There Are Two Kinds of Counsel - Part 2

Good morning. You have a Bible turn to Genesis 3 and we're going to be reading

Genesis 3 1 through 6 We're continuing our study on basic truths and The basic truth that God has for us today is the truth that there are two kinds of counsel

Last week we talked about the counsel of God this week. We're going to be talking about the counsel of our enemy

So if you do have Genesis 3 1 through 6 ready go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word Genesis 3 1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast in the field that the Lord God had made

He said to the woman Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden 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 fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden

Neither shall you touch it lest you die But the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it

Your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil So when the woman saw 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 She took its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate

Amen Maybe see Spray well when you come before you today acknowledging that you are good and that you are the source of all truth

Pray that you bless our time here today and help us to learn great things from your word Help us to understand better the schemes of the enemy who is after our souls

Lord Help us to identify your truth in your son's name. I pray amen How much my life has been spent?

trying to speak Against a certain particular scheme of the enemy, which

I am particularly persuaded is uniquely destructive to our souls

That particular scheme of the enemy is the scheme of secular psychology So as I said as we read through the passage today, we're going to find two kinds of counsel that are presented in this passage and the two kinds of counsel are the counsel of God and the counsel of our enemy and We know that our enemy comes to us with many schemes

And as I've and as I've been alive in this earth And interacted with many people is it really is difficult to imagine a greater scheme of our enemy

And a greater form of counseling that the enemy comes to us to give than the counsel of secular psychology

Now now as you read through the passage one of the things to realize is that the passage starts out with a note

About the deceptiveness of our enemy so Genesis 3 1 says this it says the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the

Lord God had made So we see in this passage as we see that the counsel of our enemy is very deceptive

You know Satan very infrequently will come to us and say in these exact words

I'm trying to deceive you. Okay? Most people when they're trying to deceive you they do not alert you to the reality that they're attempting to deceive you

They try to do everything they possibly can To present their message in a way that will lead you astray

But it won't alert you to the fact that they're trying to lead you astray So most people don't come to you and say

I'm trying to deceive you when they're actually trying to deceive us 2nd Corinthians 11 14 says this it says no wonder

For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light So it is no surprise if his servants servants also describes themselves as servants of righteousness

Their end will correspond to their deeds So as I said our enemy when he's attempting to deceive us

He doesn't typically come to us Alerting us to the reality that he is attempting to deceive us and neither do his messengers

Alert us to the reality that they are attending to deceive us False teachers are not generally going to come to you and tell you that they're speaking the words of Satan They're coming to you presenting to you the counsel of Satan for your consideration

They don't come to you and ask you to please consider the words of Satan today Because he may have a point

Is my conviction that there really is no clearer example of Satan's counsel today

Than that of modern secular psychology So one of one of Satan's most recent schemes in this regard

As I said Satan's not going to come to you and tell you that he is planning on deceiving you But one of his more recent to see schemes is to persuade

Christians in What might be described as a medical model of counseling?

So today you're predisposed to think that when you hear the words of secular psychologists They are coming and giving you medical information about the nature of your soul

So one of the ways in which so many Christians today have been deceived by the devil Is that they've been persuaded that all of their problems of thoughts behaviors and mood

Are basically medical conditions and this this deception has been a deception.

That's been a long time in making So the development of psychology as a field started in the late 19th century and earliest 20th centuries

It initially focused on understanding human behavior through experimental methods as I've said in sermons past secular psychology started out as An alternative to soul care.

It used to be the individuals when they When they perceived themselves as having problems of thoughts behaviors and mood they would go to a pastor to get pastoral counseling because that Because they thought that that was the realm that the

Bible uniquely set out to address So if you had a problem, you would think I need to go talk to my pastor to address this problem

But as I said the early psychologists, they were trying to develop an alternative form of soul care to this

That was based on evolutionary assumptions so if if God did not create the world if you are simply the product of random time and chance and That's what you are.

