You've obeyed the Lord this morning. That last song they sung says something like, I battled... How's them words go, Sister Cain? I battled him all the day long, talking about Satan. That's what we're going to talk about this morning. It's amazing how God just puts things together like they need to be. Genesis chapter number 3, we're going to look at the temptations, how the devil came to Eve and dealt with her. My, they so much and most of you probably saying, well, we know this and we understand this. I'm probably not going to tell you anything you don't know, but I hope I can stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. kind of bring some little truths back to you. Really, I don't know how prepared I am, and I'm thinking I'm going to go in a way a little different than my normal way of preaching, but whatever God wants, that's what I want. I've learned a long time ago He knows more what we need than what I do. This has just been nudging me for some time. If you would, let's read and then pray. I've been doing it kind of different ways, but I'd like to read the text to you this morning. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said... Excuse me just a minute. I don't want that acting up. Let's start over. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. 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. There's more to this passage, but I want to stop right there, and I want to pray this morning, and I ask you to pray with me and for me. Father, I come to you this morning and I thank you for your good spirit that you've manifested in our midst. And I know we're so undeserving of it, Lord, but I thank you for it. I thank you. I thank you for rejoicing my heart this morning. Thank you. Father, thank you for Calvary. Thank you for dying for my unworthy soul. I praise you for that and for keeping me when I'm not worth keeping. I thank you for it. Thank you, Father. Lord, I ask you now to help us in this preaching hour. You know the need. You know what's needed. I don't. Lord, I ask you to open hearts. I ask you to help me not to be wordy, but just to unload your message, Father, in a timely way. Help me, Father, give me clarity of thought and clarity of words. Ask your speech, Father, help me with that. Help your people. If there's anything that would hinder this little sanctuary this morning, would you refrain it? Allow the Holy Spirit free course in our midst. Oh, Father, most of all, be glorified. Do a work. Do an eternal work. in her midst, and be glorified. And help me, Father. Lord, when I sat down, may I have delivered the message you wanted delivered, and not only that, but have done it in the way you want it done in. And I'll praise you for it. In Jesus' precious name, we do pray. Amen and amen. Well, this is a very familiar text. And most of you, if you're like me, at times you read a passage and you just read past it. I mean, it's just reading the Bible and it's just what you do, but it really many times doesn't sink in. But here is... Here is, I guess the first time we see the serpent, the devil, I'm going to call him one and the same. We see him at work and he is coming to the first woman Eve. And what happens out of all of this has tremendous effect upon a multitude of people. This is the beginning of the fall of man. Adam was, you'll hear this phrase, the federal head. And what Eve, what is initiated here and what transpired 6,000 years ago still has an impact today. We're going to see a little later, or you can see a little later, that her own son died because of what went on here in this little passage of Scripture. It resulted in the death of her son. Had they remained innocent and went on, then a good chance Cain would have not been murdered, but I'm just trying to get you to see there's some great implications to sin. What you do doesn't just affect yourself. It affects other people. It affects your children. It affects your grandchildren. And on and on we could go. And you can see that in this text. But I want to look at the adversary for a little while this morning, just a few minutes, and I hope I get down to the attack. I want to talk about the attack. We see, the first thing that the Bible says in verse number 1 is, now the serpent, I mean, you might say, it could have began, Eve was standing by the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but it doesn't. It comes straight to the point and says, now the serpent, it begins to deal with the serpent and shares some truth with us about the serpent. