Temptation and the Fall

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Genesis 3:1-6

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Well this this morning we break ground in chapter 3 I I think
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I sent out in the afternoon yesterday That would be looking at verses 1 through 13, and that is no longer the case
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It seems like the past two chapters we've had three messages, and I think we're gonna be par for the course here on chapter 3
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So we're gonna look at verses 1 through 6 this morning And let me just give you kind of a glimpse of what we'll do with chapter 3
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We'll look at it in three parts this morning will be Verses 1 through 6 where we're talking about the temptation and the fall
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Next week part 2 will be verses 7 through 13. Well. We'll talk about the consequences of the fall
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So today's more focusing on the dynamics of the serpent and the woman the deception the temptation and we'll end at verse 6
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We'll look at the damage of the fall what actually took place The way the relationship between man and God and man and man man and family man and society was impacted by the fall
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And then in part 3 we'll begin at verse 15 through 22, and we'll look at the redemption of the fall
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And really with chapter 3 Perhaps with Genesis 1 through 3 it feels like we're on the the range in the
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Himalayas as the biblical storyline begins to unfold We realize these are these are some of the greatest most significant chapters in in the
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Bible We're sort of on k2 Looking to Mount Everest, which I think is
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Genesis 3 15 this is This is massive what we're looking at It's so incredibly significant to understand who
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God is who we are why things are the way they are What things will be like?
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the whole drama of history The whole significance of creation is all bound up with what we're looking at here.
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We come to the plot the drama The twist of what God had made here in chapter 3 so this morning part 1 the temptation and the fall verses 1 through 6
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Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said to the woman Has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
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And a woman said to the serpent We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden
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God has said you shall not eat it nor shall you? Touch it lest you die Then the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die
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For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil
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So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one
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Wise she took of its fruit and ate She also gave to her husband with her and he ate
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We're gonna look at this in four parts first identifying the serpent Then the woman deceived third temptation in the fall and fourth will will have some application
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So the serpent in verse 1 Notice the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the
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Lord God had made Now the way we normally approach this as we think the the serpent here that the literal physical animal the serpent
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The class of serpents was more cunning than any other beast of the field
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So the idea is we approach this and we say the serpent who's a beast of the field was the most cunning out of all
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The beasts of the field that's not the only way to approach this verse In fact, I don't think it's a very helpful way to consider the serpent in verse 1
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There's a comparative word here and it indicates a contrast So the serpent is being contrasted with the beasts of the field, but that does not mean that the serpent is a category
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That's like a beast of the field. In other words, the serpent could be in a category or a class all
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His own and I think that's very important Roland Ward would say the words may be read as placing the serpent outside of the category of the beasts of the field in which case
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Another cunning creature, but not an ordinary snake is meant the creature then is
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Satan himself a fallen angel That's the category to which he belongs
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Now, of course, we do have this reference to snake and then we have the curse upon the snake that will follow
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So there's a very clear parallel here The Hebrew for serpent is the hush and you gotta talk when you say it
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Natasha and it's related also to Sarah and sometimes you'll have it translated the shining one
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Think of 2nd Corinthians 11 where Satan is described as an angel of light
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In other words, he's he's an angelic being Jesus reveals that much He was one of the shining ones in Isaiah 6 and other places in Ezekiel There's a connection between the word
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Sarah for shining and serpent These words are brought together for instance in numbers 21 where we have the fiery
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Serpents that God sent among the people literally the shining ones numbers 21
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Now the serpent is very significant as it is part of a historical narrative.
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Therefore. It's not a mythical symbol It's an adjective and therefore we call this a substantive it's it's a serpentine being you can put it that way
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That's the reference here in verse 1 the serpent like being the serpentine being what
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Revelation will say was the dragon or the ancient? serpent Now to most people outside of Scripture, this seems like a mythical symbol
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Oh, this is an interesting origin story from the ancient Near East and this is just some mythical symbol that explains
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Attempts to explain the plight of humanity But of course we as Christians cannot view it that way
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This is not a mere mythical symbol, but rather it's a part of a historical narrative this serpent like being as Moses reveals has personal qualities speech intelligence
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Ethical capacity which means he can be judged by God. In fact, he is liable to God's judgment in verses 14 and 15
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And therefore this is not myth Unless we very carefully and delicately explain what we mean by myths in the way that C .s.
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Lewis says somewhere in Christianity every myth comes true Meaning all that's true of human myth if it is true is true because of Christianity, and I think that's a very wise saying
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The symbolism of this time for instance has been studied We can go back to Egyptian relief carvings and we have winged serpents that flank the throne standing with thrones upon them
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We have reports even many centuries later Herodotus an ancient Greek historian who talks about the flying serpents of the
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Mesopotamian Region and the point in all of this is Robert Gonzalez argues is the
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Israelite reader would have rejected all these pagan distortions but he would have no obstacle in viewing the serpent of Genesis 3 as a
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Supernatural being of angelic status that rebelled against Yahweh and became the supreme antagonist to his divine will
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In other words the ancient Near Eastern mythical concept that we find in the pagan nations of a semi divine dragon -like serpent reflects this faint cultural human embedded memory of this primeval mutiny in Eden Do you see what's being said?
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Just like the global flood was preserved in different forms in other cultures So was this serpent like a being that led humanity into the trail?
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So was this status of the serpentine being that was part of the host of heaven before he fell?
