On this edition of Hope for Today, David Hocking begins a study in Genesis 3 with a message titled The Temptation. This foundational passage explains the entrance of sin into the human race, the strategy of Satan, and the tragic consequences of doubting and disobeying the Word of God.
David examines the cause behind temptation, making clear that God is not the author of evil and does not tempt anyone to sin. Instead, Scripture points to Satan as the deceiver, the liar, and the one who works through subtlety to corrupt the minds of men. This message helps listeners understand
The question in the battle that a lot of us have is, what’s the cause behind temptation? Where is it coming from? Do you believe that Jesus is God? That he couldn’t be tempted, could he? Does the Bible say that Jesus was tempted? Yes. But can Jesus be tempted to do evil? Apparently not, for God cannot be tempted to do evil. It’s impossible. You say, well, I don’t understand that. Well, we’re going to get to the matter of the impeccability of Christ before we’re done. Impeccability means it was impossible for him to sin, even though he was tempted, and to try to understand what that all means to us today. Music
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Why do we do things that we know are wrong? Why do we give in to temptation even when we know the consequences? And they always come, don’t they? And if temptation is such a powerful force, what does it mean that Jesus Christ was tempted in every way we are, yet never, ever sinned? Today on Hope for Today, we begin a journey into one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible. It’s a chapter that explains the origin of temptation, the entrance of sin, and why our world is the way it is today. Our teacher, David Hawking, takes us into Genesis chapter 3 in just a moment. Just before that, we want to tell you about the Hope for Today Media Center at davidhawking.org. That’s our website. In the Media Center, you’re going to find a number of Bible teaching series by David on video available 24 hours a day. We also have helpful resources on the website designed to encourage you in your walk with the Lord. Whether you’re looking for a verse-by-verse teaching, answers to difficult questions, or life-changing biblical materials, you’ll find them at davidhawking.org. It’s a wonderful way to continue studying God’s Word with us online. That’s davidhawking.org. All right, now let’s join David in Genesis chapter 3, verses 1 through 6, for his message called The Temptation. And this is part of our ongoing series, In the Beginning, covering the early chapters of Genesis. David?
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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 has 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. Carl Menninger, outstanding psychologist, psychiatrist from the University of Michigan, wrote one of the most controversial books ever to be written in the secular psychological field a few years ago when he wrote a book entitled, Whatever Became of Sin? He had the audacity to state in this very fine and academic work that the real problem in life is that we sin. Imagine that. His book was excellent, but it was a shock to the psychological world. He said that people were refusing to take responsibility. They wanted to blame everybody and everything, just like they did in the garden. And he suggested that we return to Genesis 3 to find out what’s really wrong with all of us and to discover the solutions that God brings in his word. Whatever became of sin? Well, sin is still sin. And we still wrestle with it, we still have problems with it, and we still are faced with temptation every single day. Now, I want to deal with the subject in several points, and we’re going to start with the cause behind temptation. Let’s look at verse 1 again. It says, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. What is the cause behind the temptation? Theologians have wrestled with this for years. What really led to man’s downfall? By the way, concerning the fall, nowhere in the Bible does it say that man fell. The Bible does talk about the fall of man after he becomes a believer. Speaks about believers’ righteous falling and the Lord picking them up. It warns believers about the danger of falling, that we need to stand rather than fall. But interestingly, not once does the Bible ever speak of this event in Genesis 3 as the fall of man, though we present it that way. But the Bible does present it in some very strong terms that we’ll be looking at. But the question in the battle that a lot of us have is, what’s the cause behind temptation? And I want to give you just three simple statements to help you with that question. Number one, it was not God. There are some in the Reformed tradition or the strong Calvinistic tradition who believe that God is behind the whole problem of the temptation. Take your Bibles and turn to James chapter 1. Once again, our source of information is God’s word, not the opinions of men. And we’re here to state that the cause behind the temptation, was not God. In James 1, verse 13, now it’s true God created all things. It’s true that God knew that man would fail the first moral test that he gave him. But God is not the cause of temptation. Sometimes we think so. Well, you know, the Lord, you know, let