One Series Closes, Another Opens! Rejoice And Be Glad!

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree Of Life
Week Ending 4-11-2021 (Part 1)

“One Series Closes, Another Opens! Rejoice And Be Glad!”

We are now ready to complete our twenty second “Defense Mechanism” as well as entire subject this week Wednesday evening and Friday evening and then we will begin our brand new subject on Sunday morning on the Doctrine of the Rapture. Very exciting!

In these lessons Pastor covers:
-Exegesis of verses on bitterness
-Deep definition of bitterness
-Causes of bitterness
-Results of bitterness
-How bitterness affects a marriage
-What could ruin the perfect marriage in perfect environment?
-Satan’s role in the failure of the perfect marriage
-Exegetical examination of the first sin
-Conclusion of the series

We have been studying the 22^nd Defense Mechanism known as Moti Maris of Memphis, involving sexual lust expressed toward a member of the opposite sex. We looked in depth at our teacher Solomon who tested out all the great worldly systems that substitute pleasure and stimulation for the true superior happiness that comes from an active relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There was no one in human history in a better position to really put them to the test, since not only was Solomon wealthy beyond even other notable kings and queens and emperors, he was a man who at one time was a spiritual giant with maximum doctrine in his soul, and he was a great genius. If it didn’t work for him, it isn’t going to work for us! Unfortunately, there will always be those who need to learn the hard way. What was the ultimate conclusion of our Biblical anti-hero teacher? “All is vanity and chasing after the wind.” All earthly pursuits are empty and like a mirage compared to the one legitimate pursuit – reconciliation with our creator and living inside His perfect plan!

Solomon found out many things. One of those main areas that he learned a lot about was bitterness. He learned that bitterness and jealousy often go together.

A believer who does not have a personal relationship with God is a walking bomb. He is ready to explode at any moment. And the trigger or the button to push is bitterness. When you allow bitterness to cause the bomb to explode within you, you hurt your own life. We call this self-induced misery. If you harbor bitterness you have a very serious spiritual problem. A problem which is not correctable apart from personal love for God and impersonal love for all mankind. Every believer who harbors bitterness or jealousy becomes a walking bombshell waiting to explode, and when this happens, your spiritual life is ready to explode.

I. Bitterness – Final Exam

Once the believer uses his own volition to allow bitterness, anger and jealousy to control him, he shatters his own life.

Point 1:
By way of definition and description the Greek noun ‘pikria’ for bitterness refers to animosity, jealousy, hostility, and is actually a part of anger and harshness.

What does it mean to become bitter? It means:

a.) To be caustic or sarcastic.

1. b) To have pain in the mind.
2. c) Bitterness is an expression of Misery and Disappointment.d) Bitterness is severity of temper, biting sarcasm, painful inward affliction.

e.) Deep distress of mind.

f.) It defiles others as well as self.

The main verse for bitterness is ECC 7:26 where Solomon said And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

The basic word for bitterness is the adjective used as a noun ‘marah’ (maw-raw'): to be angry, bitter, discontented. Marah means angry discontentment, angry frustration; Pikraino is another word which means inward pressure.

It means to poison with a painful and piercing and unpleasant irritation or something which is "sharply painful mentally." Bitterness results in hatred, cruelty, antagonism, implacability, vindictiveness, vengefulness, and inordinate ambition and inordinate competition. It also causes hardness of heart, so that a believer will not be able to forgive those who wrong them or who they believe have wronged them. David refused to forgive his son Absalom. He was bitter and held a resentment toward him. This is an impediment to spiritual growth if it is not overcome by development and application of grace-orientation and impersonal love.

Point 2.
Causes of bitterness are very interesting in the Bible.

For example; in the administration of divine discipline to Israel, especially to the southern kingdom of Judah, it became quite apparent that they were a bitter people. Bitterness was the reaction and demonstrated the weakness and the failure of the people. What happened first bitterness or the downfall and the destruction of the nation? Actually bitterness occurred first.

In 2KI 14:26  For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, which was very bitter.

Bitter people are self-destructive...just as a bitter person is a walking bomb waiting to explode.

Suffering causes bitterness to people who do not understand principles and who do not give number 1 priority to their relationship with God;

DEU 32:24  They shall be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague and their destruction will be bitterness.

