The Lord Looks on the Heart

I Samuel 16:1-13

Introduction

The Capital One credit card company has commercials that ask “What’s in your wallet?” They want you to think that theirs is the best credit card and after giving demonstration of why they think so, they ask, “What’s in your wallet.” Lots of people might be interested in that kind of a question, but God is not asking that question.

In the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” in the song “Matchmaker” Tevye’s two daughters, Chava and Hodel, fearful of the kind of husband the matchmaker will bring them, sing: “I wouldn’t holler if he were as handsome as anything.” Lots of people might ask that kind of a question, but God is not asking that question.

What is the question God is asking? God does not ask, “What’s in your wallet?” or “What are your abilities?” or “What’s your appearance?” God asks, “What’s in your heart?” We read in I Samuel 16:7, “The Lord looks on the heart.”

This morning, we will study I Samuel 16:1-13 in order to help us answer the question, “What’s in your heart?”

I.               God Calls a King

A.              Fear and Progress

Samuel had anointed Saul as king and had a lot invested in him. He anointed him, he challenged him, tried to help him do right, but Saul proved to be a disappointment. He did not follow after God and there were several incidents of serious failure in which Saul had demonstrated lack of trust in God and had chosen disobedience instead of following God.

The story of the choice of David as the next king began when God said to Samuel, in spite of his reluctance, “It’s time to move on.”

Yet Samuel was afraid to move on. He had seen the violence and jealousy which Saul was capable of and was afraid that if he openly moved on, he and all those whom he involved in this would be in jeopardy from Saul and his madness. He feared and there was reason to fear, but God was gracious and gave Samuel a way that would allow him to anoint the new king but not raise any suspicion for Saul. The pretext for going to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons was that he would go there to have a sacrifice with Jesse and the elders of that place.

As he came to Bethlehem, the people of Bethlehem were afraid of Samuel and they asked him, “Do you come peaceably?” The likely reason for this fear was that there had been times when Samuel had come to a town to announce judgment on that town for its failure to follow God. So they feared this judgment. Yet Saul assured them that he had come peaceably and had come to sacrifice to the Lord.

At this time, there was not a central sanctuary. There were numerous places where people offered sacrifices to God and so it could be done where Samuel chose. We sometimes think that when a sacrifice was to be made, it involved the complete burning of an animal, but that is not what happened. When sacrifices were made, portions of the animals were sacrificed and burned up and portions of the animal were cooked and eaten in a sacrificial banquet meal. This was what the plan was for Jesse and the other leaders of Bethlehem. There would be a time of worship and a sacrifice made and that meant that there would also be a meal eaten by those attending. So Samuel instructed them to sanctify themselves, that is to prepare themselves for an encounter with God and then he also sanctified them. Following these preparations Jesse, his sons and the other leaders were invited to the sacrifice and the meal.

B.              The Process of Choice

During this meal, Samuel had an assignment that was clear. He was to anoint the one God chose as king. All he knew was that it was to be one of Jesse’s sons. It seems that he must have communicated something of the assignment to Jesse, although we don’t the extent of what was communicated.

So the sons of Jesse were brought before him from the oldest to the youngest. The first one brought before Samuel was an impressive specimen. The text speaks about “his appearance” and the “the height of his stature.” Samuel may have looked at him and thought about the time when Saul was chosen. His appearance was a factor in his choice as king in I Samuel 9:2 where the comment is, “There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.” In reading the biography of Pierre Trudeau, it was interesting to consider the shift that took place when he became Prime Minister. By this time almost everyone had a TV and for the first time in history, the exposure he received and what he looked like had to sell on television. Some say that this was one of his advantages (much like his son among female viewers today). But the appearance of a leader did not only become relevant when television became common. Even at the time of our story, it happened. Yet God did not choose him. In verse 7 we have the primary reason and what I think is a key verse when it says, “…the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

One by one all the rest of the sons of Jesse were brought before Samuel and each one was rejected until there were none left. Since Samuel knew it had to be one of the sons of Jesse he asked, “Are there any left.” The answer of Jesse seems almost to say, “I have shown you the best of my children. The one left is the youngest and hardly counts. He is with the sheep.” But Samuel waited until he was summoned and also came. When he appeared, it is interesting to note that he was also not bad looking. The text says, “…he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.” So the matter of appearance was still somehow a factor.

Yet this time, when Samuel saw him, God told him, “This is the one, anoint him.”

