Jeff Schreve - When You Believe The Lie
In this second part of the series on Genesis 3, we see how believing the devil’s lie—that God is holding out and disobedience brings true life—leads to devastating consequences: fixating on the forbidden, disobeying the loving Lord, and experiencing the spiritual death that sin always brings.
Introduction to the Series
Last week, we began a sermon series on Genesis chapter 3. We are going to do a four-part series, and this is part two of this series. Genesis 3 is one of the most important passages in all of the Bible, because Genesis 3, the fall of man, lets us know why we are in the shape we are in today. If you take Genesis 3 out of the Bible, or if you just say, well, Genesis 3 is just a myth, it is just a story, it is just a fable, the Bible starts to fall apart.
Genesis 3 is a linchpin chapter that tells us about sin, that tells us about death and disease and decay. It explains so much, and it explains our desperate need for a Savior.
Sin and Salvation: Reviewing the Lie
This series is called «Sin and Salvation, ” and last week we looked at the serpent that came into the garden, the serpent who is the devil and Satan. The Bible makes that clear in Revelation 12:9—that is who spoke to Eve. And when he spoke to Eve, he introduced the lie that she believed. Look at it again, Genesis 3:1.
„Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, „You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?”’“ The woman said to the serpent, „From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’“
And the serpent said to the woman, „You surely shall not die, for God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.“
The Essence of the Devil’s Lie
In 45 words in the New American Standard, 45 words that came from the lips of the devil, he deceived Eve. He turned her into a pretzel. He got her to believe the lie. What is the lie? Well, the lie is that God is not good. The lie is that God is holding out on you. The lie is that you surely shall not die. The lie is that if you eat of this fruit, you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
You do not have to depend upon God; you can be your own god. The lie is this: in a nutshell, if you really want to experience life to the full, you do not do it by obeying God; you do it by disobeying God. That is the lie. Anytime you sin, anytime I sin, anytime we sin, we are believing the lie that this sin is going to bring satisfaction, this sin is going to meet my needs.
Going God’s way is not going to meet my needs, but cheating, lying, stealing, whatever it is, I need to do that because that is going to meet my needs.
Three Consequences of Believing the Lie
Well, what are the consequences of believing the devil’s lie over God’s truth? I want you to see from Genesis 3 three consequences that leap off the page, three consequences that happened to Eve and Adam and happened to you and me.
Consequence One: Fixating on the Forbidden
Consequence number one: when you believe the devil’s lie, you fixate on the forbidden. And that is exactly what Eve did after her encounter with the serpent. Now, we do not know time frames of this. We do not know when Genesis 3 began. We know that Genesis 2 ends wonderfully on day 6 where God creates Eve for Adam, and He says it is very good.
It goes from being good to Eve coming on the scene—it is very good. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Everything is wonderful in this perfect world: a perfect God and a perfect man, perfect woman—everything is innocent. But then some time passed; we do not know how long it was—maybe it was a week, maybe it was a month.
We do not know; it was before they ever conceived children, we know that. But that is when the devil comes on the scene, and the devil speaks to Eve. Adam is not with her when the devil is deceiving Eve. The devil likes to get you by yourself to turn you into a pretzel. And the Bible clearly says that it was not the man who was deceived; it was the woman who was deceived.
And so, she is by herself as she is talking to this serpent—this shining one is the Hebrew—this creature that is more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God has made. And as we said last week, it was not a talking snake; it was a talking devil. It was Satan that came to her disguised, because he always comes in disguise. He disguises himself as an angel of light.
Eve’s Fixation and the Fall
And so, after he works on her, then she goes to this tree, this forbidden tree with the forbidden fruit. And it says in Genesis 3:6, „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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate. And she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.“
Now, people have asked the question, well, what was the tree? What was the tree that we are talking about? It is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You say, okay, well, what kind of fruit tree is that? What was the fruit that they ate? Everybody wants to know that. The Bible does not tell us what it was.
But here is Eve, and she is fixated on this tree, whatever it was: „And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise.“ She is looking, and those three phrases are mentioned. Now, we go to the New Testament, 1 John chapter 2, and we see how the devil works.
The devil has one strategy and one plan, and he has not changed it in thousands of years. The Bible says, 1 John 2:15, „Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.“
Three Areas of Temptation
So, you see how those things correlate. So, when we believe the lie of the devil, we begin to fixate on that which God says no to, and you are setting yourself up for failure and disaster. Three bewares—let me give them to you.
- Beware of the lust of the flesh. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food. Man, she looked at that and she said—we will just use the apple since I have it here—she said, look at that, that looks so good. Now, she had all sorts of fruit trees to eat from, and they all looked good and they all were good for food.
