We were talking earlier about
Satan and his ministry and his power and how he fell and his
angels who fell. And that's kind of the direction
I want to go in my message tonight here in Genesis chapter 3. And
I titled the message, The Tempter and His Temptation. And I want
us to look at this here tonight in Genesis chapter 3 the first
seven verses. Beginning in verse 1, Now the
serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden.
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden. God has said, Ye shall not eat
of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent
said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth
know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat. and gave
also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. 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."
Now, in this chapter is the account of the fall of man, of his reconciliation
to God, of God's promise of a coming Redeemer. and of man's exit from
the garden all through this chapter, chapter 3. And I've spent some
time in chapter 2 and chapter 3 laying a foundation for what
I'm going to talk to you about tonight. But it was the purpose
of God to put man in the garden. He put him in the garden on purpose. He didn't leave him in the world.
He was created to rule the world and to have authority over it.
to be the king of it. But he didn't leave him there.
He took man and put him in the garden. And in this garden, he
showed all kinds of sovereign grace to this man Adam. In the garden. In the garden.
And in that respect, I believe the garden is a picture of God's
everlasting covenant of grace. But it was the purpose of God
to put him in the garden to subject him to all that happened in the
garden, and then to send him out into the world with the promise
of redemption. And I don't want to dwell too
much tonight on the fall itself, because that's going to be the
subject of my message Sunday, Lord willing, when I talk about
total depravity. But I do want you to see some
things, and I want us to look at three things tonight in particular
in this chapter. And the first thing is this,
the tempter and his temptation, who and how he comes and how
he presents his case to men. And then secondly, the results
of this temptation and the effects of it and what it involves. And then thirdly, how the purpose
of God overrides all these things. In his eternal purpose, he put
man in a garden and subjected him to the slippery ground. Isn't
that good? He could have made man just like
he made Gabriel or Michael. No chance whatsoever that he
might fall. No opportunity for him to fall.
But he didn't. He put him in a garden, and he
gave access to Satan to this garden. And I want you to always
look at these things and see these things when we're reading
the Scripture and know that God is absolutely sovereign in all
that He does. And God is not going to cause
man to sin, but he's going to put him in a place where he's
going to be tempted. And he's going to allow Satan
to have access to that, and he's going to let man stand and do
what he does. And then he's going to override
those things in his purpose and redeem this man that he allowed
to fall. So let's look at this first.
Let's look at this tempter. And I want you to know this,
know this beyond all shadow of a doubt. We live in a day of
frivolity. Everything religious is frivolity. It's fun and games, playtime. It's just they've made such a
mockery out of the Word of God that men gather in buildings
just like we're gathered here tonight and they open up the
Bible and they talk about these things and they laugh about them
as they go out the door. and they make jokes and laugh
about the power of Satan. Satan is a lie. He is real, and
he is more powerful beyond your imagination, the power that this
being has. Universal influence in the world,
but he is real, and his power is great, and his presence is
never very far away. In 1 Peter chapter 5, Now, Peter was a man who personally
knew something about Satan. He stood there next to our Lord,
drawed that sword, and he said, They may leave you, but I'm not.
And the Lord said, Peter, Satan hath desired to sift thee as
wheat, but I prayed for you. He didn't pray for Judas Iscariot,
did he? He was tempted in the same way, sifted in the same
way, and taken out the door. In fact, Peter was guilty of
the same crime Judas was, if you want to get right down to
it. He sold out the Lord just the same way Judas did. What
was the difference? The Lord prayed for him. He had
an intercessor. Judas didn't have one. But here
in 1 Peter 5, verse 8, Peter said, Be sober, be vigilant. because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
Then turn with me over to 1 John chapter 5. There is a tempter
in this world, and even the Lord Jesus Christ as our representative
is not beyond his temptation. He was tempted of the devil,
it said, forty days. All men are tempted of him, all
men, including our representative and substitute. There is a tempter
in this world, and he is real, and he is powerful, and he is
active, and his presence and influence are universal. Now,
look here in 1 John, chapter 5, verse 18. John said, We know, and you will
have to read through these first five chapters to see all the
things that he knew. We come to know something about
his love, and we come to know something about his presence,
and about his substitution, and about his justification, and
about his sin offering. We come to know something about
faith. We come to know something about
receiving the testimony of God. We know something of regeneration.
