Presentation 09

Presentation 09

Attitudes towards temptation vary considerably. Oscar Wilde writes, "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it". What devastating results that approach has produced! The temptation in Gen. 3 is of fundamental importance for a variety of reasons not least because it helps us understand the nature of temptation. It makes clear the process by which people commonly yield to temptation.

But significantly, it pinpoints the origins of evil, both in our world and in human nature. A question that puzzles many people is this: "If God created a good and perfect world, why are we surrounded by so much evil and imperfection?" It is a fair question and Gen. 3 provides an adequate answer.

Introduction

Presentation 09

God created man not as a robot but with an ability to choose to obey or disobey him. Man was a probationer with a test that centred upon a tree in the midst of the garden of Eden. Obedience would enable man to affirm his trust in, and love for God. Disobedience would demonstrate man’s distrust of God and indifference towards him. Down the path of obedience God promised blessing. Down the path of disobedience God promised punishment.

Adam and Eve had every incentive to obey God, who had lavished the blessing of paradise upon them. But things went disastrously wrong!

The Tempter Unmasked

Presentation 09

How do we explain the disaster? Genesis is in no doubt. The first words in this chapter introduce us to a serpent. You may reply, "A talking serpent! Pull the other leg. Have we not learned that Genesis distinguishes man from the rest of the created order in a number of ways including man's rationality, his ability to communicate and reason?”

How then do we explain a talking serpent? By asking, if we are not dealing with something more than a mere serpent, something sinister behind the serpent, manipulating it for its own ends?

The Tempter Unmasked

Presentation 09

Jesus describes the character of Satan as the serpent and describes the evil, which he spawned in the world from the very beginning in Jn.8.44.But how does Satan fit into the picture, where does he come from?

Satan's background is clearly given in Rev12.7ff...Notice he's presented as an enemy of God, a fallen angel who leads a rebellion against God and whose present domain is this world.

But we can go further back than that and ask, “What caused this powerful created spiritual being to turn into a rebel? We read of his pride and aspirations in Is.14.12-17.

The Tempter Unmasked

Presentation 09

What's the relevance of this background material? It helps us understand, who tempted Eve and why. We'll never understand the terrifying expressions of evil in the world if we fail to reckon with Satan's malevolence. He hates God but cannot harm him and so he turns his attention to that which is both vulnerable and dear to the heart of God - man! You will know of people who have wanted to hurt someone they were once close to. What do they do?

It is not uncommon for them to tear up their photograph! Man was made in God’s Image. He is much more than a photograph but a being who is precious to God. Satan has set about defacing that image, dehumanising man.

The Tempter Unmasked

Presentation 09

The Bible provides a balanced approach to the Tempter. It is neither dismissive of him nor obsessed by him. Scripture steers us between these unhealthy extremes. It encourages the same vigilance that we find in Jesus, who for 40 days in the wilderness resisted Satan's onslaughts.

Jesus further recognised Satan activity, when Satan used Peter as his puppet, a well meaning friend who attempted to dissuade him from his path of obedience. Jesus’ significant reply to Peter is found in Matt 16.23. "Get behind me Satan”.

Jesus recognised that at that moment in time Peter was nothing less than a dupe of the Devil.

The Tempter Unmasked

Presentation 09

In order to take temptation seriously we must take the Tempter seriously and recognise the conflict of which we are a part. Satan’s approach is often subtle and serpent-like. He aims to entice us without our recognising what is going on.

It’s for this reason that we read in 2 Cor. 11.14 that Satan masquerades as an ‘angel of light’. If we were to see him in his true colours we would not be so easily influenced by his tempting offers.

The Tempter Unmasked

Presentation 09

This passage not only exposes the personal character of the tempter it reveals his strategy. Satan is not particularly original or creative and often uses the same approach to the human heart.

First, he springs the temptation, when Eve is alone! Many temptations grow in the seedbed of solitude. People often succumb to temptations in solitude which they would resist in the company of other Christians. Christians can have a restraining Influence on one another. We are able to strengthen one another in our resolve to resist Satan.

That resolve is weakened when we are alone. That is often when temptation is most fierce cf Matt 4.1ff.

