Sermon in Cokato 17.02.2013

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us quieten our hearts and minds in thanksgiving and prayer.

Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, as we have come this evening, dear Father, to gather again before Your holy and precious Word. We come desiring to thank You for the many blessings that You have bestowed upon us. For our homes and our families, our dear escorts in living faith. But above all, dear Father, we desire to thank You for this greatest gift that man can own. This gift of living faith, which You have instilled in our hearts.

Dear Father, we ask that You would help us. Give us power and strength to continue believing our sins forgiven. We pray on behalf of those who are struggling with difficulty and trial in this life. Dear Father, You know each one of us so personally. Help them, dear Father. Whatever trial it may be, we know and we believe that You will continue to carry us to that destination there in Heaven. Amen.

Dear Father, we ask for Your continued service blessing. As You have so done so to this day, we again ask for Your blessing this night, that You would give us words to hear and believe unto the edification and upbuilding of Your congregation here below unto Your honor and glory. All of this we ask in Thy dear Son's name. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen.

For this day is Jesus the victor over temptations. We heard already this morning the Gospel text spoken on. How our good and gracious God opened His Word. Spoke of that temptation of Jesus there in the wilderness. And now if God so wills, we will study the third chapter in Genesis verses 1-15, where it speaks of the first human pair and how the enemy came there to tempt them.

But even before beginning to read, I ask will your brothers and sisters forgive me for all my doubts and sins. The words in Jesus' name are as follows:

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat. And gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both 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.

And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to me be with me. She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?

And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Amen.

This portion of Scripture is a very familiar portion of Scripture to all of us, I'm sure. I know we even touched on it this morning in Sunday school. We, as children of God, we battle that enemy daily. He, we could say, doesn't quit. He is constantly badgering us with temptations that are probably different for each of us. Maybe some of us have the same temptations. But nevertheless, He doesn't quit. We have a battle here before us. But it is a battle that has a lot of hope. Because we have God who is helping us. And Scripture teaches us that if God be for us, who can be against us?

We know the serpent, the enemy of souls, He comes to us in many ways. And He comes to us whispering many, many lies. Just as we heard this morning. This text starts out and says that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. We know God has made everything. And God made that serpent just as it says here.

When we think about this, dear brother and sister, and we know that the serpent there was in heaven, don't we? He was there in paradise. And that is where he went to work in trying to deceive God's children. He has one purpose. And that is to try to entice us in the ways of this world so that we would not believe our sins forgiven. And so that we would fall into sin and that we would not attain heaven.

And we could ask, why is He so persistent? Why does He badger us so much and put so many things that look so good in front of us? Dear brother and sister, He doesn't want us to get to heaven. He knows He will never return there. And He has one purpose. He's going to try to deceive as many as He can to join Him in those depths of hell.

But we as believers, it is a good road that we are on. A road that Jesus prepared for us. Jesus fulfilled that law to the perfect letter. Jesus suffered that awful death on the cross. And Jesus went there down into those depths of hell for three days. Jesus, He was victorious. Jesus, He was victorious. And He rose victorious. So that we would not have to go there.

Dear brother and sister, it pays to believe. It pays to put sins away. It pays to keep that conscience cleansed. Do not let the enemy of soul whisper those many, many lies to you in telling you that you can't go and speak about this matter or that matter. This is what the enemy of souls wants us to do. Is not speak of those matters.

He immediately, in this portion that we read, He immediately tries to cast doubt into Eve. In this first verse, He said, Yea, hath God said, questioning her, hath God said, how many times has this come to us? Has He come this way to us? And taunted us? And said, is that really what God's Word says? Does God's Word say that this is sin or that is sin? I know this has been my experience and I'm sure it has been your experience as well.

The Apostle Paul here in 2 Corinthians spoke about what he feared. And it's in the 11th chapter in verse 3. And he says that, But I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted with simplicity that is in Christ.

This is what the enemy of souls wants us to be to try to use our carnal minds and in this way confuse each one of us. It is a simple, simple way to heaven, isn't it? But oh, how the enemy of souls wants to make it so it's a confusing and hard way to get to heaven. It isn't. It isn't a confusing matter.

When we look at it through a pure and undefiled conscience and the Spirit leads and guides, then it is clear to us that when sin comes on our conscience, we speak of that matter and there's power in the Gospel. God's Word, when we read it, it is amazing.

When I read this verse here in Corinthians, Corinthians, but I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. It's so simple, isn't it? Believe all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood. That is all that God requires of us is to believe our sins forgiven.

We see in this portion of Scripture that we read tonight that in the beginning Eve desired to do that which was right. Because when the serpent came to Eve, he said, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Putting that question before her.

And what was her answer? She said here, And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.

So we see her desire was a believing heart. She believed what God had told her. That we don't want to eat of that tree that's in the middle of the garden. That tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Did the enemy of souls leave her alone then? Dear brother and sister, how has your experience been? When the enemy comes to us with a clean and undefiled conscience, it's easy then to battle against sin. But does He quit? No, He doesn't. He keeps coming and keeps putting those things before us. Because He knows we are flesh and blood.

But oh, how important it is that we keep putting sin away. We don't have the freedom to live in sin. But we have a precious gift. The freedom from sin. By and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So we see here that the enemy comes to her and doesn't quit. 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 God knowing good and evil.

The master of lies is what He is. I know I have said this before. But when we travel on this road to heaven, and we're endeavoring to believe and putting sin away, that temptation that comes before us, it's not so easy to fall into that sin the first time, is it? There's that inward desire to battle against that, that I'm not going there.

