that special so much. If you
will, let's open our Bibles today to the book of Genesis chapter
3. Genesis chapter 3. 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, You shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? 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, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you
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. 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. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and
I hid myself. And he said, who told thee that
thou was naked? hast thou eaten of the tree,
whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? The man
said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of
the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said
unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed
above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life. And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman,
he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. And unto Adam, he said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat
of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou
eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistle
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it
was thou taken, for thus thou art, and unto thus shalt thou
return. And Adam called his wife's name
Eve because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also
and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed
them. And the Lord God said, behold,
the man has become as one of us to know good and evil. And
now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of
life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent
him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from
whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims and a flaming
sword. which turned every way to keep
the way of the tree of life. There's so many lessons for God's
people in this chapter, but I want to point three truths out to
us and then focus on one lesson in particular. First, do we ask,
how did sin come into this world? How did sin come into God's perfect
creation? Well, the answer is given to
us in the last three words of verse six, he did eat. Adam disobeyed his creator and
ate the forbidden fruit. And in Romans chapter five and
verse 12, the apostle Paul tells us, therefore, as by one man,
And this one man, of course, is Adam. By one man, sin entered
into the world and death through sin. You see, Adam was the federal
head of all men. He was a representative man.
He represented you. He represented me. And when Adam
sinned, we sinned in him. When Adam died, we died in him. We might ask this question, did
this take God by surprise? Did this take God by surprise?
He would not be all-knowing if it did. Of course it didn't take
God by surprise. In 1 Peter 1, in verse 20, we
read this concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb,
verily was foreordained before. before the foundation of the
world. In other words, before the foundation,
before God created the heavens and the earth, He had already
ordained the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Lamb slain. You say,
well, how could that, how could God hold Adam responsible then? If this was ordained of God before
the foundation of the world, How could Adam be held responsible? We'll look back into chapter
2 and verses 16 and 17, and you see that Adam was God's creature. God created Adam. And he was
responsible. Adam, a responsible being, was
responsible to obey God's revealed will. Not his secret will. Adam didn't know that. We don't
know God's secret will, but we know this, that everything that
happens in this world is ordained of God. We're not responsible
to His secret will, but yes, as men, as Adam was, so you and
I, all of us, are responsible to His revealed will, which is
the written word of God. Now his revealed will to Adam,
you see in chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. And the Lord God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat, 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. This is what God had revealed
to Adam. This was God's word to Adam.
Adam was God's creature. He was responsible unto God.
People say, well, such a little thing, just taking a piece of
fruit, a bite out of a piece of fruit, you mean that's the
way, that's the very point, my friends. That's the point. that of all the trees in the
garden, which who knows how many there were, just think of all
the fruit trees and the trees that we know of that give fruit
for men to eat. All of these trees in the garden,
he could freely eat, but there was one tree of which God, as
the sovereign creator of Adam said, thou shalt not eat. And he disobeyed God. He disobeyed
his creator. Listen to God as he speaks in
Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 10. My counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. This didn't take God by surprise
when Adam disobeyed and sinned. He already had ordained a savior
to come. You see, before there ever was
a sinner. And remember, Adam is the only
man who ever became a sinner by sinning. He's the only man. No one taught you to sin. No
one taught me to sin. That's just part of our nature.
We inherited that from our father Adam. He's the only man. And Eve, She was deceived, the
scripture tells us. She was deceived. But Adam, with
his eyes wide open, disobeyed God, his creator, his benefactor,
he to whom he owed everything, his very being he owed to God. And sure, God had a right to
obey his creature. You know, nothing we would think
is more fortuitous than the casting of dice. I'm sure you've all
played a game at some time or the other that has dice in it. You shake those dice up and throw
them out. You say, well, that's just chess. No, no. Listen to this word in
Proverbs chapter 16 in verse 23. The lot, that is the dice,
are cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of
the Lord. There's nothing, and this is
a comfort of God's children today, there's nothing that takes place
in this world outside of God's ordained purpose. He's working
all things together for good to them who love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. Here's a second
thing that I wanted to point out to us. First was, do we ask how sin
came into the world? It came in by one man disobeying
God. The second thing, do we ask,
how do men make a choice? How do men make a choice? And I mention this only in the
light of those who ask about free will. Well, look in verse
six, if you will. How did Eve make her choice? How did she make her choice?
