Did Adam & Eve Eat An Apple : Life vs. Death | Rev. Elisha Satvinder

Good morning, everybody! Wonderful, great to see all of you. We continue this whole look at Genesis, understanding Adam and Eve, what happened. And remember, it’s not an apple, okay? It’s more than that. So we’re going to read some scriptures to frame where we are going today. We’re going to look at Genesis 2:9 and a few others.

The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now we go to verse 16 and 17. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 3:4-6, “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman, “For God knows that when 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 fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Now, we’re going to look, we’re going to compare in the New Testament from 1 John 2, sorry, not verses 2, chapter 2:15-16. Here it says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world,” it names three things here, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the father but of this world.”

For the background, you would need to go back and listen to the last couple of weeks, but today we want to look at one particular theme. It starts in the garden, and actually, it comes into every part of our life each day that we live. All right? Each day, the temptations that Adam and Eve faced that we read of are actually mirrors in our life today. They’re mirrors; they mirror us today. So we’re going to examine these three areas briefly: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. So we’re going to look at this first part.

Remember, it said it was good for food. She saw it, and I want to deal with the first area: the lust of the flesh, what we see good for ourselves. In Genesis 2:9, I want us to go back there. Genesis 2:9, it says here, “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground.” Now look at this: “Trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” Isn’t it amazing? A bit later, Eve looks at it after the serpent speaks to her, and she saw that the other fruit was good for the eye and good for food. So this is a comparison of what God says is good and what the serpent is saying or what she is seeing as good, and that’s a battle we go through every day. So, trees that were good, that were, sorry, were pleasing to the eye and good for food in the middle of the garden. All right? So good for food. So in Genesis 2:9, we see this, we read that God made every tree grow that was pleasant to the sight and good for food. Yet there is one tree there that we have read and we’ve understood, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God says to them, “Do not eat.”

But in Genesis 3:6, can I go to Genesis 3:6 please, we look at verse 6; you got to go one more slide. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, she only saw that after the serpent says, “You sure?” So here we see something happening in the heart of man. Okay, so God said, “Do not,” so we see Eve’s perspective changing under the serpent’s influence. See, every day, we can read—we just sang, “Your goodness is running after me”—we can read of the goodness, we can read of God’s truth and God’s word and what God wants for us and designs for us. And yet there is something that is presented to us through the day, through our life, through relationships, conversations, whatever it may be, that says, “You know what? This is better than what our God offers you. This is better because God is taking something away from you, and he doesn’t want you to have its fullness.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, this physical desire, this lust of the flesh, leads her to what? Disobedience. She chooses something less effective for her life.

So what’s the application for you and me? Well, we face temptations every day. True? We face temptations every day, whatever degree it may be, in whatever sphere of our life, we face it no matter what our age, okay? So the lust of the flesh is more than food. Okay? Asians do consume with food as well, okay? So it’s anything that we desire to seek to satisfy our physical cravings at the expense of spiritual health. Eve triggered that whole thing, triggered her craving, and she turned away from the goodness of God.

Think about how often, you know, we can prioritize different things: comfort, pleasure, indulgence. And we are warned in Galatians 5:16-17. It says, “So I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary.” God says, “Look, this is good.” The devil says, “You sure?” Contrary, it’s clashing here, contrary to the spirit and the spirit, what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want.

So in our daily lives, what happens? This temptation can manifest in various ways. How? Okay, something close to all of our hearts, our heart sometimes, belly, okay, food, okay? Our culture glorifies indulgence. Our culture glorifies indulgence. So it is so easy to let our appetite, our appetites dictate our choices. It’s not very easy to fast, isn’t it? So often, it leads to what? Unhealthy habits. Similarly, we have what you call sexual desires and temptations. That is another thing that we are drawn to. It becomes a culture, you know, “It feels good, do it. You know what? Meet, gratify, be gratified with what you feel.” Okay? So it’s always a tug of war. So we think God is this guy who is a killjoy, who doesn’t want me to experience life. That’s not true. That’s not true.