We have been born of God. And we know this, verse 18, 1
John chapter 5. Now, whosoever is born of God
sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that
wicked one toucheth him not. He keeps himself. How does he
keep himself? He keeps himself looking to Christ. He keeps himself on this pudding
and this foundation of grace. He doesn't move around. He's
not blown around to every wind of doctrine. He's not tossed
about like the waters of the sea. He's stable and he's solid
and he looks to Christ. He looks to Christ. That's the
only way any man will ever be saved. Looking to Christ. And he keeps himself. That's
the only way you can keep yourself from the evil one is to look
at Christ. Because only Christ can defeat
him. Only Christ has ever defeated
him. He's the only one. And then listen
to this, verse 19. This being so, Listen to what
else he knew. And we know that we are of God. That's how we got here. We're
of God, of His purpose, of His predestination, of His calling,
of His grace, of His Spirit, of His regeneration, where His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. We know
that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness. How did he know that? Because
he knew something about this wicked woman. That's why. This wicked woman. Under his
spell. Paul said to the Galatian church,
he said, Who hath bewitched you? Under the spell of Satan. He cast his spell on this world. Under his power. Men and women
delivered from the power of darkness, Paul said in Colossians chapter
1. Under his rule, our Lord said, the strong man keepeth his house
and his goods are at peace because he is a strong man armed. He
is armed with deceit. He is armed with cunning and
craftiness. And he knows more about human
nature than anybody but God. He knows how to push your button.
And he can take you over. I'm going to read to you Scripture
in a minute where it talks about men who have been taken into
the snare of the devil at his will. At his will. In Revelation chapter 13, it
says, It was given unto him to make war with the saints, and
to overcome them. And power was given him over
all kindreds, and tongues, and nations, and all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him. whose names are not written in
the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world." That's what kind of influence and power this evil
one has. And he's using that word saint
here, not as a picture of God's elect, but just talking about
religion, per se, of the world. And they gather in buildings,
and he's got power over them. He's got power to deceive and
power to bring them down and to just put a veil over their
eyes. You stand and read. I told you
Sunday, I stand up here sometimes and I'll read Scriptures. They're
just so plain. How can you not understand what
they say? They're so plain. Ephesians chapter
1. I remember one time Brother Mahan,
before 13th Street was ever established, at the other church, at Pollard
Baptist Church, he was teaching Sunday school. And the controversy
over these doctrines had gotten to the point where everybody's
blood was boiling, and it was about to split, and Henry didn't
want the church to split, but he didn't want to compromise
the truth either. So he made up his mind that morning that
he was just going to read. So he read Ephesians chapter
1. And of course, he got down there about verse 4 where it
talks about according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. And boy, this old deacon, he
just stood up, red in the face and mad. And he said, just hold
it right there, young fellow. He said, I know what you're trying
to do. And Henry said, oh, what am I trying to do? He said, you're
trying to teach election. And Henry said, I'm not trying
to teach anything. Oh, yes you are. You're trying to teach election.
Don't think you're going to pull the wool out of this old boy's
eyes. I've been in this thing a long time. You're trying to
teach election. Henry said, I'm not trying to
teach anything. I'm just reading Ephesians chapter 1. And he said,
you got election out of it. And he said, that's what I got
out of it, because that's what it says. And the old man stomped
out mad. But these words are so plain. It's the twisting and deceit
of Satan that makes them complicated. They're not complicated. How
complicated is it? God is sovereign. He's omnipotent. He's all-powerful. He controls
everything. A child can understand that.
What makes it complicated is when man takes his false, deceitful
ideas and concepts, and then you try to refute those things
and still teach this. Then it gets complicated. That's
why I don't do it. I don't argue. I just stand and
declare the truth. Take it or leave it. Come or
go. I don't know what else to do.