But then, He continues to taunt us, and we stumble. And we fall into that temptation that was before us. Then we have sinned.

So then, the enemy starts on us the other way. That you can't go and speak of that matter to anyone. First, you go talk to someone about that, and they are going to think that you're not even a believer. That's what He whispers to us. He totally spins it.

So then, it's not easy to go and speak of those matters that we've fallen into. So then, the enemy of souls comes to us. Well, you've already done this. Do it again.

Has that been your experience? That you've already fallen. It doesn't matter anymore.

Dear brother and sister, make those promises to God. And put those sins away. There's power in that gospel. There's power in that gospel. Just as Scripture teaches us that there is power in the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation for all that believe.

This is our endeavor of faith. We battle against the threefold enemy. Many are the temptations that are placed before us on this road. And yes, we fall. And we fall again. But the life of a child of God is, it goes from victory to victory.

That when God gives us strength to speak of those matters that are bothering us, and we hear that precious gospel message, oh, how it renews strength in us to battle against that threefold enemy. And that the way to heaven is so clear.

It is a battle. But dear brother and sister, it is a worthwhile battle. For the reward that awaits each one of us, we understand through eyes of faith how great it is.

But when we can lay down that travel staff, just as our dear sister, God called her home, oh, what a great reward that will be. Then there will be no more tears. There will be no more temptations. No more sin. No more sin. But there will be eternal joy and happiness there in heaven.

And so we see how the enemy works. And we see it in this portion of Scripture as well, that Eve took of that tree. And not only did she take of that tree, but then she gave on to Adam as well. So here they have both fallen into sin.

Dear brother and sister, there is even learning here for us that and if God will give me words, I will try to speak of it. When two have fallen together into the same sin, like say, for instance, me and someone else went to the theater. I ask you, can I go to that person and have my sins forgiven? No.

We need to go to another brother or sister to put that sin away that wasn't involved with that. This is how we are taught in God's kingdom.

Of course, there are many times when we fall into sin and say we go and speak to another brother or sister and they have fallen into the same sin. And they preach the gospel to us and I preach the gospel to them.

But when one, when two, say, are fallen into the same sin at the same time, then they can't relieve each other of that sin.

And this is what happened here in the garden. Where Adam and Eve fell into sin. And you can see how in this portion of Scripture how the flesh and the carnal mind get the best of them.

And we can see how this happens even in our everyday life. It's so easy to justify our actions or make excuses for what we have done.

And what happened here when the Lord God says here that 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.

And the Lord God called on to Adam and said on to him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.

And he said, who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?

And the man said, listen to what Adam said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.

So he wasn't going to take any fault on himself. He wanted to push the blame on Eve. Wanted to justify what he had done.

And then when God went on to Eve, what did she say? She blamed it on the serpent. It says here, and the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done?

And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me and I did eat.

And so we see here that it is, that is how we are. That we want to try to justify, I suppose we could say, in our minds, what we have done. Or blame it on something or other, that this is why I did this or that.

And it doesn't matter. The matter is, what matters is that sin is on the conscience. And that we want to have it forgiven.

And dear brother and sister, we can marvel at this portion of Scripture, how God did not leave them alone in that garden. But He came on to them. He loved them.

And this is how it is today. That God loves each one of us. And He continues to call out and call us that put your sins away. Believe them forgiven. No matter what those temptations may be, what those sins may be.

I spoke to the Sunday school this morning and we spoke about temptation a little bit. And I used that example and told them that we know that temptation in itself is not sin. Because Jesus did not fall into sin. But Jesus was tempted. We are all faced with temptations.

And so I used a little example to those Sunday school kids that if I walk into the store, and I see something on the shelf that that would be nice to have. I'd be tempted to take that. And I walk out of that store and I didn't take it. Did I fall into sin? I would say no. I did not fall into that sin of stealing.

But if I go into that store and I am tempted that that thing on the shelf looks very good, and I snatch it off the shelf and I shove it in my pocket and I head out the door, have I sinned? I was tempted and then I fell. And I walked out the door with that thing in my pocket. Then I have fallen into sin. And that sin needs to be put away.

But Jesus was tempted in all points, just as Scripture says, in every form. But He did not fall. And why didn't He fall, dear brother and sister? Because He was fulfilling that perfect law, fulfilling Scriptures, fulfilling God's love for us. And He walked that perfect life without sin. And He died that awful death on that middle cross there on Golgotha. Shameful death.

But He arose victorious for your sins and mine. And this is what was promised there in the garden to that first human pair. And I will put enmity between me and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. And it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.

God here was telling them that He would send a Savior into this world to crush the head of the serpent. And so it was. Jesus was victorious for you and I, dear brother and sister.

Oh, how we have great reason to thank God this evening that He has preserved us as children in His kingdom. It is a miracle that we are here, dear brother and sister.

Hold on to that precious gift of faith so tightly. Take care of it. Put sins away when they be said. Go to your children when matters have not been well in the home. And ask them to forgive you.

Oh, how they are so willing to put their arms around you and preach that precious gospel. It pays to believe, dear brother and sister. Uplift your hearts and believe all of your sins and doubts and fears forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

We are on a good pathway. A pathway that will lead us to heaven's shore one day. All that is required of us is to believe. Jesus' name and blood, sins are all forgiven. In Jesus' name and always blessed name. Amen.

Let us quieten our hearts in closing benediction.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make His face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.