Eve: The First Temptation
15 Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 16 For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), 1 Jn 2:15–17.
Good Morning! This morning we are going to continue with our Study of Bible Characters and we are going to look at the briefly at the character of Eve. Eve was the very first woman ever to live and walk the face of the Earth. She was made out of Adam to complete Adam because God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone. He needed a companion, a help meet.
21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 22 Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 And the man said:
This one, at last, is bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called “woman,”
for she was taken from man.
24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Ge 2:21–24.
Also this morning we are going to continue looking at the topic of Temptation. Last week we looked how to resist Temptation. We learned, to expect Temptation, to see it for what it is, avoid it if possible, resist it when it finds you anyway, and be quick to flee, quick to run from the grip of Temptation. Lastly, we learned that it is ok to not be the popular kid. Doing right brings ridicule more than it brings accolades and awards.
This morning we are going to look at the origin of Temptation. And we are going to see how it works. Let us first look at our text in Genesis.
3 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Ge 3:1–6.
The first character in our story today is actually the Adversary himself. Satan. The Enemy. The one who would love nothing better than to see each and every one of us fall and fail to live the life God has designed for us. His reason for existing is to attempt to thwart God’s plan, to corrupt his creation, and to soil God’s people. So it is natural to expect to see Him show up to try to cause trouble at the beginning of time.
We find our other two characters in our story right where they should be.
8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed. 9 The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Ge 2:8–9.
We find Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The most perfect place if there ever has been a perfect place. Beautiful. The perfect environment. The perfect Temperature. Fruit trees all around. Lush grass to lay in. No bugs! No Pests! No mosquitos or ticks! No Thorns. Everything is perfect! Can you imagine for second what that must have looked like? Imagine in your mind the most perfect peaceful scene in a lush tranquil garden. What does it look like? You know what? Whatever you are imagining is insufficient. This Garden was made and designed by God himself for the prize of His creation. Everything that Adam and Eve could ever possibly need to be healthy and happy were in this garden. And they were given some instructions.
15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Ge 2:15–17.
Pretty easy instructions. Look after the garden. Eat anything I want. One exception, don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Got it! Will surely Die Got it.
Sound simple doesn’t it! Oh, I wish it had of been. If Stan had not been successful in tempting Eve, we would still be in that Garden! But the First Temptation did occur and out story takes a darker turn.
It is in this part of the text that I want to stop and examine exactly what is happing. I also want to compare this part of our text with the text that I opened up with this morning in I John 2.
Temptation: The stage is set.
First, we have the Tempter – Satan the Adversary, the Serpent
Second, we have the Item to be to be tempted with – The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and Evil
Third, we have the Tempted -- Eve
Temptation always comes in subtle stages and targets different areas of our physical and spiritual lives. This temptation is no different. As we read through this temptation again, I want to stop and pause as I show you how the Serpent is targeting specific things. These specific things are important to observe because of two reasons. 1) We are susceptible to the same areas and 2) Satan has not changed his play book! He does the same thing today.
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”
See what the Serpent did there? He targeted God’s Word. “Did God really Say?” This is His number #1 go to trick. He loves to use this trick. He uses it every single moment of every single day in this world that we live it. “Did God really Say?” “You don’t believe that what God said is true do you?” “Did God really mean that?” “Well obviously God was speaking in Metaphor right?” “Well God meant that for Those people, Not us modern people right?” “Did God really say that sex outside of marriage is wrong?” “Did God really Create the World in 6 days?” “Did God really say that drunkenness is wrong?” “Did God really say that Homosexuality is wrong?”
I could go on and on and on….. Satan loves to challenge God’s Word and Cause us to doubt it. Next week we are going to look at this tactic in detail and also look in detail on how to combat it. For this week however, let’s just say, “Trust God’s Word!” A great way to avoid confusion and to turn away the tempter is to Trust God’s Word. If it says something is bad and that it is wrong and that you should stay away from it. Trust God’s Word! Stay away from it!