Preaching is a declaration. It's not a sharing session. It's
not a time of questions and answers. It's a declaration. We declare
the truth. God will give you a revelation
or He won't. He'll reveal what's in that wicked
mind, be it enmity or a broken heart. It says he has given unto him
to make war with the saints and all these things. He puts a veil
of religion and ceremonial righteousness over the hearts of all that are
under his spell, blinding men from the truth. If our gospel
be hid, Paul said, it is hid to the lost in whom the God of
this world has blinded their minds. How does he do that? With religion. Blinds them. Gives them. Gives them. caters
to the flesh, caters to those desires. He knows what you like. He knows what appeals to you.
And He gives it to you, whatever it is. Boy, you just tickle with
it and happy. I remember my first profession
of religion. Boy, I was so happy. I thought
I had everything I ever wanted. And I realized, like Paul, he's
all just dumb. He appeals to the fallen nature
of men and women, causing them to believe his lies. We're ignorant
by nature. See, we don't have that spiritual
ability. We're free, but we're just free
within the confines of a fallen nature. That's like being in
a jail cell. You're free to walk around, but
you can't go outside the bars. Man's free in his nature, but
his nature's falling. He can't do anything other than
what his nature dictates that he can do, and it's all sin.
It's all evil. That's all he can do. He can
dress it up and he can do all sorts of things, but in the end,
it's all filthy rags. Satan is real. He's very much
alive and very active in the world, and he has his way with
any man or any woman outside of Christ at any time. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, you might
want to turn over and look at this. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Remember who Timothy is. He's
a young man. He's a brilliant man. He's a God-called man. He's gifted. His grandmother taught him scriptures
when he was a baby. From a child, Paul said, thou
hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation. He was a young man, but he was
wise beyond his years. And God had given him the revelation
of his grace and called him to be his preacher. And Paul took
him under his wing and taught him. And so he's talking to young
Timothy now, and he's talking to him about these evil men and
how they come in and deceive. True children of God are deceived,
and they've gotten the wool pulled over their eyes, and they've
caused confusion and things. He's telling this young man how
to deal with these things. And what he's telling him is,
don't go jerk the sword out and go whopping off heads. That's
not how you deal with it. But now watch this. And the servant
of the Lord, verse 24, 2 Timothy 2, verse 24. And the servant
of the Lord must not strive. He doesn't get pulled into these
arguments. He doesn't get pulled into these
debates. He doesn't get pulled into these
controversies. He must not strive, but be gentle
unto all men, apt to teach, and patient in meekness, instructing
those that oppose themselves, if God, peradventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may
recover themselves," now watch this, "...out of the snare of
the devil." That's what happens. Old Satan just come in with his
little snare and threw it like we used to catch bait fish. We'd throw that little round
net out and pull them in. That's what he does. He pulls
them in. The snare of the devil. Now,
listen to this. "...who are taken captive by
him at his will." Now, that's just how powerful, just how deceitful
he is. You stand back, and you think
you're strong. You think you can resist. You're
just like Peter. You stand there, and you've got
your sword on, and you're a big fisherman, and you're a big man. Old Peter, you go back and read
about them nets. Peter drove them nets in almost
by himself, what the other three were pulling in. He was a big
man, Peter was. Stout, strong, had a strong will. He was ready. He was standing
there ready to go. And that's how we think we are
sometimes. the Lord will open up some truth
to us, and we think we are strong and think we can stand. I am
telling you, Satan can come in practically at his will and take
you. You are nothing. You are just
a little fish in a pond. You are nothing at his hand.
This tempter is real, and he is powerful, and his influence
is universal. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul talks
about those who came And he said, if they're preaching another
Jesus and another spirit and another gospel, and if it's any
better than the one I preach, he said, maybe that's what you
ought to do. Go follow it. But it can't be. It can't be. Otherwise, he wouldn't have called
it another Jesus and another spirit and another gospel. It's
similar, but it's not the same. It's posing as the real thing.
