Transcript
Walking the Old Paths, Episode 15 transcript
Summary
The story of Genesis chapter three is the hinge upon which the history of mankind would turn, as it was the first instance of sin and disobedience to God. In order to fully understand the severity of this event, it is important to examine the roles of each main characters – the man, the woman, and the serpent.
This episode discusses the roles of men and women and their relationship, as outlined in the Bible. It emphasizes the importance of following God’s design for marriage and family, with men being responsible for leadership and provision and women being responsible for supporting and caring for their husbands and children.
JP also identifies Satan as the serpent in the Garden of Eden and warns about his attacks and deception, encouraging you to be vigilant and rely on the Word of God to defend against him.
Transcription
And it only through the Word of God, that we can defend ourselves from those fiery attacks of the devil that is trying to destroy you, o husband and you o wife. He wants to destroy the family. He knows that if he can destroy the family, he has got his people.
Welcome to the Walking the Old Paths podcast. I’m JP, your host on this journey through the Bible. Each week we embark on a systematic study of the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.
Welcome back, everybody to Walking the Old Paths. Hope you had a great week. Uh, studying your Bible and even preparing for this week’s lesson.
Um, if you can hear it, my voice. I still got a bit of a cold. I had laryngitis all week. I’m actually speaking quite a bit better today, but, uh, hopefully my voice holds up. But if you hear it like that, that’s why,
You know, as, uh, we’re coming into chapter three here in Genesis. Um, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this week on that, and it’s it’s kept me up some nights, uh, when I’ve been contemplating some of the things that are associated with it here. And before we actually get into chapter three, in the heart of it, the meat of it. Um, I wanted to talk about the characters in the story because this is such a pivotal chapter in the Bible.
Uh, Genesis chapter three is really a great hinge upon which the history of man swung. All that follows in the Bible is because of what occurred in the Garden of Eden back in Genesis chapter three. All the misery and the sin of mankind and human history as the result of the fall of mankind there in that garden.
And they’re really only four chapters in the Bible that do not have the stain of sin upon them. And those are Genesis one and two. And then the last two, Revelation 21 and 22. Everything in between is a result of what occurs here in Genesis chapter three.
You know, God’s creative work, as we discussed, uh, was completed and ended in Genesis chapter one, but his redemptive work began here in chapter three as a result of man’s choice.
And before we can get into that, we’re going to pause here, and we’re going to contemplate the seriousness of what happened in that garden. And to do that, we’re going to identify and we’re going to discuss and identify the purpose of each of our main characters the man, the woman, and the serpent.
But before we get to that, I have a kind of a philosophical question I want to pose to, and one that’s kind of been bothering me a little bit, you know, as I’ve been studying here in Genesis, I’ve been kind of surprised the amount of commentators who have um, said that man was basically had the knowledge of good uh, but before the fall actually.
But that kind of has bothered me a little bit. If man really did have that knowledge of good. Why why is that tree that was in the midst of the garden called the knowledge of the Tree of Good and Evil?
Did Adam have a sense of of moral good or is he just innocent? And he was before God and God walked with him and talked with him. He gave him instructions. You know, you may eat of every tree of the garden, uh, in the Garden of Eden, except for this one tree, you know.
And did Adam really contemplate what that would mean if he was to disobey it? I think at first he was just like, okay, the tree in the middle of the garden, and we’re not going to touch and we’re not going to eat it. Um, but, you know.
Was man, did he have the knowledge of good. And what does that mean when we come to Genesis chapter three here with the fall? Now, if he didn’t have that knowledge of good and he was just an innocent creature, he was made in the image of God. But and he had a choice before him, but he chose, as we will see, his wife over God. Did he really understand what that meant?
And the other thing that kind of made me think, too, is Adam, he, uh, though he was created the innocent with God, yet he naturally progressed towards doing that which was disobedient.
