Richard from Manhasset, New York writes in to ask this. "Pastor John, since Christian hedonists believe humans are joy seekers and will always make decisions based upon what brings them the most pleasure, how did Adam and Eve sin when they experienced perfect, unbroken communion with God, the greatest pleasure? Doesn't the first human sin in fact reveal that perfect delight in God is not strong enough to overpower the allurement of temptations?" I would say no, I don't think that's what it reveals.

What the first human sin reveals is that God did not preserve in the hearts of Adam and Eve perfect delight in Him. He let them be lured away from that perfect delight in Himself, and that is precisely why they found the tree more compelling than God. In the moment that they chose the forbidden fruit, they were not delighting in God more than in the fruit.

They had been tricked. That's the point of Genesis 3, 1 to 6. Let's just read it and watch how Moses, the writer, is helping us understand why it is that they cave. So here's what he says. "The serpent is more crafty," that's a key word, "than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say?'" So he is trying to get her to stop being satisfied in the trustworthiness of God. "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the tree that is in the midst of the garden,'" and we have no record that he said it was in the middle.

"Neither shall you touch it." We have no record that he said you should not touch it. So what we get here is a little clue that Eve is starting to feel like maybe God is holding out on her. The tree's in the middle, and we can't even touch it, which he had not evidently said.

At least there's no record of it. "But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die.'" Blatant assault on God's trustworthiness and character. But God knows when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. In other words, he's holding out on you.

Stop finding your full delight in God, because he's holding out on you. He's not really giving you what's best for you. "So"--very important words here--"so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise," in other words, when she was persuaded in the moment that God was not all-satisfying, she took of the fruit and ate and gave some to her husband, and he ate.

So I don't think there's anything there that contradicts Christian hedonism. If we find our fullest pleasure in God, we will in that moment not choose what is sinful. But if that satisfaction in God wavers, then we become vulnerable, and that's where sin comes from. Sin is the preference of anything that God has forbidden.

We will never prefer that. We will never prefer what God has forbidden, as long as God himself is our supreme satisfaction. One of the differences--this is something that they didn't ask, but I think is so crucial-- one of the differences between Adam and Eve, on the one hand, and the children of God in Christ today, on the other hand, is that God has committed himself in the new covenant never to let his children fall away utterly.

They can backslide, but he convicts them and brings them back. Jeremiah 32, 40, "I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me." Ooh, I love that promise.

God commits himself to holding on to us. We just sang last Sunday. I love that song. "He Will Hold Me Fast." Beautiful song. This is a great improvement over the arrangements in the Garden of Eden, and we owe it to the blood of Christ, the blood of the new covenant.

That is a beautiful song and a beautiful promise. Thank you, Pastor John. And thank you, Richard, for the question. If you have a question for Pastor John, you can now submit those questions to us through the website, through the new Ask Pastor John podcast landing page. Go to DesiringGod.org, and at the top of the page, click on the tab that says "More," and then click on "Ask Pastor John." On the landing page, you can ask Pastor John a question.

You can also find our free podcast apps for Apple and Android devices, and, of course, you can search the entire database of episodes by title and by episode number. It's our way of continually trying to tweak the website to make it as user-friendly and intuitive as possible. Well, it's a common question that we get.

"If everything is about finding joy in God, what do I do when God feels distant from me?" I'll ask Pastor John tomorrow. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the podcast.