So here we are, temptations in all different areas of our lives, where it dominates our flesh. So look at the prevalence of pornography. Look at the prevalence of it, casual relationships, how we have relationships today. Our society, what, says, “Prioritize this physical satisfaction over purity and over commitment.” So what is Satan’s counterfeit? Satan’s counterfeit is this: “Be yourself, feel good. If it feels good, do it. Don’t care. Be true to yourself, do what you want, as long as you know that you’re not hurting anyone.” It opposes what God says: “Be holy, for I’m holy.” The woke culture, the cancel culture, it’s always attacking. Why? I attack so that I can justify; I can excuse what I do.

So there’s always the counterfeit that takes place here. Then we go on. We see substance abuse; it’s beyond drugs and designer drugs, isn’t it? Alcohol is another thing, addictive behavior in so many other things. Why? We are attempting to fill up a void in our lives. We want to satisfy this craving within us, and many times, those cravings can only find fulfillment and satisfaction in God.

So ultimately, our cravings, our desires, our wants lead us away from God. They lead us away. So the temporary pleasure, I want it now, temporary pleasure always does this one thing: it draws us away from long-term benefit. Emotions, physical damage is always done. So it’s temporary versus long-term. You know, we think of the story of Esau, isn’t it? Food—what use is my birthright? I’m going to—you can take it. How easily you and I can sacrifice what is truly valuable for momentary satisfaction. People lose money because in that moment, you think you can have that satisfaction, skim chapaya, isn’t it? Huh? That moment, it looks good, it feels good. Then you lose all your savings, you lose everything.

So what’s our challenge in this first point here? Our challenge is to discern these desires and choose to walk by the spirit. You know, pause, ask yourself, “Why am I so driven with this? Why am I so driven about my flesh? Why am I so driven with food? Why am I so driven with this kind of entertainment? What’s wrong? You know, is there something missing in my life?” So self-control is so challenging, isn’t it? Whether young or old, self-control, whatever areas of our life, self-control is something we need to practice. We value our spiritual health; we value eternity; we value the long game. Why? Because the temporary has never proven to benefit us in the long run.

Okay, so Philippians 3:19 tells us this: “Their destiny is destruction, their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.” So we look at it; we trade long-term blessings for short-term satisfaction, yeah, short-term satisfaction. If we seek and we are patient enough to work with what God wants us to work on, then we have long-term blessings, yeah?

The second part, I wanted to—one second thought I want us to quickly look at is this: pleasant to the eyes and the lust of the eyes. Eve saw the tree to be pleasant to the eyes, and here we read in 1 John 2:16 just now, the lust of the eyes. Now this represents a couple of things. Number one, it represents our covetousness and desire by what we see, isn’t it? Isn’t our eye gate powerful? Isn’t our eye gate so powerful? What we see, how we see things. Physically, okay, what are we looking at? You look at it long enough, you want it, okay?

So what is the application of this in our modern context? It’s materialism, can I? Yeah, it’s materialism and envy in our modern context. We live in a culture, what, it says it’s constantly bombarding us with images about what? Images of what we should want, not what we need, you know? Shopee. You know, I’m like, “Hey, what is that?” You know? And then it’s always telling you, “Buy, buy me, buy me.” I mean, I don’t know, maybe it shall say, “Buy me.” You know, rather than show and look at what’s there. And we realize the fixation with Shopee or whatever. I don’t know what lazat or lazar, what Lazada or whatever, but look, online shopping. I was reading an article in thinking of this, and they said the buying power of Gen Z supersedes all other generations because you are a native.

I mean, my phone is in my room. I don’t bring it down with me. It tells us buy, buy, buy, look good, feel good, come buy, buy, buy, buy. I want, I want, I want. So advertisements, social media, amplify our craving, amplify our need. Of course, at the other spectrum, don’t try to live like a kutu, you know? “I only got three shirts and that’s enough.” Good, good for you; just make sure you wash them and you use something under your armpits. So it’s always there, where there’s also false humility, okay? Let me just—there’s also false humility. So—but I’m talking about the greed of the flesh here.

So advertisements constantly bombard us. They show us lifestyles and possessions of others. What does it ignite? Envy. “If I only can have that dress, if I can only have that complexion”—Photoshop—“that hair.” You know, “Are you growing bald?” You say, “Yeah, I’m growing bald.” No longer worry. Why worry? Always come on, have something.

Now look at this scripture here. It says, “Death and destruction are never satisfied.” Death will never stop, right? Death and destruction are never satisfied. But look where it goes here: “and neither are human.” Proverbs 27:20: “Death and destruction are never satisfied, but neither are human eyes.”

