Stolen Apples and Turkish Delight

The Bible describes Jesus as seeking and saving the lost. Consider this from Stephen Davey, he comes and he seeks and he says, delivering the very first question from his lips to humanity. And I love it. Here's the question in verse nine.

Where are you? In the classic book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis has a character named Edmund. Edmund is captivated by the lure of Turkish delight. His inability to resist that temptation resulted in trouble for him and his family.

C.S. Lewis intended that scene to be a picture of the temptation we all struggle with. Today, Stephen is using the scene to illustrate what the Bible says about sin. Sin entered the world because Adam and Eve ate fruit that was desirable to them, but forbidden by God.

Sin is treachery and idolatry, but sin also has a solution that's found in Jesus. Stay with us for this message called Stolen Apples and Turkish Delight. We have been covering, sort of dealing as a backdrop to the full Christmas story of creation and Christ's coming and the tales of Narnia.

We're going to deal a little bit today again along the same lines. I want to begin with the human heart and we'll deal today with the corruption of God's perfect creation. In the early 1600s, a Puritan theologian named John Owen served the church with wisdom and theological clarity. He wrote in one of his works entitled Sin and Temptation, these insightful words about you and me. He writes, However strong a castle may be, if a treacherous party resides on the inside, the castle cannot be kept safe from the enemy. The truth is traitors occupy our own hearts, ready to side with every temptation and to surrender to them all. John Bunyan, another English preacher who lived at the same time as John Owen in the mid 1600s, put that truth into an allegory where Diabolus would battle against the city of man's soul, attacking one of the five gates. And as long as the gates remain closed, each gate related to one of man's senses, if man would refuse to open one of the gates, his city would be kept safe. It is true, isn't it, that the greatest traitor to our spiritual health and well-being, the person who will sell us out to the enemy, the tempter, the one who will betray us by opening the doors, the hearts of our castle cities is the same person who stared back at us when we looked in the mirror this morning.

The appetites of our flesh, Paul refers to as the God of the human belly, Philippians 3 19. The God of our appetites, those indulgences and sinful desires, the pride of our hearts, those desires and dreams that would violate the will and desire of God, the lust of our eyes, these are all traitors living within the castle walls of our own hearts and we will betray us all. Whatever you do will follow you. It will haunt you. It will hunt you down. That is the deception of sin, that it will not find you out.

Truth is, it will. I came across a commercial posted on MSNBC, a new line of greeting cards that is now hitting the market for an untapped market of people, if you can believe it, people who are involved in adultery. It's called the secret lover collection. And it is, and I quote, committed to providing a greeting card collection with empathy and understanding without judgment of people involved in a secret relationship. Can you imagine that? These cards will be displayed under labels like love expressions and card messages will include romantic lines even for Christmas time. There's one in time for Christmas that reads and I quote, as we celebrate with our families, I will be thinking of you.

Can you imagine the horror bound up in those sentiments for everyone involved? The gates of the castle, which is open to the enemy by the traitor within and sin, which comes in hidden within that Trojan horse will be absolutely merciless. The writer of Hebrews referred to sin as the passing pleasures of sin, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 25. And we often think of that as meaning, well, the pleasures are there, but they're just going to pass away.

That isn't necessarily what he means. He could be meaning that the pleasures of sin don't pass away. They literally pass into something else. They pass into guilt. They pass into despair, into sickness, into slavery, into sorrow, into death.

They will pass into something and they will not fulfill what they promised to bring. I don't think any writer ever illustrated the lure of sin and the promise that it gives up freedom and delight and satisfaction as C.S. Lewis. A couple of instances I'll share with you so you settle back and I'll tell you another story or two, okay?

Then get ready to open your Bibles. In the Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis illustrated in living color the tantalizing power of evil and promises that would never come true. The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe for one. In that story, you have Edmund, one of the four children who found his way through the wardrobe and into the winter land of Narnia.

He finds himself alone and rather unexpectedly there. He hears bells and eventually sees a woman approaching in a sleigh. The writer says that he is stunned by her beauty, her pale complexion, her red lips, and the luxurious white fur garments that she is wearing. At first, Lewis writes that Edmund is a little alarmed by the coldness in her expression but then she offers him a warm drink when she finds that he is human and then asks him what his favorite thing to eat was to which he responded, Turkish delight. And instantly she created a beautiful round box tied with a green silk ribbon which Edmund opened and found inside several pounds of Turkish delight which was more delicious than any other he had ever eaten.

