with me here in Genesis 3, put
one of his hymns in the bulletin, tell a little story behind it
that he wrote me. But tonight, I want to talk about
man's fall into sin. Here in Genesis 3, we're going
through Bible doctrine. Last week, we talked about God
making man in His own image. But on this subject right here,
the fall, what we call the fall, the theologians call the fall. man's utter rejection of God
and his disobedience to God and the consequences of that, as
Adam stood as our representative. And if you don't understand what
took place when Adam sinned, if you do not understand that
and the consequences of that, you'll never know anything about
the Gospel. You'll never know anything about what it is to
be redeemed. You got to know where sin come
from, how it got into this world, how it infected the human race.
And if we don't know how sin got here, we won't ever have
a clue how sin got put away. And you miss this on this, and
I'll tell you, and I know this without a shadow of a doubt.
You miss what took place when Adam sinned against God in the
garden. And you'll be wrong until you face God's judgment, and
then you'll be wrong for eternity. Now that's a fact. But here in
this chapter that I've read, and I'm going to bring two or
three messages on this, God willing, we have several things that explain
what science can't explain, what philosophy can't explain, what
evolution can't explain, and certainly what free will religion
can't explain. And that's the condition of the
human race and how it got that way. How did we end up being
the way we are? Why is there sin? Why is there
sickness? Why is there sorrow? Why is there
heartaches? Why is there death? Why is there
age? Why is this body full of infirmities? Why is there murders and rape
and bank robberies and lying and stealing and adultery? What
in the world is the condition of man in the human race that
these things go on? We know God didn't make man that
way. We know He didn't make him that way. And we have it explained
here in Genesis 3. Sin's origin, how this business
of how the condition of the human race got into the condition it's
in. And not only sin's origin, where it started at, but how
that it's universal. There ain't a place you can go
on the face of this earth where you can't find sin and rebellion
and lying and stealing and cheating and murder and tyranny. No place
you can go where you can't find it. There's no place you can
go where you won't find death. Get the obituary. Hear it every
day on the news, the obituary. So-and-so, so-and-so, so-and-so,
and all the way from the Scripture. The first time death is mentioned
is here in Genesis. First time it's mentioned. And
oh, beloved, we see the condition of the earth because God cursed
the earth for Adam's sake. And man's suffering in this world
says, you're going to sweat and earn your bread. You came out
of dust and since you come out of dust, you're going back to
dust and you're going to suffer from the day you're born to the
day you die. To a woman, you're going to suffer.
You're going to be insolvent. And here we also learn this.
We learn the power and subtlety of Satan, our enemy. And it says
that there in verse 1, now the serpent was more subtle than
any beast in the field. Paul talked about the subtlety
of Satan. And he's our enemy. Oh, what
an enemy he is. And we also learn here, when
we learn about the fall, the utter powerlessness, the utter
powerlessness of man to walk in righteousness when God withholds
His grace. He cannot stand for a moment
if God takes His hand off of him. And only a man knows that,
that God has already gave grace to. You don't know that until
God gives him grace. He thinks he can stand. He thinks
he can hold himself up. He thinks he can do better. He
thinks he can endure some things. But oh, God withholds His grace. Down he goes. Down he goes. And here we see the spiritual
effect of sin. You know what man did when he
sinned? He done like everybody else did,
made himself a covering and tried to hide from God. This idea,
you know, that man's just out here perishing for truth, he's
seeking the truth, if we can just get the truth to him, that's
a lie. That's a lie the devil told.