Materialism is perhaps the most obvious manifestation of the lust of the eyes. We are inundated by advertisements, latest gadgets. Sometimes I see young people want to use the most recent headphone to do what? Watch movies? TikTok? Seriously, what? You want that? Actually, the truth is this: you are sucked into that whole system. It’s the lust of your eyes because your friend in college has it, your friend in uni has it, your friend in school. So now, you’re going to get your parents to go into debt just to buy you. If not, you’re going to kick a fuss. Or parents will say, “Oh, I’m going to buy the latest for my kid also.” That’s wrong. Why? I raise money from my handphone. My handphone is my office. Those of you working with me know my handphone is my office. I literally do 80% of my work through my handphone.

So sometimes when people want the latest, I’m like, “Why do you want that?” So we are inundated with this. Social media just exacerbates this by allowing us to compare our lives by what we see, all that is carefully curated images of what others have, and we are drawn in, be it relationships, be it home, be it whatever it is. We need discernment; if not, we are swallowed up by that need. And then like Eve, she looks at it, and God says, “Look, it’s good to the eye. I give you everything.” And the devil says, “Do you—are you sure? Are you sure?” And she sees and says, “Hey, actually this is great.” And she’s turned away from the best.

Our eyes are powerful, ladies and gentlemen, powerful. Oh, we look at somebody else’s success, their beauty, their wealth, and we covet it. It leads to what? Dissatisfaction, despair. Are we contented in our hearts with God? Are we satisfied with God? Are we satisfied in his presence, in his love? I remember, and you know, when our second child was born, and given the culture and all these different things, and my wife asked me, “You all right, boy?” I said, “You know what? These are God’s gifts. I have a home; I have a wife; I have children; I have different things. I don’t need to be sucked in to anything that’s cultural and societal that says I need to have a boy to feel fulfilled.” What rubbish. What an insult to all the women! If believers do that, shame on us.

Now, it brings despair. It always tells you something else is better. Don’t envy. Envy is the other thing that the lust of the eyes plays out from. Envy. So we can imagine somebody else’s bonus, somebody else’s promotion, somebody else’s results or achievement or holiday, the neighbor’s house, the neighbor’s car, some aunty that you hate, her. Envy. We say comparison. Comparison comes from envy. Friends’ lifestyle. This not only steals our joy, but it leads us to make unwise decisions in the pursuit to keep up. Why borrow money to buy, you know, credit card? No, don’t.

Let’s look at Matthew 6:22-23. It says, “The eye…” Isn’t it interesting? “The eye is the lamp of the body.” The eye is the lamp. What’s a lamp? Lamp brings light, isn’t it? It gives you direction in darkness, right? So think about this: “The eye is the lamp of the body.” Wow. “If your eyes are healthy…” It’s not 20/20 vision, that’s not what it’s talking about, all right? Eat carrots, you’ll be healthy. Yeah, if your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. Your whole being: your spirit, your mind, your emotions, your conscience. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. Temptation. “If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.”

Eve saw. So the emphasis is what? How important our spiritual vision is. How we perceive, how we prioritize what we see. Remember somebody saying to me, “But we are husband and wife, so we can watch uncensored movies.” I said, “I don’t know which planet you come from. Sin is sin, really. Your eyes…” I think it was Casting Crowns, isn’t it? Old, old Christian band, and it says, “Be careful little eyes what you see.”

So, church, if we struggle with those things, it’s not to hide. Don’t hide like Adam and Eve. That’s when it perpetuates the problem. But it’s to come and say, “Hey, I want to come clean. Will you help me walk through this?” Because the more you hide, the greater the serpent coils his tail around you and soon chokes out the spiritual life from us. Everybody all right? How we perceive, how we prioritize.

The eyes here are described as the body’s lamp, indicating what? That our perspective and our focus profoundly impact our inner spiritual life. I don’t know, those older remember Mills and Boon? J is like, “Yes, you read the whole series.” Now all this love stories, Mills and Boon, and then all these ladies thinking of, “Oh, you know, Prince Charming,” and then this fantasy world of relationship, fantasy world. Today, we have it—it’s called Netflix. Okay? So actually, it’s net fixed on you. It’s the net; you drop into it, it fixes you, done.

