Hard to Obey God: Genesis 3:1-7

“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth” (Deuteronomy 28:1, NASB).

The state of affairs in the United States of America is the result of the quality of the relationship between the Christian Church and God. In the Sermon on the Mountain in Matthew 5-7 Jesus told those that would be His disciples that it was up to them to live in a manner that would show the world the need for, and the value of obeying His commandments. Jesus said that His disciples were “the salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” (See Matthew 5:13-15). Jesus emphasized the necessity of obeying His commandments, saying, “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments , and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (5:19, NASB). Jesus warned them that obeying His commandments would not be easy, but something hard to do. He compared their standard for righteousness to that of the Pharisees and scribes that were thought of as the most righteous people on earth. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20). It is hard to obey God, and in this article I want to address some of the reasons.

It all began in the garden. The Lord God created a man and a woman (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:18-25). God prepared a garden and placed the man there to take care of it (See Genesis 2:8; 15). God created a woman to help the man to take care of the garden. God gave the man a command saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17, NASB). Now, that sounds to me like God gave the man a pretty good deal. The woman became partner with the man in everything that the man had. She was included in the blessings. She was to obey the same commandments, and if she disobeyed she would receive the same penalty. The man and the woman were one; equal in privileges and responsibilities and penalties. We will see that it was not easy to obey God; rather it is hard to obey God. These are some of the reasons.

First, human beings were created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27), but they were not God. Although they reflect God they did not have God’s nature. We do not know all the ways that human beings were different from God, but the story in Genesis 3 gives us some insight. God is self existent. Man existence is dependent on God’s creation and His life-giving breath (2:7). After the man and the woman had sinned they became aware that they were dependent upon God. They became aware that they were naked (3:7). They tried to hide and cover themselves, but God was walking in the garden. God called to the man and he realized that he could not escape from the presence of God.

Second, Human beings are subject to temptation. There are three things that tempt a person. They are the world, the flesh, and the devil. The man and the woman were in a very good environment, but the environment that they lived in was in the world. The man and the woman were soon confronted by the things in the world. The serpent; the agent of the devil, the evil one came into the garden. The devil knew that the man and the woman were vulnerable to temptation. You see part of being in the image and likeness of God is the ability to make decisions. You see, God allowed the serpent to enter the garden. The serpent offered the man and the woman some alternatives to the things that God had told them. They had to decide to obey the commandment that God had given to them or choose the alternate that the serpent was offering to them. The woman was attracted to the offer that the serpent presented to her. She began to use her own rational abilities. She made slight differences between what God said. Having changed God’s words, however small, she began to see the fruit as something to be desired and to be eaten. She rationalized that the serpent was right. If she ate the fruit she could elevate herself and become like God.

What about the man? It is held in many circles that the woman was the cause of all the problems that the human family endures. This idea is not supported in scripture. The scripture says that the woman ate the fruit and offered it to her husband. The man ate the fruit also. Now, let us think about this. The man and the woman had been placed in the garden to share in the privileges and responsibilities that God had given to them. Both the man and the woman were equally accountable to God. Do you think that the man ate the apple just because his wife offered it to him? I suggest that the man made an independent decision to eat, not because the woman offered it to him; rather it was because he too was under the temptation of the evil one. The man saw the apple as the woman saw the apple. The man desired to be like God just as much as the woman desired to be like God. There was no reason that he should not share the fruit with his wife. The man was tempted in the same way that the woman was tempted. This brings us to the third reason.

Third, human beings have a desire for self rule. The serpent tapped into this desire. The serpent knew that God is self-existent. God answers to none other. God is holy, meaning that God is separate and distinguished from all other beings whether angels, demons, animals, and human. God alone has the power to create, to sustain, and end life. Again, human beings were created in the image and likeness of God, but humanity is not God. Part of the image and likeness was the desire for self-rule. Humanity cannot rule them because they did not create themselves. Everything that a human was and everything that a human needed had to be supplied by the creator. Thus, obedience to God is possible when we submit ourselves to the God that created us. Humanity is totally dependent upon God for their existence.

The man and the woman disobeyed God. God drove the man from the garden (Genesis 3:24). The garden represents the place of God. In the garden we were present with the Lord. On the other hand the field that the serpent came from represents the world separated from God and controlled by the evil one. The scriptures are clear. The whole world is in God’s hands. However, God has granted that the devil have rule over the present world in this present age. Together, all of these things make it hard to obey God. There is a remedy.

We have another chance to obey God. The second chance is offered to us by God through His Son Jesus the Christ. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NASB). In the world we have no access to God because we are condemned because of our disobedience and sin. However, “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (3:17). We have a chance to live in the presence of God. We have another chance to obey God as hard as that is. To do so, requires a change in our nature. It requires a power to help us to overcome temptation. It requires a change in our desires. The Lord has made all of these things possible. God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves.

The gospel is preached and we have the opportunity to obey the gospel. Our sin debt has been paid in full. Paul writes, “But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NASB). Therefore the gospel is preached throughout the whole world because “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). Peter tells us how we can be united again with God. He tells us the source that makes possible the ability to obey God. “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38, NASB). The death of Jesus unites us to God. The Holy Spirit gives us power to obey God. We need the Holy Spirit to help us because it is hard to obey God.