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That's what's being said By the time we get to the New Testament. This serpent is fully identified as Satan Lucifer Clearly not a literal snake, but rather and not even perhaps using an animal as a mere mouthpiece
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Instead he is the serpent and that seems to function then as a title describing him even here in Genesis 3 1
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This is his title the serpent the dragon Satan Since later revelation identifies
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Satan as a fallen angelic creature Perhaps what Adam and Eve saw and heard in the garden was not a mere snake
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But rather a serpent like creature belonging to the higher order from which he fell Now as we continue with verse 1 we find the serpent saying to the woman
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Has God indeed said? You shall not eat of every tree of the garden
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There's a professor at the seminary who as he looks at all the German higher Criticism and the way they cast doubt upon the scriptures whenever he reads this verse
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He always reads it with the German accent has God indeed said Because that's what the serpent is doing.
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He's casting doubt upon what God has revealed in his word So this is the beginning of the cunning deception of the serpent.
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Did God really say? One of the greatest works of English poetry
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John Milton's Paradise Lost the epic poem all about this fall in Genesis 3
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This is what John Milton writes Say first for heaven hides nothing from thy view nor the deep tract of hell say first What cause moved our grandparents in that happy state favored of heaven so highly to fall off from their creator and Transgress his will all for one restraint lords of the world besides See what he's saying
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What caused them to to fall from the one who made them? When they they only had one restraint the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
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But beside that one restraint they were lords of the world. They were vice regents
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First seduce them to that foul revolt the infernal serpent
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He it was whose guile stirred up with envy and revenge and deceives the mother of mankind
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He's preserving there again. This devil as what does Jesus say in John a murderer from the beginning?
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What we have is not just a deception but really a murder plot The devil
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Satan this ancient serpent Is leading Adam and Eve to slaughter
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And yet the cunning it seems so thoughtful so innocent so concerned for their benefit and welfare
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And this is how this is how Satan always seems to untrained ears, isn't it?
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We expect Satan to assault us like roaring lions and certainly that's how
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Peter describes him But that's not how we often encounter him. Very rarely. Do we encounter Satan as a roaring lion?
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That's in the reality what he's doing. But as far as our experience of encountering him or encountering deception, it's a lot more like Eve smooth words subtle compromises
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Just a little doubt upon what we know to be true from what God has revealed
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We often don't expect him or we're not prepared for that quiet Interaction those are smooth words.
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They always seem so helpful They always seem to be our best interests or our need for the moment
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And this is what we see in 2nd Corinthians 11 Satan transforms himself into an angel of light
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And so we come secondly to the woman being deceived Verse 2 and following the woman said to the serpent
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We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden
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God has said you shall not eat it nor shall you touch it Lest you die
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There are two places in the New Testament where Eve is referenced and in both of those places
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The fact that she was deceived is emphasized She reports that of herself
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When she's responding to God the serpent deceived me and I ate 2nd
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Corinthians 11 3 as Paul is addressing the church at Corinth He says I fear less somehow as the serpent deceived
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Eve by his craftiness So your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity or the purity that is in Christ So Paul is saying to the church.
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You're like Eve. You're the bride of Christ and My fear is that like Eve you'll be deceived by this serpent who masquerades as an angel of light
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First Timothy 2 14 Adam was not deceived but the woman Being deceived fell into transgression she said
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This actually leads to a theological question when did Eve sin
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I Notice there's a book coming out by Jeffrey Niehaus. He's a very good
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Old Testament scholar and that's the name of it When did he sin? And I think he makes a very strong case some would look at this passage and They would find
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Eve's sin in this little exchange God said you shall not eat it nor shall you touch it
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Lest you die and the argument goes something like this Eve added to God's command God if we go back to Genesis 2 commanded that they do not eat of it
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She's adding in her reply to the devil that God also commanded not to touch it
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And then the logic is she didn't report the truth in that sense She was bearing false witness and that was her sin.
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That's where Eve fell into sin that could be but that is an assumption and we have other places in Scripture where The narrator or another person speaks and gives information that is later elaborated upon or expanded upon by the other speaker many examples of this
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And then we have to consider what we just read in 1st Timothy 2 14. We have to think about this carefully. Notice what
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Paul says Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression the logic seems to be that Eve is deceived and Then since subsequent to being deceived she falls into transgression
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I don't think this is her somehow bearing false witness to what God commanded. I think she reveals more of what was implied
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Rather I think What Paul says in 1st Timothy 2 14 is she was deceived and she sinned she fell into sin when she ate of the fruit
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Now this deception is given in detail against God the Creator's clear command
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The proper word there is Torah God the Creator gives the
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Torah he gives the law he gives command He gives an instruction. Remember how he said in that one command that was given all the ten commandments
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The whole moral law was contained This Creator God puts the entire
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Garden of Edom at the disposal of Adam and Eve and he gives this one restraint this one command this
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Torah all is yours But do not eat of the fruit of this one tree and against all that the serpent begins to deceive
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The serpent said to the woman he will not surely die God knows in the day you eat of it
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Your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil now notice the path of deception here first He cast doubt on God's command.
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Did God really say? Are you sure you're reading that correctly? Did God indeed say?
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Second he directly contradicts God's warning God said in the day you eat of it.
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You will die. What does the serpent say? You will not die In Hebrew not is the very first word in that not you will die surely
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He said no God is completely wrong on this. He's lying to you. That's what
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Satan's saying So he first cast doubt on God's command and then on that shaky ground.
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He directly contradicts God's warning third He impugns God's character He basically takes
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God's trustworthiness and and begins to cast doubt upon that God knows that in the day
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You eat of it. Your eyes will be opened. Oh, you can't trust him. He's holding out on you. He doesn't want what's best for you
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All Eve would have to do is say doesn't want what's best for me. He made me. Do you not know that I'm in paradise?