You know, we can we can blame Adam and Eve for all that happened. But if it was you or me in their place, it wouldn’t have been any different. And we have the knowledge of of good and evil today. You know, just as Adam and Eve did after they ate of that fruit.
Um, it’s hard for us to understand that concept of there being no good and evil. And then really, it’s like two sides of a coin. Again, how do you know what is good without having the opposite of evil or vice versa?
Those are just questions I don’t really have an answer to. Is just something that made me think. I don’t know why the commentators said that he had that knowledge of good, but maybe it was because God gave him that choice. And that choice therefore put him in perspective of what is good. All right, obedience is good.
But it’s it’s one of those things that God doesn’t define for us. He doesn’t tell us that Adam was good. Um, it just it just says that he gave him that option and and shows the free will of man. You know, man was not a robot. You know, God gave him choice to love him or to or to not love him, to choose something else. In which case this was his wife, Eve.
But what I wanted to talk to you about today is the roles of the biblical husband and the biblical wife, because we see a failure here in both of them. And then lastly, we’ll look at the serpent and who that is and the characteristics defining that serpent.
But let’s look at the biblical husband here, and we’re going to grab some of the information from the New Testament on that.
Adam, he was he was made outside of the Garden of Eden, and he was brought into the garden. And it was there in that garden that God took Adam’s rib, and he made woman. He made Eve.
And Adam was told when he was put into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Now, we discussed that last time what that meant. He was to till it; he was to guard it.
And, you know, I think that within that realm of his responsibility was his wife, Eve. He was to dress and keep it. She was part of that garden. She was she was made inside of that. And when God was warning him, you know, telling him to guard it to to keep it, it’s because there was a serpent there in the garden, wasn’t there? God knew this. And Adam’s responsibility was to cherish, nourish his wife and a guard her.
As we will see when we get in chapter three. How Satan’s attack was not against Adam directly that we know of, at least in what we’re told. But it was through Eve, and that’s how the serpent got Adam to sin uh, was through the woman.
But the biblical husband were told in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”
Man is told the love your wife. And we actually see that several times in the New Testament where we’re instructed that.
And we should know something that when we see instruction in the New Testament, it is because it does not come naturally to us. In fact, our natural sinful self wants to do the opposite of everything that God wants for us.
And so when we’re told here to love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself, for it is because it is unnatural to us. And while that may seem funny to young people. But after your honeymoon phase is over and the stresses of life come in, you know a child is born and you guys are not getting much sleep and the arguing and bickering start. Life happens. You guys aren’t fulfilling your roles as husband and wife to each other. Um, and bitterness comes in and husbands were told, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.
And if you think about it, the church is constantly struggling, it seems, to do that which God has purposed us to do. And likewise, God loves the church, even though the church is struggles to be obedient unto God and to walk with God. We have so many problems.
I mean, look here in America, how many denominations we have. I mean, we are really a fickle people that we if we can’t agree on something, we just split and make a whole new denomination.
So you have multiple denominations and then you have multiple splits within those denominations, and it just seems to keep accumulating and growing and growing here in America. That is a problem with us.
And you got to wonder, what does God think of that when he views his church? And we can’t agree upon the gospel, we can’t agree upon the Word of God. And doctrine and function within the church. And so we split and we arguing and we don’t have one mind basically.
What does that look like to God? I mean, we really are kind of an unlovable people, it seems. But yet Christ loved us, and he gave himself as the example for us as husbands to love our wives.
We’re also in Ephesians 528 and 29 told “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:”
Albert Barnes, the old Presbyterian pastor and theologian from the 1800s, had this to say on Ephesians 5:28 and 29 he said, “this is the subject on which Paul had been speaking, and from which he had been diverted by the allusion to the glorified church. The doctrine here is that a husband should have the same care for the comfort of his wife, which he has for himself. He should regard her as one with himself, and as he protects his own body from cold and hunger, and when sick and suffering endeavours to restore it to health. So he should regard and treat her.”