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. So we know the serpent, it seems that the serpent would be in the category of beast. That seems to be what's implied there. And we look at this felon and it's obvious the serpent is the devil. I think we can say that. And I would stammer around some because there's some questions I have that I can't answer there. I don't know if he moved into the serpent or if the serpent was the body he dwelt when he was cast out of heaven. I can't answer that. There may be some who can, but I know at this point that the devil is working through the serpent. At this point the serpent has not been cursed, he's not been made to walk upon his belly. I do know this when I look at this serpent, he didn't frighten me. If the devil were to show up now to us in his true appearance, I suspect it would frighten us. I know they picture him with a pitchfork and a tail and a red suit or whatever and horns and I know it's not that pretty little figure, but I'm convinced if the devil were to reveal his true look, his true identity and was it possible he could be visible before you and I, we would be afraid of him. But here is the serpent within talking distance, I don't know how close, but he's within talking distance and he didn't frighten any. And that strikes me on. That strikes me odd, but it shouldn't. And I've wondered this, maybe they had talked previously. I started asking myself, why is it she wasn't afraid? Why is it she didn't say, hey let me go get Adam, then we'll talk to you. Now I understand it says Adam, I'll have to explain that a little later, I feel like We're going to read a verse in a little bit that her husband was with her. Adam, her husband was with her. Let me see if I can find that. Verse number 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Now we know at that point he was with her. We know he was in the garden where she was at. How big the garden was, I don't know. I know he was in the close proximity, but in my mind, now you don't have to agree with this, You don't have to go along with it, but in my mind, at this particular point when the serpent came to Eve, I believe Adam may be 100 yards away, 50 yards away, I don't know, but soon to be back where she's at. That's what I believe. Now I don't know if you were to say based on that scripture he just stood there silently and watched his wife be deceived by the devil. I wouldn't argue with you, but I'm convinced for me and in my studies that he was with her just shortly after. But I believe for a while he may have been on the other side of the garden or he may have been a few a little distance away, so to speak. And so that's how I see it, and I believe that's how the Holy Ghost has given it to me. And so here we are, and the Bible says the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. And the reason she wasn't scared may be because he was subtle enough that he knew how to approach her in a way that would not bring fear to her. Maybe that's what it was. I'm trying to figure out why she didn't flee from the serpent. Maybe he was such a good looking creature that it just wasn't a problem. Maybe she had seen him talk to that. Maybe she had seen him walking around and he was a regular figure there in the garden. I don't know, but I know this. She wasn't afraid and it would have behooved her had she had some fear about her. But here she is, didn't frighten her. Maybe there's a lot of reasons that maybe it didn't happen that way, 2 Corinthians. And I'm just going to turn and read some of these to you this morning, 2 Corinthians chapter 11. I want you to understand this, the devil don't always appear as a devil. He doesn't always appear that way. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13, For such are false apostles deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Did you hear what the Bible just said about these false apostles, these deceitful workers? They transform themselves into transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Do you know there's a lot of false preachers out there and they look like real preachers? They look like God called preachers. You can't tell the difference from them from the outside. In fact, they transform themselves to look like real preachers, look. You say, well, how does a real preacher look? He dresses like a preacher. Well, that didn't hit too well, did it? Well, if there's an attire of a harlot, I guess there's an attire for the man of God. What do you think about that? I believe that to be so. There's an attire, if there's business attire, there ought to be spiritual attire. What do you think about that? Well, there's false apostles and deceitful workers and they transform themselves in the apostles of Christ. And it says, no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Well, how about that? He tries to look like an angel of blood. He mimics the Lord's angels. And so we see the devil. That's one way he slips up on you and gets the upper hand. It's because he doesn't look like a devil when he comes to you. And whoever he's working through doesn't look like a devil. And so, you're not on guard. You've not got your guard up. You're not on your A game, if I can say it that way. And so, maybe you've been around them time and time again, and you just let down for a little bit, and then he takes advantage of that. That's how he's working. That's his adversary. I think that's kind of where Eve's at here. I don't think he looks like a devil, I think probably he's