Bitterness was the cause of their destruction.

Ridicule is a manifestation of bitterness. Jeremiah became a pariah to the people when he gave them God’s warning which they did not want to hear. They were operating in arrogance and conceit and thought they were wise. They defended their comfortable delusion by attacking the bringer of bad tidings. Their ridicule was the reaction of bitterness toward God and His laws and statutes. They directed it at the prophet.

Lam 3:14  I have been a laughing stock to all the people.
The greatest source of bitterness is arrogance because arrogant people are always bitter. Arrogance is simply the other side of the coin. If you're arrogant, you're bitter! Arrogance is preoccupation with self. Arrogant preoccupation with self begets approbation lust, approbation lust begets jealousy, and jealousy begets bitterness. If you believe you are the center of the universe, you are in conflict with reality, your subjective reality clashes with objective reality, and this causes deep bitterness, anger, hatred, implacability. It is guaranteed misery, and internal misery will always be directed outwardly at the “cruel world” that doesn’t exalt you as arrogance demands! Therefore, since objective truth (reality is truth and truth is reality) clashes with your delusion, it is inevitable that when the truth is taught, there is going to be the reaction of bitterness. A person living in arrogance and bitterness and divorced from reality hates to hear the truth more than anything else.

In Act 8:23,  Peter is speaking to Simon the sorcerer. Simon the sorcerer saw that Peter's ministry was prospering (at the expense of his own) and Peter said “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”

Point 3:
Bitterness results from being rejected.

a.)  When someone leaves you be careful that you do not become bitter because being rejected is a strong reason for bitterness in the lives of most believers.

b.)  Degeneracy is a source of bitterness. Rom 3:14  Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

c.)  Eph.4:31 tells us that involvement in the cosmic system is source of bitterness.

d.)  Pro 14:10 tells us where bitterness lives and resides: “The heart [or the right lobe, brain function] knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not share its joy.”

Even strangers can see the outward manifestations of bitterness and will avoid such people. Nobody wants to be around someone who is full of bitterness, except may other bitter ones! Misery loves company as they say.

Bitterness results from backsliding and disrespect (negative volition) toward God:

JER 2:19  "Your own wickedness will correct you, And your apostasies will reprove you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter For you to forsake the Lord your God, And the dread of Me is not in you," declares the Lord God of hosts.

Bitterness reaches into the frame of reference, the memory center, the conscience, etc. (JER 4:18)

Look at Exo 15:22-25  Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Aand when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, what shall we drink? then he cried out to the lord, and the lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There he made for them a statute and regulation, and there he tested them.

Now, ‘marah’ means bitterness because there were springs of water all over the place, but they could not drink the waters of Marah.

Why?

f.)  Because the waters were bitter and that's why they called it Marah. This is another test. They flunked the "too much water test, the Red Sea. Now they are going to flunk the “wrong kind of water” TEST,....they had plenty of water but the wrong kind OF WATER. And so the waters of bitterness come into the picture.

Remember that the tree represents to us promises from God, doctrinal rationales, and it represents a divine command. The tree is also a picture of the branch, Jesus Christ. When they threw in the branches, their complaining made the waters bitter.

g.)  And just as the tree was cast into the bitter water, making it sweet, so TLJC heals the bitterness in those who invite His presence.

h.)  In the administration of divine discipline to Israel, especially to the southern kingdom of Judah, it became quite apparent that they were a bitter people.

Bitterness was the reaction and demonstrated the weakness and the failure of the people. The people were bitter therefore their spiritual lives were destroyed.

Point 5:
Bitterness Destroys Marriages (COL 3:19).

Being rejected is especially embittering in marriage.

COL 3:19   Husbands, love your wives, and do not be embittered against them.

a.) Degeneracy is a source of bitterness days in Christian marriage Rom 3:14, where their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

This is when one or both believers keep on getting involved in the cosmic system (Eph 4:31-32).

We have already seen, bitterness produces a complaining attitude......and no one likes to be around a complainer. One of the main functions of breaking down a marriage is complaining; (Phi 2:14).

In Job 9:17-18, where Job was complaining, he was bitter and he was complaining as bitter people love to complain because God was multiplying his wounds without a cause. This is the attitude that bitterness eventually develops, an attitude which says, “it's all God’s fault. Why did God let this happen to me?”