Claiming to be the real thing. Looks on the outside like the
real thing. It has a form of godliness. But
it denies the power. There is no power inside. It
is all form. And then over in verse 13, 2 Corinthians 11, he
said, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel. For
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, a minister
of light. That is what an angel is. He
is a ministering spirit. And he transforms himself into
an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers
also be transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall
be according to their works. His universal power and authority
is in religion. That is where it is at. It is
in free will, works, religion. And it began almost immediately
after the death of Christ. It began and it grew and it grew
and it grew. And if you read your church history,
you'll just watch it until it encompassed the globe. It's called the great whore, Babylon
the Great, universal. By his pretense of
righteousness and peace and goodness, he gives the He gains the support
of kings. In the book of Revelations, it
talks about how the kings mourned at his death, mourned at his
defeat, mourned when he was taken out of the way. They mourned
because that's how they got elected to their office. That's how they
got all their support. And that's how he gets all his
power and prestige. He influences. Listen to me.
The Lord God has commissioned authority all through the world. The man is the head of the wife. He's the head of the family.
And then he's the head of his children. And then this authority
goes beyond him. It goes to the workplace. And
that man is the head of this man because he works for him. And then it goes to governors
and police departments and mayor's offices. And you can just go
all through. All the powers that be, Paul said in Romans 13, are
of God. Now, what Satan does is he goes
into these places of power and authority and he influences them
heavily. How does he influence them? Through
religion. Organized religion. That's how they get elected.
My soul, the First Baptist Church alone, just take that organization,
just the Baptist organization alone would elect the president.
if they could all get together long enough to do it. Just their
power and influence alone. Look at Catholicism and its worldwide
influence. And you take all of these religions,
and if they were to come under one head, their power would just
be beyond anything that you've ever seen. Their influence and
their power. And the Bible talks about a day
when that may be. But what I'm trying to tell you
tonight is his power, he's a spirit, he's a ministering spirit, but
he's a powerful spirit, and his influence and deceit is worldwide. And through that he influences
all men and women. You just can't deal with him,
you can't get first base with him, can you? Trying to talk
to him about it. Because why? Because he's convinced
him of his lie. And I don't care what you read,
what you say, what the evidence is, what the arguments are, They
won't hear it. It takes a revelation of God
in a man's heart in order for him to believe. Now, I said all
of that to say this. And it tells you this clear in
Ephesians chapter 2. He said, We walk according to
the course of this world, and he links that, and he said, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now worketh
in the children of disobedience. among whom we all had our conversation
in times past. That's how strong and influential
he is in the world. But I said all that to say this,
the goal and intent of Satan is to destroy, to thwart, or
somehow prevent the purpose of God in redemption. This is why
he was upset and why he was cast out of heaven to start with.
You can read about it in Isaiah chapter 14. And if you just look at the language
of that text, and you'll see where his heart was and what
it was all about and what it contested. And then he's pictured
in Revelations trying to devour the man-child. It's a man on the throne of God's
glory that he can't stand. Now, that's what it is. What? A man? Here, I'm the son of the
morning. I'm the most beautiful angel
that was ever made. And you're going to take a man
and put him on your throne? In his heart, in his mind, he
said, I will ascend to the throne. I'll sit on the mount of the
congregation. I'll be like the Most High. All
language talking about a man sitting on the throne of God,
talking about God's purpose of redemption. He wants to devour
the man-child. It is a man on the throne of
God's glory that he cannot stand. It was in his heart to do that
ascending and to sit on that throne and all those things,
sit on that mount of the congregation. It was in his heart to ascend
above the clouds and be like the Most High. But the Scripture
said he would be brought down to hell and to the sides of the
pit. What's taking place in the garden.
I said all that to do this. What's taking place in the garden
is not an attempt to overcome a man and his bride. It's an
assault on the throne of God. That's what's taking place in
Genesis chapter 3. What would he have if he got
us? Don't you often ask yourself
that? What in the world has he got when he has me? What's he
got? There's nothing in me. What would
Satan have if he had Adam, if he had Eve, if he had them both?
