A Problem In Paradise

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>A Problem In Paradise</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id363.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Getting Reacquainted With the Almighty ("><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id366.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dealing With The Problem In Paradise"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"A Problem in Paradise," Genesis 3:1-10</B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, March 16, 2003am</B></div> <div>      We are all familiar with Murphy's law and some related truths:</div> <div> 1. If anything can go wrong, it will.</div> <div> 2. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.</div> <div> 3. Everything takes longer than you expect.</div> <div> 4. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will go wrong first will be the one that will do the most damage.</div> <div> 5. Left to themselves, all things go from bad to worse.</div> <div> 6. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.</div> <div> 7. If you see that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.</div> <div> 8. It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.</div> <div> 9. If everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.</div> <div>      The world was created ordered and peaceful, it was "very good" (1:31), there was intimacy among God and people, they were "naked and not ashamed" (2:25). But you know that something went wrong, because that is not the way the world is now. For one thing, we go around covered up (fortunately!). The original readers lived on this side of the Garden, just as we do. We see a world stained with trouble, with sin, with tragedy. If God created the world and called it good, why is it the way it is now (with war, death, disease and sickness, hatred, evil, unkindness, broken families, greed)? The right question is this: what happened? What went wrong?</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. The Downfall in the Place of Paradise (</B><A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+3:1-24" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U><B>Genesis 3:1-10</B></U></A><B>).</B></div> <div>      Brief chapter survey: Temptation, deception, and doubt (vss. 1-5), Disobedience (vss. 6), Shame and separation (vss. 7-10), Discovery and blame (God was looking for confession; vss. 11-13), Consequences (vss. 14-19), Covering (vss. 20-21), Removal from garden (vss. 22-24).</div> <div> A. Temptation (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+3:1-5" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>vss. 1-5</U></A>).</div> <div>      God wanted the humans he created to choose to love and obey him. Whatever choice they made would have a consequence.</div> <div>      The serpent was revered in the Ancient Near East world as a "life-giving goddess." Clearly, this is the Adversary of God, Satan ("Satan" means adversary). He is described elsewhere as a fallen angel. The Serpent accomplished three things:</div> <div> 1. The Serpent created doubt of God's word (vss. 1-3). The Serpent manipulated it, and the woman added to God's words, suggesting it was harsher than God actually said (note the order of the command in 2:16-17 - "free to eat, except . . ."). Satan magnified the one command to make God out to be harsh and negative. Eve followed this way of thinking.</div> <div> 2. The Serpent questioned the consequences for sin (vs. 4, "you will not <I>certainly</I> die"). He suggested, "It can't <I>really</I> be <I>that</I> bad for eating from this one little tree!"</div> <div> 3. The Serpent questioned God's character (vs. 5). He suggested that God's motives were less than honest, that he was trying to withhold something good from his created humans. He was also suggesting that it is immoral of God to prevent his creatures from being on the same level as himself, a divine being. Therefore Eve questioned whether or not God was good and filled with integrity. We see evil in the universe and ask, how could a loving God allow such a thing? Eve questioned the goodness of God, and it brought this evil into the world.</div> <div> B. Disobedience (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+3:6" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>vs. 6</U></A>).</div> <div>      God created the earth with order, and he has the right to bring order to life on earth by his laws. It is interesting that Eve assessed that which is evil and disobedient as "good." What God calls good is good. What humans call good may be good or may be bad. We must trust God's assessment, not our own. It was a seemingly "little" thing - but disobedience to God's clear command is never "little" (it leads to murder in ch. 4).</div> <div> C. Shame and Separation (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+3:7-10" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>vss. 7-10</U></A>).</div> <div>      When I stole a toy from the general store as a little child, I felt shame and I sought to cover up my crime. And I separated myself from my parents. I eventually got caught, which was a good learning experience. I know first hand, as do you, what shame and separation because of sin are all about. They had been <I>naked</I> and <I>not ashamed</I> (2:25). Now they were <I>ashamed</I> and <I>not naked</I> (covered). They hid from one another (with clothing) and from God.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. Defeating temptation begins with respect for God and his Word.</B></div> <div>      What Eve thought would be good turned out differently. That is the nature of temptation. We give in because we think we will be better off. Consider that Moses is emphasizing the importance of God's Law. God's commands have importance for saints of all ages. He gave us his will so that we who are his people would know how to live. But temptation to sin and do wrong is a universal problem. In fact, Jesus was "tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin" (Heb 4:15). One of the points of this chapter of the Bible is to teach the damage of sin, the damage of giving in to temptation and disobeying God's commands (think about the damage of drugs and alcohol, illicit sex, lying, cheating, stealing, anger and bitterness). Primarily, sin damages our relationships with God and with other people. Defeating temptation begins with respect for God and his Word. Such respect has three aspects.</div> <div> A. Trust God's character. He has your best interest in mind. You do not have to question his integrity. He loves you more than you will ever know, and he wants what is best for you.</div> <div> B. Believe God's word.</div> <div>      A medical doctor writes, "A decade ago, I stood alongside my 99 fellow freshmen as we were welcomed into the ranks of medicine in a `white coat ceremony.' Here, on our first day of med school, we were presented with the short white coats that proclaimed us part of the mystery and the discipline of medicine. During that ceremony, the dean said something that was repeated throughout my education: `half of what we teach you here is wrong -- unfortunately, we don't know which half.' At the time it was hard to believe. Within those walls, in the anatomy lab, in the lecture hall, you feel that you are being shown the secrets of how the body is put together, how it lives, how it works, how it dies. It has the feel of authority and certainty. Like math, it has a feeling of inevitability. But now, as a practicing doctor and teacher of residents, I relive that dean's aphorism daily. Medicine is, and always has been, an evolving discipline. And this necessarily means that what we know about medicine is constantly changing; that medicine is forever putting forth, and simultaneously upending, assumptions." (March 16, 2003 New York Times Magazine, "Medicine's Progress, One Setback at a Time," Lisa Sanders, M.D.) In a world of changing "truth," God offers the real thing. You can believe what God has said.</div> <div>      In John 17:17, Jesus prayed to the Father, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, "God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." He speaks the truth, and he keeps his word. Therefore, we must know his word. Notice how Eve didn't quite get it right when she quoted God's command in vs. 3. Be faithful to read and observe and correctly interpret God's word.</div> <div> C. Obey God's commands. </div> <div>      He has a right to set up boundaries for us. We were created for fellowship with God, but sin brings separation. It is not an issue of big sins vs. little sins. All sin damages our relationship with God, and often with other people. Put into practice the principles of God's word.</div> <bR> <div>       A young son of a missionary couple in Zaire was playing in the yard. Suddenly the voice of the boy's father rang out from the porch, "Philip, obey me instantly! Drop to your stomach!" Immediately the youngster did as his father commanded. "Now crawl toward me as fast as you can!" The boy obeyed. "Stand up and run to me!" Philip responded unquestioningly and ran to his father's arms. As the youngster turned to look at the tree by which he had been playing, he saw a large deadly snake hanging from one of the branches! His father's commands were not issued out of cruelty but for his well-being. God's commands to the his people  were given for the same reasons. He wants the absolute best us. (From Woodrow Kroll, Lessons on Living email devotional, 2-5-03.)</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2003, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>