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The one who made me from dust and gave me the bounty and the beauty of this
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Could I not trust him that he has my best interest at heart and will I not honor him as my maker?
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And as my God by obeying this this effortless restraint, he's put upon me
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But Satan who's now doubting and contradicting God is casting this this impugning of God's character
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And then he lies about the consequence. He lies about the result of sinning if you sin you will be like God Knowing good and evil
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The sad thing is after many were already like God They were made as a perfect reflection of his image
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They were made with his original righteousness as perfectly crystal -clear mirrors reflecting the perfection of his attributes
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They were already like God and they're about to throw that away and become like a
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Satan In effect by accepting Satan's Torah by accepting
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Satan's command Satan's suggestion Satan's instruction Eve was calling
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God a liar and she was rejecting God's authority And this is significant because by this act she's giving
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Satan legal entree to the world Now she's no longer accepting
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God's authority God's ownership of the reality in the situation of the world Now she's accepting
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Satan's authority Satan's suggestion of what the reality is and therefore Genesis 3 right here is why
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Satan can offer the kingdoms of the world to Jesus at the outset of the ministry The kingdom of the world never belonged to Satan How how in the world does he think he could offer these to Jesus?
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Shouldn't Jesus just say these aren't yours. You're pretending to hold these things you can Jesus doesn't respond to him in that way
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There's a sense in which yes, you do have ownership of the kingdoms of this world Where does that come from?
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It comes from this in Genesis 3 Satan is given ownership.
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He's given a foothold over creation because the first man and the first woman View him as the authority and reject
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God Right here in Genesis 3 is why Satan is called in 2nd Corinthians for the god of this world lowercase g
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Binding blinding the minds of unbelievers. He's called in Ephesians 2 the prince of the power of the air
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He has power. He has authority Jesus describes his ministry as binding the strong man so that he can plunder his house
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Satan is the strong man. He has power in this world He has a certain dominion a certain domain in this world that has now become split open crushed
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By the death and resurrection of Christ the true king who is now expanding his kingdom aggressively
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Against that of the strong man that of the prince of the power of the air That's why this is significant
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Eve is accepting Satan as the truth teller in God as a false witness She accepting
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Satan as more interested in caring for her than the God who made her and put her in paradise And this is all the deception
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It was Satan who is the false witness par excellence, he's the father of lies
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Satan himself is the one in Revelation 12 who accuses the brethren day and night before our
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God. That's courtroom imagery He's always the false witness This morning he is in the throne room of God Saying why why would you accept these people here worshipping you so pitifully?
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With such sustained behaviors with such pitiful returns why how dare you the
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Holy One? Doesn't this besmirch your character and the infinity of your perfections to to take to yourself of people like this.
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He's the false witness And we know what's revealed in Revelation 12 about our advocate
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About our paraclete about the pleas that are made for us Which are on the merit of Christ and his sacrifice alone
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We're prone to forget as we look at this passage that temptation to sin
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Is never revealed in its true colors, is it? Sin comes to betray us like a
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Judas with a kiss with flattering words The forbidden fruit seems so good to Eve and yet it casts her out of Eden Everything she thought it would give to her it gave her nothing and it took from her everything
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David is just lounging on his rooftop that seems harmless enough and and how does that end when he sees like Eve and all the
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Same verbs are used here the same verbs that that are used with Eve seeing the fruit seeing it's desirable
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Acting upon it. That's how David looks upon Bathsheba and how does that end with murder and with adultery?
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You remember I Think it's just such a powerful scene If you've ever seen the
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Lord of the Rings Trilogy and you have this king figure Theoden who's refusing to act making poor decisions
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And it's because he's being deceived by this this very pale serpent -like Creature named
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Grima Wormtongue who's whispering deceits Deceiving paralyzing weakening the king
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That's that's just a great Tolkien image of what the serpent is and what he does
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Deceiving paralyzing weakening We're reminded that this the devil has schemes
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He has devices Paul says we should not be ignorant of them Sin gains a foothold in our minds and in our hearts because it always appears attractive and desirable and necessary If I don't lie, how am
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I gonna get a situation? if I don't Do this with this relationship? How can
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I move forward how can I find comfort how can I find help if I don't commit these sins it's Three -headed enemy the world the flesh and the devil it taps us on our shoulders
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Whispers in our ears you deserve better than what God has provided It's the same dynamic the same temptation
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Should we not trust God our provider? No, no, no, you deserve better than this
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You wouldn't be in this situation if God was really that good of a provider. You need to provide for yourself He's holding out on you
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You deserve more than what you have Follow my way bend to me. I can affirm you
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I can give you influence I can give you power if you're seeking happiness or comfort or accomplishment I I can give you that if you would but bend if you would but bow if you would but Put your faith in me instead of in your
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God That's the voice of the serpent And it's constantly calling all of us to pursue the passing pleasure of sin and to find that as more
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Satisfying than obedience to a God who is good and all -wise and all -powerful Richard Sibbes the great
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Puritan says Satan gives Adam an apple We'll give the Puritans were normally quite precise a break here that it's just fruit.
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It's definitely not an apple It's just fruit Satan gives Adam fruit, but we'll give him a break
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Satan gives Adam an apple And then takes away paradise Think about that How powerful the deception is that?
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You can have fruit and you'll lose paradise Therefore he says in all temptations.