He's got a third of the heavenly angels. He's pulled them down. What possible gain could he have
in man and his bride? There's only one thing he was
interested in, and that was to thwart and to challenge and to
assault the throne of God. That's his intent. That's what's
going on in this garden. And he knows that this man has
been created in the image of God. This is a brilliant man,
a strong man. This is a man who walked with
God in the cool of the day. This is not a man that he's just
going to walk up to and say, hey, bud, you ever thought about
this? No, sir. He's not even going
to approach Adam. But he sits back and he watches. And he watches
this bride God gives and presents to his husband, and he watches
that love and affection the husband has for the bride, and he says
to himself, here's how it's going to work. I'm going to get the
bride. And when I get the bride, I'm
going to get the man. Now, that's exactly what's taking
place in Genesis chapter 3. The way for him to assault the
throne of God is to destroy the bride. What's going on today? Where is Satan? What's he at
war with? What's he consumed with? He's
your adversary. Why? Because you're the bride.
That's exactly right. He's not interested in this world.
He has this world. He's interested in the bride.
That's where the contempt is. That's where the power is. That's
where the warfare is. It's with the saints. It was
given unto him to make war, it says, with the saints. And that's
what's taking place, and it's a sword on the throne of God.
He cannot defeat God head on, so he'll maneuver to one side.
He'll maneuver to one side, and he'll try to destroy the means
whereby his purpose will be brought to pass. And then notice several
things here in Genesis chapter 3. I want you to notice this
first of all, that there was absolutely no indication of fear
in Eve's eyes when this conversation began. Read that, how clear that
is. He just speaks to her and she
just returns. There was nothing about him that
intimidated her. There was nothing about him that
caused her alarm. Nothing whatsoever. It would
just be like if you came up to me and asked me a question and
we just started talking back and forth. I had no reason to
fear you. She had no reason to fear him. That's how he appeared.
That's how he always appears. As an angel of light. Now, you
better listen to me, because there's going to come a time
when he's going to come and he's going to whisper in your ear,
and he's going to say, hath God surely said? God didn't really mean that.
He didn't really mean that in a day, you ate of it, you was
going to die. He didn't really mean that. You know, he didn't
really mean that. He didn't really mean he's absolutely
sovereign. He just, you know, it's kind
of a, A figurative thing. It's just a figurative thing.
He's going to whisper in your ear. And you better listen to
me. When he does, you're going to
turn around and look. And it's going to be this fellow
and you're going to be looking at him. What was it Peter said to
the Lord? I can't remember exactly what
he said. And the Lord turned to him and he said, Get thee
behind me, Satan. Huh? He was talking to Peter.
But he knew who was whispering in Peter's ear. And he saw beyond
Peter. He saw to the root of the problem. And he said, Get thee behind
me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of God.
Now, that's what I'm talking about. He's a crafty, wily creature. Now, I'm telling you. And he
came up to this woman, and ever how he appeared, I had no idea
what a serpent looked like at that time. But part of that curse
of God was that he was to crawl on his belly as a snake, and
that's what he did. And how he appeared to her, I
have no idea. Maybe he had legs. I don't know. But whatever it was, she had
no fear. She didn't see in him like we
see in a rattlesnake when we see it on the ground. You know,
you start quivering because that thing's poison, and it'll bite
you. You don't want to just walk up to one. It'll bite you. And
she didn't see him in that respect. She saw him as one that would
be pleasing to talk to. and reasonable to talk to, and
she listened to him. So here he is, he's pretending
to be a minister. He's pretending to do a good.
He's pretending to have something good to say to her. He comes
as a wolf in sheep's clothing. He comes as a shepherd, but in
reality he's just a hireling. He comes and appears as a minister
to do good, do good things for you. He always comes pretending
to do you good. He's interested in you, and he's
interested in your children. Oh, that's the biggest lollipop
of the religion of this world. They want to get your kids. If
we can get your kids, you've got the parents. So what do they
do? They build gymnasiums, and they
build basketball courts, and they get football teams, and
they offer school and weight rooms and all these things for
one reason, to get your kids and get your wife. If they can
get them too, they've got you. They got you. That's all Satan.
That's how he works. That's how he works. He always
appears, pretending to do you good. I love your children. I
want to do something for your children. I'm interested in your
marriage. I'm worried about your marriage,
so we're going to have some counselors here to instruct you in your
marriage. I'm interested in how you understand the Word of God.
