Turn to hymn number four as you take your seats
Take your seats, please and turn to hymn number four. We'll begin with the way of the cross leads home hymn number four
Once you find your place we'll start on that first verse I must needs go home by the way of the cross hymn number four
Number four sing it out. I must needs go home
the way of the cross
I
oh
the way of the cross leads home
It is sweet to know as I onward go
the way of the cross leads home
And I ask for the variance to open this up in the word of prayer.
Thank you for this church and I pray that you please bless all aspects of this service and pastor Anderson as he preaches your word. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Amen. Hymn number 114 is next. The great physician, hymn number 114.
The great physician now is the only sympathizing Jesus. Number 114 on this verse. Long together now.
Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.
He has come and spared us all.
He has gave us more of time.
He has spared us all.
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
Your many sins are all forgiven.
Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.
Go on your way in peace to heaven.
And wear a crown with Jesus.
Sing his note in seraphs song.
Sing his name on mortal tongue.
Sing his carol ever sung.
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
All glory to the dying man.
I now believe in Jesus.
I love the blessed Savior's name.
I love the name of Jesus.
Sing his note in seraphs song.
Sing his name on mortal tongue.
Sing his carol ever sung.
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
And when to that white world of love
We rise to be with Jesus.
We'll sing around the throne of love
His name, the name of Jesus.
Sing his note in seraphs song.
Sing his name on mortal tongue.
Sing his carol ever sung.
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
All glory to the dying man.
Sing his carol ever sung.
Jesus, blessed Jesus.
All glory to the dying man.
This night is our monthly spanish night.
And that's at 7 o'clock pm right here.
Now please sign up if you are planning to attend the camping trip on Mt. Graham.
Please note that the church will not be providing meals at the campsite.
This is not gonna be a communal meal thing.
So you are gonna be responsible to bring
your own food for that on the church camping trip.
and if you're not signed up yet and you're planning on going
be sure to sign up.
so that you'll be included in that.
And then other upcoming events are listed down there below.
Of course, Mexico Monday has been pushed back a week
because tomorrow is Labor Day.
So that's about it for announcements.
One of the thing to mention is this,
there are several people that are out with COVID.
And so just be cautious about that, wash your hands,
be careful, but just full disclosure,
there are about two or three families
that are out with COVID right now.
So with that being said,
let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right, you should find Psalm 15
in your hymnal there.
If you don't have one, you can raise your hand.
Psalm 15.
One, two, three.
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh up rightly and worketh righteousness
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that walketh up rightly and worketh righteousness
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that that fighteth not with his tongue
nor doeth evil to his neighbor
nor taketh up a retouch against his neighbor.
He that that fighteth not with his son
in whose eyes the vile person is content
but he honoreth them that fear the Lord.
In whose eyes the vile person is content
but he honoreth them that fear the Lord.
He that swear into his honor and change and thought
he that put his thought out his body to use reek
he that swear into his honor and change and thought
he that put his thought out his body to use reek
nor taketh reward against the innocent
he that doeth these things shall never be blurred
nor taketh reward against the innocent
he that doeth these things shall never be blue
for who shall abide in thine tabernacle
who shall dwell in thine holy hymn.
Amen, excellent singing.
Your hymnals now turn to hymn number 259.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, hymn number 259.
We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, number 259.
We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves
spread the tidings all around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves
spread the news to every land, find the saints
that brush the waves, mark where it is the Lord's command.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, walk it on the rolling tide.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, comes to save us far and wide.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, see the islands of the sea
and go back the ocean caves, heard shall be, heard to believe.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, sing above the battle shrine.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, find his death an endless life
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, sing it softly through the plume
and the heart for mercy prays, sing it dry up for the tomb.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, in the winds a mighty voice.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, let the nations now rejoice
Jesus saves, Jesus saves, shout salvation full and free
high as hills and deep as cave, this our song of victory
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Amen, good singing.
All right, it's time to pass off our plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles
to Genesis chapter number three.
As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter,
beginning in verse number one.
Genesis three, follow along silently with brother Raymond.
Genesis chapter three and verse one, the Bible reads,
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 hath said, Ye shall not eat 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 ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open
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 open,
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?
And 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 dust 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,
and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee,
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
And the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread
till thou return unto the ground,
for out of it wast thou taken,
and thus thou art, and unto dust 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 clothe them.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become
as one of us, to know good and evil,
and now, lest he put forth his hand,
and take also 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.
Brother Fredell, will you pray for us?
Father in heaven, thank you for Sunday morning service.
Father, please let us be receptive to Pastor Anderson's sermon.
We love you, Father, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Genesis chapter 3 where we just read is of course
the famous passage about Eve being tempted
by the serpent in the garden of Eden.
The Bible starts out there in verse number 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?
Now, let's back up to chapter 2 and actually get
this command from God in chapter 2 verse 16.
The Bible reads, The Lord God is the man
of the field, 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.
Then the serpent comes along in chapter 3 verse 1
and he questions whether God really said that.
Yea, hath God said.
The first thing that I want to point out about the serpent
is that the Bible says that he is more subtle
than any beast of the field.
What does it mean to be subtle?
It means to be cunning, to be intelligent,
maybe crafty, but it could be either a good or a bad thing
because it just has to do with being smart
and knowing how to do things.
Now, keep your finger here and go to Proverbs chapter number 1.
Proverbs chapter number 1, we're going to compare
with Genesis chapter number 3 because it's interesting
that in Genesis chapter 3 verse 1, the serpent
is the most subtle of all the beasts of the field,
but then if we were to jump down to verse 14 in Genesis 3,
the Bible says 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.
So in verse number 1, it starts out telling us
he's the most subtle of all the beasts of the field.
He's the cunningest, the smartest, the craftiest,
but in the end he ends up being the most cursed
of all the beasts of the field.
Look at Proverbs chapter number 1 where it uses
this exact same word, subtle.
