Themes From Genesis with R. C. Sproul, “The Temptation and Fall,” 5

In this segment of our study of themes in Genesis, I want to turn your attention to the third chapter, which of course is a very sad and tragic chapter, not only in the book of Genesis, but a sad chapter, perhaps the saddest chapter in all of human history, because here we have the record of the temptation of Adam and Eve and the fall of the human race.

Now of course we remember that when this text of Scripture was written originally, there were no chapter divisions in the original texts or verses established.

This was a later addition to help us break up the text of Scripture into a workable way to read and study.

But we notice that chapter 3 begins with an ominous transition.

The first words of the chapter suggest something nefarious, something threatening, something dreadful that is foreshadowed here that's coming on the horizon.

We read in the beginning of chapter 3, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the

Lord God had made. We've seen in the first two chapters the glorious picture of God's activity in creation, and again

His benediction over all that He has made. He looks at what He makes and says, that's good.

But this note, this discordant note comes at us now suddenly in chapter 3,

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the

Lord God had made. And He said unto the woman, Yea, hath

God said. Now that's the point I want us to get in our examination of this text, that Satan in his subtlety, in his craftiness, in his clever act of seduction comes to Adam and Eve not with a direct assault, but his subtlety is couched with a question.

And when I ask my students, you know, in seminary, what was the issue in the primordial temptation of Adam and Eve?

You know, people will answer with, well, it had to do with a sexual temptation or something of that sort.

And I said, no, that has – you know, we get all mixed up with some of the Hollywood dramatizations of the fall of man.

The issue centers on this question, Hath God said?

The test of our parents in the Garden of Eden was a test on the veracity and the truthfulness of the

Word of God. And I want to stress that because in the time that we have here, as we look at what unfolds in the drama in Eden, I want us to compare it with the similar test and probation that is put upon the second

Adam, the new Adam, who is whom? Jesus. And we see that when

Christ is tempted, the same issue is at stake, and the same method of approach takes place, which we will see in a few moments.

But keep in mind that the first seductive enticement of the enemy is a question,

Hath God said? And he says, Did God say that you shall not eat of any of the trees of the garden?

Well, is that what God said? Is that in fact what God had said? Let me back up a second.

Do you think that the serpent knew what God had said? He comes with a question that is a deliberate distortion.

He says, Did God say that you cannot eat of any of the trees in the garden? Now obviously that's not what

God had said. God had said, Of all of the trees of the garden you may freely eat, with this exception over here.

Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you're not allowed to touch that one, but everything else help yourself.

And they saw that all of the trees were delightful and pleasant to the eye, and they were gorgeous to behold and to partake of, and so that God had given an enormous amount of freedom and free use of the garden to His creatures.

But Satan comes and says, Did God say you can't eat any of them? In our day, in the twentieth century, one of the great attacks on Christianity has come from the philosophy called atheistic existentialism, and some of the existentialist philosophers have stressed as their central thesis the importance of absolute freedom for human beings.

Jean -Paul Sartre, for example, a French philosopher, said that unless man has autonomy – what's autonomy?

What does that word autonomy mean? Auto means self, and the

Greek word nomos means law. To be autonomous means to be a law unto oneself, to be answerable or accountable or responsible to no one but to yourself.

It is to have freedom, to possess freedom in the absolute degree. And what

Sartre says is unless man has autonomy, he does not really have freedom.

That's exactly the suggestion that we're getting here from the serpent.

The subtlety of the question is this. Well, if – did God say that you can't eat any of the trees in the garden?

He might as well said that. If He put any restriction on your delights and on your will and on what you want to do, then how can you really be free?

He may tell you that you're free to do this, this, and this, but God has put limits on your freedom. He's restricted your freedom.

He's made you accountable and answerable to Him, so you're not really free. But one restriction and the human tendency is to feel as if all of our freedom has been taken away, and that's the subtle hint that the serpent is giving here to Eve.

But the woman, she's on top of the situation. She corrects the serpent immediately.

The woman said unto Him, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden

God hath said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it lest you die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not die.

Now Satan discards the subtleties. His contradiction of what

God had said becomes open and direct. God said,

If you eat of this tree, you will surely die. Satan says,

You will not die. Now one lesson that I want us to learn from this is that here we have the first contradiction in the

Holy Scripture. I call that to your attention for this reason. The world of theology, the church, has been invaded in the twentieth century with a kind of irrational approach to religion and to faith that says it's okay for religious faith to have contradictions.

Not only is it okay, but that the essence of faith is to be able to live with contradictions.

Karl Barth, perhaps the most famous theologian of the twentieth century said that the mark of a mature

Christian is that he can live comfortably with contradictions in his faith.

His contemporary and companion, Emil Brunner, made this statement that the contradiction is the hallmark of truth.

You see, these theologians were reacting against a cold, sterile, abstract, rational type of doctrine where people were not becoming passionately involved in their faith, but instead were reducing religion to abstract doctrines of reason.

