Reaching or Relying | Shawn Miller

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Transcript

Framing The Problem Of Temptation

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The goal this morning is to give all of us a few tools on how to fight against daily temptations that come our way. None of us are exempt. And as we'll talk about later, we can be in the perfect will of God. We can be exactly where God has us. And temptation might still come. Do you ever get exhausted with all the evil that is around us? Do you ever wonder how will I be able to withstand everything that comes our way? Do you ever have this question? If God is actually completely good and sovereign over all things, how did life become so broken and corrupted? It would be easy to say that at some point something catastrophic must have happened. That cast or hurled that lasting curse over all of history. Interestingly enough, what scripture reports of what happened that corrupted our world was not looked at as monumental at the time that it happened. Two people simply turned their eyes from God and looked to another source. A source that was actually trying to get back at God for something that happened earlier. There is no indication that their goal ever had been to break communication with God. I actually think if they knew what was about to happen, if they actually knew what was about to happen, and I know God said it will bring death, but if they actually realized what was about to happen, their choices would have been different. Turn your Bibles to Genesis 3. This morning I would like to take a look at Genesis

Reading Genesis For Context

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3. We're going to start reading in Genesis 2, verse 15, just to bring a little bit of context to Genesis 3. And as we read through this passage, I'd like to I'd like to say this before we read the passage. The focus that I'll be bringing this morning is not as much on the choice that Eve and Adam made, but it's more on the subtlety and the approach that the serpent brought. Make sense? There's going to be a lot of detail in this passage that we'll never talk about this morning. But my approach was going to be more of how did the serpent bring the temptation, more than why did Adam and Eve partake? We will talk briefly about that, but it's more from what was a serpent up to. Genesis 2, beginning in verse 15, and we'll read through Genesis 3, verse 8. Genesis 2, verse 15. The Lord God took a man, Adam, which he had just created, and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Then the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its flesh, its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, This is at least at last, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Now

The Serpent’s Strategy Unpacked

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the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. From what Scripture is saying, she already added to what God has said. For God knows. Verse 4, but the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, for God knows that when you eat when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And also and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves leaves together, and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, from the presence of the Lord God among the trees in the garden. A few things that I like to point out before we dive into the temptations. Where did the temptation happen? Can somebody just quickly tell me where did the temptation happen? It's not a trick question. In the garden, in the garden of Eden. This temptation did not happen on the outskirts of hell. This temptation did not happen in Las Vegas, which is rightly called Sin City. This temptation happened in paradise. In the Garden of Eden. Who was targeted with this temptation? Again, who was targeted? The woman or Eve, as well as continuation to her husband, Adam, as we read. Eve was a person that was created in the image of God. Eve was part of God's highest creation, man, made in his image. Now, what or who is the serpent? What or who is the serpent? I think we I think we um pretty much assume that this was Satan, and I think we rightly assume that. The New Testament touches on a few scriptures that actually directly speak to this and also allude to the fact that the serpent was certainly Satan, or for sure the instrument that Satan was using at this point in time. In Revelation 12, verses 7 through 9. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. As we go through this passage, you will be uh you will hear me referring to the serpent as Satan, because I think scripture is very clear that this was Satan disguised as the serpent at this point in time. This morning, as we go through this sermon, I will have three points, three tools that I'd like for us to be able to take with us and apply when we face temptation, as Adam and Eve did here. The first point this morning is cherish God's word. Cherish God's word. Satan begins with asking a question. At no point in this interchange does Satan become very direct. He at no point says, Eve, eat the fruit. He at no point says, even just try the fruit. What Satan does is he takes direct aim at Eve's belief in what God just said. What God just said is this you may surely eat of every tree in the garden. And by the way, he said this to Adam, and obviously Adam conveyed this to Eve. We have no, it doesn't tell us here that God directly told Eve what he had told Adam. But obviously Eve knew because she replied back to the serpent. So what God actually said was this you may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. Satan takes this and immediately he adjusts the tone and the emphasis by asking, Did God actually say that? Did God actually say that? A truth or a lie with seeds of truth is very deceiving. And oftentimes when Satan comes with temptations, he uses good and implants just a few bad seeds.