Adam, when he was in that garden, you know, he was told to dress and keep it. But was he watching his wife? Was he guarding her? When the serpent came to Eve to deceive her. Where was Adam now? He might have been working, but was he paying attention? Was he keeping and dress, addressing and keeping his wife as he should have?
Barnes goes on to say that “he that loveth his wife love him herself for two reasons because one she is one with him and their interests are identified.”
Adam and Eve had a common interest, right? They were to flourish in that garden with God, with one rule behind to to follow basically. That was their common interest.
A husband and wife have a common interest. When you get married, you are joined together as one flesh. Neither of you are separate or distinct from the other. But now you have become one.
Number two, um, Albert Barnes says, “because by this he really promotes his own welfare as much as he does when he takes care of his own body. A man’s kindness to his wife will be more than repaid by the happiness which she imparts, and all the real solicitude which he shows to make her happy will come to more than it costs. If a man wishes to promote his own happiness in the most effectual way, he had better begin by showing kindness to his wife.”
We’re instructed here as as I said, as we see in Ephesians, that we’re to show kindness unto our wife, were to love her as our own self. That is what you would do for your own body if you were in discomfort. You’re going to try to make it comfortable.
And men, that is our job, you know, as as husbands that God has defined for us. This really is a hard lesson to give, and it’s going to be a hard one for you to take.
Now I feel that guys can take some of this better. Uh, we have thicker skin. I really feel when we get to you ladies, you’re going to struggle with what the Bible has to say.
But let’s continue here. Colossians 3:19. “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.”
Again, we see that we’re told to love your wives, but then we’re also told not to be bitter against them.
The Preacher’s Homiletical had this to say on it. “It is evidently implied that the love of a Christian heart may be marred by a sour and morose temper. It is ungenerous and cruel to vent upon his wife and family the anger which the man had not the courage to display before those who roused it when mixing among them in the world. Bitterness may be manifested as much by a cold, repulsive silence as by the most stinging words of sharp and angry reproof, or by the irritating actions of a wilful and tantalising conduct. It is a species of savage and fiendish brutality for a husband to study how he can inflict the keenest torture on a loving and submissive nature. It sometimes requires the most assiduous art of the tenderest affection to repair the damage done by a single word. Amid the perplexities and trials of married life many occasions will arise in which mutual patience and forbearance will need to be exercised. Let love reign supreme, and banish the first symptoms of a harsh and churlish disposition.”
Men, we can become bitter against our wives when things are not going as they should, when our wives are not fulfilling their role as God has instructed them. That is probably one of the most difficult things is continuing to follow God’s commands for us, God’s designed for us when our spouse is not following that design. But it does not excuse us when they aren’t.
We are still going to be held accountable, and all of us need to realize, men and women, that we’re going to stand before God someday at the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of our lives.
What, you o husband, how you fulfilled your roles as as God has defined them. You will suffer or you will get reward for obedience. Or you will suffer loss for disobedience.
And likewise your wives, you too will be judged no matter how your husband reacts: if he is a good husband that follows the Lord, or if he is not. Your, you too will be judged according to what God has instructed you.
This is important for us to remember as we go through life, that we have that judgment, that we are going to face, that even through difficulties, even through very trying situations, we will be held accountable for what we did with God’s Word.
That’s why it’s so important to keep in the Bible constantly, daily. That way you are close to the Father and the Spirit of God can work upon your heart daily as it needs to be. You know, the Bible says, if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged.
God wants us to judge ourselves according to His Word. When we see that we have fallen short, we need to repent of it and we need to turn back to him in his way, his will for our life.
All right, we’re moving on here to the biblical wife. And as I said, ladies, I think you’re going to find this difficult. Our culture and our generation, um, America, and really everywhere around the world, it seems that feminism has destroyed God’s ideal for you, his will for your life. And it’s not going to be an easy one for you to take.
