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[0:00] It's like pulling my teeth that I'm going to do this in one thing for you guys today. But we'll circle back around next week, God willing, and pick up from where I left off for today.

[0:11] Now, let me put you in the scene. You have probably watched a movie or two, maybe even a documentary or something like that, where the movie opens showing you the main characters, perhaps sitting in some level of destruction or mayhem.

[0:33] They're bruised, they're bloodied, they're suffering, because they're showing you the aftermath of some terrible event that's just occurred in these people's lives. So that's maybe the opening scene, and you're seeing all that despair, and you're going, did I miss something?

[0:48] Have you ever done that? And you push the pause and go, did I come in wrong here? Sometimes you've seen that kind of a scene. Then that scene fades away as words come up saying something like this, six hours ago or three days before.

[1:06] And so now what they're going to do is they've shown you where they want you to see everybody is, and now they're going to take you back, and they're going to show you what happened to these people to get them to this disastrous point in the film.

[1:20] And then they bring you to that point, and then they take you on from there, hoping that it'll resolve well. This is why you should watch French movies, French dramas.

[1:31] The French love happy endings. If there's anybody here from France, we watch them, because I know, Suzanne, I need a happy ending tonight. So we'll turn on a French drama of some kind and watch it, because they always resolve well.

[1:47] At least that's our experience. But in real life, that's not the case, is it? So that's what I want to do with you this morning. I want to bring you into this scene. That's how I want to approach the passage.

[1:59] I want you to see the disaster, and then I'm going to walk you back, you know, however long before. It's a little bit debated about how long it was from the time of their innocence at the end of chapter 2 and these events in chapter 3.

[2:15] It might have been a few weeks, but certainly not more than a month, most likely. So let's look at chapter 3, verse 10. Here is the disaster.

[2:26] This is where it opens up for us in our little movie analogy here. And he said, that would be Adam replying to God, saying, where are you?

[2:40] And Adam replied in verse 10, I heard the sound of you, God, in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.

[2:53] That's the disaster scene. Now, if you would, pick it up with me in chapter 2, verse 25. This is going to help us look at some time just before this terrible tragedy.

[3:09] And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. What in the world happened?

[3:20] Most of you are familiar with this story, and I'm going to ask you to try to look at it with me with some fresh eyes. Not that I'm going to bring anything novel to you, but I want you to be able to feel and experience the impact of what's going on here.

[3:36] Chapter 3, verse 10, as almost innocuous as it might be in this narrative, you kind of read it and want to go further and see what's going on next.

[3:48] Chapter 3, verse 10 gives us a catastrophic, enormous shift in the relationship for Adam, Eve, and God.

[4:04] This is as bad as it could possibly, possibly be in terms of their relationship. It does not get any worse than this.

[4:14] If you were able to imagine the absolute worst that could happen between you and the person on the face of the earth right now that you're closest to, if you can imagine what would be the worst case scenario between me and this person that I care so deeply about, multiply it by 100, and that's what we have in chapter 3, verse 10.

[4:37] You feel the effects of it every single day of your life. In your relationships, in the fact that you've got to go out and work a job, that it's hard to make your money go as far as you want it to go.

[4:52] There are so many repercussions from what happened in the verse that I'm sharing with you now. One minute, these two people knew they were naked and were not ashamed, and in the very next minute, they knew they were naked and they were ashamed.

[5:12] This is the greatest tragedy that ever befall mankind, and you and I are meant to feel the weight and the impact of this and then to try to come to terms with it.

[5:23] That's why I don't want this to be old hat for you. I want chapter 2 to help set the stage for the impact God wants this to have on us in chapter 3.

[5:36] That's what chapter 2 was designed for, to set the stage that you and I would be fully confronted with and even boiled over by the events and consequences of chapter 3.

[5:48] So, what did it mean real quickly, just as a kind of a refresher course here, what did it mean for chapter 2 to tell us that these two people were living in the wonder and majesty of God's special attention on Adam and Eve?

[6:04] What was it like for them to be naked and not ashamed? To be naked and not ashamed carries the theological idea that these two people were in innocence with each other.

[6:15] There was no guilt, there was no shame, because there was no sin. So, there was nothing for them to look on each other and feel any sense of self-consciousness about it.

[6:28] There was a tremendous innocence. Now, you're looking at me right now and you're thinking probably, let's say, what? You don't know anything about that. You and I have never lived anywhere near what I just described, have we?

[6:43] You and I live in a state of self-consciousness constantly. You and I need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us be self-forgetful. We don't need anybody to remind us when we get up in the morning that we're all that.

[6:59] What we have to fight is getting away from that we're all that. We need the Holy Spirit to help us deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

[7:11] That's not natural to you any more than it is to me. This is a supernatural undertaking when God takes a sinner and turns them into a saint.

[7:22] That is a supernatural, miraculous event, just as miraculous as God creating the universe in six days. This is what we're talking about, and this is what's at stake in the message that I'm bringing to you this morning and in the next couple that I'll do as I exposit down through chapter three.

[7:40] Let me refresh you just a little bit more about this in terms of how this wonderful God who made us showed this special attention to Adam and Eve. God loved Adam.

[7:54] And so the Lord made Adam an expression of His love in Eve. In other words, Eve was the perfect and most beautiful gift God could have blessed Adam with.

[8:12] It's just wonderful. Now you saw that if you were here in chapter two. I tried to make a big deal out of that and help you see what a wow factor it was for God to present Eve to Adam and say, I made this especially for you.

[8:27] You will know a companionship with this creature that I've made for you in a way that will blow your mind. That's kind of the grammar coming out of the Hebrew.

[8:38] This is the most special thing I could ever do for you. And her name was Eve, and it was beautiful. She was specially made for Adam that they would fit together.

[8:53] They would become soulmates. Together as they worshiped God as man and wife, they enjoyed and were deeply enriched by simply being human together.

[9:04] Being human before the Lord was enough. That was the richness that they enjoyed together as it was presented to us in chapter two.

[9:16] Can you imagine? Can you even imagine that? They didn't need anything else. They had each other and they had the Lord and that was enough. They felt a tremendous bliss in that reality.

[9:29] Together as they worshiped God as man and wife, they were enjoying each other. They didn't have to be clothed because their bodies and souls were in perfect communion, in perfect innocence together.

[9:48] As they looked on each other's naked bodies, as they shared in their love with each other, there were no impure thoughts in their minds. There were no selfish agendas, no hidden motives, no wicked desires, no harmful actions toward each other, no manipulation, no control, no insecurity.

[10:10] Oh, I wonder what the... What did you mean by that? None of that. None of that. There wasn't a single reason for these two human beings to be ashamed.

[10:22] Why? Because there was nothing for them to be guilty of. They weren't guilty, so there was no shame. They were innocent. They were pure before God. They knew it.

[10:32] They knew it. Life was an unbroken celebration of their deep companionship. Let me say that again because that is something that we do not know.

[10:44] We experience pieces of it here and there, but it's not unbroken. Life was an unbroken celebration of their deep companionship.

[10:57] What God himself most wanted for this couple is what they most wanted for each other. Isn't that wonderful?