You're just matter in motion Then that what that means is that has remarkable entailments for ethics

So God if God made the world if God created the world if he's our creator He made us and he has certain instructions for us if our lives are devoted to the purpose of glorifying him and giving.

Thanks Then God in his word has given us what we need in order to know him better But as I said the early psychologists they set out to provide a materialistic

Atheistic alternative to soul care Which really is the basis of modern psychology now as I said the development of psychology as a field it started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries however in its quest for legitimacy

The funding pushed towards what might be described as a medical model the pivotal moment came with the introduction of psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud Which though not strict strictly speaking medical use medicalized language to describe mental health states

So when you think about modern psychology today most of the terms that you're going to understand are going to be packaged in this language of medicine

This this was followed by the rise of behaviorism which sought to establish psychology as a hard science

But it was the advent of psycho pharmacology in the 1950s

It truly marked psychology's parasitic attachment to medicines drugs like core core

Promusine for schizophrenia seemed to provide a biological treatment aligning psychology close

Closer to medical science for credibility and financial support so in the post -world war two era there was an influx of funding for medical health research primarily available through medical channels which

Incentivize psychology to adopt medical terminology and practices the establishment of the

DSM in 1952 provided a concrete medical like classification system for mental disorders

Further entrenching psychology within the medical community this medicalization was also driven by economic motives

So insurance companies were more likely to reimburse treatments framed in medical terms

Consequently psychology not only adopted but also expanded medical jargon jargon to describe human experiences effectively turning them into treatable conditions therefore

Securing its place and resource was resource within the broader Medical establishment, so here's the point.

I'm trying to make here today that our council of our enemies deceptive He's not going to come to you and tell you he's trying to deceive you

But then there has been a great deception that is that has happened to many Christians that many Christians fall

Pray to I would say most Christians are have fallen pray to and are very hostile to Anyone coming along and challenging it and that deception is the deception that?

Counseling is neutral. I guess so there's some kind of neutral counsel there that most of our problems are basically medical in origin

So when you think about the nature of your problem state just think about any problem that you can think about that the Bible might

Have an answer to that might address that God might have something that he says says in his word about Think about common problems like like anxiety think about common problems like depression

Think about common problems like bad behavior and children Think about common problems like anger

Think about common problems like getting really mad and then getting sad afterwards any problem.

You can imagine you can imagine today is Going to be catalogued in the

DSM, which is the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders So notice how everything about modern psychology today is packaging normal problems of thoughts behaviors and moods in the language of medicine, okay so Problems of thoughts behaviors and moves are described in the language of disorder, right?

So so problems like anxiety depression. They're described in the language of disorder

They're not described in the language of sin. They're described in the language of disorder That sounds very medical doesn't it?

So the DSM is as I said, it's a diagnostic statistical manual of mental disorders It's a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders, right?

Essentially pathologizing a wide array of human behaviors, you know pathology. That's the concept of medicine, isn't it?

What is pathology? It's a problem of tissue damage or malfunction We use medical language to describe problems of thoughts behaviors and moods

These like these are called diagnosis. So if you go to a psychologist even go to a doctor, they're going to diagnose you

If you have a problem of thought behavior of mood, they're gonna give you a diagnosis That sounds like you have some kind of medical problem

All the you know, all this diet all these diagnoses They're gonna classify certain problems of thoughts behaviors and mood in the language of symptoms

Okay, so just I just want to give you an example real quick so you can understand what I'm saying So diagnostic, right?

Here's the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder. So notice you need five or more of the following symptoms

Notice how that sounds very medical. It sounds very medical So you need a depressed mood one of your symptoms needs to be a depressed depressed mood loss of interest and pleasure significant

Unintentional weight loss or weight gain sleep disturbance psychomotor changes where you're either Look like you're hyper or you look like you're slow

Like tiredness fatigue low energy, these are all described in language of symptoms symptoms.

