1 00:00:02,100 --> 00:00:06,800 Let me just say as we begin. Our world that we live in today. 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,000 Certainly preoccupied with the issue of origins. 3 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:13,400 In fact, we hear about it, we read about it all the time. 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:15,800 Almost every edition of the newspaper. 5 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:20,400 Every edition of major magazines in our nation, discuss Origins 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,400 and how things came to be and why things are the way that they 7 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,600 are. But to know the truth about 8 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,400 Origins, we have to go all the way back to the Bible. 9 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,900 We find that the story of Origins is told to us in the 10 00:00:32,900 --> 00:00:37,700 Book of Genesis, and it's Found in Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis 11 00:00:37,700 --> 00:00:42,100 chapter 2 and we find the origin of the physical universe as we 12 00:00:42,100 --> 00:00:45,600 know it. But then in Genesis chapter 3 we 13 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:50,400 find the origin of evil when God created everything though and 14 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,600 six days, he did so. And the Bible says that on the 15 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:57,900 seventh day, he rested. You remember what God said about 16 00:00:57,900 --> 00:01:02,200 everything that he created in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 31, 17 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,900 God looked upon, all that he created And he said, and this is 18 00:01:05,908 --> 00:01:09,700 very important, he said it was very good. 19 00:01:10,700 --> 00:01:13,800 We have to understand this very important premise, this very 20 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:19,500 important concept. God is good, he is all good and 21 00:01:19,500 --> 00:01:26,000 he is only good God is good. He is all good and he is only 22 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:30,000 good when you read Genesis chapter 3 verses one through 23 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,100 seven that we did in your hearing just a moment ago. 24 00:01:33,100 --> 00:01:37,000 We find that something happened in Genesis chapter 3 where we 25 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:42,200 find that bad stuff is about to happen. oh, Let me get a little 26 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,100 philosophical though about God. Not being the author of evil 27 00:01:47,500 --> 00:01:49,000 one, man. Put it this way and I'll just 28 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 read this to you. He said if God created evil, 29 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:57,600 then God would be both good and evil and if God were both good 30 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,900 and evil then God could not triumph over the evil that he 31 00:02:02,900 --> 00:02:07,100 promises he will. If God was the source of evil, 32 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,699 he would have to be evil himself but God is not evil. 33 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,500 He is Good. He is all good. 34 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:18,000 He is only good. Another man said, one time that 35 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:22,700 the biblical account of the origins, the original goodness 36 00:02:22,700 --> 00:02:27,900 of God, the original creation is protected by God's goodness and 37 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:31,800 therefore, the source of evil has to be outside of God. 38 00:02:31,900 --> 00:02:35,100 I might make one more point before we go to the next phase 39 00:02:35,100 --> 00:02:37,600 of our lesson. As we wrap up our introduction 40 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,000 here. If God used any form of 41 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,500 evolution in creating the world. And by the way, evolution is 42 00:02:47,500 --> 00:02:51,900 impossible, it's impossible, it's not true. 43 00:02:51,900 --> 00:02:56,200 We all know that if God would have used any kind of evolution 44 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,700 at all in creating the world that it would, it would mean 45 00:03:00,700 --> 00:03:04,400 that God was evil. And the reason for that is 46 00:03:04,700 --> 00:03:08,600 evolution is based upon death and decay. 47 00:03:09,500 --> 00:03:13,000 So that being the case, death and Decay, that's what it's 48 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,700 based upon those things. Do you remember, are the result 49 00:03:16,700 --> 00:03:21,200 or the consequences of sin? And if God would have used any 50 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:25,100 of that, then it means that God is evil, but he is not, he's all 51 00:03:25,100 --> 00:03:28,700 good in every way. So the question is, where did 52 00:03:28,700 --> 00:03:31,400 Evil come from? And you might say, well, wait a 53 00:03:31,408 --> 00:03:33,000 minute, evil came from the devil. 54 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,800 It has to come from the devil. We just read the account when 55 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,400 the serpent was talking to Eve. And we read the account that bad 56 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,800 stuff happened and man, sinned, and all that. 57 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:44,600 It's got to be the devil's fault. 58 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,100 Not so fast. Hang on to that thought. 59 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:51,000 We'll get back to that a little bit later. 60 00:03:51,900 --> 00:03:55,900 I think nobody would argue that the world has evil in it. 61 00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:59,300 You know what? I got to tell you in the 62 00:03:59,308 --> 00:04:03,500 Philippines. When I'm in America, I don't 63 00:04:03,500 --> 00:04:09,300 watch the news very much maybe I should, but I don't. 64 00:04:10,300 --> 00:04:13,300 And in the Philippines that's about all we watch because 65 00:04:13,300 --> 00:04:15,600 there's nothing to see. There's nothing there's no 66 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,100 channels for the most part a lot of places we watched a lot of 67 00:04:19,100 --> 00:04:20,800 CNN news. You don't we found. 68 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,000 We found all the stuff that's going on in the world all the 69 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,400 time. What are the pressing Channel? 70 00:04:27,300 --> 00:04:29,800 All the bad stuff that happens in the world. 71 00:04:30,100 --> 00:04:33,000 Who's at fault, who's doing this, who's doing that 72 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,500 bad-mouthing. Our president back and forth on 73 00:04:35,500 --> 00:04:39,700 and on every day, all day. So, when we go into the hotel at 74 00:04:39,700 --> 00:04:42,900 night, for example, after a long day, we would turn on the TV and 75 00:04:42,900 --> 00:04:45,700 all it is, is this dark picture of the universe? 76 00:04:45,700 --> 00:04:48,200 In, which we live in, we get that. 77 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:53,100 We do have problems in the world, we do understand that. 78 00:04:53,100 --> 00:04:56,900 In fact, the problem of evil in the world has really occupied 79 00:04:56,900 --> 00:05:00,600 even the best Minds in history. I think if we were going to talk 80 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:05,500 about a mind, we would have to talk about Albert, Einstein and 81 00:05:05,500 --> 00:05:09,100 perhaps, he had the greatest brain or enjoyed the greatest 82 00:05:09,100 --> 00:05:10,800 brain of all time. I don't know. 83 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,600 At least in modern times. But Albert Einstein for an 84 00:05:15,608 --> 00:05:19,000 example here he was a great scientist, he had a great mind 85 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,800 the toughest intellectual barrier to the Christian faith 86 00:05:22,900 --> 00:05:28,400 was not the concept of God as a Creator or creation of the world 87 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,000 that self. And the reason for that is he 88 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,200 believed in cause and effect. Now what he's saying is, what 89 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,300 his theory was, what his justification for his position. 