God told man the truth and the devil told him a lie, and they
believed the lie. Is that not right? And oh, the
spiritual effect of sin, man trying to hide from God. And
oh, and we see God's attitude toward the guilty sinner. What
did he say? Drove him from the garden. But
before he drove him from the garden, he clothed Adam and Eve
with the skins of animals. Covered their nakedness. He provided
a covering for them. And we see man's tendency to
cover his moral shame by making his own device fig leaves. Fig leaves. And all the gracious
provision God made to meet our great need, the Lord Jesus Christ
in that promise, I'll put enmity between thy seed and the seed
of the woman. You'll bruise his heel, but he's going to bruise
your head. And we also see here that we need a mediator and we
can't approach God without a mediator. Now, let's look here together
at this and let me talk about the fall. We need to understand
this as much as we need to understand anything. The old-timers used
to talk about there ought to be three R's in every message.
Man's ruined by sin. Now, if man was just injured
when he sinned against God, and was able to walk with just a
crutch, we don't need a Savior. If he just lost sight in one
eye and conceived with the other, you still don't need a Savior.
So we desperately need to understand what happened when Adam sinned.
And when we talk about the fall, we're talking about the fall
from his standing before God. He stood righteous before God.
He stood fresh from the maker of his hand, though he stood
in his own righteousness. And he also stood innocent before
God, which is a negative condition. And here he stood before God,
and he fell from that standing in the presence of God. He fell
from standing in a holy presence, being a holy person, a man come
from the hands of God and fell from that place and fell into
sin. He fell from being, from life,
life, the life of God, and he made a living soul. He fell from
life and fell into death. God takes us and brings us from
death to life. Adam had life and he went into
death. And men tell us, you know, that
man started at the top, started at the bottom, and he's
climbing his way up. No, no, the Scripture says he
started at the very top. This man Adam started at the
top, standing in God's presence. God took his own mouth and put
it on him and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and
he became a living soul. Made him in his image, made him
a rational being with the ability to think and above every animal,
put him in the position of power and glory and made him the Lord
of the earth. And here we see it isn't hereditary
that causes sin? It is an environment that's man's
problem. That's why people say, well,
you know, I got bad genes, and I got bad genes. I inherited
this from my daddy, and I inherited that from my daddy, and I inherited
this. Listen, it isn't heredity and environment. That's not man's
problem. His problem is not a social problem.
The psychologists and the sociologists and the psychiatrists and all
the educators can get together and say, boy, we can fix this
man, we can fix man's problem, and we can just educate him.
If we can educate him, if we can just give him a good house
to live in, if we'll just take care of his physical needs so
he won't ever have to walk for anything, he won't have to steal
if we give him a living, if we give him a house, if we give
him an education. Of all these programs, all those
things are just denials, denials of man's fallen nature. The Scriptures tell us that God
made man upright. And over here in Genesis 2, God
put one restriction on him. One restriction. That's all He
put on him. And it says here in Genesis 2,
verse 15, And the Lord God took the man, put him into the garden of Eden to dress him to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the man. Now I say, that's one
thing you need to understand. God does not ask people to do
anything. He gives commandments. And the
Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat. Just I mean eat anything you
want. But of the tree of knowledge,
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And so here
is God. He made man. Made him upright.
Put one restriction on him. When you kids loved your parents,
they only put one restriction on you. Just one. How many restrictions
they put on you? But here God just put one on
him. And man is not an independent creature. Here he is. You picture
Adam. He's here in the presence of
God. God put him in this garden. Let him name everything that's
there. Gave him anything that he wanted to eat. He's living
in paradise. He gave him a helpmate, and here
he is, he's fresh from the hand of his Maker, he walks and talks
with his God. He didn't make himself, he's
utterly and absolutely dependent upon the God who made him. And
on the God who gave him all this, gave him the garden, gave him
everything he wanted to eat, gave him a helpmate, made him
Lord over the earth, says, now listen, this is yours. You take
it and you dress it and you keep it. So he's responsible to this
Creator. He's responsible to the God that
made him. He's not an independent creature.
