The Temptation and Fall

Good morning. Wow, now I can see the back row. No more naps. Good to see Laverne here this morning. And I got it raised her up and brought her back home. We're so glad to have you here. Please, this week pray for Maureen Diller. Maureen is Dale Emerson. It's Kay Emerson's mother, Dale's mother-in-law. She's 91 years old and she fell yesterday and broke her elbow on one side and her shoulder on the other. So you can imagine what kind of difficulty she's having. So please remember her in prayer. She's so full of life. And this is quite a setback. So please be praying for that family. I want you to turn with me to Genesis chapter three. And while you're turning there, listen to these words. This is the end of chapter one.

God says after the creation of all things, placing man in the garden and the completion of his creation. He says the word says God saw all that he had made and behold. It was very good. And then listen to these words from Genesis chapter six, just five chapters later. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. What caused the dramatic cataclysmic change that took place? The center of God's activity in this universe, the Bible says, is this earth. It's not the physical center of the universe, but it is certainly the center of his interest in activity.

It is the place where he sent his son. And as we read about this earth and the condition of the earth at the time of creation, we see this dramatic change that takes place between the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter six. Some dramatic changes and the story of that change. The answer to that question is found in Genesis chapter three where we have the temptation and fall of man. Let's read the first three verses of Genesis chapter three. Listen to this account. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, indeed, has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden. The woman said to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die.

The serpent said to the woman, you surely will not die. For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate. And she gave also to her husband with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loin covering. This simple story, this simple account explains why the earth and humanity is in the condition that they are in today. The reason that we see the condition of mankind as it's described in Genesis 6, the entire race is corrupted.

And in fact, the description area is that we cannot do anything but think evil, day and night. Let's look at this account and see what's going on here. First of all, notice the Timter who's described for us here in the first part of the first verse. It's the serpent. Now, the serpent is Satan's hand-picked instrument. It is the God ordained instrument that Satan is going to use in the temptation. The serpent comes to the woman because he is, notice he is crafty. Now, crafty is in the Hebrews and ambiguous terms. In other words, it can be something very good or something very bad. It can mean, in the positive sense, practical wisdom, somebody who's very practical and they can solve problems. They can help you.

It is amazing the popularity of some of these people in the media now that give counsel to people on the media, Dr. Phil and Dr. Laura. If you listen to them a little bit, you discover that they have some good practical sense, don't they? They have good common sense. That's the idea of crafty in the positive sense. Somebody who can help you solve problems. But in the negative sense, it is used of someone who is shrewd or crafty or tricky. And in this case, we see that what this serpent is is a spin doctor. He simply presents to the woman the facts as he wants her to hear them. He colors everything by his question. There is a play on words here that we don't want to miss. And that is in verse 25 of the second chapter, rather the chapter ends with these words.

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. The Hebrew word for naked is arom. The Hebrew word for crafty is arom. And there's obviously a play on words. They were naked and not ashamed and the serpent was more crafty. It's as though he were saying they were both nude and not ashamed and the serpent was shrewd. He is going to trick them. The other thing is that this section ends with the word naked, a different variation of it. Actually a different word will explain the difference in a moment. But it begins and ends this way. This is what's called an inclusio in literature. In other words, when you have a little pointer like this that begins and ends the section, it tells you that this is a unit.

He's giving us a information here that begins with the fact that they are naked and not ashamed. And it ends with the fact that they were naked and very ashamed. And we'll see how that shame came about. Notice this process. And following in the following verses Adam and Eve are going to seek to become shrewd that they're going to end up being stripped of everything. Naked and impoverished, stripped of that which God had blessed them so richly with. And then notice the temptation itself. Very simple and yet quite profound. He questions God's word. Something that you ought to notice here, if you don't get anything else out of this, please get this. That this is the approach of Satan. He simply questions God's word.