90 00:05:39,300 --> 00:05:43,900 Was he said this, the you Universe was the effect. 91 00:05:44,900 --> 00:05:48,900 And if the universe was the effect, it had to have a cause 92 00:05:49,300 --> 00:05:52,600 he looked at the University said, the design of it is 93 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:54,400 massive. Look at the design of the 94 00:05:54,407 --> 00:05:59,400 universe, and if the universe is the design, then it had to have 95 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:05,000 a designer and he believed that it had to have a source. 96 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,500 He concluded though, it had to have a designer had to come from 97 00:06:10,500 --> 00:06:18,000 an orderly mind. but he rejected the idea also of Things in space 98 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:22,300 bumping around endlessly until all of a sudden Presto you've 99 00:06:22,300 --> 00:06:25,900 got the universe. He rejected that rejected that 100 00:06:25,900 --> 00:06:30,200 concept back, he said this the universe reveals an intelligence 101 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,600 of such superiority that it overshadows all human 102 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,600 intelligence. So Einstein was not stuck by the 103 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,000 fact that God was a Creator. Here, is the problem that 104 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,100 Einstein have and I was just tell you, this is the problem of 105 00:06:45,100 --> 00:06:47,100 a lot of people in the World today. 106 00:06:47,700 --> 00:06:50,800 Here it is. It's justifying or wrapping his 107 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,600 mind around the concept of evil and suffering. 108 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:58,700 In other words, he didn't death, if there had to be a Creator 109 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:00,800 there had to be a mind behind it. 110 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,800 There had to be a designer. What he had doubts of is, how 111 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,700 could a good God, allow evil, and suffering in the world, 112 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,900 haven't you heard that how many times did something bad happen 113 00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:15,300 to somebody and they verbally blame God? 114 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,000 As if it was God's fault. This goes all the way back to 115 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,000 some of the greatest minds of all time. 116 00:07:22,500 --> 00:07:24,300 Einstein, couldn't figure it out. 117 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:28,400 Wait a minute, can't be if God is a good God, he would not 118 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,500 allow evil and suffering to happen in the world. 119 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,900 How could he do that? And so what he did is Albert, 120 00:07:34,900 --> 00:07:38,400 Einstein turned completely away from the god of the Bible. 121 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,900 The God that he had been raised up within Judaism to believe it. 122 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,400 Now, what really tripped up? Einstein was the very fact that 123 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,900 he was a detective. Determinist and a determinist. 124 00:07:50,900 --> 00:07:54,600 Simply was this. He saw them, he saw them doing 125 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,100 simply man. What they were programmed to do? 126 00:07:57,100 --> 00:08:01,800 In other words, they were programmed, like, windup toys by 127 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,800 natural irresistible forces, that's what he said. 128 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,600 Or he deduced, what? Man was then he said this, if 129 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:16,700 man was only doing or man only does what he is programmed to do 130 00:08:16,700 --> 00:08:21,300 by natural irresistible forces, then there's no such thing as 131 00:08:21,300 --> 00:08:24,200 right and wrong. There's no such thing as Sin. 132 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:28,900 There's no such thing as guilt so who's responsible? 133 00:08:29,100 --> 00:08:33,100 Well God has to be responsible and Albert, Einstein concluded 134 00:08:33,100 --> 00:08:36,700 that if God is responsible, he cannot be good because he would 135 00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:41,500 be Responsible for evil. You know, sometimes you just 136 00:08:41,500 --> 00:08:47,300 think too much. Sometimes you just think too 137 00:08:47,300 --> 00:08:51,000 much. If you look at the word of God, 138 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:52,500 through the eye of Faith, it's easy. 139 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:58,100 It's difficult to explain it away and you see when Albert 140 00:08:58,100 --> 00:09:02,600 Einstein with human wisdom, tried to figure out creation and 141 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:08,300 God, he was lost to the truth and therefore rejected God. 142 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,900 All of his life. He determined that God is not a 143 00:09:12,900 --> 00:09:16,100 personal God at all. He rejected Judaism also 144 00:09:16,100 --> 00:09:19,100 rejecting the god of Christianity, and he said this 145 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:26,500 that God only exists as an impersonal, Cosmic mind Simply a 146 00:09:26,500 --> 00:09:31,200 rational force that gave the world a rational structure, but 147 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,900 he could not be personal with a personal nature. 148 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:36,700 But folks Albert Einstein was wrong. 149 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:40,600 When it comes to the origin of evil, you have other options to 150 00:09:41,100 --> 00:09:44,000 these are common options. You can either take Albert 151 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,700 Einstein's option and that was that God is nothing but a cosmic 152 00:09:48,700 --> 00:09:52,200 power, he's unknowable, he's impersonal. 153 00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:56,600 He's some kind of rational power out there, Has no personality, 154 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,100 no relationship with an ability to kick with us. 155 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,200 Only a rational power that created the universe. 156 00:10:03,900 --> 00:10:07,400 See how far he went. All because he was trying to 157 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,800 take human wisdom and figure out evil and suffering in the world. 158 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,500 There's more, there's another theory and I'm going to use this 159 00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:18,900 term very Loosely have to use it very Loosely because I don't 160 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:22,900 think you can be an intellectual and be this guy but I'm just 161 00:10:22,900 --> 00:10:26,300 going to categorize the next phase or the next kind of idea 162 00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:32,700 is by the intellectual atheist. The intellectual atheist and the 163 00:10:32,700 --> 00:10:36,400 intellectual atheist says this. God doesn't exist at all. 164 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:40,600 There's no Force, there's no power. 165 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,800 There's no rational mind. There's absolutely nothing. 