And he's responsible to his Creator. The only reason to not eat of
this tree is God says don't. You know, he had everything else
he wanted in the world, in this whole world. He had it all! Except
God said, keep your hands. Don't eat none of that. Don't
eat none of that. Oh my. It's something so simple. Something so simple. But that's
like putting up a no trespassing sign. It's just no trespassing sign
never kept you off anybody's property. Has it? Now you be honest. How many times
have you went on the people's property that had a no trespassing
sign on it? How many times have men broke
locks to get into places they weren't supposed to be? But here's
Adam. He had never sinned. Fresh from
the hand of his Maker, he's Lord. Got a beautiful woman standing
by his side. They got life is good. I mean,
life is the best that it'll ever get while we're on this earth. There we was! Perfect! Upright! sinless, fresh from
the hand of God, the image of God in him, talking with God,
walking with God in the cool of the day. And that pretty,
beautiful woman walking along with him had more to eat than
his heart could desire. God says, but just don't eat
of that one tree. Don't eat of it. But the creature,
and that's what he is, a creature, he became self-seeking, self-centered,
self-willed, and he disobeyed that one commandment. And when
he'd done that, something happened to him that never happened before.
His eyes were open, he was afraid of God, and he knowed he was naked, and
he was ashamed. All those things, huh? And oh,
he fell. And oh, how far he fell. Oh, he fell. He fell. You know. Well, let's look at the record.
Let's go down through these verses and just look at the record of
it here, if we can. Here, the serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, he said,
unto the woman. Why did he go to the woman? This
is why the Scriptures say the woman is the weaker vessel. And
the reason being because she goes so much on her emotions.
And yea, as God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the
garden of Eden. Now, here's the first thing she should have done.
She should have said, get thee behind me, Satan. I got no business
with you. I'm going to go over here and
get my husband. You come talk to my husband. I can't make no decisions. My
husband will tell you what needs to be said. You talk to my husband.
Don't talk to me. That's what she should have done.
That's what our Lord did. When Satan tempted him, you know
what he says? You get behind me. When Satan
used Simon Peter, he says, get behind me, Satan. Resist the
devil and he'll flee from you. She should have said, get thee
behind me. But she listened to Satan, and she listened to him
challenge God's Word. The first thing he'd done was
he challenged God's Word. And so she started into a conversation
with him. Started into a conversation,
and how much sin has started with just a conversation? With
just a conversation. And that's what happens here.
And the woman said unto the serpent, and the Lord said unto the woman,
Yea, have God said. You shall not eat of every tree
of the garden. No, he know good and well God didn't say you shall
not eat of every tree of the garden. God done told him, you
can have fruit of any tree you want to, just one out and you're
not going to eat it. Ain't that what he said? But as he says,
God don't want you to eat nothing. And oh beloved, and there's,
he's tampering with God's word. The woman said, out of the serpent,
we may eat of the trees of the garden. That's exactly what God
said. But of the fruit of the tree,
which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall
not eat it. Now listen, This serpent had
her so shook up, so beguiled her, and so mesmerized her that
she changed God's word herself. She says, neither shall you touch
it. God did not say, don't touch it. He said, don't eat it. They
could have touched it, could have sat down under it, slept
under it, took a nap under it. That had nothing to do with it.
He said, just don't eat it. They could have curled up under
that tree and went to sleep. They could have touched it all
they want to. God didn't say don't touch it. He says don't
eat it. And oh, let me show you what happens. You keep Genesis
3. Look with me in Proverbs chapter 30. Look what happens when we
temple with God's Word. And that's what happens, whether
anybody does it. I do it, you do it, or anybody
else does it. And the first thing he'd done
is he'd come along, you know, and he says, oh my, God's told
you, you're not supposed to eat of any trees of the garden. You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And oh, she got her
all confused here. And look what happened here in
Proverbs 30 and verse 5. Every word of God is pure. Purified. Every word of God. Every single
word of it. When God speaks, it's a pure
word. He's a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.
