(Genesis) - Part 5 — Zac Poonen

The Temptation in Genesis 3

Let's turn to Genesis and Chapter 3. We were considering in our last study how Satan drew Eve to this fruit that was on the tree. Of course, Eve made the mistake of going near it, but once she had gone near it, it was easier for Satan to take advantage of her.

We saw that in Genesis 3, verse 6, how the devil appealed to the lust of her flesh, it was good for food. The lust of her eyes, it was a delight to the eyes, and to the pride of life, desirable to make one wise.

We can look at the temptation also in another way. We know from 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23, that man is a Trinity, spirit, soul, and body. And the temptation came to all three parts of man, to his body, this attractive food, which God had said he was not to partake of, to his soul, to become wise, and that is a desire that man has, to have wisdom in an earthly sense, not divine wisdom.

This is the wisdom from beneath. And then to a temptation to the spirit, to become like God. So there was a temptation that came in this to body, soul, and spirit. And we see also that God allowed Eve to be tempted, God knew what was going on, and God is the one also who created that tree of knowledge of good and evil, and he was the one who had made it so attractive.

If, as we have often said, if that tree was ugly, smelly, full of thorns, then Eve would not have had any temptation in it. We can ask this question, if God wanted Adam and Eve not to eat of this tree, why didn't he make this tree ugly and smelly and covered with thorns and thistles so that they wouldn't go anywhere near it?

That is an important question to answer, because it relates to our daily life also. Because if it were like that, then there would have been no temptation, and then of course Adam and Eve could not have been holy either.

The temptation lay in the fact that the tree was so attractive, and probably had a very pleasant smell, that all one's physical senses were aroused by seeing that tree. Temptation is attractive, otherwise it's not a temptation.

You see, when it says that a man should not lust after a woman, it's very unlikely that any young man is tempted to lust after some 85-year-old stooped old lady with white hair, ugly-looking. There's no temptation there.

And to say that I did not lust after her, there is nothing so wonderful about that. We can ask, if God did not want man to fall in this area at all, all he had to do was to make all the women very unattractive and ugly and repulsive.

Or, if everybody got leprosy when they handled money, like Gazais, it'd be no problem to hate money either. But it is because all temptations are so attractive that we are tempted. And we need to see that temptation has to be attractive, otherwise there's no temptation.

And so God allows these many things to be attractive. But there, in that temptation, we can find whether we love God or not. If you turn to 2 Corinthians 11, we read what Paul says concerning this temptation, and we see something very important and interesting there.

2 Corinthians 11, he's speaking here about the bride and the harlot. He's speaking here about Jerusalem and Babylon. He's speaking about spiritual faithfulness as the bride, and spiritual adultery as the harlot.

He says, I'm jealous for you, verse 2, 2 Corinthians 11, 2, with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. And we see that Paul had a desire that this church in Corinth should one day be presented to Christ as a pure bride.

But he says, I'm afraid that you may not be in the bride. If, for example, Paul believed, like a lot of believers believe today, that once you're a believer, you're automatically in the bride. You don't have to do anything, you just sit down and cross your legs and twiddle your thumbs till the rapture comes.

If Paul believed that, what should he be afraid of? He says, but I'm afraid. He says, I want to present you as a pure virgin, to be the bride of Christ, but I'm afraid that when Jesus comes, you may not be there as the bride.

He believed that very few would be in the bride. Paul believed that. And he was afraid for these Corinthians that they may miss it. He says, and the way you will miss it, if at all you miss it, is the same way that Eve, he says there in verse 3, like the serpent deceived Eve.

By his cleverness, your mind can also be led astray, and this is how we miss being in the bride, from that simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. So, when we read this verse, we understand what happened to Eve.

What did Eve lose? What does it say in that verse? That simple, pure devotion to Christ, she lost it. And he says, the same thing can happen to you. So we see that the origin of this principle of the bride and the harlot begins right there in Genesis chapter 3.

That is where harlotry has begun already. When we talk about the bride and the harlot, this is not some advanced truth that we have suddenly discovered in these last days. If you have eyes to see it, you compare what we have just seen in 2 Corinthians 11 with Genesis 3.