The Nature of Temptation

Presentation 09

Secondly, Satan’s method here is to sow doubts in Eve’s mind about the commands of God. Satan’s goal is to produce discontent with the One who issued the commands and as a result alienate Eve’s affection for God cf. v1, "Did God really say...from ANY tree..." With what sympathy and understanding he must have spoken those words. Implying how hard of God to impose such strictures. Satan knew very well that the command of God referred to only one tree but his question is framed to make Eve think that God was terribly unreasonable in asking what he did.

The Nature of Temptation

Presentation 09

Satan’s success is seen in Eve's reply, she does not clearly repeat the command of God but elaborates it, making it sound more rigorous and unreasonable "and you must not TOUCH it or you will die“ v3. Satan often attempts to make the laws of God seem unreasonable. We're less likely to break them if we see they are designed for our good, as boundary fences erected for our protection. Satan suggests they impose unreasonable restrictions on your life, they limit your freedom, they are barricades you must break out of if you're to enjoy life.

The Nature of Temptation

Presentation 09

Thirdly, Satan is halfway to victory once he engages Eve in conversation. He's a bit like a double glazing salesman once you let him into your home you are half way to signing a contract. John Owen writes:

"Whilst temptation knocks at the door we are at liberty, but when any temptation comes in and speaks with the heart, reasons with the mind and entices the emotions whether imperceptibly or knowingly we are entering into temptation.“

If we are to learn to deal with temptation then we must learn to close the door in its face. cf Joseph who fled temptation Gen.39.12.

The Nature of Temptation

Presentation 09

Fourthly, Satan challenged the truthfulness and trustworthiness of God, "you will not surely die“ v4. He encourages Eve, first to doubt the God’s word and then to deny it. He whispers, "don't take the warnings and threats of God too seriously". Many have listened to this line and have approached their Bibles with scissors in hand removing all that speaks of the reality of God's judgement and speaks of the accountability of men before a holy and righteous God.

In its place are pasted in the false hopes with which they've been fed; "God won't exclude anyone from heaven." And this despite the fact that Jesus had more to say about the certainty of judgement and the reality of hell than anyone else.

The Nature of Temptation

Presentation 09

Fifthly, Satan knows how best to bait his hook. He appealed to Eve's intellect. He tells a half truth. He tells her eating this fruit will have the effect of opening her eyes, "you will have a knowledge of good and evil which you did not have before" v5. Now in a sense that was true BUT its a bit like saying to a child, "If you put your hand in the fire you will have a knowledge of the fire you didn't possess before”.

Yes but at what a cost! Eve ended up with the kind of knowledge that only a guilty person could have. She would know evil as something which for the first time had tainted and tarnished her life. In the same way she would know good as that which was now something which would always lie tantalisingly beyond her reach.

The Nature of Temptation

Presentation 09

Satan is a master fisherman who varies his bait depending upon his subject. Sometimes his appeals are refined and intellectual on other occasions it is to the baser passions and appetites he addresses his temptations.C. S. Lewis captures Satan’s approach in his "Screwtape Letters" where he describes the way in which one of Satan’s minions set about temptation.

"I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in the British Museum. One day as he sat reading I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go in the wrong way. God of course was at his elbow. Before I knew where I was I saw my 20 years work begin to totter...I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control and suggested it was just about time for lunch."

The Nature of Temptation

Presentation 09

Finally Satan promises freedom by appealing to ambition, "You will be like God“ v5. His own ambition had been his downfall! He was now saying to Eve,

“Here is a chance to break free from God's apron strings. Now is the time to make your bid for independence, to be your own person. God is a spoilsport a bully who uses his commands to prevent you from realising your full potential. Take the fruit and be free of him!”

He is rightly called the ‘father of lies’. Rebellion would not to bring freedom but bondage. This supposed independence is a myth, an illusion, for to take the fruit would make her a slave to sin. Satan, like a contemporary drug pusher was saying your first fix will be a liberating experience. We know that addiction and the craving for more is not the road to liberty the addict was promised.

The Nature of Temptation

Presentation 09

Do you see the way in which Satan succeeded in alienating Eve’s heart from God? He has made God appear as a spoilsport, a cruel and suppressive tyrant! Satan presented rebellion against him as the route to true fulfilment and lifelong satisfaction!

This is a pattern that repeats itself in the lives of many men and women. Temptation promises to enrich but in fact impoverishes because its object is not our good but the disintegration of our lives.

With good reason Jesus counselled his disciples to, "Watch and pray".

Conclusion

Presentation 09