- Seven steps of temptation.
We will take a look at the temptation that Satan presented
to Adam and Eve in the garden,
some practical steps that he took with them,
and at the end we will look at how to receive victory
even if we fail. So let's dive in.
In Genesis 3, we see the account of the temptation of Adam and Eve
The first thing that we see is that Satan confronted them
with suggestive, enticing and tempting thoughts.
Let's look at verse 1 of chapter 3.
"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field
which the LORD God had made.
And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said,
'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
So Satan plants the thoughts;
suggestive, enticing, and a tempting thought.
Now we don't know exactly if he was physically present
with them but we do know that when it comes to us
he sends these thoughts as arrows - fiery darts,
Scripture talks about in Ephesians chapter 6.
And these thoughts sometimes seem like your own.
It seems like you came up with that.
And people accept those things and let them inside.
The Bible says concerning Judas
that Satan placed in the heart of Judas to betray Jesus.
I wonder if Judas thought that it was his own thought
instead of differentiating it that it was not his own thought.
So Satan here plants a suggestive, enticing and a tempting thought
to Eve. "Has God really said that you shouldn't eat of this?"
Number two is Eve begins to entertain, harbor and discuss
the suggestive thought.
Instead of completely walking away, Eve begins to entertain
and begins to discuss--go into discussion with Satan.
Verse 2: "Now the woman said to the serpent,
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden".
And so, she responds back and she pretty much begins to
already have a conversation, and begins to entertain
the very thing that the enemy was suggesting in step one.
Let's go to verse 3 and step three: the doubt of God's Word.
If we read verse three.
You know, God didn't say that you shouldn't touch it
but Eve adds, you shouldn't touch it.
See, the enemy cannot defeat you until he can disarm you.
And he can't disarm you until he can plant seeds of doubt
of God's Word. Seed of doubt that God is watching.
That God is present. That God loves you. That God cares for you.
And so, doubting God's Word is when the temptation
goes even deeper.
Now let's go into step four, and the verses four and five.
It's when we are thinking that we can be more fulfilled
and could be more satisfied. We will gain more and benefit more
without God. God is withholding something from us.
That's really the whole idea of step four of this temptation.
Let's dive into verse four and verse five.
"But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
I mean, Satan point blank says God is a liar.
He says, "You are not going to die."
So God says you will die, and Satan questions that in verse one
He doubts that. And now he point black says
that's not going to happen. Pretty much he says that's a lie,
God is a liar. And then he adds his spin to it.
He says, "God is withholding something from you.
God is not very honest with you."
Like, God is not telling you the whole picture.
God is hiding certain things from you.
He doesn't want you to have it.
He makes us doubt God's goodness. He makes us doubt God's love.
He makes us become suspicious of God. And that's exactly
what Eve fell for. You know, when you begin to doubt God's love,
It's one thing when you doubt God's Word but then
he wants to push further for you to doubt God's character.
God' goodness, God's loyalty, God's faithfulness.
He begins to say there's other ways to begin to satisfy yourself
outside of God's perimeters. God is withholding something from you.
I can't tell you how many young people fall
into sexual sin thinking God is withholding something from them
when He is asking them to live in purity.
People who go into drugs, people who go into alcoholism
people who go into exploring fulfillment outside of the boundaries
of God's law are really trying to-- they believe this lie
that God is withholding something.
God has something good and He doesn't want you to have it.
He wants you to have a boring life and He Himself has all the fun
He doesn't want you to have any of it.
When you bite into that temptation,
you will go into step number five.
You will start looking and desiring.
Let's dive into Genesis 3:6. It says that:
Have you noticed it goes from doubting, you know,
being filled with these confronting, suggestive thoughts
goes into she's entertaining it, she's doubting God's Word,
she now believes that God is withholding something from her
and now she is staring at that fruit?
She's not running away from it.
She's not forsaking this conversation and turning her look away.
The Bible says, "She saw the tree" meaning she is now looking
she is now desiring it and she is now--
it's honestly like speaking to her. It says, hey it's not a big deal
it's not a problem, just do it.
And then step six is she eats.
"She took of it's fruit and she ate."
This is when the person already commits the sin.
When they take and they eat of the forbidden fruit.
When you honestly say, "Hey, it doesn't matter.
What the heck, I'm just going to do it."And you do that sin.
But it doesn't end there. Step number seven is
we see this with the woman in verse six.
See, sinners are evangelists. They get other people to sin.
You lead other people to sin.
You become a stumbling block to others.
Eve didn't just commit sin, wiped her mouth
and went on her business.
Eve took that sin and gave it to her husband.
See, when people sin they entice and draw others to sin.
See, for Satan to cause other people to sin, all he needs to do
is to get you on the hook. Once you are on the hook of sin,
you will do the job of evangelism for him.
So you are either evangelizing for God
or you are evangelizing for the devil.
But you are not just going to sin,
you are going to cause other people to sin.
You are going to draw other people to sin.
You are going to invite other people to sin.
That's the template of the first temptation.