C.               David Anointed

David was God’s choice and so Samuel anointed him and immediately we read that the Spirit “came mightily” upon him. The Spirit did not come upon him until he was anointed, but from that point on the Spirit powerfully influenced David and was God present with him in all he did. After the anointing and the sacrifice, Samuel left and nothing became of it until later, but the choice had been made and the direction was set for something that would reach far into the future.

D.              A Critical Juncture in History

The story that takes place in this chapter is a story that represents a critical juncture in the entire history of God’s people. In Genesis 49:10, the beginning of this history is declared in the prophecy of Jacob as he lay on his death bed and gave a blessing to each of his 12 sons, the 12 tribes of Israel. Among the twelve sons who are blessed was Judah, about whom this passage says, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his."

The story we have just looked at gives us the next step in that history of Judah’s reign when David, who was of the tribe of Judah, was anointed king of Israel.

During the life of David, the history was moved forward in the prophecy made to David by God through the prophet, Nathan, who said in II Samuel 7:12, "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body…and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever…Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever."

When Jesus was born, this prophecy was fulfilled as we read in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1, "An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David…" It is declared completed in Revelation 5:5, "Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

So you can see how important the appointment of David as king was in the entire plan which God had for the eventual redemption of humanity and indeed of the whole earth.

II.            The Lord Looks on the Heart

As David was chosen, it is interesting that both Eliab and David were good looking and attractive. Yet one was chosen and the other was not. Clearly the key difference was that God saw something in the heart of David that set him apart from the others. What was in David’s heart that was commendable to God? As we reflect on this, it is an important question, not only to understand why David was chosen, but also for each one of us. I believe the story invites all of us to ask the question, “What is in my heart?”

In David’s case, what was in his heart was revealed as time went on and much of what was in his heart is recorded in the Psalms. So let’s look at some of the things that were in David’s heart and as we do, let us ask ourselves, is this also in my heart?

A.              Trust in God’s Ability

In Psalm 60 the superscription indicates that this Psalm is “of David; for instruction; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-Zobah, and when Joab on his return killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.”

At least some of this story is described in I Chronicles 19. Verse 10 describes the situation, "When Joab saw that the line of battle was set against him both in the front and in the rear, he chose some of the picked men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans; the rest of his troops he put in the charge of his brother Abishai, and they were arrayed against the Ammonites."

In Psalm 60:1, David expresses the natural fear which one might have in a situation when the enemies are in front and behind. He says, "O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; now restore us!" But fear was not the only thing in David’s heart. As we come to the end of the Psalm, we read in the last verse, "With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes." And so it happened in that story. They defeated the enemy.

David’s heart had a deep trust in the ability of God. He trusted God’s power and God’s justice. He trusted in the promises which God had made. He said in Psalm 25:2, "O my God, in you I trust..." As a result of such trust he was quick to call upon God in any and every situation as he expressed in Psalm 17:6, "I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me, hear my words."

Is our heart one which trusts in God’s ability and calls upon Him?

B.              Willingness to Confess Sin

When we sin, some of our common responses may be to deny that we have done wrong, to declare that it wasn’t so bad, to feel guilty, but not do anything about it or conversely to acknowledge and confess our sins. Only the last is a response after God’s heart.

David had sinned seriously when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then tried to cover it up by having her husband killed. This was a terrible time in the life of David and in II Samuel 11:27 we have God’s opinion of what he had done. There we read, “…the thing that David had done displeased the LORD,"

God was displeased, but it wasn’t until about a year later that one day the prophet Nathan came to tell David a story. He told him about a terrible injustice done in the land. The story grabbed David’s heart and he became very angry at the injustice, but just at the point at which he was about to try to find out who did it and to get to the bottom of this wrong done, Nathan told David, in II Samuel 12:7, “You are the man.”

It is in the response of David that we once again see the heart of this man. He immediately confessed, in II Samuel 12:13, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Later, David wrote about this experience of sin and confession and we read in Psalm 32:3-5, "While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah"

            Is our heart one that readily confesses sin? It is such a heart that God seeks.

C.               Confidence in God’s Steadfast Love

Psalm 57 was a Psalm of David written, as the superscription says, “when he fled from Saul in the cave.” This was a fearful and difficult time for David. On the one hand, he knew that he had been anointed as the next king, yet Saul was making his life miserable and he had every reason to fear the madness of Saul and to fear for his life. What was it that sustained him in this time?

It was more than a trust in the ability of God. Twice in this Psalm David made mention of the steadfast love of God. In Psalm 57:3 we read, "…God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness." And in Psalm 57:10 we read, "For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the clouds."