When a person says, why did God let this happen to me, that person is in a state of bitterness. Bitterness is irrational and represents a rejection of God’s plan and total disorientation to grace. This is subjectivity at its finest, being so self-absorbed that you lose all sight of the bigger picture. In this life, we are either focused on God and the grand plan of the angelic conflict, or we are focused on self and our petty, selfish desires and circumstances. They are mutually exclusive states. In marriage, this person may say “why did God let me marry this person?” They will inevitably resent Him as much as the spouse. What a quagmire!

This is why the solution to the marriage that is failing is found in JAM 3:13  Who among you is wise [or filled with doctrine], let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

In other words, let his behavior be motivated from the wisdom within. James is actually saying let the doctrine within motivate the outward behavior.

JAM 3:14    but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart....right lobe Stop being arrogant and lie against the truth.

Don't lie against doctrine, don't live in a lie.

And then I like how the NAS puts it: Do not be arrogant and lie against the truth.

If you have any bitterness, jealousy or party spirits in you, you lie against the truth and even deny the truth. In v 15 and 16,  we are told by God where this thinking or wisdom comes from.

JAM 3:15-16  The wisdom of jealousy, bitterness, selfish ambition and arrogance is not from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

Selfish ambition, ie...divisions, party spirits, cliques, hidden loyalties or ambitions in your heart are where all of these things originate within the marriage. Now the contrast in v 17:

JAM 3:17  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

COL 3:1-2 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.

JOB 21:25,  Job finally woke up and said....while another dies with a bitter soul, never tasting anything good.

Death is considered to be an experience with bitterness for the unbeliever or carnal believer.

Another source of bitterness is resentment of authority in divine establishment. This can often be seen within the marriage of two believers. Even in the very first marriage, in the Garden, Satan attacked the woman’s sense of authority-orientation while simultaneously undermining God’s authority, and circumventing the authority of the husband (remember that he was not around when this attack was executed - not an accident). Satan himself harbors great resentment of authority and all those who do are his comrades. He and they will always attack and undermine legitimate authority in the home, at work, in the nation, and in spiritual matters. Rejection of authority is a major form of bitterness.

Before a woman marries a man, she must be able to answer one critical question, "Will I submit to the authority of this man for the rest of my life?"

The woman cannot answer this question in the attraction stage of romance. Other important questions include:

Does he demonstrate impersonal love toward all?

Is he manly, and yet still gentle?

Is he thoughtful, courteous?

What is his attitude in general and people in general?

If you say "yes" to the wrong man who is an emotional child, who is arrogant, jealous, your life and marriage will be intolerable slavery. You cannot change the past, but as long as you are alive you can change the future. The consequences of past sins and failures are in God's hands, but the future belongs to you under the principle of logistical grace. It isn't what we do that counts, but what God does that counts.

The sins of marriage and divorce are no different than the sins of any other category of living.  Therefore, if you discover that you are living in adultery, rebound once, forget it, get back in God’s plan and keep moving in your current marriage. Don’t let the sin take you out of the game!

Now, because of all this, I have decided to deal with marriage which caused bitterness in Solomon as we go back to the original language in the original marriage.

So we begin in GEN 3:1  Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Notice that when Satan comes on the scene he says, “Is it really true that God has said You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?”

Genesis 3 tells the story of the paradise of marriage which was lost by the willfulness of human sin. Humanity was originally given every perfect thing they could need or want, and virtually no restrictions. Despite that, Adam and Eve needed only a bit of prompting from a talking serpent to disobey their perfect lovable Creator. Immediately overcome by shame and quickly cursed by God, the painful story of human history begins with their exit from the Garden of Eden and the reasons why. Created sinless, ''very good,'' and placed into a perfect environment by a fair and loving Creator, Adam and Eve choose to sin anyway. (*It is important to note here, that all the cosmic system’s attempts to create perfect environment, i.e. collectivism and utopianism, and the whole idea that environmental conditions produces sin/unhappiness, are disproved by the Bible. You can see why the kingdom of darkness works overtime trying to discredit and obfuscate it!)

