And I want us to spend some time looking back at Genesis chapter 3 and seeing how the serpent deceived Eve and all of Adam's children. In Adam sinned willfully against God Almighty. She was deceived, but Adam wasn't. It never says that Adam was deceived. But also I want us to see something of the context of John chapter 17 where the Lord talks about the fact that the world will hate them and how they need to be protected from the evil one and they're not of the world, and then immediately goes on to talk about sanctification. One of the things that sets us apart, and sets us because of the Word of God apart, which is what the word sanctify means, it means to make holy, it means to be set apart from the world. We have been, and all of God's children have always been set apart from the world. And the setting apart in John chapter 17 is the setting apart because they've been given the word of God. And they've been given the word of God about the sanctification of God's people. And so this world, this religious world, If you think about it, the one thing that they all have in common, the one thing where the Calvinists and the Armenians, the one thing where the Hindus and the Muslims all meet together, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventists and all of the self-improvement people who don't claim there is any God, they're all agreed and they all stand together on one thing. progressive sanctification, that you can do something. And you might be able to use the Holy Spirit like a mighty power tool in your hands to polish yourself even more and more. But see, the Lord is saying that the hatred of this world and the activities of the evil one that they need to be protected from and their sanctification are all linked together. And I wanted to try and link them together for us today. I want us to see the deception of Satan. And Satan's first words were, did God really say? And I want us to read, turn with me in Hebrews chapter 10 while we're talking about sanctification. I want to see how, and at the back of your bulletin is a small article from Don Fortner, but it has in it every time the word sanctify is used in the scriptures. It means to be set apart for the God's purpose and use. It means to be made holy by God. And when you have, when we come to examine this prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to look at all of the elements that Christ describes sanctification as. But in Hebrews, He says in verse 9, if you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10, it's just such an amazing passage of scripture. He says in verse 9, he's talking about the difference between his work and the work of people under the law and how his work is so much better. He says, Lo, I come, verse 9, come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away the first. He's removed it all together. that he may establish a second by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now every time, I think almost every time, I haven't checked all of them but I've checked a whole lot of them in there and I don't like talking about Greek and Hebrew because God speaks perfect English. But where God says, are sanctified, there are two things you need to know about it. Generally it's always in the passive tense. And it's nearly always in the perfect tense. It's a completed activity never to be repeated. It's passive. This cup is passive, isn't it? And I take a drink. If you are passive, who does the work? Who does the work of sanctification? If you're passive and you're sanctified, declared to be sanctified, who's done the sanctifying? That's exactly what he's praying for. That's what he's praying for us in this high priestly prayer. Let's go on. We are... He says, We are sanctified, completed activity, perfectly done, never to be repeated. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every high priest standeth daily, ministering and offering sometimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. There was one instrument, one article of furniture that wasn't in the temple at all. There was no seat there at all. As soon as the high priest finished he had to go back and do it again. The Lord Jesus Christ sat down. What happens when you sit down? You've been working all day. What do you do when you sit down? You're finished. That's exactly what he's saying, isn't it? He sat down at the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Once again, it's an activity of God. It's what God declares his people to be. They were set apart. by God the Father in eternity. They were set apart to be those united to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's taken away their sins. What's left? Did he take away all their sins? He said he did. What's left? There's only holiness left. That's what the root word of sanctify is. It's to be holy. That's why throughout the scriptures, especially the New Testament, God's children are called saints. It literally means they're holy ones. Who says they're holy? God says they're holy. You have to take it up with Him. If you want to make sanctification a progressive activity, you have to go and take it up with Him. And we're not for one moment declaring that there is not a progress in grace and knowledge. I need grace more now than I ever did before. We grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. is a witness to us, for after that he'd said before, this is the covenant I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Why doesn't he remember them? They're gone. He's not playing games with words. He doesn't have a memory problem. He's saying to God, I love verse 18. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. What a beautiful, beautiful thing to contemplate. There is no more offering. I don't have to bring anything to God to deal with my sin. He's seen the work of his Son and he's thrilled. So let's go back to turn over to Peter's second epistle and we'll see what growth is. He finishes his writings to us, the Apostle Peter, who had this prayer prayed for him that night. He says in verse 17, You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What grows first? If you grow in grace, you grow in knowledge. What's the evidence of growing in grace and knowledge according to God? Just read on. both now and forever. Does he get all the glory? Does he get all the glory for taking away all of our sins? Does he get all the glory for all of our sanctification? Does he get all the glory for all of our righteousness? Does he get all the glory for all of our keeping in this world? Does he get all of the glory for keeping us from the wicked one and all of his lies? Does he get all the glory? If he gets all the glory, that's a sign that you're growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. If there's any glory for man in anything he does at all, there is zero glory for God. Do you see? It's a black and white issue, isn't it? If God gets all the glory, man doesn't get any glory. We get glory, and we'll read about it in John 17 a bit later on, we get glory given to us. You claim your own glory, and there is no glory at all. You wait on the Lord to bring glory, and there will be glory. Peter talks about the wicked one taking these things away. Before we sing again, I just wanted to read you their well-known verses. I just want to spend a little bit of time looking at what it is to be kept from the evil one. And what does the evil one want to do? The evil one wants to take all the words that God has just read to you, God has just declared to you out of his word, and say, did he really say that? Did he really say that? So turn with me into Genesis chapter 3 and I want us to spend just a little bit of time after we sing again looking at Satan and his deception. Because if we understand, if God causes us to see our involvement in this fall and how this fall is our lives lived out on a daily basis, We'll give glory to God for keeping us from this evil one. We'll give glory to God for his grace and we'll give glory to God for the knowledge that he brings to us of his grace and his keeping and his preserving of us. Let's read Genesis chapter 3, not all of it, just the first little part. 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, You 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, You 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. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Norma showing me a sign, talking about, I was telling Norma about a sign on the church nearby that says, wise men still seek him. Who was seeking whom in the garden? Was Adam seeking God? Was Eve seeking God? Were they together seeking? Who does the seeking? That's the glory of Genesis 3, as dark as the darkness is, It is against the backdrop of that darkness that we have a wonderful, wonderful opportunity to preach the gospel as he does, both in words and in a glorious picture. We're going to sing, thanks Norm, we're going to sing number 60. Come ye sinners. This is the cry of the church, isn't it? Come ye sinners, poor and wretched. Number 60, thank you. Weak and wounded bow. It's sleeping time Sinners here may sing the same. What a lovely picture he paints of the Lord Jesus Christ with his tenderness. He draws us with chords of love. He draws us with his tenderness to himself, doesn't he? Every time I think of that I want to turn to Matthew chapter 11 and I'll do it just very briefly, but it's just, it's an amazing It amazes me that God Almighty incarnate could be this sort of God to his people. He says, Come to me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Learn of me, not learn about me, learn of me. May he be our teacher. For I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. I want you to turn with me back to Genesis chapter 3. I just want to briefly sketch the outline of what is here before us in Genesis chapter 3. And it's been said repeatedly that if you are wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all. If you're wrong about the cross, you are at a loss to understand anything of God. If you're wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all. The Lord Jesus Christ came and he will do this in John 17 within 24 hours. He will destroy him. Hebrews 2.14, for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. He's come to destroy the works of the devil. And he's come to destroy the works of the devil because we have absolutely no ability whatsoever. We're taken captive to his will, we're kept in his palace, we're kept chained in his palace, and he keeps his goods in his palace at peace and in darkness. And he hides himself. And he hides his activity, and he mostly hides it in religion, as we will see as we go on. Satan has a power, and we must remember at the very beginning, he's God's devil, and he's on God's leash, and he needs, as his As the evil spirits had to, they have to ask God's permission. Satan had to ask God's permission to attack Job and God says you can go this far and you can go this far but you can't go there. So God has a purpose in Satan and all of this fall and ultimately it's all about the glory of God. But Satan comes to the woman. in Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle, he was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. He comes subtly. Paul's great fear It was that lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity, the singleness, the oneness, the completeness that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes, our