They sound very medical notice like problems the Bible addresses a sense of worthlessness or excessive inappropriate or delusional guilt

If you feel guilt today That's described in the language of a symptom of a medical disorder.

Okay? reoccurring thoughts of death I Think about all the characters in the

Bible all the individuals that the Bible mentioned who long for death. I Mean you can think of you can think of many you can think of Judas who who wanted to kill himself

You can think of Elijah at a certain point in time. He who longed to die Bible talks about in the in the last days

There will be people who are long did long for death and they won't be able to find it All this is described in the language of a medical symptom

So notice these symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment and social occupational and other important functioning areas of life

They're all described in the language of medical symptoms. They're not due to a direct physiological effect of a substance

Etc, etc here my point my point here is just to say that Common problems brothers.

There's a common problems of thoughts behaviors and mood today Are being described by psychologists in this medical terminology?

So it's going to be called a disorder. They're going to be described as symptoms. Okay? Then you're going to be given medication to treat these symptoms

If you go to a doctor today and you have a in in they run all the medical tests on you and those medical tests

Are found empty They're going to give you They're going to give you some kind of psychotropic drug that they're going to describe in the language of medicine and you'll be forgiven

You'll be forgiven If you understand yourself to have some kind of medical problem

Despite the fact that all the medical tests showed that there's absolutely nothing wrong with you Because they're describing your problem in the language of a disorder which has symptoms which requires

Medication and that medication can simply be a tranquilizer So so some of the common drugs that are used for anxiety and depression are tranquilizers

Which they give you they treat you like you're a rampaging elephant Because you have problems of thoughts behaviors and mood, but if they put it in the language of medication

Then if you push back on that in any way Then Christians will come to their defense and basically treat you like an ignorant science a flat -earth science denier.

That's the way it works That's the deception that we're having that we have today. So what do psychologists do they give you therapy?

That sounds like a doctor doesn't it they give you therapy With interventions and recovery.

So all this is the language of Medicine and there's great money to be made in propagating this form of deception

The point here is to say that our counselor our enemy is deceptive He's not going to come to you and tell you

I'm trying to deceive you and one of the great ways in which he's currently deceiving us today is

Deceiving us into thinking that every problem that you can experience in life

Has a medical label attached to it And if you think that there's a medic that your problem of thought behavior and mood is a medical problem

The point is you're predisposed to treat it like you you would treat a cancer diagnosis

Do you typically blame someone for getting a cancer diagnosis? No You don't think oh, well, this is your fault, right?

Like you like you are committing some immoral act and therefore if you would just repent of that immoral act

All the cancer would go away So you don't really you don't think that way whereas it relates to most medical problems

But the point here is to say that related to problems of common problems of thoughts behaviors and mood There's a never -ending list of labels

That you are you're going to be given which are going to Encourage you to treat all of those problems in the same way that you would treat a medical problem

And you know what the problem with that is The problem with that is that if you treat your problems of thought behavior and mood as if they're medical problems

You're stuck with them for the rest of your life If the only hope that's going to be found in curing these things is to take a tranquilizer or some other drug

This this is trying to mask these symptoms The problem is that you're going to be a customer for life.

There's no hope for actual change and you're taking yourself outside of God's appointed means for dealing with these problems and you're stuck with these problems which are often sin in your life

That you need to deal with and there's going to be no repentance or hope hope for change to be found for you

Because you've been persuaded by the enemy that it's not your fault you're suffering from a medical condition and you're just a biological machine that's running out your programming and that the only hope for you is to Take some kind of drug that is going to mask some of the unpleasant feelings and thoughts that you might have

So as I said the counsel of our enemy is deceptive Satan is

Pictured in this passage as the most crafty beast of the field He comes with the purpose of deceive

To deceive so we see the counsel of our enemies deceptive. Secondly, we see the counsel of our enemy is subversive so notice

How Satan launches his strategy to the woman he said to the woman did

God actually say You shall not eat of any tree in the garden

So the his first attack on the Word of God on the counsel of God our enemies first attack on God's counsel

Is to question what God has said It doesn't come out step one saying.