Now, for their choice to disobey, the original man and woman, and through them the human race which they begat, earned spiritual death and separation from God, as well as lives punctuated by pain, conflict, and frustration, ending in spiritual and physical death.

This is followed by God's response to human sin, tailored to each of the parties involved. The following chapter will tell the story of the beginning of human life apart from God and the garden.

GEN 3:1-7  Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said,   'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.' " And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 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. 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.

After the conversation with Satan the woman became very lustful for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She thought that understanding good and evil could make her wise rather than understanding doctrine. And so she begins to desire something that is negative toward God’s plan. Remember JAM 3:15-16!

Remember that the tree of knowledge was forbidden to Adam and Ishshah his wife as a volitional test for the human race and as an extension of the pre-historic angelic conflict. The tree of life was grace blessing which was only available in the status of perfection in GEN 3:22.

GEN 3:22   Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"

But they chose to follow Satan's viewpoint by saying yes to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and no to the tree of life. Every person who says no to Christ and chooses the way of human thought, human works, human good and evil does the same and follows Satan.

In PRO 3:18  She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast.

The Tree of life is also manifested in 1PE 2:24  and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree or the cross.

Or in ACT 16:31  "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household."

In choosing the tree of knowledge of good and evil they said NO to the tree of life. However, the tree of life still exists today. It exists in the form of the cross of Jesus Christ, where Jesus Christ was judged for our sins and where he took our place and became our substitute and we are free to accept it or reject it. Despite their negative choice and the dire consequences, we have the freedom to make the right choice and become God’s children by trusting in Jesus Christ (GAL 3:26)

And there is a very vital principle here once again. God did not give up on His creation even though they failed Him and in the perfect marriage they failed but God did not give up on them.

The only solution for imperfect people involved in impefect marriage is the grace of God and the spiritual death there is only one tree of life, the cross, ACT 16:31. On that cross or that "tree of life" the sins of the entire world were judged by God the Father and this is the tree of life that can cause a marriage to be successful,...the cross of TLJC.

So essentially the solution to marriage is understanding the grace of God and rejecting the bitterness that would come out. This includes toleration and the recognition that your spouse or loved one has an OSD and you have one too. Therefore, when you understand grace and divine good, when you see that God has a plan for everything that overcomes our flawed nature, you understand the infinite and eternal genius of God and how He has resolved everything that was corrupted at the fall.\

-The perfect state of mankind was corrupted.

-The perfect state of environment was corrupted.

-The perfect marriage of mankind was corrupted.

This means that the only solutions to marriage are the principles of Bible doctrine, not the environment, mot perfect people, but doctrine resident in the soul. Now, the serpent’s voice is still around today (and now it is broadcast all over the world through the airwaves and the wires) telling us that God's way cannot make us happy, but that he has a better way. Or a million and one better ways. And many Christians are listening to that viewpoint today. They are going in the wrong direction for happiness and solutions to their problems in marriage, they are looking for love and happiness in all the wrong places. Sometimes the thing you seek is in the last place you expect to find it!

Everyone today is caught in this trap, both believers and unbelievers. They are trying to improve their environment rather than improve their soul with doctrine. Internal produces external, not the other way around. The cosmic system always contradicts the Word of God. It began in that forbidden fruit.

GEN 3:5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Note again the strategy of Satan. He didn't attack the woman gown with violence. He attacked her with dialogue or with conversation. The way to get to the woman is through conversation, not threats or intimidation or violence. He might have used that with the man, but with the woman he used words. Throughout scripture, the devil uses words – for deception. But for the woman to respond to the man, and straighten him out, we have a divine solution given in 1 Peter 3:

1PE 3:-2 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.

Also TITUS 2:3  Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good.

Back in GEN 3:6  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.

Now, when this woman entered into the sin of disobedience she made the most amazing discovery when her eyes were open. She thought that she would be a smart as God. However, what was the woman's discovery?

She did not become like God as Satan tried to do, but she tried to discover what God was like. She would have known what God was like if she had paid attention in Bible class. Instead, she learned a lot of worldly knowledge that only took her out of God’s plan and brought her much needless unhappiness from anxiety and frustration, confusion and despair. “Because in much [worldly] wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.” (ECC 1:18)

In Genesis chapter 3, the serpent is introduced. Who is he, and where did he come from? We have no reason to assume that animals possessed the power of speech and reason at this time. Still, some teachers remark that the woman—later named Eve; (GEN 3:20), seems oddly nonchalant when the serpent speaks to her.