You’ve been so inundated with what a woman should be strong and independent, but that is not God’s plan and purpose for you. You will notice man was created first in that garden and God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helpmate for him, a helper for him.
He never said that about the woman, that it’s not good for a woman to be alone. I’ll make a man for her. Or that she doesn’t need a man. If man wasn’t, if it wasn’t even good for the man to be alone and in a strong and independent, why would you think that it is good for you?
We’re telling our young ladies that they need to be strong and independent, that they should not have to rely upon a man. And so we we work upon their hearts to desire education and strength, and they dedicate a good portion of their young life to pursuing academic achievements, but to the detriment of a family life.
And then they get to be 30 years old and they’re like, I haven’t gotten married, I have no kids. I can’t even really begin to fathom having a family now at this age. And they lose that. And there’s a part of them that is totally depressed over that because God has designed the woman for the home. She is, he has designed the woman for the man to have a loving relationship there and to raise godly seed together. So this is difficult.
John MacArthur said that the ideas of radical feminism were an integral part of ancient Babylonian and Assyrian mythology, as well as Greek Gnosticism, which flourished throughout the Roman Empire during New Testament times and posed a constant danger to the early church.
Modern feminism is neither new nor progressive. It is age old and regressive. Feminism is not new to our era. It has always been around. Satan has known how to, um, attack the family, and it was through the woman to convince her that she doesn’t need the man, that she should be strong and independent. But God has a different way and Satan knows that and he’s gonna attack it.
As we will see here in the Bible, when you know, when she saw the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, she saw it to make it to be desired as a tree, to make one wise. That’s what she wanted wisdom. She wanted the knowledge of it, and that strength and independence that should come as being gods.
But her purpose, as we discussed in chapter two and verse 18, was to be a helpmeet for the man. First Corinthians 11:9 tells us, “Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.”
Ephesians 5:22 and 23 wives, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.”
Albert Barnes, once again commenting on this, said, “the duty of the submission of the wife to her husband is everywhere enjoined in the scriptures, while Christianity designed to elevate the character of the wife and to make her a fit companion of an intelligent and pious husband, it did not intend to destroy all subordination and authority man, by the fact that he was first created, that the woman was taken from him, that he is better qualified for ruling than she is, is evidently designed to be at the head of the little community that constitutes a family. In many other things, women may be his equal in loveliness and grace and beauty and tenderness and gentleness. She is far his superior. But these are not qualities adapted for government, their places in another sphere, and their man should be as cautious about invading her prerogative or abridging her liberty as she should be about invading the prerogative that belongs to him. In every family there should be a head, someone who is to be looked up to as the counselor and the ruler, someone to whom all should be subordinate. God has given that prerogative to man. And no family prospers where that arrangement is violated. Within proper meets and limits, therefore, it is the duty of the wife to obey or to submit herself to her husband.”
The wife, her job? Well, first of all, she was given as the helpmeet to the man. She was the helper to him. And she’s submit, she is to submit herself unto her husband as unto the Lord. Ladies wives, when you are submitting yourselves under your own husband, it is like you are submitting yourself unto the Lord.
And again I will say it yes, we fail in so many ways. Even good men, godly men. We all fall short of the glory of God. And there are times where we fail so miserably in our duty as a husband. But again, that is not going to excuse you from, from not being submissive unto your own husband for not being a helper to him.
So many times we hear messages from preachers on the woman, on the wife, and it’s such a touchy subject, it’s so hard to speak on that they kind of gloss over it by attacking the man as well while they’re doing it. That way, it kind of makes it a little more palatable. But that really isn’t to your benefit.
The man needs to be rebuked too. But so do you. You need to be shown what God intended for you, and for you to recognize that this world system is antithetical to it. Satan is going to try to get you to do the opposite of what God wants for your life.
And ladies, you can be either such a blessing to your husband or you can be a curse to him. It all depends on how you are going to fulfill your role as the biblical wife.
