TEXT: Genesis 3:6-24

SUBJECT: Henry on Man’s First Temptation #4

Tonight, with the Lord’s help, we’ll move on in our study of Matthew Henry on Man’s First Temptation. Henry, who died in 1712, was a Puritan pastor and author. We’re using his great Commentary on the Whole Bible as our guide. The story we’re looking at is well known, but not sufficiently meditated upon. If we thought more about it, we’d hate sin and love Christ far more than we do.

The story of Man’s Fall should be read as history—as a real choice made by real people and with real consequences. You see them all around you—and within you too. Because of their choice, the forces of chaos, decay, and death have been unleashed on the world. Every hospital, courtroom, prison, and cemetery bears powerful witness to the reality of our story. These things really happened.

Thus far, we’ve marked the circumstances, the temptation, and the sin itself.

The tempter was Satan in the shape of a serpent; the tempted was Eve whose knowledge of God was true, but second-hand. The place was away from her husband and near the forbidden tree.

The temptations were to doubt the Word of God, to deny the consequences of sin, and to imagine the good that might well come from eating the forbidden fruit.

The sin itself was committed in stages—not all at once—but little by little. It started with looking, went on to taking, then to eating, to getting her husband in on it, and then—perhaps worst of all—of trying to fool God with their pathetic aprons made of fig leaves!

Adam and Eve have labored hard today. And now, in the late afternoon, they get paid for their work. The wages of sin is…death.

The first result of their sin is a bad conscience—an inward sense of guilt, a feeling of being caught even when they weren’t caught. Henry says,

Before God said a word to them, Adam and Eve felt guilty and ashamed of themselves. Why? Because they were made in the Image of God with an inborn sense of right and wrong. They knew what they had done was wrong and that--whether He acted sooner or later—the Lord would punish them for it, in fact, that He was already punishing them. Their aching hearts pointed to a pain far worse.

What happened to Adam and Eve way back then, still happens to us. Many sins are gotten away with in the sense that no one ever finds out about them. Yet—even though we know no one saw us—we cannot rest. For we’re still caught—still busted--by ourselves and by God too. That’s why the Proverb says

Why would a criminal run from a policeman who’s not there? Because he is there! His own conscience is hot on his heels and will not give up the chase until the sinner has been punished or pardoned.

When you come under the power of temptation, remember what goes with it: a bad conscience. Even if the sin is secret; even if it’s all in your head, you’re caught, caught by yourself. And Self is the cruelest tormenter.

The promise of sin is sweet, but the reality is bitter. A bad conscience is a piece of hell in your heart. It’s a worm that does not die and a fire that is not quenched. Until it is confessed to God and forgiven.

The second result of Adam and Eve’s sin is shame. Guilt and shame are often used interchangeably, but they’re not quite the same: guilt looks inward, shame looks outward. If you’re guilty, you feel bad about yourself; if you’re ashamed, you feel bad about others knowing the kind of person you are. Henry says

When I was a boy, there was a TV show I never missed—especially the introduction. There is an army fort in the American west of maybe 120 years ago. Snare drums are beating out the rhythm of a court martial. A soldier is standing at attention, with his fellow officers and men on both sides of him…

… The commanding officer steps up to the man and tears off his shoulder boards, pulls the brass buttons off his uniform, and then draws the man’s sword and breaks it over his knee. The gate is then opened and the officer marches out stripped of his honor.

Can you imagine the shame he felt? Adam and Eve felt something like that—only far worse, for they weren’t stripped of shoulder boards and brass buttons, but of innocence. Why did they put on the fig leaves? It wasn’t modesty they felt, but shame. Adam knew God, angels, and his wife could now see him as he truly is—not the king he used to be, but the fool he has become!

When you’re feeling drawn into sin, remember it’s going to make you look bad! Pride is sinful, but there’s nothing wrong with maintaining your dignity. You ought to, in fact, because you’re made in God’ Image, and therefore, you are dignified—no matter what your income or education or family connections. Human dignity is a wonderful things, but it is lost when we choose sin over the ways of God.

Have you ever seen someone lose his temper big time? Did it make him look impressive? If not, remember, it looks no better on you.

Some of us live in craven fear of looking bad. Because of this fear, we never take a risk. If you try to learn Spanish, you’re likely to say Bonus Nachos! If you try to witness, it won’t be long until someone stumps you. So we make our lives as safe and boring and useless as we can.

What we miss, however, is this: messing up in Spanish is not a shameful thing because you’re trying! The same is true of not knowing what to say when you witness. The only thing that is truly humiliating is sin. I wish that was the only shame we feared!

The third fruit of sin is even worse than guilt or shame; it’s fear—not the godly fear that leads to repentance, but the ungodly kind that runs from God in a wild pursuit of death.

When it comes to sin and it’s punishment, we often think they’re two, very different things. In fact, sin itself is often a punishment. If you read Romans 1, you’ll find that the appalling sins of today are not only going to be punished some time in the future, but are themselves punishment for earlier sins.

If men become too wise to believe in God, God turns them over to base desires, but base desires do not satisfy, so they become worse and worse and worse until man becomes like a beast or a demon. These hideous sins are the punishment for the folly of not believing in God.

Keep this in mind when tempted to sin: God may well punish you—not by having someone catch you—but by letting you get away with it until your own sins destroy you.

The final consequence of sin is the one God warned of at the beginning.

Adam lived a long time, 930 years, but then he died. Just as God said he would. Many blessings are mixed in with his death, but make no mistake about it: death itself is no one’s friend! It is the First Enemy and the Last. It is the direct result of Adam and Eve’s sin. The wages of sin were—and still are—death.

Is death the result of sin? Yes it is. This does not mean, however, that people who die young are worse than people who live to be 100. Nor that a long and tortured death means you’re a worse sinner than the man who dies peacefully in his bed. No, death is not usually the direct result of sin, but death got into the world through sin and now—in ways we cannot fathom—it strangles the whole human race.

This shows how bad sin is—not just monstrous sins (like murder), but even the respectable ones like impatience, pride, envy, and a little gossip now and then. I remember standing over the coffin of a good friend of mine and telling another friend, "If sin does this to a man like Gary, it must be a lot worse than we think it is!" And so it is.

When tempted to sin, think of the loved ones you’ve lost to cancer and heart disease, to accidents, and to murder. Think of them and remember it was sin that killed them all.