great Saviour, as a light and His light is required for us to see what Satan is doing. Because everyone else who is not converted, everyone else who is not born a god, lives in the same darkness that Nicodemus lived in. It doesn't matter how much religion they had, it doesn't matter how much good works they had, how much morality they had. They are still taken captive by him. I've been struck thinking this last couple of days about the fact that when the Lord Jesus Christ came to Jerusalem, he wept. No one else wept. No one else wept. He wept. No doubt a part of what he was weeping about was that he actually saw that religion that was going on And he knew what was involved in undoing all that, and that's what he came to do. But he wept. He wept over this religious world, which is rejoicing over its power and its ability. It's been taken captive by Satan. Satan, his name means the one who withstands, he's an adversary, he's an opponent. He also has another name, Lucifer. Lucifer means a light bearer, a shining one, a morning star. He's shining to be praised, to be boastful, to be made praiseworthy. His other name, one of his other names in the scripture is The devil, Diablos, it means a slanderer. He's the accuser of the brethren. And he's called the old serpent and he's called the great dragon among many other names. So let's look at where this darkness of this world and the sin that's in each of Adam's children and in all of this world began. And let's remember that what Satan did with a man who was made upright and innocent is what? And that was sufficient to deceive them and plunge this whole world into darkness. He doesn't have to change anything with fallen men. He doesn't have to change. So what he did in the garden is what he's doing in this world today. Here the pattern is laid, here the foundation is laid upon which he builds and he keeps his palace. So he's more subtle. And he said to the woman, listen to what he said. Hath God said. You shall not eat of every tree in the garden. This is the beginning of corruption, isn't it? Hath God said is the beginning of corruption. And don't forget it began in Eve's mind before she did anything at all. It began in her mind. Sin, not seen, but it lies within. The Lord says, Out of the heart proceed evil. What? thoughts first, and then all of the other activities. See, Satan came to Eve as a preacher and a teacher, and he was talking about God. He spoke about God, he spoke about God's character, he spoke about his law, he spoke about his judgment, he spoke about man, he spoke about man's will, man's rights, man's wisdom, he spoke about salvation, he spoke about eternity. What's wrong with all that? you might say. Well, let's go on and see what he did to her. Listen to what he says. He says, hath God said, thou shalt not eat of every tree of the garden. Hath God said, One of the things that's really interesting is that Eve had only ever known the Lord God, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital T, God, which is Yahweh the Covenant. Elohim is still a name for God, but in fact Satan comes to her and the first thing he wants to do is hide the fact that God is in covenant with his people. It's interesting, isn't it, that one of the things that sets the children of God apart is that we are people, God's children have always been people who love the eternal covenant and love the covenantal character of God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no longer Yahweh God, the Covenant God, it's just God. She'd only known in Genesis 2, you read it all the time, it's all about God, the Lord God. And she follows him in declaring that's his name. And listen to what he's done. He said he turns it upside down, doesn't he? The Lord said in verse 16 of Genesis 2, He said, The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. And in the hands of Satan he says, Hath God said, You shall not eat of every tree in the garden? What God established as good is turned into Satan doubting his good, doubting the goodness of him. Hath God said? So he turns what God had provided as a positive and a blessing to them into something where they were caused to doubt whether God was being good to them at all and that there is some goodness that they can get by their own activities. Satan fell. We've read it many times in Isaiah 14 and I'll just read it to you again. You can turn there if you wish but this is such a significant passage of scripture. We can't talk about the fall and Satan without going back to Isaiah chapter 14. Verse 12, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend in heaven. to 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 cloud. I will be like the Most High. And God says, Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, and did shape the kingdoms? And listen to what God's description of Satan's work in the fall was, that made, verse 17, that made the world a wilderness. that made the world a wilderness. This world is a wilderness. Amos promises, doesn't it, there's a famine in this world. A famine, a drought of hearing the word of God. It's a gospel wilderness that we live in today. to hear the truth of who God is, to hear the truth of what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary, to hear the truth of his work of justification and sanctification, to hear the completeness of that without man doing anything at all. It's a wilderness. It's a wilderness. It is a wilderness in which grace is rare, where the covenant of grace in the blood of the Lamb is not flourishing, and where the covenant of works and its offspring of progressive sanctification reigns. With all of its religious pride and self-righteousness, all religions