Troy a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Solicitor; Genesis 3:1 Part 2
Now we`re going to start off where we left off and the scene is about to take a hard turn for man and his woman.
The first time, the most deadly spiritual force ever released was by that question released into the world...and it is this deadly force, the assumption that what God said is subject to our judgment. That's the issue, that's what launches this entire attack. "Hey, Eve, let's talk about what God said and how we feel about it."
By the way, the fact that he says, "Indeed, has God said..." is a giveaway because from chapter 2 verse 4 on, once you got pass the original creation, from chapter 2 verse 4 on would you please notice in verse 4, "Lord God," verse 5, "Lord God," verse 7, "Lord God," verse 8, "Lord God," verse 9, "Lord God," verse 18, "Lord God," verse 19, "Lord God," verse 21, 22, chapter 3 verse 1, "Lord God." And you find again the Lord God walking in the garden in verse 8, the Lord God calling to man in verse 9, the Lord God saying to the woman in verse 13, the Lord God saying to the serpent in verse 14. Verse 21, the Lord God made garments, verse 22, the Lord God said, 23, the Lord God sent. The word "Lord" is what puts the emphasis on His sovereignty and that's the word Satan wants to leave out because if there's anything he hates it is the sovereignty of God. He will not acknowledge Him as Yahweh, Yahweh the eternal I am, he calls Him Elohim which is a more generic word for God and he drops the term "Lord" because he will not affirm His sovereignty. It's that sovereignty that he sought to overthrow in his rebellion. It is that sovereignty that got him thrown out of heaven, along with the rest of his fallen angels. And so he really in a demeaning way refers to the one who has now been clearly identified as the Lord God simply as God.
Has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" Well, Satan starts by quoting Scripture, right? Because that's exactly 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, but from the tree of the garden...the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it you shall surely die." So he starts by simply bringing up a fact...as indeed, has God really said...but he casts doubt on it and makes it subject to her judgment. "Has God really said you shall not eat from every tree of the garden? Has God put some limitation in there?" And Satan reflects a knowledge of God's Word, he reflects a knowledge of God's command. But he does turn the positive to a negative, reversing or inverting the emphasis by saying it the way he does. God said...you remember...you shall eat of every tree of the garden, but this one of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Satan reverses it, you shall not eat from every tree of the garden? So he casts the negative tone over it and inverts the emphasis to not eating where when God originally gave the command it was the emphasis on eating everything, except that one tree. Now it's the not eating that is up front.
In this way he focuses Eve's attention on the prohibition and sets her up to question or to judge or to evaluate God and His Word. And the tone here is that...Eve, doesn't it strike you as strange that God has restricted you? Do you question that? Let's have a conversation about that. And the further implication is that there's something in God that wants to deprive you of some great delight.
That's the tone of it, that's the negative twist and inversion of it. It's almost like...Eve, I can't believe, did God really tell you you couldn't eat everything in here? Don't you get the picture that that's a little narrow of God? It's a little strict? Can you kind of catch the tone here that God is needlessly limiting your enjoyment and there must be something about that tree that God doesn't want you to enjoy?
You know what? As this thought settles, you might get the idea that there's a cruel streak in God, well certainly an uncaring streak, or certainly a limiting streak, or certainly a depriving streak in God. And the subtlety of it is in the mind of Eve she's going to be saying...I never thought of that before but it is strange. And Satan is subtlely suggesting that he is more devoted to Eve's best interests than God because he is not restrictive. By the way, have you noticed that? Have you noticed that? Oh, Satan is for freedom. God is pro-bondage, narrow, restrictive, binding. Satan is pro-freedom.
You see, the fact that God gave them everything in the garden to eat, absolutely everything, is set aside as negligible. Satan doesn't want to talk about that. He wants to go right to that one tree and he wants to paint a picture in her mind that this is a serious, unacceptable restriction that casts suspicion on God's goodness.
Eve omits the "all" in verse 2 from the fruit of all the trees of the garden we may eat. She didn't use the word "all", indicating that she's beginning to get drawn in by Satan and losing sight of the boundless, limitless goodness of God. And then she restates the command of God in verse 3 without any defense of God's goodness. She adds to the command the words "Or touch it." Go back to chapter 2, you're not going to find that in God's command in chapter 2:17, God didn't say that. But if you really look at that, it goes deeper than that. I really is reflective of the process in Eve's mind. She's beginning to feel the restriction. Satan has gotten her to the place where she feels she's in bondage, that there are delights being prevented, that she is being restricted by God from something that is desirable and wonderful and satisfying and pleasurable. And so she's beginning to think that God is harsh and it shows up because she makes God even harsher. And she says, "We can't even touch it." Well, God never said that. But she's bought into the lie that God is harsh and restrictive and narrow and binding.
Well, Satan knows he's succeeded. First he introduced the fact that God was subject to judgment. God's Word was subject to a discussion and an evaluation and a verdict could be rendered on what God said.