And all put their trust in Him. He's a shield for them. A shield
from the enemy. A shield from the guards. A shield
from the devil. And thou add thou not unto His
words, lest He reprove thee, and you be found a liar. God's not going to be found a
liar. May it's going to be found. Let God be true in every man
alive, is what he said. And oh, here she comes. And back
over here in our text. Oh, Eve added, and that's always
a fatal course when you start adding. Oh, she said to the serpent,
she said, Oh my, we may eat of the trees in the garden. But
oh my, God said don't eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die. She added to it, says don't touch it. Don't touch
it. Lest you die. God didn't say
you might die. He said you'll surely die. She put a little question mark
on that. We may be dying. We might die. And she don't miss
God's word that says thou shalt surely die. And in the margin
it says dying, thou shalt die. And ain't that what we're doing
right now, dying? And we shall die? Dying, we shall
die. And what they didn't understand,
I want you to understand this, they had no concept of death
whatsoever. No concept of death. They had
no concept of sin. They just had the Word of God
that says, don't. Don't you do it. When that happens,
whatever death is, that's what you're going to have. Whatever
sin is, that's what you're going to become. Whatever to be driven
from my presence is what's going to happen. And how easy and how
true it is that history repeats itself, that men change God's
Word continually and constantly. And when men, like her, when
they forsake the source of light, the source of light, you remember
Timothy says that Eve was deceived, not Adam. Adam, and here's the
thing that differs between them, she was deceived. Adam went into
this thing with his eyes wide open, knowing the consequences
of what's going to happen. He deliberately, deliberately
took of that fruit. And oh, beloved, how true it
is that history repeats itself. When men forsake the only source
of life, the Word of God, There's nothing left to do but transgress,
and the outcome, the natural outcome is death, and sin, and
corruption, and separation from God. Look what is said down here
in verse 6, and when the woman saw, saw, that's the lust of the eyes. Tree was good for food, that's
the lust of flesh. Pleasant to the eyes, lust to
the eyes, pretty to be desired to make one wife, there's the
pride of life. She took the fruit thereof and did eat. She ate. But look what happens now. And gave also unto her husband
with her. She went and got him, and he did eat. The commandment
was to Adam. Eve was deceived, but Adam with
his eyes wide open. Now, beloved, the will of God
here was resisted. I know what God's will is, but
I'm not going to do it. The word of God is rejected.
God says, don't. And I said, I am. God said, you'll
die. We'll see. God said, I'll reject you. We'll
take a chance on that. And how many times have we faced
folks and tell them the truth about what God says, and how
many times do they say, well, that's just about the way I see
it. That's just not the way I'm going to do it. That's just not
the way I think it ought to be done. And so you see, whenever
the Word of God's rejected, whenever the Word of God's rejected and
the will of God's resisted, and the way of God will eventually
be deserted, you'll forget the Bible, you'll forget God, and
you'll choose your own way every single time. There's a way that seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. Everybody's
got their own way. You say, well, that's my way,
and this is Mama's way, and this is Daddy's way. If it's not Mama
and Daddy's way and not God's way, then it's the wrong way. And that's what we desperately
need this day and age. We desperately need it. Here we have the scriptural,
the divine record of the Father. And when we read it, it's the
only explanation for the condition of the human race, the only explanation.
Why else is the human race like it is? Why is it that we have
such a problem with sin, have such a problem with ourselves?
Why do we have such a problem resisting evil? Why do we have
such a problem with marriage? Why do we have such a problem
with drugs? Why do we have such a problem
with lying and adultery and murder and homosexuality and lying? Why do we have such a problem
in this? Why do they have to keep building
prisons to put people in? The only explanation is here
in the fall. There can't be no other explanation.