166 00:10:45,700 --> 00:10:49,500 In reality, made itself, and since there's no God, there's no 167 00:10:49,500 --> 00:10:51,600 evil and there's no good in reality. 168 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,200 So a person can take Einstein's theory or the intellectual 169 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,200 atheist Theory, or even here's another one. 170 00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:01,900 Believe it or not, evil is an illusion. 171 00:11:04,300 --> 00:11:07,800 I can't understand this. I can't understand how someone 172 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,500 would take this Theory, but there are, there are people that 173 00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:15,200 actually believe that evil is Just an Illusion. 174 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:17,800 There's no such thing as evil, you just think that it is 175 00:11:18,700 --> 00:11:21,700 interesting. How could a rational mind even 176 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,200 consider that. And so, basically, here it is, 177 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,400 there's no such thing as suffering and evil and death. 178 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:30,100 They don't really exist. God is good. 179 00:11:30,100 --> 00:11:33,000 Therefore, everything is good. You just think it's not good. 180 00:11:33,100 --> 00:11:34,500 Good. Now, you might say, wait a 181 00:11:34,508 --> 00:11:38,000 minute, who believes that Christian Science. 182 00:11:39,100 --> 00:11:41,700 That's a doctrine of Christian Science. 183 00:11:42,900 --> 00:11:47,700 In fact I got to say this to this is also a confliction of of 184 00:11:47,900 --> 00:11:50,800 terms. You can't be a Christian here, 185 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,200 it is Christian Science for example Christian Science is 186 00:11:54,200 --> 00:12:00,000 neither Christian nor scientific It's not Christian. 187 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,400 It's not scientific, you know, it's kind of like, I think 188 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:05,800 you've heard me say this one time before, but it's kind of 189 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,400 like the cereal Grape-Nuts. You know, there's no grapes and 190 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:12,100 there's no nuts. There's not. 191 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:13,800 And you know what? It tastes like bark. 192 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:20,000 Grape-Nuts. It's not a reflection of its 193 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,200 name, it does not manifest its name. 194 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:23,700 That's kind of like Christian Science. 195 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,500 It's not Christian and it's not science. 196 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,100 They believe that evil is Just an Illusion. 197 00:12:31,500 --> 00:12:35,300 In fact, Hindus also believe that the entire universe is an 198 00:12:35,300 --> 00:12:39,400 illusion amazing. And so you can take some kind of 199 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:43,100 esoteric mystical approach to the reality of evil and agree 200 00:12:43,100 --> 00:12:46,700 with those people or you can look at the fourth possibility 201 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:51,900 and that is God is transcendent. What's that mean? 202 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:57,900 God is transcendent, meaning he is beyond good & Beyond evil. 203 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:03,300 In other words, God cannot be defined by a Any human concept 204 00:13:03,900 --> 00:13:07,300 that gets very close to Einstein's perspective that God 205 00:13:07,300 --> 00:13:09,400 doesn't dabble in the stuff down here. 206 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:12,700 He's Way Beyond that. He's unmoved, he's Untouched by 207 00:13:12,700 --> 00:13:14,900 any of it. Here's another one, though. 208 00:13:14,900 --> 00:13:17,800 Believe it or not. And this is actually something 209 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,300 that has gone through the Evangelical world and is getting 210 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,800 and gaining popularity here it is, God has limited power. 211 00:13:26,900 --> 00:13:30,500 You know what they call that they call that process theology. 212 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,600 Now, I gotta say, I hate David sake. 213 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:43,400 I hate to even say the words. But the here they are, the 214 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:49,600 doctrine of processed theology, is the idea that God hate to 215 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,700 even say it. He wants to be something he 216 00:13:52,700 --> 00:13:55,200 wants to be on, knowing he wants to be all-powerful. 217 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,400 He wants to be all that he wants to be all good. 218 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,900 He craves that he wants to be, that he's working towards that, 219 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:07,600 but he's not there yet. I'm going to tell you that is a 220 00:14:07,608 --> 00:14:13,600 theory that has taken over like wildfire the Evangelical world 221 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,600 today. Kind of like me and you and you 222 00:14:16,608 --> 00:14:20,200 and I are struggling. We're struggling, we're growing. 223 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,100 We're trying to get to the kind of person we need to be. 224 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:24,800 We're trying to get to be christ-like. 225 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,800 We're trying to be better in the future that we've been in days 226 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:28,100 gone. By that's us. 227 00:14:28,100 --> 00:14:30,600 We're struggling. We are not infallible. 228 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,900 We make a ton of mistakes but not God. 229 00:14:34,100 --> 00:14:37,400 Not God. So when people try to wrap their 230 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:39,600 mind around, why is there evil in the world? 231 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,200 That God is a good God? Then what this theory is is, 232 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,300 well, he's in process, he's working on it. 233 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:49,400 He's just not there yet. In other words, he's trying. 234 00:14:49,500 --> 00:14:53,100 And when bad things happen, hate to even say this when bad things 235 00:14:53,100 --> 00:14:57,700 happen, it happens because God cannot stop it. 236 00:14:59,100 --> 00:15:02,700 It's called process, theology. It exists today. 237 00:15:04,100 --> 00:15:07,600 You know, the struggling God concept was nothing new. 238 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,800 In fact you might have remember Rabbi Kushner, a Jew, who wrote 239 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,000 the book? I love the title, never read the 240 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,900 book, but it's also the title of this book is a question that 241 00:15:18,900 --> 00:15:21,700 people ask, you know, it's called when bad things happen to 242 00:15:21,700 --> 00:15:25,600 good people. We all ask that I can't tell you 243 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:28,200 how many times people have asked me, why do bad things happen to 244 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,200 good people? Why do bad things happen to good 245 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:32,500 people? Well, this is a very famous 246 00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:36,000 book. His idea was that God hadn't 247 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,300 arrived yet becoming what he really needed to be in. 248 00:15:39,300 --> 00:15:42,700 That is a fully good. God, a fully Sovereign God and 249 00:15:42,700 --> 00:15:44,700 have absolute control over everything. 250 00:15:44,700 --> 00:15:47,500 He just wasn't quite there yet. He's in process. 