Titus two in verse three through five gives us some duties of the woman. It says “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”
The Biblical Illustrator had this to say about the dangers and the duties of women. “Women have peculiar dangers according to their age. The older ones are tempted to seek the excitement of stimulants or slander. The younger ones, to instability of affection, to impurity of life, or other inconsistency of conduct.
“Women have duties peculiar to their age. The younger have duties of obedience. The middle aged have the cares of home life and the aged have the instruction of the younger.”
You older ladies that have lived out good, godly lives. You have a ministry to the younger women. You are to teach them to be sober, that is, to be clear minded, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet and chaste and keepers at home. The godly wife is a homemaker. That is the highest calling that you can have.
And we really do our young ladies a disservice when we teach them that to be a homemaker is the lowest of the positions of a woman. No, it is the highest.
And, you know, reinforce that in your daughters. Show them and tell them that their highest calling that they can have is to be a keeper at home for a godly man to raise godly children and to be his helpmeet. That is your highest calling that you can have.
It is not a surgeon. It is not a lawyer. It is not a CEO of a fortune 500 company. No, it is the position of a homemaker that is your highest calling and it needs to be said.
I told you, ladies, this would be a very difficult lesson for you. It is so counter to our culture. Everything you are taught goes against what the Bible has to say. It’s advice for you. It’s counsel to you. It’s instruction for you. God is. He has so much better for you. If you would only accept it if you would only embrace it.
And I know Satan’s attacks there. He’ll he’ll say, you know what it was the Apostle Paul, he he really hated women and that’s why he said all these things. But let me ask you a foundational question. Is this book the word of God or isn’t it? Did holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, or didn’t they? Are you going to sit in judgment on the Word of God and say what is and what is not God’s Word?
You can pick and choose and say, This is God’s Word. But this was Paul’s word, and Paul, he it was a cultural thing at the time. Uh, he didn’t really like women.
When we get to the New Testament and we study that, and hopefully you will many times before we even get there. You will see when you take your time and look at it closely, that that is a lie from the pit of hell.
Paul was speaking under the influence and the movement of the Holy Spirit. The words that he spoke were God’s words. It is his instruction for you. Why? Not because he wants to hold you back. That’s Satan’s words. He. He is the one saying God is not good. God wants to hold you back from something greater.
No, God wants to free you to be loved and to have purpose in life. When you come to the end of it, you will not regret raising up your own children, raising a godly seed, being a helper to your husband.
And when you stand before God at judgment, you will be rewarded greatly for following God’s Word and rejecting Satan’s the world’s word.
Last, we’re going to come here to the serpent, who is the subtle serpent we first introduced to him here in Genesis 3:2: “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.”
Here we have a adjective describing the serpent. The word subtle. It means to be cunning. The word is found 11 times in the Bible and can have either a good connotation or a bad connotation.
In the Proverbs it has a good connotation and is translated as prudent eight times. In Job it is used twice in a negative connotation and is translated as crafty. We see that the word means wise in the sense of being able to apply knowledge. How it is applied, whether good or bad, determines whether that wisdom is crafty or prudent.
Now we see the identity of the serpent as Satan in revelation, in verse and chapter 12 and verse 7-9 we read, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent,” did you notice that: “that old serpent”? “Called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
We got a little glimpse here of the rebellion of Satan in heaven, and Satan and his angels were kicked out. Revelation 20, verses one and two. We see again. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.”
Satan is that old serpent from the Garden of Eden. Now in Isaiah chapter 14, we are shown here some of the character of the serpent or of Satan called Lucifer. The only time we see that name in the Bible is found in Isaiah 14:12. It says, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” [Isaiah 14:12-12]
Lucifer is Satan. And Jesus recognized this and shows us to us in Luke 10:18 when he said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”
Jesus was always there. He was part of the Trinity. The Elohim, right, are plural, uh, three God, three Gods in one right: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And he said, I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven.