And when you start reading Genesis, you go through there, it ain't
three chapters later, God says, the whole human race is so corrupted
itself, I'm going to destroy it. And I'll choose me one man,
I'll show grace to one man. And I'll let him, I'll start
over again. And then, beloved, in eight chapters
from here, just a while after the flood
was over, a whole bunch decided, we're going to build us a tower
of heaven. We're going to go up to God Himself, and we're
going to take over. We're going to take over. How
did man get in such a bad shape so quick? Oh, whenever you see what Adam
did here, when he partook of that fruit and did eat, and he
died there, it alone accounts for the evil in this world. Made
good. What did it say over here in
verse 31 of chapter 1? And God saw that everything that
he had made, and behold, it was very good. Very good. And you go down through that,
and God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good. God
saw that it was good. And that's the way this world
was. It was good until man sinned, and then evil permeated everything
from then on. Even the earth fell under the
curse. And I tell you, the Scriptures
here of the fall and what took place in it alone teaches us
how sin is universal. It's universal. Why? Let me ask
you this. Why? In spite of the love we
show our children, in spite of the care that we show our loved
ones, in spite of all the prayers we pray, why in the world do
men go headlong into sin? Why? Why? When we pray for them
and pray for them in their presence and say, come hear the gospel.
And you pray for your children, your grandchildren, you pray
for your brothers and sisters, and you see them, and you cry
to them, and you beg them, and you go, and they still go right
on headlong into sin. And you tell them all the consequences
of it all, and they go right on. Why is that? Bruce and I was talking earlier.
You know, there's a woman here, back here, that was here a few
weeks ago, and she just could not get over that my children
was unconverted. That I hadn't got my children
saved yet. That everybody in the services, that there was
somebody in the services that wasn't converted. She just couldn't
get over that. And I told her why there wasn't.
I said, I don't think He saved anybody. If I could save anybody
at all, If you know good and well, I'd save my children. And
if I could save anybody, I'd save yours. And if salvation could be had
by sprinkling babies, I'd have sprinkled all of them when there's
little bitty things. If I'd put them in the covenant. And Bruce said this today, and
I wish I'd have thought of it. Oh, how I wish I'd have thought
of it. Since you know how easy it is to get people saved and
converted, and you shopped it with a good saver, why don't
you go save a few yourself? I wish I'd have thought of that. And that's what I'm going to
tell the next. And start with my children. If you have the
ability to get them saved, get them saved. I'll give you their
phone numbers and their addresses, and I'll pay for the gas for
you to go to their house. If you can get them saved and
you don't do it, my God, what a bunch of blood is on your hands. And I'll tell you, here's the
situation. We all sprang, this is wise,
this is in the soul unit, we all sprang from one man. We all
come from this man in heaven. Worse for us, by one man, sin
entered into the world. And death by sin for sin. All have sinned. Where do we
all sin at in Adam? As in Adam we all sin, in Adam
we all die. We all die. We was born dead.
Dead in trespasses and sin. And that's the only explanation
of death and its mystery is right here. Why do men die? The explanation's
in Genesis 3. Why do men die? The only explanation
is in Genesis 3. You see, God made man a living
soul and breathed into his nostrils and made him a living soul. So
why should he die? God told him he would if he disobeyed
Him. God's not playing games with people. We reject Him. I mean, we're just committing
spiritual suicide. We reject His Word, do what He
tells us not to do. We're just destroying ourselves.
Let's look at Satan here real quick. Next week I'll deal with
some other things about the fall, but let's look at Satan here
in the fall. It says there in verse 1, Now the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. Here's the first time we meet with the devil. First
time we ever met with the devil. There's no explanation of where
he comes from, no explanation of his history. But over in Revelation,
they call him that old serpent. They call him Apollyon, they
call him the dragon. But here, the first time you
meet him, no explanation of his history. And yes, the first place
you meet him, and every time you see him in the scriptures,
this is the realm he operates in, in religion and spiritual
realm. He's always operating in the
spiritual realm. Here he goes into the garden to tempt this woman and calls
Adam and Eve to follow him. And I tell you, wherever you
find him at, you'll find him. Where do you find him at in Job?
He's in a prayer meeting. Two prayer meetings he shows
up in. Two prayer meetings. Where do you find him at? You
find him in Simon Peter, trying to keep the Lord Jesus from going
to the cross. Where else do you find him at?