It starts out in verse 1, the Proverbs of Solomon,
the son of David, king of Israel,
to know wisdom and instruction,
to perceive the words of understanding,
to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice,
and judgment, and equity.
Of course, these are all good things.
And then it says to give subtlety, right?
Same thing we saw in Genesis.
To give subtlety to the simple,
to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear and will increase learning
and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.
And jump down of course to verse number 7,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
And the thing I want to point out is that
great knowledge, great intellect,
being smart or cunning is a good thing,
but it must be combined with the fear of the Lord.
If you don't have goodness to go with it,
it's meaningless, it's nothing.
It doesn't matter how smart you are,
the smarter you are, the worse it can end for you
if you're wicked, if you don't have goodness,
if you don't have the fear of the Lord.
Because the serpent was the most subtle,
but he ends up being the most cursed.
Why? Because he did not obey the Lord,
did not fear the Lord, did not respect the Lord.
So knowledge is good, but obedience to God is better.
So it says in verse number 1,
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.
So he starts out by trying to get man to question the word of God.
Did God really say that?
And people will do the same thing today
when you quote them the Bible, they'll say like,
well yeah, but how do you know that God really said that?
Or is that really what God said?
And they try to get you to question scripture.
And what I'm going to be preaching about this morning
is I'm going to be showing you that the temptations here
that the devil uses and the downfall of Eve and Adam
are the same type of things that we deal with today,
every day, every week.
These are constantly the patterns that go on in our own lives.
The devil back then wanted people to question God
God's word.
Obviously he still got that same plan today
to get people to question God's word and say,
Yea hath God said?
Did God really say that?
Ye should 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 to the woman, Ye shall not surely die.
Now this is in direct contradiction to what God said,
because if you go back to verse number 17 of chapter 2,
at the end of 2.17 it says,
In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
And then in chapter 3, this is just the direct lie,
Ye shall not surely lie.
So the devil starts out just by questioning God's word,
but then he takes it up a notch and just flat out denies the word of God
and just says, You will not surely die,
even though God said you would.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as God's, knowing good and evil.
Now I want to apply this to our lives.
You know, if we know the word of God well,
this is one way that we can avoid temptations in our lives and avoid sin,
because the Bible says, Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against thee.
So God's word in our heart can help keep us from sin.
And I want to show you here that actually Eve is very inaccurate here
in what God actually said.
And in fact, I'm going to show you several aspects of what she says
where the devil is more accurate than she is.
Like the devil actually quotes what God said much more accurately
than what she does in several different areas.
So let's look at this very carefully.
She says, 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,
So the first thing I want to point out about what she says is,
she says the tree that's prohibited is the one in the midst of the garden.
Everybody see that?
She says, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it.
There's no mention of not touching it in God's command in chapter 2.
Lest ye die, nothing about surely dying, just lest ye die.
And watch what the serpent says.
The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.
So he brings back the surely from God's actual command where God said,
In the day ye eat thereof ye shall surely die.
He brings back the surely that she left out.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
he brings back the in the day ye eat thereof from chapter 2 that she left out.
Then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as God's,
knowing good and evil.
He brings back the fact that it's actually about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
So in three different ways here, he is more accurate about what God said.
You know, it's a shame that he knows the Bible better than Eve who ends up falling into sin
and isn't it interesting how she is just taking a very loose quotation of what God actually said.
Now whether that's because she got a loose quotation from Adam,
or whether she has turned it into this more loose interpretation where she's forgotten some of the details
and mixed up some of the details.
Because back up to verse number nine of chapter two, look at verse number nine of chapter two.
Let's see which tree is in the midst of the garden.
It says, and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.
The tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
So the tree that's actually specifically mentioned as being in the midst of the garden
is the tree of life that's actually in the dead center there.
Okay, so she doesn't really get it as accurate even as Satan does.
So one of the points I'd like to draw from this is that if we're going to keep God's word,
if we're going to follow God's word, if we're going to resist the temptation,
thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee,
we need to know God's word and we need to actually know what the commands are,
understand them, know what they mean and be accurate about what they say.
This is why I'm not preaching out of the message this morning.
It's why I'm not preaching out of the living Bible.
It's why I'm not preaching out of a paraphrase up here.
You know, I'm preaching out of an actual translation of the Bible
because man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Does man live?
I want to make sure that we actually have a translation of the Bible,
not a paraphrase or just kind of a loose idea because you know Eve's got the loose idea down.
You know, there's a certain tree we're not supposed to eat.
But of course she leaves out several details that the devil is careful to actually quote all those details
and actually be more accurate.
But in the midst of all of his accurate-ness about God's command and he mixes in a lot of truth,
there's that one glaring lie, ye shall not surely die.
But notice how this lie, ye shall not surely die, is surrounded by all these true statements.
You know, in the day you eat thereof, you're going to be as God's knowing good and evil.
That's actually true because we find out later in the chapter that's true.
Jump down to the end of chapter 3 and look what God says in verse 22.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us to know good and evil.
So notice, just as Satan said you'll be as God's knowing good and evil, what does the Lord say?
Well the man has become like unto one of us to know good and evil.
Now the us there, of course, God is the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
That's why he said in chapter 1, let us make man in our image after our likeness.
Here he says 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 and so forth.
So we see that the devil surrounds the blatant, bold-faced lie, you shall not surely die,
which directly contradicts what God says.
We know that God always tells the truth.
We know that the devil's a liar from the beginning.
So the ye shall not surely die is the lie, but it's surrounded by a lot of true statements,
even correcting her on some of her inaccuracies and showing how accurate he can be with God's word,
but hiding in it the lie, the thing that directly contradicts what God said.
Notice he's very subtle, isn't he?
And it's not like the devil is getting senile as he gets older.
He's just as smart today in 2021 as he was in the Garden of Eden.
He's probably even smarter because he's had thousands and thousands of years to get smarter
and so he knows how to mix the truth with the lie and to deny God's word.
First get you to question God's word, confuse you a little bit, get you a little turned around,
put doubts in your mind, and then once he's planted that seed of doubt,
then he can come at you with the bold-faced lie and that's what he does here.