He digs into the box, wolfs it down like some of us with a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts might act. And while he's wolfing it down, he tells the queen whatever she wants to hear. He betrays his brother and his sisters and tells her all about them. And of course, the wicked queen wants Edmund to lure his brother and two sisters back to Narnia so that she can kill them all, thus eliminating the threat to her rule which according to ancient legend could only be overthrown by four human sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. And so the queen entices Edmund with the promise that if he brings his siblings back to Narnia and delivers them to her, he will not only become her prince, he will become the king of Narnia. And along the way, by the way, she mentions he will have all the Turkish delight he could ever want. If you fast forward the story to the time when he does indeed betray them, he returns to the queen and tells her where she can find them. And then you discover in that insightful moment when he asks her to fulfill her promise and give him Turkish delight, she instead gives him a piece of dry bread. How classic. What a picture of the devil who will never keep his bargains.

He never delivers on his promises. That's why the description of Narnia under the rule of the witch, you read that classic line from C.S. Lewis that it is always winter, never what? Never Christmas.

What a fascinating thought and what a terrible thing to children. You know, it's always winter, cold, you got to be indoors, you can't be outdoors. It's winter and it's cold and barren, but it never gets to Christmas.

Never joy, never laughter, never lights, never gifts. Let me mention quickly one more scene from another one of his tales in The Magician's Nephew after Aslan, the great lion, who of course, as you know, serves as the picture and illustration of Christ. He tells young Diggory to go to the top of a hill and on the top of that hill, surrounded by golden gates, he will find an apple tree and he is to bring Aslan an apple. But he is told that he cannot eat one for himself, for the apples are never to be taken for yourself. And so he is commanded to bring him one of these. These apples would provide immortality and health and healing. Following Aslan's instructions, Diggory travels to the hill on a flying horse. He discovers the golden gate in a silver sign that further warns him that apples must never be eaten for oneself.

They are intended for others. To eat one for yourself will be considered stealing. But when Diggory stands before that tree, the delicious smell overwhelms him. It's been a long while since he's eaten and his mouth begins to water and his hunger intensifies. And he longs to taste the fruit. And he tries to convince himself that it would be all right saying, what possible harm could there be in eating one for myself?

He resisted the temptation and plucked one silver apple only and tucked it into his coat. But when he turned back to leave, he came face to face with the white witch. Her mouth, Lewis writes, was stained with dark traces of juice from the apple core she tossed aside. And he runs from her. Let me read C.S.

Lewis's own script. Why do you run from me? I mean you no harm. If you do not stop and listen to me now, you will miss some knowledge that would have made you happy all your life.

Well, I don't want to hear it, thanks, said Diggory, but he really did. I know what errand you have come on, continued the witch. You have plucked fruit in the garden yonder. You have it in your pocket now and you are going to carry it back untasted to the lion for him to eat, for him to use, you simpleton. Do you know what that fruit is?

I will tell you. It is the apple of youth, the apple of life. I know for I had tasted it and I feel already such changes in myself that I know I shall never grow old or die. Eat it, boy, eat it, and you and I will both live forever as king and queen of this whole world.

Sound familiar? Well, then turn to the text where something similar really happened. Genesis chapter three, following the creation of mankind, we now discover the corruption of mankind's heart, the presence of sin. Let's see it with fresh eyes today and learn what we can from this encounter. In Genesis chapter three, Adam and Eve will face the enticement of the evil one. His mouth is already stained with the dark juices of defiance and rebellion. Before we dig into this scene, you need to understand the tree in the garden has not been placed there to tempt them as much as it has been placed there to testify of them. Not so much to tempt them to sin, but to testify of their surrender to the sovereign control of God. Because isn't that basically what sin strikes at? Sin is really a statement that you have become convinced that what you want is better than what God is delivering. That what you need is more important than what God offers, that what you feel is superior to what God allows, that what you and I decide is actually more clever than what God has directed. Sin is ultimately a statement of insurrection. We know better than God.

What does God know? Into the innocence of fresh creation, this satanically embodied serpent delivers these first words of testing. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he, evidently embodied by Satan, said to the woman, indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? Has God really said, Eve, you can't eat from any tree? Did he really say that, you know, you can't be sure? You weren't there when he said it.

And that's true. She wasn't. She hadn't been created yet. God delivered the truth to Adam. Now he may have repeated to Eve the prohibition. We know certainly that at least Adam did because she could quote most of it back or the words that she didn't tamper with.