been around a while, maybe even talked to her, just in casual conversation, but now he's coming to speak. Now, she wasn't frightened, and he manifested himself in the form of a servant. And can I say the devil will work on you through different forms. He'll work on you through different forms. Hey, did you know it's not if, but it's when you're going to be tempted? Do you know the devil is going to tempt you? It's coming in your life. Now you can take the most godly person if we used to go through the room and I used to take a poll and we used to pick the most godly person. And let's say the poll just picked Brother Bud. Let's say this church said Brother Bud's the most godliest man in this church. Can I tell you what's going to happen to Brother Bud somewhere down the road? If he is the godliest man or if he's not the godliest man, somewhere the devil's going to come and tempt him to sin. It's coming in your life. Some of you have been tempted to sin. Well, is that not right? Can some of you good godly people be honest enough to say, hey, the devil comes to me through different means and he tempts me to do wrong. Amen. We got a few amens. I want to say every one of you could have said amen to that. That's just so. That's how it is. That's the life of the believer. That's how we live. James said it this way. It keeps coming to my mind and you'll just have to bear with me. I'm just kindly preaching from my heart this morning in James chapter number Number one in verse 13 said, let no man say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted. Did that say every man or did I misquote that? It said every man. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And the devil will draw you away with your own lust and entice you to sin. If you study that and read after it, they'll say that is a hunting and fishing term. That is as if you dig a big pit for a tiger and you put a big old bait of meat in the center of that pit. And here comes this tiger walking down his course, going his way. And he looks over and sees that big old piece of meat there. And he says, I'm not going this way anymore. I'm going over here because that looks good. I think I'll enjoy it. I think it'll help me. But when he goes over there He has to leave the safe path and go after the enticement. He falls in the pit and he's taken captive. Use the same thing with fishing and a lure or a bait, the same truth. That's how the devil works. He entices you. You're going down God's path and you look and he puts before you something and it looks good to you. And it appeals to you. And you want it. and you're lost in your flesh, which is not redeemed. And this time, your flesh, your spirit and soul is redeemed, but not your flesh. You still have a flesh to deal with, and it lusts after that. It can be an intellectual enticement. It can be an immoral enticement. It can be a financial enticement. It can be whatever the devil knows what appeals to you, and he's gonna entice you. Bless you with it. Oh my, that's coming. That's coming. Here you are serving God somewhere. The devil's going to show you something. And you're going to like what you see. You're going to like it. We're going to see this enticement to Eve. She saw it and it was good. I mean, she looked at it. The Bible says it this way, it was pleasant to the eyes. That's what we're talking about. Here they are, serving God, going the right way. The devil, he's not satisfied. There's going to be an enticement, and it's going to appeal to the lust of your flesh. But the Bible goes on, and I've already gotten away from it, but it tells us what happens when you go for that enticement. Let me get back over here. This is what Eve's doing. She's being enticed. She's being enticed. Now let me say this. She was innocent, but not righteous. Let me say it this way, she was maybe innocent and righteous. Let me say it this way, and I'm really kind of hesitant because I believe this to be so, but I really hadn't thought on it long. Innocent righteousness is innocence that survived temptation. Now think about that. It's innocence that survived temptation. That's what righteousness is. I'm talking about practical righteousness. I'm talking about this shoe leather righteousness that God wants you and I to live. And so here's what he says, but every man, let me get back to James, but every man's tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, You see, when you give in to your lust, it produces something. There'll be a conception. Some will come from you yielding to your lust. Then when lust hath conceived, what does it bring forth? It bringeth forth... This is James saying this, not me. It's James saying what I'm... I'm reading you what James said. What the Holy Word of God said. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. Sin. No, that's not the end. That's not all of it. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. When you sin, there's a death. When sin is through, it's going to bring forth death. Mark it down. Mark it down. James makes it very clear. You're tempted when you're drawn away of your own lust and enticed and then when lust hath conceived it brings forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. I mean that's the process. Study it, look at it. You say, well, it's not physical death. It's not always physical death. It can be death in fellowship with the Father. You die out to godly fellowship with your heavenly Father through sin. Sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. I want you to understand that. So here she is being enticed. Here's Eve, the first woman, and I want you to notice Satan come to her. She wasn't afraid. She wasn't afraid that he might lead her down the wrong road to death. Maybe she was ignorant to it. I don't know. But she should have been. There should have been something inside of her that had brought some apprehension. some hands off, some stay away from, an attitude of stay away from, but it didn't. She was not frightened, she was not intimidated, she didn't have her guard up, she was just conversing with the devil. Can I say the devil can work through unsafe family members? He's working through the serpent. Maybe he was the serpent. Maybe that's the body God gave him. But at the very least, he was working through the serpent. And I want to say, I want to say to you, the devil can work through unsafe family members. He worked through safe family members. It's card on back slit on God. Every one of us has family that's not what they ought to be and if we're not careful, the devil will work through them to tear us down. It doesn't have to be a serpent. It can be another form. It can be a false preacher. It can be a preacher preaching a false truth and a false doctrine and cause your family to follow after it and you'll be led astray. Oh my, thousands upon thousands of families like that. And I might as well say it, it come to me, those caught up in the Catholic church and have embraced the Catholic doctrine, think a priest is gonna forgive their sins and they can be prayed out of purgatory. Can I tell you, they're deceived and they're going down the wrong road and they think they're right because the devil's worked through an ungodly so-called man of God. That's how it is. And it's sad because they're good people. Good people. My eye breaks my heart. He works through religion. He can work through religion. Let me just read these to you. I just sit down and try to think. He can work through a friend. He can work through a neighbor, a child, a spouse, a fellow worker. A schoolmate. He can work through you. He can work through the television set. He can work through the education system. He can work through your job. He can work through your hobby and your entertainment. The devil has many, many ways to work on you and against you. He, I want you to notice too, he's aggressive. He came to eat. He came to Eve. He came to her at a weak moment. That's when He'll come to you. He's very intelligent as well. He came to Eve. He spoke to her first. Read it right there. He spoke to her first. He initiated the conversation. And can I say, by the way, do you know he's still moving? Let me just read it to you. The Word of God has so much more power than my little feeble words. 1 Peter chapter number 5 says this, Be sober and be vigilant because your adversary, the devil. Your adversary, the devil. What is an adversary? An enemy, Brother Bud just said an enemy. Adversaries and enemy. Is that one who loves you? You know the answer. You say, Preacher, that's a silly question. Your enemy loves you? No. Is it one who has your best well-being at stake? No. Is it one that cares about your children? No. All these things are no. Here's what I'm saying. The devil's your adversary. Does he care about your home being stable and solid and secure? No. He doesn't care. In fact, he cares that it is solid and secure and stable. He cares about that. And so he hates you. He hates who you are. He hates the one you stand for. He hates the one you worship. He wants the worship we gave the Lord this morning. The devil wants that. He wants us to take it away from the true and the living God and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And He wants us to worship Him, give Him our time, give Him our energy, give Him our money. He wants your worship. He wants your heart. He wants your love. That's what He's after. And He's going to come after it to get it. And He's going to use an enticement to get to you. And that enticement would not get to you unless it's something you cared about or appealed to your flesh. And that's how He's coming after you. You're walking down this road and He's going to say, hey, come this way. I've got something to give you. Amen. That's what he's doing here with Eve. That's what he's doing. He spoke to her. He initiates conversation. And can I say this? He initiates it with purpose. He's not just trying to be friendly to Eve. He's not just sees her here alone. I think she's alone at this point. He's not