spiritual people, got spiritual people all over, got spiritual books all over. You can turn on some radio—one of the radio stations every Saturday night runs this thing where you've got all these people who are calling in, and they're spiritualists, and you'll get Wayne Dyer, and you'll get all these different guys calling in, and they had the guy who wrote "Conversations with God," and all this—just false teaching. It's all it is. It's heresy, false teaching. That is from the pit of hell, that stuff. Don't even jack around with it, just run away from it.

At the core of that though, is "we love you. We love you, man. We're loved." In fact, look at this. How good is that? Satan, and look, we're back to Genesis chapter 3, that's even what Satan uses here.

Satan's Method: Casting Doubt

I've got three things I want us to see over the next two weeks: notice how Satan works, notice man's reaction to sin, and see God's reaction to sin. The serpent "said to the woman, 'Indeed, has God said, "You shall not eat from any tree of the garden"?'" The very first thing Satan seems to do is want to cast doubt in Eve's mind. It's interesting, at least I find it interesting, that in Genesis chapter 3, verse 1, the final mark is a question mark. It's the first question mark in the Bible. "Did God really say that?"

There are all sorts of things that may be at play here. He really begins to cast doubt on God's love. "Did God really say that? Eve, why would God, if God loves you, why would He put any restrictions on you, Eve? I love you." That's how the cults come along. Almost all of these cults come in the door with "we love you." Your parents don't love you, your friends don't love you, the kids at school don't love you, guys at work—we love you. We accept you just the way you are. We love you. "You think God—is that what God's really saying to you here, Eve?" See how it begins to play? Follow you in your mind?

The Cosmic Killjoy Lie

I remember Larry so well in so many areas, but when Larry would talk about this, he would talk about how we see God as, in his phrases always, a cosmic killjoy. He's sitting in heaven looking for somebody who was having fun, so He could stop it—that's what Larry would say. That's how we get that. That's what this seems to say. He seems to say, "Why would God say this? If God loved you, why would He put any restrictions on you?"

Well, we know that love demands restriction. If you love your kids, you put restrictions on them.

Satan's Deceptive Strategy Continues

She engages him in conversation, and here's a huge mistake. Paul says to Timothy, "flee immorality." When Joseph is confronted with Potiphar's wife, what does he do? He runs. There is nothing that says you're a wimp if you run. But Eve doesn't run. She doesn't flee. She hangs right in there and starts to dialogue with him.

Here's what she says in verse 2: "The woman said to the serpent, 'From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.'"

Now, it's not a big thing, I don't think, though some commentators make a huge point out of this—that what Eve says here is actually altering God's Word. What did God really tell them? Well, look back at chapter 2, verse 15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.'"

Very similar to what Eve said, but you see a change, don't you? What did Eve add in there? "Touch it." So the Word comes, but now why would she say that?

Did Eve Add to God's Word?

Let me give you a couple of possibilities. One, it could have been that when Adam conveyed it to her, that's how he conveyed it. Remember, when God gave this Word to Adam, Eve wasn't there yet. Could be. It could be she took it to its logical extension—it's really very hard to eat this thing without touching it. I mean, I can't see her bobbing up trying to eat it without touching it.

I don't know that it's a big point, although many people that I respect make a huge point out of this. They say here comes the temptation, here comes the doubt: what do we do? We begin to alter God's Word. I don't think that's what she's doing, but maybe. Certainly she responds and she gets it pretty accurately. The point here is, the day you eat it, the day you touch it, you're going to die.

Satan's Outright Lie

Now I said at the beginning, I wanted you to notice how Satan works. He's cast doubt in her mind. He's engaged her in some dialogue. Look at verse 4: "The serpent said to the woman, 'You surely will not die!'" She's opened herself for dialogue and she is now faced with an outright lie.

We can debate about whether Eve added to it, took away from it, or doubted—it doesn't matter. What we do know is this: both Eve and God said, "When you eat it, you're going to die." And the devil says, "You're not going to die." In fact, he says, "Let me tell you why God would do this to you."

Verse 5: "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Here's what's interesting—that's absolutely true! Verse 7 says that they took it and ate it, and both of them, their eyes were opened. Verse 22 says, "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.'"

Truth Wrapped Around Lies

See, no lie is going to stand up under the slightest bit of scrutiny unless it's wrapped in truth, unless you've got truth around it. You can't be a good liar unless you slide some truth in there. Otherwise, it's never going to go down. You've got to find some way to get some truth around it. And that's exactly what he does. He tells some truth, something that rings true.

Now, we've got the scene painted. I just want you to step back and watch what happens, and then in two weeks, we'll pick up right here.

The Three-Fold Temptation

Verse 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."

Now, we don't know a couple of things here. I would love to know what was the time duration from when Adam was created to this point. And I'd love to know how long it was from when Satan tempted her till she ate. I get the sense it wasn't very long. Satan now disappeared. He's done. He just dropped it in there and she's there.

Do you see a pattern here? Let me read it, and then you tell me if you see it: "She saw that the tree was good for food, it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise." Does that ring a bell anywhere? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. That's what she sees.

She looks at it and says, "Man, this thing is good. This looks good. It would be good for the flesh." Forget the long-term ramifications. Forget all that. "Pursue delayed gratification" was not a bumper sticker she was going to put on the back of her chariot. She's saying, "Look, I want it, and I want it now."

The Appeal to the Eyes

And it's a delight to the eyes—it's aesthetically pleasing. So often, that's what Satan uses to lure us in. Last night was a momentous moment in television. You might not know where I'm going because you might be thinking about The Bachelor—you had multiple bad choices. But I'm thinking about Victoria's Secret fashion show. You got Victoria's Secret on for an hour.