Hey, I'm the enemy. I'm trying to seek your death and Trying to destroy you. You know God. He's liar.

Don't listen to him His first step is to question God what God said to call into question

What God's counsel actually was so he says to the woman good God actually say You shall not eat of any tree in the garden you'll see this from you'll see this if you if you have eyes to see and ears to hear that Many time when many times when heretics are trying to come and advance their false doctrine

They don't come out and say hey, I'm I'm trying to teach something heterodox here Their first step is to basically ask questions or saying hey, we're just asking questions

Just trying to have a conversation about this, right? I'm not saying God's wrong.

I'm just saying did he really say that I don't know. Did he actually say this? Now how does modern psychology do this as an alternative form of counseling

Modern psychology is endlessly calling into question the sufficiency of Scripture to deal with basic life problems life problems that people for millennia

Have been addressing through the scriptures Because you live in a time right now

That is predisposed to think that we are we have the pinnacle of knowledge We have more knowledge than we've ever had in the history of the world in our arrogance today

We think that we've discovered answers to problems that people have never been able to address throughout the history of the world

And it's amazing when you look at how paralyzed we are by basic Life issues because we have a never -ending list of excuses that we make

But how does modern psychology to do this? Well modern psychology calls in the question the sufficiency of the scripture by asking questions

The Bible isn't a scientific textbook is it? Did God really say anything about science?

Does God insert any one of your DSM categories here and You're gonna have someone and people have made these arguments me non -stop though is insert any one of these

DSM categories yeah, that's yeah, where does the Bible talk about clinical depression?

so if When you put clinical on there that sounds really medical doesn't it? And when you and when you used to the word depression you're predisposed to think of an illness

It doesn't matter that clinical depression just means Sudden unexplained sadness for a to like sudden hopelessness and despair unexplained sadness this distinguished from bereavement

That lasts for a two -week period That is basically Crippling like it doesn't matter that this is just a word to describe hopelessness and despair and excessive guilt

If you put clinical depression on it, then you can just look at the Bible and say hey Where does the Bible speak of clinical depression is the

Bible a scientific textbook or isn't it? It's not right Where does the

Bible address oppositional defiant disorder? Where does the Bible address attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?

Where does the Bible have anything to say about obsessive compulsive disorder? Right you see

I could just list any one of these disorders that we've used to that sound medical to classify

Human like normal human behavior I can use any one of these labels and then I can just call into question the sufficiency of the scripture at that point

I can say hey, where does the Bible address any one of these disorders? Oh, it doesn't does it? Therefore it doesn't have anything to say therefore we need not the counsel of God in this situation

Where does the Bible address autism autism is the new like all -purpose? Excuses for all kinds of weird abnormal behavior that people will engage in Where's the

Bible address autism? Well? I guess it doesn't I guess it's not sufficient to address people who?

Have autism right? So any no it doesn't matter like you could take any one of these these the point here is just to say any one of these labels

You're going to demand that the Bible speak to Those labels in 21st century categories and basically say because it doesn't use these specific words

It has nothing to say but the problem is the problem is that These labels are so comprehensive to the point where they deal with every single problem of thought behavior a mood imaginable and You're going to you're going to take the

Bible, and you're going to throw it in the trash because it doesn't use these Pseudoscientific labels that modern psychology demands

So where does the Bible address clinical depression? Where does it dress worry? Where does it address ADHD?

Where does it where does it address PTSD? Where does it address

PTSD? Show me in the Bible where it used it uses that phrase post -traumatic stress it

Post traumatic stress disorder show me show me where it uses it. Oh, it doesn't I guess it has nothing to say about fear then, huh?