With the things that I have been going through lately with my health, I have been greatly encouraged and challenged by a similar phrase in another Psalm. Psalm 63:3 says, "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you."

This is what was in the heart of David. What kind of a heart is able to make such a statement? Is it not the heart of one who is absolutely convinced that we are not living by the whims of a world gone mad or the power of an evil person or the things that happen by random chance? This is the heart of one who knows that he is being cared for by one who loves him. This is the heart of one who is able to say, “No matter what happens, no matter how difficult it gets, no matter how much I don’t understand, I am willing to live in the arms of God and to understand that they are loving arms. This was David’s heart. Does our heart trust in the steadfast love of God? It is the same heart that is able to rest in the knowledge that “The Lord is my shepherd.”

D.              Thirst for God

In human relationships, we do not look favorably on friendships that exist only to gain an advantage. If we would befriend someone just for what we could get from them, that would not be honored by anyone. Such friendships exist but usually don’t last. Yet don’t we sometimes approach God with just such a motive? We follow God, whether consciously or not, for what we can get from Him. This is not the heart God seeks.

David did not have such a heart. Yes, he prayed to God, looked to him for help, asked for help and trusted in his help, but the heart of David went much deeper. He sought God, not only for the things God could give him, but for God Himself. He expressed such a heart often. We read in Psalm 16:2 & 5, "I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you…The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot." We read in Psalm 62:1, "For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation." And in Psalm 63:1, "O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

            Is this also in my heart? Is it in your heart?

E.              A Spirit of Thankfulness

A study of the Psalms gives us many other revelations of what God saw in the heart of David and they encourage and challenge us. Let me briefly mention only one more. We see that after all he experienced, David also had a thankful heart. Psalm 9:1-2 says, "I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."

Conclusion

When Samuel chose David as the next king of Israel the critical factor was, “What’s in your heart?”

            When the early church chose those who would serve at tables, those whom we have come to identify as deacons, servants or caregivers, they looked for similar qualifications. We read in Acts 1:24, "…they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen"

            God is still looking for hearts like this among those who will be His people, those who will be His servants. He is looking for those whose hearts belong to Him and are growing ever closer.

What’s in your heart?

You Must Be Born From Above

John 3:1-17

Introduction

I have taught canoeing at camp. As I have done so, I have watched people who had never canoed before look with fear at the canoe, step awkwardly into the canoe and nearly tip and then paddle awkwardly. Then after a period of instruction and practice, I have seen them grow in their proficiency. They stepped into the canoe lightly and effectively, they were able to make the canoe go where they wanted with efficient, almost effortless paddling. With enough training, practice and effort we can learn almost anything.

Can that be said of God’s call to us in I Peter 1:16? If we work hard at it and if we learn the right things, can we be holy as He is holy?

That is what Nicodemus was wondering. He was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were those members of Jewish society who made a concerted effort to obey the law and the traditions of the elders. In fact Barclay says that every “Pharisees took an oath “in front of three witnesses that they would spend all their lives observing every detail of the scribal law.”

            He came to Jesus at night, perhaps for fear of others of his sect finding out, or perhaps because he wanted uninterrupted time with the teacher to discuss matters of mutual interest. He wanted to know, can we be holy enough that God will accept us?

            He had seen something in Jesus that intrigued him and addressed Jesus by saying, “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Other Pharisees said that Jesus was from Satan, but Nicodemus was more gracious than that and recognized some divine connection. Was it academic interest in the way to God that brought him to Jesus or had he seen something in Jesus that caused him to wonder if Jesus really knew the way to God?

            As Jesus answered his question, he also answers our question. I invite you to examine John 3:1-17 with me.

I.     The Necessity of Being Born From Above 3-7

A.   You Can’t See the Kingdom without It vs. 3

Jesus didn’t beat around the bush, but answered the question quite directly in verse 3. Please take careful note of what Jesus said. He said that “no one” can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. There are no exceptions. There are no exceptions for good people. There are no exceptions for Jewish people. There are no exceptions for Pharisees. No one can enter without a birth from above.

It is the kingdom of God, the very presence of God that no one can enter without this birth from above. In other words, no one can be acceptable to God or go into the presence of God or go to God and certainly not be holy as He is holy without this new birth.

We already know the reason for this because of the passages which we studied in the last two weeks. God is an absolutely holy God. From Psalm 99 we saw that God is majestic, glorious, a righteous judge, a forgiving God, who nevertheless holds everyone accountable for every wrong they do.