Satan had five prideful sayings I will sayings, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.
You will notice when he attacks Eve in the Garden of Eden, when we get there, he says unto her, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” [Genesis 3:5]
It was Satan’s desire to be like the Most High. And what does he do? He uses that same trick, that same ploy against Eve. Ye shall be as gods.
In Ezekiel 28, we see that some of the characteristics of Satan or the serpent in verses 12 through 19 it says,
“Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
“Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
“Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
“By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
“Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
“Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
“All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” [Ezekiel 28:12-19]
We see some characteristics here of the serpent. He was full of wisdom. The Bible says he was perfect in beauty. You know, we have this picture of what Satan looks like because of artists as this hideous horned red creature, dragon or whatever. But Satan, Lucifer, he was a beautiful angel the most.
He was perfect in beauty, uh, and he was full of wisdom. It says that he was in the Garden of Eden.
It also says that he was created, but he didn’t want to just be that created. He wanted to be like the Most High.
He was the anointed cherub. And you will know that the cherubs, they hover over the throne of God. Uh, they’re a special angelic creature that God has created.
The Bible says that he was perfect until iniquity was found in him. That was in his rebellion, in his “I will” statements, when he became prideful and desired beyond what he was created to be. He was lifted up in pride because of his beauty. Again, he was a beautiful angel.
He was corrupted, his and his. He corrupted his wisdom because of his brightness. Satan corrupted himself because he was an angel of light.
And we see that in the New Testament too. There’s abilities that Satan has. Second Corinthians 11:14 “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
He doesn’t appear necessarily as that hideous horned creature. He will appear as an angel of light to deceive, even if it were possible the very elect.
Bible says that he is our adversary. He’s a devourer. In first Peter 5:8 it says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
That is the purpose of our, this lesson here is that we would be sober and be diligent, vigilant, that we would see our enemy, that is, Satan in his attacks and devices that are against us. He throws against us the fiery darts, right? And all we have to defend ourselves is the shield of faith the Bible says.
And it only through the Word of God, that we can defend ourselves from those fiery attacks of the devil that is trying to destroy you, O husband and you, O wife. He wants to destroy the family.
He knows that if he can destroy the family, he has got his people, that they will burn in hell because they will never find the Lord Jesus Christ.
Satan has called the god of this world he and that he blinds the minds of them that believe not. In 2 Corinthians 4: 3 and 4 it says, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
You know that gospel light is trying to shine unto people, but those that believe not Satan has blinded them. That way that light can’t even pierce through to get to them.
My friend, it is, we are co laborers with Christ. Where to pray for the lost. Pray for your lost loved ones. Pray for your lost neighbor, your lost co-workers. Pray for the stranger that you don’t even know down the street. When you go and knock on their door and invite them to church or give them the gospel. Pray that God would prevent Satan from blinding their eyes. That way the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them.
We are also told that Satan and his angels can possess human bodies and even animal bodies. And Luke 8:30 – 33. And there’s many examples of this in the New Testament. But I’ll give you this one:
“And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name?” Speaking to a man that was possessed. “And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.”
Satan is able to, and his demons are able to possess unsaved people. And there are demon possessed people. We just attribute it probably more to mental problems than anything.
But there is a definite demon possession. If there was back then in the in the 2000 years ago when Jesus walked the earth, why would there not be today?
Yeah, there is a definite attack upon the lost, and Satan is able to indwell them and into animals, as we saw when he was going to send them out of the man. They didn’t want to go into this place called the deep. So they asked to be sent into the into this herd of pigs. And God let them, and they and they did that, and they ran down and and died all in the sea.
Ephesians 2:2 tells us, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”
Satan is called the prince of the power of the air, and he works in the children of disobedience. That is, the lost man or woman.