251 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,700 So you either believe that God isn't God just a cosmic mind. 252 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,600 Albert Einstein or you believe that God doesn't exist at all. 253 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,900 Intellectual atheist or you believe that suffering and sin 254 00:15:59,900 --> 00:16:02,900 don't really exist. It's Just an Illusion that is 255 00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:06,000 Christian Science. You can believe also that God 256 00:16:06,100 --> 00:16:10,900 transcends or is transcendent. Meaning he is beyond good and 257 00:16:10,900 --> 00:16:13,400 evil and we have no contact with him. 258 00:16:14,500 --> 00:16:17,700 Or. We take the view that God is in 259 00:16:17,700 --> 00:16:20,700 process. And I'll tell you something, 260 00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:25,400 when you talk about creation and you talk about God not existing 261 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:27,900 at all, I understand that concept because really what 262 00:16:27,900 --> 00:16:32,400 you're saying, if God doesn't exist at all, is nobody times. 263 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:37,400 Nothing equals everything. That's what it is. 264 00:16:38,900 --> 00:16:43,400 How can you be an intellectual and be an atheist at the same 265 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:46,100 time? Well, there's one other View, 266 00:16:46,900 --> 00:16:49,000 and I'm going to throw this in the mix, and this was the reason 267 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:53,800 that I wrote the sermon, and that is God made evil. 268 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:56,900 But the man's point was this. God made the evil. 269 00:16:56,900 --> 00:17:00,400 He made the sin, he made the bad stuff, but it was for a good 270 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,300 purpose. In fact, it was created that he 271 00:17:03,300 --> 00:17:07,599 might overtake it. One day, let me simply put it to 272 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:11,700 you simply now. This way, God is not responsible 273 00:17:11,700 --> 00:17:15,200 for evil. His creatures are. 274 00:17:17,099 --> 00:17:21,599 God is not responsible for evil in any way. 275 00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:26,300 And I'm going to say this to, when a bad things happen, bad 276 00:17:26,300 --> 00:17:30,800 thing happens in life, it is not God's fault. 277 00:17:32,300 --> 00:17:35,200 And I just might say this to, I've heard we've all heard this, 278 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,900 somebody would say where was God, when my son died, I love 279 00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:42,700 the response. The same place he was when his 280 00:17:42,700 --> 00:17:45,600 son died. Same place. 281 00:17:47,700 --> 00:17:49,900 God doesn't bring evil to the world. 282 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,200 His creation does more on that in a man. 283 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:55,700 Let's talk about God for just a minute. 284 00:17:55,700 --> 00:17:57,300 I'm going to quote these very quickly. 285 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:03,300 Habakkuk 1:13. God is of purer eyes than to 286 00:18:03,300 --> 00:18:07,700 approve evil or behold evil. He cannot look on wickedness. 287 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,100 First Corinthians 14:33. God is not the author of 288 00:18:13,100 --> 00:18:16,600 confusion. First John 1 and verse 5. 289 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,500 God is light and in him is no Darkness, at all. 290 00:18:20,900 --> 00:18:24,600 James 1:13. God cannot be tempted with evil. 291 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:26,300 Neither, tempteth. He any man? 292 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:30,400 First, John, 2:16. All that's in the world and when 293 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:35,200 I say that I'm talking about all evil categorically, All that's 294 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:37,200 in the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust 295 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:41,100 of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father, two 296 00:18:41,100 --> 00:18:46,100 more, Psalm 5 and verse 4. You are not of God, who has 297 00:18:46,100 --> 00:18:49,400 pleasure in wickedness, neither will evil dwell in you. 298 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,800 And one final passage. I love this. 299 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:56,000 Passage in Isaiah chapter 6, you remember those seraphim's with 300 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:02,300 their, I get there, any there there proclaims about God, know 301 00:19:02,300 --> 00:19:07,400 what they said. And a phono claims, what is God? 302 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:14,400 He is. Holy Holy, Holy That's what God 303 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,100 is. He's not evil at all. 304 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:19,300 He doesn't make bad stuff happen. 305 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:22,800 He never temps anybody. He's not tempted either and he's 306 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,200 not responsible for any evil at all. 307 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:30,800 That means this if that's the case that means that the source 308 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:36,900 of evil and sin have to be outside of God when God created 309 00:19:36,900 --> 00:19:42,100 angels and humans. He gave angels and humans three 310 00:19:42,100 --> 00:19:46,700 things. He gave them intelligence, he 311 00:19:46,700 --> 00:19:51,000 gave them reason and he gave them a choice and I put that in 312 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:55,800 that order for a reason. God created angels are created 313 00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:00,300 beings, man are created beings and God gave Angels. 314 00:20:00,300 --> 00:20:04,700 The same thing he gave man, what are they intelligence reason and 315 00:20:04,700 --> 00:20:08,500 choice in that sequence and here's the reason the three 316 00:20:08,500 --> 00:20:14,000 things intelligence reason, and choice another words, God gave 317 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,800 men and angels the ability to understand and then he gave 318 00:20:18,900 --> 00:20:22,100 angels and man the ability to process that knowledge and 319 00:20:22,100 --> 00:20:23,100 understanding. Me. 320 00:20:23,100 --> 00:20:26,400 And guess what we get to do? We now have the freedom to 321 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:33,200 determine our Behavior. That's why Angels were similar 322 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,800 in creation with man. All they were given was 323 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:45,500 Intelligence reason and choice. Now, bottom line. 324 00:20:47,900 --> 00:20:51,600 What they knew with the ability to process the information 325 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:55,700 brought to a choice whether Angels or men, they would have 326 00:20:55,700 --> 00:20:58,800 the choice to obey God or not obey God. 327 00:20:59,100 --> 00:21:05,100 Now here's the answer, here's the answer to disobey God was to 328 00:21:05,100 --> 00:21:10,300 initially initiate evil and the reason for that is evil is not 329 00:21:10,300 --> 00:21:13,900 the presence of something. Evil, is the absence of 330 00:21:13,900 --> 00:21:17,400 righteousness. Somebody might say, well, you 331 00:21:17,408 --> 00:21:20,000 know, there's a big dark force out there. 332 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,500 Bad Force. No, there isn't That's not the 333 00:21:23,508 --> 00:21:26,600 source of evil. And get it out of your mind. 334 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:29,400 Get this out of your mind but the devil made me do it. 335 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,000 No, he didn't. You know why? 336 00:21:32,700 --> 00:21:37,000 Because you've been given this, you've been given intelligence, 337 00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:40,200 you've been given reason and you've been given the freedom of 338 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:44,300 choice. So evil isn't something that was 339 00:21:44,300 --> 00:21:49,100 created it just lives out there. Evil is the absence of 340 00:21:49,100 --> 00:21:54,300 righteousness. Now we go back to the beginning. 