God was good—I wasn't home. And what is that? That is nothing but eye candy. Look, we're not out there trying to sell undergarments. We're selling sex. It's aesthetically pleasing. How often does Satan use that eye gate to lure us in to sin? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes...

Satan's Knowledge of Our Vulnerabilities

Satan knows where we're vulnerable, because that's where he was vulnerable. Remember the classic C.S. Lewis line? It was through pride that Lucifer became the devil. It's what we looked at. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I'll do this. That's what you and I do when we sin. It's our rebellious response to what God has said.

John MacArthur talked about this. He talks about parading in front of us what we possess to impress others. This whole thing of arrogance. What I want you to see is Satan's standard operating procedure. See how he drops this in? Now it seemed to me, if you know this is going on, you ought to be able to fight it.

The Subtlety of Satan's Method

That's how he does it. And it's subtle. And it starts with this some sort of a doubt, some sort of questioning. I've had guys say to me, it's interesting, you can take the biggest stiff in the world, and when it comes to sin, he's as creative as Walt Disney or Bill Gates. He can come up with the most creative ways to sin. You can take the biggest stone in the world, who can't think outside of this box in a million years, but when it comes to sin, this guy has imagination that's a lie. And ways to rationalize.

Listen, God would not give me these desires if He didn't want me to act on them. Right? God made me hungry, and He wants me to satisfy with food. God's given me this sexual desire. He wouldn't give it to me if He didn't want me to satisfy it. It's the same argument. Would God really? The same argument, see? Same argument that Satan used. Would God really say that? Why would God give you a passion for that fruit? And now, what kind of a God is that anyway? See how that works?

The Setting of Temptation

Now, Satan drops this fruit in. We've been very cautious to point out we can't say apple. Fruit. Now, for a long time in my little mind, because I wasn't raised in an environment where we studied the Bible, though I knew this story, I had a picture that here was this barren plain with this one tree on it, with this one piece of fruit, and God said, keep your hands off that fruit.

That's not it. You're in paradise. Trees and options all over the joint. But there's one tree in the middle. That one right there. And the minute He said that one right there, all of a sudden there was a lure to that.

The Psychology of Prohibition

I did it the other day. I'm embarrassed to say it. I did it again. I was at Fashion Square. I love Fashion Square. I'm there the other day. They were painting this door, and it said wet paint, and I absolutely did. I went, yep, there it is. It's wet paint. How am I going to get this off of me? How stupid is this? How many times do you need to see it?

The minute it says don't, we do. And there's the process. Satan drops this in, and then there's no record that it's gone. And now the mind game begins. Wouldn't you love to climb in her mind? We got an outline there. She looks at it, and she sees it's good. She starts to entertain the thought, I wonder what it would be like.

A Modern Example of Satan's Method

Guys do this all the time with gals. All the time with gals. And it always starts so innocent. Oh, I'm not really, I'm not really interested. I'd never, I'd never, I'm married. I'm happily married. I'd never go out, but we got this new secretary. And she's so sweet, and she's all alone down here from Bemidji. So the sharks are in the water at this point.

So then it starts with that innocent, hey, are you okay? What's it like to get moved in? Is there anything I can do to help or anything? You want to have, it's about break time, you want to have a Coke or a cup of coffee or something? Then there's that little dialogue that takes place.

And then he'll say, hey thanks for that. That's so important. So hard for me because the guys, I can't talk to my guy, the guys like that because they think I'm kind of goofy or something. And my wife, we're growing apart, and I just, thanks for letting me talk to you, because it meant so much. And I don't get to open up like that very often. And she's saying, oh that's great, that's okay. And she calls her friend and says, He's so sensitive. He's so understanding.

Let me help you out. They don't come in that variety, that sensitive, understanding variety. The ones they made all paired up long ago and left. Here's what you got, ladies. You got a guy playing a game. He's Eve, trying to figure out. He can look at it and see that you're good to look at, and you may be desirable for food and maybe a little boastful pride of life. That's what it's doing. You see how that plays out? That's why Stedman writes that. It plays out in our life every day like that.

The Premeditation of Sin

I know guys that are now planning sins for six months from now, building it all around a trip, a business trip to here, or a vacation here, looking for anonymity when they can get away. That's how Satan works.

Satan's Confidence in His Method

So, hopefully, that's a good introduction that whets your appetite. We want to come back next week or two weeks now because of Thanksgiving. And what I want to do is to pick up right here, and then we'll finish the chapter, but I want to demonstrate for you how confident Satan is in this method. He is rock-solid confident in this method, so much so that at the greatest challenge of temptation in his life, that's the very method he goes back to again and again. So, we'll pick up right there in a couple of weeks.

Closing Prayer

Father, as we come to Thanksgiving, we pray that You would put in our heart a spirit of Thanksgiving, a desire to understand that all that we have that is good is from You. And, Father, we look around at all the material blessings, and most of us are going to be with friends or family members, and there's going to be lots of food and lots of stuff and lots of things

We're thankful for God. Let us thank You for two things. Obviously, for Your Son, Jesus Christ, who saved us. And, Father, we thank You, too, and we wouldn't do this naturally. We thank You for the hardship You've put in our life, and the difficulties, and the trials, and the tests, and the pain and the suffering, because so often it is through those things that we grow the best. It's through those experiences that You teach us the most.

Father, thank You for Genesis chapter 3 and the magnificent reminder that when we sin, we are saying, "Our will, not Your will, be done." God, we praise You. We worship You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Have a great holiday. We'll see you in a couple of weeks.