This is the solution. How do we defend against this?
We need to know the word of God. We need to actually know what God said,
that in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die.
I mean, we need to know what the scripture says.
She didn't really have a lot of scripture to memorize here, okay?
She had one job.
Now we've got the whole Bible.
You know, we're responsible for a lot more.
I'm not saying you're going to memorize the whole Bible,
but you know what? We need to memorize key portions of the Bible
and at least know where to find things in the Bible,
constantly be reading the Bible, understand the subject matter of the Bible,
so that when the devil comes at us with his cunning craftiness,
whereby he lies in wait to deceive us, we will be ready.
You know, the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4,
that's why we have church, that's why we have pastors,
that's why we have teachers, so that we will not be any more children
tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine
and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
So according to Ephesians chapter 4,
if we get the right doctrine and the right teaching,
we're going to be less susceptible.
We're not going to be like a little kid that you can just fool with anything.
And here Eve is like a child here and she is susceptible to this deceit.
We don't want to be like that.
We want to know the word of God and not fall for all the wiles of the devil.
Look at verse number 6.
When Eve 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 up the fruit thereof and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
And what I want to point out here is that the threefold temptation
is the same type of temptation that we're going to deal with on a daily basis.
Now you don't have to turn there, but in 1 John chapter 2
is the famous passage that says,
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,
for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof,
but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
But notice the threefold temptation,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.
See if you can identify it here in this verse, number 6.
The woman saw that the tree was good for food, right?
Good for food means you want that taste, right?
You want to bite into that and enjoy that.
That is the lust of the flesh, right?
Gratifying the flesh, biting into that good tasting object
is the lust of the flesh.
It's good for food.
And then what's the second temptation?
That it was pleasant to the eyes.
There's your lust of the eyes, right?
So you've got the lust of the flesh wanting to bite into it.
You've got the lust of the eyes.
It looks good.
And a tree to be desired to make one wise.
That is the pride of life.
Why? Because the idea of being wise,
this is not a good kind of wisdom.
This is the devil saying,
well you're going to be like gods, knowing good and evil.
Adam and Eve are in a certain position where God has put them.
He's put them in the garden.
This is where they belong.
They have a job.
They have responsibilities.
They're supposed to dress the garden and keep it.
And so they are there to take care of the garden.
And Adam gets to do intellectual labor
because all the animals are being brought to him
and he's naming the animals.
So it's not like he's just doing only grunt work
and just doing something that's brainless.
No, he gets to think and have intelligence
and he's naming the animals
because he's in charge of the plants.
He's in charge of the animals.
He has dominion over the entire natural world, right?
Because when God created him,
he said have dominion over the earth.
Have dominion over the animals and the plants
and over every creepy thing.
So he has his domain.
He has his kingdom.
He has his job.
He has his responsibilities.
He's got his companion.
He's got everything he needs.
I mean, he's over the whole earth.
He's over the whole natural world.
There's no animal that's above him in the hierarchy.
He's at the top.
But it's not enough because, ooh, if you eat this fruit,
then you can be as gods.
You know, you can actually go to an even higher level.
That is pride.
Because remember, Lucifer was lifted up with pride
in Isaiah 14 and what did he say?
I will be like the most high.
And isn't that exactly what we see here?
Oh, you shall be as gods.
You're going to be like the most high if you do this.
So that is pride because obviously it was pride
that lifted up the devil to want to be like God
and today we have the exact same three temptations
all around us.
If you think about the sins that we're tempted with
every week, they're going to boil down to
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life at the end of the day.
I mean, you name the sin and you can pretty much see
how it stems from those three categories.
You know, you say, well, what about stealing?
Well, if you think about it,
if somebody is stealing something,
then they might be stealing something
to gratify their flesh with.
Let's say they're stealing some luxury food item
or something or they could be stealing money
to go spend it on things to gratify their flesh with
or they could be spending it on things
to gratify the sight of their eyes to look at things
or if they're stealing,
it could be because of the pride of life
because they want to maybe steal expensive clothing
so that they can be on another level socially
because they wear the fancy clothes
or drive the fancy car.
I guarantee you that there are all kinds
of career criminals and thieves
and what are they driving today?
The Cadillac Escalade with the spinners
and the system and the...
Now, here's the thing.
I'm sure that that Cadillac Escalade is comfortable.
I'm sure it's a comfortable ride.
I'm sure it's ergonomic.
But you know, the biggest reason why people drive cars
like that is to impress other people.
Let's just face it.
Because we all know that a Hyundai
is going to do the same thing.
A Hyundai is pretty much going to do anything
that any of these other cars are doing.
It's going to be comfortable.
It's going to get you to point A to point B.
What do you need, these fancy cars?
What do you need, the Mercedes?
And I'm not criticizing you
if you own these vehicles, okay?
I'm just saying like, you know,
why do people lust after these things?
You know, if you can afford this type of car
and that's what you like, then fine.
Enjoy your car.
I'm not trying to get on your case about that.
But I'm saying if you have to steal
and cheat to get there
then it is a sin.
But why?
Why would people just be dying to drive the Lexus
and they're just dying to drive
the $100,000 automobile?
Mainly it's the pride of life.
Mainly it's to impress other people.
They drive down the road
and they look so cool.
This is the pride of life, okay?
And that's just one sin, stealing.
But we could go through a whole bunch of other sins
and we could boil them down to the same thing.
Any sins, in fact, you could see how they could stem
from all three of these.
Any of these three.
And so the same way that the devil tempted Eve
in the Garden of Eden
is the same way he's gonna tempt us now.
You know, trying to get us to indulge the flesh
in some inordinate desire,
whether it's fornication or adultery,
whether it's gluttony, whether it's drunkenness,
whether it's taking drugs or whatever,
it's some kind of an indulgence of the flesh
or the indulgence of the sight of the eyes
or something to stroke our ego
and allow us to be filled with pride
and think that we're so cool.