And that's what he does with the woman in the garden. He comes to her and he questions God's word. He says, depending on the translation that you have, if you have a new American standard of reads, indeed, has God said? Or if you have an NIV, it translates it this way. Did God really say? The idea, there are a couple of little particles there in that sentence, that simply communicate the idea of skepticism. He's being skeptical about what God had commanded them. He wants to produce an effect in the mind of the woman. What is his goal? His goal is doubt. And this is always the goal of Satan when he comes against God's people. Now, you may say, well, Satan never comes against me. Oh, yes, he does.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you go through what Paul calls the evil day. You go through those periods of time in which Satan comes against you. And he tempts you. But we're also told in Scripture that you never know it's him that he practices what's called wiles. He has methodias. He has ways of coming against us in which we don't even recognize him. He's the one who dresses himself up who presents himself as an angel of light. Yet he comes to question the word of God. And notice this process. This is really important. We see this repeated over and over again in the word of God. This is the process of temptation, especially when it is Satan coming against us. In James 1, we have a description of the temptation that arises from in our hearts because of our fallenness, our simpleness.

But here we have a description of the temptation of a woman who is unfallen, a man who is unfallen. There in a state of perfection, righteousness. And yet the temper comes. And notice his method. And you will discover as you keep your eyes open that this is exactly the method that Satan uses when he comes against you as well. His goal is this. The process that he is seeking to accomplish is to take you from obedience to disobedience. John says in his first epistle that the commandments of God, because we are born again, the commandments of God are not burdensome. They're not heavy. They're not overbearing. When we are loving God, we don't have a problem with his commandments. Now, how is Satan going to take a person from obedience to disobedience?

From obedience to rebellion against his authority. How is Satan going to accomplish this in the lives of people? Well, notice this. And we have to understand this. That obedience is a manifestation of faith. And disobedience is a manifestation of unbelief. And so he must take us from faith, from trust in God and God's character, God's provision, that he is the one who knows what is good. And he has provided what is good. And he always will provide what is good. Even the midst of our trials, the Apostle Paul says, for God causes all things to work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose, those who love God and are called according to his purpose. I think about that. This means that regardless of what I go through, God is up to good in my life.

He is accomplishing something good. We trust him and we entrust ourselves to him. And so even in the most difficult times in life, when we have faith, when we are exercising faith, we keep entrusting ourselves to God in the midst of those trials. Satan wants to take us to the state of unbelief, to simply distrusting God. This is what happened to Eve. She no longer trusted God, that God knew what was good. How does he do this? It's quite simple. And this is what you ought to keep in mind. What he does is this. He simply implants doubt in your heart concerning the word of God. He simply implants doubt in your heart concerning the word of God. Some aspect of the word of God. God's word that comes to you in your situation in which you say, that just can't be good.

Someone was talking to me this past week about two Christians who were thinking, who are planning on getting a divorce. There's no biblical basis for their divorce. It's just that their marriage hasn't worked out. They're both church attenders. One goes to one church, the other goes to a different church. Both evangelical churches. Large churches are kind of hidden in these churches. But they decided to get a divorce and hear what reasoning. We ask God to heal our marriage and God just decided he wasn't going to do it. And so we've decided that God wants us to get a divorce. What's happened? What has happened in their minds and hearts? They're not trusting the word of God. They don't believe the word of God.

You see, this is always the attack. We like to think that our temptations are based on something other than unbelief, but they're not. It's always a faith issue. Can I trust God? Can I trust His commandments? Can I trust His Word? The issue here centers on this. Indeed, has God said, you know, it's true in your life, you probably, there are many of us here today are struggling with different things. And it's over this very issue. It's over the issue of, has God really said, has God really said? That's all Satan wants to do is simply to fill your heart with a little bit of doubt. Is this really consistent with the character of God? What the Bible says here? What the word of God says here? Is this really consistent with the God that I know?