341 00:21:55,300 --> 00:22:00,700 Those that were in, in heaven, the Fallen Angels, they were 342 00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:03,600 given intelligence reason and choice. 343 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,500 What did they do? They chose disobedience. 344 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:12,700 They were the source of evil. Did you see that they chose evil 345 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,100 evil is the lack of righteousness? 346 00:22:15,100 --> 00:22:18,800 Therefore, they chose that and that's what thank God, they were 347 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:20,700 cast out of Heaven. More on that in a minute. 348 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,200 What about? Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve were 349 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,700 in the same way. Adam, and Eve were created. 350 00:22:26,700 --> 00:22:30,800 They were given intelligence reason and choice and they chose 351 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:34,500 wrong. Remember this, remember this 352 00:22:34,700 --> 00:22:39,300 when God created, man and Created the universe. 353 00:22:39,500 --> 00:22:43,400 There was no evil. None at all. 354 00:22:45,700 --> 00:22:49,900 God had nothing to do with it. When Adam and Eve were in the 355 00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:52,900 garden and they sinned, what did they do? 356 00:22:53,300 --> 00:22:56,000 They had intelligence reason and choice. 357 00:22:56,100 --> 00:23:00,900 They chose to disobey then therefore they became the source 358 00:23:00,900 --> 00:23:04,400 of evil their fault. Oh that's not. 359 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:07,600 By the way, is not very popular. Don't ever say somebody's fault? 360 00:23:08,700 --> 00:23:10,600 We don't ever want somebody think it's their fault. 361 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,000 Yeah, you're a wonderful person even though you do what you do. 362 00:23:15,100 --> 00:23:17,900 No you're not. You are sure you don't like the 363 00:23:17,900 --> 00:23:21,600 reality change reality. But we are what we are based on 364 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,000 what we do in the decisions that we make and don't ever take 365 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,600 Choice off the table. Adam and Eve couldn't blame 366 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:29,100 anybody. All they tried. 367 00:23:29,500 --> 00:23:34,100 Remember, Adam, all the woman you gave me. the woman says, oh, 368 00:23:34,100 --> 00:23:37,800 the serpent, More on that in a minute. 369 00:23:39,100 --> 00:23:41,800 So here's a question. Then here's a question. 370 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,400 The question is, if God did not create it. 371 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,700 Stay with me on this. Why did God allow it? 372 00:23:51,500 --> 00:23:55,100 Well, first of all, I have come to know these facts. 373 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:59,400 There is a God and I'm not him. So I can't get into the mind of 374 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,700 God and tell you why, God allowed sin. 375 00:24:02,900 --> 00:24:07,200 All I can do is I can look to what sin actually brought about. 376 00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:10,200 I can look at the outcome of sin, and that's really all that 377 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,300 we can do, but to ask ourselves, Why did God do that? 378 00:24:13,300 --> 00:24:15,300 There's no answer. So, let's not ask why. 379 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,200 But let's talk about what sin did bring about it. 380 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:23,300 Brought about three things, three things. 381 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,600 Number one, it brought about the salvation of sinners. 382 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,900 In other words, when a man would sin, then God would demonstrate 383 00:24:31,900 --> 00:24:36,400 his grace, his mercy, and his forgiveness in Salvation. 384 00:24:37,300 --> 00:24:39,600 That's what sin brought about without sin. 385 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,200 There would be no Grace. There would be no mercy. 386 00:24:42,300 --> 00:24:46,300 There would be no forgiveness. What else? 387 00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:56,500 Evil God allowed, evil to display his wrath against it. 388 00:24:57,300 --> 00:25:00,400 You know, God shows his Mercy to the save, but his wrath and 389 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,400 judgment to those that are lost. What else? 390 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:07,000 Remember this? Remember, this evil is the 391 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:11,000 absence of righteousness. What else? 392 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:18,000 We know this to God allows sin so he can destroy it forever. 393 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,400 God didn't create it, but God will destroy it forever. 394 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,100 I see absence of righteousness. So, three things. 395 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:32,500 God demonstrates his grace and salvation because of sin. 396 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,200 God, also demonstrates his power over it as authority over his 397 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,000 judgment and wrath over it. And what else? 398 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:45,000 God allows sin also, and he will destroy it forever. 399 00:25:45,100 --> 00:25:48,700 Remember, it's the absence of perfection now. 400 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,700 Now, the one who chooses it is the source of it. 401 00:25:51,700 --> 00:25:58,100 Now, in case of Lucifer, Lucifer was a name of the devil now, 402 00:25:58,100 --> 00:26:02,500 Satan made a bad choice and Satan seduced a third of the 403 00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:05,800 rest of the hosts of Heaven. And the reason I bring this up, 404 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,100 as I want to make a point you ever talk to somebody that 405 00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:13,800 really is - about how bad things are and how its way worse than 406 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,500 it is good. And there's way more bad stuff 407 00:26:17,500 --> 00:26:18,700 than there. Is good stuff. 408 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,600 You know, I heard a guy say not long ago, rather cynical older 409 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,100 fella, and he said, you know, there's, there's really you 410 00:26:27,100 --> 00:26:29,800 can't make a difference. Things are bad, and that's the 411 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,500 way it is. I hope I never get that old. 412 00:26:34,100 --> 00:26:37,000 That's the truth. I'm going to tell you there's 413 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:38,600 more good in the world than there is bad. 414 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,700 That's a fact. I know a lot of good people in 415 00:26:41,700 --> 00:26:43,400 this world. I do a lot of good people in the 416 00:26:43,408 --> 00:26:45,200 world that are not Christians. They're still good. 417 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:47,800 People are just not saved, but they're good people. 418 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:50,400 So let's go back to the beginning. 