[11:09] God, what you most want for us, that's all I want. Nothing less and nothing more. I want to live in the perfect center of what you want most for my wife and I, and I want that to be enough for my soul.

[11:25] That's what they knew. They didn't have to pray that because they just lived it. That's what they knew. All was innocence, harmony, peace, and the joy of being human.

[11:39] It was absolutely and in every way paradise created by God for Adam and Eve to live to the fullest. But all this paradise is ruined due to the events of chapter 3.

[11:56] And once again, we are meant to feel the impact of it. Now, what I've done is outlined in Genesis 3, a highlight for you. I want to give you four characterizations of sin as evil.

[12:12] Four characterizations of sin as evil. An evil that completely corrupts human beings. Every person other than Jesus who's ever been on the face of the planet or ever will be until Jesus comes again will experience this complete corruption of their nature.

[12:35] That's what I'm talking about because that's what Genesis is telling us in chapter 3. Four characterizations of sin as evil. An evil that completely, thoroughly corrupts human beings.

[12:49] So we'll begin this morning with sin's constitution. What I'm talking about here is its nature. What its makeup is.

[13:00] Sin's constitution. And this is where we'll deal this morning. So if I'm 35 minutes from now and I'm still on point one, don't panic. That's designed.

[13:12] Okay? We're just going to do point one today because it's so foundational and then we'll pick it up God willing next week. What about this nature of sin that we see in chapter 3?

[13:23] Well, we see now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. The serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made.

[13:35] What are you talking about here? I mean, are we getting to the point now where we're talking about a speaking, verbally communicating reptile?

[13:47] Yeah. This is one of the reasons so many people debunk this. Even well-meaning Christians will say this is why we can't accept this as something other than myth.

[14:00] This is just a good story. But it's not true because we all know that the only time snakes talk is when Disney makes cartoons about them. Other than that, you remember the cartoon from Jungle Book?

[14:13] The Hiss? What was his name? I don't remember his name. What was his name? Khan. Hiss is from the other one they made. Robin Hood.

[14:24] Hiss! Stop hissing in my ear. That one. Because he would, yeah. Okay, well come back. Come back. I go off on these little things.

[14:36] That's one of the reasons they can't. But listen, you and I need to remember we just spent 11 sermons in chapter 1 seeing God make the universe in 6 days. A talking snake ain't nothing, man.

[14:50] Compared to chapter 1. So no, we take this as literal history and we have good reason to take it as literal history. And I'm going to show you in Scripture why we do that.

[15:01] So what we want to start with is this idea of this talking serpent. So look at this. In Genesis 3, 1, we're going to deal first of all with the source as we talk about the nature of sin.

[15:13] What makes it up? We've got to go back to the source. Well, where did it all start? Where did this evil begin? Serpent. The Hebrew name for serpent is Nahash.

[15:27] Nahash. And it just simply means a limbless reptile. Now, this creature talks, this creature reasons, and the text tells us it's more crafty than any animal God made.

[15:41] But God didn't make this serpent this way. So what are we talking about? We're talking about a creature that God made, but something has invaded it.

[15:53] That's what we're talking about. We're not talking about Satan being able to change himself into a snake. This is Satan possessing a snake.

[16:05] Now, I'm going to show you in Scripture that they can do this. Satan and the demons can do this and often did it during Jesus' ministry. Crafty, the idea of crafty here is arum.

[16:19] It means shrewd or sensible or cunning, and it can be used positively or negatively because you and I would both say being sensible is a good thing. But now here, it's being used in a negative sense.

[16:31] The idea is this, to be marked by skill in deception. That's what's being put across here. Again, if you were Hebrew back in this time, you were receiving this as the original listeners with Moses bringing this, we wouldn't have had to take all this apart like this.

[16:48] You would have understood and tracked with him as he did it. That's what we're dealing with in this serpent so far. limbless reptile marked by skill in deception.

[17:01] But now look. In Genesis, verse 25, this is a consequence gnah, it's been granted the truth of his adventure and his honor to go.

[17:15] This art pasó in Genesis, a very good thing but this is which is such a念 that you learned from him near him myυτ FY21 tuCE name is going to be a holy connector to know you All good?

[17:46] Okay, thank you. Time out. We're good. We continue to move. We have that every once in a while. So while Adam and Eve are, or while the Satan is Arum, while he is shrewd and cunning and bent on deception, Moses also uses this plural form of the word to show that Adam and Eve are innocent.

[18:09] They're the opposite of that. So he's word plating in the Hebrew to make his point. Satan is scheming to ruin these people. That's the main idea that he's communicating.

[18:20] So this is a deliberate plan. This is a calculated attack. This isn't happenstance. Satan just didn't stumble into the garden one day and say, oh, I think I know what I'll do.

[18:31] I'll mess up somebody's life today. No, this was all calculated. Satan is described, if you'll notice, in masculine terms. Notice the text and what it says.

[18:42] And he said to the woman. Remember that Satan was created as an angel, a chief among them, and all the angels are described in masculine terms.

[18:56] So it's no different with Satan here as the former chief of all of them. So this is a created being. This is a crafty being who is skilled in deception.

[19:11] And this is a camouflaged creature right now. God tells us who this creature is. This is indeed Satan in disguise.

[19:23] I want to show you a couple of places where this is brought out. So if you keep your hand here in Genesis 3, and let's go over to Revelation 12. Revelation 12.

[19:41] We'll start there. And if you'll look at verse 7 with me. And there was war in heaven.

[19:51] Now, we don't understand all of that. We don't have the Bible filling in lots of details about all of that. But there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon.

[20:06] The dragon and his angels waged war. And they were not strong enough. And there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

[20:17] And the great dragon was thrown down. Now, notice what it's called. The serpent of old. Who is called the devil.

[20:29] And Satan. Who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth. And his angels were thrown down with him.

[20:44] So again, I draw your attention to verse 9. He is the great dragon. He is the serpent of old. Who is called the devil and Satan. Who deceives.

[20:56] There is your characterization of this serpent in the garden at this time. Let me let you flip over now to 2 Corinthians 11.

[21:08] 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And let me see if it's...

[21:22] I think it's verse 14 that I want. Yes, if you look at verse 14. And no wonder.

[21:33] For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. An angel of light. So camouflaging himself is a characteristic of this particular creature.

[21:50] This created being. He likes to camouflage himself. And he can actually appear as what is an angel of light. An angel of truth. An angel of good.

[22:01] He can disguise himself in that way. And deceive people. And that is his nature is to deceive. Hold your finger there in 2 Corinthians.

[22:12] Because I'm going to bring you back to it in just a moment. I want to show you one other. Hold your finger there in 2 Corinthians. And go to Mark chapter 5. If you would please.

[22:24] Now all I'm doing is trying to establish a few places. Where scripture interprets scripture. And helps us understand. The nature of what we're dealing with in this serpent. Mark chapter 5.

[22:38] Now I'm not going to read this. I'm just going to show you that in this chapter. What's going on is. Jesus is confronted. As he lands the boat with the disciples.

[22:48] Near Gadara. On the east side of the Sea of Galilee. He gets out of the boat. And he's immediately confronted by 2 demoniacs.