just trying to be a good person. No, he has a purpose. By the way, can I tell you the devil can work through yourself? Have you ever thought, they don't like me? Some of you have. They don't like me. They're talking about me. You know what the devil's trying to do? He's trying to get you to just pull away from the church. They're not treating my children right. Now when they are not, it remains to be seen, but a lot of times he'll work through your old half-backs lit heart, try to get you away from God. But here's what we're saying, he initiates conversation, and he has a purpose, and his purpose is to destroy her and her family. And he does a pretty good job. I mean, he's going to get Cain. I said Cain died. It was Abel that died. Cain murdered him. The devil got Cain. He didn't get Abel. He got Cain. He conquered Cain. Cain, he was deceived. You see, do you think, here's what I'm trying to say, do you think Eve would have did what she done if she thought it might have cost Abel his life? She wouldn't have done that, would she? I mean, I'm just asking you, do you think a mama would have eaten a tree she wasn't supposed to eat up if she knew it was going to cost her son his life? She didn't even have a son now, don't guess. Maybe she did, but I'm wondering, if she knew the consequences, would she have done that? You think a man that just starts out on drugs, you think he'd ever take the first drug if he thought it was going to wreck his life and put him in a mental institution or whatever else? Do you think he would have done it? Do you think the alcoholic would have drank the first beer if he knew it was going to destroy his liver? See, here's the devil coming to her to get her to do something that really has adverse effects on her life. And how does he do it? He doesn't come as the devil. He comes in a different form through your family, through your friends, through your associates, through your children, wife, husband, different ways. And I want you to notice what he does. The first thing he says is this. Now you might have thought he would have said, Hey Eve, how you doing? What are you doing here under the tree of knowledge of good and evil? What are you doing? You might have thought that. He goes right for the juggler. Here's what he says, Yea, hath God said? In other words, Eve, did God really say what I'm getting ready to say? Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Did God say you couldn't eat of any trees in the garden? Eve, really, is that what God said? Is that what God said? And it seems as if the Word of God was taken lightly because Eve doesn't quote Adam exactly right. Now here I have some more questions. I don't know how thorough Adam was in educating Eve. I do not know. And I want to tell you, godly husband, son, you have a responsibility to bring your wives along, spiritually speaking. You need to teach your wives. If you are indeed husbands and you should be the spiritual head of your house, you need to bring your wives along. Now, sad to say, many of you may not be the spiritual head of your house, but God set it up for you to be. You may not qualify. You may be like old Samson's parents and Manoah, his wife, newborn, she did for a while. May be that way. But the fact of the matter is, husband, you have a responsibility to see that your wife and your children progress spiritually. Just how it is. And if you're not, and the wife has to be the spiritual head, you ought to be trying to get to where you ought to be. Well, here she is, and he said, now did God really say you couldn't eat of any of the trees of the garden? And I don't know, I've wondered why he said that. I wonder... He said, notice what he said, of every tree. Now, certainly he's trying to add to the Word of God, because God didn't say they could eat of any tree, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now that's just, that's what God said, but he said, did God say you couldn't eat of... And see, a lot of times the devil try to make more out of God, make God look bad. Trying to make God look like he's unreasonable. You can't eat any tree. Oh no, that wasn't what God said. God provided for them to eat. There wasn't any problem with them eating. No, there wasn't no problem with that. That wasn't the issue, it was them eating. The problem, the thing the devil's trying to do here is cast a bad light on God and maybe see how much Eve knows about the Word of God, but he says this, yeah, yeah, God said you should not eat of every tree of the garden. Now, Eve would have been wise to have just said, hey, let me go get my husband and we'll deal with this together. And I understand some people think that Adam was right there and just silently stood by. I don't believe that. I don't believe any godly husband would. In that case, that's just my opinion. He was close by at that point, as far as I'm concerned. And the woman said, in verse 2, unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest ye die. Now, she had part of it right. God told Adam in