Scripture Introduction
So, three men walk into a museum, one British, one French, one Russian. They stand together admiring a painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
The Brit says, “Look at their reserve, their calm. They must be British.”
“Nonsense,” the Frenchman interjects. “They are naked, and so beautiful. Clearly, they are French.”
The third man says, “Look! No clothes, no shelter, they have only an apple to eat, and they are being told this is paradise. They are Russian.”
Well, it is paradise, but not for long. For three months we have thought much about the wonders of creation. Now we must see why mankind was cast from our glorious garden, in the “Beginning of… Temptation.”
[Read Genesis 2.25-3.3. Pray.]
Introduction
Sister Gwen sent me a story this week about an old Cherokee Indian telling his grandson of the struggle within: “My son, the battle is between ‘two wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute, and then asked: “Which wolf wins?”
The grandfather replied: “The one you feed.”
That story does not tell us everything about our struggle with sin, but it illustrates the problem which the Apostle Paul described in Romans 7.21: “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” There is a battle within; but, there is more, is there not?
At Gettysburg, a general reported to Longstreet (the commanding officer) that he could not bring his men up again. Longstreet answered sarcastically, “Very well, never mind, then; just let them stay where they are. The enemy is going to advance, and that will spare you the trouble.” In addition to the sinful desires we own, the enemy without attacks.
That is why Charles Spurgeon, Daily Help: “We are never out of the reach of temptation. Both at home and abroad, we are liable to meet with allurements to evil. The morning opens with peril, and the shades of evening find us still in jeopardy. They whom God keeps are well-kept, but woe unto those who go forth into the world or even dare to walk around their own houses unarmed. Those who think themselves secure are more exposed to danger than any others.”
In the middle of paradise stood one prohibition. Surrounded by beauty unimaginable to our jaded eyes, and tastes so delicious that Kobe Beef and white truffles would be embarrassed to be plated with these foods, the hearts of Adam and Eve are drawn out to covet the one test of their trust. We call the process of rejecting God’s good wisdom in favor of false and destructive lies, “temptation.”
Adam and Eve did not resist. They gave in, and gave over their posterity to a bent toward rebellion.
’twas but a little drop of sin
We saw this morning enter in,
And lo, at eventide a world is drowned!” (John Keble).
“Drowned,” because once the soul tastes sin, it self-propagates. The centuries of misery and hatred and crime and war show what many seeds of evil resided inside that single fruit. This is ever the danger when we turn from God—we imagine a small dalliance will bring peace from temptation and pleasure sufficient to justify the price. But once we give in, the way out proves harder than we thought, the humility required greater, the consequences more terrifying. No wonder Paul warns: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1Corinthians 10.12). And the author of Hebrews reminds us: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3.12). As the hymn sings, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the one I love.” We are prone to wander, just not so prone to find our way back.
How do we “take heed” and “take care”? How do we resist the Devil’s temptations? How do we feed faith and starve the demon who would drive us to hell? Where do we find over temptation? I see four principles here:
1. We Resist Temptation When We Believe That Sin Brings Misery (Genesis 2.25)
Our first parents lived in perfect bliss: nothing to hide and no fear. The weather is ideal; they need no clothing to stay warm. The animals are friendly; they need no protection from attack. The ground is soft and pleasant, so nothing is necessary to ensure that their feet are not damaged. But these externals are minor compared to the significance of exposure without shame. They feel no humiliation, no guilt, no grief, no regrets. They have no secrets to hide, and no past to shame them. But soon “Satan gives an apple, and takes away this Paradise.”
I’m sure you have noticed that sin offers some pleasure. Like a fish caught on a line, the bait was tasty. The problem, of course, is the hook. Satan gives an apple, and takes away Paradise. So I must constantly preach to my soul that holiness is happiness.
I do not refer to that caricature of holiness which so many reject in the name of religion. God is not interested in the pharisaical smugness that grimaces to show how hard it works to be good. God is not pleased by a self-righteousness that feels better when looking down on others who fail to reach our level of perfection.