[23:00] The Gadarene or Gerasene demoniacs. So these 2 guys are naked. They run down from the cliffs. Where they lived in the caves. And they start screaming at Jesus.

[23:11] What have you to do with us son of God. They know who he is. These are men who terrorized the local villages around them for years. They would assault caravans.

[23:23] Anybody that came up into the area. They were people who had tried to cage them. And chain them. And they had broke the chains in the cages. And got away from them.

[23:34] These are 2 demon possessed men. And so just. I don't want you to read this now. I just want you to listen while I tell you. What happens is. Jesus ends up.

[23:46] Confronting. One of the men. Who was the spokesman of the 2. And he ends up casting the demons. Out of this man. Do you remember that? And what does he cast the demons into?

[23:59] Pigs. Pigs. Probably well over 2,000 of them. At the time. And what did the pigs do? They ran down off the cliff and into the water and drowned didn't they?

[24:11] And that made a big buzz in the neighboring villages. And people came out and asked Jesus to leave. It's too expensive for you to hang around here. Do you need to get out of Dodge?

[24:25] And Legion. Was the guy's name. Because there are many. He said demons in me. He wanted to go with Jesus. Because he was sitting calmly there.

[24:36] And wanted to follow Christ. And the Lord said. No you stay here and be a witness for me to these people. You're going to be a constant testimony. To the power that I have over evil in the human soul.

[24:46] The point is. In Mark chapter 5. Where did the pigs go? Or where did the demons go? Into the pigs. They can do this.

[24:58] There's multiple accounts of this kind of thing happening across the scriptures. Now if you'll go back to 2 Corinthians 11.3. I'll put these up here for you. And this is what we're dealing with.

[25:11] But I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness. That's verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 11. Do you see that there? But I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness.

[25:25] Your minds will be corrupted. Corrupted. From the simplicity and purity of what? Devotion to Christ. Paul is concerned here. That the people themselves will become spiritually deceived.

[25:38] By this skillful deceiver. And who does he describe this deceiver as? The serpent who did what to Eve. Deceived her.

[25:49] By his what? Craftiness. You see how this verse gives us right back to Genesis. An almost quote. Verbatim quote about what's going on in Genesis 3.1.

[26:02] The scripture leaves us in no doubt. What we're dealing with in this particular verse. Now I want to ask you real quickly before I take this apart.

[26:16] The question that many people have. Why a snake? Why a snake? Well the Bible doesn't tell us. It's mute on that point. One way though that we might view this.

[26:29] The snake concerns the idea of predators. Predators. Predators. Predators. Predators. Predators. Predators. Who successfully overcome their prey through deception.

[26:41] Deception. They do it by camouflage. And trickery. You see this in the animal world. Do you not? Have any of you ever lived where there are rattlesnakes?

[26:52] Rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes look like the leaves. The forest bed. Don't they? They're meant to blend in. You can walk right up on them and not even see those jokers.

[27:03] They use that camouflage and that blend in to give them an advantage for their prey. So that they can deceive them into thinking there's nothing here. This is just a hole.

[27:14] There's nothing going on. Whammo. And it's too late. What about even in beautiful things? Do you see flowers? There are certain flowers that appear very beautiful to insects.

[27:29] Come. Get the pollen. Come in here and visit me. This is a bug hotel. It'll be fine. Whoop. And then they close on you and they slowly eat you.

[27:43] So don't put me down for being a bee when reincarnation happens. No, I'm just kidding. There's no reincarnation. There are all kinds of examples that we have in nature about this, about predators praying through deception.

[27:59] And I think that's just the idea that we need to walk away with and not get tripped up over the fact that for some reason it's a snake. Now let me take this apart with you just a little bit just to show you.

[28:10] Look. The serpent in the Greek here is ofis. And it means like in the Hebrew equivalent, a limbless reptile. So we have the same parallel here from 2 Corinthians 11 3.

[28:25] Go a little bit further with me. He says that she would be deceived like Eve was deceived by the serpent. Exepatao. Exepatao is to deceive.

[28:37] Cheat. Beguile. Seduce. Which is exactly what we have going on. You also see in that verse, 2 Corinthians 11 3.

[28:47] His. He refers to Satan in the masculine form. Craftiness is an interesting word in the Greek. Panorgia. Panorgia.

[28:58] It means cunning, skillful at trickery. To be skilled at trickery. And the idea then is deceitfulness characterizing an especially wicked character.

[29:10] Boy, that sums up Satan perfectly. That's what Eve is dealing with. Now you might say, is she outmatched? Well, the outcome tells us the answer.

[29:22] Is she outmatched? She wouldn't have been. She wouldn't have been if she had remained faithful. To the truth. She wasn't faithful to the truth.

[29:38] And so she fell prey. To the predator. Now, tongue in cheek a little bit. While most normal people are repulsed by snakes.

[29:51] I hope we don't have any herpetologists in here. Most people are repulsed by snakes. There was obviously something about this creature. That was able to draw Eve in.

[30:04] And captivate her. Instead of alarm her. Now I don't. I can't answer to the fact. Was, well, Jeff. So walking around in the garden. Was it just normal for the animals to talk?

[30:15] Or what? Why isn't she going? A talking snake. You know, that's probably a red flag. I'm thinking. Why didn't she think that? Because she's not stupid. She's just as intelligent as Adam.

[30:26] Their spiritual equals. Their intelligent equals. It's across the board. So it's. This is not a matter of her not being an intelligent woman. It's not that. This is the power of deception.

[30:39] This is the power of the enemy. And that's what we're meant to see. Something about this critter talking to her. Allured her. It drew her in.

[30:51] It captivated her. And it kept her there listening to it. Rather than fleeing from it. The first time that he hinted. That he was questioning the wisdom of God.

[31:02] She should have been out of there. Right? But she stayed. And she locked in with this creature. And she kept conversing with it. That's interesting to me.

[31:17] Nevertheless, this creature is an intruder. This is an imposter in the garden. An invader. He's a parasite. He doesn't belong here.

[31:27] He's not part of the creation that God made and declared very good. That's how we know. He's part. He's foreign to this very good.

[31:40] Now that helps answer an important question for us. Here's the question. Was there evil in the world prior to Adam and Eve sinning? No.

[31:50] No. No. No. How do we know that? Because God said it was very good. Then where is the evil?

[32:01] The evil is in Satan. It's not in human beings. It's not in God's very good world. So this is an intrusion on God's very good world. Does Satan being in God's very good world make it not very good anymore?

[32:17] No. It's still very good. These people haven't fallen into sin yet. They haven't fallen for the trick, for the deception yet. So we have a very good world with an intruder.

[32:30] An invader. A parasite. A parasite. Now what are we going to do with that? Well we're told what to do with it in the New Testament as we deal with that. Oh I can't wait to get to.

[32:41] I want so bad to say it right now. But I got to wait to get there. Because I've got other stuff I got to deal with. I hope you'll come back for all three of these. I'm doing at least three in chapter three. And you have to get to the end with me.

[32:54] You have to get to the last one in chapter three. Because that's where the news gets super glorious. Super, super glorious. Super glorious. But we got to deal with this nasty first.

[33:05] To see what God's going to do with the nasty. Because he is going to deal with it. Alright. So he doesn't belong in a very good creation. He's foreign to this.