And so violent was the reaction against a rationalistic type of religion that now the pendulum swung to the other extreme and where the theologians were saying that it's not only all right to have contradictions in your theology, but that it's a good thing because the contradiction is the hallmark of truth.

Well, let's test that thesis here. If the contradiction is the hallmark of truth, what should

Eve's response have been here? Again, let's assume that contradictions are the hallmark of truth.

Eve is intelligent. God said to her, if you eat of the tree, you'll die.

Satan comes and says, if you eat of the tree, you won't die. What does Eve say? Hey, that's a contradiction.

The serpent is saying the exact opposite to me from what

God has said. That's a contradiction. Now Eve is working on the principle that the contradiction is the hallmark of truth.

So what should her conclusion be? Who does the serpent represent?

The serpent speaking contradictions. He's representing the truth. And who is the truth?

God. So now she says, ha -ha, that's a contradiction, and a contradiction is the hallmark of the truth.

This must be the Word of God coming out of the mouth of the serpent. Don't you see that if contradictions are the hallmark of truth, then

Eve not only would be excused for listening to the serpent, she would be guilty if she didn't listen to the serpent.

From the Bible's perspective, friends, and please don't ever forget this, the contradiction is not the hallmark of truth.

The contradiction is the hallmark of the lie. How can you even discern the difference between truth and falsehood, godliness and ungodliness,

Christ and antichrist, unless you assume the workability of the test of contradictions?

The fall of the human race centered upon a contradiction.

God said one thing, and Satan contradicted it, and our parents believed the lie.

Now before we continue with this, I want to spend a few moments comparing and contrasting the issue at stake here with what happened with the temptation of Jesus.

There are certain similarities between the test of Adam and the test of Jesus, but before we look at the similarities,

I want us to look at the differences. First of all, when Adam and Eve are tested, where are they tested?

What is the location of their temptation? In the

Garden of Eden, in paradise, right there next, close by the immediate presence of God in this lush, beautiful, fertile garden, where they have all the things at their disposal that they could ever want to eat.

Where is Jesus tested? In a desolate wilderness.

Jesus is tested after forty days of fasting, where He's starved.

He has hunger pangs like we can't imagine. The difference is

Adam and Eve are tested on a full stomach. Jesus is tested in the midst of starvation.

Adam and Eve are tested while they have the strength of mutual support and fellowship.

Jesus is tested when He's utterly alone in the wilderness, in the darkness.

Now, those are the differences. We could elaborate more, but let's move on.

Let's look at the similarities. When Satan comes to Jesus, what is the nature of his temptation?

What does he say to Jesus in the wilderness? Jesus is hungry.

Satan comes and says, if you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.

Now, why doesn't Satan come and say, since you are the

Son of God, turn these stones into bread? Do you realize that the way

Satan speaks to Jesus, notice the way the serpent spoke to Adam and Eve, hath

God said. There's a question about what God had said. Now, when

Satan comes to Jesus, he says, if you are the

Son of God, if you are, doesn't that suggest a question?

There's some question about it. Let's see if you're really the Son of God, Jesus. Are you sure that you're the

Son of God, Jesus? If you're the Son of God, Jesus, then take these stones and turn them into bread. Now, let me ask you to refresh your memory.

Jesus has spent forty days in the wilderness with no companionship.

He's not able to talk audibly with anybody. According to Scripture, what were the last words that went into the ears of Jesus before Jesus went into the wilderness?

Do you remember? Do you remember? The heavens had opened, and God had spoken audibly from heaven, declaring, this is

My beloved Son. God usually speaks how?

Through prophets, through the writings of Scripture, and so on. There's only three times in all of the

New Testament where God is heard to speak audibly. And on two of those occasions, what

God is saying is announcing from heaven the Sonship of Jesus.

And this was the first occasion where God Himself speaks audibly, this is My beloved

Son in whom I am well pleased. And then the Spirit drives

Jesus into the wilderness. The last words in His ears, the

Father has said, this is My Son. And Satan comes subtly suggesting that perhaps

Jesus isn't the Son of God. What father would allow his son to have to spend forty days in this desolate wilderness?

What father would withhold from his beloved Son nourishment and food for forty days?

What father would ask his son to endure this kind of torment and this kind of humiliation and this kind of testing and suffering?

If you're the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. Well, you know what Jesus said in reply.

He said, Satan, bread is a wonderful thing. I love to have bread.

I taught my disciples to pray for their bread every day, and I don't want my disciples to have to wait forty days between loaves of bread.

But guess what? Man does not live by bread alone, but by what?

Every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. I live,

Satan, by what God says. And what you're saying to me is the same thing you said to Eve thousands of years ago, hath

God said. I am the Son of God. I know that I'm the

Son of God because God, my Father, has declared it. He said it.

He announced it from heaven. This is My beloved Son. I'm living on that, not on these stones or on loaves of bread.