Maybe it would be better to ask the question, is this consistent with the God that I have created? In my mind? In my reasoning? The test of our parents here in the garden was a test on the veracity and truthfulness of the Word of God. And as we look at what unfolds here, what we can see is the same test was put to the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll look at that in a minute. The Jesus Christ experienced the same test when Satan came against him. The word of God. What is Satan's motive here when he asked this question? Has God indeed, has God really said this? Is it because he wants to discover what God really said? Well, obviously not. He asked this question because he wants to produce doubt in the heart of Eve.

He wants to seduce her. This enemy of God is seducing this woman. Indeed, has God said? That's what God did say back in chapter 2 verse 16. The Lord, God commanded the man saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely. Have at it any tree in the garden you may eat freely. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. He has total freedom except for one thing. One exception. One restriction. Help yourself to everything else. In our day, one of the great attacks on Christianity has come from the philosophy that's called atheistic existentialism. And some of these philosophers have stressed as a part of their basic thesis that we must have absolute freedom as human beings.

If we don't have absolute freedom and autonomy, then we are not fully human. We cannot be all that we were meant to be. Jean Paul Sartre said, Unless man has autonomy, he does not really have freedom. What's autonomy? Autos self, namas law. Self-law. We must be able to be a law unto ourselves. To be accountable to no one but ourselves. To possess freedom in the absolute sense, if we're going to be free. You see, that's freedom in the eyes of the atheistic existentialist light, the serpent in the garden. Exactly the suggestion that he makes. There's so much subtlety here, too, in his words. Notice how he says it. As God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden. You see the implication?

He might as well have said, you can eat of none, if he has said that you can't eat of one. If he restricts you at all, then you're not free. Planned parenthood is selling a, not a Christmas card, a holiday card. You know what the title of one of the cards is? Choice on Earth. What does that mean? That means the battle cry is absolute freedom. Are we are not free? Question authority. If you want to be free, you must be free from all restraints. That's what Satan says. If there's any restrictions, if there are any restrictions on your will, then how can you be truly free? And so Satan says, as God said, that you cannot eat of any of the trees in the garden. Then you're not free. If he says you can't eat of this one tree, then you're not truly free.

All your parents know this argument, because you've said yes to your children 50 times in a row. Can I do this? Yes. Can I go to so-and-so's house? Yes. Can I go get an ice cream? Yes. Can I stay out at 10 o'clock? After 50 times of yes, you say no. Once in the house at nine. I can't do anything. You won't let me do anything. Isn't that how it is? Isn't that how we are? It is though the serpent has implanted in the brains of every single child his philosophy of life. If you won't let me do this, then I am not free. Another side of the woman corrects the man in verses two and three. The woman said to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees in the garden, we may eat. But from the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from it.

And then she adds this, which God did not say according to chapter two, or even touch it, or you will die. But then notice the serpent's response. In verse four, the serpent said to the woman, you surely will not die. For God, and now he gives you the motive of God, he opposes God openly, and then he says, this is God's motive. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil. You shall not die. He just throws away his subtleties now. He is just a direct opposition to the Word of God. Open and direct attack on the Word of God, like we see all around us today, even in the Church of Jesus Christ. And notice the progress in relation to the Word of God.

She is in a state of faith. She believes what God has said. And then he produces doubt in her heart, until she comes to a state of unbelief, and then she disobeyes disobedience. And notice God said, you will die. Satan said, you shall not die. You shall not die. What is he doing? He's contradicting the Word of God, isn't he? He's contradicting the Word of God. Now there's a great lesson for us here. This is the first contradiction in sacred scripture, and it's given to us in the context so that we can understand what God says about contradiction and the law of non-contradiction. The Church has been invaded in the 20th century by those. It's kind of an irrational approach to religion that says, it's okay for religious faith to have contradictions.