[33:16] I'm not saying the snake doesn't belong there. Because God made snakes and he said they're all good. But I don't know. There was no need for venom at the time. So we won't go into all of that.

[33:26] I don't like snakes if you haven't guessed by now. Now for me if you're a herpetologist. If you're a snake guy. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be offensive. But for me the only good one is a dead one. And I don't do the triangle head thing and all that.

[33:41] If it's slithering it goes out. It's going to go meet its maker. Alright apparently Eve and the serpent were already in a conversation.

[33:52] When he snuck in a seemingly inquisitive innocuous question. That's what we're meant to see back in Genesis 3. We're kind of coming in on a conversation that's been going on apparently for at least a little while.

[34:09] We're told that he was crafty. Now we're told that he wants to say something to the woman. And here's what he says. Indeed. Verse 1. Has God said.

[34:21] You shall not eat from any tree of the garden. Indeed. Inquisitive. Seemingly innocuous.

[34:33] But what's really going on. What's happening with all of this. Where's the emphasis. Well this begins. Satan's two pronged. Calculated attack.

[34:44] First on God's word. And second on God's character. His goodness. And his relationship with Adam and Eve. He's going to go after both of those. The truth of the word. And the goodness of God's character.

[34:56] And it begins right here. Now friends. Satan is not asking this. Because he's looking to be informed. He's not omniscient. Like God.

[35:06] He does not know all things. He cannot see into the future. That's not Satan. Don't think about him that way. He's a limited created being. But he's very very powerful.

[35:19] So what he wants to do now. Is he wants to probe. Satan knows the truth. Now did you hear me. Satan knows the truth. There were several commentators.

[35:31] That felt like. This was proof. That Satan knew the Bible better. Or the word. The truth of God. Better than Eve did at the time. That he was more. Cunning.

[35:41] And more aware. Of what God had said. And more astute about it. Than Eve was. Because she's showing. A great naivete in this. And so it's making her vulnerable.

[35:53] Nevertheless. What he's doing. He's probing. Eve's understanding. He can't read her mind. He is a predator. Looking for weakness.

[36:04] In his prey. He's not like God. In that he can see. Into people's hearts. He can know their thoughts. And their motives. The Bible tells us.

[36:14] That God can do that with us. And does do that with us. So what does he do. He schemes. He sneaks. And he skulks. He sizes her up.

[36:24] This is Satan. Coming in. And introducing. A little something. To see what kind of response. He gets. And boy. He is. He is. Fixated on her. Just like a lion.

[36:36] Fixated on a gazelle. Or something. He is. He is. Dialed in. And he wants her. He's going to have his way. Or else. Boy.

[36:46] You got to see. The. Just the heartbeat. Of this going on. And as this thing. Moves down through. It gets. Until you're just.

[36:57] You're captivated. By. No. Don't do it. Don't do it. And they do it. And then the whole. Human race. Is plunged into ruin. Everything hinges on this.

[37:09] At this moment. Indeed. Is used here. Let me show you. What it is. Indeed. Is used here. As a marker. Of emphasis.

[37:20] To strengthen. The force of Satan's. Question. As a device. Of doubt. He's using this. Indeed. As a device. Of doubt. Again. The Hebrew here.

[37:30] Is so. So powerful. What's he wanting. To do. He wants. To muddle. Her mind. So he's attacking. What we call.

[37:40] The perspicuity. Of God's word. This is one of the first. Instances. That we can know of. In scripture. Where. The clearness. Of God's word.

[37:51] Is under attack. It's clarity. The fact. That God's word. Is presented to us. And we can understand it. In the power. Of the Holy Spirit. We can read it. We can understand it. It's not so much.

[38:02] Beyond us. God wrote it. For us. To understand it. And so. That's what. Satan's attacking now. He wants to attack. The clear nature. Of the command.

[38:13] That God gave. To Adam and Eve. In the prohibition. Don't eat. From this tree. The day you eat. From it. You will surely die. He's questioning. The clarity.

[38:23] Of that command. Are you sure? Are you sure? Satan. Then. Bates Eve. He creates doubt.

[38:36] By calling into question. The exact nature. Of God's words. It's something like this. I'm going to try my best. To get this off. For you here. Truly. Truly. And for.

[38:47] For certain. Did I hear this right? Did God really tell you. That you can't. Eat. From. Any. Tree.

[38:59] Of the garden. Tell me. It ain't so. Kind of thing. He. He didn't. He didn't say that. He wouldn't have said that.

[39:12] That's what indeed means. That's. That's what it carries. What's he doing? Are you sure?

[39:26] That God said. That you can't eat. From any. Tree. Of the garden. Stinking snake. Stinking snake. He's drawing her in.

[39:38] Because he knows. Full well. Which tree. Is off limits. For these two people. And he knows. Exactly. What God told them. He wants to exploit.

[39:50] The cogency. Of God's word. Are we. Are we sure. Eve. About. What God actually. Said. Are you sure. You're clear.

[40:00] About what God said. And. What he meant. Are you and God. On the same page. Are you sure. And if he.

[40:12] And he's waiting. For that response. He's watching her. He's watching. Every movement. Of her face. I'm sure. He's dialed in. What kind of body language. Is she giving.

[40:22] What's her response. Going to tell him. This is the bait. And so Eve responds. Look what she says. And the woman.

[40:33] 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 midst. Of the garden. God said. God. Said.

[40:44] You shall not. Eat from it. And you shall not. Touch it. Lest you die. Now that takes us.

[40:56] All the way back. Into chapter 2. Verses 15. Through 17. Will you look there with me. Genesis 2. 15. Then Yahweh God. Took the man. That's Adam.

[41:07] And set him in the garden. Of Eden. To cultivate it. And keep it. And Yahweh God. Commanded the man. Saying. From any tree. Now notice what he says. Please zero in on this.

[41:18] From any. Tree. Of the garden. You may surely eat. Do you remember how I made a big deal of this? Because in the Hebrew here. The idea is.

[41:29] You are. Free to eat freely. It's a repetitive thing for emphasis. You are free to eat freely. In other words. Go. Enjoy yourself. In the abundance.

[41:39] Of the variety of trees. That I've. You can eat from all of them. And eat freely. And continue to eat. Have at it. Go at it. But there's one. Just one.

[41:51] Of all. These that I've made. Not this one. One. Out of. The big. That's the idea. What's going to happen?

[42:03] Good. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You shall not eat from it. For in the day you eat from it. You will.

[42:15] Surely. Die. Now verse 17. Grammatical construction. Is the strongest form of prohibition in the Hebrew language.

[42:27] So what we see in the way of verse 17. Telling them not to eat. That's as strong as it gets. And Adam certainly would have understood that.

[42:39] The punishment. Is equally. As strong. At the end. Of verse 17. Did you notice that? For if you eat from it. You.

[42:50] Will. Surely. Die. Now he's saying something in parallel. To what he said. Up in. Verse 16. From any tree of the garden. You may. Surely.

[43:02] Eat. Now we're being told. You will surely. Die. If you eat of this one. So there's a lot of clarity. Here's the point I'm making. Adam and Eve.

