Did Adam Sin Out of Love? The Hebrew Servant Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has taught home-style Bible classes for twenty years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les' teaching is so interesting, people say the time seems to fly by. And now, here's Les Feldick. Good evening, and it's good to have you back once again, and for those of you watching on television, we certainly trust you'll have the opportunity to take your Bible and search these Scriptures with us so that we can compare Scripture with Scripture, because what I say doesn't amount to anything, it counts for nothing, but the only thing that counts is what does God's Word say? What does it really say? What does it not say? Because I've found so many times where people think it said something that it does not say. All right, let's go back to where we had to leave off rather abruptly last time. Go back with me again to 1 John, chapter 2, because if you remember last week, we were looking at the set of circumstances that Eve had to face, and I think all the Bible makes it so clear that every one of us, none of us escape it, are faced with these same set of circumstances in the area of temptation. And it began in the garden, and as I'm going to show you in just a few moments, the Lord Jesus Himself in His earthly ministry also faced them, and that's why He knows our frame that it's made of dust. He knows exactly what we're up against, because He faced it Himself. But if you'll come back to where we left off last week in 1 John, chapter 2, where John writes in a little epistle, verse 16, remember, "...for all that is in the world, the lust or the desire of the flesh." Now, that can be any of our appetites, and any one of them can get the best of us. In Eve's case, she saw that it was good for food. We're going to see that it was the same case with the Lord Jesus. But it can be any kind of a fleshly desire that overwhelms us, and we have to be aware of those. They'll trip us. They'll trip us every time. "...the lust of the eye." In other words, that which looks so alluring. The old cliché is, all that glitters isn't gold, and we have to always be aware of that. And then John goes on to say that the other great area of temptation is in the pride of life. Now, you see, pride is one of the biggest things that befall the human race. Pride is probably the one thing that keeps more people from salvation than anything else. People are too proud to admit that they need anything that God has to give them. I can make it on my own, and to submit to a sovereign God and admit that He is what I need, no thanks, is what most of the world says. All right, so look at them again. It's the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. All right, now I said the Lord Jesus faced those same three set of circumstances. Go back to Matthew, Matthew chapter 4, and these, of course, are normally referred to as the temptations. Matthew chapter 4, and drop down to verse—well, we might as well start with verse 1. Matthew 4, beginning of verse 1, Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, or tested, of the devil, or Satan. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward—what?—hungered. He was hungry. Now, I had to point out to someone just yesterday that you always have to remember, and again we take these things by faith, that Jesus, on the one hand, was totally human. He was totally man. But on the other hand, he was totally God. And so from his human side, he was hungry. Absolutely he was hungry. He had been fasting for forty days and forty nights. All right, like I said the last time we were together then, Satan knows just exactly where we're weak and our blind side, and that's where he'll always hit us. All right, he knows that Jesus had been fasting, and he knows that Jesus is hungry. And so what's the temptation? Here it comes in verse 3, And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God... And here again is that he's trying to even plant doubt in the mind of the Lord Jesus. Are you what you say you are? If. If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Now what's he saying? Well, if you're all that you say you are, you're hungry, all you have to do is speak the word and you've got bread. But you see, the whole idea was, had Jesus given in to Satan, he would have lost everything that he had to accomplish for our salvation. And so he answers, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Now what's the lesson? There's only one way we can defeat Satan, and that is with the Word of God. This is why I'm constantly encouraging people to be saturated with the Word every day. Because how many of us can go a whole 24-hour day with nothing physically to eat? Why, we get famished, don't we? And yet how many believers go week in and week out and never feed on the Word of God? Listen, we have to feed on it every day, and I know we're all in busy schedules. I don't think anyone's got one any busier than mine. But we still have to find the time and take the time to feed on the Word, all right? You cannot live by material, physical things alone. We have to have that which is spiritual, all right? Now Satan isn't satisfied. But remember, he's got to hit Christ in all three categories. So he comes right