join in their hatred of God in covenant when Christ is declared as the complete saviour, whose works are all yay and amen. Pride was found in Satan. The angels were created to be what? Ministering spirits. And Satan, when he knew that he was to be a ministering spirit, rode up in pride. There's no honour in being a servant. There's no honour in being a servant. He says, I will be served. I will be honoured. I will be dignified. I will do as I please. I have my rights. His pride was stirred into hatred. Satan, as we go back to Genesis 3, Satan makes the word of God a topic for debate. Satan raises the possibility that God may have spoken unclearly and that the true meaning is left for Eve to consider and to judge with her reasoning. That's what he's saying, isn't it? God said, you can decide this. You can use your free will to decide this. She's been already drawn into his web. of lies and deceit and doubt. How much has doubting the Word of God cost you? In peace? In assurance? In glorifying God? In encouraging your brothers and sisters? It's not a little thing, is it? It's not a little thing. Let's go to verse 2. 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 has said, you shall not eat it, neither shall you touch it. Had God said anything about touching the fruit? He hadn't said a single word about trusting the fruit. If you weren't going to eat the fruit, it's probably a good idea not to touch it. But that's not what God said. It's not what God said. And then she says, lest you die. God has said you will die. She's now saying we might die. We might die. Satan's poison is now working in her mind. Satan having diminished the word of God, he continues his work. She adds to the word of God. She raises doubts about the judgment of God. What God declares, sure, is now a possibility left in the hands of men to establish. Isn't that how men in religion go to the scriptures? To try and figure this out and to try. We come to the word of God and we tremble at the word of God and we bow to the word of God and we love the word of God because the word of God is the very word of God itself. It's spirit and life and truth to us. Verse four. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. You shall not surely die. Here he is, just openly, now that she's been drawn into this web and she's been caused to doubt the word of God and to raise herself up as one who can stand in judgment of the word of God and assess it for herself. She changes the word of God and now she's enticed to just completely and utterly deny it. And listen to what Satan has as his reason for her doing this. for him saying this to her, you shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. So what's Satan claiming? Satan's claiming that he has secret, hidden knowledge of God's motives, his purpose, beyond what is written. He has a special knowledge that she doesn't have. So you see why God hates priestcraft. The whole notion of priests, the whole notion of clergy and laity, God hates it. God hates it. He says it twice in the letters to the churches in Revelation. He hates it. He hates the notion of someone elevating themselves above someone else in terms of their knowledge and enticing people to follow them because they've gained this secret and powerful knowledge. He has a special knowledge that she doesn't have and he will help her to enter into that knowledge. She's saying, he's saying to her, you can grow, you can grow. You can become more knowledgeable, you can become more wise. She's led to believe that God is beholding something from her which she's entitled to and will add to her sense of self-worth and add to her wisdom. giving her free will, glorious free will to make herself better and better and better. She began reducing the name of God, adding to the word of God, denying the word of God and the character of God. No wonder the Lord keeps saying the yeast, a little bit of yeast works through the whole batch of dough. You can have a really wonderful cup of water and all you need to do is put one tiny drop of poison It's not the water, it's the poison. How much poison do you need? None. None. She heeded the voice of the tempter and the yeast had worked through her. Satan appears as a religious preacher, teacher, discussing the things of God, his character, his justice, his judgement. His word which was spoken very clearly now becomes clouded and Satan is the one who holds the keys to understanding and he'll give it to you. And she's led to believe God is withholding some good from her. And Satan makes this promise. Your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Your eyes shall be opened. You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. You, with your newfound wisdom and your free will, will be able to choose what is good and do it. And there'll be some honour in that. People say, if you would speak of God as being absolutely sovereign in all things, well, you're a puppet. Well, if you knew who he was, you'd be very happy to be a puppet in his hands. If you knew who he was, you'd be much happier being under his reign and rule than your own with your own free will. And what did she do? The woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise. She took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did also eat. She saw, she saw, the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, but most of all it was to be desired to make her wise. You shall be as God. This is on continual and permanent repeat in the lives of every one of Adam's children. Again and again and again. It just goes round and round and round. It is the genesis of all the sin and all the evil in the world. It is the genesis of all the pain that's in the world. But