Doubt, Desire, And God’s Goodness

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You may eat of any of the trees except one. Satan with his question takes God and turns him from a very generous God into a very stingy God by what he asks. And this is what he asks. If I can lay my hand my eyes on it, he questions, he he basically questions, are you allowed to eat of any of the fruit? At this point for Eve, doubt starts to set in. As I was studying this and I was thinking through this, my heart actually really went out to Adam and Eve. Put yourself in their shoes. We don't have any record of how long they've been created before we get to this point. We tend to think that it was immediately. We don't know. They could have been in the garden for years. It doesn't say. Obviously, they were keeping the garden, and obviously, it seems Adam was long enough in the garden by himself that God saw that he needed help, thus created Eve. So we at this point, and I did not do a deep study. Thank you, Andrew. At this point, we do not know how long they've been in the garden. But what we do know, up to this up to this point, there was direct communication with God and everything was perfect. They were in paradise. So if I put myself in their shoes and ask myself the question, if I would have been in this paradise for however long, and all of a sudden out of this tree comes this serpent, what would my response have been? What would your response have been? For Eve, doubt starts to set in. The tree looks good. Satan seems to know what he's talking about. Remember, this is the first time on record that we know that she was confronted with anything of this sort. Everything up to that time had been perfect. She might have started questioning, is God actually holding something back from me that would be really good for me? Have I ever, have you ever accused God of holding out on you? Have I ever been frustrated with God when He didn't give me what I thought was good for myself or my family? This morning, when I accuse God of not being good, I am saying I am wiser and I know better than He does. All of us have had times in life when we could either maybe you're in it right now, or maybe you came through it and you came through that time in life, and you literally in your mind you were saying, How can God be good? Folks, this morning, the moment we choose to believe that God is not good, everything else becomes relative. If God isn't good, what else is good? God is good. But Eve was starting to doubt. Hold tightly to what God says, cherish God's word. Don't let doubt reshape truth. Don't allow doubt to reshape truth and what you know God has said. Psalm 119, verse 11. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against thee. I think the KGV says, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Now, there is another thing going on here between Eve and the serpent. One thing I'd like to point out in chapter two, God is repeatedly referred to as Yahweh Elohim, Lord God. Satan refers to God only as God. What is the difference here? All of a sudden, Satan is subtly telling Eve that God's just that's his title. He takes the Lord off of God, which means personal, which means connection. All of a sudden, he's subtly telling Eve that God is not your father. What you've experienced up to this point, it's not true. He takes the personal connection away from Eve. Suddenly, Eve forgets that God is her father. Folks, this morning, when we view God as anything less than a father, we will also view ourselves as something other than his child. Let me read that again. When we view God as something less than a father, we will also view ourselves as something other than his child. Satan very subtly took God from Father, Lord God, to just God, ruler, and dictator. That is not who God is for us this morning. Who is God to you this morning? Cherish what God says, cherish him as your father. That is the best defense we can have against Satan when he comes with temptation. Remembering that God is more than a ruler, he is our father, and we are his child. Point number one, cherish God's word and cherish him as your father. Point number two, control your desires. Control my desires.

Tool One: Cherish God’s Word

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Genesis 3, verse 6. So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and also, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Temptation most often comes through something that is actually good and valuable. I just, as I as I studied and as I'm preaching this sermon, I'm sorry, I just hate Satan. He is such a conniver, he is so subtle. And he is out to deceive and take anything that God has, take it away from God. Temptation most often targets desire over obedience, disobedience. We can be in the center of God's will and still face strong temptation. Adam and Eve were right then who they were created to be. They were created to be in the garden, and they were created to be the dressers and the helpers for God at that point. They were created who they were. They were who they were created to be, and they were where they were supposed to be in the garden. And stuff temptation still came. Please hear me clearly on this next statement. Temptation is not sin. Temptation is not sin. James 1, 13 through 15. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then, desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin. And sin when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Temptation only becomes a sin after we've moved and accepted and it became it conceived. After we've made the move and we've reached out and we've taken the fruit. That's when sin occurs. The progression in James 3 or in James 1 can be very clearly seen in Eve's case. She did not sin by wanting the fruit. All of us at some point have wanted something that we knew is wrong. When our will consents to what God has forbidden, sin enters. The sin for Eve came when she reached out, she took the fruit, and she partook. She ate. When Satan brings temptation, beware of this. He likes to bring a premature guilt by saying, at this point, you might as well do it. He likes to make us feel guilty by bringing the temptation. Folks, this morning there are few victories without a fight. When Satan brings temptation, fight back. Fight back. Do not reach out and consent. Satan disguises serving himself by tempting us to serve ourselves. It'd be much easier if Satan would walk up to us and say, Come serve me. We would all say, Absolutely not. There is no way I'll do that. But you know what he does? He simply says, Serve yourself. Serve yourself. Do what you want to do. The essence of sin, folks, this morning is serving myself, doing what I want to do. Don't be deceived by the good that is in temptation. Personal autonomy in itself is slavery. Anything we do aside from being in connection with God, anything we do for ourselves, is doing what the tempter wants us to do. This morning, folks, we belong to Christ and we belong to Christ alone. Overcoming temptation defeats the enemy and at the same time draws us closer to our Father. So point number one, cherish God's word, cherish him as a father. Point number two, control your desires by allowing Christ to rule your desires. And the point number three is commit to the cross. And in to talk about this point, I'm gonna like for you to turn to Luke chapter 4. And I'd like to read verses 1 through 13. Luke 4, 1 through 13. We just talked about the temptations in Genesis in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Now I'd like to take us into the wilderness when Jesus was led out into the wilderness again by Satan to tempt him. There are so many similarities in these two passages, but the outcome was so drastically different. Like to read Luke 4, verses 1 through 13. Now, this is right after Jesus' baptism. And remember that right after Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God came upon him, and his Father God made the proclamation that this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Remember that as we read through the temptations. Chapter 4, Luke 4, verse 1. And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led up by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil, and he ate nothing during those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said

