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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

We’re gonna take your Bible and turn to the book of Genesis, the book of Genesis. This is one of the most important books in the Bible. Tells you how everything started. Tells you what God was doing. The book of beginning, Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 7. Verse 7 says, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the site, good for food, and the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. From thence it was pardoned and became into four heads. Now, why don’t you jump down to verse 15? Verse 15. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Verse 16. And the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou may as freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thou thou shalt surely die.” Verse 21, verse 21, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her onto the man.

And Adam says, this is now bold of my bone flesh, of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked and the man of the woman and were not ashamed. Simple little story. Most of you have heard this story all your life. And you’ve heard that serpent comes along and deceives the woman and here we are.

But I want to rehearse it with you just a little bit. I want you to see some things and help it only be a blessing to you. Creation and the fall of man, God created us. Now in the very first verse of the book of Genesis, in the beginning God created the heavens in the earth. And then he tells us what he did, but God created the heavens and the earth. He also created man. And the Bible says that he took man from the dust of the earth.

Jesus is 2-7 that we register a moment ago. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. Breathed into his nusses the breath of life, man became a living soul. This is how it all began. man. This is what man is, God made man, made his body from the dust of the earth. And then the Bible tells us that the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and you’ll read in the book of John in chapter 1 and verse 3, all things were made by him, Jesus Christ.

And without him, Jesus Christ was not anything made that was made. So in the beginning when God made a man, it was Jesus who made the man. We know that we covered a couple weeks ago what God did and what Christ did and what the Holy Spirit did. And they’re part in the plan of salvation. But we know that the Bible says that God took a rib from the side of Adam. It says, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made a woman, brought her unto the man.

So God made the man, and then God made the woman, and God brought them together. Understand, God only made male and female. There are no other kinds. Whatever you are when you were born, that’s what you are. You can change anything that you want to, cut off anything that you want to, cut off a leg and arm. I don’t care. You’re still what you are. There’s no such thing as a transvestite. They don’t exist. You’re either a man or you’re a woman.

You’re either a boy or you’re a girl. It’s amazing how that even recently they got trouble with five and six year old kids trying to figure out what they are. Now isn’t that dumb? This is a result of our so-called liberal theology, where people don’t know anything. They really have sunk to a new low and cannot figure out some of those simply basic things in all the world. The God made man and God made the woman. And God said that he would walk in the garden because the Word of God is what God says.

Wouldn’t it have been something to have been there in the Garden of Eden? You talked about the perfect environment. You had a perfect wife, a perfect husband. And how could you improve on that when everything was just right? And then to be able to have the Lord to talk to. the one that created everything. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Wouldn’t it have been a great experience to be there, to go back in time and experience that?

This is their baby pictures. This is Adam’s baby picture. Adam was made from the dust of the earth. He was made from the rib. So everybody ought to have a baby pic. Now a couple of weeks ago I showed you my baby picture and y’all laughed just like you’re doing over this. But y’all got to begin. We’re not here forever. We are born into this world and we live and get old and we’re going to die. Now you need to understand, the life started great even for the animals.

all of the animals could get along. And they didn’t eat each other up. And there was no bitterness and anger between Adam and Eve. Everything was wonderful because you see, life started great even for people, for Adam and Eve. Now, there’s a question about how long were they in this state before they sinned against God? I don’t believe it was very long at all. And I’ll tell you why in just a minute. but God needed to include the tree.

Because God not only created man and a woman, because the Bible says God is love, but God needed an object to love. But he also doesn’t want just an object to love, God wants to be an object that is loved. So he created man out of love. and has put within man and a woman, they desire to love. So God wants people to love him, not because he created you, but because of who he is, he’s God. So God is going to do something for man to prove to man how much he loves us.