Nothing to say about fear paralyzing fear that happens after a traumatic event

Bible has nothing to say about fear. You know you know that one of the The most common command in the

Bible is do not be afraid The Bible talks about fear hundreds of times And the

Bible says that God did not give us a spirit of fear But we are predisposed by the on the basis of this questioning about what

God says to think that If a soldier were to go overseas Kill people see his friends die come back home

That he has to suffer from life -dominating paralyzing fear Because he gets the label

PTSD and the Bible has nothing to say about it we think it's a medical condition something's happened you think that he witnessed a scary event and Something happened in his brain to where he's no longer able to regulate his fear and his emotions anymore

That he's just going to be held captive by a spirit of fear for the rest of his life because he's experiencing some brain problem he's just some machine that would that took in data from his eyes and Now he's fundamentally mind broken

That's the way that we're predisposed to think So did

God really? Does God really have any answers or hope or help to give to people who've been through traumatic events?

Do you think David suffered from PTSD? Do you think any of his mighty men suffered from PTSD?

Do you think that they were held captive by PTSD for the rest of their life? Is there any indication as you read through the

Bible that any of the the soldiers in the Bible? Ever had to learn how to encounter scary situations difficult situations

Problem is just to say that once you get these labels Psychology is going to come along and endlessly question.

Did God really address these modern problems as if These are not common problems that people have experienced throughout the history of the world as if You know modern 21st century man is suddenly encountered new problems and has new answers

To things that people had no hope and help for for the entirety of the human experience.

Here's the point The counsel of the enemy is just to question what God says. So Satan says to the woman did

God actually say You should not eat of any tree in the garden

Now notice how the how the woman responds to this the woman responds to this with a temptation to add to God's Word So 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 fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden She got that part, right? Neither shall you touch it lest you die

So there's a temptation that we face in response to these kind of questions In that temptation we might face at times is a temptation to add to God's Word Things that aren't there as you read through the

Bible. We see that the Pharisees felt pray to this temptation in Many different respects elevating the traditions of men above the tradition above the counsel of God So when

God's Word is questioned when God's Word is When the legitimacy the veracity of God's Word the truthfulness of God's Word is called into question

We may have a temptation to try to protect God's Word in order in there in our attempt to protect God's Word What we do is try to expand

God's Word to include things that God never meant to Address and so we should be aware of this

But as I said, I our counsel of our enemy is is deceptive and the counsel of our enemy is subversive

And third the counsel of our enemy is rebellious So notice what the serpent says the serpent starts out

With an attempt to deceive her First a tactic is to call into question God's Word. His second attack is to outright deny what

God has said So notice what the serpent says the serpent says to the woman you you will not surely die

How is our world doing this? How are psychologists doing the same kind of thing? You know, the

Bible has many verses about anxiety Don't be anxious about your life Why do you worry about your life what you eat what you drink your body what you wear your clothing what you put on he's not life more than food and drink and clothing

Over and over again. The Bible tells us not to be afraid not to worry That worry cannot add, you know a cubit to your stature the

Bible tells us that over and over again What does psychology say?

Says anxiety is not a sin. I said it's a medical problem You know one of the things that one of the issues

I've gotten in the most trouble in my life Related to these topics that are just common just just describing anxiety is fear describing anxiety is sin

Saying this send to worry we should trust the Lord God gives us enough grace for today

To you know to worry it's it's not just stupid like worry is stupid. It doesn't do anything for you

It doesn't help you just waste a bunch of time makes you miserable, but worry is not just stupid. It's sinful

Anxiety is sinful The God who made the heavens and the earth from nothing

Is more than capable of handling whatever problem that you think Is so important, you know most of the times in my life where I've been tempted to worry

Like in Situation after situation after situation. I'm running these These worried thoughts over and over and over again in my mind

And the problem is I'm removing God from my thoughts. I'm forgetting every I'm engaging in a

Kind of repetitive form of amnesia where I'm forgetting God's providence to me in the past Forgetting his provision in the past.

I mean there have been many situations That were that Elizabeth and I have gone through in life

Where we're encountering a trial that we've gone through before Where she sees me worried about it simply worried about it and looks at me and says

My wife has learned to be blunt by being married to me What are you worried about?