There are a lot of Christians like this. Do you believe this? Yes, then do you believe the opposite? Yes. That contradicts. How can you believe this and believe this? Those two things are contradictions. That's faith. That's not faith. That's ignorance. That's unbelief. That's irrationality. This creature comes, the power of Satan, and gives you a contradiction. In fact, there are those who say, who have said in church history, especially in the 19th century, the 20th century rather, the early 20th century, that the essence of faith is the ability to live with contradictions. Karl Bart, who was a believer, and I believe a serious follower of Jesus Christ, but who was reacting against liberal theology.

His theology that he proposed to the church is what has been come to be called neo-Orthodoxy. You have to understand in the context of his life he was fighting against rank liberalism. But they didn't come far enough. And what Bart said was that the mark of mature Christian is that he can live comfortably with contradictions in his faith. He can believe contradictory truths equally. In fact, Emil Bruner, who was also a neo-Orthodox theologian, said the contradiction is the hallmark of truth. Oh, that sounds so intellectual. Contradiction is the hallmark of truth. Now, you have to give them credit. They are reacting against a cold, abstract, rational type of religious practice, believing doctrine in simply in a mental, rational kind of way, but having no effect upon the heart at all.

They're reacting against that. A rationalistic form of religion. But the pendulum swung too far. And it's affected us ever since. Contradiction is a hallmark of divine truth. Well, let's test that in this context. Contradiction is the hallmark of the truth. Well, notice this. God said to her, you eat this tree, this fruit, and you will die. Satan comes in a serpent and says, if you eat the tree, you will not die. What does Eve say? What is she to say? That's a contradiction. Now, if contradiction is the mark of truth, then she must say the serpent is coming with truth. That both these things are true. This contradiction is a hallmark of truth. It's a hallmark of faith. Satan must be coming from God.

This must be the word of God coming out of the mouth of the serpent. How irrational. That's not the way Eve thought. Eve knew she was acting in disobedience to God. Her heart was filled with doubt and unbelief, and she disobeyed. Can you see that if contradiction is the hallmark of truth and Eve cannot be condemned for her act? She was acting in a rational, faithful way if contradiction is the hallmark of truth. The fact is that contradiction is not the hallmark of truth. The Bible teaches that Jesus was sinless, the impeccability of Christ, that Christ never sinned, even though he came in the likeness of sinful flesh, as Paul puts it in Romans 8, he was without sin, because he was without sin, because he passed the test and stood in our place and died for our sins, then his death for us has the value that God had placed upon him.

There are those today who say that Jesus did experience sin. There are those in evangelical circles who say this. There have been books published on it. Jesus was not impeccable. The Bible's perspective is that contradiction is the hallmark of the lie. How can you tell when you're presented with a lie? Does it line up with truth? Is it consistent with truth? The Word of God. How can you ever discern the difference between the truth and falsehood? How could you discern the difference between godliness and ungodliness? If sin is the hallmark of truth or Christ and antichrist. We must have confidence in the workability of the test of non-contradiction. That's one of the reasons we can come to understand truth is because we come to the Bible and we believe it's the Word of God.

It speaks truth. Now, it's true. It's sometimes it's hard to understand. The Apostle Peter said that the epistles of Paul are hard to understand. But they're divine truth. And we seek to understand them. And we believe that truth is not contradictory. That the Bible pieces that man is saved by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone and there is no other way of salvation. We're taught in the Bible that man cannot come to God on his own. But only as God regenerates the heart. That's the teaching of the Bible. It can't be both ways. And so we bow to the Word of God. Now notice the sin. This is what it led her to in verse 6. The sin. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise.

She took from its fruit and ate. She gave also to her husband with her and he ate. A little last few months, the last month and a half or so, I guess. We went through a little series on the gospel and how to share the gospel. The name of the series is called Two Ways to Live. It's a presentation of the Christian gospel in a way that's very easy to understand and very easy to communicate. But it is profound in its implications. And the first two parts of this gospel presentation is this. That first of all, the first basic truth of the teaching of the Bible is that God is the loving ruler of the world. He is the king. He created it. He created it for his glory and he made the world. He rules over it.