that happen. And if, you know, if it wasn’t, you know, his will, I mean, and people try to justify and defend. No, God is not the cause of temptation. In James 1.13, it says, Let no man say, When he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and neither tempteth he any man. Do you believe that Jesus is God? Amen? Then he couldn’t be tempted, could he? Does the Bible say that Jesus was tempted? Yes. But can Jesus be tempted to do evil? Apparently not, for God cannot be tempted to do evil. It’s impossible. Depending on time, we’re going to get to the matter of the impeccability of Christ before we’re done. But it was not God. It’s impossible. He said, let no man say I’m tempted of God. God cannot be tempted with evil. And look at this, neither tempteth he any man. Well, now wait a minute. Does God try the hearts of men? Yes. Does God test us? Yes. Did he test the children of Israel? Yes. Ten times in the wilderness. Isn’t the word in the Greek language for test the same as tempt? Yes, it is. Well, how do you know whether it’s a test or whether it’s a temptation to do evil? It depends on the context. For an example, in James 1, look at verse 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. It’s the same word, trial, testing. For when he is tried or tempted, he shall receive the crown of life. So there’s value in being tempted or tried in this sense. But we are not talking about the solicitation to do evil. Many, many things come to us that are tests from God to develop us, to make us stronger spiritually, not weaker. But God never brings you a temptation that causes you to do evil. God never does that. God doesn’t solicit you to sin, ever. And that’s something we need to get straight. Look at verse 14. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, his own desire, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. By the way, verse 15 is picturing conception and birth of a baby. If you want to follow this through, sin is the fetus. When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. It’s in the womb. And sin, when it’s finished, the languages of a baby coming out of the womb, what comes out of the womb is death. That’s where it leads. Quite a vivid illustration, isn’t it? In James 1.15. Now, it was not God. Hebrews 6, 18 says it’s impossible for God to lie. God can’t sin in any sense of the word. Our Lord Jesus Christ was totally without sin. He was apart from sin, the Bible says. He knew no sin, the Bible says. The cause behind the temptation was not God. Number two, in answering the question about the cause behind the temptation in Genesis 3, is that it was not man either. Oh, how easily we want to say that. Maybe it’ll help us to place the blame somewhere besides ourselves or the situation that we’re facing. And many of us believe that the temptation is coming from man. That’s what we believe. We have illustration after illustration of it. But the Bible doesn’t teach that. This temptation did not come from man. Now sometimes we think that’s where it’s coming from. That’s where we want to put the blame. That sort of helps us to explain the situation, but actually it’s causing us to run away from what the Bible teaches and not face it. Plus, the danger is that we will not be spiritually prepared for the temptation if we think it’s coming from another person. The Bible says we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. It’s almost amusing because that’s what we usually do, isn’t it? We usually fight one another. We get upset over one another. We think the whole problem is somebody I’m living with or have to deal with or whatever. They’re the problem. If you only knew the person I live with, you’d know why I’m… No, no, no. The temptation does not come from God. The temptation also doesn’t come from man. In Romans 5.12, it says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. The simple point is that though sin entered the world through one man, there’s not one single word in the Bible stating that man was the problem. Isn’t it interesting that Adam could have said, well, you know where this temptation comes from, God? It’s that woman that you gave me. I mean, take a look at it. I mean, we’re talking one beautiful attraction here, and there was no way I could turn her down. Why, even the way she presented that piece of fruit to me. Lord, you cannot believe how she did that. Why, her very words, Adam, darling. Don’t leave me alone in this matter. I love you, Adam. I want to share life with you. All the things. You know, you could just make up an enormous, enormous argument to prove that the real problem came from Eve. But as we know, the Lord cleared that up real quick, didn’t he? No, it wasn’t Eve. No, you see, the temptation does not come from man, and it does not come from God. Then where does it come from? Back to Genesis chapter 3. The first subject of Genesis 3, verse 1. The first subject is what? The serpent. Where does temptation come from? It comes from the devil himself. The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. But let’s take a little trip to the Bible and see if we can prove that point. That the cause behind temptation… Now, sometimes people, I’ve seen these t-shirts where it says, the devil made me do it. No, the devil didn’t make you do it, but a correct statement there would be, the devil tempted me. Oh yes, he does entice you. But if you do it, you did it. He didn’t make you do it. You did it. Every man’s drawn away of his own lust. And enticed. That’s the word for baited. And it’s passive. It means it’s done to you. No, we don’t do the enticing and the baiting. The devil does. The devil has a lot of traps out there. A lot of tactics to make us fall into sin. To make us go for what he’s presenting to us. And there are tactics that we don’t usually analyze carefully. But when we look at the devil, we have verses like this. John 8, 44, Jesus said, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. Watch this. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. And he did lie, by the way, in Genesis 3. For he is a liar and the what? father of it. He is the origin. He is the source of all lying. Turn to 2 Corinthians and look at chapter 11 and look at verse 3. Here the Bible leaves no doubt as to who was doing the temptation back in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. It comments on it. But I fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve, there it is, through his subtlety. Some translations read craftiness. He’s tricky. He sneaks up on you. As the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Imagine that, that one of the devil’s tactics is to cause believers to make it more complex and complicated than it really is. Kind of reminds me sometimes of people coming up and saying, have you heard about so-and-so’s new theory on how you really get victory? And they’ve got a whole new thing. Then they have a seminar. Then there’s a book. And they’re making money off of it. And it’s a brand new thing. And I sometimes think to myself, boy, the people in the Middle Ages absolutely could not walk with God. They didn’t have this seminar. They didn’t have this book. And most of them never even had their own Bible. You know, it’s amazing what we think, how we conclude. According to the Bible, the devil, 2 Corinthians 4, 4, is the God of this world. And he is the one who beguiled Eve. That tells me that the devil has ways to deceive you and I through crafty and tricky methodology. Ephesians chapter 2. I think the Bible is most clear on the matter that the devil is the one who is the cause behind all temptation. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2, speaking about our life before we came to Christ, we were dead in trespasses and sins. Verse 2, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world or this age, the way unbelieving people think, According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Now, I want you to look at that verse very carefully. First of all, the word prince and the word spirit are in apposition to one another in the Greek text. That means that whoever it’s talking about is both prince and spirit. Now, as a prince, he’s the prince of the power of the air, the authority. He’s the authority behind the air. Now, that sounds strange. You know, when Christians tried to go on radio many years ago when radio was brand new in America, there were preachers all over America saying that we had entered Satan’s domain because he’s the prince of the power of the air. You can understand why they thought that way. But the word air here is a very interesting word. It’s talking about our English word that we know so well in Southern California, smog. That suffocating smoke that is air that makes it hard to breathe and hard to see. And it’s a metaphor for the evil atmosphere of this world. Now the Bible calls the devil the prince of the power, that’s the Greek word exousia, authority of the misty, smoggy, evil atmosphere of the world. Who is behind the agenda that leads to gay rights, abortion, etc.? Understand who’s really behind it. It’s not anybody in anybody’s cabinet or anybody in anybody’s boardroom or sitting in an office somewhere. The one who is behind it is the devil himself. That’s who’s behind it. He is running the smoggy atmosphere of evil in this world. That’s his sphere of authority. And then the parallel statement, he is the spirit, for he is a spirit, an evil one. He’s the spirit that now works, continues to work. In the children of disobedience. And here again, we know what he’s talking about, because in the Greek text, the definite article, the, is in front of the word disobedience. Now let’s read it literally. He is literally working in the children of the disobedience. The particular one. He’s talking about the disobedience of Adam. We read in 1 Timothy 2 very clearly that Adam was not deceived. He deliberately disobeyed. It is Adam who is called the disobedient one. Eve was deceived. Adam was not deceived. He deliberately disobeyed. And according to the Bible, the devil is a spirit who works in all the children, all the progeny, all the ancestors of the one act of disobedience. What he is talking about is Adam’s sin has resulted in a whole generation of people that are experiencing, whether they know it or not… The enemy of our souls, the devil himself, working in them every single day to accomplish his purposes. You say, well, how does he do that? Well, he does it through a host of demons. He has a whole kingdom of them. He has many of them. And he is working every single day, whether they know it or not, among the children of the disobedience. In other words, all unbelievers. Pretty powerful, isn’t it?