This is one of the subtleties of this temptation. If he can get Eve to act independently of Adam, if he can get her to question the word that came from him, maybe he can get her to deny and disobey the word that came from God. Eve, did God really say that?

Can you really be sure you got it right? I mean, it doesn't make sense to me. One of his tactics from this day forward to our own day is to put a question mark where God has placed a period. Did God really say that? Now what she should have done is told Satan, you know, to hold the phone and call for Adam, right? But she doesn't.

She actually enters into a dialogue and sort of loosely paraphrases the prohibition of God. And she says, well, we're not supposed to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. We're not even we're not even allowed to touch it.

And therein lies the subtle implication of a growing frustration. God never said you couldn't touch it or look at it, just don't eat it. How like Eve, we are just before we open the gates of our castle hearts to the enemy. We focus not on what we have, every other tree in the garden, but what we don't have.

That one, we focus not on what we can do, but on what we can't do, not on what we have been given to enjoy, but what we can't enjoy. That one tree, we can't even touch it, lest we die. And at that moment, Satan knew he had the upper hand and he sensed the subtlety of her implication and he moves from doubt to denial. Look at verse four, and the serpent said to the woman, you surely shall not die.

For the first moment in this perfect history and perfect environment and beautiful arrangement, someone has uttered the unthinkable. God is telling a lie. Surely this must have been shocking to Eve, but no word from Eve of, well, how dare you suggest that God, my creator, is lying to me.

None of that, just silence. And now I imagine that you would, if you were there, you could see a subtle smile, if serpents can smile, crease the corners of this dark stained mouth. He will move from spreading doubt and stating denial into speaking now sheer delusion. Verse five, for God knows, Eve, listen, God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes are going to be open and you will be like God.

Knowing good and evil. See, he is not only calling God a liar, but he now moves even further to attribute to God evil motive and selfishness. Eve, the reason God doesn't want you to eat that fruit is because you're going to become God, too. And he doesn't want any other gods in the universe. He is jealous about his turf, which he is seeking to protect. He's envious of his throne at his heart. He's a coward. He said, we're the lion only wants the silver apples for himself.

He doesn't want you to taste it. It will give you what he alone has, special knowledge. Listen to me, Eve, and I will give you all the Turkish delight you will ever want. Instead of running, Eve studies the tree. Verse 6, she stood there looking and saw, she made some observations. The tree was good for food. How did she know that?

The Bible doesn't tell us. We can only surmise that she knew it was good for food because she saw someone eat it. Maybe the serpent himself brazenly reached and took an apple or whatever the fruit was and took a bite.

And the serpent didn't fall over and die. She's observing then that this is good for food. This is the lust of the flesh. In other words, what could be wrong with anything that my body seems to enjoy? What could be wrong with something my body wants?

If my body says it's a good thing, how could it be wrong? Look further, she saw that it was a delight to the eyes. It was beautiful. It had an appeal to her emotion. Not only the lust of the flesh is engaged, but now the lust of the eyes. How can something be wrong when it seems so right?

I think that ought to be put into a best-selling song. I mean, didn't God create that fruit too? Would God create something like that that wouldn't be good for me? Look at it, it's beautiful and probably smelled good too. Look further, she sees that the tree was desirable to make one wise. This is the pride of life. How can it be wrong when it seems reasonable and logical? And she convinces herself as she reaches for this silver fruit, as she digs into her Turkish delight and the serpent cheers away as she stands independently of her God, her creator, and says, I know better than the word of God.

It's everything I ought to have. Verse 6, the middle part says, she gave some to Adam and he ate it too. The greater sin rests with him, he was not deceived.

He knew full well what it would mean and he blatantly chose companionship with Eve over fellowship with God. And there they stand now in this perfect creation and this beautiful scene, now corrupted, winter begins to descend on Eden. And they make three discoveries.

Let me give them to you quickly. Number one, they discover physical shame. Look at verse 7, then the eyes of both of them are open. Hey, Satan was telling the truth.

Well, sort of, kind of. Their eyes were opened only not to what he implied that they would be open to. Great, the light and joy and wisdom, now they're open to what? They know now that they are naked.

Well, what's wrong with that? They haven't owned any clothing up to this point and they've frankly been naked since the day they were created. What would be wrong with being naked? Let me remind you that when God is described by the psalmist in Psalm 104, verse 2, he is described as being clothed with the garment of light. When Jesus Christ at his transfiguration shone with a brilliant light, that was the observable characteristic of his body in Matthew chapter 17. When Moses spent time in the presence of the glory of God, you remember that his face shone so brightly, he had to cover it with a veil whenever he went out before the people.