Also, another aspect of pride
that we see in this passage is basically
trying to be on a level where you don't belong,
trying to usurp authority.
So this could be a child who's trying to usurp
the authority of their parents.
They don't want to obey their parents.
They won't listen to them and be under their authority.
You know, Jesus Christ, the creator
of the universe when he was 12 years old,
submitted unto his parents in Luke chapter two.
I think you can submit to your parents.
Well, I'm smarter than them.
First of all, no, you're not.
And I don't even care who you are.
But number two, even if you were,
you think Jesus was smarter than Joseph and Mary?
Because I do.
But yeah, what did he do?
He submitted himself unto them.
In Luke chapter number two,
he submitted unto them.
He was in his proper role, his proper place.
This could be a child wanting to usurp authority
over their parents.
A wife trying to usurp the authority in the family
and wear the pants in the family.
Instead of the husband being the boss,
she tries to take over and run the home
and be the boss in the household.
That is also the same thing.
It's pride wanting to take over that position right there.
Or it could be an employee that's prideful
and doesn't submit unto the manager
or the boss at work or the owner of the company.
Uh, we could go down the list
of all the various relationships that we have
and all of us have a life
where we fit into certain positions in our life.
You know, whether you're an employee
or a company owner or a student
or a teacher, pastor,
you're a child, a parent,
you're a brother, sister, aunt, uncle.
You know, we all have all these different positions
that we fit into
and we need to act appropriately
to where God has put us in life
or where we are in life right now
and not try to go beyond
and try to usurp other levels of authority.
As women, don't try to be men.
Men don't try to be women.
Okay? Uh, you know,
children don't try to be adults.
Be who you are.
And by the way, old people don't try to be a kid.
You know, it's like, really?
You know, skinny jeans?
At your age?
Grow up!
But you see these old dudes
and they get all super trendy
and they're in the skinny jeans
and they're having a midlife crisis, right?
And so then they gotta go out
and get all these souped up vehicles
to show how cool they are and everything.
It's like, just be who you are.
Don't get out of your place.
Be in your proper place.
You know, the Bible says
that as a bird that wanders from his nest,
so is a man that goes from his place.
We need to be in our proper roles in life.
Whatever role God has,
you know, whether it's a pastor
or a deacon or a layman in the church,
whether it's a husband, wife,
business owner, employee,
whatever it is, be who you are.
Husband, wife, don't flip those roles.
Don't reverse those things.
Be in your proper place.
And here Adam and Eve are in their proper place
and the devil comes along and says,
hey, you need to be in a higher rank.
You need something else.
What God has provided for you,
what God has intended for you,
is not enough.
You can actually be like him
and he's trying to hold you back
from having a good time.
And don't you think young people today
could have, man, I could have so much fun
if church wasn't holding me back,
if God wasn't holding me back,
if the Christian lifestyle and its rules
weren't holding me back,
if my parents weren't holding me back,
you know, I could just cut loose and do what I want.
And this is what the devil's trying to say.
God's holding you back.
He doesn't want you to reach your full potential
because he feels threatened by you.
Now of course this is absurd
because once man eats of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil
does man in a sense become like God
knowing good and evil?
Does he even come close to rivaling God
when it comes to his knowledge,
his wisdom, his understanding,
or his power?
Man is a joke compared to God
even after eating the fruit
of the knowledge of good and evil.
I mean here we are.
We in a sense have eaten of that tree
of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
We've done it because, you know,
we did it in Adam.
And so one man sin entered into the world
and death by sin and so death passed
upon all men for that all have sinned.
We are the sons of Adam
and we also know good and evil.
You say, well, are you sure?
Well, what happened when they ate of the tree?
Oh, so cool, man.
Their eyes were opened to a whole
other dimension, man.
Here, take this drug.
And look, isn't this how they get
young people to take drugs too?
Oh, man, it's going to open your mind.
You know, it's like the establishment
doesn't want you to take drugs
because they want to keep you
like chained down in your mind.
You know, they don't want you
to step out of the matrix
and know what's really going on, man.
You know, if you smoke this,
you're going to be red-pilled, man.
That's what people say, right?
It's going to open up your third eye
when you take these drugs.
Now, look, every single night
I go to bed, I have all kinds
of wild and crazy dreams.
That's as close to being on drugs
as I ever need to be.
You know what I'm saying?
I go to bed at night.
I have all these wild and crazy dreams.
But you know what?
When I wake up, I know that they're not real
and I go on and I live my life
and I'm fine.
Okay, whereas people who are taking drugs,
they go out at night when we're in our dreams,
except they think it's real
and they go out and do stupid things,
say stupid things, and they fry their brain,
they damage all kinds of parts of their brain.
But the devil appeals to that.
You're going to be like, gods, man,
if you smoke this.
If you take these drugs,
you're going to be like a god.
I guarantee you that that mentality
is out there among drug users.
You know it is.
You're going to be as gods knowing good and evil
if you take this drug.
This is an awesome revelation
and now they see the universe as it really is.
You know, it says in verse number seven,
and the eyes of them both were opened.
But look at the result.
And they knew that they were naked.
Oh wow, so cool.
That's cool.
They knew that they were naked
and they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons.
What an awesome revelation.
You know, they eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now all of a sudden they realize,
oh stink, I'm naked.
I need to get some clothes on.
It's not really that cool
because the devil,
he mixes in a lot of truth
but at the end of the day,
he doesn't really deliver
on what he says he's going to deliver.
You know, here he is, the most subtle,
the most wise, the most intelligent
and he comes along
and he offers you
to have some higher level of knowledge
but then when you get it,
you realize it's meaningless.
Oh wow, now you know you're naked.
And this is how I know
that we're in the same boat
because we all know we're naked too
which is why we're all ashamed of being naked
while everyone here is clothed this morning.
Every single person
is not a naked person in the house.
And the reason why everybody is clothed this morning
is because we're in the same boat
with the knowledge of good and evil
and we don't come anywhere near
to rivaling God.