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Let us not consider what is offered, but what we lose Now we move to verse 6 and we see the temptation in the fall
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When the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes a tree desirable to make one wise
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She took of its fruit and ate There's this old saying by the time of choice
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Most of the choosing is already done and that seems to be the case with Heath By the time you make a decision you've already made your decision
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That's how temptation works, isn't it We keep getting closer and closer and closer to justifying or feeling helpless.
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Well, what can I do now? I'm practically already absent When he saw
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She coveted she acted she sinned and in that sin we have the first tragic stain upon was a flawless humanity
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We have the entrance of death and corruption. She took of its fruit and she ate The great theologian
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William GT shed writes we've looked upon the tree of knowledge not only with innocent but with sinful desire
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To what we call in the in the Western moral tradition concupiscence
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She has no in a evil desire. She's made in perfect original righteousness, but when she looks upon the forbidden fruit
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There sprouts this evil covetousness this evil desire
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And it provokes her to act It moves her will this this seeing this rationalizing
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Moves to her emotions and her affections. It seems so desirable It seems so good and and then it breaks her will it becomes an act when the will gets involved with that sinful desire
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She not only had the natural created desire for it as producing nourishing food or as a beautiful object to the eye
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She came to have beside these the unnatural unnatural Right.
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This is not human nature at this point in human history Human nature is perfect She has an unnatural
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Self -originated desire for it Yielding a kind of knowledge which
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God had forbidden. She lusted after a knowledge of good and evil which
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God would not give to her and This lust of Eve for knowledge that God had prohibited was her apostasy
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And then the question comes up in verse 6 Where is Adam? Where has
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Adam been? If the whole chapter 2 is mostly about Adam and the significance of Adam and Yet here in chapter 3 in these first five and a half verses.
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He's Conspicuously absent and the answer here is in verse 6. Where is Adam? Look at verse 6
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She also gave to her husband with her and he ate he was with her
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Silently with her as this unfolded Think about that.
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He was with her The passivity in the silence is part of the condemnation.
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It's it's the most tragic part of of what we're looking at here Adam was to be the head the guardian the protector the keeper and he's with her passively listening to the serpent corrupt his wife
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Watching his wife go to these motions of cosmic treason against her creator and he's just with her
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Completely passive. He never utters a word and this whole exchange And this is meant to boil us
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According to Genesis 2 15 Adam was commissioned to guard and keep the garden
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The garden as I think we've described it's it's a temple even as a temple If we mean by temple the dwelling place of God The temple is where God has a unique manifestation of his presence
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That's a it's a massive theme in Scripture Eden was a temple then no wonder that when
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God Gifted the spirit to artisans to decorate the tabernacle Or when the first temple was built
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Solomon's temple the way it was decorated with garden imagery with fruits and leaves It's because it's recreating
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Eden as a temple And it's interesting that in those very commissions the priests are called to keep and to guard the temple
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They're to protect the purity of the temple to make sure that its sacred character is preserved
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That that God and his dignity is honored in that space And this is what Adam was called to do as a priest in that garden
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He was called to guard it and to keep it but instead of guarding it from this corruptor in this deceiver
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He is stood by utterly passive and utterly silent as this Serpentine being has slithered in to deceive his wife and to bring destruction and corruption upon God's garden
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And in this respect Eve's sin was a sin of commission
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She had a sinful desire and it gave birth to an act and that was for transgression. That was a sin of commission
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Adam's sin Was a sin of omission His sin was in what he failed to do
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Notice 1st Timothy 2 14 this is it gets more tragic We often focus on Eve in 1st
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Timothy 2 14. What about Adam? Look at this Adam was not deceived
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But the woman being deceived fell into a transgression think about this Adam is with her
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Adam is not deceived He knows He knows
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He knows that Satan is lying through his teeth He knows his wife is about to plunge herself into death
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Her soul will be separated from a rotting body Her soul will be separated from God her maker.
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He's he knows this He was not deceived
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She was deceived We often we take a little paw shots, hey, you know, you're the ones that sin, you know
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Hey Eve let Adam into sin not according to Paul. He was not deceived This was willful
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Shad writes according to Paul Adam was seduced by his affection for Eve. I Listened to her
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Adam was seduced by his affection for Eve rather than deceived by the lie of Satan In other words, he fell with his eyes wide open to the fact that he would die
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He fell with his eyes wide open Eve was deceived Adam was not deceived He wasn't duped.
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He was willful No wonder as we go back to Romans 5 from a few weeks ago verse 12
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Through one man's sin entered the world Eve sinned Eve was deceived and she fell into transgression
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But Eve was not the covenant head. She was not representing mankind Adam was And through Adam through that one man who sinned with eyes wide open who sinned knowing what
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God had said Knowing that what God had said was true Knowing that the consequences of what
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God had said was true with his eyes open to that fact He took the fruit utterly silent utterly passive and he ate and he plunged humanity into death and into depression
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Why are there why are there child rapists? Why are children torn limb from limb?
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Why is there genocide? Why do why do children in third world countries die of starvation and horrific diseases
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It's because Adam sinned with his eyes wide open. He rejected God and God's testimony though.
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He know it knew it to be true It's an
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Adam that the responsibility and the curse of the fall ultimately lies and that makes the brevity here stunning
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Isn't it stunning? He's so passive that even the report of the fall is passive we don't have
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Adam as the main subject of any verb here in the first six verses and She gave it to him and he ate that's that's all you get about Adam's fall.