[43:14] Didn't have any reason. Not to be clear. About what God is taking pains. To tell them. In a communicative. Communicative way. That they would have immediately grasped.

[43:26] Understood. And went with. And so what. Isn't it interesting. What is it that Satan's trying to do? Where is he starting. His attack. He's starting his attack.

[43:37] On the clarity. Of what God said. That's where he begins. Are you sure. Are you thinking about that right. Are you sure you've got that wired.

[43:47] About what he said. Now. Okay. Okay. Maybe that's what he said. But are you clear. About what he meant. Are you. Are you sure you're understanding. Exactly what God was trying.

[43:58] To convey to you. In that moment. Well. Why would you say that. Well. It's almost like.

[44:08] Do you know something. I don't know. Is there. Is there something here. That you're not. And so you see. I'm just getting closer. And closer. Before it. Oh. Now I'm bit.

[44:18] That's what's happening. She's going to get to the point now. Where there's no going back. And the no going back. Is not when she bites.

[44:29] The fruit. Stick around. I'm going to tell you. When the no going back happens. Because it's the same thing. With you and me. This is exactly. How he tempts you. This is exactly.

[44:39] The pattern that he uses. You ought to be recognizing. This already. And there's going to come a point. Where it's going to be. No return. And it's not when she bites.

[44:53] Happens before that. And he's almost got her there. So what's he doing with her. Well. I want to show you. At the end of verse 17.

[45:04] In chapter 2. Again. Just to make this clear to you. The text literally reads this. This is how it reads. In the Bible. For in the day that you eat from it. You will surely die.

[45:14] But here is what it reads. Literally. Dying. You shall surely die. Isn't that interesting? In other words.

[45:25] You will begin to die. And then you will. Surely. Die. What's he talking about? Well it speaks to the process of dying. Yes. But the emphasis here.

[45:37] In the grammatical construction. Is placed on the certainty of death. Not on the type or timing of death. The idea here. Is that they're being told. You will.

[45:48] Certainly. And surely. Die. Whether you understand exactly what that means or not. It will happen to you. And that's not a good thing. And I'm telling you. Don't do it. That was enough.

[45:59] Shouldn't that be enough? What do you tell your kids? No honey. Don't touch that. That's hot. That's hot. That's hot. Ow. Don't do that.

[46:11] And your kids look at you. And go like that. And say. Oh that must be bad. Because they don't know. They're. They're naive to that. They've never touched a hot stove before. And you don't want to take their hand.

[46:22] And stick it on it. And say. See I told you. You don't want to do that. So God's telling them. Trust me. Folks. Do you see the trust here? Trust me.

[46:32] This is the issue. This is exactly what Satan's attacking. Satan does not want you to trust the word of God. He doesn't want you to listen to God.

[46:45] He wants you in the position where you're questioning. The clarity. And you feel like you've got just a little bit more of an edge on what's best for you than God does.

[46:57] Because you know you best. You know what you really need. Come on. Yeah. And so it gets syrupy. And the next thing you know you're convinced.

[47:08] Yeah. Yeah. And if he can get Eve in her heart. Going. Yeah. Yeah. It's done. And it's just.

[47:20] All we need now. Is an opportunity. And that's what he's going to provide for. Cunning. Cunning. Remember. Skilled at deception.

[47:30] Cunning. This is what we're dealing with. You're going to die if you do this. Now let's pause right here and ask three questions. Three quick questions.

[47:41] Just for clarity before we move on. How did Eve know what God said? How did Eve know what God said? Well the most plausible answer.

[47:53] Is that God told Adam. And Adam then told his wife. He told Eve what God said about not eating. From the only tree in the garden.

[48:05] That they were told not to eat from. Now does that make sense? Does that sound plausible to you? Whether it does or not. That's what I'm putting forward here. I think Adam probably told his wife.

[48:17] Right? Because we don't have any record. Of God telling Eve directly. So Adam told Eve. And he was probably very clear. Very straightforward about it. Hey hon. Not this one.

[48:28] Not this one. All right. Now. Eve. Adds. To what God told Adam. Now I want you to notice that.

[48:39] She said this. And you surely shall not. Touch it. Lest you die. You surely shall not touch it. Lest you die.

[48:50] Well that's not what God said. Is it? And that's not what. Adam. Probably. Told her. Or was it? So I want to ask the next question.

[49:02] Did Eve. Sin. By adding. To what God said. Now careful. Careful. When are we told.

[49:12] That Adam and Eve. Are condemned. And this. Narrative. About sin. When are they condemned? After what? After they ate.

[49:23] They haven't been condemned. Prior to that. Is there any record in scripture. That tells us. That by. By what Eve. Added. About not touch it. That God rebuked her. Or condemned her.

[49:35] Or that sin entered the world. At this time. No. None. So here's the answer. To that question. No. Did she sin. By adding. To what God said. No. It probably.

[49:46] Is something like this. Let me just try to help you. With this. This is. I'm doing this with you. Because. This is what liberal scholars. Will do with this kind of thing. To put doubt in your mind. About trusting God's word.

[49:56] They'll throw all these little nuances in there. And try to trip us up. As. This is supposed to be some big complicated hairy thing. And it's not. It's really straightforward.

[50:08] Probably what happened was. It's like you. Telling your kids. Something like. I don't know. All right. Kids. Listen. You know.

[50:19] We got some folks coming over. Your cousins are coming over. In a little while. Now. I'm letting you guys know right now. All right. Do not. Play. In the street. All right. You got the backyard. You got the side yard.

[50:30] You can go over. Miss Jones yard. I asked her if you guys could go over there. It's all good. Don't go in the street. All right. You got it. We good. Okay. Okay. Then the cousins show up.

[50:40] And they're out in the yard. And you hear one of your kids tell the cousins. My dad said that we can't even go near the street. Well is that what he said? He said don't play in the road.

[50:51] Now you're telling don't even go near the road. That's what happened. Adam went and told his wife. Don't even touch it. You know.

[51:01] What is she going to do? Like that? Don't even touch it. That's what kids do. You guys do this. We tell you not to do something. And you find a way to the letter of the lot.

[51:12] Right? One day my wife told my little girl when she was this high in little piggy tails. Do not set foot out of this house.

[51:24] Didn't you? You told her. Do not set foot outside this door. She had the door open. We were in California airing everything out. So Suzanne goes away.

[51:35] And our little daughter. She comes back and finds our little daughter laying outside the door with her feet over the threshold. Her feet were in the house.

[51:47] Her body was outside the house. Amen. Now if that's not an illustration of sin at work in the human heart. I don't know what is.

[51:57] This is what we do. So I think Eve. We're cutting Eve some slack here. We're letting ourselves understand that Eve was probably trying to go the best route as she responded.

[52:14] We're not even supposed to touch it. Alright? This is why I'm making a point of this. When she didn't die. When she touched the tree.

[52:26] And she didn't die. I wonder if it surprised her. Right? I wonder if Satan would go ahead touch it. You'll see. Go ahead.

[52:36] No, no, no, no. Just touch it. Don't eat it. Just touch it. Just touch it and see. I told you. You didn't die, did you?

[52:48] No, I didn't. I wonder if that compelled her to take the next step and eat from the tree. Well, now Satan plans to lie and sets the hook.