- Genesis 2:9 says the Lord made all these trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. They were all like that, but she saw this one that was forbidden, and she said, man, I bet that tastes good. I bet that would be the best tasting fruit.
- And so, she was overcome with the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the flesh is the physical desire. It is like I just cannot wait to get this into my mouth so I can taste it and so I can enjoy it—it is a physical thing.
And so, that is the first area where we get tempted. And when you start fixating on the forbidden, then the lust of the flesh really comes out. Now, the Bible makes it clear, Romans 13, verse 14, „But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh with regard to its lusts.“
Now, Adam and Eve were right in their bodies, they were right in their soul, they were right in their spirit. And when you are right in your body, you are healthy. When you are right in your soul, you are happy. When you are right in your spirit, you are holy. Most people are unhealthy, unhappy, and unholy.
But Adam and Eve were healthy, happy, and holy until she began to listen to the devil, believe the lie: God is not good, God is not trustworthy, I am not going to die, and if I eat of this tree I will be like God. And so, the first temptation was in the physical: I have to have this; this is going to taste so good.
The Lust of the Eyes and Pride of Life
The second temptation: the lust of the eyes—that is in the soul. So, beware of the lust of the flesh; beware of the lust of the eyes. Now, the lust of the eyes means you see things and you say I have to have it. I have to have it. All that needs to be mine. I am incomplete unless I have this dress, this suit, this car, this house, this whatever, this boat.
The lust of the eyes speaks toward greed. And the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5, „Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have.“ Literally not desiring more and more and more. „For He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’“
We have Jesus, and when you have Jesus, you have everything you need. „And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.“ But here she is, she is staring at this fruit and she says, oh, I have to have that—it is going to taste so good. And then she says, and I have to have it because it is fruit that I do not have, and I just need to add to what I already have to be happy.
And then beware of the boastful pride of life. And we see that as the temptation comes to her: and you eat of this fruit and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And where does that hit her? That does not hit her in the physical, that does not hit her in the soul—that hits her in the spirit. And that is a temptation of the spirit: I can be like God.
And she saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. She fixated on the forbidden, and that is the first consequence when we believe the lie.
Consequence Two: Disobeying the Lord Who Loves Us
Consequence number two: not only do we fixate on the forbidden, but we disobey the Lord who loves us. When you fixate, when you believe the lie, you disobey the Lord who loves you—the Lord who has warned you, the Lord who has given you a command, not to steal your joy but to protect you.
When she saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eye, desirable to make one wise, and she said I have to have this—and she unhooked that fruit from the tree and she took a bite and ate. Now, Adam is with her at this time; he is not deceived. She is deceived, but Adam is with her.
And as Robert Lewis said, Adam watched to see if she would die. Okay, try it, Eve. We do not know; it does not really say. It is really hard to understand why Adam ate the fruit if he was not deceived. It is easy to understand why Eve did—she was deceived—but he was not deceived.
And as Robert Lewis said, he just waited to see if she would die, and she did not drop dead, and so he said, well, maybe it is okay for me to eat too. When you sin, when I sin, you know, one thing we are not thinking about is the repercussions of our sin.
When we are tempted with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and boastful pride of life, we are not thinking about where does this lead? They did not think about it. They were not thinking about the repercussions. They were not thinking about the Lord.
All she thought about was taking a bite of this forbidden fruit. It was good for food. It was a delight to the eyes. It was desirable to make one wise. And so she ate. You do not think about the consequences, you do not think about the repercussions, and you partake of the passing pleasures of sin and disobey the God who loves you.
And you believe the lie that in order to really have satisfaction in life, it does not come from obeying God—it comes from disobeying God.
Consequence Three: Experiencing Death from Sin
That leads us to our third consequence. You experience the death that comes from sin. The death that comes from sin. Now, look at it again in Genesis chapter 2, what the Lord had said—the one command. And this command was given to Adam because Eve was not created yet.
God gave it to Adam; Adam gave it to Eve. Eve did not get it very well, because as we saw last week, she took away from it. She did not say you shall surely die; she added to it—do not touch that tree. That is not what God said.
God said, „From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it. For in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.“ In the day you eat from it, dying, you will die. So, they ate of the tree.
Now, we all know when Eve ate the fruit, she ate first—she did not drop dead. Adam ate with her; he did not drop dead. They did not die in their bodies, but God had said in the day you eat of it, you will die. Yeah, dying, you will die—and they died immediately just like God said, but it was not in their body.
Adam lived to be 930 years old—it was not in their body, it was not in their soul, because Adam and Eve had a family and they had conversation. They had mind, will, and emotions—that did not die. Where did they die? They died instantly in their spirit.