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This is the fall of humanity And it comes in this little passive phrase at the very end and she gave it to her husband and he ate
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The brevity is stunning it's wild Shouldn't he have knocked that out of her hand and grabbed her by the neck and say do not do this
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She was being deceived, but she hadn't partaken. There was still time for him to guard and to keep a
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Sin had not been committed yet He's utterly passive and he just repeats what she does
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And he plunges Humankind indeed the cosmos is now groaning for redemption because of this act
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And tying all this together is the power of deception And this is just the beginning.
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We're gonna see next week that the aftershocks of the corruption of this moment. I Don't know.
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This is something that I think I don't know if I should recommend this or not I think it's profound. I think it's amazing
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Although it's this it's the sort of poetry event and so it's weird in poetry event like instead of clapping
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They'd snap their thumbs, which I always think is kind of weird But it was this Christian night,
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I think called rhetoric and this was from 2014 and a husband and wife who? Haven't have a ministry and they've written and preached and or at least he's preached and done some really powerful stuff and the woman
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Jackie Hill Perry she has an amazing testimony Her husband Preston well, they find this on YouTube I could send out the link.
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I'm gonna reference this again next week I'll just give you a part of it. I think they understand so well
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What's taking place here in Genesis 3 that they're gonna reference what I'm getting at even though we're gonna be a little ahead in the text
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And I'll try to read it If you watch it, you can barely catch how insightful and beautiful this is but Jackie Hill Perry is playing
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Eve After the fall she's confronting Adam and Adam is confronting
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Eve, so we're beginning to see this relational Separation in this antagonism and the whole thing's beautiful.
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I'm just gonna read the first part of it And it's called the fall so Eve says I guess it was convenient for you to turn your back on the woman who held your spine
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She was the rib right she's meant to be the helper the support And she's saying you you're just gonna turn your back on me
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You said it was me who led you You were with me, right? I guess it was convenient for you to turn your back on the woman who held your spine
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Adam says woman You were brought forth from my side created to support me Like the gravity stricken moon does to the brisk breath of nightfall
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But when fear clawed its way into my heart and he called my name in the garden you shrunk and hid your shameful body
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Where were you? And he says where were you When the
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Prince of Night found his way to your star you watched him lie I watched you sit and set like a son you mourning of a man.
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You can't even see the nightmare you've become And Adam says I was there standing in the distance
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Having a conversation with my backbone I wanted to stop you But you let that evil reptile with eyes slow dancing with deceit and a tongue as swift as the breeze
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Will you dumb to think we could be wise as the God who thought galaxies into existence?
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And he says Adam I thought he was my friend Letting me in on secrets.
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God promised the leaves not to tell He pointed me to the tree told me what I was missing and my faith in his lies
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Led me to stare And I watched death become gorgeous Adam says but God is beautiful Adam my tongue became sight the fruit looks too good not to taste
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Adam says taste and see that God is good. You see he knows he wasn't deceived This is very insightful.
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Oh, God is the beautiful one. Look upon him. Not what he's forbidden Oh, but it was it looks so It looks so incredibly delicious to taste it and to know taste and see that God is good
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And he says God is a thief he kept us from the one thing he knew would turn our minds into deity
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You see this is the deception She's she's unraveling this and Adam is responding to her now after the fact in the way that he should have responded during No, God is wise
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Eve can't you see in our feast for knowledge we've become fools Searching for wisdom in a mere branch.
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We forgot about the God who had the power to grow us from dust without roots His mind is as wide as the sky we were as free as clouds
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But now the silent hum of shame echoes the land the chill of our father's curse crawls across our conscience
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The very river we bathe our naked souls and it's damned because of you. What have you done? Echoing God's language
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It goes on from there as we'll see next week. But this is just such an insightful picture of the deception
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He seemed to be my friend Giving me a shortcut into what God was holding out from me and we'll see
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Many thousand years later in the fullness of time when Jesus comes and the Spirit leads him into the wilderness the serpent
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Tries the same routine upon the second Adam tries to offer a shortcut to glory a shortcut to power a shortcut to the exalted status of God So let's close with some applications
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Because of the fall you're no longer in the position that Adam and Eve were in We no longer have that original righteousness that was lost
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We're stained Christ is cleansing us sanctifying us from one degree of glory to the next but The stains were there have been there and some still are there until that day.
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He comes back This was not the case for Adam and Eve prior to the fall They had
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God's perfection and they could dwell in the presence of God without a hint of shame or concern They had absolute freedom because of their holiness
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Now because of the fall it's our own evil desires that dwell within us that lead us into temptation
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We may think we're merely responding to outward temptations that are presented to us like Adam and Eve, but that's not the case
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Because again, they were created with original righteousness It's because of their fall that in our fall we have evil desires already
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They're constantly searching for temptations to be satisfied by When you're tired you're being tempted
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To push off the responsibilities that God has put before you When you're stressed out you're being tempted
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You're looking for shortcuts For ways to abdicate what God has promised he will be faithful to give you grace and support and fruit
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Temptation arises Because of this fallen condition that James describes in James 1 14 and 15
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Each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed Here's the temptation is not
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Some something out there like kovat 19 floating in the air and you just walk into it Are there external phenomena to temptations?