Last week, as we examined Genesis 3, we saw that we are anything but holy. We made a deliberate choice to disobey the one exception God had made and we sinned and as a result separation from God has come into the world and we are completely and hopelessly dead in our relationship with God and this lost and broken condition is true of every person because every person has similarly sinned.

Because of God’s holiness and our unholiness, the only way we can be holy is if we are born from above.

B.   You Can’t Enter God’s Kingdom without Spirit Birth vs. 5-6

But how is this possible? Nicodemus wanted to know. It seems as if he desired this possibility, but he had no concept about how that was possible. To him it seemed as impossible as if one could go back into his mother’s womb and be born again.

Jesus answered that the way to be born from above involves two steps. Jesus said, “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit.”

1.    Repentance

There has been considerable debate about what being born of water means. Some suggest it could refer to Christian baptism, some that it could refer to human birth (the next verse could imply that) and some suggest that it refers to the baptism of John. My preferred interpretation is that it refers to the baptism of John. The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance and it is repentance which is a necessary part of being born from above. We cannot be born from above unless we admit our need of change. We cannot be born from above unless we agree with God that we have disobeyed Him and have broken our relationship with Him.

2.    Spirit Change

The second part of being born from above is that we must be “born of the Spirit.” In verse 6, Jesus picked up on the statement of Nicodemus that it is impossible to be born a second time from your mother. In verse 6, Jesus agreed with Nicodemus and indicated that a second human birth would still only accomplish a human result. He said, “What is born of the flesh is flesh.”

What he was saying is that any kind of human renewal will only accomplish a human renewal. If we could obey all the laws, all we would accomplish would be a check list of good works, which are unable to make us holy. Every religion in the world is the same. It is “flesh giving birth to flesh.” This includes much of what passes for the Christian religion. Every religion seeks to change us by giving us human duties or practices which accomplish human results. They are imperfect because we fail in them and therefore they can never bring us to the holiness which is necessary in order to be holy as God is holy.

There is only one thing that can make us holy as God is holy. There is only one thing that can bring us to see the kingdom of God and that is being “born of the Spirit.” The way to be born from above is to be born of the Spirit of God. It is an act of God, which only God can accomplish. Morris wrote, “…what is asked of a man is not more law, but the power of God within him to remake him completely.”

            This was a radical concept for Nicodemus because he and his fellow Pharisees had such a strong sense of what they had to do. They had a hard time understanding, as we do that the only possible way to enter the kingdom of God is if God makes the change in us. Barclay says, “…when the Spirit takes possession of us the Spirit does what only the Spirit can do and the defeated life of human nature becomes the victorious life of God.”

C.   You Must Be Born From Above vs. 3, 7

Now some of you will be using different translations and some of you have memorized this passage, or at least parts of it and you are wondering about the wording that I am using. It is true that all of the translations that we are familiar with use the phrase “born again.” This includes NIV and KJV. The NRSV uses “born from above.” Why the difference and why am I using the phrase “born from above?”

The Greek word used here can be translated in three different ways. It can be translated as “from the beginning” or “again” or “from above.”

Nicodemus wondered about being born again when he suggested the impossibility of returning to one’s mother’s womb and being born a second time. When Jesus answered, he corrected his understanding and said that one must be “born of the Spirit.” To be born again could imply some kind of a renewal effected by some change of heart in us or a change in our mind. It almost seems that Nicodemus was asking Jesus, “Is it really possible to start all over again?” Jesus, however, was pointing in a completely different direction. He was not saying that it is possible to start again on the right foot, or that a revival of some kind will help us do it better the second time. Jesus was saying and is saying to us that the only possible way to enter into the kingdom of heaven is if God does something to change the essential nature within us. Nothing less than God doing something in us makes it possible to enter the kingdom of heaven. That is why I prefer the translation “born from above.” The only way to enter the kingdom of God is if God changes us. Verse 7 uses a common Biblical word that declares the absolute necessity of this when it says we “must” be born from above.

II.  The Mystery of Being Born From Above 8-12

How does this birth from above, this radical change happen? Where do we see it if God is the one doing it?

When you translate something from one language to another, there are some things that are very difficult to translate. They only make sense in the source language because of words used or the nuance of certain words. That happens in verse 8. The Greek word for wind is “pneuma” and the Greek word for Spirit is also “pneuma.” It is exactly the same word and only the context helps us understand which word is meant. When we understand that, we can understand something of the beauty of this passage and the message it contains.