Tool Two: Control Your Desires

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to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And he said, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. Isn't that strange? The created giving back to the creator what the creator created. Again in verse um six, and he said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered him, It is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. In both temptations, Satan started by questioning God. In Eden, Satan said, Did God really say? Are you actually believing what God said? Did he actually say what he said? In Luke 4 in the wilderness, he didn't really pose it as a question, but yet he did pose it as a question. If you are the son of God. Now remember, in the chapter right before this, God just made the declaration. In both scenes, Satan attacks God and his word. In Eden, Satan questions what God actually said. In the wilderness, right after God declared that this is my son, Satan questions Jesus' identity. Sin doesn't start with rebellion. It starts with doubt about who God is and what he said if it's true. Folks, this morning, if the enemy can distort our view of God, our father, then our decisions will follow. Do not allow Satan to distort who God is to you as a father. A few more similarities. In Genesis 3, verse 6, we have the temptation as being threefold. Good for food, which is satisfies the physical desire, a delight to the eyes, which satisfies the emotional desire, and then desire to make one wise, elevation of self, wise in our own eyes. In Luke 4, there's also a threefold temptation. Turn a stone to bread, physical desire. His second one was personal authority and glory feeds our emotional status. We feel good about ourselves. And then the last temptation to jump from the temple, to make a spectacle of oneself, personal recognition, to lift oneself up. Again, I'll repeat temptation most often targets desire rather than actual disobedience. When we yield to temptation, then often disobedience follows, but it it targets desire. Unfortunately, he is still using that strategy today. First John 2 16 for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. So we have two instances in Scripture with a lot of similarities. But the biggest difference is one reached out and partook, and the other relied on God. And in this way, this is what happened. Adam and Eve, they saw, they desired, they took, and they ate. I think the first two were, it is written, and the last one was it has been said. If we want victory over temptation, we cannot depend on willpower. It is anchoring my heart into God's word and audibly confessing my allegiance to Christ by word of mouth. Jesus spoke. He said that as a rebuttal back to Satan. Just a few tools on how can we fight back. Memorize and quote scripture when in preparation for temptation. Prepare yourself to expect temptation. Because in the world that we live in, it will come. And when we decide what to do once when temptation hits, it's often too late.

When Temptation Becomes Sin

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Think ahead. You know what you're prone to. You know where your weaknesses are. I know where my weaknesses are. Think ahead. What will I do if I face temptation? Be prepared to fight back. Be prepared to use God's word to fight back. Get vocal. Get vocal when rebuking Satan and declaring your allegiance. Make so that Satan hears you. I know praying to the Father is essential, but rebuking Satan vocally is a powerful thing to where he hears you and he knows that I have no interest. Get behind me. Get vocal. Back to the three temptations that Jesus was facing. Jesus was tempted to prove his divinity in all three of these temptations. Yet Jesus refused to accomplish God's purpose without using God's intended timetable. Jesus knew at this point that he had to go through the sacrificial, sacrificing his life. I think he knew at this point. I also think he knew that what Satan was offering him in the second temptation to give him all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus also knew that after the sacrifice that these would be his. Embrace the hard that comes through with following Christ. Christ gave us a wonderful example of how to fight back. Let's embrace that and be prepared when temptation comes. There is victory. We need to fight for it, but it is there for us to take. Let's pray. Our Father God, thank you for being in our midst this morning. Thank you for your word that we can go to when we face temptation. Thank you for the victory that you have won for us. Lord, help us to not allow Satan's subtlety to distort your uh our view of you. Lord, we love you as a father, and we want to continue viewing you as that. Thank you for the victory that you have supplied for us, Lord. Be with us today, grant the increase to what was shared this morning. I pray this on your name. Amen.