Oh, back in chapter 2, verse 16 in Genesis. The Lord God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat,
it's yours. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. He said this
to Adam before he ever made Eve. He said this to the man, and
whatever she knew about this truth and about this tree, she
knew by the knowledge of her husband that was conveyed to
her. So when Satan approached Eve in the garden saying, Yea,
hath God said, he was not just putting a question mark on the
word of God, but he was putting a question mark on how her husband
understood the word of God. That's how he got the door open. That's how he got the door open. She might have been standing
there looking at the tree. We're not told. Not told the
exact situation. She may have just been standing
there thinking about the tree. Or since it was the only commandment
from her husband concerning God, maybe this is why and how the
old serpent took up the question to start with. He knew what it
was going to be. If there was going to be any
point of contention, it had to be over the street because it
was the only thing God disallowed them to have. But I know from experience what
the question was all about. And no matter how clear the instruction
is declared, it's always represented by Satan as your opinion. That's
your opinion, preacher. That ain't what God's Word says.
That's just your opinion. That's what you guys believe.
We don't believe that over here. You ever heard them say that?
My Bible. My God wouldn't do like that. Brother Barnard said, I expect
you're right, but the God of the Bible will. It doesn't matter how clear the
instruction is. It's always represented as your
opinion, your interpretation. That's not what God says. It's
what you say God says. Isn't that what they say? He gets her engaged in a debate
over the interpretation of God's Word. And what she should have
done is went and got her husband right then. Said, well, we'll
get this straightened out right now. I'll go get him. But she didn't do that. She kept
talking. And when she tried to debate
with him, then she began to give interpretations. God didn't say they couldn't
touch the tree, only that they couldn't eat it. And she adds,
she adds to the commandment. He said, Thou shalt not eat of
it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die. He didn't say anything at all
about touching it. But she adds, Thou shalt not touch it. And begin to give her interpretation
of the Word of God. And then he moves a step closer
and he said, you shall not surely die. Satan always appeals. He appeals to your reason, to
fleshly reason. He appeals to your pride. He
appeals to things like that. He doesn't appeal to the Word
of God, but appeals to our own understanding and emotions. You're
not going to die. You're just going to die in a
limited life. Now, I want you to listen to
me and apply this to the religion of our day. There's a higher
life. Huh? Ain't that what he was selling
there? God knows in the day you eat
of that thing, you're going to know good and evil, just like
he does, and you're going to be like God. There's a higher
life. There's a lot better than what
you have. There's another plane of life, higher, wiser, and better
than you have. And if you eat this fruit, you'll
be like God. You'll know which one will turn
to be like God, myself. Huh? You see how he reasons?
You'll have all the answers to all the questions. And then watch
this, verse 6. When the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, Now, a lot of the writers believe that while
Satan was talking, he plucked the fruit and ate the fruit. Fruit can't kill him. He's already
dead. Fruit can't put him in darkness.
He's already in darkness. It didn't bother him a bit. Pluck
the fruit. Eat the fruit while he's talking
to her. I kind of believe that might be so. It doesn't say.
It doesn't say that. But it says some way she saw. She saw. When the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes. It was
a pretty thing to look on. It was enticing. Listen to me. When you drive
down the road, you look at this church, and then you see the
big First Baptist Church over there, which one appeals to you?
Huh? You look at this and look at
that big National Cathedral up there in Washington, D.C., man,
you get plumb on the other side of Washington, D.C., and you
can still see it. It's huge. Which one appeals
to you? This thing's all built out of
imported marble, and we got vinyl siding. You know what I'm saying? Well, here it is. This is appeal
to her. He's appealing to her senses.
