Perspective From God

Introduction

Good morning. If you will open your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. Can’t believe it’s already the second week of December of 2016. Boy, has this year flown by. And perhaps more startling is that three weeks from today, if the Lord wills, it will be January 1st of 2017, if I have my calendar and my edition right. The year has flown by. And when you think about how the year’s flown, you might remember certain memories, certain trips, certain positive things. You may remember some negative, you might remember some tough times. Maybe you’re still in those tough times. Maybe you’re still in the throes of some sort of personal or family victory. And if it’s a good thing, I’m excited. And if it’s not, hold on to God.

He will continue to get you through. Be thankful to God for the victory. Trust in Him in times that are hard. In Genesis chapter 2, though, you have God has just created the heavens and the earth. He has made man in his image. In the image of God, he created them, male and female. So here are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Things are perfect. God is with them. But of course, beginning in verse 15, they had one rule. In Genesis chapter 2 and verse 15, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.

For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. For those of you who have lived more years than I, the year of the flying by may have gone faster in your mind. You may say, I remember a certain number of years ago and how that flew by, and I can’t believe I’m already here. And you think about what could have been. You think about what I might be. You consider where I should where I am going now. Where should I be? There are a lot of things that we notice as time passes. We see a lot of similarities. We see a lot of traits that repeat themselves. People who are similar, ideas that are spread that are similar, but packaged differently, whether it be politically, economically, or just in our family life.

But the truth is, when it comes down to it, we go one of two ways. We choose to obey God and walk down that narrow path. Or we choose not to. Perhaps you see coming what everyone does in Genesis chapter 2, which is when God gives man this one rule, which is to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, because in the day that they eat of it, they would surely die. You know what is to come. Without perhaps even having to read Genesis chapter 3, it’s clear to anyone who has seen a movie or read a book that this one rule will be violated. And in Genesis chapter 3, that is exactly what happens. Beginning in verse 1 of Genesis chapter 3.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field, the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the trees of the fruit in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And in verse 4, the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.

She took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. That’s perhaps the familiar part of the story, verses one through eight. We know what happened. Eve was standing there, apparently, in the vicinity of the one tree that man was not to eat of, and of course, there the serpent was lurking also. There’s a standoff where the serpent says, Are you going to eat of this essentially? And the woman says, I can’t, because God said, If I even touch it, I will die. And in verse 4, perhaps the first lie, certainly the first lie recorded in the Bible story, the serpent says, You will not surely die.

And we know that Eve looked at it, gave in to her eyes that saw that it was a delight, that it could make one wise, and Adam shared in her sin. We know that story. In fact, we know verse 15 pretty well as well, as the fallout of this, as God is punishing the serpent and the woman and the man and their ways for their roles in this violation of his law. In verse 15, it’s written, I will put enmity between you and the woman, speaking to the serpent, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel, speaking of the coming Christ. But when you think about Genesis chapter 3, maybe we don’t often think about verses 8 through 13, in which God has some questions for man.

God has some questions for Adam and Eve. As we talk about this morning, and we read verses 8 through 13, think about these questions, the perspective that God offers, and the weak answers that man is stuck to give. And Genesis chapter 3 and verse 8, after the sin, after the violation of God’s law, 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 from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself.

He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. Certainly you can see a lesson in not taking responsibility, dodging the weight of our actions. And of course, God was not fooled. The punishment that we are familiar with to the serpent and even to woman and man does come to pass at the end of this chapter, and we’re going to see how they are cast out of the garden, cast from the presence of God for their sin.

1. Where Are You?

But how foolish it seems for them to look at God and to blame someone else. Adam says, The woman whom you gave to me, she gave it to me and I ate. And the woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate. Well, look at the three questions that God had for Adam and Eve, and when you think about them, they’re not asked for the benefit of God. In verse 10, when God says, Where are you? It wasn’t that God didn’t know where Adam was. You think many times throughout the scriptures that God asked questions of man that are for our understanding, or they are rhetorical questions, much like the case in Job chapter 38. Do you think it was a rhetorical question when God said, Were you there at creation?

Were you the one who made the heavens and the earth? Essentially this question? And of course, that answer is no. Neither Job nor no man was there. No man has the power that God did to either witness or certainly not partake in the making of this world. Where are you is an interesting question because when we see in verse 8, what had they done? They heard the Lord God walking. And the man and wife, do you see this in the middle of verse 8? Hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. I have to say, this is a foolish and vain attempt to hide. I think when we look at this text, we say, What are they thinking? Here they are with God, the God who created them, who put them into this ideal garden of Eden.