The Christian, you’ve got to be careful. You you may not be able to be possessed by him, but you certainly can be attacked by him. You certainly can be deceived by him, and he will do that. If he can make you ineffective in being a Christian, that God has purposed you and intended for you to be, then he has won in preventing you from allowing the gospel to go forth into this world.
There’s so much more at stake than our own lives, my brethren. We may have our own aspirations in life. We may have goals with retirement and finances, but none of that really matters. You know, we are bond slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ when we get saved.
And you need to consider that you lost people that are being drawn into this podcast and listening. When you give your heart and life to Christ, you are in fact saying to him, I am now yours. Do with me as you please. We have been bought at a price, and should we not therefore give him our lives in this very short life that we have?
As we conclude here today, it is important that we know ourselves, that we know what God wants for our lives, and that we see where we have failed so miserably. And my friend, even with that knowledge, you are still going to fail.
You o husband and you o wife, are going to fail, but are you going to recognize it? That’s the big thing.
Husbands, we have a bigger role to guard and to keep our wives to cherish and nourish them. The Bible says in the Proverbs, “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.” [Proverbs 27:23] Do you know the state of your wife? Do you know the state of your children? Are you leading them? As God has told you to do as he has commanded you to do. Are you doing that job?
Recognize friends that our sinful nature is in opposition to God’s will, the natural man and the spiritual man. The the. There’s two sides to a believer. We still walk in this body of flesh, the sinful flesh here. And but we we have the Spirit of God in us. And those two are constantly at war with one another. One is going to win. One is going to have the preeminence. Your choice which one is going to be in that position?
And my friend, if you are not in the Bible, if you are not in the Word of God, you are going to allow the natural man by default to take that place of preeminence. Christ wants that preeminence, but he’s not going to force you to it.
It is always a choice for us, just as it was a choice for Adam and Eve in that garden. It is a choice for us today. We can walk according to God’s will, or we can walk according to our own, to the world’s way. We can give ourselves to the deceitfulness and lies of Satan.
If you recognize these things, friend. The next step for you to do is to get down on your knees and repent of all your sin and your failure as a husband and as a wife, and ask God for help and walking his way and according to his will.
Paul told Titus, set in order the things that are wanting. What things in your life are lacking? What areas of your role as a biblical husband or a biblical wife, or is lacking? Set them in order, brethren, today is the day you make the choice.
You need to contemplate this. Meditate upon this lesson this week. Read through Genesis chapter three. Read it daily and let it work in your heart before we get to it.
I might warn you, you might have. Some times you’re going to wake up in the middle of the night and start thinking about it and just be contemplating just the seriousness of it and and what it meant for our, our human history and, uh, what it meant for God.
I mean, when, when we did this, God’s, uh, set in motion his plan to redeem us. And it cost him something dearly. It cost him his son. He had to send Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, made in the likeness of human flesh, to die on the cross. A painful, horrible, humiliating death. Separated from God during that time, as he was taking your sin upon himself.
But you know what? The grave couldn’t hold him. He was beyond that. He was God. He was perfect. He was incapable of sin. Death couldn’t hold him. And he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.
And my friend, right now he’s waiting in heaven. He’s seated at the right hand of the throne of God, making intercession for you. He wants you to to live according to his will. That way you might be with him and have reward in heaven someday.
Oh, friends, won’t you consider. Won’t you, won’t you set in order the things that are wanting today?
Well, brethren, before we depart here for the week, I just want to encourage you. Pray for the Walking the Old Paths ministry. I’ve really appreciated it. I need it as I’m trying to get over this cold and and get my voice back.
Share this podcast. Would you through social media if it has been a blessing to you? I just encourage you to try to get it out there to people. Share it with your friends through Facebook, um, Instagram, X. However, whatever you use there.
And don’t neglect brethren, the assembling of yourselves together in your local churches. Support your pastor and your missionaries.
And lastly, I want you to just encourage you study the Word of God and walk with our Lord daily.
Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Amen.