(Thomas Watson, “The Lord’s Prayer“)

If we would be kept from actual sins–let us be careful to avoid all the inlets and occasions of sin.

Do not run into evil company. He who would not catch the plague–must not go into an infected house.

Guard your senses, which may be the inlets to sin. Keep the two portals–the eye and the ear. Especially guard your eyes. Much sin comes in by the eye; the eye is often an inlet to sin; sin takes fire at the eye.

The first sin in the world, began at the eye. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye–she took some and ate it.” Genesis 3:6

Intemperance begins at the eye, “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup. In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper!” Pr. 23:31-32

Covetousness begins at the eye. “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold, I coveted them and took them.” Joshua 7:21

The fire of lust begins to kindle at the eye. David walking upon the roof of his house, saw a woman washing herself, and she was, says the text, “beautiful to look upon,” and he sent messengers and took her, and defiled himself with her. 2 Samuel 11:2. Looking begat lusting!

Therefore watch your eyes! Job made a covenant with his eyes. Job 31:1. If the eye is once inflamed, it will be hard to stand out long against sin. If the outworks are captured by the enemy, there is great danger of the whole castle being captured!

(Daily Devotional from Grace Gems)

The adage, “the eyes are the windows to the soul” is mostly true, although I would go so far as to call them the doorways to the soul. As Watson points out, sin often begins with what we see and, having seen, our minds take over and lead us into the sins of covetousness and lust. As James says, “¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15, ESV)

The more I become convicted of my own sins, the more I realize the importance of the exhortation to watch my eyes and the more I come to realize that, as Paul says, “¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” (1 Corinthians 10:13a, ESV). In other words, despite the best efforts of the accuser, it is becoming clearer to me that I am not alone in my struggles and that the battle generally is won or lost at the gates (eyes and ears). Once the enemy has advanced past the gates it is easy for spies to hide within the castle and attack when our inner defenses are at their weakest. It is easier to keep the enemy out in the first place than to wage guerrilla warfare within my own borders

So, once our outer defenses have been breached (or, as is more often the case, the gates left wide open and unguarded), is there no hope? Of course there is hope. As Paul goes on to say “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. ¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (1 Corinthians 10:13b-14, ESV). God will always be there to help us endure the temptation, but, and this is a very important “but”, we must flee the idols we have built. It does me no good to expect God to deliver me from a sin I am willfully committing. There have been times when I was ready to act in direct opposition to God’s will when He has intervened and saved me, but ,for the most part, once I have turned my back on Him I am on my own. However, if I feel the pull of temptation and turn to God rather than my idols, He is faithful to deliver me safely through.

⁶ So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths . . . . ²¹ And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. [Genesis 3:6-7, 21; ESV]

While reading through the early chapters of Genesis, I was struck by the fact of how consistent and purposeful God is. Don’t get me wrong, I already knew this, but it really struck me anew when reading the account of the fall of Adam and Eve (and, through them, all mankind). Three particular elements of the story of the fall really stood out to me and drove home, once again, the reality of justification by faith alone (Sola Fide).

The Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The first element that struck me is the fruit. Adam and Eve were naked before they ate the fruit, but only after they ate it did they realize that they were naked. Eating the fruit didn’t make them naked, it just revealed their nakedness to them. In the same way, we are all sinners. We may not realize that we’re sinners until we encounter the law, but we are all sinners nonetheless.

The Fig Leaves

The second element that struck me were the fig leaves. Now that Adam and Eve realize that they are naked, they feel they need to do something about it, so they get some fig leaves and make themselves clothes. In the same way, when we see through God’s law that we are sinners we feel the need to do something to “fix it.” We have a built-in spirit-level knowledge that our sin needs to be covered with something so we grab the fig leaves of self-righteousness and try to cover ourselves.