We've been here before God always takes care of it. What are you doing? And I'm thankful to have a woman who's willing to speak truth to me when

I'm being stupid The point is to say that we've been Despite the fact that I can look at my past and I can see that God has provided for me every step along the way

When I come to a new situation Where I can't figure it out in my mind how we are going to fix this problem

There is a temptation that I routinely face to worry about that and that worry is sin

It's absolutely sin this distrust in God God has is

Way more patient than I would be with myself But he cares for us and he has provided for us every step of the way, but what a psychology say

It's not a sin. It's a medical problem Fear it's not a sin. It's a medical problem if I pick on people who have

PTSD If you're predisposed to respond emotionally to that as if I'm picking on someone who has cancer

Do you know that I got in there? I got in a really bad wreck. I Got in a really bad wreck about it a little over a year ago now

Was driving on the interstate. I passed out while I was driving and I got in a really bad wreck to where I Mean it you know

I make fun of Jesus take the wheel But that was kind of a Jesus take the wheel point because I was passed out and just I ran into a medium

Do you know that I? Faced all the temptations that anyone might face by going 70 miles per hour on the road and crashing into the medium

I faced temptations towards fear I Knew that we know when

I was released to drive again after that experience That either

I could give myself over to fear for the rest of my life and never drive again Or I could trust the

Lord And say hey, I'm not gonna be held captive by a spirit of fear with God's grace with his help.

I understand I Understand I could give my I could work myself up in fear. I could give myself over to flashbacks forever

I Could be in there. I could embrace that I could say hey Like not just I'm afraid right now, but I am suffering from PTSD.

I could have went there with it I could have went there with it never drove again if I would embrace that as a label as a hopeless label

But Bible says don't be afraid God hasn't given us a spirit of fear Bible says that anxiety is sinful

It's not just sinful. It's stupid By Bible says over and over again. Do not be afraid

God hasn't given us a spirit of fear Bible says that Christians are not those who grieve as Those who have no hope but if you think of Hopelessness and despair as medical problems put a psychological label on them

You're not going to turn from them But the enemy is very overt in this my point is just to say that the great enemy of our souls has used a particular

Pseudo -scientific kind of mechanism to explicitly deny everything the Bible has said okay

Here's Sigmund Freud the time has come when traditional methods of clerical guidance and care of souls must be replaced by scientific methods of psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis Here's Albert Ellis the father of rational and motive behavior therapy the

Bible is full of contradictions myths and superstitions It can be helpful in some instances for comfort or inspiration

But it's not a reliable source for understanding human behaviors emotions and mental health Here's Sigmund Freud again religious doctrines are illusions

They do not emit a proof and no one can be compelled to consider them as true or to believe in them

Here's dr. Michael Shermer and his book why people believe believe weird things The Bible is included as one of those weird things so the

Bible is not a science textbook It's a collection of myths and stories meant to convey moral lessons to use it as a literal guide for understanding the natural world human

Behavior or psychology is to fundamentally misunderstand its purpose. Here's dr.

Richard Lynn a psychologist known for his work in intelligence and personality Much of the morality of the

Bible is barbaric by today's standards promoting ideas like the subjugation of women slavery and genocide

It's hardly a useful guide for modern psychological well -being or ethical behavior Here's dr.

Kathleen Taylor a research scientist in neuropsych Psychology from her book the brain supremacy, okay

The Bible with this ancient text cannot be seen as a comprehensive guide to the complexities of modern human psychology

It lacks the nuanced understanding of mental health and cognitive processes that contemporary psychology offers

Here's dr. Scott Lillenfield a clinical psychologist known for his work on pseudoscience and psychology

Suggesting the Bible alone is enough to deal with the vast for array of psychological disorders We see today is not only scientifically naive, but could be dangerously dismissive of the need for modern therapeutic interventions

There's a Bible saying Second Timothy 316 all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof

For correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work

What a psalm 19 say the law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul

The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the precepts of the

Lord are right Rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes

The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold?