I mean, I would not say,
oh, I'm as a god.
I am as god.
I would never say that because that's so stupid
because as far as the heavens are above the earth,
that's how far God's thoughts are above our thoughts
even after we ate of the tree.
And so the devil,
while technically telling the truth about
well, you're going to be as gods,
you know, he's misleading
because he's really making it out
cooler than it really is.
And so they know that they're naked,
they sew fig leaves together
and make themselves aprons.
Verse 8, 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
among the trees of the garden.
And the Lord God called unto Adam
and said unto him,
Where art thou?
And he said, I heard that voice in the garden
and I was afraid because I was naked
and I hid myself.
And so he's like, God's.
And what is he?
He's cowering naked in the bushes.
He has such awesome power before God
that he's cowering nude in the bushes
scared trying to cover up his private parts.
Wow, so cool.
But this is how sin is my friend.
Sin promises you everything
but it always takes something away from you.
For everything it gives you,
it takes more than it gives
and it takes you down a dark path
and at the end of the day,
you're not gonna be glad and say,
you know, I sinned against God
and I faced the punishment
but it was worth it.
You're not gonna say that my friend.
It's not worth it.
It isn't worth it.
And so he's cowering
scared naked in the bushes
when the devil just finished telling him
how he's gonna rival God now.
You know, God doesn't want the competition
of you being like him.
And he said in verse 11,
who told thee that thou was naked?
Has thou eaten of the tree
whereof I commanded that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said,
the woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree and I did eat.
And of course, there's always an excuse
when we sin.
Whenever we sin, we can always point at someone else
and blame them and say it's their fault.
You know, let's go back to stealing.
I guarantee you virtually every single person
in this room,
every single person who steals
blames other people and justifies themself.
You know, who's ever had your bike stolen before?
Yeah, like half the building.
And here's the thing.
When that person who steals your bike,
you know what they probably tell themself?
Like, yeah, but you know, I grew up poor
and I don't have the privilege.
I don't have the advantages
and this guy could just go out
and buy another bike, but I can't
because I don't have the money
because I'm poor.
Right?
I guarantee that's the type of junk
that's going through someone's mind
when they steal your bike.
About all the reasons why they deserve your bike
and we've all heard people justify
their sins to us and blame someone else
and so of course, he's blaming someone else
and justifying it and ultimately,
who is he really blaming?
He really ultimately blames God
because he doesn't just say like,
well, the woman, the woman gave it to me.
It's like, well, the woman that you gave
to be with me.
You gave me?
You gave me this woman
and she gave it to me and I ate.
So ultimately, he's blaming God.
The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me the tree and I did eat.
Verse 13, and the Lord God said unto the woman,
what is this thou hast done?
And the woman said,
the serpent beguiled me and I did eat.
So the devil made me do it.
So, you know, he blames her,
she blames the serpent
and then the buck stops with the serpent.
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 dust shalt thou eat
all the days of thy life.
So first, he confronts the man
in his sin and then he confronts
the woman about her sin
and then he confronts the serpent
about his sin and then he punishes
the serpent, then he punishes
the woman and then he punishes the man.
So it's kind of like a descending order,
you know, where it goes,
man, woman, serpent, serpent, woman, man, right?
And so it says here,
I will put enmity,
this is the punishment for the serpent
in verse 15, besides him crawling
on the ground and eating dust.
And I'll put enmity between thee
and the woman and between thy seed
and her seed and the woman
and between thy seed and her seed,
it shall bruise thy head
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Now this is, of course,
a very significant verse
because this is the first inference
in the Bible of the gospel
of Jesus Christ,
as far as actually there being
some kind of a plan of salvation
or redemption.
Now this shouldn't surprise us
because in chapters one and two
there's no sin.
So in chapter three the first sin
takes place.
What do we have?
God right away immediately
has a plan to fix it.
He has a plan to redeem
fallen mankind immediately.
Before he even gives the punishment
to the woman and the man,
he's already talking about their
redemption even when he talks to the serpent
because he says, I'll 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.
We know that Jesus Christ
is the seed of the woman.
He's called the seed of the woman.
The Bible says in Galatians 4
that Jesus Christ was made
of a woman.
He was the seed of the woman.
He's made of a woman
and Jesus Christ is the,
that's why he's called the son of man
because he is human.
Jesus Christ was born of Mary
and he's human and he's of her seed.
You know, recently a complete idiot
and false prophet got up
and preached to his congregation
and said, well you know,
Eve had nothing to do
with that body of baby Jesus
growing in her womb.
You know, basically God just placed
the whole baby there
and you know, he said, you know,
that, you know, Jesus is the bread
came down from heaven
and Mary is just the oven.
Mary is just the oven.
You know, I missed that verse
when I was reading John chapter 6
where he said, you know,
I'm the bread of life
that came down from heaven
and Mary was the oven.
This is garbage because of the fact
that the Bible explicitly tells us
that Jesus is the seed,
the seed of the woman.
He's made of the woman.
What does that mean,
made of a woman?
Made from a woman
because his physical body
came partially from that woman.
That's why he's the seed of David,
seed of the woman.
You see, people might think,
oh, that's because Joseph
is descended from David.
Oh no, because Joseph is not
Jesus' biological father.
He knew her not until she had
brought forth her firstborn son
and called his name Jesus.
Jesus is the biological,
son of Mary.
Hello, is anybody home?
I mean, that's like Christianity 101
that Jesus is the biological
son of Mary.
He is the seed of the woman.
He's made of the woman.
Jesus is born of Mary biologically.
That's why the Bible says,
that's why it says Joseph
and his mother, in Luke 2 33,
Joseph and his mother
marveled at the things
that he did.
You know, why?
Because that's his actual mother.
That's his actual mom,
biologically, whereas Joseph
is like a step-parent.
So it'll sometimes refer to them
both as the parents of Jesus,
but it doesn't call Joseph
the father of Jesus.
It calls her the mother of Jesus.
