DEFAULT SETTINGS PART 2

OBEDIENCE—THE TEST OF LOVE

So man’s ‘Default Setting’ at creation

provided freedom to obey or to disobey God.

But God wanted to test how mankind would use this freedom  .  So the test is simple.  Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. On the day you eat of this tree, you will surely die.  God told Adam this.  Eve was not yet created.  There was another tree in the Garden that God wanted Adam to choose.  The Tree of Life.  What was wrong for Adam to eat of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Man had no ability to choose good.  God created man to be in a dependent relationship with God.  By choosing to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam was telling God, I don’t need or want Your authority in my life.  I am smart enough to live without Your control.

Why would a man choose to risk everything that is perfect?

THE VOICE OF A STRANGER

Perfect God. Perfect man.  Perfect environment.  God has set eternity in the heart of man.  “Default Setting” was no death, no disease, work to do but with no boring days. 
Now enters this Paradise on Earth, an enemy of God.  The Father of Lies, whose name is Lucifer, or Satan, the adversary of God. This created being, once a beautiful and powerful angel in the presence of God, brought about a coup in Heaven, declaring that He would ascend above God’s Throne and rule from Heaven.  He was defeated and thrown to earth.  Now how could Satan best  show hatred toward his Creator? Incite the created humans to do same as he had done.. rebel and decide to live without dependence on God! The results would be that just as Satan was cast out of Heaven and no longer had his exalted position as God’s angel, mankind would be forever cast out of the Paradise of close and intimate fellowship with his Creator.  Man would die.

 But how to do this?
Temptation must be toward the woman species who was created to be always under the loving side of her husband, from which this woman was formed.  Adam’s headship over his wife, Eve, has always been part of God’s design.

Satan’s method of temptation included the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Satan caused Eve to think about the Word of God.  To doubt God.  To believe a lie about God, that God was withholding something that God knew would make the woman happier.  In fact the woman could actually become as God, knowing good from evil.  As the woman chose to listen to a strange voice, she opened the door for a major change in the pre-programmed “Default Setting”. 
Genesis 3:6 NASB records this tragic moment when forever the condition of the whole human race changed ..for the worse!

“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.”
And what is the results? Do the humans become as God? All knowing? Wise? No longer needing God to tell them how to live? Or..do they die?
Verse 7-14 records: “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.

8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

So now enters shame and guilt.  The couple attempts to cover this shame by making external coverings.. But the shame and guilt proceed from a dead heart, a black heart, a heart that chose to defy the command of a Holy God.  Now enters blame shifting, the man blaming God and his wife, the woman blaming the serpent. Humans have partnered with Satan, the adversary of God.  Once in perfect fellowship with God, now enemies of God.  Mankind failed the test.  Mankind had reset his own God-ordained Default Settings.  So no big deal? Adam just ate a bit of a fruit which was good to look at and desirous for making one wise..and very tasty!