It is there in Genesis 3. Only thing, it's a hidden thing. It's called a secret of lawlessness. Mystery of lawlessness. The secret of lawlessness. What does lawlessness mean? That means to have no law.

That phrase is found in 2 Thessalonians 2, the mystery of lawlessness. That means no law. That means I don't have to keep the commandments. But won't God punish you then? No. I have a word which says, thou shalt not surely die.

Yeah, I have believed in Christ. Thou shalt not surely die. And with that word from the devil, many believers indulge in lawlessness and cover themselves with a false grace. The origin of all that, that false grace, is way back there in Genesis 3.

You will not die. How can you die? That originated there, this false grace. And then if we have eyes to see, we can see very clearly how Paul was afraid that this false grace, which the devil preached to Eve, would be preached to the Corinthians.

And he goes on in 2 Corinthians 11 .4 to say, you will receive what? Another gospel. Which is not the gospel of the true grace of God, which delivers you from sin, but another grace which comforts you in your sin.

Not delivers you from sin, but comforts you in your sinful life. That is another grace. He says, I'm afraid that you fellows will receive another gospel. And then the devil would have succeeded with another Jesus, who doesn't seem to take sin so seriously.

Another spirit, which gives you excitement and tongues, but not holiness. Not the Holy Spirit. So all those things he speaks there in verse 4 are related to what we see back in Genesis 3. It is another gospel.

The gospel that God gave Adam was, you can eat anything in this garden, but don't eat this. But what the gospel that Satan gave was, there's no harm in eating this also. You will not die. That is another gospel.

Which takes away the law of God, so that a man can disobey God and still think that he's alright. And that's where the devil has deceived so many so-called believers, with this false gospel and the false grace.

And that's how the woman was deceived. And we saw there in Genesis 3 .6, she gave it to her husband, who was with her, and he also ate. And we saw in 1 Timothy 2, that Adam was not deceived. He knew what was going on.

And he disobeyed God, not because he was deceived like his wife. It's important to notice this distinction. The woman was deceived. She thought no harm will come. That's why Paul says, I do not allow a woman to teach, because she leads people astray.

It's not a woman's province to teach doctrine. But the man, he was not deceived. How did he fall into sin? Because he loved his wife so much, that he was even willing to disobey God in order to please his wife.

You think Adam was the only person like that? Since Adam's time, thousands and millions of husbands have disobeyed God in order to please their wives. So many, so many young men have got married to unconverted girls.

Disobedience to God's word, clear-cut to please their wives, to please this girl. It's amazing what power a woman has to draw a man. How Eve, the first woman created, must have been fantastically beautiful and attractive.

Fantastically beautiful and attractive. And Adam just fell like that. When she said, darling, eat this, he could not resist it. I'm afraid, my brethren, lest like Adam fell, some of you also may fall if you are not careful here.

And there we also have a warning of that it was the woman who enticed the man to sin. And even today, in many other ways, a woman can entice a man to sin. By the way she dresses, by the way she walks and does so many things, there is a power in the sexual area that a woman has to attract a man.

And that's alright for unconverted people. They have no light. They are in darkness. But once you become a Christian, once you become a disciple of Jesus Christ, and if you are a sister, you have to be extremely careful in this area.

To change your ways, to change your ways of looking and talking to men and conducting yourself and dressing yourself, it must have no connection with the way it was out in the world to attract a man in one way or the other.

They teach that out in the world. Unless you attract a man, how will you get a husband? That is for unbelievers. If you are an unbeliever, go ahead and do that. But if you are a believer, and you say the God who gave Eve a husband will give me a husband too, then you don't have to try those worldly methods that people out in the world try.

That is for atheists. For atheistic women, they can do that. You must attract. Otherwise, how will you ever find a husband? You will just live as an old maid. Yeah? If you are an atheist, please do that.

But if you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, live by faith that it is God who will give you the husband you need, and not by your trying to attract with gifts that God has given you for His glory, not for you to entice men to sin.

Because I believe with all my heart that if God judges a man for lusting after a woman, He must judge that woman also if she dressed in such a way or behaved in such a way that she enticed the man. And I believe her judgment will be more than the judgment of the man.