And then when they commit the sin, when they violate God’s law, and he asks, Where are you? They are attempting to hide from God. How foolish can it be? I think if I’m honest, though, sometimes when I think about my life and I think about the way I try to serve God, and specifically this morning, as I think back about the calendar year that God allowed me to live in 2016, there were times that I either wished or acted as if I could hide from God. The truth of the matter is there is no place like that. In Colossians chapter 1, if you note there with me, we see a powerful promise of God delivered. In Colossians chapter 1. If you note what Paul reasons, and you see that the kingdom has come, and because of that kingdom’s appearance in verse 13, we see that Jesus has delivered us from where?

The domain of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. God plucks those who are his from the domain of darkness and puts us in the kingdom of Christ. And as in Christ alone, verse 14 says we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The truth is, when it comes to the question of where am I in relation to God, I am in one of two locations. In fact, that is a scriptural theme time and again in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 13 and 14. There is the narrow way that leads to life and the broad path that many enter by and that leads to destruction. There are just the two paths. And when I think about Adam, I think he’s foolish for hiding from God.

That the truth is I would do that too if I was violating God’s law. If you are living in sin this morning, you cannot hide from God. But if you’re living in sin, please know that you are not in the kingdom of his beloved Son. In Jesus, there is redemption. There is the forgiveness of sins. You can be there. But if you are living a life of sin, a life that rejects the will of God, like Adam and Eve did in the case of Genesis chapter 3, you are not with our Father. You’ve got to think about and take stock over this year and in my life, where am I in my relationship with God? You think back to where you were in January of this past year, or maybe even of September of this year, and think for yourself for just a moment.

Have you grown? Are you stronger? Are you closer to God? Because if there are just the two pathways, have I gone this way or that? Have you grown in Christ? Have you read your scriptures with fervor? With an understanding that it is God revealing his will to us, his creation, this man? Or have you maybe neglected it? Has the Bible maybe stayed on the coffee table? Been there, acting as if it’s some sort of guard around the house. This is the will of God. It’s to be treasured. Where are you in your prayer life? Could God find you? Yes, he can, but are you speaking to God? Do you have a relationship that says, when times are good, I thank God, as we already spoke about.

When times are tough, I cling to God. He is my fortress of being you find in the Psalms, time after time after time. Where am I? Because the truth is not only are there only two locations, there is a time coming when it is sealed. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, look with me there. We see something about Jesus in this wonderful kingdom is that we are going to be fixed in the place that we are at. And the problem is, if I think I can hide from God, even if I think in this life I am escaping, even if I think like Adam did in the garden that I have escaped God, when Jesus comes, I will no longer be hidden. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 2, Paul says, For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

And then when that day comes, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10 says clearly, all our deeds will be known before God. We will answer for what we’ve done this day, yesterday, and this whole year and our whole entire lives. Where are we in relation to God? You see, the only reason that Adam even hid was because they knew from eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they were no longer like they were before. We can know that we’re stained with sin. We can know if we’ve rejected God. In fact, we can fool ourselves. We certainly can fool others, but truthfully, if we give honest evaluation, and I say, in my various roles as an employee, as an employer, as a husband, as a wife, as a friend, as a daughter, as a father, am I being as Christ would have me be?

2. Who Told You That You Were Naked?

Because if there are two choices, I ask the question, are you with God? Or are you anywhere else? You see, there was a second question, though. If you go back to Genesis chapter 3, you see, not only did God find them, of course, and when God said in verse 9, where are you in verse 10? Adam gives the weak excuse, I heard the sound of the garden, I was afraid, rightfully so. Because I was naked and I hid myself, and God has the question in verse in verse 11, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten in the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? Here is the question that Adam had to answer in verse 3, because before he was living in what?

Happiness, a content, peaceful nature. Why? Because he was unblemished with sin. The creation was perfect just as God had made it. Yes, God allows for the forgiveness of sins. We can be part of the kingdom of his beloved son and being redeemed to be with God again. But at this point in time, in this part of the book of Genesis, in this part in this world’s history, man was perfect. Life was perfect. They were dwelling with God. That is an almost unfathomable blessing to us. That is, of course, what we are striving to attain, to be with God forever. But in a physical way, God was among them. And in verse 11, when God asked, Who told you that you were naked? Of course, the answer was their knowledge.

How did they get that knowledge? Because they listened to the serpent. It all goes back there. Yeah, the excuses are trivial, the excuses are silly, but what did man say when God approached him? What was his response? The woman whom you gave me gave me some of this fruit, and I ate. Yes, that’s right. So let’s go back to Eve. Who did Eve listen to? Well, God had said in Genesis chapter 2 and verses 16 and 17, do not eat of this tree or you will die. If you look at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 4, the serpent says, You will not surely die. Eve chose to listen to the serpent. She trusted him because she wanted what was there. Didn’t you see that in Genesis chapter 3?