[53:00] We've got verses 4 and 5. Oh, the third question was. Sorry, I didn't tell you what it was. I got to the answer. Did she die when she touched it? No. She didn't die when she touched the whatever, not apple.

[53:14] Whatever the fruit was. She didn't die. So I think that maybe moved her to go forward. Now, if you would, look at verses 4 and 5 with me. Because Satan's already told her the lie and set the hook on it.

[53:29] And the serpent said to the woman, You surely will not die. Boy, he's really going for it now. Wow. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes are going to be opened.

[53:40] You will be like God, knowing good and evil. Wow. You will be like God, really. Knowing good and evil. So Eve has shown vulnerability to Satan's deceptive tactics to this point.

[53:55] So now I think he's emboldened in his attack. He's going to take it to the next level. And so here's the idea of what he's saying as he says this. God's being selfish.

[54:08] He's not being honest with you. God's withholding from you. Remember now, folks, Satan's already baited Eve with his feigned incredulity, with his feigned unbelief, you know, about, Oh, I can't believe that.

[54:23] Really? He's talking now about how unfair and restrictive God is being with this couple. Indeed. Indeed. He's incredulous.

[54:35] Indeed. God is keeping you from eating any of the trees of the garden? Oh, you know what? I know what this is. He's jealous. God's jealous.

[54:46] You're going to become like him. That's what this is about. Oh, yeah. This is what's happening. God is lying to you to keep you from what he could give you in the way of more freedom and more pleasure that you could have for yourself.

[55:07] Now, here is the point of all of this. And here's where it really comes down. It impacts your life and my life. Look. Satan is using what Eve doesn't know to obscure and deemphasize what she does know.

[55:25] Please mark that carefully, friends. Satan is using what Eve doesn't know to obscure and deemphasize what she does know.

[55:35] Now, does that sound familiar to you? It should. Because just about every time you sin, you're falling victim to this. This is using what you don't know to obscure what you do know.

[55:52] As a Christian, there are things that you know because the truth tells you. God is good. Like this. God is good. God is good. God is good. And God always does what is highest and best for your good because he is always doing good to you.

[56:12] Now, is that not taught in scripture? Is that not true? God is good. God is always working to conform you to Jesus Christ in whatever trial, circumstance, or challenge you're going through in your life.

[56:25] God is not distant. God is not unaware. God is not simply allowing these things to happen. He's designing them. Why? God is not aware of these things to conform you to Jesus Christ.

[56:38] Those are the trials and challenges and problems and issues of life that we face. God is not distant from them. He's involved in them. Now, that's the truth of the word.

[56:48] But what does Satan want to do? Satan wants you to focus on what you don't know. We could put the pharmaceutical companies almost out of business in the way of anxiety drugs if we would just think about what I'm saying right now from scripture.

[57:04] Satan wants you to focus on what you don't know instead of what you do. And so what do we do? We worry. We get anxious. We try to run ahead, fill in the blanks, manipulate, control.

[57:16] Why? Why do we do those things? One of the reasons that we do them is because we're being tempted to focus on what we don't know and we want to fill in the blank instead of focusing on what we do know.

[57:28] Let me take a breath and wait right here and just stop myself. God is in control. I can trust the Lord. God has given me in his word the truth that I can live by in this circumstance.

[57:40] It's not beyond me. I can know what God wants me to do. I can know the next step that he wants me to take in faith. I can't see the end. I don't know what's going to happen at the end.

[57:53] And it may get worse before it gets better. But one thing I can know, God is using this to conform me to Jesus Christ. This is making me more dependent on the Lord. I need to be more prayerful in this.

[58:05] God's revealing something. This situation and challenge is testing my heart and it's putting me in a situation now where this opportunity is revealing what's in my heart.

[58:17] The way that I'm tempted to respond to what things I'm thinking right now and the things that I did. Those things are our evidences of what's going on inside of me.

[58:28] And God is using this trial to reveal those to me. So that I can become more like Jesus so that I can repent of things I didn't even know were going on in me.

[58:39] And now they're coming out and I'm going where in the world that coming from. It's coming from you. Those are things we can know from scripture.

[58:50] There are many things we can't know in the end. And that's what Satan wants to focus us on. Here's another way I can say it and then I'll move on. Satan wants you and I to focus on the dark instead of the light.

[59:09] I tell people when they come and they talk to me about it. I say listen what right now what you're thinking about that's dark. God hasn't lit that up for you. You don't know the answer to those questions.

[59:21] You can't know those things where you are right now. And that's exactly where Satan wants you to live. He wants you to live in that dark. Come over here to the light. What is God revealing? What has God revealed?

[59:31] What do you have to work with in the way of truth and trust? People think oh that's that's for super Christians. No it's not.

[59:42] It's for everyday people like you and me as we live in the Lord and face the issues of life. What Satan wants to do is he wants to keep you focused on what you don't know and can't know.

[59:55] So that you won't deal with what you do know. What does Eve know? She knows God is good. God is abundantly proving himself good to these people.

[60:07] She knows that God has given them abundant freedom. She doesn't know this is Satan does she? No she does not know this is Satan God's enemy. She doesn't realize he's trying to destroy her Adam and God's relationship with him.

[60:24] Now folks this is the very heart of evil. This is why I'm pausing here. This is the very heart of evil. It exists to take. Evil exists to ruin.

[60:37] Evil exists to corrupt the good. It is the dark that always seeks to smother the light.

[60:49] Do you remember the verse that talks about don't put a bushel? Basket over your light in Matthew. Don't cover it up. My mom used to teach us a song when we were little real little kids.

[61:01] What was the one about not blowing it out? This little. Let it shine. Hide it under the bushel. No I'm gonna let it shine.

[61:12] Let it shine. Don't let Satan it out. I always liked that part. I always looked at my mom when she did it because she did it so good. And she cut her eyes at us.

[61:23] I remember that as a little bitty child. This is what I mean. You and I know that light exposes darkness. Now look I want to share a quote with you to help you get a get a grip on this and then I'll move on and we'll be done.

[61:38] Evil is not a thing in itself. All right. Even though it is real. Rather evil is the privation. Privation simply means the depriving of some good that something ought to have.

[61:53] You with me so far? Murder for example is a removal of a human life. That is removal of an intrinsic good. Because God made all life. In and of itself it's good.

[62:05] Good. Adultery is a privation of a marriage. Another intrinsic good. Good is fundamental and exists in itself. Evil cannot exist in itself.

[62:17] It is always a parasite on good. That's the point. Now since evil is not a thing. God did not create evil. So there you go. We don't have to do any more talking about.

[62:29] Did God make evil? No. He didn't. And evil does not exist on its own. Evil exists as a bug. As a parasite to prey on good.

[62:40] And that's what Satan wants to do as he tempts you. He wants to tempt you away from the good. That's how he does it. All right. What then.

[62:51] What then. Is the evil God calls sin. As it's expressed. Here in our passage. I'll just give you a few quick things. And then I'll draw it to a close. All right.

[63:01] One of the first things that I want you to see. As we talk about the nature of this. As it works out in Eve's life. Is this. It's lawlessness. Evil. Defined by the Bible.