Otherwise, we wouldn’t know what love is because we wouldn’t know what sin was. And we wouldn’t know a lot of things about God. We wouldn’t know what forgiveness is. We wouldn’t know what compassion is. We wouldn’t know what grace is. We wouldn’t know what mercy is. We wouldn’t know what justice is. We wouldn’t know what light is. We wouldn’t know anything about God. And those are all great attributes of God. So God, they may be needed a way to test a man.

And the tree was the test of their love and obedience to God. It must appeal to the mind. It must appeal to the will. It must appeal to the emotions of a person. So this is the ultimate test of man and a woman that he just made and placed in the garden. It must appeal to the mind to know the will to obey, to the emotions to love. Will man and this woman that he made love God enough that they would obey regardless of their desire to know what it would be like to eat him that fruit?

It’s an ultimate test. Now you and I might think well if I thought of being there I wouldn’t have fell oh really Now and the Lord God commended The man said of every tree of the garden thou may as freely eat He says but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Thou shall not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die Genesis chapter 2 verse 16 and 17 So God had told them, you can eat anything freely.

There was even the tree of life, but there was a tree of knowledge, to know good and evil. So God didn’t want you to know what sin was like. He didn’t want you to know what disobedience was like, but he didn’t want you to know what good was. He wants you to know what love is, but he had to give to mankind the ultimate test. Satan fell very soon after the seventh day in history. And the reason is because Ezekiel shows Satan was in his unfallen perfect state in him.

Says, thou hast been in the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covenant. So he was in the garden before he fell. That’s what I believe. Everything was very good. So if everything was good, When God created everything getting made on the sick today, then everything that was made was made. Everything was created, it was created. And everything was good. Which means that Satan and his angels at this point was good and very good. Thou was perfect in all thy waves, and from the day that Thou was created.

So, Satan hasn’t always been. He was created, till iniquity was found in him. No. God sanctified the seventh day. So how could Satan have fallen on that day? He finished everything on the sixth. Once Satan fell, he immediately launched an attack on God. But you see, there’s no way that Satan can attack God in that sense. So he goes after the thing that God loves. And so the Lord allowed the devil Satan to tempt those that he had just created.

God does not tempt any man, but God permitted them to be tempted because God is going to test their love for him. You see, all they had to do was not eat the fruit. They had a choice to make. And every one of us needs to understand there is responsibility. There is accountability. They will respond to them for their decision. And they are also accountable for the results. And so therefore, it was a good test. You see, the fall came soon after the seventh day as Adam and Eve apparently had no sex that predosed children until after the fall.

If they had produced children before they send, then there would have been some children that had no sinful nature, would not have died. So I believe that there were no children. Whether they had sex or not, I do not know. But there wasn’t a lot of time from the time that they were created to the day that he rested and to the time that Satan entered into the garden. He had already been there, and then he fell. He rebelled against the Lord.

He says, I will ascend into the heavens, and I will, I will, I will five times in the book of Isaiah. Here in Genesis 2 and verse 3 says, and God blessed the seventh day, sanctified it, because in it he had rested from all his works which God created and made. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and He said unto the woman, Ye have God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

So I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of Genesis in chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3 and look in verse 2, 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 said ye shall not not eat of it, neither shall you touch it lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die.

For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open and you 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 desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and eat it eat. Now simple little verses, it says a lot a lot though, how things began.

You and I need to understand it in the days in which we live. The devil is still just as real today as he was back then. He tends today just like he did back then with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes of the pride of life. Those are the same things he used against Christ in the book of Matthew in chapter 4 on the temptation of Christ. That’s what he uses in the garden, That’s what he uses now.

And he is trying to do everything possible to lure you away from loving God. Doesn’t matter how he does it. He wants you to love this world and the things out of this world. Because his only way of hurting God is hurting that which God loves. Have you ever noticed parents? They may spank their children, but don’t you do anything to their children. Then they want to kill you. God loves us. Now, when he says in chapter three, verse one, that God have said, you shall not eat on every tree of the garden.