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Yes, but what does James say? You're tempted because you're led away by your own evil desire
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You entice yourself according to this evil desire Each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed and when desire has conceived
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It gives birth to sin so the desire itself Hasn't involved the will hasn't become an act necessarily there's ways desires can indeed be sinful, but James is saying it gives birth to the act that becomes the sin
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And when that's full -grown it brings forth death Now The Puritans developed this
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I think in a very helpful way and we've talked about this in times past They viewed a human being mankind as having a mind in other words the the operation of reason
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Be able to rationalize things make judgments and that mind has been darkened alienated from God as a result of the fall
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We call this the noetic effects of sin our minds no longer intuitively know what's required of us
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It must be revealed to us and even then we need a lot of help to follow it and abide by it There's a darkening that's taken place and the spirit counteracts that he illuminates and gives light
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But not only are we rational beings with minds. We're emotional beings we have affections
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This is part of God's good design, but through the fall they've all gone All right, they've all been disordered now our desires are not kept within proper bounds toward godly ends
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But they're they're perverted through selfishness through selfish ends. They're perverted and used against God Then we have our will
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The sort of throne as it were of a human being our will Which always takes into effect that which our mind can rationalize and that which our affections draws to?
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And as we've said we're not Against the Enlightenment. We're not fundamentally rational beings beings that operate by reason we used to be before the fall
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Now we're operating really by our passions We Operate and we bend our reason and our will to our affections
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What we love what we desire what we want The mind has been put under the heart
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That was a result of the fall instead of these things being perfectly aligned and in a perfect harmony
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So that we can understand who we are in our relationship to God in his world. Now, it's all been disordered We seek to be the
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God of our own world according to our desires and our affections The first aspect that James talks about is related to the mind it drags away from its duties
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Because of this deceitfulness of sin this deceitfulness of desire and then it moves to our affections.
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We're enticed And we're entangled in the deceitfulness of sin and then our will the consent of the will
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Conceives actual sin and when that sin is born it grows and it brings forth death in that it becomes hardened
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It becomes habitual it becomes a bondage from which there is no escape outside of Christ Now we have to also keep in mind what
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James says a verse earlier let no one say when he's tempted I'm tempted by God For God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he himself tempt anyone
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Now here we have to make a very important distinction The fact first that God does not tempt us does not mean that our temptations are outside of God's control
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God is sovereign over every affair of our life including even the temptations to sin that we encounter or that we're drawn to I've said
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I think to more than one of you God this very day could fully sanctify you
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Does he not have the power to do that? He had the power to to bring you out of the death of sins and trespasses into a new life as a new creation in Christ Could he not fully sanctify you now?
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And the question is if he could then why won't he? Could it be that there is a greater purpose at work that allows him to let his people be tempted though he himself tempts no one
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Although he does not cause our temptations to sin he does allow them And so James 1 13 is reminding us
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God does not tempt us but he does test us And he allows people to be tempted because he desires to test them.
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He desires to try them He never put sin before us to lure us into it, but he allows sin to be put before us as a test
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For a better design a more perfect design toward our good and his glory if you're a
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Christian A Test or a trial is brought forth by God or allowed by God to prove the strength of our faith
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And where our faith is not strong that same trial will strengthen our faith a temptation on the other hand has no good design
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It's simply meant to draw us away from God into sin. That's what temptations meant to do always That's not why
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God allows it. He has a very different use for it for the good of his people in his glory But don't mistake that temptations only meant to kill you
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Temptation is to make you like the father of lies and the murderer Satan is the one who tempts us to sin.
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God is the one who tests us Who puts those temptations within bounds promises?
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I'll never allow you to be tempted more than you're able to bear So we know that it always feels like it's more than we can bear and we despair
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And then he promises I always will provide a way of escape Sometimes we despair so much we say
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I've never found that way of escape That might be true of other Christians, but it's never been true of me God God has not been faithful to provide a way of escape
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He gave me more than I could bear and there's never been a way out of it We often think that way don't we but the reality is we would never sit down with another
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Christian and say that because we know It's not true It's just that we're often too ashamed
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Too scared too humiliated to do what it takes to seek that way of escape Often what
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God does is he makes the way of escape at the end of effort at the end of sacrifice at the end of humiliation
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You have to humble yourself if you're gonna change your ways and repent And he gives means of grace
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It's gonna come through the counsel and the support of those who are spiritual seeking to restore you It's gonna come through that painful effort those bloody footsteps of using what
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God has given you Making time to pray spending time in his word making fellowship of the church a priority.
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It's gonna come through that Another important distinction.
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I think a very important distinction for us is the distinction between The the innocence of being tempted and In the sin of entering into temptation, which is a phrase from Owen That's really helpful.
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Very very helpful Is it a sin to be tempted? No It's not a sin to be tempted
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Hebrews 2 18 says that Jesus Christ was tempted in all ways that we are Jesus Christ was without sin without the possibility of sin.
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So being tempted is not a sin However entering into abiding in temptation becomes a sin
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This is very important with JC Ryle, for instance to be tempted in itself is no sin yielding to temptation giving it a place in our hearts
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Notice not necessarily acting giving it a place in our hearts. I'm not gonna sin, but I'm gonna dwell in the fantasy of it
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I'm gonna soften my repugnance to it I'm gonna get as close as I can to it without actually doing it.
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This is entering into temptation that becomes sin This is what
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Owen has to say in his distinction when temptation knocks at the door we're at Liberty but when any temptation comes in and stays with the heart and Converses with the mind and entices and allures the affections however short or long that is we enter into temptation
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Do you see the difference? It's not a sin for temptation to knock at your door and you to say we're closed.
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No. Thank you. We're moving on It is it becomes a sin for you to open the door and say yes, let's spend 30 minutes dwelling on this
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But let's let's get as close to this as we can Let's not show our devotion to God by saying
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What's the most reasonable way I could be as far from this as possible, but rather the opposite. How can I tiptoe?