So we got to be very careful here, very careful in this area, not to entice people to sin. Because you know, this is also something which is very sad, that when we have sinned ourselves, like Eve had sinned herself, she wanted Adam also to sin, so that she could get some comfort.

False Comfort in Another Person's Sin

It's an amazing thing, that when we have fallen in some area, that we can get a comfort when we see another person also falling in the same area. Let's say, for example, you have got a violent temper, and you've not been able to get victory over it, and one day somewhere you hear of some great man of God who also loses his temper, and what do you get?

You get a strange comfort. In what? In your sin. That he also loses his temper. Oh, then it's alright. What have you got comfort in? In a false gospel? In sin? There you find that you have got your standards not from God's word, which says, put away all anger, but from some man.

It's an amazing thing. And that's why, you see, when you find someone writing a book, describing all their, there are lots of Christian biographies like that, describing all their faults, and how they fell, and how they fell, and so and so is supposed to be a great person, and he describes how he fell, and you say, oh, how honest, and you get a certain comfort in it, in your defeat.

Beware of books, even written by so-called believers, that give you a comfort in your defeat. You can think, ah, those books encourage me more than the preaching in the church. Why do they encourage you?

To find comfort in your defeat? Whereas the preaching in the church keeps challenging you to get out of that defeat. Think of that. Beware of that comfort that you get from the fall of another person into sin.

And that's a very subtle area. In fact, when Eve had sinned, she wanted Adam to sin. That is even worse, that when we have sinned, we want the other person to sin. For example, to think of a husband and wife, that's how it is here, Eve and Adam are husband and wife, wife and husband.

And say the wife has really lost her head and lost her temper and flared up, and she sees the husband sitting there patiently, not saying anything, quiet, meek, and that irritates her more that he's not sinning.

She'll feel a little happy if he also flares up and yells back at her, then she gets a comfort, ah, he also sinned. It's the same thing that Eve did. Now I have sinned, but my husband is holy here. And that irritates this wife, that the husband is holy.

Think of that. And see if it's not true to real life situations today. It happened, it began there. What a sinner, that you sin yourself and you want and you're longing, longing, longing, longing to see your partner also sin.

How much the devil must have got a hold of such a person to make that person not only sin herself, but to want, long for another person to sin. That is really to be gripped by the devil. When you sin and you see another saint, patient, humble yourself, humble yourself.

Say, Lord, I want to learn something from this person. Don't long that he also should sin. You see, there are many people in Christendom who know that we preach victory over sin. And they're against us because we preach victory over sin.

Many groups. And you know what many of them are waiting for? Shall I tell you? They're waiting to see us sin. Now tell me, who's waiting to see me sin? Is it God or the devil? Who is it? The devil. So these other people are also waiting to see me sin.

Whose agents are they? No doubt in my mind, they can't be led by the Holy Spirit, waiting to see somebody sin. Say, ah, now we got them. Think of that. There's only the devil who can get such delight when he sees somebody sin.

And there God allows that to expose that they are the agents of the devil there. And we can be also? If we are irritated with the holiness of someone, that we want to see him sin so that he comes a little more down to our third-rate level?

Very bad, very bad. Don't find comfort in these books that you find that tell you about somebody's defeated life and you think, oh, what honesty. There is a great danger there, I believe, particularly in our day.

And that can be another gospel. I would rather hear a word that challenges me to be like Jesus every day of my earthly life than to keep on hearing these comforting messages. Oh, it's alright. God loves you.

Because underneath that, you can hear another sound, you will not die, you will not die, you will not die. There's a comfort there, you will not die. But it is a false comfort. The word of God is, do not touch, do not eat that tree, eat of that tree.

I'd rather hear that. That's a hard word. Do not eat of that tree, do not eat of that tree, do not eat of that tree. And here is the comforting word, you shall not die, you shall not die, you shall not die.

Which would you rather listen to? God allows us to hear both voices, both type of messages, both type of books, both types of articles. And the question is, which do we respond to? If I find myself responding to this comfort and comfort, God may be allowing it to expose the fact that you have really got no interest in holiness at all.

You're only interested in comfort in your defeated state in sin. So let's learn something from this very important verse in the Old Testament, where the principle of the bride and the harlot is exposed.