419 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:54,500 When Lucifer and a third of the hosts of Heaven were cast out. 420 00:26:54,900 --> 00:26:58,900 Did you know that, when that happened, two-thirds of the 421 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,600 hosts of Heaven were good? That means there was twice as 422 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,500 many good angels, as there were bad Angels. 423 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,200 You know, the Bible says about the Angels, there are 10,000 424 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,000 times I'm ten thousand and thousands and thousands and if 425 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,800 you multiply it all out you probably wouldn't even get there 426 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:22,400 yet. Twice, as many. 427 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:28,600 But they made a choice and they fell, the source of evil is 428 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,300 outside of God. The source of evil is the one 429 00:27:31,300 --> 00:27:34,300 who chooses evil because evil is the absence of righteousness. 430 00:27:34,300 --> 00:27:37,800 Now in chapter three, all we're going to do is notice three 431 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,600 words, three words for the rest of our sermon three works. 432 00:27:42,300 --> 00:27:48,300 And that's now the serpent. Let's talk about the serpent for 433 00:27:48,300 --> 00:27:52,600 just a few minutes. What is the serpent, and who is 434 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:54,600 it? So, In the garden and everything 435 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,300 is good. You got all kinds of creepy 436 00:27:57,500 --> 00:28:00,700 creatures there and they're all made of God. 437 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,500 And here, you meet a serpent, and the word serpent is the 438 00:28:05,500 --> 00:28:10,000 word, net cash. And that means reptile. 439 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,600 Now that's a Hebrew word, and there's another word also, and 440 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:15,700 that's we're going to get to that in a minute, but we don't 441 00:28:15,700 --> 00:28:18,800 know what this reptile looked like, but have you ever seen the 442 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,800 depiction of Hollywood? Have you seen the cartoon? 443 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:27,000 The cartoon of they're supposed to be Eve standing there? 444 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:27,900 An apple tree. I don't know why. 445 00:28:27,900 --> 00:28:30,700 It was making an apple tree. It's the treat. 446 00:28:30,700 --> 00:28:32,800 The fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. 447 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,800 That's what we know but everybody was making an apple 448 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,900 tree. So here's this eve standing 449 00:28:36,900 --> 00:28:39,000 there at the apple tree and then the surface there you know he 450 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,800 looks like it's gigantic. Snake its wound around the tree 451 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:44,700 everybody wants to make it like that. 452 00:28:45,500 --> 00:28:46,900 We have no idea what he looked like. 453 00:28:47,700 --> 00:28:50,600 We have no idea. If you look like a snake, we 454 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:55,500 just know that by Hebrew word. He means serpent or some kind of 455 00:28:55,700 --> 00:28:58,200 reptile. We don't know for sure. 456 00:28:59,300 --> 00:29:05,500 Later on in chapter 3 and verse 14, we find that there's a part 457 00:29:05,500 --> 00:29:09,000 of the curse of the serpent was the fact that that, that after 458 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,900 he was cursed, he now God said was going to have to Slither on 459 00:29:12,900 --> 00:29:16,700 its belly and he dust forever. Right. 460 00:29:18,500 --> 00:29:21,800 So in other words, he wasn't a slithering whatever on the 461 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,600 ground until he was cursed. So before that we don't know. 462 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:34,000 He look like Now, the word net cash for reptile is a word 463 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,400 that's used to describe what a reptile does. 464 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,600 And that is to hiss there's another word in the Old 465 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,300 Testament, and it's used for reptiles also, and that's the 466 00:29:44,300 --> 00:29:47,500 word tannin. And sometimes these are used 467 00:29:47,500 --> 00:29:50,300 interchangeably. In fact, there's a second 468 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,100 section of Exodus. Chapter 7 verses 9 to 15. 469 00:29:54,100 --> 00:29:57,500 You remember when Moses is interacting with The Magicians 470 00:29:57,500 --> 00:30:01,800 in Pharaoh's Court member that they throw down their sticks and 471 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:07,400 they become a serpent. And that word is Tannen, but 472 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,500 Moses. He puts a stick down and his 473 00:30:10,500 --> 00:30:14,500 becomes net cash. Sometimes they're used 474 00:30:14,700 --> 00:30:18,800 interchangeably to describe different aspects of it. 475 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:24,500 So, what is tannin mean? Interesting Cannon means dragon 476 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:29,500 Or sea monster. Now I'm not standing here 477 00:30:29,500 --> 00:30:32,400 telling you that I can describe to you. 478 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:39,200 What this thing looked like all I'm saying is chances are it 479 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:43,600 wasn't a snake that we know today there's nothing that shows 480 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:49,000 to us that it was a snake when it tempted Eve in the garden. 481 00:30:49,900 --> 00:30:54,100 He became whatever that was slithering in the dirt after it 482 00:30:54,100 --> 00:30:58,700 was cursed after the sin. So we're talking about by 483 00:30:58,700 --> 00:31:02,700 definition, some kind of a serpent, some kind of a reptile, 484 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,200 some kind of a dragon, whatever that was some kind of a serpent 485 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:07,600 there. And when you come in the New 486 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:11,500 Testament, very interestingly Satan in Revelation chapter 12 487 00:31:11,500 --> 00:31:16,400 and verse 20. Satan is called The Serpent and 488 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,100 the dragon both. In the Hebrew, he would have 489 00:31:20,100 --> 00:31:24,300 been called net cash and tannin. So sometimes it's dragging 490 00:31:24,300 --> 00:31:27,400 sometimes, it's serpent but the serpent is compared to other 491 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:31,200 animals, too. And in verse number one, it says 492 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:35,500 something about this serpent, it says it was more crafty or 493 00:31:35,500 --> 00:31:38,000 cunning than any beast of the field. 494 00:31:38,700 --> 00:31:41,700 Now this is an actual animal. We have to remember that this is 495 00:31:41,700 --> 00:31:45,300 a real animal, but it wouldn't be an animal that we would know, 496 00:31:45,300 --> 00:31:48,700 because it was a precursor reptile to time, whatever that 497 00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:50,700 animal was eating dirt and all that. 498 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,300 But all of a sudden we find it is different than all other 499 00:31:54,300 --> 00:31:55,400 animals. Do you know why? 500 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,200 Because this guy can talk, Now, I read a commentator. 501 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:06,800 And the commentator said all the animals in the garden talked. 502 00:32:08,700 --> 00:32:12,200 No, they didn't. That's some kind of a Doctor, 503 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:17,900 Doolittle concept. No, they didn't it commentator 504 00:32:17,900 --> 00:32:20,000 used well. What about balaam's donkey? 