That's what religion does. It appeals to your senses. It's
going to come in and kick your feet up and have a little dance
and get a little beat going and get you whooped your dude up
and make you feel good. Fill you up like you fill up
your car when you go to the gas station. It appeals to the senses. That's what he did. This woman
was no sinner. was still perfect and unfallen,
and yet he knew what to appeal to. He appealed to those senses,
and he appealed to her emotions. She was an emotional creature,
and rightly so. And it was pleasant to the eyes,
and it was true to be desired, according to his arguments, to
make one wise. So she took of it, and she ate. Satan's ministers all testify
themselves that they're partakers of eternal life. They've experienced
regeneration. I never heard a tongues preacher talk to people about tongues
that didn't say he already experienced it himself. That's why I have
no trouble believing Satan plucked that fruit and ate that fruit. That's how he sells his doctrines. That's how he sells his falsehood. He'll take somebody that's a
confirmed drunk and he'll convert them. And they'll miraculously
stop what they're doing, straighten their life up, be a preacher,
start a church, build a church. I've known them. I've known them
personally. I ain't talking about somebody
who has an occasional beer. I'm talking about an alcoholic
drunk whose family just was wasted while this man went out and crowded
in the bars and wasted his paycheck and lost every good job he ever
had. and run up fines, and they took his license away from him,
and he was just down and out. His family and everything, all
of a sudden, pow, just like that. Just like that. Turns him around.
Dresses him up in a suit. Sends him off to seminary. He
comes back preaching. They build a little church. And
my brother told me, he said, man, you need to come to this
church. He said, I know this man. I know exactly what he was.
And I did, too. But I knew exactly what he was
afterward, too. And that's how Satan is. That's
how he is. All his ministers all have the
same confession that they've done this. He saw all these things. But now let's see the results. Satan was not after the woman.
And he was really not after the man. He desired to challenge
God for his throne. But to get to God, he had to
get to the man. To get to the man, he had to
get his wife. So it was an assault on God. And to accomplish this
warfare, he must eliminate the man. But Adam was made in the
image of God. He couldn't just come up to it.
But he did know this. Adam loved his wife, and he was
right. I don't believe outside of Christ
ever a man loved a woman the way Adam loved Eve. I know that
because there was nothing in either one of them to hate. They
were both perfect creatures fresh from the hands of God. There
was nothing in the man and nothing in the woman to not like. They
had good attitudes. There was no flaws, no character
flaws. They loved one another. They
loved one another. Oh, how he loved her. There was
nothing No flaws, no glitches. She was taken from him, a part
of him. He saw himself in her. They were
one. They were joined together of
God. Listen to this statement. Listen to the language of the
Scripture here in Genesis chapter 2 that Adam said of his bride. Adam said this. This wasn't God
saying this. This was Adam. This was his reaction
when God came and presented Eve to him. Now listen to what he
says in verse 22. And the rib which the Lord God
had taken from man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh. She shall be called woman, because
she was taken out of man. Therefore," now listen to this,
"...therefore shall a man leave his father and mother," there
wasn't even any children yet, This man had a desire in his
heart unlike anything he'd ever experienced, and he foresaw and
prophesied of God that even his children, when they come of age
and took to themselves wives and experienced this same desire,
would leave his house in a heartbeat and join themselves to their
husband. This desire was a stronger bond than anything on this earth. Nothing, nothing could come up
to this bond of love. It superseded anything that this
man had ever experienced. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
5. In the heart of Adam was created
a desire for his wife, an affection that he recognized to be stronger
than any earthly bond. Listen to this, Ephesians chapter
5. We looked at this a little bit last week. Husbands, love
your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. He left his father's house and
was joined forever in the body of a man to be one with his bride
forever. The Word was not just made flesh
and dwelt among us and was crucified and then went back to heaven
and took back up his abode in the Spirit. A man sits on the
throne of God. He took to himself bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh and came down to do so forever. Forever. He gave himself. He didn't just give of himself. It wasn't just things that he
did. He gave himself. I don't have
words to explain that. He gave himself, all of himself,
his mind, his heart. He gave himself to her. He spared not, the Scripture
said, his own life, but was delivered up for us all. And I don't know
how to convey love into words, but I do know this. Love is not
words. It's an attitude of heart. It's
an attitude of heart. Love is not explainable. It comes
by experience. You can read all the books you
want to as a kid. But boy, when your eye catches
that woman, and your heart's joined with her heart, just like
that. Spend the rest of your life,
and you can't explain it. You're going to try to tell your kids
what it's all about, but you don't know any more about it than they
do. You just experienced it. And so you try to, and it's not
the world full of books that try to explain love, and you
can't explain it. It can't be conveyed into words.