back in verse 5. And so the devil took him up into the holy city and set him on a pinnacle of the temple at the very highest point there in the city of Jerusalem. Verse 6, now Satan says to Jesus, if thou be the Son of God, see again that taunt, if you're who you say you are, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down. As it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee. And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Now it's a little harder to see this when this isn't quite as obvious as when he was hungry and he could make the stones bread. But remember, we're looking at the area of temptation of the desire of the eye. Now the best way I can illustrate this, and I'm sure you've seen pictures of it on, I know I have already, on newspapers, and you've probably experienced it if you're walking down the sidewalk of a city and the busy crowds, and if all of a sudden someone stops and starts looking up, what does everyone automatically do? They stop and they start looking up. The eyes are being focused. All right, now Satan knows this. And so what he's really telling Jesus, if you want every eye on you, just cast yourself down from this high point in Jerusalem and let the crowd see if the angels are really going to come and help you to escape and bear you up. What a spectacle that would be! You see the temptation? But oh, you see, Jesus refused even that one. And his answer was, verse 7, it is written again. And again quotes the Scripture, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Satan still doesn't give up. And so he comes back in verse 8, and he takes him up into an exceedingly high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world. Now remember, this was the time of the Roman Empire. How far did the Roman Empire reach? From the British Isles to the Ganges River of India and everything in between. And now he is saying, look out over all these kingdoms, everything that you can see and think of, so far as material kingdoms are concerned of this world, fall down, worship me, and I'll give them to you. Now there's so much I want to point out in that particular thing. Number one, when the Scripture teaches us now that Satan is the God of this world, doesn't this prove it? He's got the world in his lap tonight. He is the God of this world. He is the one that's in control. Under God, of course, but he is the God of this world. And the kingdoms were his to give. Don't think for a minute they weren't. They were his to give. But often have to think, Satan just didn't know. I don't think. He just didn't know that the day was coming, and it's still coming. It's getting close. When indeed all the kingdoms of the world are going to be Christ's, they're going to be his, he's going to be King of kings and Lord of lords, and he's not going to get them by virtue of kowtowing to Satan, rather by defeating him. When he will return with the clouds of glory, and by the rod, it says, or the word of his mouth, he will destroy all the kingdoms of this world and set up his own kingdom. Well, all of this now then leads to what? The pride of life. Oh, the temptation was, you can have it all if you'll just fall down and worship me. And again, verse 10, Jesus said unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. He quoted Scripture, and as I said a moment ago, that's the lesson for us. When Satan attacks, we go to the Book, we go to the Word of God for our strength. All right, now then let's go back again to Genesis, where we left off with Eve having just eaten, and as I mentioned last week, the punctuation mark there after the word eat in verse 6, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, in the Hebrew, the punctuation denotes a long pause. Now that gives time for Adam to come on the scene. She's already eaten, and as I pointed out last week, she must have been alone when Satan approached her and caught her in that moment of weakness, and she desired to have something more than she already had. And now here comes Adam, and what does he see? She's eaten of that forbidden tree. And I think it must have just given him a momentary shock. It had to have. Let's read on. And so she gave also unto her husband with her, and what does he do? He ate. Turn with me to 1 Timothy. Like I told you when we started this several weeks ago, we try to use the New Testament along with the Old just as much as we possibly can, because again the old saying is, whatever is in the Old Testament concealed is in the New Testament revealed. Now in 1 Timothy chapter 2, let's drop down to verse 13 and 14. Now remember this is Paul writing to Timothy, and this is certainly an area where we don't have to feel, well, this is in an age far removed. This is for us. This in so many words is written to us, because a Timothy was a believer like unto ourselves. And so to Timothy in verse 13 of chapter 2, Paul writes, "...for Adam was first formed, and then Eve. And Adam was not deceived." Now a lot of people don't know that's in the Bible. But Adam was not deceived. You know what that means? Eve was caught in a moment of weakness, and before she knew what she had done, she had eaten. It just happened so fast. But here comes along old Adam, and he has time to stop and think. I think in that moment of shock, he