We are told the serpent is the most crafty or shrewd of all the wild animals. This is from the Hebrew term ‘ā'rum’, which also means "prudent" or "sly." The term, itself, is not necessarily negative. However, as with any gift or ability, how one chooses to use it makes the difference between sin and righteousness. In this case, the serpent uses "craftiness" in order to ruin mankind and after the fall, God specifically curses the serpent (GEN 3:14-15).

conservative Bible teachers generally hold one of two interpretations, first, that Satan possessed and spoke through a serpent created by God, second, that Satan took on the form of a serpent for the purpose of tempting the woman to sin.

That seems consistent with what we know of Satan from other passages in the Bible. First of all, Satan and the other demons are spiritual beings, not physical, but with the ability to take control of both people (LUK 22:3) and animals (MAR 5:11–13). Jesus describes Satan as the Father of lies (JOH 8:44), and Genesis 3 describes the first recorded lies to be heard on earth.

Finally, Revelation refers to Satan as a dragon, the "ancient serpent" or "serpent of old" (REV 12:9; 20:2).

His first recorded words to the woman challenge God's commands with a simple question, casting doubt on God's words. The serpent seems to either misstate or question God's restrictions about what she and the man could eat: "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" It will become clear the serpent knows exactly what God had commanded. His intent is to provoke Eve to judge God's fairness.

He starts with a question he knows the answer to, one apparently intended to draw her into judging God's character. This begins by encouraging her to consider, or even to doubt, God's command: Did God really say you can't eat from any tree in the garden?

Verses 2 and 3 describe the woman's response.

She immediately corrects the serpent: "We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden." This part of the response is all well and good. Her answer is correct, but getting her to talk is part of the Devil's trap. The end of her response, in the following verse, shows the woman doesn't have a clear understanding of God's command.

GEN 3:3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.' "

This reflects just enough doubt or uncertainty of God's words to give Satan an opportunity.

Remember what God actuallysaid to Adam about what not to eat in GEN 2:16–17: "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

The woman, either by accident or out of confusion, added an extra layer to God's statement. The restriction that they were not even allowed to touch the tree wasn't part of God's actual command. Either Eve, as the woman would later be known, did not fully understand the command, she misremembered it, or she intentionally misquoted it in an effort to be more empathetic. Instead of bolstering her willingness to obey, this addition to the words of God actually makes Satan's strategy more effective. In the context of this conversation, her error makes God appear even more restrictive than He is.

The serpent will quickly zero in on this and impugn God's character - His honesty, and His fairness…….just as he does in the angelic conflict. Satan always attempts to paint God as an unfair and oppressive tyrant, and/or as not who He claims to be, just as does the cosmic system does. Funny how in sync the two always are!

GEN 3:4   And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die!

Satan implicitly states that God is a liar! Liars always cover themselves by accusing everyone else of lying. Remember our defense mechanism of projection.

GEN 3:5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Not only does he imply God is a liar, but an insecure and fearful tyrant who is afraid His fraud will be discovered….see the projection?? Sounds more like Satan than God…

GEN 3:6   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.

Let’s examine the first part of the verse: “When the woman saw”

This is the Qal imperfect of the verb ‘raah’ which portrays the lust of the eyes, and the imperfect tense tells us that she kept looking at it. She was fixated. The lust causes her to concentrate on that which has been forbidden, Lust is always concentration.

Men often appear to be very attentive and caring toward women and it isn't attentiveness at all.

They are concentrating on the moment because of lust and it is not so much that it fools other people....it fools the man himself, lust always deceives us.

How does it deceive?

Well, lust does so by coming to us as our friend. When the devil in his subtlety and his deceitfulness came to Eve, he flattered her. Lust comes with a smile! It always pays us compliments! It plays on our pride. It appeals to our arrogance, just as Satan does to Eve. He knows our weakness and he exploits it expertly. So does our own sin nature.

Lust offers what it can never give – satisfaction, lust never satisfies. It never satisfies although it is always promising satisfaction. Now the woman is looking at the tree. Her eyes are lusting. And so the woman's change of mental attitude and her new mind set is going to cause her to go right to that tree with the forbidden fruit.