It had to be demonstrated. God didn't say it in words. He
gave it to us through the revelation of His Son. He said, this love,
He said, you don't have it. You don't have it. It's not in
you. It's not in you. Where's it at? It's in this manifestation
of My Son. That's where it's at. You want
to learn it? There it is. There it is. Love's not explainable. Love
is not learned in a sense, it's created in the heart. And it's
created, it's not learned in definition, it's created in the
heart. It's learned through revelation. And it's perceived when our eyes
are open to see our Redeemer giving himself for us on the
truth. I do know this, the believer
runs this race, walks this walk of faith, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. He's the source. He's
the object of it. In Him the heart is bound, discerning
this. I've looked at this Scripture
and looked at this Scripture. Who for the joy that was set
before Him. What joy? You can't see no joy in yourself,
can you? He did. You can't find any joy. You can't find anything in yourself
to set it home and think, boy, God must really have had a lot
of joy in me. No, you won't find it in you.
But it was there. It was there. Where was it at?
It was in his heart. In his heart. Unexplainable. Who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and sat down
at the right hand of the throne of God. In 1 Timothy 2, verse
14, the Holy Spirit of God declares to the church that Adam was not
deceived. I'm not saying that Eve didn't
tell him the story. She may have. But he wasn't deceived. I know that because the Holy
Spirit of God says it plainly in His Word. Adam was not deceived,
but the woman was in the transgression. Adam took and did eat of the
fruit, that his wife gave him because he loved her, and he
was unwilling, he was not willing, could not, would not be separated
from her. Would not. No matter what. No matter what. Now, you think
about that. I don't know how much he knew about eternity.
I don't know how much he knew about God. I don't know. It doesn't
say. But whatever he knew about God,
it was enough to fear him because right after this he went and
hid himself. But I tell you, this desire put him willing to
put himself under the curse of God. He took and did eat of the fruit
his wife gave him because he loved her. It did not lessen his sin
before God. It did not cause God to compromise
his justice. It did not make him in any way
the less accountable before God. But what it did do is picture
for all time and eternity that holy union of Christ and his
bride who left his father's house and put himself under the curse
of God willingly because he loved her. And he was not willing that
she should be separated from him. One difference between Adam
and Christ. Christ had the ability to overcome
sin and to pay for sin and to redeem us from sin and to redeem
His bride and raise her up and sit with Him at His Father's
throne. Oh, placing Himself as the transgressor. He bears the full weight of the
curse. And to the woman, in all this
judgment to the woman, comes the promise of redemption. Do
you see that in the garden? The promise of redemption. I
am not suggesting that Adam took
the fruit with some kind of a foreknowledge that God would redeem him, but
it is a beautiful picture, and I am saying that he ate this
fruit being unwilling to be separated from his bride. And think again
of the wonder of the gospel Paul preached over there in 2 Corinthians
where he said, and he was made sin for us who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He knew. You and I don't know. We just
got an inkling of it, and it makes my knees knock when I think
about it, of the awful justice and wrath of God in judgment. And yet, this man knew. He knew that justice. He knew
that vengeance. He knew that wrath. And yet,
and yet, he placed himself under. My. And folks look for motivation.
You know in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 where Paul says that down in
verse 21, I think it is where he says that, if you go back
up in that chapter, You know why he's saying those things?
Why he's talking about this reconciliation? Why he's talking about, oh God,
it's oh God who has reconciled us unto himself? And all of these
things. Not imputing our trespasses unto
us. All these things. He's given
an explanation for his declaration to those people that the love
of God constrained him. He's given an explanation for
his motivations. And he said it ain't your money.
And it ain't your big churches, and it ain't your association.
It's this love of Christ. Can you imagine how Eve felt
once he did what he did? There'd be no convincing that
woman of his love anymore. She was convinced forever. Now,
she might have been wrong on a lot of points, but she wasn't
wrong on that. She saw what he was willing to
do. He gave himself for her. And then the same thing, you
go down there and he quotes that scripture there in Ephesians
chapter 5, talking about that. But he said, I'm not talking
about man and woman. I'm not talking about marriage
and children. He said, I'm talking about Christ and his church.
And that's exactly what he's talking about over there in Genesis
chapter 3.