Well, the scripture here says, and when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, first of all, she saw, she perceived
that that fruit was good. Now, how she perceived that,
I do not know. Maybe, and this is just speculation
on my part, But maybe she had seen all the animals, all the
creatures that God had created, none of them could speak. And
here is a serpent who is speaking to her. Maybe he was eating of
the fruit too. And maybe she thought, that is
good. Here's an animal now who can
speak. Now, don't put a whole lot of stock in that. That's
just my thought. Could be. But I do know this,
when she looked at that fruit, somehow she perceived in her
mind that fruit is good. And then she had a desire in
her heart. That's what the scripture here
says. It's pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make
one wise and then, then she ate of the fruit. You see, most people
have the idea that a person makes a choice, has a free will to
make a choice to receive Christ or not to receive Christ, but
they're denying the fact that, first of all, choice is made
by perceiving, by understanding. She understood, and then there
is a desire. And then there is the action,
the will, acting. Does a tale of a dog wag the
dog or does the dog wag the tail? That's obvious, isn't it? The
dog wags the tail. And here's a lost man, dead in
trespasses and sins, His mind is darkened. His heart, he's
in love with himself. How is he going to make a choice
apart from the sovereign, free grace of God? He's not. He's not. Man, just as water
will always run downhill, man will always choose that which
is evil apart from the grace of God. This is what our Lord
said in John chapter three. And this is the judgment that
light is coming to the world. He is the light. Light is coming
to the world. Well, it looks like everyone
would run to him. It looks like everyone would
go to him. It looks like everyone would
choose him. Light is coming to the world.
And men love darkness rather than light. For their works were evil. Every
one that doeth evil hateth light, and cometh not to the light,
lest his deeds be reproved. And in spite of the Scripture,
in spite of the fact the Word of God tells us explicitly that
men and women who are born again are not born of blood, not born
of the flesh, but are not born of the will of man, but are born
of God. Now that's what the Word of God
says. I believe it. I know it's so. It's not true
because I believe it. It's true because God said it. Scripture says in John chapter
1, verses 12 and 13, He came unto His own, and His own received
Him not, but to as many as received Him. To them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even to them which believe on His
name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The third thing I would point
out is this. Do we ask, how does God reconcile
sinners to himself? And I sure hope we do. I know
I have. And I hope everyone in this building,
either you have or you will today, you will ask this all important
question. How does a holy God reconcile
sinful men and women to himself. And if you look down in verse
15, verse 21, we see a shadow of this. We see a shadow of this
in these words. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. Reconciliation. You see, salvation
is something that the Lord does for sinners. It's not something
you do for God. It's something He does for you.
Adam didn't make, Adam didn't sacrifice these animals and make
coats. Eve didn't have a part in it.
The Lord God did it. That's what the scripture says.
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God, the Lord God,
Jehovah, God made coats of skins and clothed them. And that tells
us, as the apostle in 2 Corinthians 5 and 18 says, but all things
are of God who, God, hath reconciled us to himself through Christ. Men are not reconciled unto God
through our good works. Men are not reconciled unto God
through baptism. Men are not reconciled unto God
through church membership. Men are reconciled unto God through
Christ and only through Christ. In other words, through the Lord
Jesus Christ, His person and His work, what He accomplished
when He came into this world. When He was hanging on that tree
and recognizing that all scripture concerning Him had been fulfilled,
He said, It is finished. And yes, he said it with a loud
voice. Why? Because, you see, he had
power to lay down his life and to take it again. And he laid
it down. He bowed his head and dismissed
his spirit. He had accomplished the work
that the Father gave him to do. These animals were sacrificed. Again, the apostle says, for
our Passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ. He gave himself
a sacrifice. The Lord God clothes believers
with the coat of his righteousness, just as he clothed Adam and Eve
with the coats that he provided. So through the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, he clothes every believer. with His perfect righteousness. Listen to the words of the hymn
writer. Ye who find yourselves polluted, fill your hearts a
sink of sin. Ye shall have by God imputed
righteousness white and clean. Tis the garment wove by everlasting
love. Tis Jehovah's own providing better
wisdom can't devise. From his eye forever hiding sins
of every name and size, he that wears it is by God exalted high. Adam, when the tempter foiled
him, his bright robes were quickly gone. But this righteousness
of Jesus once applied tis always on, tis their title to the mansion
love ordained. Now I want to focus in on one
thing in particular, and that's found in verse one. 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? You shall not eat of
every tree of the garden. And I want to give us three things
about Satan. First, Satan is a real enemy. Satan is a real enemy. You say, well, who is Satan?