You find him in Judas Iscariot, betraying the Son of God for
30 pieces of silver. Where else you find him at? With
our Lord Jesus Christ on the mountain. Tempted him. Forty
days and forty nights. Every place you find him, you
find him mixed up in religion, tearing him using the Word of
God. And you know what? When our Lord
Jesus gave the parable of the The parables of Matthew 13, the
first thing he says, you know, that the Son of Man sows good
seed, which is the Word of God, and while being slumbered and
slept, the enemy comes along and sows tares. Who's that enemy?
That's the devil. And he says, you know, as soon
as the Word of God falls dry on the packed-down ground, he
says, Satan immediately comes and takes it away. So every place
you find him, he's that strong man arm that keeps his goods
safe until Christ comes. He's the roaring lion. He's crafty. And I'll tell you, and let me
tell you something. You won't believe this, but it's the truth.
I'm going to tell you the truth. Most of y'all won't believe this,
but I'm going to prove it from Scripture. The devil is not the
author of the sins of our flesh. He's not interested in the sins
of your flesh. He don't have to make you commit any sin. It's
just as natural for you to sin as it is for you to grieve. That's
right. Is that right? And Mark 7, verse
21 says, For from within our heart proceeds, first thing, evil thoughts,
blasphemy, idolatry, fornication, Listen, all these things come
from the heart. He don't have to get you drunk.
He don't have to make you want to lie. All these things are
natural to you. But do you know where He's working
at? He's doing His dead-level best to make you keep from hearing
the gospel. When the gospel falls on your
ears, if it don't get into your understanding, it's because He's
catching the Word away just as fast as it lands. Ain't that
right? Oh, His chief aim. is to get
between the soul and God. His chief aim is to turn man's
heart away from God, to turn it to himself. Our Lord Jesus
says, you're of your father the devil, who's a murderer from
the beginning. Who did he murder? Our first
parents. He said he's a liar, and whenever
he tells a lie, he says because he's the father, he's the first
person to ever lie. He's the father of the lie. And
the Lord, he wants to turn man's heart away from God to himself,
and what he does is he puts lies in the place of God's truth. And I'll tell you, he lies, he
lies to man, talks about how powerful he is, how strong his
free will is, how good he is, he just needs Jesus, how precious
he is that God can't hardly get along without him. And oh, and this is what he does,
the first thing he does here in verse 1, he says, Yea, hath
God said? Yea, hath God said? Is this what
God said? Did he really mean what he said?
He throws doubt on God's Word. And he ain't changed a bit. He
still throws doubt on the Word of God. He'll come along, he
says, well, you know, really, the translator's really messed
up right here, and they really meant to say this over here.
So that makes you the arbiter of what God meant to say. Oh, he throws doubt on God. He
suddenly suggests that God doesn't mean what he says. And what does
he do? He substitutes his own word for
God's word. He says, Yeah, if God said, you
shall not eat of every tree of the garden. The woman asked him
back, and look what he said down here. He just flat out lied in
verse 4. And the serpent said to another
woman, you shall not surely die. What did he mean by that? God
is too loving, God is too merciful, that He ain't going to send nobody
to hell. He don't really mean what He
says. He is so kind and so merciful and so loving. Oh my, He could
not possibly let anybody die. Let me show you something over
here in Isaiah 44. You'll get a kick out of this.
Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44, 20. You know, men will believe a lie quicker
than they will God's truth. And one way you know that you're
really, really telling the truth is when men get mad at you for
telling the truth. They don't get mad over a lie.
And a lie will get up and go around the block while the truth
is getting off the stoop. Ain't that the truth? Look here
in Isaiah 44, 20. He feedeth on ashes. That's what
he's eating. What's he feeding on? Not feeding
on the bread of Christ. Not feeding on the bread of life.
