Can You Give A Reason For The Hope That Is In You?

Our topic for today in this segment, as it has been for months, is the gospel of salvation. In particular, we are attempting to explain specific aspects of the gospel.One thing I’ve noticed over the years, especially in Christian settings is you know you have children in Christian school and parents, or neighbors, or grandparents come and these may not understand Christianity at all, yet the gospel is given, but Dave it has been my experience that rarely is the gospel explained even briefly.It is usually a call to receive Jesus as Savior and with a sinner’s prayer added, but—

Dave:

Make a decision for Jesus or whatever—

Tom:

Right and I am not doubting that there may be some people there that God has already prepared their hearts, but there are other people there that are (one of my favorite terms) clueless.They were not brought up Christian, they (as I mentioned last week) their parents may have said well let them figure it out as they go along.We are not going to impose our views on them, if those parents indeed had Christian views.

Dave:

They’ve never heard the gospel and now they’re still not getting it.

Tom:

Right, so Dave I can imagine somebody sitting there saying so Christ died on the cross—why?I don’t get it—what’s the problem?But rarely is the problem presented so they can understand why they need to accept Christ.And that’s what we are doing today and we started last week.We are trying to explain what the problem is and therefore when people understand that we can give them the solution.And we are going to—we are starting where the problem began.We are starting in Genesis, actually chapter—we are going talk about chapter 3, but the condition is laid out in this sense.I call it good news, bad news, good news.The good news is that when God created everything He said it is good, it is good.He said it is VERY good at the end of the sixth day.

Dave:

Yes, and we have to accept His analysis, or what’s the proper word?We have to accept His evaluation.When He says it’s good, it’s good and only God can decide what is good.

Tom:

Right, but then for His creation He presents a condition and the condition is in, found in Genesis:2:17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
See All...: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil though shall not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”To me this is a condition of love, a test of love.Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments.So obedience is a part of our love response.So this was a test.But then there was a temptation which is found in Genesis 3 starting in verse 1:Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Yea shall not eat of every tree of the garden?Dave this is subtle as the scripture says.It’s starting off by undermining the truthfulness of God.

Dave:

Well it’s the foundation of every cult.You think God said that?No, let me tell you and so Eve found a guru who could interpret God’s words in the way she wanted them to be interpreted.

Tom:

And verse 2:And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Now I think Eve is kind of padding, really adding to what God said.At least that seems to be the impression here and it’s based on the challenge by the serpent.

Dave:

Well Tom going back to verse 17 of Chapter 2.The tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.I don’t believe that this fruit, this physical fruit had some peculiar quality that would cause spiritual death.They didn’t die physically immediately, but they began to die physically because the spirit of God left them.I don’t believe that this tree necessarily had a different kind of fruit from any other tree.There must have been what, hundreds of varieties of wonderful and delicious fruit.Maybe it was an apple tree, maybe it was a pear, a peach, I don’t know what it was, but I think it was the easiest command God could give.In other words, God is not robbing them of something, that’s the idea that people get.Well, yeah but God want you to live this straight-laced, sober and sad, self-denying Christian life and if you do that you are going to miss out on all the fun.They weren’t going to miss out on anything.There was an abundance of fruit and I think there were probably a lot of trees that had the same kind of fruit as this; it was just a test of their obedience and their trust in God.It was just this tree—don’t eat this tree!It doesn’t say don’t touch it.

Tom:

Right, now this has always been fascinating to me because Eve did not have the same bent I have.I have the bent of a sinner.She had yet to sin.The environment was perfect.Everything about her life was perfect.Yet Satan introduces this thought and she takes it.

Dave:

She wanted what God told her she was not to have.And He gave her such an abundance of everything so as we said earlier in the program, she was deceived into thinking that this physical-well it goes on….Let’s read it—When the woman saw (verse 6 of chapter 3)—

Tom:

Before you jump ahead, I want to take this verse by verse because—

Dave:

Well now just a minute now Tom, now I am saying something that relates to back here, okay—

Tom:

Okay, but you’ll let me back up?

Dave:

Oh yes, I’ll let you back up.

Tom:

Okay.

Dave:

“She saw that it was a tree to be desired to make one wise.”She’s thinking that this physical fruit has some capability of making a person wise that none of the other trees have.In fact, it’s a physical fruit; it won’t make you wise—any wiser than any of the other trees.The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the wise thing would have been for her to obey God.So she is being deceived and in that act of disobedience she comes to know good and evil. Now she realizes she had done something that is evil.Evil is—well sin is described as coming short of the glory of God. Man—Adam and Eve were made in the image of God and now they have fallen from that image because they have rebelled against God.And the spirit of God departs from them and they begin to die physically.

Tom:

Right.It began with Satan introducing doubt, but then in verse 4 comes the hammer.She had to recognize that now there’s not a doubt here.This adversary of God is saying ye shall not surely die.Now she had to deal with that.

Dave:

Well in one sense.You know Satan doesn’t often come out with outright lies.What he is say is you won’t really die.Well and look she isn’t—and she didn’t instantly die.She died spiritually.God was now separated from her and her physical body begins to die.She doesn’t even know it.So Satan is sort of half-way telling the truth.Oh well you’re not going to die physically, not immediately, you won’t really die.

Tom:

In verse 5: “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”Now he was right in one sense.

Dave:

Yes, interestingly Tom, referring back to something you alluded to a bit earlier, Satan is not tempting her with immorality.He’s not tempting her with the evils that we have in the world around us which have come as a result like a snowball going downhill as a result of this one sin.Satan is tempting her with a high self image.Self esteem—he’s tempting her to become like the gods.He’s not dragging her into the gutter, into immorality.And in fact that is the great temptation.Pride has been man’s problem ever since and the desire to be like God.Even when we were talking about prayer—the desire to get God to do what I want Him to do.So this is, as you said, subtle. This is a powerful delusion that Satan has introduced to the human race and they have all accepted this ever since.

Tom:

Yes, now Dave I set up this segment by saying there is a problem.Now we are introducing how the problem came about but next week—we are just about out of time now—but next week we will deal with the problem itself.Why Jesus had to die.Why He had to go to the cross, because what Eve is about to do set the condition for man for eternity.

Dave:

Set the condition for man for eternity, yes.We were separated from God—“The day you eat thereof you will surely die.”We are dead in trespasses and in sins and Jesus said I am come that they might have life.So He came not just to—in fact you’ll find out next week I guess—not just to restore the life that Adam and Eve lost, but to give us something even better—a life that cannot be lost.