He has rights to rule over it because he created it. And secondly, that he made us rulers of the world under him. That we are vice regents. God created man to rule over his creation. The second step in this, and this is easily affirmed through the word of God in many different ways. Revelation 4.11 is one. The God has created everything to his glory. And he created man to rule over the earth. But then we see in this account in Genesis chapter three. In the person of our parents, our ultimate parents, Adam and Eve, that they reject God's rule over their life. That is the essence of this temptation in fall. This has nothing to do with sexual sin in this verse. The apple is not sex. The apple doesn't, it wasn't even an apple for one thing.

We're not told it was an apple. It was a fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The fact was an act of throwing off the rule, the rightful rule and authority of God over our lives. And what we discover is that we all reject God as our ruler by trying to run life our own way without him. What is the essence of sin? There are those who believe that when you witness to people that one of the most effective ways to go through the Ten Commandments and pass upon the heart of the person that you're a law breaker. I don't think that's the most effective. I think it is an approach that you can use at many times. But I think what needs to go right to the heart of a person is they need to come to understand the nature of sin.

It's not the fact that they stole pencils from the office. That's not why God's sending them to hell. The reason a person is in danger of hell is because we refuse to submit to the authority of God who created us for himself. That's the issue. That is the heart of sin. Sometimes it's high-handed sin. It says, I don't care what you say, God, I'm going to do things my own way. Sometimes it's much more subtle. You can tell some people, the Bible teaches that if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ that you are an enemy of God and they say, I'm not an enemy of God, I've never done anything against God. Do you listen to Him? Do you obey Him? Do you submit to His authority in your life? Do you treat Him as King?

Or do you simply ignore Him? Do you just treat Him as though He has no rights over your life? Maybe one of these days you might have a little extra time. You'll read the Bible and discover what this God's stuff is all about. What you are doing is what this drawing expresses. You are saying, I am King over my life. You see, this is exactly the temptation to Eve. This was Satan's offer. You can be like God. You can be your own King. Who needs God? We'll look at the world. Look at the world. Look at the newspaper today. Do we need God? Has man in his rule of this world an independence of God proven that he can do it without God? Obviously not. You see, that's what's going on here in this account of the fall.

Notice what Eve does. She listens to Satan's spin. He interprets for her. And then she questions God's word. She questions the revelation of God's wisdom and His righteousness and His love. Now think about this for a minute. They are living in paradise. Everything is provided for them. They were naked and not ashamed. Everything that they needed that was good was provided for them. God repeatedly in the first chapter seven times says, God looked and said, this is good. And now the woman says, I know better about what is good. And then she rejects God's authority. She listens to Satan. It's interesting that New Testament word for obedience and new parents can appreciate this. New Testament word for obedience is the Greek word.

And the idea is listen up. Listen to me. What are you saying to a child? When you take them by the shoulders and make them look in the eye and say, now you listen to me. What are you saying? You're saying you obey me. That's what obedience is. You obey me to the word of God and submitting to the word of God. But she began to listen to Satan, to this creature that she shouldn't have been ruling over. Because God created her to rule over the creatures. And here comes the creature. And she worships and serves the creature instead of the creator. What is that called in Romans chapter one? That's called the lie. The lie is that we should worship and serve the creature instead of the creator. And we do that in so many ways.

And so she listens and she acts independently of her co-region, the man who God had created a rule and his wife the rule alongside of him. He had passed on the word of God to her. And now she acts independently of him and leads him and rebels against God's command. What irony there is here. Because Satan offers her that you will be like God. Well, what were they like? They were as much like God as man has ever been. They were created in the image and after the likeness of God. And by following Satan, this image is marred. Because she listened to the serpent. What irony. And isn't that the way it is in your life? That when Satan comes against you and he offers you something and independence and in contradiction to the word of God.