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What would most Christian say is okay and as long as most do that's okay for me to Christ was the only man who never yielded to temptation and that means for us that he never even let it dwell within him in this way
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For Christ every temptation was that knock on the door that we all too often open the doors of our hearts to Well for Christ this whole life was that incessant
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Knocking at every turn when he's in the wilderness starving when Peter's saying surely not
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He was this incessant knocking of temptation upon the heart of Christ C .s.
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Lewis makes this point in mere Christianity. No man knows how bad he is until he's tried very hard to be good a
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Silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means This is an obvious lie
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Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is after all you find out the strength of the
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German army by fighting it not by giving in written during World War two a Man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later
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That is why bad people in one sense know very little about badness They've lived a sheltered life by always giving in We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside of us until we try to fight it
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And that sense when we read that Jesus was tempted in every respect like us yet without sin
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We can know to the death that he is that faithful high priest who sympathizes with us in our weaknesses
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Because he fought it to the uttermost he resisted at every end. He never let it dwell within him He never entered into temptation in that sense
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Why is this important practically? This if you're gonna listen to anything or take notes on anything this is what
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I would have stick in your mind Why is this important practically? It's important because otherwise we'll give up the fight too quickly
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We often are tempted in a way that we're aware. We're being tempted and there by the way
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There in the blinking red lights is the way of escape It's dawned on you.
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You see the trap you see the camouflage you see the warning signs You feel that instinct that pull against us is dangerous
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That was the way of escape Then we open our heart to it and we basically convince ourselves
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We're so far gone into this that what's the point surely I've already sinned or somehow quasi sinned in this anyway
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So what's the point? It's like having anger and you're trying to control it.
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You keep telling yourself. Yeah, I don't want to have an outburst I don't want to make a scene But then you're already seething and you're like, well, what's the point?
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I'm clearly, you know, I might as well blow up, right? When you don't understand this distinction, we don't understand what's operating in terms of temptation you'll give up that fight too quickly
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In other words, what I'm saying is Christians throw in the towel too quickly Because we fail to understand the difference between being tempted and entering into temptation and beginning that whole
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James 1415 process Why go to battle against pride for instance or self -pity if we're already saying well,
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I'm already prideful Or I'm already pity myself, it's why I'm already gossiping. What's the point I Want to gossip which is kind of like gossiping.
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So I'm gonna gossip Anyway, I'm gonna get the best bang for my buck out of this sin that I'm giving already You see we short -circuit the fact that being tempted is not entering into sin
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But then there's another reason We know that we're tempted many times every day and when we confuse this
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This opening our hearts or contemplating upon sin or desiring it in the way that Eve desires and we confuse that with actually sinning
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We become crippled by a guilt that we should not feel and this is where Satan is on his a -game He loves to make us feel guilty of crimes.
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We haven't committed You're strongly desiring this you've practically already done it
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And we walk around as Christians unaware of the fact that we were on the path of resistance
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And could hold up our heads high in the strength and the grace that Christ gave us instead We're feeling a guilt that we should not feel
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When we encounter temptation we already as Christians often feel guilty Should not be
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Christ never felt guilty for being tempted though. He was tempted throughout his whole ministry He did not feel guilty nor did he have any guilt nor could he incur any guilt because he was not guilty
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Being confronted with temptation is a mark that you're maturing as a Christian The Christian maturity is not being tempted less
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If anything it's really Christian maturity is not succumbing to temptation as often as you had in years prior.
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That's Christian maturity You're more aware of temptations. You're more resistant to them You're less and less ignorant of Satan's schemes and devices
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Places and ways and times you've been vulnerable. You won't go there anymore. You won't do these things anymore. You'll be more careful
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That's Christian maturity. It's not that you're immune to temptation Christian maturity is you're gonna have a lot more temptation than you ever realized
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You've grown Satan's got to work harder. Let's try to trip you up You know the best offense is a you know, the best defense is a good offense right that's the logic
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Plundering the house And there's a comfort in that if you're a Christian I'm aware that we all face different trials and temptations
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We have different temptations based on our childhood and the way we've grown up and the things that have been normal to us
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We have different temptations because of trauma that we've endured Abuse wounds injuries humiliations
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We have different temptations because of our personalities and our interests and proclivities because of the things that we're engaged in or the things that are put before us because of certain
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Relationships that we have whether we want those relationships or not We all face these different temptations
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And what I'm saying is don't let the fact that you're tempted so often be a discouragement to you, but rather make it an encouragement
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But this is a mark of pursuing godliness. This is a mark of being a child of God Thomas Watson the
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Puritan says so well Satan does not tempt God's children because they have sin in them But because they have grace in them
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Had they no grace the devil would not disturb them I don't think the devil wastes any time trying to tempt some believers.
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That's just kind of their fall and they're gonna do it Fallen people do He's busy with the children of God. He's busy with the church
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And he's busy with us not because we're sinners He's busy was busy with us because we have a spirit who abides in us who's now warring against our flesh
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She's busy with us because we have the grace of God and we're under the blood of the Lamb. That's why he's busy And the best tactic he has is to make you feel guilty
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Of things you haven't done Or even of things that you have done in a way that prevents you from bringing them to the cross
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As we know we're looking at the fall and the whole point of the fall Is that the
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Son of God is going to come to save the bride? Kill the dragon get the girl as every plot of every fantasy movie goes
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And so we open the service with someone which is saying there's two ways to live
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We're looking at the fall. We're looking at temptation We're looking at the effects of the fall upon our desires in our minds and our affections and how that Transports to the temptations that we face how we'll face them
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What we'll be considering and thinking about and striving after as we face them and someone says there's two ways to live
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And this is right out of Genesis 3. There's two ways to live You can either cure the call of wisdom which begins with fearing
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God Reverencing God as your maker as your king as your creator and Redeemer What what
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Proverbs says this this wisdom this God -fearing wisdom it says it's a tree of life Do you want to know how you can abide in God's presence like Adam and Eve and Eve did and Eden?