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Well, that’s Bible teacher David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David’s coming back in just a moment to conclude our time in God’s Word for today. But first, Matt’s here. And Matt, we have some wonderful resources to tell folks about. Let’s get into it.
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You ever wonder just how our world got into the mess it’s in? What’s at the core of today’s sad state? You know, Matt, I wonder that at times.
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With all the pressures on believers today. I’m also asking, what can we do? What can we do to encourage our listening family in today’s world?
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Well, you’ll find the answers and encouragement in our current radio series covering the beginning of Scripture, creation, and God’s history with mankind, Genesis 1-9.
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And we’re offering you a personal copy of each message in the series, all 24 messages together, for the special price, Matt, of just $25.
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Yeah, right now. Jim, folks are telling us that they are learning so much here and finding insight and understanding. Yeah, folks, thank you for your letters and your comments. We appreciate that. In the series, my dad leads us through the days of creation. I love this faith fortifying section. And your dad exposes the lies and the illogic. of evolution. Right. It’s an excellent foundation for studying creationism. I mean, how the evidence we see today supports creationism and not evolutionary theory. Yes.
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Then we also study the temptation, the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. And there’s powerful insight here, Matt, as you know, into the strategies of the devil and God’s righteous judgment, his love, his redemption, and the hope for our lives today.
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And then the first civilization. I mean, wow, a culture that looked much like ours today. Oh, yeah.
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Yeah, the global deluge, the flood, and God’s covenant with Noah.
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So much here for you.
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So stay tuned as the series continues and get your own copy of the messages to hear again and to share. The In the Beginning radio series on MP3 download or CD, just $25 from Hope for Today.
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Well, Matt, we also want to mention a couple of powerful booklets from your dad. The first is, Does the Bible Teach… the rapture. This is a clear and encouraging look at what the Bible says about future events. In the second booklet, they’re together in a pack. The second booklet is titled The Security of the Believer. The Security of the Believer is a practical study of the assurance that we have in Jesus Christ, how we can know if we’re saved. And again, we’re putting both booklets in a pack for the month of July, and it’s available just $10 is the cost. If you request this resource or any of the resources we talk about on Hope for Today, call us at 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And if you wondered, Bible on your phone is 24253. You can also visit us and purchase resources at davidhawking.org. That’s davidhawking.org. A quick note here, if this broadcast is a blessing to you, would you consider supporting Hope For Today through your prayers and financial gifts? As a listener-supported ministry, you can imagine that we depend on friends like you to help us continue sharing the truth of God’s word through radio, podcasts, online resources, and digital outreach around the world. Every message you hear, every resource we produce, and every life that is reached to the glory of God is made possible through faithful support of listening friends like you. Friends who believe in the power of God’s Word to change lives. To send a gift by mail, write to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California. 92781. In Canada, write to Hope For Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, BC, V2S 8P1, or call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, or contribute securely online at davidhawking.org. And here’s David with that final word.
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My friends, we have now come to one of the most important teachings of the entire Bible, and that is what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It has affected the entire human race, and even the book of Romans tells us that truth in chapter 5. Well, here’s what we read, chapter 3, the serpent. was more subtle than any beast of the field. In Revelation, we learn that the serpent is Satan, the devil. And apparently he was not crawling in the dust as the snakes do. That was a judgment of God that came later. The serpent apparently was attractive. And he comes to the woman. And he says, hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? He begins by questioning the word of God. That’s where it all starts. And the woman said, well, we can eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree that’s in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. Well, God didn’t say don’t touch it. That probably was easily figured out by Eve. But it was the serpent, according to verse 4 of chapter 3, that said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. A bold-faced lie. He said, For God knows that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened. You’ll be as God, knowing good and evil. Well, the temptation started. And Eve looked at it, and she saw in verse 6, the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. She took of the fruit, did eat it, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. This is one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible. We call it the fall of Adam and Eve and how it affected the entire human race. Don’t miss a single message.
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Well, thank you, David. And coming up next time, you know, if Satan can’t destroy God’s creation, his next move is simple. Get people to doubt what God has clearly said. We’ll continue our study in Genesis chapter 3 for the next part of David’s message, The Temptation, right here on Hope for Today.