Exodus 34, verse 35. I agree with John Phillips and others that Adam and Eve, having been in the presence of God from the moment of their creation, if you could see them, they were covered as it were with light. They shone and when they sinned, as it were, the light went out.

The death of their spirit that now must be made alive or quickened, Ephesians 2, by Christ's atoning work. It was extinguished and their physical bodies displayed now a prominence that immediately revealed to Adam and Eve that something was different. Something was lost.

No doubt in my mind the light was gone. We are naked. We are uncovered. And so the first thing they did was they tried to cover themselves back up, which proves even further to me that they lost their original covering. And in that act, they discovered, as it were, number two, self-made religion. Not only shame, but religion. The latter part of verse 7 informs us that Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together.

To where? This is what I like to think of as the first religious act in human history. Let's fix things up. Let's do something to cover our shame and our guilt. I know, let's do something religious. God will come later, as you know, and death will occur for the first time in human history in this wonderful garden as he takes innocent animals and kills them and fashions their skins that he then presents as coverings for Adam and Eve, teaching them at that moment the basic principle of atonement for sin. The taking of an innocent's life to atone for the sins of the guilty. And this is the picture of the coming lamb who will die for the sins of the world. 1 John 2, 2.

The redeemer of mankind, who Genesis 3, 15, will very soon promise who will come and literally crush the head of the serpent. Ladies and gentlemen, your presence here may be nothing more or less than a fig leaf. To cover over the guilt that you know is there because you've never exposed the nakedness of your sinful heart to God and claim the atoning work of Christ.

And you're here to just kind of cover it up. And the offering plate came by and you put in money. That was another fig leaf. And you'll go to a study or you might even sing in the choir or whatever.

But those are dry leaves. Satan said to Eve, you eat this fruit and you will discover who you really are. And they ate it and they discovered who they were as the enemy invaded. They discovered shame, they discovered religion, self-made. Thirdly, they discovered new emotions they'd never felt before.

Emotions of guilt and fear. First time you hear or read of the word afraid, you find it in verse 8. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. They hid among the trees of the garden. This was the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden. This isn't just the sound of his voice.

This is the literal sound of God walking, evidently taking some form that could be seen and sensed and probably embraced. And they hear him coming. Now they feel emotions of guilt and fear. And look at them, they're running and hiding behind a tree.

Oh, how paradise has been lost. Do you know the feeling you have when you sin? That God-given sense of fear, guilt. Here are Adam and Eve crouching behind a tree, trying to keep their fig leaves from rustling, hoping God will not find them. And you know the wonderful part of this story is that God found them. He did not leave them alone in their guilt and fear. He came seeking He, the true seeker. Jesus said, I have come to seek and to save those which were lost. That's all of us covered over with leaves, hands sticky with Turkish delight, mouths stained with stolen apples. And he comes and he seeks and he says, delivering the very first question from his lips to humanity.

And I love it. Here's the question in verse nine. Where are you? Where are you? Adam? Eve? Where are you?

Where are you? Did he not know? He knew the tree they were hiding behind. But this is an invitation of a gracious God to come clean, to expose self-made effort and guilt and sin before God. This is the fullest Christmas story. These are, as it were, the true chronicles of a fallen world, the creation of mankind, magnificent. The corruption of mankind, tragic.

The condescension of mankind's savior, utterly amazing. The story of Christmas is the story of God sending a savior to deal with our sin problem. Do you know someone who's struggling with guilt over sin and doesn't know how to deal with the burden of that guilt? Maybe you have a friend who doesn't acknowledge a sin problem and tries to blame others or hide her guilt and shame.

Maybe you're struggling personally with the consequences and guilt of pursuing your own desires. We'd like to help you. This is Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. A free manuscript of today's message is available at wisdomonline.org.

This message is called Stolen Apples and Turkish Delight. It's posted on our website and you can download the free manuscript of this message right there. In fact, every sermon in the entire Wisdom for the Heart archive has a manuscript attached to it that you can download free of charge.

You can share it with a friend or have it to read through at your convenience. For this series, The Chronicles of Christmas, we also have it available as a booklet. You'll find that booklet at wisdomonline.org or you can call us for information. Just call us at 866-48-BIBLE. We'd be delighted to talk with you. Well, today's message is part two of a three-part series called The Chronicles of Christmas. Stephen will be back tomorrow to finish it up. I'm Scott Wiley and I invite you to join us at this same time tomorrow for more Wisdom for the Heart.