Sweeter also than honey and the dripping of the honeycomb Moreover by them your servant is warned in keeping them.

There is great reward Psalm 119 105 your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path

Deuteronomy 29 29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God But the things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever that we may do all the words of this law

Proverbs 35 through 6 every word of God proves true He is a shield to those who take refuge in him do not add to his words lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar

Matthew 4 4 but he answered it is written Man shall not live by blood bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God John 17 17 sanctified them by your truth.

Your word is truth 2nd Peter 1 3 through 4 his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness

Through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises

So that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that's in the world

Because of sinful desires brothers sisters God's given us what we need in his word. His counsel is sufficient

He knows what you're going through. He's given you answers to this He's given you the same answers as he's given to people for thousands of years that thousands of years of Christians have found

Comfort and help and safety and you can trust him So as I said the counsel of our enemy is deceptive it's subversive it's rebellious and it's slanderous so notice

After Satan outright denies What God says God call

Satan calls in to question the character of God. He does so in three three different ways So he does so by hinting that God is needlessly restrictive

That he's jealously guarding his power And that he's withholding good things from you

So notice what he says in verse 5 For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil

So when the woman saw the tree was good for food Then it was a delight to the eyes that the tree was desired to make one wise

She took of its fruit and ate and she gave some to her husband who was with her and he Ate so notice

Satan's attacks He wants to hint that God is somehow needlessly restrictive

This is just arbitrary. Don't eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Why? Just being needlessly restrictive

He's jealously guarding his power, right? He knows that you're the day that you eat of it. You'll be like him He's trying to keep that back from you, right?

He's withholding good things from you. There's some good to be found in the human experience That he's withholding from you

So despite the fact that this God who made the heavens and the earth who is the very definition of what is good?

Who made all things very good who made all things good and after the creation of woman described it all as very good

He provided all that was good and helpful every Every blessing that could possibly give be given to man and woman he gave to them

But what Satan's attack is to come along and to call into question his character and to slander him basically

To say that he's a big jealous tyrant. He's trying to keep you back From the good things in life

You know what? The way of the transgressor is hard Being defined by any of these psychological disorders is obviously not a good thing

That's not the path to life and health and peace Enemy wants to come along and say hey

We have answers to these problems that the Bible addresses Bible is outdated.

It's not advanced It's primitive based on bad ethics. We have better answers and you know what?

Those answers brothers and sisters are going to keep you enslaved to whatever problem of thought behavior and mood that you think you have for the rest of your life and keep you dependent upon chemicals to try to Manage these things and all you have to do is watch the commercials that they're constantly putting on TV Telling you all the side effects that you're you might experience to see that The enemy is promising help but in the end it's only providing slavery

When I speak to these issues, I'm not speaking to these issues as a person who has never been worried before in my life

I'm not speaking to these issues as someone who's never been depressed before in my life I'm not speaking to these issues as someone who's never been angry before in my life

I'm speaking to these issues as someone who understands all of these temptations and even if I didn't

I Can point to you to the Bible that tells you everything you need to know in order to know how to honor

God But there's no there's nothing more hopeless more despair producing

Than to adopt one of these labels and understand that for the rest of your life, you're gonna be held captive to these vices without any hope

Best you can do is just take drugs Which kind of numb your brain? Try to manage the symptoms right the best you can do is to become a drug addict for the rest of your life

Trying to deal with simple problems of thoughts pavers and mood because the Bible doesn't have any answers to these things and God Doesn't have any hope to give you

God somehow has given you an insufficient word The back, you know backwoods

Stone Age kind of people thought was a nice thing But now that we know better We have real answers, you know

What brothers and sisters those real answers that people are giving you today are answers that are going to enslave you

Enslave you to all of your problems and enslaved of your kids to very preventable problems that the

Bible has very clear Answers to you don't have to live a life that is dominated by worry anxiety depression fear anger jealousy fits of rage

If you look to the Bible and you you understand your actions your your thoughts behaviors and mood and biblical categories

You know what? That means you're gonna have to take a hit to your ego That means you're gonna have to take a hit to your pride

That means instead of blame shifting your problem on some kind of biological label Pseudo -scientific medical sounding label you actually have to face the fact that you're a sinner.