Okay, if your eyes—now, I’m going to go a bit faster because I’m flying off to Laos with my wife and a few people. We’re actually going to visit the school that we started 15 years ago in a few schools 15 years ago, and also reconnecting with some people there. But I’m also doing a baby dedication at 11:45 for a friend in PJ and then rushing to the airport. So you will forgive me if I rush at the end right now. You’ll say, “Rush, hurry up, faster, finish.” Better, okay? So Pastor Fing will come up and help me at the end. Okay? So all of a sudden, when my voice sounds different, no, it’s not, I’m going crazy. It’s him.

Okay, let’s come back to this. If therefore your eye is good, a good eye is one that’s focused on God’s truth. We read God’s truth, yeah. We say, listen, no, I know Bible apps. Listen, but try to read as well, please. Read, read, read. Because you read, you underline, you do different things, whatever. Read, read, read. All right? So read, look, God’s truth, God’s goodness, God’s beauty, the eye that looks with gratitude upon gratitude about contentment, see God’s provision, see God’s blessing rather than coveting what you do not have.

When our spiritual vision is aligned with God’s values, our whole being is filled with light. That means what? That means I live in a way that reflects God’s truth and love. But if your eye is bad, so conversely, what happens here? An eye that is clouded by materialism, envy, focused on earthly things. So when my eyes are fixated on what I lack and what others possess, it fills me with discontentment. It fills me with darkness. It fills me with so many negativities. It fills me up, you know, darkness, discontentment, jealousy, inadequacy, insecurity.

And yet God gives us the best and says, “In me, find fulfillment; in me, find peace; in me, find rest.” So the darkness affects my entire being, and it takes me away from God’s light and God’s truth. So the metaphor—what does the metaphor do? The metaphor says this: the state of my inner being, the condition, the health of my inner being—my heart, my mind, my spirit, my emotions, whether be it light or dark—that means it can be bad or it can be good. What is it influenced by? It’s influenced by what I choose to focus on. Fair, everybody? And that’s what the word tells us. And what does it, in Deuteronomy, “Choose today, life and blessing,” sorry, “life and death, blessing and cursing.” God tells them, “Hey, Israel, choose life or death, blessing or cursing.” Choose today who you will serve. We always do that, isn’t it? Choose, choices. Our life is full of choices. I choose to click the button or not to click the button, to lie or not to lie. Everything is a choice. “Give us our daily bread. Lead us not into temptation.” So daily we say, “God, lead me in my choices—my work, my business, my studies, my relationships, my friendships, my conversations, my actions—everything.”

So the metaphor does this: will I be filled with the darkness? Consider David, King David. When the kings went for war, David decided to stay back, and guess who it’s up there, and the other across his palace, across his room, bathing? Bathsheba. And he sees. What’s happened? The lust of the eyes. He covets another man’s wife, and he commits sin. And we say, “Oh, he repented.” Yeah, Psalms 51. But do you know, the sword never left David’s life and family. His family paid a price. The nation paid a price. Our greed doesn’t stop just because I said, “Sorry, God.” The lust, the choices—church, please hear this—we pay a price. A nation paid the price for David’s stupidity, the lust. And then he ends up killing the husband. Where it started? Lust of the eyes, coveting what is not yours. Yeah, David tried to make it right, yeah, he did whatever, yeah, but the effect.

I always say this, young people, you know, to make the decision I have the power. The consequences, I have no power. I have no power over the consequence. So weigh it out carefully, dear friends, weigh it out. In God’s goodness, he brings deliverance, he brings peace, he takes us through that. Lean on the goodness of God, lean on the kindness of God, lean on the holiness of God. Lean that—we don’t like that, you know? Whether it’s home, different ones, I say, “Hey, when you’re corrected, you never like it, but it’s always for your better. It’s for your betterment.” But we never like when we are corrected.

So what’s our challenge? Is that to guard our hearts and eyes, focusing on what is pure and holy? I want to read you Philippians 4:11-13, and we’re going to go to the last point here. He says, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content.” Please go back—content, whatever the circumstances, whatever the circumstances, I’ve learned to be content. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength. We always misquote verse 13. “Oh, I can do all…” Yes, I know you can do, I know you can do a lot of stupid things also, but it’s not God giving you the strength. He is saying, “Whatever it may be, God gives me the strength to go through it. I don’t rely on my own understanding. I don’t rely on my strength.”