Did he say that? Have God said that? You see, the devil will try to do whatever he can to get you to question to the doubt, the truthfulness of what the word of God says. Now, I am not yet convinced that Eve was filled with questions and doubts so forth ahead of time and you shall not touch it lest you die. Or whether or not could she have sinned before she fell, before she ate of the fruit? I don’t know if that’s possible.

But anyway, I’m going to ask them that when I get to heaven. Because I’ve got a couple of questions I like to them to answer for me. But in verse two, and the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the god. She got that part right. But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God have said, you shall not eat of it. Neither shall you touch it lest you die.

Now, I don’t know whether or not he also shared other things with them and that whether she was telling the truth. Or do I believe that she had a question or a doubt and she was lying? But as we’re moving right along, Genesis 3, 4, and the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. You shall not surely die. Now remember Satan will tell the truth if the truth will do the as much damage. If he still gets you to do whatever he wants you to do.

Remember in life there’s always a little mixture of truth with a little lies added to it. Just like it was trying to explain about the vetting people when they come into America. And so one explained it well you don’t know who’s going to do what? So some people said, we’ll keep them all out. But the other problem is if you had a bowl of cherries and there’s say two dozen cherries in there, but you only put arsenic in two of them, mixed them all up.

Now, which ones do you want to eat? Do you want to run that risk? There is a risk involved. Well, that’s the same way as it is in life. Satan says, look at all this good stuff yet, but there’s God telling you, look, there’s poison. Be careful. Be wise. So in verse 5 it says, for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open and ye shall be as gods. There might be some truth in what he’s saying.

He says, you’ll know good and evil. See, that there’s things about this world and sins, God didn’t want us to know, but God has to test us. Do you really love him enough that you will obey his word even though that fruit looks so good and the devil is saying, look, he’s holding back something from you. You can know something that you don’t know. You can, you see, don’t you have a desire? Don’t you want to? Isn’t that what these most Christians astray?

The desire for the things of this world. Otherwise, everyone who trusted Christ is Savior would automatically serve the Lord with all their heart if it wasn’t because the devil is tempting them, luring them, lying, deceiving, stripping you of many of the blessings of life that you could have. And then the rewards that you could have when you get to heaven, because you see, if you don’t serve the Lord fully, with all your heart, why? Why? If it makes sense, and you know it’s right, why not?

So they, Lord God said, behold, the man has become his one of us to know good and evil. The Lord said that. This is after they had sinned. So evidently the devil did tell him some truth. They would know something that God didn’t want him to know. He didn’t want you to know what it was like to sin. He didn’t want you to experience and know all the… Do you think that if this had to be done all over again and Adam and Eve could see the consequences, the result of their sin that they might reconsider.

Have you ever made some bad decisions and done committed some sins that if you had to do it over again, you might reconsider because now you know how bad it is. You know, you see consequences. You see death. You see the misery. You see people in the nursing home, what they’re going through, the pain, the agony. If you only knew what it was like ahead of time, well, maybe you would reconsider. But the Lord wanted them just to take me at my word.

Trust me. And so the devil is going to try to tell you, why should you trust him? Well, one is God. He doesn’t lie. And he wants to show us just how much he loves us. So there’s this test of love. 1 John 2.50 says, love not the world. Neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. This is what the Bible tells us. So you can’t love the things of the world.

Do you love them more than you love God? Because if you love God, then serve Him. If you love Him. I’m talking to those who know Christ as Savior, then you serve Him. If you don’t love Him, you’re not going to serve Him. Then you’re going to try to see what can I get out of this world and do whatever you want. They whatever you want, but it has nothing to do with what God wants. life is short. You don’t want to get this wrong.

In 1 John 2, 16 talks about the lust of the flesh is not a father but is of the world, the lust of the flesh. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes is not of the Father but is of the world. And when the woman saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes. See, it’s all the same. The devil has, you know, ingredients to put into his little eyes that works for him.