But what is the story of the Bible? Luke 5 31 to 32

Jesus answered them those who are well have no need of a physician But those who are sick have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance

So notice what Jesus does there. He he says those who are well have no need of a physician But those who are sick have come to call the righteous.

I've not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance He's using sickness as an analogy for problems of the soul

Yep, you're obviously living in a world that has rejected the fact that that's an analogy and it's taking that pretty literal

Aren't you but but what why does it why does any of this matter? What matters is if you have a

Pseudo -scientific medical sounding label to blame all of your problems on it's going to keep you from repentance, isn't it?

If the Sun sets you free you will be free indeed Jesus has come to set us free from the slavery of sin

We don't have to be slaves to our sin anymore The Bible has come to give us answers to our problems and Those answers are going to be found in the person in the work of Christ and what he has done for us on our behalf

He's come to do a mighty work for us To cancel the record of wrongdoing against us but there's no

Forgiveness that's going to be found for a person who refuses to admit That they're in the wrong

There's no hope for deliverance to be found for someone who refuses to acknowledge

That their problems are their fault That they're not handling things the way they should be that they're not handling things in a way that glorifies

God I've counseled many people who lean on these psychological labels as an all -purpose excuse for not handling the basic issues of their life and They will ride the currency of these labels as far as they can take them in order to in order to excuse

Almost any level of irresponsibility And you know brothers and sisters Professing Christians are the worst kinds of enablers in these areas.

All it takes is for you to hear one label All it takes is to hear one label and you will excuse a never -ending list of wickedness

Because you are predisposed to think that God hasn't spoken to basic problems of thoughts behaviors and mood

I've had guys come to counseling to me who Refuse to work they're in their mid -30s refuse to work refuse to have a job

They blame it all on their ADHD and all their Christian family members and friends and church members enable them to do that And they think that something significant was communicated there

That they are suffering from some kind of medical illness which allows them Conveniently to play video games all day long, but never have a job

The same thing happens with how homemakers and housewives if they say they are suffering from depression

They get it blank slate blank slate endless path towards laziness near Responsibility none of it matters anymore because we treat these labels as magical talismans that ward away all personal responsibility

The problem is that in doing so we are destroying people's souls. That's what we're doing

Those who are well have no need of a physician those who are sick I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance

You know what this has been a pretty successful scheme of the devil if you stop and think about it for just a few minutes

You persuade people that all of their problems are medical and biological and orientation they're never going to repent and that should be disturbing to us brothers and sisters because we are people who

Are supposed to be heralding a message of good news and truth

To the world around us that we don't have to be enslaved to our vices That God's Word has answers to our problems and that to continue to live in unrepentant sin

Provides no hope Gospels the good news of what Jesus has come To do he's come to live the life that we couldn't live to die the death that we deserve and the only people who are going to appreciate that message are not going to be people who blame shift all their problems on pseudo -scientific medical sounding labels, but those who

Understand themselves to be sinners in need of repentance and you know what God is able to cleanse us to the uttermost and help us to be fundamentally different than Anything that we could think that we could be amen

Let's pray Lord. We do. Thank you for this opportunity to think about Attacks of our enemy we know that he is not going to simply come to us and Tell us he's trying to deceive us

But many of his attacks are subtle pray that you help us to have wisdom to identify Many of the subtle lies of the enemy that we're so commonly tempted to believe

Help us to trust in you renew us in our hope and our trust in you the sufficiency of your scripture

Knowing that your counsel to us is always good and will lead to good whereas the counsel of the enemy leads to harm