Genesis 3:1-7

With this in mind, let us head over to our second progression of pride in Genesis. 3 verse 1. This is the account of the temptation of Eve. I know we have read this many times, but as we go through this, remember that pride was also the sin that Satan committed.

This very discussion, the conversation documented here in the Garden of Eden, is easily echoed throughout the generations of man. I have no idea how many times I have seen or heard this argument tactic. All you are looking for is a tiny fracture in the person's logic or thinking to then provide enough information to make that person think that you are actually right when in fact you are not.

I appreciate that in the documentation of this interaction, Eve does recount what God had required of them basically to the letter. She knew what they were supposed to do and what they should not do. But Satan, knowing the effects of pride so well, gives her a half truth, "You will not surely die," when in fact he knew that they would. In that moment though, she started rationalizing. Well, did God lie to us? Was He telling us the truth?

Let us focus in on where pride welled up in this exchange. In verse 6, "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food," here is where the lust of the flesh presented itself. The fruit to her carnal eyes looked good, and it appealed to her carnal nature that it would satisfy her desire. We see that she saw that it was "pleasant to the eyes," so the lust of the eyes entered into the thought process. And finally, believing that the "tree was desirable to make one wise," she succumbed to the pride of life, thinking that she could find wisdom outside of God Himself.

Genesis 3:1-7

It has been postulated over the years as opposed to the picture drawn from the minds of men of an apple from Eve to Adam, that the actual fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a fig. So here in chapter 3, verse 7 we see another very significant hint as to what happened from taking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Verse 7 tells us the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

The first thing that man did after the sin of taking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, disobeying the truth of God's Word, was to see their physical differences not from God's perspective toward unity but in the perversion of disobedience and the mind of men towards division. Then taking the leaves from that very tree, they determined for themselves to protect their own different parts that God had made to perfectly unite them physically.

Genesis 3:6-13

There are two things that happened here that changed our relationship with God and each other. They go hand-in-hand with what has been the point so far in this sermon, because they are both, perhaps, the most significant part of the problems we face today. There is failure to stand by the decisions not to be disturbed in the truth of God's Word. And there is a drive away from God by Satan's own self-deception of, This is your right!

Brethren, we live in such divisive times that are only getting worse as rights are being demanded, and the making of decisions that are not built on truth, but on what is best for our side and convincing others that it is to ensure our rights! Do we really think that we can make proper decisions based on the truth of God's Word as long as we hold on to the this is my right, attitude that is trumpeted all around us throughout this world from all sides?

Genesis 3:1-11

There are three words in Genesis 2 and 3 I would like for us to consider in light of what we read in Revelation 12:9.

First is the word snake or serpent. This is the Hebrew word nachash, a shining one.