Christina Rosetti has written a poem: Who Has Seen the Wind?

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.

            That is what Jesus was saying here. We cannot see the wind, but when the leaves rustle or the trees bend or we feel the breeze on our faces or we hear it, we know that the wind is blowing.

            Then Jesus went on to say, “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Yet just as it was for Nicodemus, this is difficult to understand. Sometimes we urge people to make a decision by following certain steps. But if they make a change in their life by our urging, have they really been born from above? Being born from above is not something that can be manipulated. It is something that the Spirit accomplishes in the life of a person and you can’t see it happen, but you surely can see its effects in a changed life.

            Sometimes we determine that we will do the right things, but being born from above is not something mechanical for which we can subscribe to a formula. It is something the Spirit accomplishes and when the Spirit has caused a person to be born from above, the evidence is all over the person’s life.

There is mystery about what God does and how He does it and when He does it and that is how it is with everyone born of the Spirit. It is our responsibility to tell the story of Jesus. It is our responsibility to invite people to respond to God. It is our responsibility to encourage people to follow Jesus, but it is always a mystery of God as to how and when they are born from above.

III.          The Way to Be Born From Above 13-17

So being born from above is a mysterious work of the Spirit of God. Yet it is not something which requires no response from us. When the Spirit of God begins to work in our heart, first of all convicting us, then drawing us and finally changing us, there is something that we must do.

A.   In The One Who Came Down 13&17

What we must do has everything to do with Jesus.

Because this is a work from above, it takes someone from above to do it. In verse 13, Jesus pointed this out when He said, “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” Jesus could entered the Kingdom of God because He had come from the kingdom of God in the first place. Because He came from heaven He is able to make the change necessary in us. It is only those who know Him and have a relationship with Him who will be born from above.

When we spoke about the holiness of God and recognized our unholiness, we acknowledged that we were under condemnation. We somehow knew and sensed that there was no hope. In verse 17, we have the good news that Jesus did not come into the world in order to reinforce this message of condemnation. Jesus came into this world to save it. He came into the world in order to bring us the birth from above. It is only through Jesus that it is possible to be born from above. It is only in Jesus that we can see the kingdom of God. It is only in Jesus that we can be holy as God is holy.

So when the Spirit begins to work in our hearts, it is a response to Jesus that is necessary. We must acknowledge that He is the Son of God who has come into this world to save it.

B.   By Believing in Him 14-16

As we acknowledge Jesus it is by believing in Him that we receive the birth from above.

In verses 14-16, this is the point that is made. Jesus makes reference to an intriguing story from the Old Testament, which is found in Numbers 21. In this story, the people of Israel became impatient in their long journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. They began to complain and God punished them by sending serpents to torment them. Anyone who was bitten by one of these serpents died. The punishment was severe. Moses was told by God to make a bronze replica of a serpent and God promised that everyone who looked to that serpent would not die of the poison.

Jesus used this as an illustration of what it means to believe in Jesus. He mentioned that “Moses lifted up the serpent.” Then he said “so must the Son of man be lifted up.” This is a clear reference to the death of Jesus on the cross. In the wilderness the people simply had to look at the bronze serpent and they were spared. Similarly, our response is that we must look to Jesus. That is what it means to believe. It means to look to Jesus. Both verse 15 and 16 point us to the means by which we will receive the birth from above and that is by believing in Jesus. Believing in Jesus, or looking to Jesus, means trusting that He is who God has declared Him to be - the Son of God who cares for us, forgives us and gives us life. Believing in Jesus means to place all our hope in Him.

Conclusion

We meet Nicodemus again on two occasions in the gospel of John. In John 7:50-52, when a group of Pharisees were questioning Jesus, Nicodemus challenged them to listen to Jesus before they condemned him. In John 19:39, he provided some of the spices with which Jesus was wrapped for burial. Is this the wind blowing? Is this evidence that He believed in Jesus and experienced the birth from above?

And what about us? Have you been born from above? Have you recognized the holiness of God and repented of your sin to acknowledge that the holy God is right in barring you from heaven? Have you believed in Jesus? Is your salvation accomplished by the work that God has done in you?

I speak these things to those here who may not yet have accepted Jesus. I would encourage you that if the Spirit is nudging you, please respond to His invitation and put your trust in Him and you will be born from above.

I am also speaking to those who have identified themselves as Christians. I am speaking to Christians to provoke us to think about the nature of our relationship with God. Have we embraced a creed or a law or have we been changed by the Spirit, have we been born from above?