My life is based on the truthfulness of the

Word of God, and don't you try to undermine it. So, then the next thing he does is he takes

Jesus, and he says, takes Him and said,

Look, Jesus, you just bow down once for me, okay, and I'll give you all of the kingdoms of the world.

Just bow down once. You're out here in the middle of the wilderness. Nobody can see it. I'm not asking you to go into Jerusalem and proclaim

Me God or anything like that. Just one slight little genuflection out here in the midst of the wilderness, nobody will ever see it.

It'll be our secret. Just bow once. I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. And Jesus says, Well, I'm already going to get all the kingdoms of the world.

The Father has promised Me an eternal kingship. The Father has promised

Me that I will rule over every tribe and tongue and nation. Yes, I know, says the serpent, but what's the price tag,

Jesus? First, you have to die. You have to suffer.

You have to be humiliated. You have to set your face like a flint toward Jerusalem. You have to be delivered to the

Gentiles. You have to be mocked and scorned and whipped and tortured. And then, before you can get all these kingdoms, you know what your

Father has in mind for you? He's going to take the cumulative weight, the mass of all of the sins of His people and place it on your back, and the total punishment of God's judgment against sin will fall upon you.

Yeah, then you'll be king, but not until you first become the sin bearer of the world.

I'm saying you can be the king right now with one little genuflection, no cross, no death.

Jesus says, that's marvelous, but I've got one problem with it. The saint says, what's that?

He says, well, the Bible says that I'll have to serve

God only, and I'm not allowed to serve anybody else, that I have to serve the

Lord my God and Him only. I'm not allowed to have any other gods before Him. It's a great deal that you're offering me, but in order for me to keep that or to do what you ask me to do,

I have to violate what the words of Scripture say. Satan says, come on, that stuff was written, you know, a long time ago by Moses.

In fact, Moses didn't even write that. That was a compilation of different historians,

J -E -D and P. Certainly, Jesus, you're more intelligent than these naive, primitive people running around here thinking that that text of Scripture was inspired.

That's old -fashioned. That's out of date. It was written hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

You're not going to base your life on that, are you? Jesus said, I'm sorry if you think

I'm narrow -minded, but the book says I'm not allowed to do it. So now

Satan decides he's, well, he says Jesus is so hung up on Scripture, he's going to start Scriptures for him.

He says, well, I'll tell you what, let's go to the temple. You're religious. I'll take you to the pinnacle of the temple, and I'll ask you to just jump off the pinnacle of the temple because the

Bible says, now Satan starts quoting the Bible. He says, the Bible says that He will give

His angels charge over you lest you should dash your feet against the stone. So let's go.

You jump, the angels will catch you, right? And Jesus said, yeah, that's right. The Bible says that God will give

His angels charge over me lest I dash my feet against the stone. Satan says, well, so go ahead and jump.

Let's see. If, again he says it, if you are the Son of God, cast yourself from this temple.

Jesus said, I appreciate your knowledge of Scripture, but your hermeneutics are a little bit doubtful. You're setting

Scripture against Scripture. Yes, the Scriptures teaches that the angels will be given charge over me, but they also say that I am not allowed to tempt the

Father. I'm not allowed to put God to the test in an ungodly way like jumping from temples and saying, okay,

God, let's see if Your Word is really true. You've seen people stand out there and say, okay, God, if You're really up there, strike me dead with lightning.

You're not allowed to do that. Do not put the Lord God to the test.

And so, three times Satan comes, three times trying to undermine

Jesus' confidence in the Word of God. Three times Jesus says no.

And then we read in the New Testament that Satan departed from Him for a season.

And what was the first thing that happened as soon as Satan left? The angels appeared and ministered room service, okay?

Now, notice the angels appeared. Where were the angels before they appeared?

They were there every second watching Him. They weren't going to let any scorpions there.

They weren't going to let Him die. They weren't going to let Him dash His foot against the stone just like God promised.

But Jesus couldn't see. But they were there. Now, the big difference between Jesus' temptation and Adam and Eve's temptation is that Jesus was victorious, and Adam and Eve surrendered.

And remember, the most vulnerable point of Adam and Eve was that their confidence in the trustworthiness of the

Word of God. I say this to you for a reason. Perhaps the most controversial issue of twentieth -century

Christianity is the trustworthiness of the Word of God.

The church has been exposed to over two hundred years of concentrated criticism and skepticism leveled against the credibility of the

Scriptures, so that now even Christians are divided with respect to their confidence in the

Bible, in the Word of God. And I remind you that this is our greatest point of vulnerability, that Christ, in spite of the misery and loneliness that He was subjected to, said,

I live by every word. I am going to believe

God. God has said it, and it's not believing in God that makes the difference whether you're a

Christian or not. It's believing God. Do you believe God when

He speaks? And I think that's the test that we're going through today, the test of whether or not we live in trust of the

Word of God or whether we're willing to negotiate it with unbelief.