Simple devotion to Christ means simple obedience to what God has said. That's all. No questions. And the opposite of that is to be led astray in a false comfort. That's what Paul was afraid of for the Corinthians.

He said, I'm afraid that instead of having the simple devotion to Christ, to simply obey God's word, you can be led into this false comfort, which is another gospel. And then we read in verse 7, their eyes, the eyes of both of them were opened.

Now that's what the devil told them in verse 5. Yeah, the eyes of both of them were open, but not in the way they expected. The devil said, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God. But you compare that verse 5 with verse 7.

It says the eyes of both of them were opened and they saw they were naked. That's quite a anticlimax to becoming like God. And all of a sudden my eyes are open. Instead of becoming like God, I just discovered I'm naked.

The devil must have just sat back there and had a big laugh at these two fools in the Garden of Eden. But what about all the other fools who have read all this and continue to be deceived by the devil through the years?

Think of that. Who don't realize that this other gospel of Satan is only meant to lead us away from God so that we never become a part of that pure virgin that is to be presented to Christ. Take it seriously, brothers and sisters.

Take it seriously. And let me repeat that, that when you come to the church, if you are looking more for a message of comfort in your sin rather than for a challenge to be delivered from your sin, I just want to inform you that you are on the wrong track.

You might as well face up to it. You are on the wrong track and probably your conversion is not thorough and proper. Your repentance is not proper. You need to hate sin a little more. Ask God to help you there, to be properly converted.

Very important. Then their eyes were opened and they saw their shame. That's always the result of sin. That's where man got a conscience. Till that point, Adam and Eve were innocent like babies. You know babies?

They can walk around naked and they don't feel any shame because they are not alert to that. They have no sense for that. Small babies are like that. Adam was like that. Adam was innocent. And those babies can't do anything wrong because their conscience is not developed.

Then, at this point, Adam suddenly got a conscience. Eve got a conscience. The knowledge of good and evil. God did not want man to live by. Do you know that conscience is sort of a second best that God wants man to live by?

We spoke about that earlier. Some people think conscience is a great thing. Conscience is a very good thing if I allow it to lead me higher and higher and higher and higher. But by itself, it's not the best.

When God created Adam, He didn't want him to live by conscience. He wanted him to live by the voice of the Holy Spirit. Constant dependence on God. But now that we have fallen and our forefather and mother ate of that tree, we have a conscience which is good.

But you know there are a lot of people who can even tell lies with a clear conscience. It doesn't disturb them. So we see that conscience is not a very faithful guy. A man says, for example, he takes a bribe and he says, my conscience doesn't trouble me.

He does something so blatantly wrong and he says, my conscience doesn't trouble me. Is that the voice of God? No, that is not the best guide. The word of God and the Holy Spirit are the guides. This is a sort of a second best.

It's meant to lead us to be faithful, to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. But those who don't have any Holy Spirit and who are not interested in listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit to protect them from gross moral evil, this conscience is there.

So that they don't end up just like the animals. And that's why you find out in the world also some so-called good people, they have a little conscience about certain things. And those Christians who don't have discernment, they say there are some good Hindus and some good Muslims and some good atheists.

It's obvious when a Christian speaks like that, they have no discernment on the Holy Spirit at all. They only know the level of conscience. But conscience is there in all human beings. But that's not Christianity.

Christianity is not just to live by your conscience. It's much more than that. It's to receive the Holy Spirit. Those who are led by the Holy Spirit are the sons of God, not those who are just led by their conscience.

But of course, conscience is important, that if I don't even listen to my conscience, I can never be led by the Holy Spirit, which is a much higher level. So their eyes were opened and we can say the eyes are that conscience.

Jesus said the light of the body is the eye. That is the conscience. Luke 11 .34. And if your eye is clear, that means your conscience is clear, your whole body can be full of light. You see, the purpose of that conscience is that if I live according to my conscience, God's light can come and flood my whole being and give me more light.

My whole body can be full of light, beyond what my conscience can tell me. So it's important to go according to our conscience, but to allow it to lead us to a life in the Holy Spirit of obedience to the word of God.

Very important. And so we see here, their eyes were opened and they were ashamed and they had to hide from one another, it says. That's the thing, that's why they sowed fig leaves together. See, what were they sowing fig leaves for?