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It's by having this fear of God that becomes wisdom to you and that wisdom is a tree of life Or you can press on the way of scoffers and fools on their broad path of destruction those are the only two ways to live
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Those are the only two ways to live You're either right now receiving and submitting to the
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Torah of the serpent We're saying the serpent has the right view of reality the serpents offering what
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I really need the serpent has what I'm really after The serpents the one who cares for me who's gonna make me be the center of my world
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You're either abiding by the one who hates your souls Who wants you to be made after his depraved image and go down with him in the in the consequences and the wrath of God at the end or you'll submit to God's Torah To the instruction and the commands that are given to you by the one who loves your soul
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The one who would not scare his own son to bring you near the one who says here's my word don't listen to the serpent
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Follow my word When it when it looks like the word Can't meet that need or that necessity or get you through that Listen to my word walk by faith in what
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I've given you not by your sight not by your sense of reason not by the sense Of necessity don't listen to the serpent.
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Listen to my word walk by faith It's okay that the culture is mocking you while you're hamming cigarette together wooden planks building an ark in the desert
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Abide by my word listen to my instruction and you'll be saved There's two ways to live
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There's the way of the righteous who heed God's word and have the tree of life, which is the wisdom of following his ways
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Saying what God says is true What God says is true and therefore
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I reject the God of this world and the prince of the power of this air Those things that offer false comforts glittering passing pleasures that will consume me and destroy me.
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I reject that Or You're on the path of the wicked
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And listen, you can be on the path of the wicked Sunday after Sunday showing up here singing hymns asking for prayer requests
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Going through the motions. You can be on the path of the wicked Many of us have that testimony here in this room.
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We know what it's like to go through the motions That doesn't take away from the fact. There's only two ways to live
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You're either listening and submitting to the Torah of the serpent the voice of the serpent
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But you're living by faith in the Son of God you're living according to the word who is God My brethren be strong in the
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Lord and the power of his might put on the whole armor of God You may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil do what
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Adam did not do Trust in the word and act because you trust in the word
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Guard and keep that's a positive faith. That's been entrusted to you We're considering the fall as we come to the very end here the fall who could do justice to the fall and this is
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This is the drama of our redemption. This is what history has been about ever since Genesis 3
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This is the tragedy behind every tragedy There's something about tragedy why did human you know, if you're coming from an evolutionary world worldview
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Humans draw to drama or tragedy makes absolutely no sense and yet every culture has it
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What's that about? Where's that coming from? It's so deep in our sinews so deep in our genetics
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That the fall is part of humanity and the story of humanity. It's the tragedy behind all tragedy
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It's what every drama and betrayal tries to get a little glimmer of just like Eden and paradise in God's presence
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It's the beauty behind all beauty It's why you you go and take pictures of the sunset and it's never satisfying to use.
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It's the beauty behind all beauty And so here we are at the fall and we're gonna be at the fall next week and in the fall the week after that But we know we already know how the story goes
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We know that in due time. God is not finished with his creation. He's not finished with his image bearers We know that God's mercy and goodness will illuminate the darkened world that he'll send his son as a light to a world that will reject him and Mock him the one who listens and abides by the
01:02:15
Word of God To mock him and they'll crucify him But in that very act he'll crush the serpent that plunged us into darkness and death
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And therefore we can summarize as Paul says where sin abounds Grace abounds much more
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We get a little glimpse of that in verse 9. Don't we I'll close with this in verse 9 the
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Lord God called to Adam and Said to him where are you? And as a
01:02:48
W pink said it was not Adam who sought God. It was God who sought Adam and it's been that way ever since Let's pray father we're thankful for your word thankful For the proof we have of your love in that You spared no expense even the infinite expense of the life of your son and the glory
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That he shared with you before entering into this depraved fallen world that was plunged with open eyes plunged into depravity and death
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And that by succumbing to that death after having lived a life of perfect obedience to your word resisting every temptation and trial
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That he succumbed to death That he absorbed your wrath due upon the sin that was restrained from Genesis 3 all the way until that fullness of time
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And it was unleashed upon him in an utter fury And it cut him off from the land of the living and his body like a seed was buried in the earth
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Until it burst forth out of the grave and became our tree of life Became our means of enjoying your presence and that which we were made for our means of abiding in your presence
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Our means of being cleansed being purged from all these sinful stains and evil desires that that rock us so easily
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Help us as your people To know that there are only two ways to live into love and to strive
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Toward the way of the righteous Upheld and compelled by your spirit
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Persevering by your grace under your blood Being lifted and carried and and cheered on as we take step after step of the path that you've already trod
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Help us to draw near to our Savior in times of need and times of exhaustion times of stress times of weakness and vulnerability
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Times of depression and sadness Times of discouragement may we have the mind of Christ our Savior may we draw near to the heart of our
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Savior Lord when we're at our weakest may he draw near to us When in our sins we're hiding behind the bushes trembling in our shame
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Won't you call out to us? Seek us as that great shepherd as that great shepherd of the sheep the lover of our souls seek us
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If there's anyone in this room Lord who's been on the path of the wicked Rejecting your voice your word your command and listening to the lies of the destroyer and deceiver