chapter 2, and in verse number 17, thou shalt surely die. Notice what the devil said in verse 4, And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. Did you know the devil knew what God had said to Adam? Eve didn't use the word surely, lest ye surely die. But God did and the devil did. The devil was playing games with Eve. You've got to understand that. And I think what he's saying now is, did God really say that? Did God really say you couldn't eat it bad? And so she makes a statement, and I think what he's trying to say is, do you really need to take the Word of God that serious? If that's what he's saying, is he's casting doubt on what God said? And he said, hey, let me just read it to you again. Yea, have God said? Hey, can I read to you just a few little scriptures? I want to just read a few to you and ask you a question or two. This is Matthew 6 and 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Hey, did God really say that? I mean, really, that's company from out of town. And they only come by once every two or three years. Did God really say I ought to put Him first over them? Oh, it's game day. It's game day. Did God really say? Did God really say that? Is that really what He meant? Does God really want us? Man, I worked 60 hours this week and you want me to get up and go to church on Sunday morning? Did God really say to seek ye first the kingdom of heaven? Do you see how the devil plays on you? Did God really say that? Are we really? I mean, really? Really, preacher? How unreasonable can you be to expect me to put God first? Well, I just want to ask you, did God really say that? Well, wait a minute, preacher. What does that really mean? What does that really mean? Let me read it to you again. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things. Yeah, but what about my children? They need to have fun. I understand, but here's what I want to say. Did he really say seek ye first the kingdom of heaven? Did he say that to you? Are you going to disobey like Eve? Thinking you're getting by? Thinking you got it, you have it whipped? I mean, nothing happens right off the bat. In fact, you encourage your husband to eat, and he eats, and now, now, y'all are naked. Well, that's not a problem with just so few fig leaves. Cover yourself up, and everything's solved. No. Hey, did God really say, really, church? Here I am. You know I preach, put God first. You know, I tell you, really, should God come first? Should He? Did God really say, but seek ye first the King of Heaven? Well, that's in the Gospels. That's not in the epistles. That's not to the church. You think I can find it in the epistles? I can. I can find it in the epistles. Here's what I'm saying, I'm not folks enough to know that there's things come up, your ox gets in the ditch, we have that principle in the Word of God, but really we use the ox to lay out church a lot and to put God second when really we ought not to. My, it's real quiet in here, but it's true. It's true, we're not near as faithful as we used to be. Not near as faithful. Hey, I'm just asking you, did God really say we ought to put him first? Yea, hath God said? I mean, really, did God say to put him first? I ask you, answer that! You answer that yourself to yourself! If God didn't say it, don't do it! But what if God did say it? That's how the devil worked. Did God really say that? God really say that? Well, that's what it looks like He said. That's what it looks like he said. Let's go on. Romans chapter 12. Turn over there with me. Romans chapter 12. I'm just going to roll through a few scriptures this morning. Here's how the devil worked on me. Did God really say that? Maybe I'm putting words in the devil's mouth, I don't know, but it's almost as if he said something like this, did God really say that? I can't believe he'd say that to y'all. Did God say? My first one is this, did God really say to put him first? I'm going to tell you either. He'll be, what's that little phrase, Lord of all? Is that what you said this morning? How'd you say that, Jack? He's either going to be Lord of your life or nothing at all. I just put it in my words. That's how it is. He's either going to be first. You think you're going to put God third? And him just accept, he ain't going to accept that. God's not taking third and fourth place in your life. And some of you have done that. You've not said it verbally. You've not had a goal of that. But your actions say God's not first in my life. And if I can see it, and other people can see it, and your family can see it, can I tell you, the sinner out there could see it. Did God really say that? Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. Now wait a minute. that I present my body, a living sacrifice? Preacher, a sacrifice is consumed upon the altar. It's given to God. It's destroyed. It starts out alive, but then it's killed, and it's burned, and when the sacrifice is through, nothing's left. I mean, did God really say you're supposed to sacrifice your body for the Lord? Yeah, hath God said? Oh, I can't believe God would say that to you. He loves you too much for that. He loves you too much not to tell you that. Yeah, hath God said? I want to ask you, did God tell you to present your body and live in sacrifice? Or did he say take your body and do with it what you want to do? I'm just asking because that's the temptation. Is that not the temptation? Hey, hey, here's what you could do with your body. My! Here's what God wants you to do, but here's what you could do. Here's the route. Look what you could do! God says do this. Did God really say that you present your bodies a living sacrifice? And did God say holy? except on the God which is your... Did God say that was reasonable? Oh my goodness! Man, that puts a load on you all. Oh my, that puts a heavy load on those that say you're following God. Oh my! Can I just tell you, Nick and Ben, your bodies are to be sacrificed for God. really say that? That's what the devil said to Eve. Can I tell you? That's probably what he's saying to you about some of these scriptures. My, that's unreasonable, preach. Let's look in verse number 9 of chapter 12. I've done preaching too long right now. I've got 10 or 15 of these to share with you. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Hate evil and cleave to good. Yea, hath God said I'm to hate evil? abhor? If that's not hatred, that's real close to it. Did God say for me to hate evil? We laugh at it. Yeah, did God say that? Notice what else it says. Verse 10 of Romans 12. Be kind and affectionate with one another, brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. Did God tell me to put my brother ahead of myself? Oh my! Have God said you ought to put your brother and your sister in Christ ahead of yourself? Did God say that? If the devil ever comes to you with a scripture and says, hey, it's not really that important, it doesn't really mean that. Eve, Eve, yea. God said you can't eat them trees. Oh no, we need the trees, just can't eat this one right here. Oh, for God said we'd die. He said you shall not surely die. It ain't so. There ain't no truth to that. That's way back there in the stone age. That's 2,000 years ago. You can't bring it forward, can I tell you? The Bible's a timeless book. If it's sin 200 years ago, it's sin today. Amen. Yeah, hath God said really? Did God say that? Notice what it says. Verse 11, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. How much fervency? Where's your fervency at? Did God really say you ought to be fervent? Well, I've been saved 40 years. Did God really say you ought to be fervent serving the Lord? Yeah, yeah, really. Did God say y'all have some fervency about you? Some excitement? Some enthusiasm? Some zeal? I'm putting all those words. Did God really say that? Did God say that? You're an old man. I'm 59 years old. You're 59 years old? Does God want you to be fervent? Yea, hath God said. On and on I could go. I probably need to. I've got about, well I've got 2 Corinthians 6. Come ye out from among the world, be ye separate. Does God really want you to come out from among the world? Does He want you to be separate? An oddball? Different? Yea, has God said for you to be an oddball in the world? Separate? Different? Titus 2 and 5 for the young women to be keepers at home. Does God really want you women at home? What's the Bible say? And I know right division, you've got to rightly divide it. I'm not saying that. But what does it say? A man that doesn't provide for his own is worse than an infidel. Yeah, has God said a man that won't provide for his children is worse than a man that is a non-believer and denies God? Yeah, has God said that? Well, He did. Every one of these things I've been talking about, He said. A man that won't work and provide for his own, he's worse than an infidel. And He said this, if you don't work, you don't eat. Well, that's pretty cold not to feed a man a plate of food. Now listen, I'm being kind of preaching hard this morning, but I want to tell you, I took a lot of these verses lightly in days gone by. And that's what Eve, that's what caused Eve to sin. She just took the Word of God lightly. I mean, what's wrong? One bite? One bite? What a little disobedience that was. I mean, she just, I can't see her just eating whatever the fruit was, eating it away. I don't think she gobbled it down, swallowed it whole, reached for another. I think she just tasted of it. That's just what I believe. I doubt if I could prove that. I believe that. All she did was eat. Just partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Yeah, she disobeyed God, but it wasn't a big sin. She didn't shake the whole tree down and get a bushel of fruit. Some think it's a grapevine, a vine tree, I'll say it that way. I don't know what kind of fruit it was. It doesn't seem the Bible says. But it doesn't matter. God said, don't eat it. She ate it. It wasn't a big sin, but it was a sin, and it had eternal consequences to it. And here's what the devil said. Hey, did