He is the son of David,
not on Joseph's side,
but the genealogy of Mary
is given in Luke chapter 3
of David.
And so Jesus is the son of David
through Mary.
He is human because
he's the son of Mary
and he is God because
he's the son of God.
So he's the son of God
and he's the son of man, right?
Folks, there's a reason why God
is called God the father.
You know why God's called God
the father?
Because Jesus is the son of God, okay?
Now, we also believe that
he is God the city as well
because there's one God,
but that God eternally exists
as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
And so we've got the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Ghost is God.
And it's one God.
This is called the Trinity.
Okay, so to say that Mary
didn't actually provide the egg
or that Mary did not actually
provide any, you know,
it's basically denying that
Jesus is the son of man.
And it's basically denying
that he's the seed of the woman.
It's denying that he's the seed of David
and it makes Genesis 3.15 of no effect.
If God just fashions
this body out of nowhere
like he made Adam from scratch,
if he just made Jesus from scratch
and then just implanted him
into Mary,
that's not a fulfillment of this.
No, it's the seed of the woman.
It's the actual seed of the woman.
So we know who the seed of the woman is.
The seed of the woman being referred to
is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now what about the seed of the serpent?
Well, the Bible talks about
in the parable of the tares among the wheat,
he talks about how there's
the wheat growing and the tares
have been sown by the wicked one.
And the Bible says the tares
are the children of the wicked one.
Right?
And in the end times,
the children of the wicked one
are going to be gathered together
and they're going to be burned
and destroyed and so forth.
So the Bible talks about people
who are not just unsaved
but people who actually become
a reprobate.
The Bible calls them sons of the devil.
Sons of Belial.
Certain men in the Old Testament
will be referred to as
children of Belial.
Sons of Belial.
And so these sons of the devil
are going to be at enmity
with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Right?
And we're in Christ.
So that's why there's an enmity
between God's people and reprobates.
Now we're not at strife
or at hatred with all unsaved people
because unsaved people are not our enemies.
You know, we love them.
We want to reach them with the gospel.
But there are certain haters of God
that are just at enmity with us
no matter what we say or do.
They're going to be at enmity with us
because there's that enmity
between the seed of the woman
and between the seed of the serpent.
The seed of the woman specifically
referring to Jesus prophetically.
Now you could also take another
interpretation of this that is
another layer of meaning because
the Bible is very deep.
There are a lot of meanings here.
You could just say that basically
that the devil and his children
are also just enemies of humanity
and Jesus is the seed of the woman.
You could also just take the seed of the woman
as just human beings in general, right?
Whoever the woman gives birth to
is also the seed of the woman.
That could be Cain, Abel, Seth, Noah,
you know, and the whole human race.
You know, the devil is our enemy
as Christians.
But even if we're not Christians,
the devil would still be our enemy.
People out there that are unsaved,
I don't care if they're agnostic,
Buddhist, Hindu, the devil's their enemy.
They might think the devil's their friend.
The devil is their enemy.
The devil hates them.
The devil's out to destroy them too
and so he doesn't love them.
There's an enmity between Satan
and humanity and there's an enmity
between Satan and Jesus, right?
And because Jesus is the seed
of the woman.
It shall bruise thy head.
So the seed of the woman is going
to bruise the serpent's head
and thou shalt bruise his heel
so the serpent is going to
bruise Jesus's heel.
Now, what would you rather have
bruised or crushed or harmed?
Your head or your heel?
You know, Jesus basically,
you know, stomps the serpent
and in the process,
he hurts his foot a little bit.
You know, you could think of it
that way, okay?
Because obviously, did Satan
harm Jesus?
Obviously, you know, Jesus in his life,
he went through physical damage
and suffering and temptations,
some of which were brought on
by the devil.
And of course, you know,
Jesus crucified by whom?
The sons of the devil.
Because Jesus looked at those Pharisees
and said, you are of your father,
the devil.
You do the works of your father
and that's who crucified Jesus.
So in that sense, yeah, okay,
that's a harm that comes to Jesus,
the bruising of his heel,
but that's minor compared to
the fact that Jesus completely
crushes, dominates, destroys,
and wipes out the serpent.
And of course, there's a famous
hymn that's based on Genesis 3.15,
which is the song,
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, right?
You know, we sing that around Christmas time,
Hark the Herald Angels Sing,
and it says,
Rise the woman's conquering seed, right?
Rise the woman's conquering seed,
Bruise in us the serpent's head, right?
So, you know, you see this coming through
in hymns and sermons and preaching,
where they would point to this
as the first reference to the Messiah that's coming.
You know, Jesus Christ is coming,
the Savior is going to come
and bruise the serpent's head.
And also, you know, the Bible says
of Christians in the New Testament that
the Lord will, uh, uh,
I might quote this wrong,
but the Lord's going to, you know,
crush Satan under your feet shortly
or something along those lines.
It says at the end of one of Paul's epistles.
Uh, look at verse 16.
So he deals with that punishment for the serpent,
and in the punishment for the serpent,
he also alludes to the plan of salvation that's coming.
Under the woman, he said, in verse 16,
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception.
In sorrow thou shall bring forth children,
and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee.
So before this, she's already going to conceive.
He already told them initially in chapter one,
be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth,
but now he's multiplying the conception.
And this makes sense because if they need to,
if they need to replenish the earth,
well think about it.
If people aren't dying,
if there's no sin and people aren't dying,
you know, you're not going to need
to multiply as much as if there's
a constant loss of humans,
not just by dying,
physically, but also by murdering one another
and destroying one another.
And of course, very shortly in a few chapters,
there's going to be extreme violence on the earth
and a lot of people are going to be murdered.
But it says here that he's going to multiply
the sorrow and the conception,
so women are going to have more sadness,
they're going to have more sorrow,
they're going to conceive more children,
and in sorrow they're going to bring forth children
because giving birth is going to be painful
and also just other aspects of childbearing
and child rearing are going to be painful
and uncomfortable and sorrowful and so forth.