            The promise of this text is that if we are born from above? We will see the kingdom of God. We will enter the kingdom of God. We will have eternal life. We will not perish and we will be holy as He is holy.

            Yet as those who have been born from above, we understand that we will not behave in a holy way all the time right away. We will be acceptable to God right away because of the one who came down. By believing in Jesus, God sees us in Jesus and declares us fit to be in His kingdom.

We will grow in holiness as we continue daily to draw near to Jesus. Keith Price writes, “…’conversion’ to Christ means only that my journey to knowing God has begun. The process will take a lifetime – and then some! If God has truly wrought a work in my heart, I will inevitably be drawn to Him in increasing measure.”

And when Jesus returns, we will see God and He will make it possible for us to be holy as He is holy.

I thank God that He has made it possible for us to be holy as He is holy by making it possible for us to be born from above.

How Did We Get Into This Mess?

Genesis 2:15-17 & 3:1-7

Introduction

We were gathered around the living room of our home. Our youngest grand child(at the time) was on the floor and had learned to crawl. Or was it your grandchild? Or your child? Or you? In any case, he or she had been told, “Don’t touch the buttons on the TV. The child was surrounded by toys - big ones and small ones, all colorful and intriguing and completely accessible. Yet, you know what happened? He or she made a beeline for the buttons. And that is the story!

            Let us read it from Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-7.

Last week we talked about the holiness of God and saw how He is King, is majestic and glorious, the righteous judge, forgiving, welcoming and yet holding those who sin accountable. We were encouraged to take the complete understanding of God’s holiness seriously and give it complete and appropriate weight so that the fear of the Lord is our proper response.

This Holy God has invited us to be holy as He is holy, yet we know that we are not holy at all. We are a mess. Paul puts it concisely in Romans 3:23, "…since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…" and in Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned…"

How did we get into this mess? These verses in Genesis 2 & 3 help us answer this question.

I.                God’s Blessing

A.               You May Eat Freely

The story begins with a room full of toys. Life began with great blessing. The man lived in a newly created world and God put him into a beautiful garden and gave him meaningful work in that garden. He gave him meaning by giving him responsibility. He was to “keep” the garden. In order to keep the garden he had creative work to do. I believe that this indicates that he was not just hoeing, but also planning and transplanting and making it a beautiful place.

On top of that, he had everything he needed. God gave him the blessing of access to an abundance of food. God said, “Eat freely.” God said, “Eat of every tree in the garden.” It was a promise of great blessing in a place of great abundance. One of the joys of my life has been going out into my garden in the morning. When there is hardly a breeze and the sun is shining on the trees in the cool of the morning that is a beautiful time. I take my bowl out and pick mound of fresh raspberries, go inside and add Corn Flakes and milk and enjoy a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit right off the plant. That is what Adam had only he could pick blueberries and apples and bananas and every kind of fruit. HE could pick any kind he wanted any time of day all the time. What abundance! What blessing! What freedom to enjoy!

B.               Except One Tree

It is strange, however, how quickly we focus on the one exception that God put in place. God gave abundance and freedom and one exception. There was one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden that was off limits. They could not eat of it. There were, in fact, two special trees in the garden. Genesis 2:9 says, "…the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." It seems that there was no prohibition against eating from the tree of life. The only tree they could not eat from was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Yet even this exception was intended as a blessing. Human beings were, after all, created in the image of God. A part of the image of God is the freedom to choose. The tree was placed there not as an exception as much as an opportunity to allow them to choose to enjoy the blessing of abundance which God had provided for them. It had to be there, for it was only by giving them this choice that they could act like God and choose to follow Him.

C.               God’s Warning

In order to encourage them to obey this command, God warned them that there would be consequences if they chose to disobey. I used to do the same thing to my children, telling them that if they did not obey there would be consequences. The consequence was that they would die. At this time, they had no idea what that would mean because they had not yet seen death.

The phrase which is used in this passage is actually quite interesting. There are two words for death in Hebrew in this verse. A direct translation would be, “to die you will die.” This has been translated to give a good sense in many translations like NLT – “you are sure to die” or NIV – “you will surely die.” This is to affirm that there is a certainty about the judgment.

This then is the starting point and it must be seen as a starting point of blessing, freedom, abundance and choice.

