TEXT: Genesis 3:1

SUBJECT: Henry on Man’s First Temptation #1

Tonight, with the blessing of Jesus Christ, we’ll start a new Puritan study called Matthew Henry on Man’s First Temptation. I call it man’s first temptation because—some time before—Satan had fallen from his fellowship with God and had taken some of the angels with him. Thus this is not the devil’s first rebellion, and Adam and Eve are not the first creatures to be tempted by him. But they were the first humans to come under his spell. And so, their story directly affects us. What tempts an angel? We have no idea and it doesn’t matter to us—because we’re not angels!

But, like Adam and Eve, we are humans and we are subject to the same temptations they were—though ours are compounded by the stain of original sin, bad habits, and wicked examples all around us. If they needed to be wary of Satan, we do even more. For he has lost none of his subtlety and never gets tired of tricking us or pushing us into harm’s way.

Have you ever wondered why the devil cares so much about our unhappiness? Why he cannot be happy as long as we’re obeying the Lord? The answer seems clear to me: it’s envy that pushes him to ruin us. He himself has lost fellowship with God—lost it beyond retrieval. But we haven’t. Unbelievers are not in fellowship with God at the moment, but they are capable of fellowship; if Satan would leave them be they might come into the joy of God’s Presence. And he can’t tolerate the prospect. As for believers? We’re in communion with the Lord, but Satan doesn’t like it—and does his level best to cut the tie by getting us to sin.

What a wicked thing envy is! It’s the source of all sin—at least of malicious sin. If you’re feeling its power right now, pray for forgiveness and for change, and do everything you can to repent of it.

Matthew Henry urges us to read the old story with an eye on ourselves.

Amen to that! If we could know what sin is and feel what it has done to the whole world, it wouldn’t seem so attractive anymore! We wouldn’t be perfect, of course; that’s impossible in this life. But we would be sincere—and that we be a great leap forward.

Before we get to the temptation itself, we’ll look at some of the circumstances—who did the tempting, who was tempted, and where the temptation occurred.

The tempter, of course, was Satan in the guise of a serpent or snake. Henry says,

The first comment is a given: it was the devil who tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.

The second part is speculation—but very interesting and quite possible. Today, snakes crawl on their bellies. But this is a result of the curse (cf. 3:14); we don’t know how they moved then. Maybe they did fly—and if they did, what better way to tempt a person than to come down on what looks like a mission from God? This makes the sin much more reasonable. It also explains why so many people do such wicked things in the name of God! Like the fanatics in Israel, they think they’re doing God a service!

What is more "godly" than love? Yet how many betrayals have been committed because I’m in love? Pride is often mixed in with our defense of God and His truth. Heresy, of course, is the fruit of listening to Satan when you think it is God’s voice you hear.

In any event, it is the devil’s subtlety or cunning or craftiness or shrewdness or trickiness that the story emphasizes. Satan does not force us to sin; he talks us into it.

This means: (1) we have to know his voice when we hear it (even if it’s coming from the preacher or a trusted friend!). (2) We can only know his voice when we lay it alongside the Word of God. Is the white shirt dirty? Put it next to a clean white shirt and you’ll know. Is the line straight? Put a straight edge next to it and you’ll see.

Someone said a man on safari may mistake the howling of the hyenas for the roar of a lion. But let the lion roar and he’ll never think that again!

Satan is a cunning liar who presents himself and his proposals as good for you—and if you’re a religious type—even as glorifying to God. Spot the lie by knowing the Truth. Study the Bible with an open mind and heart; pray for understanding; listen to people who know more than you do, but don’t follow anyone—including me!—without laying their words alongside God’s Word!

Satan’s cunning means we have to be wise. And James tells us if we lack wisdom, we can have it for the asking—in faith!

The tempted person—at the moment—is Eve. Later, Adam will be tempted, but the devil knows he can’t touch the man himself, so he gets at the woman, knowing that she can get the man to do whatever she wants him to do. But for now, it is Eve who is listens to the alluring word.

Adam and Eve were both sinless and far wiser than anyone who has lived since them—but the Lord Jesus Christ. But God had made Adam to lead his wife and thus made him the stronger vessel. Not that Eve was weak, but she was weaker than he was. Satan takes advantage of her less developed mind to make her doubt the goodness of God and to wonder where her duty lay.

This is standard operating procedure. The devil loves to strike us where we are weakest. Adam’s weakness was his heart, not his head. Thus, he makes no attempt to fool the man—and never did, in fact. It was Adam’s heart that betrayed him, not his mind. For Paul says he "was not beguiled".

What does this mean to us? It means we have to identify our weaknesses and be especially on guard there. If you don’t know where your weaknesses are, your husband or wife does! And he or she would be glad to tell you! If you’re not married, ask an old and trusted friend. If he loves you, he’ll tell you the truth. Take special care in these places. For it is in them that Satan is most likely to strike.

If you’ve read John Bunyan’s allegory, The Holy War, you know that a city called Mansoul was attacked by the enemy. For some time he was unsuccessful until he found a way of getting in through the Eyegate and the Eargate. The whole city was taken. What gate is your weakest? Is it the Pridegate? Or maybe the Lazygate? The Gossipgate? Or the Stubborngate? Think hard about where you’re weakest and set a double-guard on those places.

A pastor I know is not a legalist, but he told me he cancelled his newspaper subscription because he couldn’t take one without sinning. It wasn’t that he looked at unwholesome photos in the paper, but, he couldn’t do anything until he read the whole thing—and it was the New York Times! For him, the paper attacked him at the Curiousgate and tied him up for several hours each day—hours he didn’t have for reading the paper! No one would have called him on it, so he had to call himself on it!

This is what you and I need to do: find the openings in our character and seal them up against the devil. Had Eve done that, we’d all be the happier for it!

Finally, we have the place of the temptation. Where was Eve when she got into fatal talk with the devil? She was in the Garden of Eden, of course, but we can get closer than that. Henry says,

These are things I never thought about, but I should have. Eve was alone—and for some sins, that is a deadly invitation. Some sins cannot be committed by yourself—like gossip. But others can be. If these are your special weaknesses, stay with others as much as you can—especially other believers. If your mind wanders into unwholesome thoughts all the time, keep it occupied with other people—talking, listening, even being with them doing nothing can be a big help.

Henry also reminds us that she was near the forbidden tree. Had she been a mile away at the time, she wouldn’t have seen its beauty—and that might have saved her. Or, if the serpent had asked her to walk over and take a look, the minutes spent on the way would have given her time to think about what she was doing—and maybe see through the devil’s scheme.

Many temptations get their power from being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of these places cannot be avoided. But others can—and must be—if you want to resist temptation. If a sinless woman wasn’t safe near the sinful tree, you’re not safe standing by temptation either.

Name the places you’re most strongly tempted; think of the people who lure you into things you’re not proud of. And, as much as lies within you, stay away from them. This is Solomon’s advice for his son. Knowing the charms of immoral women and the lure of crooked men, he tells the boy

This is sage advice from a man who didn’t always follow it—and paid dearly!

The temptation of Adam and Eve is the saddest story in the Bible—in the whole world. We have people—real people, as real as you and I are—who lived in a perfect world in perfect fellowship with God.

But they got bored of happiness and ruined themselves—and us. All by listening to the sales pitch of an envious spirit. He’s still at work—and working on you and me and our kids. Let us take God’s Word seriously. In light of the Fall, let us:

• Learn the voice of God and listen to none other.

• Guard our weak points with special care.

• Stay out of temptation’s reach, when possible, and in close touch with people who love us and will help us stay holy.

These are the lessons of our study. God teach them to us. For Christ’s sake. Amen.