And then it says,
and thy desire shall be to thy husband
and he shall rule over thee,
which implies that before this,
that there wasn't really a power structure
necessarily between the husband and wife
where Adam's the boss and Eve has to obey him,
but now that is the case.
You know, now the husband rules over the wife
and of course this is taught all throughout scripture,
this is very strongly emphasized in the New Testament
that the husband is the head of the wife
as Christ is the head of the church
and wives are to be obedient
under their own husbands and everything.
And you say, why bring that up?
You know, the reason I bring that up
is because we're living in a day
where people don't believe that anymore
and where our society is constantly
teaching you the opposite.
So you could probably stand to come to church
every once in a while and hear it right
so that you don't get this feminist mentality
that the world's teaching
and that you understand that in a home
that's what the Bible teaches,
I make no apology for that.
Thy desire shall be to thy husband
and he shall rule over thee and unto Adam,
he said, because thou is hearkened
unto the voice of thy wife and is 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.
So just like Eve now is gonna have a life of sorrow
and Adam is gonna have a life of sorrow as well
because they're both going to spend a life of suffering.
Thorns also and thistles shall I bring forth to thee
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field
and the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread
till thou return unto the ground
for out of it was thou taken for dost thou art
and unto dust shalt thou return.
Now this seems like kind of a grim future for mankind, right?
Women are just gonna be giving birth
and it's gonna hurt and it's gonna be sad
and it's gonna be a drag
and men are gonna be out toiling and sweating
and they're gonna be sad and miserable and depressed
and you know what?
There are a lot of people obviously
that feel that way about their life
but I submit to you that not only did
the Lord provide redemption, salvation and eternal life
already in his mind in Genesis 3.15,
he's thinking about that.
He's already alluding to that.
He's already planning that.
He's not gonna be there but also I believe
that the Lord also can give us a life
that is not characterized by sorrow and gloom and sadness
because the fruit of the Spirit is joy.
Now obviously I'm not saying that we're not gonna go through sorrow in our life.
The Bible said that Jesus who of course was more filled with the Spirit
than any of us will ever be,
that Jesus was a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief.
So I'm not saying we're not gonna go through trials
and temptations and sorrows and sadness
but I will say this, that the Christian life is a joyful, happy life
and I guarantee you that it is much more joyful
than the world out there lived by the unsaved.
Period.
I have no doubt about that
because if we study the Bible, there's so many Scriptures
in the New Testament, first of all,
that tell us that the fruit of the Spirit is joy
but the Bible says in the book of 1 Peter
that we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
It might be 2 Peter.
But joy unspeakable and full of glory.
I mean we have so much joy, Peter says,
I can't even express with words the joy that I have.
Now it's interesting how Buddhism teaches that all of life is suffering.
Anybody who's studied Buddhism at all
knows that this is one of Buddhism's key teachings
is that all of life is suffering
and of course, you know, there are four different types of suffering
that he identifies and he talks about how
even when things, one of the sufferings,
I'm not going to go on some big lecture about Buddhism
because this is a Christian church, amen,
but I will say this, you know,
when he's identifying these different types of suffering,
one of the types of suffering that he identifies
is actually biblical.
He identifies one type of suffering where he says,
you know, even if things are just going perfect for you
and you're just experiencing the greatest moment of your life,
it's still sorrow.
Because he said, you know, it's going to be over.
You know, it's transient.
You know, it's going to end.
And you know, the Bible says,
of course, that everything's going to come to an end
as well in our lives.
And the Bible also says that, you know,
even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful, right?
And so, you know, Buddha is looking at everything
and, you know, you say, why bring up Buddha?
Well, you know, because he's got hundreds of millions of followers
right?
I mean, hundreds of millions of people.
It's one of the top five religions in the world.
It's not that big necessarily in the United States,
but where is it big?
Where is it big?
It's big in places like China.
It's big in places like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, right?
It's huge in these places in Southeast Asia and China.
So it's significant.
Why do so many people think this way?
Why are hundreds of millions of people following this teaching
that says, oh, all of life is suffering,
it's all suffering, it's all bad,
and even when it's good, it's still bad.
Right?
That's what they believe.
And so what's their goal?
Because they believe in reincarnation, don't they?
You know what their goal is?
Their goal is to break free of the cycle of death and rebirth
They want to basically die and never come back.
That's their goal.
And Buddha's most famous quote is,
I will never be born again.
Now, isn't that a nice little play on words?
That's what he said.
Supposedly, right after he was born,
you know, as a newborn baby, if you believe that.
That's his most famous quote.
I'll never be born again.
You know, he said, I will never be born again.
I'll never be born again.
That's his most famous quote.
I'll never be born again.
That's his most famous quote.
I'll never be born again.
You know, when he died, and by the way, he died.
He's dead.
They worship his body parts.
They split up his body part like that concubine in Judges
and sent it all over the place.
And they go to these different stupas.
That's what they're called.
Yes, that's what they're called.
And they go to a stupa and they bow down and worship
a dead body part of Buddha.
Thankfully, we serve a risen Savior.
We don't go to the tomb of Jesus unless we just want to look at an empty tomb.
Because Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
Jesus Christ is risen.
But Buddha's dead.
But imagine, if you will, hundreds of millions of people who are so miserable
and so depressed and they hate life so much that they just want to die and never come back.
That's not that great of a goal.
Because all of life is suffering, so the worst thing we could do is live another lifetime.
We all just want to die.
And don't you dare say that I don't understand Buddhism, because I do.
And that is what Buddhism teaches.
You can put some sprinkles on the turd if you want.
What I just expressed to you is accurate.
What I expressed to you is accurate, my friend.
You can lie about it all you want and polish the turd, but it's a turd.
Okay?
That is what Buddhism teaches.
The Bible says all they that hate me love death.
What does that mean when it says all they that hate me love death?
You know what it means?
It means that people who hate God live such miserable lives that they would embrace death.