And you listen to him because attached to the temptation are the promises of things that you feel like you must have. And when you bite, you discover that he doesn't deliver. That sin is like drinking salt water. The more you drink, the more needy you feel. The more thirsty you get. That's how sin is. And then notice the consequence in verse 7. In verse 7, it says, in the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked. And they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. The consequences. In the temptation, the serpent promised that the man and the woman would know good and evil just as God does. And notice what they do know and what they do see. They see evil.

Yes, their eyes were open. It's very subtle how Satan tempted them. But what they saw was not the good but the evil. Their eyes are opened. And then it says they knew that they were naked. There's new knowledge here. He promised them knowledge and now he gives them new knowledge. You know what their knowledge is of? Their knowledge is of their impoverishment. The word naked here is different than the word that's used up early in the context. This word here means to be stripped or made poor. Some, there were a few ancient, some of the early church fathers who thought that Adam and Eve had actually been created and were given a garment of light. And when it says early in the text that they were naked, it means that they were naked but they had this garment of light.

And that's what was stripped. I don't think there's anything in the text that would validate that. I don't believe that. But it's an interesting thought because the meaning of this word means to be stripped and to be made poor. For example, notice in Ezekiel 23. And this word is always used in these kind of contexts. When someone has made naked, that is poor and stripped of everything. And so he says in Ezekiel 23 in regards to God's judgment on his people, they will take all your property and leave you naked and bear. Isn't it ironic that Adam and Eve were blessed so richly because of their sin they are stripped and left in poverty in the midst of the garden. What an amazing thing. And then they began to hide.

They're now ashamed. Ecclesiastes, in the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon tells about his own journey, is seeking after wisdom because he thought wisdom is what will make me happy. If I could just gain wisdom in life. And what he discovers throughout that book is he seeks wisdom but he only finds vanity, emptiness and toil. Because he sought wisdom independently of God. God is wisdom. Jesus is the fullness of wisdom. And when man seeks wisdom apart from him, he only finds toil and emptiness. I want us to look at the temptation of the second Adam for a second and notice the parallel. In Matthew chapter 4 we have the temptation of Christ and the tempter is Satan himself, that old serpent. The one who was manipulating the serpent in the garden now comes against the Lord Jesus Christ.

But notice the great comparison. Notice what it says, then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And there he had fasted and after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights he then became hungry. Understand that, can't you? Here is the Son of God who is a real humanity, a real human nature, and he goes without food for 40 days. And none of you know what that's like, especially today after Thanksgiving. You don't even know what it's like to be hungry to you. 40 days without food. And he is still with hunger. In the garden, in the presence of God, Adam and Eve had everything that they needed. They could eat from the food of all the trees except the one. They had everything that they needed in this lush and beautiful garden.

Jesus is in the wilderness, the Judean wilderness. If you've ever seen pictures of the Judean wilderness, it is a desolate place. And Jesus, I is out in this desolation after 40 days of hunger. They had a full stomach in the garden when Satan came against them, but Jesus had been fasting and he had hunger pains. They enjoyed the strength of their mutual support. Adam and Eve together, in the presence of God, the Jesus is utterly alone. He is down toward the dead sea, inhabited by snakes and bipers and vultures and things like that. He is all alone. No support, no help. Satan approaches Adam and Eve with a question. Has God really said? And Satan approaches Jesus with a question. The question is, if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

Here is a legitimate need that Jesus had. Food. And so Satan says to him, if you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. In the garden, Satan by his question cast doubt on the word of God. What is Satan doing here in the wilderness with Jesus? He is casting doubt on the word of God. You know the last words that Jesus heard before the 40 days of absolute silence in the wilderness? Not another human voice. What was the last words that he had? Well, if you turn your bibles, you don't have to. Matthew chapter 3 verse 17, the very last words that Jesus heard where God speaks from heaven and says, this is my beloved son. God speaks three times in the gospel. Very rare for God to speak in this way.