Well, Satan is a fallen spiritual being. He's a fallen spiritual
being. That means he doesn't have a
body, material body, just like the angels, the good angels,
the elect angels, those that didn't fall, the holy angels.
So Satan is a fallen spiritual being. He is an angel that did
not keep, but lost his first estate. You see, his first estate,
as God created Satan and all the angels, they were pure. But through pride, there are
scriptures which seems to teach us that it was through pride,
and I know this is so, it was through pride that Satan fell. An angel, a pure angel, he fell. His desire was to be like the
Most High God. In other words, he wanted to
be exalted and be worshipped like God Almighty. Through pride,
he fell. And not only him, but we know
and we believe a large number, some say a third of the host
of heaven, the angels of heaven, they fell with him. I believe that verse 1, that
second word, thee, if we would put that, and it is allowed,
now that serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field.
In other words, that particular serpent who was possessed and
used by Satan. in this occasion was more subtle
than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. It was
by using this serpent in this temptation that Satan himself
has been given the name of serpent. He is called that old dragon,
the serpent. In 2 Corinthians 11, in verse
3, Paul said, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness. Now, it wasn't the animal that
beguiled Eve, it was Satan who was somehow using the body of
this serpent. That serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field. The Lord Jesus tells us that
he was a murderer from the beginning. Now this is the beginning. Genesis,
that's what Genesis means, the beginning. Here in the beginning,
only two individuals on the face of God's earth. He was a murderer
from the beginning and standeth not in the truth because there's
no truth in him. Here we are at the very beginning,
and by his temptation, he became the murderer of Adam and Eve
and all their posterity. In other words, all men. The
apostle Paul tells us, the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Don't make jokes about the devil. That's another one of his names.
There was a comedian back several years ago who, I guess that was
one of his standard lines, the devil made me do it. And people
laughed and people thought that was very funny. But I'm telling
you this morning, my friends, that Satan is a real enemy. He is a real enemy to the people
of God. If you're one of God's children,
And he's not alone. Now, remember this, Satan is
not, I'm not present. The scripture says the whole
world life in the wicked one. In other words, the whole world,
apart from those who are delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ out
of that kingdom of darkness are under the sway and control of
Satan and his host. The second point I want to make
is Satan is a defeated enemy. He's a real enemy, but we want
to point out, emphasize, he is a defeated enemy. If you look
down here in chapter 3 to verse 15, when the Lord is speaking
to the devil, to Satan, he said, and I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it, the
seed of the woman, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel. Now the seed of the woman, all
of us here in this building are the seed of our father, our fathers
rather, all of us. There's only been one man on
the face of God's earth after Adam and Eve, who is the
seed of the woman. We all know how reproduction
takes place, more or less. The man is the one who plants
the seed, not the woman. And so when God told him the
seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's in this world, holy,
harmless, and remember it says separate from sinners. the Lord
Jesus Christ. In other words, he was separate
because he did not receive his humanity through the seed of
the man, which was a fallen man. But he is the seed of the woman,
the virgin. God, the Holy Spirit, came upon
her. And that which was conceived
in her, that holy thing which was conceived in her, The angel
told Mary, shall be called the son of God. The seed of the woman
shall bruise thy head. In Hebrews chapter two and verse
14, the apostle tells us for as much then as the children,
the Lord Jesus has a seed. Did you realize that? He has
a seed. His seed are those that the Father
gave unto Him, His children. One of His titles is the Everlasting
Father. He has a seed. And the Apostle
here in Hebrews, the second chapter, is telling us for as much Then
as the children, that is His seed, His children, for as much
as you and I are partakers of flesh and blood, He also, the
eternal Son of God, He also, Himself likewise, took part of
the same. He was made flesh, the scripture
says. He became a man, the God-man,
yes. Now listen, that through death,
through His death, through the death of this one who is the
seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, that through death He
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. It was at the cross he was defeated. He was defeated there. The Lord
Jesus Christ crushed or bruised his head. Now, he bruised our
Lord's heel, that is his body. He suffered physically, we know
that. And it is because he is a defeated enemy. He's a real enemy. He's a defeated
enemy, and it is because he is a defeated enemy that the Apostle
James and the Apostle Peter, both writing to believers, to