What are they putting on clothes for? There were no other human beings in Eden, only the animals. They were not bothered about the animals. Who were they trying to cover themselves from? From each other.

And that's a very interesting thing, that when sin comes, even between a husband and wife, who, strictly speaking, should have no shame in being known as they are, there can come a desire to cover up something, to hide something.

Sin has come. And there are fig leaves a little more distant, a little hiding of one another from, oneself from each other, in husband-wife relationships, because of sin. Sin always brings that, a sense of shame, a sense of unwillingness to be known, and this is the beginning of all hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy also began here, and in our relationships in the church too. Unwillingness to be known as we are. Trying to cover ourselves up and make ourselves more respectable before one another. That's always the result of sin.

Guile. The beginning of guile is the stitching people to each other. It's the picture of human righteousness. We know that when Jesus came, he came to a fig tree and he saw it full of leaves, and what did he do?

Cursed it. Why? There was no fruit. Leaves, leaves, leaves, leaves, fig leaves, fig leaves. Those are the same fig leaves that Adam and Eve used to cover themselves with, and Jesus cursed it. There's a curse on this human righteousness with which we try to make ourselves presentable to each other and even to God.

Lord, I've lived a good life. I've given money to the poor. I've helped those who are in need. I'm not like the prostitutes in the seas. I'm a fairly good person. Cursed is all that human righteousness.

There are more people who have gone to hell because of this so-called human goodness than because of adultery and murder. I believe that. Many people who could have been saved are not saved because they have never got rid of their human righteousness.

They have never seen that all the multitudes of fig leaves with which I try to cover myself are all cursed by Jesus Christ. He cursed that fig tree and it says the fig tree withered up. And that's how it is with fig leaves.

You can imagine these fig leaves, if Adam and Eve kept on walking around with them, how long would they last? You know, these leaves have a tendency to dry up and fall off after some time. And you see, God had something better for them.

We read later on that God killed an animal and gave them an animal skin. And you know, an animal skin can last for centuries. And that's the difference between the righteousness of Christ with which God clothes us and our own human efforts to try and pretend that we are so good.

That's why so many people are not saved. Because they have still a few fig leaves, they think they are so good. That's why I believe that nobody can make spiritual progress until they see themselves as really the most rotten sinner.

Justification and the Rejection of Human Righteousness

You know that story which Jesus said about the Pharisee and the publican who went to the temple to pray? And this is what the publican said, Lord be merciful to me. And it doesn't come out very clearly in the English, but in the original Greek it is Lord be merciful to me, the sinner.

Not a sinner, but the sinner. And there's a difference between saying a sinner and the sinner. It means, Lord, there's one sinner in this town, and that's me. You feel like that? Then you can be justified.

But you feel there are other sinners in this town worse than me. Well, you've got to sit with the Pharisee then. That's what Jesus was teaching in that parable. Have you got that consciousness, there is one sinner in this town, and that's me, Lord.

You can go home justified. And there are Christians, so-called believers, who never come to that place. Year after year after year, they never feel that they are the worst sinner in town. Never once.

I want to ask you, all of you sitting here, have you ever in your life, even once, felt that you are the worst sinner in Bangalore? Have you ever felt that? I've felt it many times. If you haven't felt it, my brothers and sisters, there's something shallow about your conversion and your salvation.

Though you're sitting here, you really belong to one of the denominations. Your conversion is only that level. You haven't really seen the horribleness of all your so-called fig leaves, which Jesus has cursed.

Throw it away, it's worth nothing. You're saying that you are good, and you've done this, and you haven't done so many bad things. God have mercy on you, and may you have light on it before the day of judgment.

Otherwise, it's possible you can be lost forever. This type of righteousness is like filthy rags in God's eyes. All these fig leaves. Ask God to open your eyes to see that you are the sinner in Bangalore.

The sinner for whom Jesus died. Then we can have salvation, and our salvation will be a glorious salvation. I know when I got this light on this, it changed my whole concept of God and of salvation. Yeah, we need to see that.

But we have to get rid of our fig leaves. All of them, all our so-called good deeds. No, that's not how we get salvation. They made themselves loin coverings and tried to hide themselves from each other.