[63:13] Is lawlessness. Go over to. If you would. First John. First John. Is all the way. All the way to the back of the Bible. Just before Jude and Revelation. The book of first John.

[63:26] Chapter three. Verse four. It's just one little verse. And John says. Everyone who does sin.

[63:39] Also does. Lawlessness. And sin. Is. Lawlessness. If you want the shortest definition in the Bible for sin. Sin.

[63:50] Is. Lawlessness. In other words. It's focusing our attention on the criminality. Of sin. We're criminals. By nature.

[64:01] It's in our nature. To be criminals. To lie. Steal. Cheat. Whatever. That's who we are in our makeup. Apart from the Lord Jesus. Sin is lawlessness.

[64:13] Now here's the point of this. First and foremost. Sin is wrong. Because it's wrong. Done. Sin. Against. God. If I.

[64:24] If I sin. Against my brother Greg. That's. That's a terrible thing. That I would do to my friend. And. And sin against him. But that's not the worst.

[64:35] The worst part of my sin against Greg. Is that it's sin against. First of all. The Lord. Why? Because it's the Lord. That defines what sin is. Sin is an invasion.

[64:47] On the good of God. God. His morality. His right and wrong way of living. Did you hear me make a big deal. Out of telling you. That this was an intruder.

[65:00] This was an invader. In the garden. Right? That's what we have here. Sin is an invasion. On the good. That I would share with my brother.

[65:10] And be for my brother. So sin robs the good. That I would do. And be for my fellow human being. Do you see what that is? Sin is lawlessness.

[65:21] It's criminal activity. Against another. First and foremost. Against God. Because it's God's moral law. That I'm breaking. As I sin. Folks.

[65:32] I'm just saying to you. You always need to be most concerned. When you sin. About what it does. In your relationship to God. Let your heart break. More over the fact.

[65:44] That you break God's heart. When you sin. Then you hurt the person. That you sin against. Start here. Let what you see. In the person you sin against. Remind you. That God feels it more deeply.

[65:55] Because it's his law. You're violating. Stay there. I'm telling you. This will help you fight sin. When you start becoming. More sensitive.

[66:06] To the fact that this hurts. The heart of the Lord. You'll become more sensitive. To sin. How can I say that? Because not all sin. That you do. Is out in the open. Against another person. Isn't that right?

[66:18] What about the sins. That other person. Doesn't know about. Nobody knows about. Is it still sin? Is that the one. Where if the tree falls. In the forest. And nobody's there to hear it.

[66:29] Does it make a sound? That's such a stupid question. Does God feel the weight. Of our sin. When we do it secretly. And nobody knows about it. Of course.

[66:42] Of course. All sin. Is personal to God. Because of his laws. Of morality. Of right and wrong. All right. Another one. Real quickly. Deceptive lie.

[66:54] Another aspect of this. In Eve's life. As she faces it. In Genesis 3. As we're going to see this unfold. In the next couple of messages. You surely will not die.

[67:04] 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. This is all nonsense. That's a deceptive lie. John 8.

[67:15] 44. This is a scathing indictment. And I want to show you. Real quickly. Who he says it to. Because this is.

[67:26] Arresting to me. Look at this. In John 8. Verse 44. Jesus is speaking. To a group of people. I'll show you in just a second.

[67:37] Who they are. And this is what he says to them. You. Are of your father. The devil. You. Want to do the desires.

[67:47] Of your father. He was a murderer. From the beginning. And does not stand in the truth. Because there's no. Truth. In him.

[67:58] Whenever he speaks a lie. He speaks from his own nature. For he's a liar. And the father. Of lies. Boy. How'd you like Jesus Christ. To look into your face. And say that to you.

[68:10] Well. Who are these people. Go back up. Into verse. 31. So Jesus. Was saying. To those Jews. Who had believed him. Whoa. Jesus.

[68:21] Is saying this. To people. Who believed him. Well. Obviously. These were people. Who had made. Some kind of. Profession. Of belief. Toward Jesus.

[68:32] But in their heart. They really weren't. Confessing. Faith in him. Or he never would have said. I know what you really are. See. This is God. Looking into your heart. God knows.

[68:43] Who you really are. Better than you do. God knows. And so God looks into these people's hearts. Jesus does. And he says. No. Actually. You want to hide behind your religiosity.

[68:54] You want to hide behind all the things that you say and do in your religion. But here's what I know about you. You are of your father. The devil. He told them the truth. And they hated him for it.

[69:07] These are the people who are going to help the Romans crucify him. That's John 8.44. Satan's deceptive lie to Eve.

[69:18] Think about that. Eating the fruit would make her wise. Make her like God. And you and I could be tempted to see this as partial truth. Well he was right in that.

[69:28] Right? I mean his counsel was it would make them wise. And indeed. They did become in a sense. Wise. But what was the fruit.

[69:40] Of following that lie. For Adam and Eve. It brought condemnation. Blame. Judgment to their souls. It spiritually separated them from God. And brought them death.

[69:52] What did Satan say? You surely will not die. Just a bull face lie. Now that's why Jesus said that Satan is a murderer from the beginning.

[70:03] Folks that's a reference to Adam and Eve being brought to death by deceptive schemes of Satan. All the way back to the beginning he's been a murderer. And he's been a murderer ever since.

[70:15] Because he plunged the entire human race into death. Physical and spiritual. God's wisdom teaches us the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord.

[70:25] That awe that we have for God draws us into deeper fellowship with the Lord. God. So you and I learn to nurture and protect a high and holy reverence for God in our hearts.

[70:37] God's wisdom informs our souls. It educates our conscience in what's right in God's eyes. Lord I don't know what's right. I need you to teach me. So I can walk in the right that I know you.

[70:49] You say is right. That's how I know. If you say it's right then it's right. That's how I know. That's good enough for me Lord. Teach me to walk in that. Not to trust my own heart.

[71:01] The absence of the fear of the Lord. As the case is now with Adam and Eve. Taking the forbidden fruit. That works against godly wisdom. It brings about foolishness.

[71:12] They're about to be very foolish. What Satan is calling wisdom is not godly wisdom. It's not some form of godly wisdom. So I don't accept the fact that we could say here. Oh well that's just a.

[71:24] That was a partial truth. I don't know even what that is. It's either true or it's not. It's either what God says and what God says isn't partial. It's true or it's not true.

[71:35] And you say well Jeff you're a prophet. This is what you do. You live in the black and white not in the gray. Well I'm just as tempted as you are to try to make things gray. When it suits my agenda. That's not how we're called to live.

[71:48] Finally let me show you this. Captivating. You see what I've highlighted here. We're captives of sin. Eve's heart is being captured by sin. It's the sin from eating from the tree.

[72:00] And it began in her heart. The Bible says that we're captives or prisoners to sin and Satan in our heart. As unbelievers.

[72:12] Who. Who. In our mind. And wills. And emotion. Our heart. Are captive to sin. So as I draw to a close folks.

[72:23] What I'm saying to you is. Here is where we're getting the truth. That all human beings are born under sin. We come out of the womb with a nature that says.

[72:34] I am sinful. We don't become sinful the first time we sin. That's not when it happens. We sin the first time. Because in our nature.