Look after the lie in verse 4. And as he explains in verse 5, note what the next response is of the woman in verse 6. She saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. It was when she looked at it and said, Yes, the serpent has said this, but when I see this is what I want, I’m going with him. And that is away from God. Just like with us in the question of where are we? Are we closer with God or farther from him? This move did kill Adam and Eve. They were spiritually disconnected from God. In fact, they were physically thrown out of the presence of God as a result of their violation of his law.

But the truth is, when I think about my life, I have to understand that I am listening to somebody no matter which pathway I take. And there are many options. In Matthew chapter 21, let’s look with me there. Jesus has an important point for the chief priests who inquire of him. In Matthew chapter 21. Yes, it’s easy to say that the serpent challenges us, the devil just wants us to do things that God does not. He wants us to fall away from God. But in Matthew chapter 21, we see there’s a little bit more to it than that. In Matthew chapter 21, read with me in verse 23. You see the classic question that we need to ask, and it’s like who told you, but it’s more to the point.

Will I do this based on the authority who speaks it? And Matthew chapter 21 and verse 23, beginning. And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them, I also will ask you one question. And if you will tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John. From where did it come? From heaven or from man? And they discussed it among themselves, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say to us, Why then do you not believe him? But if we say from man, we are afraid of the crowd.

For they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answered, Jesus, we do not know. And he said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. There was a question. They wanted to know in verse 23 by what authority Jesus was doing these things, and not just by what authority, who gave him that said authority. Jesus answers with the question that is right to the point, both of our study this morning and of our daily lives. And when he asked him the question regarding the baptism of John, he said, From where did it come? From heaven or from man. The point is you can fill in the blank for man, serpent, what have you. It is either from God or it is not.

And if it was from God, they had a problem. Because if they knew God had sent him this authority, what were they going to say? Why do you not believe? But if it was from man, they feared, because, truth be told, the people knew who John was. They considered him to be a prophet. They knew he had a special relationship as a messenger from God. But we have that same problem. We know what the will of God is, and if we don’t, we have no excuse for not searching it out. In this country, we are blessed more than at any other time in this world’s history to read and be completely enveloped in God’s will. There is not a single excuse for not being able to understand what God has said.

We can read, we have teachers, we have books upon books upon books. We have recording upon recording of recording, and we have video upon video of explaining God’s text. There is no reason other than a will not to, to not understand the will of God. Who told us? Well, let’s think. Whose authority do I act in? What about sex outside of marriage? Whose authority is that? The world says that that’s normal. We could say that that’s from man, but the truth is the Bible has already warned us of that time and again. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 4 says what? Let the marriage bed be undefiled, held in honor among all. You think about Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 4, but what about 1 Thessalonians chapter 4?

Turn back there with me. We were just in 1 Thessalonians 5, but look at chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 2 and 3. If you think about what God’s message is on this, it is very different from the world’s. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 2, for you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. That each one of you know how to control his own body and holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. Isn’t that the same choice we have today? We can live our life, submit our bodies to holiness for God. Or in verse 5, give it up to the passions of lust like the Gentiles, like the world around us.

If we’re going to be blunt, we don’t have to make it about Gentiles. We can make it about God or myself, God or the world. The world says, do what you want, live with who you will, marry with whom you will, do whatever makes you feel good. That is not from God. God has a clear message for us to not only find ourselves pleasing in his sight, but to devote ourselves to his holiness. And let me ask another question. Not only where does my authority come from and how I live my life in a personal manner, but what about my spending habits? In Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 7, we see that the borrower is slave to the lender. When I think about how I’m controlling my finances, no, there is not a Bible text that you turn to and says, you give this amount to the collection plate, you spend this amount for those in need in this country, this amount for those in need in this country, and the rest is for your personal Disney profile.

We have to use Bible principles, though. If we are spending beyond what we make, if we’re spending in such a way that it cripples not only our own life, but maybe our giving to the church or to those who are in need, who don’t have the ability to get the credit that we have abused. Is that authority from God and how we are stewards over his blessings? Or is that the what man teaches? Is that what the serpent says? You want this. It looks good, doesn’t it? You get this. You deserve this. You’ve worked hard. Is that not the same type of temptation that Eve had? Well, what about Adam when it comes to his excuse? He blamed the woman. Who was it that told him to eat?