He speaks three times and twice. He says these words, this is my beloved son. Satan says, if you are the Son of God, you see what Satan is doing? He is questioning the word of God. Now there is a great parallel here between the temptation of Jesus and the temptation of Eve. Satan comes in the same way, only in a much stronger and a much different circumstance. Jesus isn't so much more vulnerable. And yet Satan comes questioning the word of God. Eve was taken in. What did Jesus do? Turn with me to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4. Notice the response of Jesus. Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy these words. Matthew chapter 4 verse 4. But he answered Satan and said, because you see he is questioning the word of God.

This is my beloved son. If you are the Son of God, and Jesus says, it has been written or it stands written. It is written in the Bible, by the way, that he is over and over again. It is translated in your text. It is written. It is the perfect pence. And the idea of this is this. That something happened in the past. An event took place in the past. Something was written. The word of God was given. It was inscripturated. And now it stands written forever. God will never retract. It shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Jesus responds by saying, I will not doubt the word of God. I entrust myself to the word of God. And when God is ready to feed me, it will come from his mouth.

Man does not live by bread of itself. That's the idea. Man does not live by bread. He doesn't live by the gifts that God gives to sustain life. But he lives on the word of God. All God has to say to stop your life is one word. He can take your life in one moment. First Thessalonians says he describes the death of believers this way. Those who die by means of Jesus are those who sleep literally. Those who sleep by means of Jesus. What he's saying is that our life as followers of Jesus Christ, we are going to live until Jesus is ready to take us home. We do not live by bread of itself, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Jesus said, my food and my drink is to do the word, the will of God.

He goes on to tempt him two more times in verses five to seven. I don't look at it, but he tempts him with this. You can be blessed without obedience. Some of you are being tempted with that right now in your Christian life. Satan is coming against you and he's saying, if you really want this blessing, you're going to have to be disobedient. If you really want the blessing of being happy in this life, you're going to have to be disobedient to God in this area. And once you are disobedient, then you can make things right with God in your disobedient. Jesus didn't bite on that temptation either. And then finally, he challenges God's promise to him. And Jesus again, with stands through the word of God.

Now, the goal is obvious. And it's obvious in your life today, this week, is that Satan comes against you and his goal is to get you to doubt the word of God. The big difference between the temptation of Jesus and the temptation of Adam and Eve is that Jesus was victorious. Adam and Eve surrendered. They did question the word of God. They did succumb. And because of that, the entire human race was plunged into the condition that we are in. And next week we're going to talk a little bit about, or it won't be next week, but next time we come back to Genesis, we will talk about the cosmic implications of this. How great and how big and how broad this is. The effects of this fall in the garden. But what I want to press on to your heart today is the temptation that came to Adam and Eve is the same kind of temptation that's going to come against you as followers of Christ.

Satan will come against you and he will try, he will attempt to get you to doubt the word of God. Now, let me tell you, the reason that it is such a little struggle with so many Christians, this whole idea of satanic temptation is they don't have a clue what the word of God says. When you start to discover what the word of God says about your life, about the way you think, about the way you live, the temptation is going to come. The temptation is to doubt the word of God. Don't ever forget this, this is our greatest point of vulnerability. That Christ in spite of the misery and loneliness that he was subjected to said, I live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Do you believe that?

Is that your mindset? That that is the only thing that can sustain you in life. If you haven't learned that lesson, you will, because God is bent on teaching you that lesson. A lot of people, when we come up against this kind of temptation, what we have to say, like Jesus is, I'm going to believe God. God has said, and I believe His word, but notice the difference between that and this. The difference between saying, I believe God, I believe what He has said and the statement, I believe in God. Over 90% of the people in the United States believe in God, but they don't believe God. Believing in God won't save you, believing God will save you. Do you see the difference? You have to believe His word in order to experience His blessing.