The Garments of Skins

The third element that struck me are the garments of skins that God made for Adam and Eve. Fig leaves are impractical clothing; they just aren’t going to last long without being attached to the tree they came from, not to mention the fact that, at this point, all animals are herbivores. It just wouldn’t do to have some animal eating your clothes while you slept. So, God made Adam and Eve “garments of skins and clothed them.” What a wonderful picture of things to come. God performed the first sacrifice in history and, though it doesn’t state for a fact what skins God used, I like to think that it was a lamb that He used. God knows that our attempts at covering ourselves pale in comparison to what is necessary so He condescends to offer the covering that we need

⁶ But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. [Isaiah 64:6; NKJV]

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [Genesis 3:1-5; ESV]

Genesis 3 records the first lies told in human history, fittingly told by the deceiver himself; the “father of lies”. Satan knows very well that God did not forbid Adam and Eve from eating “of any tree in the garden”, just one tree in particular, but that doesn’t stop him from planting the seed of doubt. He then goes on to tell his second lie; that they will not die. In Genesis 2:16-17 God tells Adam in the plainest of terms that he will surely die if he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but Satan, having already planted the seed of doubt in Eve’s mind, follows up with his death-blow — a blatant contradiction of God’s word.

It is clear from the wholesale rejection of God’s word by the church as well as the secular world that the lie is still effective today. “Did God actually say . . . ?” What better way to sow the seeds of doubt, especially when combined with the lack of discernment by Christians regarding false teaching, the attitude that all beliefs are equally valid and a general lack of knowledge regarding what God actually did say.

There is a mindset that we need to listen to the experts when it comes to everything. When you’re sick you go to the doctor and do whatever he says. Why would you doubt your doctor? He went to medical school and served an internship and has been in practice for however many years. He subscribes to all the medical journals and reads all the latest literature so he must know what he’s talking about. Right? Why would we as parents or students doubt what the teachers say? They went to school and learned how to teach. They use the latest textbooks with up-to-date information and they read, read, read to stay up on the latest knowledge in their areas of specialization. They’re the experts. When it comes to God’s word, we are the same way. I don’t need to study the Bible because there are pastors and preachers who are experts and they’ll tell me what I need to know so why should I try to wrap my brain around the truth when I can have it served to me on a silver platter.

Why, indeed. Consider the following passage from Acts 17:

¹⁰ The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. ¹² Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. ¹³ But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. [Acts 17:10-13; ESV]

The church at Berea was not content to just accept whatever was taught to them, but searched the scriptures to make sure what they were being taught was true. Never mind that it was Paul who was teaching them. Would that we had the same desire to test all teachings today. Too often we are more like those described in Ephesians 4:14, “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” We just accept the word of the experts and “go with the flow.” Never mind checking to make sure that what they say is really what the Bible says.

As I have gone through various stages in my development as a Christian, I have fallen in and out of the habit of searching the scriptures for the truth; sometimes trusting completely sometimes searching relentlessly. Lately it has been a real burden for me to be able to know not only what I believe, but why I believe it. There are many things that I believe to be right or wrong, but I don’t always have the “ammunition” to back up my belief, so I am going to begin searching. It’s not good enough for me to have a vague sense of “I know it says that somewhere in the Bible”, I need to know where it says it in the Bible, not only for my own sake, but also to answer the questions of the world and to stand up to the deceptions of Satan.

This post will serve as the beginning of a series (very intermittent, I’m sure — you know me ) in which I will examine those beliefs that are clearly set forth in the Bible, but are often denigrated by the world. I can’t promise that the conclusions will be popular, but they will be biblical. One thing that is outside the scope of this series is the question of the validity of the Bible. There will always be those who will say that it doesn’t matter what the Bible says about anything because they don’t accept it (the Bible) as being true. Perhaps I will tackle that question at a later time, but until then I will soon follow up with a post of some links to sites that defend the accuracy of the Bible.

I pray that this series will be a blessing to everyone who reads it.

“¹³ You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the LORD” [Jeremiah 29:13-14a; ESV]

²² When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. ²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. ²⁷ And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. [Genesis 17:22-27; English Standard Version]

I am studying Genesis 12-20 this month for my personal Bible study and there are many things in that span of chapters that really speak to me, but this morning I was really hit by chapter 17. What struck me most was Abraham’s reaction to God’s command. God told Abraham to be circumcised, and he did it “that very day.” Now, how many of us can say that? When God calls us, how often do we drop everything and just do what He says?

Notice that Abraham did not say “Well, God, that’s great and I’ll get right on it as soon as my schedule is clear. I’ll pencil you in for next Tuesday. Unless something else comes up, that is.” He did not say “I’ll have to check with my insurance to make sure this procedure is covered and get an appointment to have it done. You know how difficult it is to get for this sort of thing. Not to mention that you said everyone in my household. This isn’t going to be easy, you know.” No excuses; no putting it off until a more convenient time. God called and commanded and Abraham did it.