Not only should you trust God’s Word, but you should actually Know God’s Word! Eve makes a serious blunder in our next verse.
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
See what she did? She added to God’s Word. She misquoted it. She exaggerated it! Ever done that? Ever hear someone start quoting Scripture only to realize that it is not Scripture that they are quoting but Benjamin Franklin instead!
God said, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
Eve Said, “3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
She added the touching it part! She was falling right into Satan’s trap. She was making God to seem stricter than He really is. She is adding to the Law. I have always wondered if this was Adams fault. I don’t want to be guilty of the same thing and add to Scripture. But the text literally says that Adam was given these instructions. Could it be that when he relayed them to Eve that he added the touch part? Could it have been out of kindness and care? “I don’t want Eve to get hurt or worse die! So, I will tell her to not even touch it?”
The problem with adding to God’s law is that it is no longer God’s law! Saying that you can even touch it takes the focus off of not eating it, which is what God said not to do!
This is where Satan sets the hook. This is where he springs the trap.
He says, “4 “No! You will not die,”
The next tool that Satan will want to use to tempt you will always be to Lie directly to you. He is great at twisting God’s Word. He is great at getting people to add to God’s Word. But he is best at outright bold faced lying!
Jesus said this about Pharisees
44 You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Jn 8:44.
The Father of lies! In other words, he invented lying! And we just read the very first one. “5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Listen to how crafty he is with this lie. 1)You will not die. 2)God is hiding and keeping good things from you. 3)If you eat of it, you will be come just like God!
Know God’s Word, Trust God’s Word and you will be able to see a lie when told one. You will be able to recognize these tricks of Satan.
Eve however, did not. She fell for it. Watch the process as she is snared by temptation and falls into sin.
6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
1. She saw it was good or food; that it was delightful to look at; and that it was desirable to obtain wisdom. (Become like God)
2. She ate it!
3. She gave it to Adam to eat as well.
Now, lets take a look back at I John.
15 Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 16 For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.
Specifically Verse 16. Things that belong to this world; Sinful things, things that will tear you down and away from a relationship with God, can be categorized in three ways. John gives us these three ways. Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the eyes, and the Pride of Life.
I would like to submit to you that all of Satan’s attacks, all of his attempts at temptation come at you using these same three lures. He used them on Eve. He used them on Joseph. We will see next week, he even attempted to use them on Jesus. He as the most boring playbook. He uses the same three plays everytime. Do you know why? Because they work. Why change what works right?
Let look at them.
Lust of the Flesh – Something that satisfies the a natural fleshy desire. Sex, hunger, comfort, companionship, happiness. Eve said, “that the tree was good for food”
Lust of the Eye – Something that attracts our attention, so much so that we just have to have it. We could call this coveting. Having to have something that we currently don’t have, just because we like the way it looks and because, well, we don’t have it and we want it! Eve said, the fruit was “delightful to look at.”
Pride of Life – The belief that we really do deserve the best in life. That we are number one. That we are indeed, as smart as, as gifted as, as wise as God himself. Eve said, “that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom” However, she meant to say, “when I eat it MY eyes will be opened and I will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
That is it! That is his one two three punch! He attacks the same way every single time. If he can appeal to one, two, or all three of these areas of your life and get you sniffing, he will get you. You will bite and he will set the hook and you will fall just as Eve fell.
Next week we are going to look at how to avoid these traps. How to do battle with the Serpent and win. But for now, as we are out of time, lets just look at why we should do battle and why we should be wary and on the look out for these kinds of Traps in our own lives.
Again, I John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 16 For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.
John is warning us to keep our eyes upward. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love God’s Word. Despise the things of this World. The things that attract your flesh, your covetous eyes, and your pride, avoid them. They are not of God, they are from the Adversary. This world is temporary. Those things will be here and satisfy for only a moment, then they will be gone, leaving destruction and pain in their wake. But if we seek God and His Kingdom, those thing will never pass away. Those things will last for all eternity. That sounds like a good investment.
31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God w and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Mt 6:31–33.