505 00:32:21,100 --> 00:32:22,800 He talked. Yeah. 506 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:28,700 Once One time as God, spoke through him on one occasion, 507 00:32:28,700 --> 00:32:33,400 only now, interesting here. What's interesting to me is Eve 508 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,200 doesn't appear to be overly shocked when the reptile walks 509 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,000 up and starts a conversation. There's something different 510 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,700 about this particular serpent because he said to the woman, he 511 00:32:42,700 --> 00:32:47,500 said, indeed has God said, You shall not eat from every tree of 512 00:32:47,500 --> 00:32:50,700 the garden. Now what is the serpent know? 513 00:32:51,100 --> 00:32:55,800 The serpent knows about God, the serpent has a personality and 514 00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:57,600 the serpent speaks with intelligence. 515 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:03,200 He's devious he's hostile, he's evil. 516 00:33:04,100 --> 00:33:06,500 Here's another theory though that about what happened in the 517 00:33:06,508 --> 00:33:09,200 garden and it's not true. I don't believe it to be true at 518 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,000 all. And that was the things in the 519 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:13,800 events that happened in the garden. 520 00:33:13,900 --> 00:33:17,600 They didn't really happen. There's a theory that all that 521 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:19,400 is is just some kind of a parable. 522 00:33:19,500 --> 00:33:21,600 Incidentally Parables were always true. 523 00:33:22,700 --> 00:33:25,400 So the very fact that it was true when it eliminate that 524 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:28,300 argument anyway, but the argument is that it was just a 525 00:33:28,300 --> 00:33:32,400 parable and it had nothing to do with a real event. 526 00:33:32,900 --> 00:33:36,800 And one commentator said, it's a parable with a moral, you know, 527 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,500 when you tell a story and then after you say and the moral of 528 00:33:39,500 --> 00:33:43,500 the story is, well, my question is this, if that is a parable 529 00:33:43,500 --> 00:33:46,700 with a moral, what's the moral to be learned? 530 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,300 A Jewish rabbi said this. He said the serpent wasn't 531 00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:57,600 really talking to Eve, but the writer Moses uses the serpent as 532 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:01,600 a symbol of evil, impulses, rising and Eve's heart. 533 00:34:02,500 --> 00:34:06,000 So this is just a sort of symbolic way to refer to stuff 534 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:11,900 that was going on in Eve's mine. okay, then why curse the reptile 535 00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:16,500 These things really happened. When you take the Bible for what 536 00:34:16,500 --> 00:34:19,800 it says, you know what I think, I think that's exactly what 537 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,400 happened. The serpent ask Eve a question 538 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:27,699 and she answered it. Now the creature wasn't just any 539 00:34:27,699 --> 00:34:31,100 other creature because back in chapter and in our chapter and 540 00:34:31,100 --> 00:34:35,100 verse 1, it says the serpent was more cunning and crafty than any 541 00:34:35,100 --> 00:34:38,100 other beast of the field, which the Lord God has made. 542 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,300 Some people think that means he was sneaky. 543 00:34:40,300 --> 00:34:44,500 That is not what the word means. It's not what the word mean. 544 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,500 I heard somebody say well you know snakes are sneaky, how do 545 00:34:47,500 --> 00:34:50,500 you do that? How do you know that a snake is 546 00:34:50,500 --> 00:34:52,300 any sneakier than any other predator? 547 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:57,900 Cunning and crafty does not mean sneaky as some commentators 548 00:34:57,900 --> 00:35:00,900 would say that. It means, in fact, that word 549 00:35:00,900 --> 00:35:06,500 actually means subtle cunning intelligent and wives. 550 00:35:07,300 --> 00:35:12,100 So, in other words, this serpent was different than every other 551 00:35:12,100 --> 00:35:16,500 animal. This one had superhuman ability 552 00:35:16,500 --> 00:35:18,600 to speak. It was subtle. 553 00:35:18,700 --> 00:35:20,900 It was cunning. It was crafty, it was 554 00:35:20,900 --> 00:35:28,300 intelligent and it was wise. Superhuman intelligence could 555 00:35:28,300 --> 00:35:30,900 speak. Listen carefully this 556 00:35:30,900 --> 00:35:34,900 personality inside the animal knew the effect of choice Adam 557 00:35:34,900 --> 00:35:37,500 and Eve were only going to make the wrong choice when they made 558 00:35:37,500 --> 00:35:39,700 the wrong choice, they didn't know exactly what would happen. 559 00:35:39,700 --> 00:35:42,600 Other than the fact that God said in the day that you eat, 560 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:48,600 you will surely die. When Lucifer became first made 561 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:52,400 the choice, he became. He said, I want to be like God 562 00:35:53,100 --> 00:35:57,900 and folks, you don't do that. you don't put yourself in a 563 00:35:57,908 --> 00:36:03,600 place of, or a position of something that only God should 564 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:08,200 have. Now Pride was the problem with 565 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:12,400 Lucifer and when Lucifer was in heaven and a third of the hosts 566 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,800 of Heaven were seduced to follow his ways when they were cast 567 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:18,800 down, it was because of their sinful Pride. 568 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:24,300 He wanted to elevate himself and be more like, God, I want God's 569 00:36:24,300 --> 00:36:27,400 job. And he was cast out. 570 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,100 God is Holy. He was wretched. 571 00:36:32,500 --> 00:36:35,000 He says to Eve. See, the reason that God doesn't 572 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,900 want you to eat of that tree is because God knows. 573 00:36:38,100 --> 00:36:45,600 When you do it, you're going to be like God Now. that's why when 574 00:36:45,900 --> 00:36:51,400 the devil tempts us today, The devil wants as many people to go 575 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:55,200 where he's going as possible. Did you ever stop to consider, 576 00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:57,800 you know, the word? Gehenna, the, which it was a 577 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:01,900 literal place in the days of the Bible days, was actually a 578 00:37:01,908 --> 00:37:05,500 little literal place where fires, burned constantly, and 579 00:37:05,500 --> 00:37:10,700 all that city waste dump cake, gehenna, when you talk about 580 00:37:10,700 --> 00:37:15,100 hell of the Lake of Fire gehenna, it was not created for 581 00:37:15,100 --> 00:37:18,400 man. It's a creative place that was 582 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:25,300 made for Satan and his angels. So Satan and his angels know 583 00:37:25,300 --> 00:37:27,300 there is no hope they're going to hell. 584 00:37:27,700 --> 00:37:31,500 They're going to the place that was created for them but when 585 00:37:31,500 --> 00:37:35,700 sin came into the world and death by sin spiritually, 586 00:37:35,700 --> 00:37:39,600 speaking, those that are not saved those that are lost, will 587 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:43,000 go to the place that was created for the devil and his angels. 588 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,400 Why do you think the devil works so hard to get people to go to 589 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:50,300 hell? He knows. 