II.             Satan’s Temptation

So if everything started out so good, how did we get into this mess? The source of the trouble comes from two places. It comes from outside of the human and it comes from within. The things that happened in Genesis 3 are how things happen even today. The things that Satan did to tempt Eve to disobey God are the things that Satan does to tempt us to disobey God today. These are the methods that Satan uses. He used them when he tempted Jesus and he continues to use them when he tempts us. In part, we got into this mess because of the temptation of Satan.

We could speculate about why a serpent is mentioned and could a serpent really talk and why didn’t Eve realize that this was not normal, but that would not really help us understand. That the serpent is Satan is clear from what is said in other parts of the Bible.  For example, Revelation 12:9 speaks of, "The great dragon…that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world…”

A.               An Intriguing Question

The beginning point of Satan’s deception is an intriguing question. He didn’t attack the woman nor did he directly confront her at first. He simply raised a question. The question is clearly designed to cause her to doubt and it introduces a different way of thinking about the exception which was in the garden. He asked, “Did God say?” He raised a question about God which would open the door for doubt about God. His statement was really quite ridiculous. He asked, “Did God say you shall not eat from any tree in the garden?” Well he knew and Eve knew that God had said the exact opposite. God had said, “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden.”

The question was not intended to be serious. It was intended to raise questions about God. It raised a question about the goodness of God. It invited her to exercise her freedom of choice to wonder whether God really was good if he had made such a restriction. It raised the possibility of judging God and questioning his motives and his intentions.

All temptation comes to us in the same way. We are enticed to wonder about the goodness of God and we are enticed to put ourselves in the place of judgment over God and His Word. For example, the question may come into our mind, would it really be that bad to: hold a grudge or to fail to forgive or whatever we are tempted with.

B.               An Outright Lie

The second tactic of Satan was an outright lie. The wording is interesting. We noted earlier that God said that if they ate of the tree, “to die, you shall die” using the word “die” twice in succession. Satan used the same words in the same order, but prefaced it with the word, “not.” In other words, he was directly contradicting what God had said. He was calling God a liar. Jesus recognized that this was the nature of Satan when He said in John 8:44, "…When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

The lie functions to raise questioning to doubt. He began his enticement with “Did God say?” and now increased the deception by saying, “God did not say.” If she would believe this, it would remove the fear of consequences for her action. If she believed Satan, she would not need to fear that she would die, because, she would not die because God had not told the truth.

If believed, the lies of Satan are a powerful enticement because God’s truth is dismissed. Every sin we ever sin must at some point entertain the thought that God is a liar. For example, if we yield to the temptation to use retail therapy to overcome our blues, we believe the lie that God is not helping us. If we yield to the temptation to hate someone, we believe the lie that God will not make all things right.

C.               An Enticing Possibility

Having removed the fear of punishment, Satan raised an enticing possibility. In fact, he raised three enticing possibilities – “your eyes will be opened, you will be like God and you will know good and evil.”

The enticing possibility of having one’s eyes opened also puts God into question, for it suggests that God has placed limits to human knowledge. It focused on the supposed limitations which God had put on Eve. It implies that if people are really free and have a choice, they should know what God knows. The implication is that God has limited us.

The enticing possibility of being like God is an outright lie because she was already like God. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, so Satan promised something that was already true. How often our temptations entice us to grasp for something that we already have! How often our temptations entice us to seek for assurance when God has already promised that he will never leave us or forsake us. This temptation also twisted the truth to suggest that God was not trying to prevent her from eating from the tree by warning of death, but rather that God was trying to prevent her from eating from the tree because He was afraid that she would become like Him.

The enticing possibility of knowing good and evil is deeply twisted. They already knew what was good, for as God created the world, He already declared all that He had made as good. The suggestion of this enticement was that God is not good. We know this enticement all too well when we feel that it would be OK to do something God has told us not to do because it would be so much fun and we believe that God is just spoiling our fun.

III.           Temptation’s Enticement

So we are in this mess because of Satan’s deceptive temptations. But we are also in this mess because of what happens within us and we see this in what happened to Eve.  

A.               A Feeling of Restriction

Even in her first response to the serpent, we can see that she was already yielding to the enticement. Although she denied Satan’s statement that they could eat from any tree by affirming what God said, she emphasized the limitation and indicated that God said, “…nor shall you touch it.” God never said that and her declaration of this limitation shows that she was open to further enticement and that she had caught a hint of God’s limitation and was beginning to see it as a restriction. Wenham says that Eve began to believe that God is “painted as a little harsh and repressive.”

Temptation always begins to turn us in such a small subtle way. It begins with a small accommodation, with a small change in our attitude and a small step towards a negative attitude.