Eve did. Maybe I’m just listening to my spouse, but God says, I am to be valued. I am to be honored. You are to submit your life as holy and unblemished before me. God has a high expectation for us. You think about also about God’s expectation for marriage. If you look in Ephesians chapter 5, there’s a powerful picture, and the world does not paint it just like this. In Ephesians chapter 5, you see the role of the husband and the wife outlined in a very specific way. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 22, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior.

Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. You see this in verse 27, though, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. That is God’s expectation for his people to be holy, unstained with sin from the world. And when I think about where am I in my relationship with God now, verse at the beginning of the year or now, verse last week, I need it to be closer to the law given by God.

For wives, that’s in verse 22. Submitting to your own husbands as to the Lord. For husbands, that’s to love my wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. That is a heavy task. But that’s what God demands. That’s what God requires. That we, as members of the church, are holy and without blemish. Loving others more than self. That’s God’s message. If we live any other way, the question that God asked Adam stands to us today. Who told you? The question that Jesus responded to the chief priest with From where does this authority come? From heaven or from man? Stands for us. If I’m going to behave like God expects, I’m going to read his word and simply do it. And not try my own way, my neighbor’s way, or the serpent’s way.

3. What Is This That You Have Done?

Let’s stick with God. There’s a third question back in Genesis chapter 3, as we move towards concluding the lesson this morning. In Genesis chapter 3, you see there was this other question. We see it in a way in verse 11, but it’s very clear in verse 13. Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? What have you done? To be truthful, it’s hard to speculate on a story of which the surrounding is so much more than these simple verses that we have. But I don’t know whether Eve had a full understanding of the consequences of her action. I know that she called out exactly what the will of God was in verse 3 of Genesis chapter 3 when the serpent said, Will you die?

Did he say that you will die? Well, in verse 3, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. Serpent had asked her in verse 2, did he really say don’t eat of that? And in verse 4, he said, You’re not going to die. But in verse 3, Adam, or excuse me, Eve says, God has told us in the day that we even touch it, we will die. For what it’s worth, that’s a little bit more stringent than what we saw in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 16 and 17. But I see no reason to doubt her recollection is true. So she knew what she was doing and violating God’s will.

But I don’t think Eve necessarily counted the cost of this transgression. If I was honest, I don’t think Eve really thought that this would mean pain and childbirth, that being cast out of the garden. Let’s read the rest of that story in verse 14, as God speaks to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. To the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing. In pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, Behold, that man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. The cost for this transgression of God’s will was extraordinary. Their life would be forever different, not just because of where they lived, although they could never return because there was the cherubim guarding it with a flaming sword.

It wasn’t just hard because that there would be pain in childbearing, or because the ground would be hard, but it was because of their sin that their lives would change forever in violation of God’s will. They had been separated from God. You want to know the biggest penalty? It wasn’t pain, it wasn’t difficulty. It was being cast from the presence of God. They had it all. And they gave it up. The truth is we have access to it all. Because of Colossians chapter 1, verse 13 and 14, the fact that God will take us if we submit to him from the domain of darkness and transfer us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, we can have it all. And if you are a Christian, you have it all because God made it possible for us.

And when I think about this past year and I think, am I closer to God? It is a disgrace if I am not. But it’s not something I can’t recover from. Because God is merciful and willing to forgive. If I think about how I’ve been living and I have asked the question to myself, who told me I can act like this? Who told me I can treat others like this? Who told me I can watch this type of entertainment? And if that answer is not from the will of God, it is not the authority which we are to submit to. And if I ignore those first two questions, if I try to hide from God, if I try to dodge by what authority I’m doing the things that I wish to do, and the truth is it’s about my authority as opposed to God’s if I choose to reject him.

Conclusion

The truth is in Galatians chapter 6 and verses 7 through 10, we learn the rule that we will reap what we have sown. I’m curious this morning, if God was asking me these questions, where am I? Am I closer to him or farther from him this morning than any other time in my past? If he asked me, who told me by what authority am I doing these things? Could I honestly say, by your will, by the will of your son, Jesus? Or is it by mine or man or the serpent? Well, when I’m asked the question, what have I done? I have only one response that’s pleasing to God. I have kept your will, Father. Please allow me to be with you forever. It’s amazing that God allowed the people to live in his presence, but it’s more amazing that despite our sin, that we have a chance at forgiveness of sins, and that chance was bought with the blood of Christ.

We can be with God today. And I have a question. It’s not from God. It’s not from Genesis chapter 3. But what keeps you from being a Christian? If we know what we can do, if we can look at God’s will and ask the same question that the Jews on the day of Pentecost did to Peter, what shall we do to be saved? Then his answer is sufficient. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Become one with Christ today. Take advantage of the sacrifice of Jesus. Make your life right with God. If we can help you in any way, be right with God today. Come forward as we stand and sing the invitation song.