Because they hate life so much because their life is so miserable.
But I'll tell you this, part of the reason why I think Buddhism has never caught on in
the United States or in any other civilized part of the world is because of the fact that,
you know, we're probably, a lot of us, just enjoying life too much for this to appeal to us.
But these people, you know, it's just, oh man, it's so depressing, life is so hard,
it's just suffering, I just want it to end.
But you know, we as Christians, we don't feel that way.
Why?
Because we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
So to me, the thought of eternal life sounds pretty good.
Who's with me? Who wants eternal life? Yeah.
And so Jesus Christ comes along and promises eternal life.
Now today, I'm going to go off on a little tangent here, that's okay, it's alright.
I'm almost done. It's almost over. I got through most of the chapter here.
Think about this, you know, there are people out there that are into transhumanism
where they want to physically extend their lives forever.
You know, through technology, they're going to turn off the aging gene
or, you know, take their brain out and put it in a young body or whatever they want to do.
And somehow achieve eternal life or freeze their head and put it on ice
and then, you know, it's going to be reanimated 500 years from now or something.
You know, they have all these ways to find eternal life, but here's the thing,
Jesus Christ doesn't just give us eternal life because here's the thing,
if you just lived on this earth forever after 100 years, 300 years, 500 years, 800 years, 1000 years,
without Jesus Christ, you'd probably be pretty sick of it and you'd probably join Buddhism or something
and say, how do I get out of here?
But see, Jesus Christ doesn't just give eternal life.
He said, I'm come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
Jesus Christ not only gives eternal life, but he also gives joy, unspeakable and full of glory.
Now it's true that as Christians we do sometimes get sad and depressed
and you know what, I guarantee you that probably a lot of people in this room
have even been at a point where they were so down that they maybe even wish to die.
You know, and if you've ever felt that way where you wished you were dead,
you're not alone because so did Elijah, so did Job, so did, uh, uh, what's that other guy?
Jonah. There we go. That's the one I was thinking of. Yeah. Jonah. Yeah.
Moses. I mean, you could go, you know, you're naming like every Bible character,
but honestly, you know, the ones who specifically even said like, take my life, God.
I didn't want to live anymore. You know, some of the greatest men in the Bible.
So I'm not saying you're going to, you're not going to feel that way because we're human.
But let me tell you something though, when you're walking in the spirit though,
man, there's a lot of joy. There's a lot of joy on Monday.
There's a lot of joy on Tuesday. There's a lot of joy on Wednesday.
You know, we have a lot of joy in our lives as Christians.
And here's the thing, when we get to heaven and we don't have the sinful flash
and we don't have all the junk and the temptations of this world,
I guarantee you we're going to love it up there.
You know, and the Bible says that the sufferings of this life are not even worthy
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.
It's going to be great in heaven.
There's going to be joy, unspeakable, inexpressible.
It's going to be amazing.
And so not only does God provide the solution to our sin
as far as salvation from hell and a home in heaven,
salvation from death, eternal life, but not only do we have eternal life,
but we actually will, we'll actually enjoy the eternal life.
Like we'll want to keep going a thousand years from now,
10,000 years from now, we'll want to keep going.
Whereas the guy whose head is frozen and gets reanimated,
there's no guarantee that he's going to like the world that he wakes up in,
you know, with his head sewn on some other body and then, you know,
it might not be as cool as he thinks.
You see what I'm saying?
So eternal life through Jesus Christ, yes, but not only that, also joy.
He gives joy.
The joy of the Lord is your strength, the Bible says.
And joy is a whole sermon in and of itself,
because there's so much joy in the Christian life.
He says in verse 20,
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 clothe them?
This is of course the second reference to the Gospel,
when an animal is killed.
You know, this is not a plant-based textile.
They make leaves of fig, fig leaf aprons,
that's a plant-based textile which pictures their works.
You know, plant products in the Bible picture works,
whether it's linen or other plants that are used,
or like canes, fruits and vegetables, that's the works.
He makes them coats of skins,
which is an animal dying and being skinned,
and the blood being shed.
That's a picture of putting on the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, the lamb is slain,
and then we are clothed in his righteousness.
So that's the second reference to the Gospel.
And of course in verses 22 through 24,
man is kicked out of the garden,
he has no more access to the tree of life,
but we know of course that we can have access
to the tree of life, can't we?
How do we get access to the tree of life?
You're not going to go in there by force,
you're not going to break in,
you're not going to be like a Raiders of the Lost Ark,
you're going to go find the Garden of Eden
and hunt it down and fight the cherry bims or something.
The way to receive eternal life is simply by believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
If you believe on Jesus, you have everlasting life,
not only you have everlasting life,
you have the joy to go with it so that you'll want
to go the distance of everlasting life.
And it's all through Jesus,
you'll be someday back to Eden in the new heaven
and new earth of Revelation 21 and 22.
You'll be back to Eden, back to eternal life,
back to paradise, being saved, having joy.
You can be freed from the sorrows of this world
and Buddha cannot do it for you, my friend.
Only Jesus can free you from the sorrows of this world
and instead of a promise of,
you get to die and never come back,
you actually get to live eternally in heaven.
And so believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
regains Eden for us.
Those of us that are saved, we're already there.
You know, we can enjoy a little taste of it now,
but it'll be at its full fruition
when we go to be with the Lord someday.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this great passage, Lord.
Lord, I pray that you would just help us
to study your word and know your word, Lord,
and also to be doers of the word
so that we could avoid the temptations of Satan, Lord.
He's going to come at us with the same thing.
He's going to come at us with the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, Lord.
Help us not to be deceived by his cunning craftiness.
And Lord, thank you for salvation through Jesus
and it's in his name we pray, amen.
Amen, let's take our song books
and turn to hymn number 303.
My faith looks up to thee, hymn number 303.
My faith looks up to thee,
thou lamb of Calvary, hymn number 303
on this first verse altogether now.
My faith looks up to thee,
thou lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine,
thou lamb of Calvary,
I