God's children, tell us these very important things. James
tells us, resist the devil. How am I going to resist the
devil? You said he's a mighty being and he is. How are we going
to resist the devil? And yet we're told to resist
the devil and he will flee from you. He will run from you, child of
God. Resist him and he will run from
you. Why? Because he is a defeated
enemy. And he knows it. He knows it. And the apostle Peter tells us,
be sober. He's not talking about, you know,
there's people can be intoxicated by alcohol and they can be intoxicated
by other things as well. Many people are not, they wouldn't
dare touch alcohol, but they're intoxicated by this world. They're drunk. They're drunk. No, believers are called to be
sober. Our life is a sober life, my
friends. Be vigilant. That word means
be on the alert. Be vigilant. Why? Because your adversary, the devil,
has a roaring line. When we lived in Mexico, we lived
about 10 blocks from the zoo. I'm not sure of the number, but
you won't believe this. In Mexico, which is considered
the noisiest country in the world, if you've ever been there for
long, you'll agree with that. You've got all kinds of vendors
on the streets and church bells clanging and it's a noisy place,
but listen. We could hear that lion roaring
at our house, that far from the zoo. One old writer said, I like
a roaring lion much better than a sleeping lion. I do too. Let him roar. That'll just help
us to be more vigilant, right? To be more watchful. Let him
roar on. He walks about seeking whom he
may devour. whom resist steadfast in the
faith. Our Lord told Simon Peter, Peter,
Satan hath desired to have thee, that he might sift thee like
wheat, but I have prayed for thee. He was sifted, but we are
to resist him steadfast in the faith. How do we resist the devil? It's by faith. resist him steadfast
in the faith. That is, in looking to Christ.
And remember this, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. And this brings me to my last
point. Third, Satan is a subtle enemy. He's a real enemy, he's a defeated
enemy, but he is a subtle enemy. He is very crafty. And listen,
as he began with Eve, This is the way he most often attacks
God's children. He doesn't come right out and
say, that book, that book is not the word of God. He's not
going to do that. But what he's going to do, he's
going to insinuate, can you believe all of that book? He's going
to call God's word into question. Remember the psalmist said, if
the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The
foundation of our faith, it's not upon feelings. Martin Luther
got it right years ago when he said, feelings come and feelings
go and feelings are deceiving. The foundation of my faith is
not upon my feelings. The foundation of our faith is
the word of God. God's Word. Yea, God has said. That's all we need. The Lord
has said. Now creation tells us that there
is a God, but it is this written Word that reveals to us the truth
about God. And that's the thing that Satan
most often attacks. He tries to get us to doubt and
to question the Word of God. You say that God is sovereign.
How can that be true? You say that God rules over all
things, and we live in a world where we see such devastation
and meanness and all kinds of evil. Why do we believe it? We believe that God is sovereign,
that He works all things after the counsel of His own will because
this is what God says. Not based on what we see. what
we might think, but upon what God has revealed to us. You believe in God's electing
love. How can that be fair? That God
chose some and didn't choose others. How can that be fair? You see, he insinuates. Yea,
hath God said? Yes, God has said He has chosen
His people from before the foundation of the world. We believe it because
He said it. His attempts are to raise doubts
in the minds of the children of God concerning what the Lord
hath spoken. You believe in God's distinguishing,
sovereign love? How can that be consistent with
John 3.16? My friends, take the Bible, take
the Bible, get you a concordance if you don't have one, and just
look up the word world. W-O-R-L-D and look at the verses
as that word is in the Gospel of John and see how many different
ways the word world is used. Take a little time to study God's
Word. You'd be surprised how many men
over the years have have told me, well, I believe in John 3,
16. I do too. I do too. But I know that God's love is
eternal. It's everlasting. People say, well, God loves everybody.
Does he? Does he love those he puts in
hell? Does he? That's a strange kind of love.
God's love is sovereign. He's sovereign. Let me just close. I know I've
taken too long. But we did have a special. Let me remind us of this about
his word. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. all Scripture, and it's profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness. And Paul wrote to Timothy saying,
you from a child have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able
to make thee wise unto salvation through Jesus Christ. Through faith, which is in Christ
Jesus. Do you know in Psalm 138 in verse
2, we are told that God has exalted his word above his name? What a precious, precious treasure
we have. And Satan will do everything
he can to get you to question and disbelieve the word of God. I pray the Lord would bless this
word. I had a good story to tell, but
I'm not going to tell it. I'm going to wait. I'm going
to save that for another time. Number 255.