590 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:59,900 And he says, you shall not surely die. you just, Are going 591 00:37:59,900 --> 00:38:01,800 to be like God and God doesn't want that. 592 00:38:02,900 --> 00:38:05,800 So who's the creature, who was this creature? 593 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,100 We're talking about. Nothing is said, by the way, in 594 00:38:08,100 --> 00:38:12,000 Genesis 3, about Satan, Satan is never mentioned in Genesis 595 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,800 chapter 3. So we go to the end of the Bible 596 00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:17,400 and we find in Revelation, chapter 12, and verse 9. 597 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:22,800 We find that it is Satan. In fact, we find also and two 598 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,000 terms sort of borrowing from the Hebrew in the Old Testament. 599 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:29,400 He is called NACA. She is called tannin, which is 600 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,500 Serpent and reptile. Now in verse 9. 601 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:37,900 Of Revelation chapter 12 it says, and the Great Dragon was 602 00:38:37,900 --> 00:38:43,400 thrown down the serpent which is called Satan the devil and 603 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:50,500 Satan. What else? 604 00:38:52,900 --> 00:38:58,200 It's the dragon is the deceives the whole world devil and Satan. 605 00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:00,600 What about in the New Testament? In the New Testament. 606 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:03,700 There's a commentary really on. Genesis 3 and 2 places first. 607 00:39:03,700 --> 00:39:06,500 The same Corinthians 11 continues to help us to 608 00:39:06,500 --> 00:39:10,300 understand who the serpent is. Second Corinthians, 11 and 3. 609 00:39:10,300 --> 00:39:15,300 Paul said, but I fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived 610 00:39:15,300 --> 00:39:19,100 Eve by his craftiness. So your minds may be corrupted 611 00:39:19,100 --> 00:39:21,800 from the Simplicity that is in Christ. 612 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,600 So that Oh, the serpent deceived Eve. 613 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:28,300 It is also true in 1st, Timothy Chapter 2 and verse 14. 614 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:32,200 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell 615 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:37,000 into transgression. I gotta tell you, I gotta tell 616 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:41,700 you in the same program. Of that preacher. 617 00:39:43,300 --> 00:39:45,400 Talking about why evils in the world? 618 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:50,800 You only said he said you see it's easy to trick a woman. 619 00:39:52,700 --> 00:39:58,000 It's easy to deceive a woman. It's easier to deceive a woman 620 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,900 than it is to deceive. A man that is ignorance gone to 621 00:40:01,900 --> 00:40:03,600 see. That's not what the Bible says. 622 00:40:04,500 --> 00:40:07,000 He didn't say that the woman you could pull the wool over her 623 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,000 eyes better than you. Can't imagine that mean that at 624 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:10,900 all. It just States a fact of what 625 00:40:10,900 --> 00:40:16,100 happened. She was deceived period period. 626 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,500 She was deceived. Now something else that we have 627 00:40:20,500 --> 00:40:24,100 to remember, we understand that Satan is deceptive he's 628 00:40:24,100 --> 00:40:25,600 deceiving. He is lying. 629 00:40:25,700 --> 00:40:31,700 And Satan tempts us with all the things in life that are appealed 630 00:40:31,700 --> 00:40:34,800 to the flesh. He tempts Us in those ways to 631 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:39,500 try to get us to fall but as powerful and as wicked as he is, 632 00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:41,900 as evil as he is, listen to this. 633 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,800 He is the subject is still subject to The Sovereign control 634 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:48,200 of God. Nothing will happen, unless God 635 00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:50,600 allows it period. Number job. 636 00:40:52,900 --> 00:40:58,200 Joe was still in the care of God and God controlled with the 637 00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:02,000 devil was able to do to him. So what am I saying? 638 00:41:02,100 --> 00:41:05,700 What I'm saying is when you sin is still your choice devil, 639 00:41:05,700 --> 00:41:09,200 can't make you do anything, the devil cannot make you do 640 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:12,500 anything. We're drawn away by the Bible 641 00:41:12,500 --> 00:41:16,000 says, When sin comes were drawn away by our own lust and enticed 642 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,000 and we have to make a choice. When lust has conceived, it 643 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:22,100 brings forth, sin, and sin. When it is finished, bringeth 644 00:41:22,100 --> 00:41:26,100 forth, death to can't, the devil can't make you do anything. 645 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:31,100 So notice this. So we're finished in conclusion. 646 00:41:32,300 --> 00:41:37,100 What about the source of evil? Remember these things evil. 647 00:41:37,100 --> 00:41:40,200 Is it a dark cloud or Force? Making the world bad? 648 00:41:40,900 --> 00:41:44,100 It's not evil exists. When there's a lack of 649 00:41:44,100 --> 00:41:47,600 righteousness. Evil is a falling short of God's 650 00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:51,700 moral standard, and God has absolutely nothing to do with 651 00:41:51,700 --> 00:41:53,800 our fallen short, nothing at all. 652 00:41:54,100 --> 00:41:56,800 What else? God gives us the following 653 00:41:57,300 --> 00:41:59,200 intelligence reason. And choice. 654 00:41:59,300 --> 00:42:01,700 We have the ability to understand what the word of God 655 00:42:01,700 --> 00:42:03,500 says. As and to know what is, right? 656 00:42:03,500 --> 00:42:07,600 We have the reasoning power to process that information and 657 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:13,300 every one of us has a choice to make Don't you see? 658 00:42:15,700 --> 00:42:18,300 The one who chooses evil is the source of it. 659 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:22,700 You know what that means? That means when I choose evil 660 00:42:23,100 --> 00:42:27,300 because I don't do what's right? I'm the source. 661 00:42:27,500 --> 00:42:30,100 It's my fault. There's nobody to blame. 662 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:34,800 Nobody to blame at all. And you know what? 663 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:36,000 You know how I know we can't say. 664 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,200 What's the devil's fault? That will maybe do it because 665 00:42:39,300 --> 00:42:42,900 because Eve tried and it did no good. 666 00:42:42,900 --> 00:42:45,500 They're still cast out, you know, why freedom of choice. 667 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,500 I know that there are some things in the world that are - I 668 00:42:49,508 --> 00:42:50,700 know that there's some sometimes. 669 00:42:50,700 --> 00:42:52,100 There's some bad things that happen. 670 00:42:53,500 --> 00:42:58,600 But understand this all we know is all we know is evil is 671 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:02,000 outside of God, we have God is our refuge and understand this 672 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:06,200 to God is not throwing things in our way as obstacles. 673 00:43:06,300 --> 00:43:09,000 And then punish us for falling, not doing that either. 674 00:43:09,100 --> 00:43:12,700 He's The Refuge. Satan comes with the temptation, 675 00:43:13,100 --> 00:43:17,400 but all of us have a choice. Source of evil. 676 00:43:19,100 --> 00:43:20,900 The one who chooses I'm finished. 677 00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,200 We never know the hearts and minds of those that are present.