Why we are constantly guided by our emotions. Powerful reminder.

Number three, and I can have the worship team up as well, and my fifth name is Houdini just for today. If you know Houdini, he was, he disappeared, okay? Desirable to make one wise and the pride of life. I want us to look at this as I lend the thought this morning: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, good for food, desirable. So finally, Eve comes to this place, and he says she saw that it was desirable to make one wise. And it mirrors, isn’t it? It mirrors the pride of life. In 1 John 2:16, it speaks of two things here, dear friends, two things: self-exaltation and independence.

I deal with this quite often, isn’t it? We as young people, we always, young people, we want independence. “I want to get out from away from the home, I want to get away. Why must the church, why must this, why must that, why must my father, why must my mother, why, why, why, why do I have to have accountability in the connect group, why, why, why?” Because the devil is smarter than you. He’s smarter than you. He’s crafty. He’s good. Give him credit for that one thing, okay? He’s good.

Self-exaltation, dependence. What is the application? The application is this, dear friends: please listen to this. Power, fame, recognition, underlining whatever. We all love to be in power, isn’t it? Whether it’s with one person, two people, whatever it is, we love fame. We may not be like the superstar, but we love to be known. We like to be known. And then most of us like to see how many likes you have on Facebook. Your life is so governed by that “like,” or how many viewed you, or how many reposted. We’re so, you know, “Wow, we… recognition. We want recognition.” And please hear this from somebody who also battles with it—me.

You must understand that the platform that comes with the work we do is a very wide, noticeable platform. From dignitaries to royalties to people who are head—we call them captains of industry—and God in his grace will always remind me, “What are you doing?” And the day my ear is dull to that voice, the serpent has coiled around me, for the pride of life has taken on.

In the platform of the church, you know what I’m longing, what I associated with, it’s a national platform. You know how easy it is to long for that recognition? I’m being very honest and transparent with you, church. I know this firsthand, pride of life. But you may not be after recognition, but your pride is always fighting with God, fighting with the sermon, fighting with simple discipline, fighting with simple order, just fighting. Pride of life.

We want to control our destinies, we want to control our life. Proverbs 16:18 tells us this: “Pride goes before destruction.” That’s frightening, you know? That’s very frightening. A haughty spirit before a fall. I’ve met people who regularly, after 20 years, they are multi-millionaires. And next week, please don’t miss this, Bill High, who is coming. He grew up in abject poverty. Today he manages billions of dollars—not ringgit, dollars, billions, not millions—billions. Hear his story next week. Bring somebody so powerful and an attorney. And God has entrusted him to look over billions. Simple as a person you can find.

Our daily lives are governed by ambitions and achievements. Can we stand together as I look at our challenge?

What’s our challenge? You know, again, please look, social media plays such, if I can say, an erosive power, heart in our life. What do I mean by erosive? It can erode our conscience, our values, our principles that are governed by God, because we hear the serpent’s whisper: “Did God really say that? You sure? I mean, come on, who is your pastor anyway? Others preach better than him,” which is true. The word… uh, it’s boring. And God says, “Look, I’ve got all this for you, but don’t touch this, they’ll kill you.”

Our challenge is to cultivate humility and recognize our dependence on God. When we sing, we sing, “Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you.” Yeah, God, I really need you. God, the decisions I make, the friendships I keep, the choices I make, the lifestyle I lead, the things that I do. God, help me.

So to combat this pride of life, we must have this reality check of our motives. All of us, all of us, am I seeking to glorify God or myself? I must ask, and I don’t want to be too quick to answer it, because my lifestyle is going to validate my answer.

So there’s two thoughts, and then Pastor Fing is going to read the closing scripture with you. Our challenge is to do this:

The temptations of the garden are still with us. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride of life—they are there. Our place is to trust God, enjoy the abundance he gives, and resist the temptations that draw us away from him. Why? I want the latest. I want another car, I want a bigger car, I want a faster car, a sportier car, a bigger home, a better pool. You know, it goes on and on and on. Why? Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh.

There are two closing scriptures I want us to look at. And as we worship, just surrender that area to God and say, “God, have your way in my life. Have your way in my life, Lord. Work upon my heart, Lord, that I have the filter of heaven in my ears, that I don’t hear the whispers of the enemy, but I hear your voice saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it. For in it, you will prosper.’ Amen.”