Suggestive, enticing thoughts,
entertaining and harboring suggestive thoughts,
doubting God's Word, thinking you can be fulfilled outside of God
looking and desiring that sin, committing that sin,
and then leading others to sin.
Now, maybe you found yourself in this spiral of sin
and you feel guilty, you feel ashamed,
you feel like you are far from God.
I want to give you some hope today.
I'm going to share with you three practical things
that you need to keep in mind to walk out of temptation
and to live in victory.
Number one is you must understand that God wants to be your Lord
not your religion. Satan did not mind religion.
He had a problem with God being the Lord.
If you read in chapter two of Genesis,
and I'm going to reference that right now.
I'm not going to read through it but I'm going to reference it.
On your own time, I want you to read it.
I want you to see how many times it's mentioned, the Lord God.
It starts with that: "The LORD GOD has made."
The LORD GOD, The LORD GOD, The LORD GOD, The LORD GOD.
It introduces God. Satan doesn't have a problem with God
he doesn't embrace God as his Lord.
In fact, when Satan refers to God he says, "Has God indeed said."
Have you noticed Satan doesn't introduce God as Lord?
Why? Because He's not his Lord. Satan is his own boss.
He acknowledges God as the creator;
he just doesn't acknowledge God as his master.
See, and this is the key of temptation.
He keeps mentioning God as God, not as Lord God.
And Eve falls for it too. Eve begins to respond back to Satan
saying, "God said, God said." She no longer mentions God as Lord.
When you lose the Lordship of God,
you're already falling into a trap. You can embrace religion.
Religion can't save you from temptation, only Lord God.
Meaning God has to be your Lord. Not your fire insurance,
not your spare tire, not your escape from hell
but your God who is your Master.
Otherwise, Christianity becomes a religion.
Is Jesus your Lord? Is God your Lord?
Is He Lord God? Or is He just a God in Whose existence you believe?
This is huge.
You have got to give God His proper place in your life.
He must be your Lord otherwise, you won't overcome temptation.
Where Satan disarmed Eve, before even the Word of God
and started to question God's character and doubt
is he made her focus on God as the Creator in Whom she believed
and took the Lordship out. Removed the Lord out of God.
I hope you understand. If you understand
drop that number one in the chat or in the comments.
So that's the first key to overcome the temptation.
Is you have to keep Lord in God; meaning keep God as your Lord.
And don't let Satan make you feel like you are in charge of your life.
You are in control, your life belongs to you.
My friend, it does not.
You can't overcome temptation if God is not your Lord.
Number two is Satan can't defeat you until he disarms you.
And he disarms you by making you doubt God's Word.
If you are not in God's Word,
you are not going to overcome the world.
You are not going to overcome sin and temptation.
"Your Word I have hidden in my heart that I may not sin against You."
Psalms 119:11, David says.
So Satan couldn't take Eve out of Paradise- out of Garden of Eden
out of obedience to God until he separated her from God's Word.
The first thing Satan discussed with Eve was God and His Word.
Satan cannot get rid of God's rule over your life
until he gets rid of God's authority in your life.
So we talked about the rule of God in your life
but he can't get rid of the rule of God
until he takes the authority of God's Word in your life.
Devil is not interested in making you an atheist, okay?
That's not his goal. His goal is to making you
a person who doubts and who does not live in God's Word.
You may say, "Vlad, give me some tips and tricks on how
to overcome temptation." My friend, this is a spiritual power
to overcome every temptation.
The Lordship of God and the authority of His Word.
And number three, if you fall into sin, Satan will convince you
your sin is so great, God cannot help you.
To get you into sin he tells you, "Sin is not a big deal."
The moment he gets you into sin, he switches the tactic.
And he says, "Sin is such a big deal, God can't help you."
And that's a lie. So you start hiding from God.
You start walking in guilt and shame instead of running to God.
Instead of hiding in God.
My friend, men don't drown by falling into water.
They drown by staying there. You may have fallen into sin
but run to the grace of God. Run and repent.
Run and confess your sin.
Run and trust in the mercy - the blood of Jesus.
Run because there is hope for you in Christ.
Maybe you found yourself in a repeated sin or the cycle
and Satan is whispering to you and says,
"What's the point of asking for forgiveness?
You are going to do it again."
Satan will lie to you about your future.
He will try to predict your future of you falling again.
He doesn't know that to be true, he's a liar. Don't believe him.
Run to God because this could be the last time you fall
into that sin through the power of His forgiveness
and through the power of His sanctification.
God wants you to live a holy life. But even if you fall into sin
we have a mediator, we have Jesus Christ.
This doesn't give us a license to sin but it gives us power
to overcome sin.
Thank you for watching this short encouragement and video.
I hope that you were encouraged to live a holy life.
To live a life -- you can't be sinless but you will sin less
if you embrace the grace of God.
Yes, we are perfect and righteous in the eyes of God
but we are still wrestling with principalities, powers
in the world, in the flesh. Be encouraged today.
Tell me in the comments below, what did you learn from this video?
What are your weapons to overcome temptation?
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Until next time.