He moves that seemingly innocent approach, let's have a discussion about God, to planting the idea that God can't be trusted. God is cruel. God is uncaring. God is needlessly narrow. God is putting you into bondage and the real fun stuff is outside of His confinement. She has fallen into distrusting God and to questioning....listen to this...God's character, the sin of all sins. And as Martin Luther said, "Satan knows now that the wall has begun to topple," so Luther said, "Satan started pushing against it so that it could completely crush Eve."
Verse 4, "And the serpent said to the woman, 'You surely shall not die.'" Now this is just a flat out lie, right? But it takes him a while to get there. This is a bold denial of what God has said. God said you'll die, Satan said...what?...you won't die. And that's the bottom line, folks. God tells you the truth and Satan lies. Satan lied and called God a liar.
And now her mind is totally corrupted with wicked thoughts about God. His majesty as been insulted. He has been dishonored and Satan moves in for the kill."God is a liar," he says. "God will deceive you and God will harm you and God will take your freedom and God will restrict your joy and He'll do it by telling you things that aren't true. God tells you if you do the things He tells you not to do, you'll die and that's a big lie." The ultimate lie for Satan is this, there never will be any judgment for sin. Right?
So that in the end, restraint is placed by God in the form of judgment. So what does Satan want to do? He wants to eliminate that restraint. He wants to make sure people think when they die they'll just get recycled, reincarnation. Or that when they die they'll just go wandering off into the happy hunting ground, or at the end of the long black tunnel there's a bright light and they're going to go in to some wonderful happy place. Or he wants to make people think when they die they just go out of existence. So Satan always lies about judgment.
This is summing up what Satan says. "You know, God is so restrictive, so narrow. There's so much bondage, so confining, so many rules. Now me, I just offer you freedom. You can be whatever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do, you know. I don't recognize any sexual preference, or anything else. And by the way, when you're doing whatever you're doing, don't worry about it, there is no judgment. There are no divine laws." Satan says, "There's no absolute authority. There is no standard. It's your life and you can do whatever you want to do. And by the way, there are no consequences. Isn't that great? You're not going to die, Eve. It's not going to happen."
These things I`ve brought out before you because I believe that these things are what the the solicator, "Satan", used on the most two prefect people that ever walked with, talked with, dwelt among the Almighty God Himself and he was sucessful at tempting them and plungeing our humanity into sin, curseing us to this dreadful body that is subject to every whelm that comes our way. A body that can`t function without Christ, a body that is controled and manipulated by the powers that control this world. Theses things worked then and I believe to the utmost that they work now.
So be alert, keep your mind guared from the wells of the devil and keep your trust in God, for He is the only force that combate`s the evil one.
Amen
Troy
The Solicitor; Genesis 3:1 Part 2
Now we`re going to start off where we left off and the scene is about to take a hard turn for man and his woman.
The first time, the most deadly spiritual force ever released was by that question released into the world...and it is this deadly force, the assumption that what God said is subject to our judgment. That's the issue, that's what launches this entire attack. "Hey, Eve, let's talk about what God said and how we feel about it."
By the way, the fact that he says, "Indeed, has God said..." is a giveaway because from chapter 2 verse 4 on, once you got pass the original creation, from chapter 2 verse 4 on would you please notice in verse 4, "Lord God," verse 5, "Lord God," verse 7, "Lord God," verse 8, "Lord God," verse 9, "Lord God," verse 18, "Lord God," verse 19, "Lord God," verse 21, 22, chapter 3 verse 1, "Lord God." And you find again the Lord God walking in the garden in verse 8, the Lord God calling to man in verse 9, the Lord God saying to the woman in verse 13, the Lord God saying to the serpent in verse 14. Verse 21, the Lord God made garments, verse 22, the Lord God said, 23, the Lord God sent. The word "Lord" is what puts the emphasis on His sovereignty and that's the word Satan wants to leave out because if there's anything he hates it is the sovereignty of God. He will not acknowledge Him as Yahweh, Yahweh the eternal I am, he calls Him Elohim which is a more generic word for God and he drops the term "Lord" because he will not affirm His sovereignty. It's that sovereignty that he sought to overthrow in his rebellion. It is that sovereignty that got him thrown out of heaven, along with the rest of his fallen angels. And so he really in a demeaning way refers to the one who has now been clearly identified as the Lord God simply as God.
Has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" Well, Satan starts by quoting Scripture, right? Because that's exactly 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, but from the tree of the garden...the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it you shall surely die." So he starts by simply bringing up a fact...as indeed, has God really said...but he casts doubt on it and makes it subject to her judgment. "Has God really said you shall not eat from every tree of the garden? Has God put some limitation in there?" And Satan reflects a knowledge of God's Word, he reflects a knowledge of God's command. But he does turn the positive to a negative, reversing or inverting the emphasis by saying it the way he does. God said...you remember...you shall eat of every tree of the garden, but this one of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Satan reverses it, you shall not eat from every tree of the garden? So he casts the negative tone over it and inverts the emphasis to not eating where when God originally gave the command it was the emphasis on eating everything, except that one tree. Now it's the not eating that is up front.