[72:45] We're already prone to sin. That's our bent. That's what this says. Now I'm going to show you in subsequent messages. What theologians call that.

[72:56] And how they trace it back. And then I'm going to take you to the New Testament. And show you the parallels that God makes. To substantiate what I just said. That all human beings are born with a sin nature.

[73:08] Before we ever commit our first sin. We're already in sin. That's what the scripture teaches. So instead of freedom. Sin binds us in its lies.

[73:19] It shackles us in the shame. And fear. And pride. And insecurity. Sometimes folks. If you'll hear this from me. Sometimes we fear the change.

[73:30] That Christ can bring. Because we're caught in the lie. That we're free to be what we want to be. We have not come to the place. Where we understand. How in bondage we are.

[73:42] How much we are in captivity. To sin in our heart. And so we can think. Man if I come to Jesus. I'm going to have to change. I've heard this. I actually had a guy tell me one time.

[73:53] I won't come to Christ. Because I'll have to give up smoking. He said that. That's deception. That's somebody who doesn't understand. The true nature of the captivity.

[74:03] Of a heart. Imprisoned by sin. The result. Of a heart imprisoned by sin. Is a devil's health. The only way to escape that.

[74:14] Is through the cross of Christ. You can talk to me and Greg. After the service. More about that. If you'd like. I hope you will. You don't have to live. Every day of your life.

[74:24] Captive to sin. Suffering the penalty. Of God's promise. That you'll end up. In a devil's health. If you don't come to Christ. For your forgiveness. In sin through him.

[74:36] Finally. I want to show you one passage. It's consuming. So what I've told you is. It's lawless. It's a lie. It's captive. To your heart. And it's a con.

[74:47] Sin is consuming. It's a con. It's a big game. To the devil. But it's not a game to you. Because your soul. Hangs in the balance. Sin is pervasive. Sin infects.

[74:59] Every part of you. So that you are totally corrupted. We refer to this. In theological terms. As total depravity. Total depravity. Doesn't mean. That you go out.

[75:09] And you do your worst. All the time. Total depravity. Means that there's no part of you. Unaffected. Or unpolluted. By sin. You are from head to toe. Completely.

[75:20] Saturated. In sin. So that there's no part of you. In you. That is unaffected. By sin. We are totally corrupt. So we need.

[75:31] Not just. A spiritual bath. We need. A new nature. We need. A new nature. We need. A new. Constitution. All of this.

[75:42] Starts coming together. In the glorious plan. Of God's gospel. Through the Lord Jesus. All right. I'll end with this.

[75:52] If you'll turn to Ephesians. We'll read this passage. I'll point out something. And then I'll be finished. Friends. You've. You've done marvelously well. Hanging in to a longer message. I commend you.

[76:05] Ephesians chapter 4. And we'll begin in verse 21.

[76:18] Paul says. If indeed you heard him. Jesus. And were taught in him. Jesus. Just as truth is in. Jesus.

[76:30] To lay aside. In reference to your former conduct. The old man. Which is being corrupted. In accordance with the. Lust. Of deceit. And be renewed.

[76:41] In the spirit. Of your mind. That is your heart. And to put on the new man. Which in the likeness of God. Has been created. In righteousness. And holiness. Of the truth.

[76:53] Notice. Friends. Here. The source. The role. The function. The effect. Of truth. On a person's life. Notice.

[77:04] The source. Is Jesus. And the effect. Is being. Recreated. In the truth. Walk through it with me. In verse 21. Just as the truth. Is in Jesus.

[77:14] Where do we find. The truth. We need. To counter. The deceptive lies. Of Satan. You say. In the Bible. That's right. Who gave us. The Bible. Jesus.

[77:25] The truth. Resides in Jesus. In other words. The truth. That you and I need. To conquer. The lies. And deceptive schemes. Of the devil. And the temptations. That we face. Is in a person.

[77:37] It's in a person. Jesus. He. Is the truth. So he. Is the path. To freedom. Not the freedom.

[77:48] That Satan promises. That's a big lie. Jesus. Is the path. To true. Freedom. Because he. Is truth. Lay aside.

[77:59] In reference. To your old life. Your former life. Before the Lord Jesus. Lay aside. Those deceitful. Desires. Those deceitful. Lusts.

[78:09] That you chased. And tried to fulfill. And instead. Be renewed. There's your new nature. Be renewed. In the spirit. Of your heart. Put on.

[78:20] The new man. The new nature. That is Jesus. Which in the likeness. Of God. Is being created. In righteousness. And holiness. Of. The truth. The truth.

[78:30] Is the source. That you and I. Draw from. To face. The deception. Of Satan. If only. Eve. Had camped out. There.

[78:41] If only. Eve. Had stayed. There. God said. What you're telling me. Right now. Is contrary. To what. God. Clearly. Said to us.

[78:52] I don't understand. Everything. You're trying. To do. Right here. But I recognize. The fact. That you're telling me. That God. Was not truthful. To me. Get thee. Behind. Me. And boy.

[79:05] How would things. Be different. They'd still be here. We'd be talking. To Adam and Eve. I'd be making. An appointment. Let's go talk. To Adam. See how things. Are going. We're going to talk.

[79:17] More. About. The effects. Of all of this. We're going to talk. More. About. What God's done. About it. And where the hope lies. For all of us. But if anybody.

[79:28] Was to ever ask you. From this point. Where did evil. Come from. You have your answer. Now. Evil. Comes from. A person. Satan.

[79:40] Entered. Into the world. Long ago. In the first humans. And nothing's been. The same since. Let's find out. What God does. About it. Will you pray with me. Well Lord.

[79:55] Father. We thank you. For the glory. Of your heart. As you have presented. This material. To us. It's a familiar. Passage. It's stuff. That we've probably. All heard. At one point. Or another.

[80:05] We've probably seen. Documentaries. And cartoons. And stuff. About it. Lord. But. Help us. To take this. Very seriously. Help us. To understand. That in all of this. You are putting out.

[80:16] An invitation. For us. To know you. By knowing Jesus. Because Jesus. Is the truth. And he. Is our only.

[80:27] Means. Of being able. To combat the lies. That constantly. Scheme. Against us. Following you. And knowing you. And trusting you. So Lord. I'm imagining.

[80:39] There's probably. A person or two. In our congregation. This morning. They're not sure. That they know you. They're not certain. About their salvation. They're wrestling.

[80:49] With it. Struggling with it. They're doubting. I pray that you would. Put in their hearts. The desire. To come and talk. To Greg and I. That we would be able. To sit down with them.

[80:59] In love. And in great patience. Ask questions. And find out. What's going on with you. So that we can help them. Come to the place. Where they can then. See the need.

[81:11] That they have. And the hope. That they have. In Jesus. That's what we pray. Father. We want to honor Christ. In all of this. So thank you. For telling us. The truth Lord.

[81:22] Thank you. For helping. These precious souls. My brothers and sisters. To take in the truth. Of the origins. Of human evil. And what you. Have done about it.

[81:32] In Christ. May you bless us. As we continue. To look into this together. And trust your heart. For telling us. The truth. In Jesus name. We pray. Amen.

[81:43] You know. Amen. Amen. Thank you.