You have to admire that. How often do we come up with excuses? Good excuses, to be sure. There are lots of things that have to be done, after all. But, as a Christian, who are you living for? Your family? Your boss? Yourself? Where do your priorities lie? Where should they lie? God knows the circumstances of our lives and He doesn’t give us direction for no reason. He knows your schedule better than you do.

God doesn’t do anything on a whim, either. He has a plan and the timing of his command is part of that plan. To be sure, He gives second chances (and third and fourth) if we don’t respond the first time, but better to submit to inevitable than try to fight it. I do speak from experience.

So what is He calling you to do, today? That little nudge you feel to get up an hour earlier to spend some time with Him reading His Word — that’s a good one. How about that nagging feeling that you should just speak up. Or that co-worker or friend that you’ve been meaning to talk to about your Christian walk. What about when someone pops into your head that you just feel like you need to pray for. Those are all ways in which He calls.

Stop making excuses. When God calls, respond. Willingly, cheerfully and immediately respond. You’ll be glad you did.

There has been considerable conversation in the comments of this post on the blog of our Pastor and his brother regarding death before sin. Not content to let sleeping dogs lie, David has tried to draw the controversy into a new post, but so far no one has taken the bait.

Yesterday I received the devotional below from The Institute for Creation Research which illustrates perfectly the problems with reinterpreting Genesis to fit an evolutionist worldview. If you reject the notion that only sin leads to death then, eventually, the entire message of the Gospel becomes irrelevant. Now this may not come immediately nor may it affect the faith of the one who believes in such things, but think of those they are passing those beliefs on to — why should they believe the message of the Gospel when the foundation of the Gospel is seen as being mere myth.

I encourage you to read the original posts and comments for a bit more background.

Death by Sin January 13, 2006

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

This very important verse conveys several vital truths. First of all, death came into the world only when sin came into the world. Suffering and death of conscious life, whether animal or human, were not a part of God’s “finished” and “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31, 2:1-3). There was an abundance of food and all other provisions for both people and animals. There was certainly no “struggle for existence” or “survival of the fittest,” for every creature was created “fit” for its own environment.

When Adam sinned, however, it became necessary for God to bring the curse of decay and death not only upon Adam but also upon all his dominion (Genesis 3:17-20; see also Romans 8:20-22; I Corinthians 15:21-22).

Furthermore, there remains no warrant fo r the notion that “Adam” is simply a generic term representing the human race. He was “one man.” In fact, he was “the first man” (I Corinthians 15:45), and Eve was “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). There was certainly no population of evolving hominids becoming “Adam.” In fact, Christ Himself made it clear that Adam and Eve were there “from the beginning of the creation” (Mark 10:6, quoting Genesis 1:27).

The entire argument here in Romans 5:12-21 becomes irrelevant if the Genesis record of the Creation and Fall of Adam did not happen precisely as recorded in Genesis 1-3, and this would mean that there is no reality in the saving work of Christ, either.

Such a rejection of the Christian faith is hardly warranted by the fragmentary fossils that have been alleged to support the notion of human evolution. No one should stake his eternal soul on such a will-o’-the-wisp as that! HMM

God has been hard at work in both Kim and I in many areas and we would be grateful for your prayers as He continues this good work in us. A few of the areas He is active in are:

Home school As most of you know, with God’s leading, we have made the decision to home school Colin. This was an easy decision for us to make for a number of reasons and we know that it is the right one for Colin, which is what is most important. Now that we are at the point where the proverbial rubber meets the equally proverbial road we feel that we have more decisions to make including whether or not to use a formal curriculum and, if so, which one, how best to get organized and what supplies we need to start collecting, etc. Right now I (Kevin) am struggling with my desire to be as involved as possible and how to do so while working. I am contemplating (and praying about) finding out if it would be possible for me to work from home at least a couple of days each week with my current job. Eventually I would like to work full time from home — for myself — but that’s a long way down the road. Right now we’re just looking for the door’s God is opening for us.

Play Group Not long ago Kim mentioned that she thought that a play group at church would be great for both her and Colin. Well, you all know how God works — within about a week of her telling me about it, someone from the church approached her about being co-leader of a play group there. He really does work in mysterious ways AND prepares us for what He has for us.