Verse 8. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves in the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. You see, that's the next thing.

We hide ourselves from each other, and we even hide from God. I've said many times that the thing that God requires from man, number one, is honesty. I believe that with all my heart. Honesty. Be absolutely honest.

Don't pretend with him. He knows everything. You can't play the fool with him. You don't feel like reading the Bible. Tell the Lord, Lord, I don't feel like reading the Bible. That's the truth. Why pretend to him?

He knows in any case that you don't feel like it. Lord, I don't feel like it, but I need to do it. Please help me. That's honesty. Than to pretend, oh Lord, I love this very much. You don't feel like reading it at all.

This type of humbug and dishonesty is what leaves many believers in that rotten condition. If only they were honest. Say, Lord, I don't feel like reading it. I said that to God, and God helped me. I say, Lord, you love honest people.

You don't want me to play the fool with you. I want to be absolutely honest. Lord, I love money. Please deliver me from it. And the Lord says, I'll do that. But if I pretend, Lord, I'm all right here.

I don't have a problem. Lord says, all right, you sit there. I didn't come for people like you. I'm looking for the sinners. Many believers get sidelined by the Lord. He leaves them alone with the Pharisees.

He says, I'm looking for the sinners. My brothers and sisters, take it seriously. Salvation is for the sinners. For those who see their need and their condition. Don't hide. They try to hide. Foolishness to hide.

God Seeks the Sinner

And it says here, the Lord God came into the garden, which teaches us that God took the initiative to find them. It was not. One would have thought that Adam and Eve, as soon as they fell, they should have dropped everything, and instead of trying to stitch fig leaves together, they should have just run in the direction wherever they knew they could find God and said, Lord, where are you?

Let me find you. But no. It says God sought them. And that's a tremendous word for us, that it is God when we sin. It is God who takes that first step to come and to ask, in verse nine, where are you?

The Lord God called the man. Do you know that this is the first question that God ever asked a human being? The first question that God asked a human being in the Bible is, where are you? After he has sinned.

Was God asking for information? It's like a mother calling out in the house to her son and saying, where are you? She doesn't know where he is. Was God like that, not knowing where is Adam, I can't find him?

It wasn't like that. God knew very well that Adam was hiding behind that particular tree. Then why in the world does he have to ask him? Because of that same principle that God wants us to honestly acknowledge, and he helps us.

He says, where are you, Adam? It's a tremendous encouragement that God longs for that, and he took that first step. The word of God says in Romans chapter 3 and verse 11, Romans 3 verse 11, there is no one who seeks for God.

Have you read this verse? Verse 11, there is no one who seeks for God. What about all these people who go to Tirupati and Mecca and Velangani and so many places? Is it true? Let God be true and every man a liar.

That's what it says at the beginning of chapter 3, in the same chapter. What does God say? No one seeks after God. So what are all these people seeking then? They are seeking for blessing. What about the lakhs of people who come for a healing meeting?

You think they are seeking for God? The healing evangelist has got to be really crazy to think that all these lakhs of people are seeking after God. He's got to be really nuts to think that these people are seeking after God.

But they are not seeking after God. They are seeking after blessing, just like the people who go to Tirupati or Mecca or Velangani, who come to an evangelistic healing crusade. Exactly the same. I am not deceived.

If I see a crowd going to Tirupati, I am not excited, and if I see a crowd going to a Christian healing crusade, I am still not excited. Basic motivation in both cases is the same. How can I get some blessing?

How can I get something? Are they seeking after God himself? No. No one seeks after God. Everybody wants to see what they can get for themselves. That is the condition of the human race. Never forget it.

There is not a single human being in the world who seeks after God. And my brothers and sisters, that is our condition also when we are unconverted. And if today I have a desire or you have a desire after God, not His blessings—blessings that Tirupati, Mecca, Velangani and healing crusade people all have, I don't mean that—but a desire after God Himself, you can be sure that's because the Holy Spirit has done a work in you.

And if you become a Christian and you still have no desire after God, but only, how can God bless me? Put yourself in the same category as the Velangani, Mecca, Tirupati people. No difference. You have not been converted.