When the Bible describes the happiness of holiness, it gives as examples men like Moses: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11.24-25). Sin rewards, and Moses could taste and see and smell and hear and feel the pleasure of privilege. The people of God were slaves, poor, whipped, unwashed, and ill-treated in every way. The son of Pharaoh (on the other hand) was pampered, served, washed, obeyed, and bowed down to. Yet, “Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11.26).
Moses weighed the options: the passing pleasures of being son to Pharaoh, resulting in eternal misery, or a season of mistreatment, and the lasting reward of adoption into God’s family. Moses believed that to deny God in order to take his place with Egyptian culture was too great a cost.
Adam and Eve forgot the result. They looked at what temptation offered, but did not see what would be lost. Here is the first step for resisting: believe the cost of rebellion.
So, suppose you eye the MacBook Air which the gal beside you uses. You realize how much more work you could do with that laptop. Before you know it, you are at the Apple Online Store and realize that with free shipping it is only $1800. You begin to need that computer; soon you feel some resentment toward your parents because they have not already bought one for you. You wonder how you will convince them to purchase it. Mercifully, God brings to your memory the commandment not to covet. So what do you do?
Here is where Moses’ faith is required. You see yourself proudly pulling your Mac Air from your book bag, as gasps of jealousy escape fellow students. You may even enjoy feeling some self-pity, along with anger toward your parents. You stand in Eve’s footprints. Will you believe that misery results? Will you believe that your relationship with your parents will be hurt by continuing along this line of thinking? Will you accept that coveting creates a emptiness that cannot be filled by acquisition? Will you trust that such thoughts expand desire, but shrivel the soul? Will you believe that coveting hurts you?
It pleases; that you can feel. The pleasure in the bait is no less real when it hides a hook; but neither is the hook less painful because it is hidden. If you want to better resist temptation, then count the costs of rebellion. Consider not what the enemy offers, but what you will lose.
2. We Resist Temptation When We Respect the Power of the Evil One (Genesis 3.1a)
Whether Satan took over the body of a snake (a form of demonic possession), or used the shape of a serpent as convenient for his purposes, we do not know. We know these animals were shred and cunning, which seems to be a good trait prior to the fall. Jesus even uses this as a positive characteristic: he tells his disciples to “be wise as serpents” (Matthew 10.16). So for whatever reason, Satan comes to Eve as a serpent. From this, I conclude that God would have us recognize and respect the power and malevolence of the evil one.
That is not to say that the Biblical explanation for evil is the simplistic, “The devil made me do it.” Those who hope to excuse their own failings may “blame it on the devil,” but the Bible’s answer is more nuanced. We recognize the multi-faceted and complex origins and causes of evil. There is a psychological aspect to depravity: evil desires well up from within us. There is a sociological aspect to evil: people and structures outside of us sin against us and tempt us to sin. But there also a supernatural aspect of the malevolence in the universe: there are “cosmic powers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 6.12) which mitigate against all that is good and godly.
Let me be clear: if you do not want to resist temptation, there is no value in knowing Satan exists. But if God has given you the desire to progress in holiness and happiness, you must know your enemies.
Some people imagine that all evil is external and that temptation comes mainly from outside us. As a result, they prioritize outward acts of obedience: they wear certain clothes and prohibit certain music and generally shun practices which might contaminate. The Amish exemplify a form of this way of perceiving the world.
There can be value in some of those practices; but the enemy of our souls, the roaring lion seeking someone to devour, will not be covered by the right dress or by never dancing. We must fight a spiritual battle against a demonic being. We must put on God’s armor, and God must fight for us. Truth, gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God and prayer: these weapons alone are able to silence the whisperings of such a great foe.
3. We Resist Temptation When We Recognize Satan’s Devices (Genesis 3.1b)
Here is one particular (and frequent) means by which Satan tempts us to sin. He raises doubts about God’s character and word. “Did God actually say”— drips with taunt and accusation. “You must be kidding, Eve? He did not actually deprive you of this dainty, did he? How absurd, how limiting, how self-serving he is.”