And he knows what to do. He knows how to Laudian, deceive you, ruin your life, break your heart. He knows all these things. He knows every trick there is. This is why when you studied in the book of Ephesians in chapter 6, be strong in the Lord and the power of his mind that he may be able to stand to give the wiles or the tricks of the smears of the devil because he’s trying to destroy your life and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of this world.

When the woman saw the tree was desired to make one wise, I’ll be smarter than everybody else. I don’t know something nobody else knows that we strive to want to be above somebody, everybody, and whatever it is that we want to achieve. We want to make more money than somebody. We want a nicer house than what somebody else has. We got to have a nicer car than what somebody else has. We got to have more and more and more and more and more.

There’s things that you have to have in this line. God, not talking about that. He said, do you love them? Those things more than you love me. The test of love. Love not the world. These are the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. This is the big test. And God will allow you to be tested. Do you love the Lord enough to say no to the devil?

To love the Lord enough to say no to the desires of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of light. How much do you love the Lord? What are you going to be tested? Your whole life. That’s why the Bible talks about it in the first Peter in chapter 1. It talks about and the trial of your faith been much more precious than golden sugar. Don’t be He tried with fire, might be found in the praise, honor, and glory at the period of Jesus Christ.

Your faith is on trial. Do you love the Lord? It’s amazing that that’s the love we. And just like that little girl, she looked at you, do you love me? Your wife says, do you still love me? And there’s the Lord says, do you love me? Do you love me? you I want to be like God. She took the fruit. I want to know. She took the fruit there all and did eat. You say, what was that fruit? Wasn’t it an apple?

I wasn’t there. Some people say it was a banana because it had a peel. But that was a jewel. That was choice. She took the fruit there all and did eat. She took the fruit. She took, she ate, and then what she did she do. She took, she ate, she gave. Now, are we going to blame the woman for everything? Why not? No, no, no. You realize that we could have been back in the garden of eating strawberries right now?

But she took the fruit, she ate the fruit. She gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. 8. But now in 1 Timothy says, and Adam was not deceived. Adam was not deceived. He knew what he was doing. But the woman was deceived and she was still part of the transaction. She was still committing the sin. She still rebelled against God’s will. So therefore she gave to him, but he didn’t sin the same as she did.

But the Bible says in Romans in chapter 5, verse 12, work work by one man. Doesn’t mention the woman. One man sin entered into the world, death by sin, so death passed upon all men. So everybody that’s ever born into this world, going to die. That’s why you’re going to die because we came from a man who rebelled against God and the sinful nature has put a curse upon all mankind. And so we all going to die. Now get this.

Also says in verse 14 of Romans chapter 5, it says, Nevertheless, Death rained from Adam to Moses. Even over them that had not sinned after the similitude or the same time the same way the same lightness as Adams transgression You see Eve was deceived Adam was not deceived so Adam made his decision Because evidently this is a whole yank eology He loved her more than he loved God He loved her so much and this is another thing to keep in mind.

He knew what he was doing. He was not deceived but he would rather die with her than live without her. And this is why he makes a statement of Adam’s transgression who is the figure of him that wants to come. In other words Jesus was in a sense like Adam. Adam did what he did because he loved. When Jesus came into this world, why did he die for our sins? He didn’t have to die. He’s not deceived because he would rather die than live without us.

He was willing to take up on himself. Our sin and die in our place. You see, it’s a wonderful story of love. Are you ready to learn how to live your life as a strong Christian, lead others to Christ or excel as a church worker or ministry leader, then look no further, then Florida Bible College of Tampa. With traditional and online classes taught by instructors with years of experience, Florida Bible College of Tampa can help you grow in your Christian life.

Whether taking individual classes or working toward a one-year degree, Florida Bible College of Tampa is here for you. To learn more, visit online at floridabiblecollege.us or call the Register of Bob Gilbert at 8502275325. That’s 8502275325. Thanks for joining us on Bible Eye. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen.

the trumpet will sound and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.