God really say that? Hey, hath God said this? Can I tell you, this whole Bible is full of that. And we just read them, take them lightly, and blow on by it, and think everything's going to be alright because there's no immediate ramifications. No immediate consequences. Read a few chapters over. Read one chapter over when he cursed the man and the woman and the servant when the Lord dealt with it. We see immediately they realized they were naked. There was some immediate things, but as far as anything Anything that was just catastrophic. I mean, they'd hide their neck and it's just a few fig leaves together. They got that saw temporarily anyway. Now they'll work on a better solution. Buy them a little time. Here's what I'm trying to say. Here you are. Here you are. I'm through. You're walking down God's way, serving God, doing what God wants. The devil comes to you and he entices you. He sets a trap. He puts some bait out there for you. That's what an enticement is. It carries that concept anyway. There's the bait. You like it. You're not going to entice a tiger unless you have the right kind of bait. You're not going to catch a fish unless you use the right kind of bait to catch that fish. It has to appeal to what you're trying to train. There's the enticement. Again, it can come in multiple forms. It can come in, if you'll do this, you'll be popular. I think that happens to a lot of children. Hey, look what you can do with your body Everybody will be your friend. Young folks want friends more than anything else. Well, they don't realize they've got a friend in Jesus. Stay with them when nobody else is around. But we're talking about enticement. Has He been enticing you? Oh, yeah. I know what God says, but... That's that same philosophy of the devil. Yeah, have God say it. Does he really? Is he really saying that? Can I tell you the Bible says what it means? It means what it says. And I understand sometimes there's figurative language. And it has to be rightly divided. put in its proper place, but rightly divided, the Bible means what it says. And if God told you not to do it, that's what He means for us to do. If He told you to present your body at living sacrifice, that's what He means for you to do. If He told you to lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset you and run with patience the race set before you, that's what He means for you to do. If He tells the mamas to be keepers at home, that's what He means for you to do. If He says for the man to provide for his family, that's what He means for you to do. And I could just go on and on. If He told you to love your brethren, that's what He means for you to do. And on and on. Yeah, did God really say, required and stewards that a man be found faithful? Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. Can I just go on and on and on and on? And the devil said, He didn't really mean that. See, here you are serving God. What He's trying to do is pull you off God's path for your life. That's what He's doing to Eve. She's in the garden. She's in an innocent state. She's in obedience to the Lord. And here comes the devil trying to entice her away. Away from God's way. That's how the devil works. He's coming. He's walking to and fro. To and fro. He's just walking around. He's looking. He's hunting one again. Hunting that weak one. Isn't that right? Isn't that right? Who can I get out of Chad's house? Oh, who's the weak one? Who am I coming after? When's he coming to your house? When's he coming to your door? Can I tell you there's some tips? Had Eve known the Word of God and adhered to the Word of God at all costs, she could have saved herself a lot of heartache. A lot of heartache. And I understand I'm not being hard on Eve. We would have all done much worse, I suspect. I'm not trying to be hard on her. I'm just trying to learn what God has for us by giving us that example. The devil said, yes, God said that. He didn't really say, he didn't really expect you not to eat any of the trees in the garden. Oh no, he didn't. And then it goes on and he keeps attacking God, keeps attacking His Word, adding to it, changing it, taking from it. I want to ask you this morning, if you just bow your head for a minute, Alan, you and Sister Cain come to the piano. I've preached way too long this morning. This is the burden of my heart right now. This is my burden. for you to have victory over the devil. Can I have victory? Is it possible? Preachers, is it possible? The Bible says greater is he that is in you than he that's in the world. Yes, you can have victory today. Here's what I'm saying. If God's been playing with you, knocking you around, beating you up, you can have victory if you will. You can have victory. How is it? Hey, get in that book. Thy word hath a hit in my heart that I might not sin against thee. And obey it to the letter. Obey it to the letter. God spoke to your heart. Would you be obedient this morning? Brother Allen's going to sing a verse or two of a song and we'll be through.