thanks be to God that these works are destroyed. Thanks be to God that against the blackness of Satan's work, the Lord Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. He had his people from before the foundation of the world. They are saved in a covenant, a covenant of blood. Satan's religion is to put man on the throne, but in reality really what he's doing is just enthroning Satan himself. Satan's religion is to make and keep in darkness the attributes of God and the covenant of God. That's why when we hear from God that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, we want to give you as much as the scriptures will allow us and God's Spirit will allow us, we want to give you the character of God all the time. That's his name. It's the being behind all the words, isn't it? If you're going to call on his name and be saved, you need to know what his name is. And how can you know unless someone is sent to preach the gospel to you? Satan's religion is to make and keep in darkness the word of God. These scriptures speak of me. What are the scriptures about? The Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Lord Jesus Christ and His Bride. The Lord Jesus Christ reigning, ruling and sovereign over all things. The Lord Jesus Christ who sanctifies his people, the Lord Jesus Christ who justifies his people, the Lord Jesus Christ who declares his people and everyone that's in him and united to him and he died for, they are perfectly clean and holy in God's sight. by his work alone, not by a cooperative activity of man doing what he has to do to complete what God has already promised to do. Satan operates in this world as he did in the garden. He wants to destroy the relationship between man and God. He wants to usurp the authority of God. He wants to overturn his very own creatureness and his own servanthood. His attack is always upon the true Church of God where the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. Satan has no need to bother. He keeps the Catholics and he keeps all of religion that boasts in free will and progressive sanctification. He keeps all of those goods in his palace in peace. He despises them as he keeps them there. He despises them. for their complicity in all of these crimes. His attack is on the church of God. His attack is on the servants of God. Our God reigns and rules. Satan's work began and so it continues. Free will, man's progressive sanctification and religion, special wisdom, that can be imparted by someone who has some special gifts and things, and then they keep people captive by those things. If you go to a Bible college, you're kept captive by those who have, and there's a hierarchy in there, isn't there? You start with a diploma and then you get a BTH and then you get a Master's degree and then you get a PhD, and then having a PhD and being a Doctor of Theology, you're then able to train people for the ministry. You can do all of that without the Holy Spirit being involved at all. That's exactly what's going on in this world. He seeks to take the throne of God. Free will began his work and so it continues. Satan's religion is in the pulpits of this world and in the hearts of all who do not believe in salvation by the free and sovereign grace of God, it being entirely the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and his people being the recipients, the grateful recipients of what he has done. He's done it all, brothers and sisters. He's done it all. He doubts, brings, throws doubt upon God's word. He substitutes his own word for God's word. He casts a slur upon the attributes of God. He appeals to our flesh, our bodily senses, our eyes, our fleshly emotions and desires. He appeals to our intellect to make one wise. He appeals to our pride. You shall be as God, Satan and Christ. are so, so amazingly contrasted, isn't it? Against the darkness of who he is and what he did. Kate, Satan came to usurp God's authority. Christ came to do his father's will. He delights to do his father's will. Kate, Satan came to overturn the character of God in the eyes of his children. Christ came to magnify the character of God. Satan came to cause doubt to God's word. Christ came as the word of God to honor God's word. Satan came with a covenant of works and to attack the covenant of works the Lord Jesus Christ came and fulfilled it all. Satan came to be served. Christ came to serve. Satan came to take life unto himself and take people captive. The Lord Jesus Christ came to give his life as a ransom for many and to set them free. Satan was proud. Christ was humble. He is the least in the kingdom of God. Satan was a murderer. Christ is the light of the world and the life of the world. Satan seeks to elevate man in his mind. Christ was humbled, and the world, and so humbled that the world knew him not. Satan seeks to use God's law to elevate man and subject him to his control. The Lord Jesus Christ came to magnify the law of God and to keep it perfectly, and everyone that was in him did so perfectly. There are two religions in this world, works and grace. Legalism and its reward or grace and its gifts. Man's righteousness or the righteousness of God. Bondage, religious bondage or the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Christ is all. or the religion of Satan, Christ plus what you have to do to make it work for you. The issue is, in all what is true and what is false in religion, who gets the glory? Paul said, God forbid that I should glory, I should boast, I should have confidence in anything other than Jesus Christ in whom you are crucified. May he forbid that amongst us as well. May he protect us. May he shine a light into the darkness of this world, a light that shines on him. Amen.