In this way he focuses Eve's attention on the prohibition and sets her up to question or to judge or to evaluate God and His Word. And the tone here is that...Eve, doesn't it strike you as strange that God has restricted you? Do you question that? Let's have a conversation about that. And the further implication is that there's something in God that wants to deprive you of some great delight.
That's the tone of it, that's the negative twist and inversion of it. It's almost like...Eve, I can't believe, did God really tell you you couldn't eat everything in here? Don't you get the picture that that's a little narrow of God? It's a little strict? Can you kind of catch the tone here that God is needlessly limiting your enjoyment and there must be something about that tree that God doesn't want you to enjoy?
You know what? As this thought settles, you might get the idea that there's a cruel streak in God, well certainly an uncaring streak, or certainly a limiting streak, or certainly a depriving streak in God. And the subtlety of it is in the mind of Eve she's going to be saying...I never thought of that before but it is strange. And Satan is subtlely suggesting that he is more devoted to Eve's best interests than God because he is not restrictive. By the way, have you noticed that? Have you noticed that? Oh, Satan is for freedom. God is pro-bondage, narrow, restrictive, binding. Satan is pro-freedom.
You see, the fact that God gave them everything in the garden to eat, absolutely everything, is set aside as negligible. Satan doesn't want to talk about that. He wants to go right to that one tree and he wants to paint a picture in her mind that this is a serious, unacceptable restriction that casts suspicion on God's goodness.
Eve omits the "all" in verse 2 from the fruit of all the trees of the garden we may eat. She didn't use the word "all", indicating that she's beginning to get drawn in by Satan and losing sight of the boundless, limitless goodness of God. And then she restates the command of God in verse 3 without any defense of God's goodness. She adds to the command the words "Or touch it." Go back to chapter 2, you're not going to find that in God's command in chapter 2:17, God didn't say that. But if you really look at that, it goes deeper than that. I really is reflective of the process in Eve's mind. She's beginning to feel the restriction. Satan has gotten her to the place where she feels she's in bondage, that there are delights being prevented, that she is being restricted by God from something that is desirable and wonderful and satisfying and pleasurable. And so she's beginning to think that God is harsh and it shows up because she makes God even harsher. And she says, "We can't even touch it." Well, God never said that. But she's bought into the lie that God is harsh and restrictive and narrow and binding.
Well, Satan knows he's succeeded. First he introduced the fact that God was subject to judgment. God's Word was subject to a discussion and an evaluation and a verdict could be rendered on what God said.
He moves that seemingly innocent approach, let's have a discussion about God, to planting the idea that God can't be trusted. God is cruel. God is uncaring. God is needlessly narrow. God is putting you into bondage and the real fun stuff is outside of His confinement. She has fallen into distrusting God and to questioning....listen to this...God's character, the sin of all sins. And as Martin Luther said, "Satan knows now that the wall has begun to topple," so Luther said, "Satan started pushing against it so that it could completely crush Eve."
Verse 4, "And the serpent said to the woman, 'You surely shall not die.'" Now this is just a flat out lie, right? But it takes him a while to get there. This is a bold denial of what God has said. God said you'll die, Satan said...what?...you won't die. And that's the bottom line, folks. God tells you the truth and Satan lies. Satan lied and called God a liar.
And now her mind is totally corrupted with wicked thoughts about God. His majesty as been insulted. He has been dishonored and Satan moves in for the kill."God is a liar," he says. "God will deceive you and God will harm you and God will take your freedom and God will restrict your joy and He'll do it by telling you things that aren't true. God tells you if you do the things He tells you not to do, you'll die and that's a big lie." The ultimate lie for Satan is this, there never will be any judgment for sin. Right?
So that in the end, restraint is placed by God in the form of judgment. So what does Satan want to do? He wants to eliminate that restraint. He wants to make sure people think when they die they'll just get recycled, reincarnation. Or that when they die they'll just go wandering off into the happy hunting ground, or at the end of the long black tunnel there's a bright light and they're going to go in to some wonderful happy place. Or he wants to make people think when they die they just go out of existence. So Satan always lies about judgment.
This is summing up what Satan says. "You know, God is so restrictive, so narrow. There's so much bondage, so confining, so many rules. Now me, I just offer you freedom. You can be whatever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do, you know. I don't recognize any sexual preference, or anything else. And by the way, when you're doing whatever you're doing, don't worry about it, there is no judgment. There are no divine laws." Satan says, "There's no absolute authority. There is no standard. It's your life and you can do whatever you want to do. And by the way, there are no consequences. Isn't that great? You're not going to die, Eve. It's not going to happen."
These things I`ve brought out before you because I believe that these things are what the the solicator, "Satan", used on the most two prefect people that ever walked with, talked with, dwelt among the Almighty God Himself and he was sucessful at tempting them and plungeing our humanity into sin, curseing us to this dreadful body that is subject to every whelm that comes our way. A body that can`t function without Christ, a body that is controled and manipulated by the powers that control this world. Theses things worked then and I believe to the utmost that they work now.
So be alert, keep your mind guared from the wells of the devil and keep your trust in God, for He is the only force that combate`s the evil one.
Amen
Troy
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