Answers In Genesis For those of you who don’t know, Answers In Genesis is a ministry we have been involved with in various ways for the past two years or so. AIG is a multi-faceted evangelical ministry whose main focus in on the inerrant truth of Genesis 1-11 — basically stating that God did indeed create in six literal, terrestrial days and that Noah’s flood was a real, global flood that destroyed all life other than that which was on the Ark and the Earth is only about 6000 years old. Their ministry is so common-sense when you believe and yet I am constantly amazed by the depth of knowledge and information they have to spread.

For the past couple of months I have had this growing desire/burden to put what I have learned to use, mostly within the church, for God’s glory. For a long time I have felt God nudging me in the direction of some sort of ministry within the church as I have always felt that so many churches are just interested in getting warm bodies in the seats, but once they are there the church doesn’t do anything for them as far as helping them to grow beyond the “baby” level of Christianity. I’m still not exactly sure about where this will lead, but the desire/burden keeps growing stronger.

Teaching/Small Group One possible way I see to harness my desire is in leading a small group. AIG has such a wide array of resources available that they have made it easy to spread the word, and leading a small group focused on the truths of Genesis is one great way I see to serve in this area. Another possibility that I see is reaching out not only to our church, but to other churches in the area by putting together my own “home-grown” presentation based on the AIG resources. Another one of those God-moments happened just today when we received some information in the mail about a “Creation College” that AIG will be putting on in June/July next year where one of the classes will be “build[ing] a “relevance,” Ken Ham-type [AIG's President and one of their main speakers] talk . . . In a much more detailed session this year, hear Ken give his best-known presentation, and then learn how he crafted it. You’ll be able to do it yourself!” Wow. Both Kim and I would love to attend, but there are some obstacles that will have to be overcome, not the least of which is the tuition, travel and lodging costs. We both know that if it is His will for us to be there we will have what we need when we need it, though.

I have also been reading lately about some people in Oklahoma who started a local creation society and have wondered if that might be a way to go, too. Ahh, so many choices — I’m glad God is the one who will be picking the direction we will go with all of this.

Budget This is probably one of the harder areas that we have been dealing with lately as it is more mundane than the others and not nearly as much fun. We have, quite frankly, been poor stewards of our resources lately and are working to get our finances back in order, which has not been an easy task. We think we have our budget in good working order and have trimmed much of the “fat” to get things more in line. We are currently living without our DirecTV service and watching DVDs when we watch anything on television. Next month we are planning to have basic cable hooked up, but, truth be told, at this point I would probably be just as happy with no television at all — and I KNOW that is God working in me, because I never thought I would feel that way.

Kim’s Health Kim has been having some odd health problems/symptoms lately and has visited with our family doctor and a neuro-specialist who sent her for an MRI. So far all tests have come back normal, but there is clearly something not quite right. Her symptoms come and go and vary in intensity. She has an appointment with her OB/GYN in a week and a half and she plans to bring up some of the symptoms with him as well to see if he may have any insight.

Other Stuff One announcement I would like to make is the grand opening of ..:: gods.geek ::.. — my very own blog (short for weblog) where I will share my insights (such as they are) from what I read, listen to, etc. and anything else I feel God is leading me to share there. I have been reading a book called Hard to Believe by John MacArthur, which I am planning to briefly review there shortly, so you won’t want to miss that. Seriously, though, I invite all of you to sign up to be kept up to date on my latest entries there the same way you are for Kim’s “Colin Tales.” I can’t promise that I will be nearly as entertaining as she is, but I hope I can help give you a little something to think about and share what God is doing in me from time to time. Just email me or post a comment here if you would like to get those updates.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my little letter here. As I said, these are just a few of the areas God is working on us and I’m sure we will be sharing more, both here and at ..:: gods.geek ::.. over the coming weeks and months. Thank you, also, for all the support, love and, most of all, prayers that you give us. We love you all and are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Last, but not least, please let us know if there is anything we can be praying for for any of you.

Prayer Requests – Guidance in homeschooling Colin – That Kim’s play group will not only be a place of fellowship for the kids and moms, but that it will be used to glorify God and be an outreach to non-Christians, as well – God’s continued direction regarding AIG and other ministry opportunities we are involved in – Our finances – Kim’s health