He's not feeding on the blood of Christ. He feedeth on ashes. A deceived heart hath turned
him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, and he don't even know
it yet, can't say, is there not a lie in my right hand? I mean a lie in it. He's so deceived he's got a lie
in his right hand and don't know it. He can't say that. And not only does he substitute
his own word for God's, you shall not surely die. Watch what he
says, he goes on down here now. 5. He casts reflection on God's
goodness and questions His perfection. 6. For God doeth know in the
day ye eat thereof, that your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. You know what he's
saying here? He attacks God's glory right
here. God's glory right here. God's majesty right here. He
says, you know, God's withholding something from you that's for
your very best. That's for you. That's good for
you. I mean, he's keeping back things that's for your benefit.
He don't want you to know these things. He don't want you to
enjoy these things. He don't want you to enjoy the
knowledge that you can have if you eat of that fruit. He don't
want you to enjoy the knowledge. He don't want you to know. He
don't want you to be as wise as he is. And so what he does,
he says, God doeth know that when ye eat thereof, Your eyes
will be open. You'll see things. Oh, my goodness. He's blinded you for a reason. That's why people say, I won't
be happy. I won't be happy. I just ain't
happy. Well, if God opened your eyes and gave you that over there,
that'll make you happy. Does it make you happy to leave
your husbands and wives? Does it make you happy to leave
your children? People say, I'm not happy in
this. Well, does it make you happy to steal? Does it make
you happy to lie? Does it make you happy to get
drunk and waste your money? People, whatever it is that you
leave your, I'm not happy in this situation, you go to another
and say, does that make you happy now? That's what I ask my kids,
you happy now? Oh, the human race is despicable.
Oh, we're despicable. Oh, we're so despicable. It's
a wonder God lets any of us live. People walk away from the best
thing they ever had in their life because I ain't happy. And that's what the devil's telling
her here. You need to be happy. Your eyes will be opened. And
oh, listen to this, not only your eyes will be opened, you'll
be God. Oh, you'll have such power. You'll
have such glory. You'll have such knowledge. You'll
be, oh my, you'll be perfect then. He puts in her mind that God's
withholding something which would make her better. And what he's
telling her, believe me, believe my lie, and you'll be the gainer
by it. You'll get wisdom and knowledge
that God's denying you. And all beloved, and she believed
that lie. And when the woman saw, and here's
that threefold temptation again. When the woman saw that the tree
was good and was pleasant to the eyes, that's the lust of
the eyes. Oh my, that's so pleasant to my eyes. And a tree to be
desired to make one wise. That's the pride of life. Good
for food. Lust of the flesh. And boy, she
took of the fruit thereof, and she ate. Gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat. Now look over in the next verse. The moment that he did eat. Didn't
say she ate. She had already ate of it. He
did and did eat. She took of the fruit and did
eat. She ate first. It says, and gave also unto her
husband with her, and he did eat. And watch what happens now. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were
naked. And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves
aprons, and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the
garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden. That happened just that quick. Just that quick. I mean, the minute he took a
bite of that fruit, whatever it is, he saw things. The devil didn't tell him that.
You're going to see things you ain't never saw. Now he saw nothing
but evil gained and nothing but good lost. And let me tell you this in closing.
Satan works from without to within. He goes from out. He comes with
lies. He comes with pictures. He comes with suggestions. He
comes with subtlety, craftiness. Paints a rosy picture. Makes
everything say, boy, this is going to be so much better. Better
for you. He works from without to within.
But our Lord Jesus Christ and God, He works from within to
the outside. He works in the heart. And may
God do a work in our hearts, so when we hear the voice of
that tempter, we'll know who it is. We'll know who it is. And that's the way He done our
Lord. He said, go on, listen. You're hungry, ain't you? You're
hungry, ain't you? You haven't ate for 40 days. Make that bread right. Make that
rock right there into bread, and you can eat all you want.
You know what our Lord says? Man don't live by bread alone,
but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Huh? From
the Word of God. Our Father, oh gracious, gracious
God, in the blessed, blessed Holy Name,