B.               Good to Eat

From this tiny shift in attitude, she tumbled quickly. John speaks of the descent into sin with the same evil desires in 1 John 2:16, "for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world." It was to these things that she succumbed. The first enticement that worked within her heart was that she saw that “the tree was good for food.” This is the “desire of the flesh” spoken of in I John 2. She understood that there was something good about the fruit as food. Already she was making judgments about what was good and what was not good and she judged that the fruit was good.

How twisted we can be when we make decisions about what is good that contradict what God has said. For example, we are tempted to gamble because we ignore the Word of God which teaches us to have a spirit of generosity, to depend on God’s provision and not to love money. Instead we believe that it would be so good to win some money.

C.               Good to Look At

The second enticement is stated by I John 2 to be “…the desire of the eyes.” Eve saw that “it was a delight to the eyes.” Temptation is never seen as an ugly thing when we are enticed by it. It always looks like exactly what we want or need. It is seen, through our twisted eyes, as beautiful. MCC recently put out a booklet entitled, “Pornography: Lies, Truth and Hope” In it they talk about how “Pornography has long-term negative effects that will damage and even destroy intimate relationships.” Yet that damage is not seen at the beginning of the enticement. At the beginning it is seen as “A delight to the eyes.” And so it is with every sin.

D.              Good to Make Wise

The third step is identified in I John 2:16 as “the pride in riches” perhaps better translated as “the boastful pride of life” in NASB. In a similar way Eve was tempted because she saw that “it was desired to make one wise.” She believed the lies of Satan that she would not die and now she believed that she would indeed find fulfillment by eating of the tree.

And so temptation always entices us. It promises that our life will be better and that we can get what we really want if we yield to the temptation. For example, if we slander someone we believe that it will make us look better and so we yield to this temptation. In every case, the enticement from within is a quest for what is good apart from God’s provision.

E.               The Sin

So when she believed Satan’s lies and gave in to her own desires, we read that “She ate.” She did what God had told her not to do. She also gave some to her husband and “he ate.” He had not been absent in this whole conversation. The text says that he “was with her.” Knowingly and deliberately they did what God had told them not to do. That is the final step in all sin. It is a decision to act against what God has said.

IV.           Was Satan Right?

The stunning thing we encounter next is the realization that Satan appears to have been right.

A.               They Knew

As soon as they ate, “their eyes were opened” just as Satan had said would happen. But was this a good thing? They had always known what was good. They did not need to have their eyes opened in order to know what was good. What they discovered instead was that their eyes suddenly became aware of what was evil. They “knew that they were naked” and that was not a good thing. Before they had been naked and it had been a good thing. What changed that they suddenly realized that it was not a good thing? Their innocence was taken away. They were filled with shame. They projected evil on to innocence. They assumed that there was something wrong with what had always been good.

So Satan was right. Their eyes were opened. But what they saw was not fulfilling, in fact it was very damaging.

B.               They Didn’t Die(Or Did They?)

We also discover that they did not die “on the day you eat of it.” Was God lying? Or had they died?

Augustine points out that there are three senses of death. Death occurs when the soul loses God, when the soul leaves the body and when a person is eternally separated from God and life. We think first of the second of these, “the soul leaving the body.” In that sense, death did not happen immediately, yet it was now introduced into the world as a possibility. So they did die because they would die, but not necessarily that day. Yet in the first sense that Augustine mentions death did happen that day. Immediately they died in the sense that their souls were separated from God. The next part of the text tells that part of the story. The third sense would now also happen and will happen in the end to all who are not restored by God to life. All who are separated from God will die eternally.

So what God had said did happen. They died that day and death in all its horror was introduced into the good world and the world was no longer good. Now sin and death became a part of the equation. Romans 5:12 shows that what happened there has also happened to us because of our choices when it says, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned…"

Conclusion

So how did we get into this mess? God had said enjoy and live. Eat freely!

We got into this mess by rejecting blessing. We got into this mess by judging God. We got into this mess by disobeying God. We got into this mess by not believing that God is good. We got into this mess by doubting God’s Word. We got into this mess by rejecting God. We still get into this mess today in all of these ways. As a result we will die. That is the mess we have gotten into.

As a result, we are not holy and that is also the mess we have gotten into. As a result we, who are not holy, have no hope of ever being able to do what 1 Peter 1:16 has told us to do, to "…be holy, for I am holy.”"

Yet all is not lost. There is hope and that hope is found in Jesus and next week we will think about what God does so that we who are unholy can be like God who is holy.