That is the part that knew God. That was where their relationship with God—and that is where they died just like that. And the Bible says in Genesis 3:7, „Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.“
The Process of Sin Leading to Death
James chapter 1 gives us more insight into how this works—into the sin, where it starts in the mind, it starts in the heart, and it ends up in the actions. It says this, „But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust, ” by his own internal desire.
„Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.“ So, what do we see happening in Eve? She has this desire. Tree is good for food, it is a delight to the eyes, it is desirable to make one wise.
She fixates on the forbidden, then she partakes of the forbidden. And then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Dying, you will die—and they died immediately in their spirit.
And that death began to reign in them from their spirit to their soul to their body, and eventually they died.
Immediate Effects: Self-Focus, Guilt, and Shame
Now, what do we see happening the moment that they ate? Several things. First of all, their sin brought a focus on self—a focus on self that they never had before. After they ate, their eyes were opened. Remember the devil said if you eat of this fruit your eyes will be opened.
How does the devil lie to us? He takes some truth and he mixes it with error. And so, their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked. What does it say in Genesis 2:25? When the Lord closes the chapter on Genesis 2: and Adam and his wife, and they were both naked, and they were not ashamed—and everything was wonderful.
Adam and Eve have been naked their whole life, but now all of a sudden, they eat of this tree and their eyes are opened and they know that they are naked. And it says they experienced—as you read through the lines—they immediately experienced guilt and shame. It brought the need to cover up.
And so, now I know I am naked; I cannot be around my wife naked; she cannot be around me. There is a distrust there, there is an embarrassment there. They feel so exposed. So what are they going to do? They are going to sew fig leaves together to cover their nakedness, to cover their guilt and their shame.
Is it not interesting that in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ He cursed one tree? It is the fig tree—cursed the fig tree. Arthur Pink says it is to remind us about the fact that Adam and Eve and all of us do the same thing: we try and cover ourselves with our manmade garments.
We try to sew fig leaves together of our good works—anything that will make us presentable to God, anything that says I can cover my nakedness. And the Lord says, no, you cannot. And I cursed the fig tree—the very tree that you tried to use the leaves of to cover your nakedness, to make yourself acceptable to Me.
Because you will never be acceptable to Me coming to Me on your own merits, on your own good works. They felt the need to cover up. They sewed fig leaves and made themselves loin coverings.
Fear and Hiding from God
And then their sin brought fear and hiding from God—fear and hiding from God. Look what it says in 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, ” they did not feel so covered up anymore.
„The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then 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, so I hid myself.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? ’“
Who told you that you were naked? You have been naked your whole life, but now you realize that you are naked and you are hiding from Me. You have never done that before, Adam—why are you hiding from Me? Because Adam felt naked and afraid. It is the first time in Scripture that we read about fear. I was afraid.
You know, when we sin against the Lord, it brings guilt and it brings shame and it brings a desire to hide from God. We do not want to come to the light. And is it not interesting—we talk about seekers and we say, well, we need to have our services be more seeker oriented.
The Bible says that man does not seek after God. There is none righteous, not even one. There is no one who seeks after God. Now, I agree that when people come and they do not have a relationship with Jesus, we do not need to be speaking in such deep terms that they do not know what we are talking about.
We need to help them along when we talk about things in Scripture. Hey, this is where we get this and this is what it says—and people can follow along that way. But this idea that people seek God—no, they do not; they hide from God.
Jesus said light has come into the world and this is the message: that men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds are evil. For they do not come to the light because their deeds would be exposed.
That is so true in Adam, because he is hiding from God. But as Adrian Rogers said in his eloquent, poetic voice, neither leaves nor trees nor distance nor darkness nor anything could hide them from the all-knowing, all-seeing eye of God.
Hebrews 4:13 says that the Lord sees us—that we cannot hide from Him. All Scripture—the Bible is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
For there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And God asked the question, where are you? Now, anytime God asks a question in Scripture, He is not asking for information. God knew exactly where he was; He needed Adam to confess where he was.
And so, Adam is basically saying I am not where I ought to be. Where are you? I am not where I ought to be. I ought to be walking with You in the cool of the day. That was the highlight of my day. Not where I ought to be.
Why are you not where you ought to be? Because something is wrong inside of me—because I ate of the fruit that You commanded me not to eat. And You said that in the day that I ate from it I would surely die, and Your Word is true and the devil is a liar.
When lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
Conclusion: Choosing God’s Way
Are you going to find love and joy and peace and satisfaction in life from disobeying God or from obeying God? The lie that comes from the devil says you will find it if you disobey the Lord. The truth that comes from God says that the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.
The only way you get in on that—and satisfaction for your life and fulfillment for your life—is going God’s way. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Only two ways to go.