Let's note some principles at this point:

1)  Divine provision is greater than anything that creatures can provide. Satan is a creature.

2)  Divine provision is always more than sufficient. Divine provision is based on grace.

3) To become dissatisfied with divine provision means no capacity for life. Boredom, NVTD, etc.

4) Without Bible doctrine the perfect marriage collapsed.

5)  Doctrinal conceptualism is the secret to blessing in marriage. Doctrinal conceptualism changes self not someone else.

6) Not only does doctrine change self but there is toleration of the flaw and failures of others as well as the appreciation for whatever are the good or strong points

GEN 3:6 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.

This is the mindset, the mental attitude that the tree was desirable to make one wise or to gain wisdom. In contrast to her prior dependence on God and contentment with what He provided (everything she needed), now it has shifted to independence and discontentment, and looking for another way, looking for her own way, outside God’s plan and provisions. The first sin is independence.

The word for “desirable” is the niphal participle from ‘chamad’ which means that it fed into her concentration because of the lust pattern of desiring to be like God. Remember that lust existed before the sin of disobedience. The niphal participle which is the passive voice stem in the Hebrew and in the passive voice, it means that she received this desire and that means that out of that dialogue or conversation with Satan this desire came into being. After the conversation and the dialogue with Satan, that which was forbidden has now become desirable to the woman. This is a part of the sin nature. It desires what is forbidden and what is outside of God’s plan.

Next we have the hiphil infinitive construct from ‘sakal’ which is translated “wise” in the hiphil stem which is causative active voice, meaning to cause one to be wise. So the tree now was desirable for gaining wisdom or being desireable to cause one to become wise, and the niphal participle from chamad translated being desirable portrays the emotional revolt of the soul as well as scar tissue of the soul. This is related to Christian degeneracy.

The emotional revolt of the soul and then scar tissue of the soul in the woman's original sin is further revealed now in the Qal imperfect of ‘laqach’ translated "she took", which is an act of volition related to the temptation. Temptation in itself is not sin, but when volition enters in it becomes sin.

Now laqach means “to take”, and in the imperfect tense it means that she had it in her hands for a while and she hasn't died by touching it. So, she's no longer afraid of it. And remember she thought that if you touch it you would die. She added to the word of God and now her false doctrine will deceive her for the Lord never said “you cannot touch it”.

So now Satan appears to be telling the truth - God has lied to her, so she thinks. She believes him. The deception has bloomed. The next verb describes the first sin in human history

“She took from its fruit and ate”

This next verb is the Qal imperfect of ‘akal’ which means that when she ate of the fruit she entered into the first sin of human history. As we noted, Adam, her husband, was not present, and so he was still in the status quo of perfection. The woman therefore:

Looked at the fruit….

Longed for the fruit….

Lay hold of the fruit….
[temptation]

Ate the fruit….
[sin]

And became spiritually dead.

[“the wages of sin is death”]

Now, the marriage has problems and it is collapsing. Adam’s original sin now follows:

...and she gave also to her husband with her; and he ate (GEN 3:6)

A moment before, Adam was still ruler of the earth, and still had the authority in the marriage, he was still in God’s plan, but now he is at a crossroads. Now he has to make a choice: fellowship with God verses compatible relationship with the woman. The woman is now Satan's agent being spiritually dead. So here she is in a perfect marriage representing Satan. She offers him the fruit. Then we have the phrase “....and he ate,” now he actually ate the fruit. He decided to go with the woman rather than TLJC. He should have been leading, but instead he was led.

This represents a classic example of how sin can enter into even a perfect marriage in perfect environment and wreck the whole thing. It also points out the vulnerability that ignorance of the Word of God creates, which the Devil can, will, and does fully exploit whenever possible. The strength of Christian marriage lies in the relationship both believers have with God and Bible doctrine first and foremost. When the couple are united by reverence for and submission to God’s authority and institutions, and guided by doctrine, they will not leave openings for outside forces and deceptions to cause division and break down the FLOT line. This concludes our study of the Defense Mechanisms. I hope you got a lot out of it and are ready to begin an exciting new study – the Rapture of the church!