And believing His word is manifest in our obedience. Our obedience is just a manifestation of believing, not in God, although we do believe in God, but believe in God. Believing His word, for a lot of unbelievers who can say, I believe in God, like they believe in angels, they believe in spirit beings. You go to India, people there believe in God, they'll even believe in Jesus. As long as they can believe in Jesus and the 600 and 80 other gods they believe in. But they don't believe the Word of God. The Word of God says, there is no other name, given among men under heaven by which you must be saved. You must worship Him alone. The Satan is going to come against you. It's the test that's going to come against you this week, whether or not we're going to live in trust of the Word of God, or whether we're going to act in disobedience.

And you know, don't ever forget this. Satan is incredibly patient, and his attacks on you are not just in the moment, but there is an evil season in which he comes against you. And he picks away, and he picks away, and picks away until he gets you to doubt the Word of God in some area of your life. And maybe it seems like an inconsequential area. That's the big deal. I know I'm disobedient in this, but you know, I'm obedient in 90%. It's just this one little 10% of my life I'm disobedient. I'm living in disobedience because I just can't believe the Word of God in this area. What is he doing, filling your heart with doubt, so that you will come to unbelief and disobedient? He wants to destroy your witness, wants to destroy your life.

The Lord Jesus Christ didn't succumb. He was victorious, and he's the one. He's the one you can depend on. When you feel weak and you cannot stand up for the temptation, flee to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a high priest who is touched by the feelings of our weakness because he was tested in all points as we are yet without sin. He's a good high priest, and he is sympathetic, and he knows the difficulty of your temptation, flee to him, and he will empower you to stand. You know, as the people of God in this day and this age, it is so vital that we believe the Word of God, and that we live the Word of God, that we manifest by our lives, by our obedience, by our conversation, that we truly do believe the Word of God, because that's where the blessings are.

That's where you will experience the great blessings of Jesus promise. I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Where is the abundant life? It's in the life of obedience. It's in the life of trust. It's in a life which says, I believe the Word of God, even when Satan comes against it. Let's stand together and pray. Close and prayer. Our Father, as we approach the throne of grace, we are grateful that you have mercy upon sinners like us, that we don't come to you as people who have never succumbed the temptation. We come to you as feeling so deeply our vulnerability to temptation, and sometimes it feels like we're being hit from every single direction of our life, tempted to doubt the Word of God, tempted to believe that lie of Satan, you shall not die.

You shall get something good from this disobedience. Father, it seems like no matter how many times we experience just the opposite, we remain timpable. So we pray as your people, as this family of God, we cry out to you and ask you, oh God, to strengthen our trust in your Word. Increase our ability to believe you. Lord, I know that's only going to come about as we come to your Word, as we hear your Word, as we read your Word, as we examine your Word, as we apply your Word to our lives. We pray, oh God, that you would do that for us, that we would be a people who, like Jesus, find that our food and our drink is to do the will of God. You would help us to be people that are like Christ, that love people the way Christ loved people.

Now we're willing to lay down our lives, the way Jesus laid down his life, and we know we will not do that if we succumb to Satan's temptations. So we pray for your strength and your power, help us to put on the full armor of God, I pray. Help us to encourage each other, to incite one another to love and good deeds, even as we live in this fallen world that needs to see a clear witness of who Christ really is. Please help us. I pray in Jesus name and for his glory. Amen. I'd like to say one thing for you to leave is that next week is Mariam's last week before she goes to Uganda for six months. And so we're going to say goodbye to her next week as a church, take some time just to pray for her.

And like you this week to pray about what you would like to contribute to this mission. One of the things we'd like to do is to give her some money to take with her that she can use as she sees fit over there to meet the needs of people. And so if you'd like to give towards that or give towards her support, we need to raise about $300 a month just to help support her. She's paying for most of her support, but we'd like to supplement that. So if you'd like to be a part of that, we're going to ask you about it next week. So please pray about it. Think about it and come prepared next week to do that. All right. Thank you, Lord bless you.