There is a famous painting of Eve standing beside the tree with the serpent twisting around the trunk and pushing an apple into her hand with his body while he whispers into her ear. Satan assumes the shape of a snake, but it is not with his fangs that he attack, but with his falsehoods. Notice what he does not say. He does not say, “Wow, Eve, have you looked at this garden? This place is fantastic! What beautiful scenery, what delightful fruit, what wonders beyond imagination! Sure, you must not eat of one tree, and you may not know the reason, but what is such a small limitation in the midst of gluttonous pleasure?” Satan will not speak truth to you either.
No, Satan stirs in Eve self-pity; he casts doubt on God’s goodness; he denies the need for gratitude; he exaggerates the severity of the restriction; he deceives. Here is his primary tool: lies and false doctrines. “If God were good,” Satan says, “he would withhold nothing from you. But since he denies you the fruit of this tree, he must not love or trust you.”
From this example of Satan’s treachery, we could spend weeks arming ourselves for his attacks by considering his strategies and techniques. That must wait another day. For now, simply note well that Paul tells the Corinthians that there are certain things he does: “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs” (2Corinthians 2.11). If God gives us the desire to resist temptation, then we must be aware of the deceits and treachery that the Devil uses.
4. We Resist Temptation When We Honor God’s Truth (Genesis 3.2-3)
A great crack in Eve’s faith appears when she exaggerates God’s rule: “neither shall you touch it.” That seems minor, but it reveals much about the heart of rebellion. God said nothing about touching the fruit; but this type of criticism is a powerful ally in rationalizing behavior. When we overstate the severity of the law or the flaws in other people, we authorize feeling sorry for ourselves and set our feet on a downward path. Eve has not yet acted out her sinful desires, but she has entered into the temptation; she has accepted its spirit. The more unreasonable we make the prohibition seem, the better we feel about the sin.
How do we resist this temptation? We strive to be exact about God’s word.
This requires great care. We see clearly the denial of God’s truth in the many sins of our society. High divorce rates, promotion of sex outside of marriage, abortion, and state approved gambling to raise money—there are many ways in which our world not only ignores God’s truth, but also tramples it in the dust.
But that does not authorize us to go beyond God. We might, at first, applaud Eve: so scrupulous is she about the prohibition that she adds to it: “neither shall we touch it.” But adding our own rules dishonors God’s laws as surely as denying them. Let us take care of making ourselves wiser than God. It is God’s Word “stored up… in [your] heart, that delivers from sin” (Psalm 119.11), not my better ideas.
5. Conclusion
The air war over Bosnia in the late 1990s made famous the escape of Scott O’Grady. The downed American flier evaded capture for days in enemy territory until rescue helicopters found him. When the helicopter landed in a clearing near where O’Grady hid, there were two things he did not do.
First, he did not take on the enemy. He did not say, “With this team behind me I can face any foe.” Second, he did not relax in the brush until the rescue team to come to him. He did not say, “I wish that the pilot would have landed a little closer”; or “I can’t wait until they get over here.”
What did he do? Though exhausted from days without sleep, he ignored his fatigue, climbed through the bushes, ducked his head, and, with every ounce of energy, ran to the helicopter.
That illustrates well how God would have us fight temptation. Many Christians are confused about the relationship between our duty and God’s grace. If holiness is our duty, then can there be room for grace? If sanctification it by grace, then is there a place for duty?
Think about Scott O’Grady. There is a role from him—fighting to return to the helicopter. There is a role for God—rescuing the poor soldier. It is not Scott’s place to sit and wait, passive and uninvolved; neither is Scott’s job to face the enemy unafraid. He should be afraid; there is an army out there! And he must fight—to reach the means of escape.
Victory is not found by insisting that you can take on any foe. Victory comes when we rejoin God’s army, fighting the fight of faith to rest in his provisions, his way of escape, his power over Satan. That is why Bryan Chapell entitles one of the chapters in his book, “Fighting With All His Might.” Let there be no doubt, if Eve had fallen to her knees and cried to God for help, she would not have sinned. Her weakness was not first eating the apple, but speaking alone with Satan. Let us make it our aim, sisters and brothers, to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6.10). Then, and only then, will we be able to withstand in the evil day. Amen.