backs off and he contemplates the whole situation. What has my beautiful creature wife done? And she presents the fruit to him. But the New Testament says he was not deceived. So I think common sense tells us, since he knew the ramifications of eating of this forbidden tree, since he knew what had already happened to his lovely wife, he had to do some fast and serious thinking. He had to debate, am I going to join her? Am I going to lose fellowship with my Creator and stay with her? Or am I going to join her in eating and lose fellowship with my Creator? I call that the typical, typical being between a rock and a hard place. I think Adam was set there with a deliberation and a decision that would just bowl over any one of us, because he was not deceived. All right. I think we get a good picture of that very same setting under Israeli law. Go back with me to Exodus. Go back to Exodus, I think it's chapter 21. In Exodus chapter 21, now all this is tied together scripturally so that we can get a full picture of all that happened. We don't have to imagine these things, but we can compare Scripture with Scripture and get a pretty good picture. All right, in Exodus chapter 21, now this is just after the law was given in chapter 20, and we have a set of rules and regulations, not concerned with the Ten Commandments per se, but that was part of their civil law. In other words, how to get along with their neighbor and how as an employee to get along with his boss and so forth. Now this is all part of the law, of course, but it certainly was not part of what we call the Ten Commandments. Now in Exodus 21, verse 1, now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. Now God is speaking to Moses, and this is what He's supposed to pass on to the children of Israel. So verse 2, if thou by a Hebrew servant six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. In other words, he had paid out his servitude. Verse 3, if he came in by himself, in other words, if he came in as a single man, he shall go out by himself alone. If he were married, that is, when he came into servitude, he brought a wife with him, then his wife shall naturally go out with him. Verse 4, if his master have given him a wife, in other words, he came into servitude single, but in that period of time of six years he got married. All right, if his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters. Now, see, this is hard for us to comprehend, because we're just not accustomed to servitude. But Israel's servitude was certainly not like the awful slavery of our bygone days. Israel's servitude was certainly under the auspices of the law, and everything was treated equitably. But yet we look at this and we say, well, what's equitable about this? Well, always remember, and we won't take time to look at it this time, we will at another one, but Paul writes in Romans 15, all these things happened unto them, that is, the Old Testament people, for our learning. For our learning. Now this particular circumstance, I think, then God instituted because it fits so beautifully with Adam and Christ, and we'll tie this all together hopefully in the next few moments. All right, so he says, "...if his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, I love my wife, and I love my children, I will not go out free." Now stop there a minute. What has this young man had to do? Well, he's been forced with a decision, hasn't he? If he wants his own freedom, he has to leave his wife and kids behind. If he loves his wife and kids, what will he give up on their behalf? His freedom. And he will remain a servant. You got the picture? All right. So now then, verse 6, "...if," after verse 5, where he says, "...I will not go out, because I love my wife, I love my children," verse 6, "...then his master shall bring him unto the judges," that is the civil authorities, "...he shall also bring him to the door," to the door post, "...and his master shall pierce or bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him," not for six years, but for how long? The rest of his life. Now that was the choice the young man had. He could take off and take his own personal freedom and be separated from his wife and children, or he could agree to be a servant or a slave the rest of his life because of his love for his wife and children. Now, do you see on what basis he had to make his decision? All right, now I said I'll tie this in with Christ as well, turn back to the New Testament, if you will, to Philippians. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and you remember if you've been, most of you have here in the studio, you've been with me every week, and for some watching on television I hope you've been with us concurrently enough, that you remember that we said that God extended His love to the human race with the idea that He expected love in return. Now we're seeing this in the attitude of this servant toward his family. He is showing his love for them by actually giving up the rest of his life's freedom and agreeing to be a servant because of that love. All right, now we think that's awful when we think in terms of a human being actually agreeing to be a slave the rest of his life because he loves his family, but listen, the Lord Jesus did far more. Now if you go to Philippians chapter 2, come down to verse 5, where Paul writes, "...let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Now you remember several weeks ago I showed you that when we were made in the image of God we were given a mind and that every person of the Godhead had a mind, you remember that? Well now here is the mind ascribed to God the Son. "...let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who," speaking of Jesus, "...being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." Now that sounds like a little double-talk to us, but if you've got a margin in your Bible or a footnote I think it'll explain that all this says is that He was God, He is God, and there's no doubt about it. All right, then verse 7, "...but even though he was God, even though he was the omnipotent, omniscient Creator, yet he made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a," what? "...servant." Servant, see? Just exactly like this young Jewish man back there in Exodus. He agrees to being nothing more than a servant. Well, for what reason? For the sake of you and I, see? All right, "...so he took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." Now it doesn't say he was made like men, he was made in the likeness of men, that was the big difference. Then verse 8, "...and being found in fashion as a man, condescending to become a man, the very Creator God Himself, lowering Himself," as the Scripture says in another place, a little lower than the angels, "...and so he humbled himself, and became obedient not just forty, fifty, or sixty years of servitude, but became obedient unto," what? "...death. And he became obedient unto death, not just an ordinary death, not just a quick death by execution, but his was a death that was the most awful ever contrived, I think, in the human race, the death of the cross." Crucifixion is just beyond us. You and I, in this twentieth century, we can't imagine what crucifixion was like, and yet it was that death that Jesus was willing to suffer and go through for only one reason, because He loved us, and that was the choice that He was given. I always like to point out, did He have to? No, He didn't have to. God didn't have to redeem us. He could have just let us go, or He could have just simply removed the human race from the earth's experience and forgot about it. But oh, He did it because He loved us. All right, now then, let's go back quickly. We've just got three or four minutes left. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 3 again. And so we find that Adam, even though he loved his Creator, I'm sure Adam enjoyed those moments of fellowship in the cool of every day. But oh, who did he really love? This beautiful helpmate that God had given him. And remember, she was a perfect woman, even as he was a perfect man, and he had been with her long enough that he wasn't about to lose her. And so what I think, more than his open rebellion against God—I don't think Adam became viciously adamant. I don't think Adam just all of a sudden had an awful countenance that we find in Cain a little later, but I think it was just a set of circumstances where Adam was brought to a place of choosing. And in this case, he had to choose between this beautiful creature, this wife that God had given him, who had already sealed her condition, and rather than lose her and remain obedient, he knowingly, of his own free will and choice, chose to stay with Eve. And so what did he do? He ate. But nevertheless, it was in absolute violence of the Word of God. And so here is the beginning, then, of the whole human dilemma. And in our next half hour, we'll show that as soon as Adam ate, immediately the process of death began in his physical being. The whole working of cells beginning to die faster than they are produced in the body began. Now, for Adam, of course, it took 939 years, but nevertheless, after 939 years, what happened? He died. He wouldn't have had to. But the moment he ate—we'll see this in our next half hour—Romans tells us that sin and death came on the human race the moment Adam ate. On top of that, he immediately lost fellowship with his Creator. That wasn't something that happened later. That was immediate. At the same moment, his soul, as we saw a few weeks ago, that mind, will, and emotion part of him, that personality part of Adam, immediately became a sin nature. It immediately took on a sinful, rebellious attitude against God. And oh, if we can just once get the comprehension of this, that we're not sinners because of what we do. I have such a hard time convincing a lot of people that, look, you're not a sinner because you've done this, or because you've done that, or because of what you haven't done. We're sinners because we're children of Adam, see? And that's why I pointed out, to the best of my ability, a few weeks ago, that we were all in Adam. And it's by virtue of Adam's sin that you and I are born sinners. Well, we'll pick it up again next week. Less Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like to be part of our studio audience, call 1-800-369-7856. That's 1-800-369-7856. Or, if you would like a copy of today's Bible study on tape, send your gift of $5 or more to Less Feldick Ministries, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552.